Men’s Bible Study: The Rapture - Amillennialism

Over the past two studies we have examined the pre-tribulation rapture — the view that Christ removes the church before a seven-year tribulation, then returns to establish a literal thousand-year reign — and postmillennialism — the view that the church advances the kingdom until the world is substantially Christianized, after which Christ returns. Both require a future millennium: one established by Christ’s return, one produced by the church’s faithfulness. This week we examine the position that does not require either: amillennialism, the view that there is no future millennium to wait for, because we are living in it now.

Amillennialism is not a modern revision. It is the oldest continuously held eschatological position in the Western church, embraced by Augustine in the fourth century and remaining dominant in Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, and Reformed traditions ever since. Its name is technically misleading — it does not deny the millennium but reinterprets it as a symbolic description of the present age between Christ’s two comings. There is no separate rapture event: the resurrection of the dead and the return of Christ happen together, once, at the end of history.

The Major Views on the End Times

Dispensational Premillennialism (pre-tribulation rapture) holds that the church is secretly removed before a seven-year tribulation, after which Christ returns visibly to establish a literal thousand-year reign on earth. Examined in our first study in this series.

Historic Premillennialism holds that Christ returns before a literal millennium, but believers go through the tribulation — there is no prior rapture. The view of many early church fathers.

Postmillennialism holds that the gospel progressively transforms the world until a golden age of Christian civilization (the millennium) is established, after which Christ returns. Examined in our last study.

Amillennialism holds that the “thousand years” of Revelation 20 is a symbolic number representing the entire period between Christ’s first and second coming — the present age. Christ is reigning now, from heaven, through His church. Satan is currently restrained from deceiving the nations in the way he once did. The “first resurrection” of Revelation 20 refers to the spiritual regeneration of believers or to martyrs currently reigning with Christ in heaven. At Christ’s return, the dead — righteous and unrighteous — are raised simultaneously, judgment is rendered, and the new creation begins. No millennial interlude. No staged returns. One resurrection, one return, one judgment.

About the book of Revelation

Revelation was written by the Apostle John, almost certainly during the reign of Emperor Domitian, around 95 A.D. Its recipients were seven churches in the Roman province of Asia (modern Turkey), living under the shadow of imperial persecution and pressure to participate in the Roman imperial cult. The book belongs to the genre of apocalyptic literature — a form common in both Jewish and early Christian writing that communicates theological truth through vivid symbolic imagery, numbers, and visions rather than literal description. Numbers in Revelation carry consistent symbolic weight throughout: seven represents completeness (seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls); twelve represents God’s covenant people (twelve tribes, twelve apostles, twelve gates); 144,000 represents the complete number of the redeemed (12 × 12 × 1,000). Amillennialists argue that reading “one thousand years” as a precise literal number — while reading every other number in the book symbolically — is methodologically inconsistent.

The Proof Texts

Revelation 20:1-6

1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. 4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and Christ and will reign with Christ for a thousand years. - Revelation 20:1-6 NIV

How it is used: Amillennialists make several interconnected arguments from this passage. First, the binding of Satan — specifically to prevent him from “deceiving the nations anymore” — describes what Christ accomplished at His first coming. Jesus Himself announced that the strong man had been bound (Matthew 12:29) and that Satan had fallen from heaven (Luke 10:18). The spread of the gospel to all nations, which was impossible under the old covenant when the nations were left in darkness (Acts 14:16), became possible precisely because of this binding. Second, “the souls of those who had been beheaded” coming to life and reigning with Christ describes martyrs who are currently alive in heaven in Christ’s presence — not a future bodily resurrection on earth. This is the “first resurrection” — either spiritual regeneration (the new birth) or the intermediate-state reign of deceased saints. Third, the “thousand years” is a symbolic number for the whole of the present age. John sees a vision of souls reigning — not a report of a future historical event.

Arguments against: The most persistent challenge to the amillennial reading is the sequence of Revelation 19-20. Chapter 19 describes the visible return of Christ in conquest. Chapter 20 immediately follows with the binding of Satan and the millennium. The natural reading of the sequence is that the millennium begins after the Second Coming, not that it describes the present age preceding it. Furthermore, “the souls of those who had been beheaded came to life” uses the same Greek word (zaō) as “the rest of the dead did not come to life” — if the second coming to life is bodily resurrection, consistency requires the first to be as well.

Matthew 12:28-29

28 “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.” - Matthew 12:28-29 NIV

How it is used: Jesus does not say He will one day bind the strong man — He says the binding has already happened. His exorcisms are the evidence. Satan is the strong man; the house is the world; the possessions are people held captive. The binding that makes plundering possible is Christ’s work in His earthly ministry, accomplished fully at the cross and resurrection. This is the New Testament’s own interpretation of the millennium’s beginning — Christ entered human history, bound the enemy, and the ransoming of the nations commenced. John 12:31 reinforces this: “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.”

Arguments against: The binding described in Matthew 12 — sufficient to allow Jesus to cast out demons — may be a limited or partial binding, not the comprehensive binding of Revelation 20. Satan is described elsewhere in the New Testament as still active and dangerous: “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Paul calls him “the god of this age” who “has blinded the minds of unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 4:4). If Satan is bound and unable to deceive the nations, these descriptions are difficult to account for. Premillennialists argue the binding of Matthew 12 restricts Satan in one domain (demonic possession) while Revelation 20 anticipates a far more comprehensive future restraint.

