Adventism’s Fundamental Belief #27: The Millennium and the End of Sin—“The millennium is the thousand-year reign of Christ with His saints in heaven between the first and second resurrections. During this time the wicked dead will be judged; the earth will be utterly desolate, without living human inhabitants, but occupied by Satan and his angels. At its close Christ with His saints and the Holy City will descend from heaven to earth. The unrighteous dead will then be resurrected, and with Satan and his angels will surround the city; but fire from God will consume them and cleanse the earth. The universe will thus be freed of sin and sinners forever.”
Comments about the belief statement
I would be hard pressed to identify a theological subject that generates as much passionate discussion as a conversation about the Millennium and the related subject of the rapture/Christ’s return. There are a wide variety of views on the Millennium within Christianity. The three main views are summarized as premillennial, postmillennial, and amillennial.*
Postmillennialism posits that the world will gradually become Christianized, leading to a long period of peace and prosperity (the millennium—which may or may not be 1,000 literal years). Postmillennialism teaches that there will be universal acceptance of the Gospel and a total victory prior to the return of Christ. This time of peace will culminate in Christ’s return, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, and the eternal kingdom in the new heaven and new earth.
Amillennialism says that the 1,000 years are symbolic rather than literal, and they are occurring now as Christ and the deceased souls of believers reign with Him in heaven. Unlike postmillennialism that teaches a growing triumph of God, amillennialism believes that both good and evil continue until the return of Christ. Before Christ’s second coming, most amillennial views anticipate a great apostasy along with an unbinding of Satan leading to a great rebellion and attack on God’s faithful. This attack is ended when Christ returns, brings about the general resurrection and the final judgment, and establishes His eternal kingdom over the new heavens and the new earth.
Premillennialism holds the view that the present form of Christ’s kingdom is moving toward a grand climax when Christ will return. He will bring about the first resurrection when He comes before the 1,000 years begins, and He will establish a literal 1000 year reign on earth in space-time history with the resurrected saints reigning with Him—the millennium. At the end of the millennium, after the final resurrection and judgment and the restoration of heaven and earth, the Lord will reign eternally on the new earth.
Within the premillennial view, there are two main schools of thought: dispensational and historic. The historic premillennial view differs from the dispensational view in two important ways. The historic view does not contain a rapture where the believing church is temporarily taken to heaven. Just as important, the historic view has a different understanding of redemptive history and the Old Testament promises to Abraham and David than does the classic dispensational view.
There are three primary variants of dispensational premillennialism: pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, and post-tribulation. These variations differ regarding the understanding of when Christ will return relative to the plagues of Revelation 16. The pre- and mid-tribulation views teach that there are two distinct returns of Christ at the end of time, the first is a rapture of the church to temporarily stay with Christ in heaven during the tribulation, the second is the visible return of Christ to establish His 1,000 year reign on earth. The pre- and mid-tribulation views differ in whether this rapture occurs before the tribulation begins (pre-) or when the abomination of desolation takes place in the middle of the tribulation period (mid-). The pre-tribulation, dispensational premillennial view is probably the most widely known eschatological view.
The dispensational post-tribulation view is often conflated with the historic premillennialism as both describe the rapture and return of Christ as a single event occurring before the start of a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth. The views, however, differ in their understanding of redemptive history and, therefore, in the nature of the earthly events preceding the return of Christ.
The Adventist view differs slightly from each of these views based on where the millennial reign occurs. The three main Christian views all place Christ and His followers on earth during the millennium, whereas Adventist eschatology places the millennial reign in heaven. Outside of this variation, Adventism most closely falls within the premillennial group of beliefs and would be considered a variant of the historic view. Much as historic and dispensational premillennialism differ in their underlying understanding of redemptive history, Adventism has a unique understanding of redemptive history—the great controversy paradigm.
While the differences in the understanding of redemptive history within Christianity stem from variations in literal or figurative interpretation, the Adventist great controversy paradigm is based on the prophetic additions from Ellen White. While Adventism’s view of the millennium sounds relatively orthodox, the underlying theology of redemptive history is profoundly different from any of the variations within Christianity.
Sorting out details
When evaluating any teaching on the millennium, I find it useful to start with the eight verses that specifically address the topic (Rev 20:1-8):
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who 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 for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.
Let us identify the specific things that Scripture says about the thousand years:
- Satan is bound and sealed in a bottomless pit during this time so he will not deceive the nations.
