How Could the “Thousand-Year” Millennium Equal Forty Years?
“1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while…10 [Then] the devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:1-3, 10).
Many Christians say there is no way the “thousand-year” millennium can refer to a forty-year period (as full preterists argue) because “thousand” represents a large/infinite/complete number. For example, God owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps. 50:10); better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere (Ps. 84:10); God shows love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments (Ex. 20:6).
Do these examples prove that the “thousand-year” millennium cannot refer to a forty-year period?
First, Dr. Don Preston has pointed out how the ancient Hebrews used extremely large numbers, such as thousand, to describe short periods of great significance.[1] The large numbers magnified the short time period’s importance. For example, Genesis says Adam lived to 930 (Gen. 5:5), Seth lived 912 years (Gen. 5:8), and Methuselah lived to 969 (Gen. 5:27). Many commentators say these large numbers are symbolic rather than literal.
In another example, when David returned from killing Goliath, the women sang, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands” (1 Sam. 18:7). Keep in mind, David had killed one person—one very significant person—Goliath.
As these examples show, the ancient Jews often used large numbers symbolically to represent highly significant events or time periods.
Second, Peter said, “With the Lord, one day is as a thousand years” (2 Pet. 3:8). So if one day can be like a thousand years, can’t forty years? Such an illustration can cut both ways.
Third, many ancient rabbis believed the millennium would last exactly forty years!
“Older traditions concerning the days of Messiah fix a very short interval for the interim period [the millennium], namely forty years…Similarly, the Qumran materials indicate such a period, as, for instance, the Damascus Document [which says]: ‘from the day of the gathering in of the unique teacher, until the destruction of all the men of war who turned back with the man of lies, there shall be about forty years’ (CD xx, 14–15), and a Commentary on Ps. 37:10 [says]: ‘I will stare at his place and he will no longer be there. Its interpretation concerns all the evil at the end of the forty years, for they shall be devoured and upon the earth no wicked person will be found.’”[2]
Fourth, as shown above, the number “thousand” can symbolize completion. In the case of Revelation 20, the “thousand-year” millennium refers to the completion of the destruction of Satan. Jesus came to earth to destroy the devil and the old covenant world of sin (1 John 3:8, Gal. 1:4). He began this task by binding Satan (Matt. 12:24–30). This was the beginning of the millennium (Rev. 20:2). By AD 58, Paul said Satan would be crushed shortly (Rom. 16:20). Even the devil, by this time, knew his time was short (Rev. 12:12). And the millennium ended with Satan being cast into the lake for fire (Rev. 20:10).
Not only would Satan would be crushed shortly—which even the devil realized—but the book of Revelation, which was written in approximately AD 65,[3] ends with Jesus specifically saying: “Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book…Do not seal [set aside] the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand” (Rev. 22:7-10).
Revelation is full of these timing indicators, and they all point to a soon fulfillment. The year AD 70 fits them well, which also “just happens” to be when the Jewish establishment who crucified Jesus and persecuted his disciples—which were a type of Satan[4]—were judged.
Possible Objection
How could Satan have been destroyed in AD 70 when there is so much evil in the world? Answer: We don’t need Satan for there to be evil. The prophet Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9). Likewise, James said people are tempted when they are drawn away by their own desires, which leads to sin (James 1:14–15, italics mine). People are quite capable of evil all by themselves.
For more information about the Millennium and all it entailed, please see my book The End Is Here: How the New Testament’s Prophecies Were Fulfilled, available NOW on Amazon!
By Alex Polyak, director of The Bible Fulfilled, 10/4/26.
[1] “A Response to Sam Frost and Jeremiah Nortier on the Coming of the Lord,” Sept. 4, 2022, YouTube, 50:00, viewed Nov. 23, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW2M9hLWAmg.
[2] Dr. Randall E. Otto, Case Dismissed: Rebutting Charges Against Preterism, pg. 63
[3] We can be sure Revelation was written prior to the destruction of the temple/Jerusalem—which were destroyed in AD 70—because they were still intact when the book was written (Rev. 11:1-2).
[4] Jesus called his Jewish adversaries the “synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2:9); Jesus called Judas a devil (John 6:70-71). John called the Jews who rejected Christ “antichrists” (1 John 2:18-19, 22-23); Paul equated his Jewish adversaries with Satan (1 Thess. 2:16-18).
