MILLENNIUM (mil-l'en'nf-um), (Lat. mille, a thousand, and annus, a year).
This word is not found in Scripture; but as it refers to ideas founded on Scripture. a treat ment of the doctrine is required. The word denotes the term of a thousand years, and, in a theological sense, that thousand years mentioned in Rev. xx:2, 3, 4, 6, during which Satan is there described as being bound, Christ as reigning tri umphant, and the saints as living and reigning with him. The doctrine involved in this view is usually called Millenarianism, but in ecclesias tical history more usually Chiliasm, from the Greek word xiXtot, 'a thousand.' As the world was made in six days, and as, according to Ps. xc:4, 'a thousand years are as one day' in the sight of God, so it was thought the world would continue in the condition in which it had hitherto been for 6,000 years; and as the Sabbath is a day of rest, so will the seventh period of a thousand years consist of this millennial kingdom, as the close of the whole earthly state.
The Jews supposed that the Nlessiah at his coming would reign as king upon the earth, and would reside at Jerusalem, the ancient royal city. The period of his Ceign they thought would be very long, and it was therefore put down as a thousand years, which was at first understood only as a round number. This period was conceived by the Jews as a sort of golden age to the earth, and' every one formed such a picture of it as agreed with his own disposition, and with the views concerning the highest felicity which were dictated by the degree of intellectual and moral culture to which he had attained. With many these views were very low, being confined to sen sual delights, while others entertained better and more pure conceptions of that happy time (Wet stein, Comment. in Rev. xxii :2; Knapp, Christ. Theolog., translated by Leonard Woods, Jun., D.D., sec. i54)• This notion was taken up by many of the Juda izing Christians: Jesus had not yet appeared as an earthly king, and these persons were unwilling to abandon an expectation which seemed to them so important. They therefore allowed themselves to hope for a second advent of Christ to establish an earthly kingdom, and to this they transferred most if not all of that which in their unconverted state they had expected of the first. The Apostles generally seem to have entertained this notion till after the ascension of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, whereby they were instructed in the higher verities and mysteries of the Gospel ; but that they then abandoned it, and expected no other coming of Christ than that at the judgment of the world, appears clear from Cor. xv and
other passages. The fact that these Jewish no tions had taken deep root in the minds of many Christians, even in the Apostolical age, is, how ever, manifest from Thess. iv :r3, sq., v; and 2 Thess.
The following views are epitomized from The Seer of Patmos, by Sir Wm. Dawson: The millennium which is described in chapter xx of Revelation has attracted much attention from scholars and has become the subject of much controversy, the two centers of criticism being ranged under the heads of "pre-millennial" and "post-millennial" return of our Lord. If, with many able men of our time, we connect the sec ond advent of the Messiah and the resurrection of the saints with the beginning of the millennium, we find these stupendous events very near as in dicated by the position which we have reached along the line of events which were foretold by the prophets.
If, on the other hand, we regard the second advent of the Christ as post-millennial, the great event is postponed by the duration of the thou sand years and also by the period which is cov ered by the loosing of Satan. and it is thus con nected with the general resurrection and judg ment described in chapter xxi and with the New Jerusalem of the closing chapter.
(1) Nearing Millennial Period. In either case it would seem that we are DOW very near the opening of the millennial period. According to the prophecies of Daniel and the statements of the Christ this period is to follow as the next great event after the four successive empires which occupy "the times of the Gentiles." In order to understand the inillennium we must remember that it forms a part of the subject of the prophecies of the things that follow the last septenary of God's judgments on the apostasy and its abettors which are represented by the vials. In the end of chapter xvi these are spoken of as the last plagues, and it is said that men blaspheme God because of them, but the two chap ters following contain explanations of this and announce the downfall of the apostasy. Then in chapter xix we have a picture of the marriage of the Lamb and of the bride, the Lamb's wife with her spotless garments.