The Book of Revelation has always been a difficult subject to discuss for the simple reason of the figurative language used in the book. The Bible itself is full of figurative language and Revelation is no different. So in reading the book of Revelation, I must refer to my main rule of hermeneutics: Literal interpretation but figurative when obvious. In order to understand the book of Revelation, you must learn how to read it correctly first.

I am a recovering premillennialist. Once I bought into the entire Hal Lindsey scenario of the end times prophesies and read many of his books and watched most of the movies. After the drama subsided I found a more rational approach to these scriptures. Now I consider myself an amillennialist. The first part of this article will be a brief overview as to the reasons why I switched sides.

Many readers of Revelation understand that the book contains much poetic and figurative language. Amillennialism's approach to the figurative language displayed a more logical progression of the book. This method of interpretation is called progressive parallelism and it allows the reader to see that the reading of Revelation is not in a chronological order but is written in sections that run parallel to each other through history. This is not unlike the order of the chapters in the book of Jeremiah.

Jack Cottrell, in his book The Faith Once For All, pointed out 6 of these sections but I believe that there are a total of seven distinct sections in Revelation. Chapters 1-3, 4-7, 8-11, 12-14, 15-16, 17-19, and 20-22 of which most are not written in a chronological order[1]. Examine for instance chapters 12-14 and 15- 16. The former clearly describes the birth of Christ which is an event that has already occurred in history at the time the book of Revelation was written. Also understand that 12:9 is the defeat of Satan in this same section but a new beast comes in 13:11 and the section ends with 14:19-20 with the reaping of the earth. In the latter section, chapters 15-16, we see more information given about the new beast (16:13) from the former section (progressive) and that all this occurs before the reaping of the earth because chapter 16 clearly shows people still living on the earth (parallel).

Once a reader understands this concept of progressive parallelism, the book of Revelation becomes much clearer in understanding. I do not suggest that now everything will make perfect sense but instead a historical flow can be followed by the reader. This gives incredible harmony to the events in Revelation and harmony is the second reason why I switched sides.

As I pointed out, Revelation chapter 12 discusses the defeat of Satan and his casting down from heaven. Without progressive parallelism I am tempted to read the book chronologically which presents a problem when I read about the same occurrence in chapter 20. Now I know that the sections only reveal more information to augment the previous so I see the full history of the Church in progression and not in duplicated events. This gives the book harmony between sections.

This method of interpretation also gives harmony to the rest of the New Testament. Again, if I read Revelation chronologically I am tempted to think of a second coming of Christ and then a millennial kingdom which does not harmonize with the rest of the New Testament in it's teaching of final judgment occurring simultaneously as Christ return. Consider the following New Testament scriptures regarding the second coming:

"For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS." - Matthew 16:27

"But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;" - Matthew 25:31-32

"It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, 'Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.'" - Jude 14-15

"and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed-for our testimony to you was believed." - 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10

Each of these scriptures, even the words of the Lord himself, describes a direct relationship between his return and the final judgment. This would be a biblical difficulty if the millennium was to occur after the second coming of Christ but now we can understand that Christ's reign is in heaven and he is reigning now.

Also consider this harmony with what John wrote in Revelation. If the millennium was to occur after the second coming of Christ then why would John write in Revelation 22:12 that he is coming and his reward is with him? In order to harmonize everything together, the reader must consider the progressive parallelism approach to Revelation and also see that the millennium is now, for the simple reason that when Christ returns there is final judgment.

The final reason I switched sides was the evidence that the current Church age is the millennium. First look at the description of the casting down and binding of Satan. Matthew 12:29 discusses the binding of the strong man and that is the same Greek word used in Revelation chapter 20. In John 12:31-32, Jesus tell us that was the time when Satan will be driven out and above all Luke 10:17-18 tell us that Jesus saw Satan fall like lightening. These verses support the idea that Satan is bound limited in his ability to influence people and if this be the case then now is the millennium.

One last portion to my final reason for changing my beliefs was that there is nothing in Revelation 20:4-6 to suggest that the millennium is a reign of Christ on earth. Actually, using progressive parallelism demonstrates that Revelation 20:4-6 is a parallel of Revelation 6:9 which was a vision that John saw in Heaven and not on earth. I conclude from these evidences that the millennium is now and when Christ comes so does the final judgment.

[1]Cottrell, Jack , The Faith Once for All, College Press Publishing Co, Joplin, MO, 2002, pg. 492

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