Position Paper
by Pastors William Heinrich and Johnnie Sloan
There are three views considered: Amillennial, Post Millennial, Pre-Millennial
(SGBC Pastors agree with the Pre-mill view of this paper)
I. Generally all believe Rev 19:11-21 is about Christ’s second coming.
II. Five key watershed questions
A. Is the timing of Satan’s binding present or future?
1. Pre-Mill = Future – Al Mill & Post Mill = Present
2. Why it must be future rev 20:1-3
a. Satan is completely cut off rev 20:1-3, 7-8
“Laid hold of the devil”
“Bound the Devil”
“Cast the devil in the bottomless pit”
“Shut him up & set a seal on him”
*Cut off from all activity and confine to the abyss
CF Rev 9:1-6 The locust was confined to the abyss until it was opened CF Rev 11:7-10 The demons were confined to the abyss until it was opened.
b. Scripture clearly teaches he is not in the present cut off or confined to the abyss
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
*He deceives, temps, blinds, fills the hearts, tells lies, destroys, appears as a angel of
light, etc.
B. Was the nature of the first resurrection spiritual or physical? Rev 20:4-5
1. Post-Mill & A-Mill both teach spiritual – Pre-Mill teaches physical
2. Post-Mill & A-Mill teach resurrection means regeneration or spiritual life
3. Four reasons this teaching cannot be true
a. Of the 42 times the word resurrection is found in the New Testament it always refers to a
physical resurrection
b. The same word ”live again” is found in verses 4&5. One cannot refer to regeneration
and the other to resurrection. The same word cannot have two meanings, one physical
and the other spiritual as taught by the A & Post
c. The context demands all reign the full 1000 years (6)
All in the first resurrection “shall be priests of God and reign with Him a thousand years”
1.) A & Post Mill teach this is regeneration not physical
resurrection. They believe we are in the Mill now &
regeneration now. Therefore some have been regenerated
2000 years and others only days
2.) Only the Pre-Mill view can allow for all to reign 1000 years
*It should be observed here that the A & Post-Mill view will
mean regeneration follows death. Read Rev 4-6 changing
resurrection to regeneration and this will be very clear.
*The A & Post-Mill teach 2 resurrections are a direct
contradiction to other passages, such as Dan 12:2, Acts
24:13, John 5:26-29. though these passages sound like they
happen in a general resurrection of all they do not deny the
possibility of 1000 years between them. Later revelation
often serves to clarify what was said earlier. To the Old
Testament reader the coming of Christ was one but actually
it will be two with 2000(?) years between
C. Is the duration of the 1000 years symbols or literal?
1. The A & Post-Mill say symbolic in keeping with all the book of the revelation
*They give as the symbolic meaning of 1000 years words like “fullness”,
“complete”, something known only to God.
2. The Pre-Mill hold to a literal 1000 years
a. If the 1000 years is literal than it cannot be present for already 2000 years have past
b. If God wanted to communicate that Christ will reign 1000 years, how else would He say
it?
c. The vast majority of numbers in the Bible are to be taken literally
d. The symbolic view is a departure from the literal, not the other way
around. To take something symbolic is to say it cannot be understood
when taken literally
CF Isa 55:12 “For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and
the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the
field shall clap their hands.
Three needed questions
1. Does it possess a degree of obscurity if taken literally?
2. Does it possess a degree of clarity when taken symbolically?
3. Does it fall into an established category of symbolic language such as hyperbole. “I’ve told you a million times”, etc?
D. Is the location of the Millennial reign in heaven or on earth?
1. A & Post-Mill believe it is now and many of them see earthly promises as happening in heaven for example, Christ is now reigning and there is no earthly kingdom in the future, only eternity
2. Pre-Mill believes the 1000 year Millennial reign of Christ is on earth
a. The text says it is on earth 20:8-9
“They went up in the breadth of the earth”
“To deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth”
*In Rev 5:10, the word heaven is used in the same context. If the A & Post-Mill spiritualized
earth to mean heaven what does heaven mean?
b. The many Old testament promises teach it will happen on the earth
Jer 23:5-8, 33:14-26; 2 Sam 7; Zech 3:8-10, 6:12, 14:8-9, 16-21; Joel 1:18-21; Hosea 14;
Ez 33, 40-48, etc.
E. Is the chronology of Rev 19 & 20 sequential or does Chapter 20 not follow 19 but take the reader
back to the present age?
1. A & Post-Mill teach Chapter 20 goes back to the present age
2. Pre-Mill teaches it is sequential and follows 19
a. The intro of 20 does not indicate any change in the flow
b. The overall content of 19-20 demands the sequential view
1.) Satan is cast to the earth (12)
2.) The unholy trinity is revealed (13)
“Satan, beast and false prophet”
3.) Two are captured and put in the lake of fire at the end of 19
4.) Satan is captured and punished in Chapter 20
*The final piece of the puzzle in sequential chronology
c. The use of the “any longer” is an interruption of something in progress. So 20 is needed
to complete the thought CF Rev 12:9 “Deceives the whole world” with Rev 20 :3 “So that
he should deceive the nations any longer till the 1000 years were finished”
*Chapter 20 is needed to complete that started in Chapter 12
d. Verses 20:1-6 cannot refer to the present age because:
1.) Satan is not bound
2.) The resurrections have not happened
3.) The mark of the beast has not been given on the forehead or hand
Two common objectives to the Pre-Mill view of the Millennium
1. Where do unbelieving nations come from after the Rev 19 battle?
a. Answer: Many but not all are destroyed. Only armies will be at the battlefield not everybody
b. Answer: The nations will come from all left alive to enter the kingdom. They will not come
from those with glorified bodies who will rule and reign with Christ
2. The casting down of Satan in Rev 12:9 & 20:2-3 are the same event and both describe a heavenly
scene in the present age.
a. Answer: The two only have a few points of continuity but many points of discontinuity.
b. Answer: In one, it’s heaven to earth and in the other it’s earth to the abyss.
In one Satan increases deception and in the other his deception is prevented.
In one the shortness of time was the time allotted Satan to deceive the nation
before his capture where in the other it was the shortness of his time after his
release from capture.