In this teaching Greg Boyd explains the meaning of the 1,000 year reign of Christ, and shows us how this imagery is not a foretelling of future events, but instead instruction for how to live in the present, reigning with Christ in the midst of our everyday battles.
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Reign
• Greg Boyd
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This passage has proven to be controversial and difficult in the history of the church. Greg Boyd unpacks its meaning and shows us how it can guide our lives in our present realities. The interpretation challenges revolve around the imagery of the 1,000 year reign of Christ. What does this mean? When does it occur? And what occurs during that time? Why “must” Satan be released after the 1,000 years?
Greg explains that there are multiple schools of thought regarding the meaning of the 1,000 years, what is called “the millennium.” Satan is bound during this time. Those who espouse a literal reading of Revelation read it chronologically, where the events of chapter 20 actually follow the events of chapter 19. Since Jesus returns in Revelation 19, they argue that Jesus returns before the millennium. This view only became popular during the middle of the nineteenth century. It is called premillennialism, and it is quite popular today, especially among evangelicals.
An alternative view has dominated church history. It does not see this as a chronological account about what will happen in the future, but as pertaining to present realities. The millennium is symbolic for an indefinite, long period of time. This is the time for the church to reign with Christ, and we are now living in this 1,000-year period.
The reference to “coming alive” and the “first resurrection” symbolize the supernatural regeneration which the followers of Jesus experience. We are given new life to reign with Christ. The binding of Satan during this period allows the gospel to spread, but this does not mean that Satan cannot influence in other ways. We are living in an already/not yet time. From the perspective of heaven, all has been won through the victory of the cross, but from the perspective of earth, there is a battle between good and evil. When Satan is released, it is because he is given over to his rebellion, into a judgment where the consequences of his choices can fully be realized.
Greg makes two points of application. First, we reign with the Slain Lamb. During the 1,000 years, we live out the victory of Christ in the same way that Christ defeated Satan, through the cross. This has not been the primary pattern adopted by the church throughout history, as the people of God have aligned with the powers to dominate as the world rules. But the way that we reign reflects the way that Christ reigns (See 1 Corinthians 1:17-18).
Second, we are called to reign over the principalities and powers. The work of the principalities and the powers refer to the systemic worldviews that shape common life without our concrete understanding. We don’t even think about them because they are part of the air we breathe. However, the norms of the world cannot be the norm of those who follow the Slain Lamb. As we follow the Lamb, we reign over the common ways of thinking and living.
Hide Extended SummaryTopics: End Times, Resurrection, Spiritual Warfare
Sermon Series: The Unveiling, The End Is the Beginning
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The MuseCast: June 16
Focus Scripture:
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Revelation 20:1-5, 7-8
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 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. 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 came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. ….This is the first resurrection. When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle…. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.