John 5:24-29

24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out — those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.” - John 5:24-29 NIV

How it is used: Jesus distinguishes two resurrections without separating them by a thousand years. In verse 25, “a time is coming and has now come” — the first resurrection is already happening: the spiritually dead hear Christ’s voice and come to life. This is the new birth, regeneration, the crossing from death to life that every believer experiences. In verses 28-29, a second and future resurrection is described: all who are in their graves come out — righteous and unrighteous together — for final judgment. There is no gap between these two groups, no millennium interposed between them. The “first resurrection” of Revelation 20 is the spiritual resurrection of verse 25; the general resurrection of verse 28-29 happens at the end of the age.

Arguments against: Verses 25 and 28-29 may describe the same event — bodily resurrection — from two different angles, not two categorically different kinds of resurrection. The language of verse 28 — “all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out” — is unmistakably bodily and physical. Revelation 20:4-5 distinguishes the first resurrection from the general resurrection by a thousand-year gap, which suggests John understands two distinct bodily resurrections. Reading the “first resurrection” as spiritual regeneration requires overriding the most natural interpretation of the passage — people coming out of graves — with a theological inference not present in the text.

John 6:39-40

39 “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” - John 6:39-40 NIV

How it is used: Jesus promises to raise His people “at the last day” — four times in John 6 (vv. 39, 40, 44, 54). The phrase is singular and absolute: the last day, not a first resurrection followed by another resurrection a thousand years later. Martha reflects the same understanding: “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (John 11:24). Amillennialists argue that a system requiring two resurrections separated by a thousand years is difficult to reconcile with this consistent pattern. The New Testament knows one last day, one resurrection, one return.

Arguments against: “The last day” could refer to the last day of the present age — the day that initiates the millennium — rather than the final day of all history. Premillennialists argue that what feels like one singular event to a first-century believer may involve multiple stages that God accomplishes over the span of the millennium. “The last day” marks the beginning of the end, not necessarily a single moment in which all eschatological events collapse together.

Ephesians 2:6

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. - Ephesians 2:6 NIV

How it is used: Paul uses the past tense: God has raised and has seated believers with Christ in the heavenly realms. This is not a future promise but a present reality — the current spiritual position of every believer in union with Christ. Amillennialists argue this is the New Testament description of the saints “reigning with Christ” that Revelation 20 portrays visionally. The reign is not a future earthly political arrangement but a present heavenly reality that every believer shares now by virtue of their union with the risen and ascended Christ. The millennium is not something to wait for; it is something to inhabit.

Arguments against: Ephesians 2:6 describes spiritual union and positional standing before God, not the specific governmental authority described in Revelation 20 — where thrones are set up and judgment authority is given. The two passages describe different things. Furthermore, the martyrs of Revelation 20 are specifically those who had been beheaded — a particular group, not all believers generally. Reading Ephesians 2:6 as the fulfillment of Revelation 20’s reign collapses the specificity of the vision into a general principle Paul is making about salvation.

2 Peter 3:10-13

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. - 2 Peter 3:10-13 NIV

How it is used: Peter describes a single Day of the Lord in which the present heavens and earth are destroyed and the new creation begins — with no millennial interlude between. There is no mention of a thousand-year reign between Christ’s return and the new creation, no staging of events across multiple returns. The expectation Peter calls his readers to is immediate: Christ returns, creation is renewed, righteousness dwells. Amillennialists argue this is the consistent New Testament picture: the parousia, the resurrection, the judgment, and the new creation are a single complex of events, not a sequence staged over a millennium.

Arguments against: Peter’s focus in this passage is the certainty and unexpectedness of the Day of the Lord, not a comprehensive eschatological timetable. His silence about a millennium does not require its absence; the New Testament frequently addresses one eschatological theme without rehearsing all others. Premillennialists point to Revelation 20-21 as the passage that supplies the detail Peter omits: the millennium comes first, and then the new creation of Revelation 21 follows.

For Discussion:

  • Of the three eschatological positions we have studied — pre-tribulation premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism — which strikes you as the most faithful to the whole of Scripture? What leads you there?
  • The book of Revelation uses symbolic numbers throughout — seven, twelve, 144,000. Does that context change how you read “one thousand years”? Why or why not?
  • Jesus says the binding of the strong man has already happened (Matthew 12:29). Peter says Satan still prowls like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8). How do you hold those two statements together?
  • John 6 says Jesus will raise His people “at the last day” — four times, in the same chapter. Does that language feel like it leaves room for two separate resurrections? What would it take for it to do so?
  • Paul says God has already seated believers with Christ in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6). What does it mean practically — for how you live this week — to take that seriously as a present reality?
  • The amillennial view removes the dramatic urgency of an imminent rapture. Does that feel like a loss? Does it change anything about how a man ought to live?
  • If the present age is the millennium — if we are already in the reign of Christ — what does that say about the church’s mission and authority right now?
  • All three views in this series agree that history is heading somewhere, that Christ will return, that the dead will rise, and that God’s justice will be complete. How should that shared foundation shape how men in this group hold their differences on the details?
  • Amillennialism was the dominant view of the church for most of its history. Dispensational premillennialism is dominant in American evangelicalism today. What does that gap tell us about how we should approach our own eschatological confidence?
  • How does this topic point to Jesus — the one who has already been raised, already seated at the right hand of the Father, already declared Lord over all things, and who will one day make that lordship visible to every eye?