- A group of resurrected people will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Christ for 1,000 years. This group’s coming to life to reign is referred to as the first resurrection.
- At the end of the 1,000 years, Satan comes out of the bottomless pit to deceive the nations.
Examining the statement of belief
Let’s examine each of the claims in the Adventist belief statement compared to Scripture.
“The millennium is the thousand-year reign of Christ with His saints in heaven between the first and second resurrections.”
The only part of this statement that isn’t directly from Scripture is that this reign occurs in heaven. The idea that at least some of the saints are with Jesus in heaven during the millennium, however, is a fairly common conclusion among many Christian groups. Consequently, on its own, this statement does not raise red flags even though it includes this detail which the passage does not state.
“During this time the wicked dead will be judged; the earth will be utterly desolate, without living human inhabitants, but occupied by Satan and his angels.”
The passage in Revelation does mention that those on the thrones have been given the authority to judge, but it does not state that they are engaging in that judgment during the 1,000 years—although contextually that conclusion is possible. More importantly, though, the passage says nothing about the saints judging the wicked dead during the 1,000 years. In fact, Rev 20:12-13 suggests that judgment of the wicked dead occurs after the end of the 1,000 years. The first part of this sentence is not supported by the passage in Revelation at all.
Furthermore, there is nothing in the biblical description of the 1,000 years that suggests the earth is desolate and without human inhabitants. If anything, the fact that there are nations for Satan to deceive at the end of the 1,000 years suggests the exact opposite. Rather, Revelation 20 speaks of Satan’s being thrown and sealed into a bottomless pit, not of his being banished to roam a desolate earth with no one to tempt.
In fact, this central idea within the Adventist belief about the millennium is either pure speculation, or it is the result of an extra-biblical revelation. Since Adventists claim, however, that none of their doctrines is based on the writings of their prophet, publicly acknowledging where they get this notion might be a problem.
Ellen White explicitly taught that Satan will be bound on an empty earth. In The Great Controversy, pages 658-59, she says this: “[T]he expression, ‘bottomless pit,’ represents the earth in a state of confusion and darkness…Here is to be the home of Satan with his evil angels for a thousand years. Limited to the earth, he will not have access to other worlds, to tempt and annoy those who have never fallen. It is in this sense that he is bound; there are none remaining, upon whom he can exercise his power.”
In addition to changing the location of Satan’s binding from the bottomless pit to the desolate earth, there is nothing in the passage about Satan’s angels being bound with him. This statement is another addition which originates with Ellen White, and it has been added to the Adventists’ understanding of Revelation 20.
“At its close Christ with His saints and the Holy City will descend from heaven to earth.”
The Holy City does descend from heaven (Rev. 21:2); the only question is the order of events. First, it can’t be assumed that the events in Revelation are all chronological rather than overlapping descriptions of the same events from different perspectives. If they are chronological, however, the Holy City doesn’t descend until later.
Furthermore, it is also an assumption that the city in Revelation 20:9 is the descended Holy City, as this statement from the Adventist belief statement suggests. The nature of prophetic literature is such that we can’t be certain, so one can’t conclude that the city against which Satan leads his followers is necessarily the new Jerusalem descended from heaven.
“The unrighteous dead will then be resurrected, and with Satan and his angels will surround the city; but fire from God will consume them and cleanse the earth. The universe will thus be freed of sin and sinners forever.”
While the rest of the dead aren’t resurrected until the second resurrection, the surrounding of the city in Revelation 20:9 isn’t specifically done by those who are resurrected. In fact, the most straightforward reading of Revelation 20 wouldn’t indicate resurrected people surround the city although, as stated above, prophetic writing isn’t always linear.
The Adventist belief statement seems to combine the defeat of those surrounding the city with the lake of fire. Combining these fires is convenient for Adventist theology since the defeat of those surrounding the city is said to be a consuming fire. By placing the focus on this description, Adventists can gloss over the lake of fire description which describes being tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev 20:10). The Bible also specifically states that the wicked dead are also thrown in the lake of fire (Rev 20:14) where the devil, the beast, and the false prophet (along with Death and Hades) are tormented (v. 10, Rev. 19:20).
The most straightforward reading of Revelation 20 (“tormented day and night forever and ever”) would indicate eternal punishment rather than complete consumption/annihilation. This understanding is reinforced by a straightforward reading of Christ’s statement, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire (lake of fire) prepared for the devil and his angels…And these (the wicked) will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:41b, 46)
The Adventist belief that the wicked will be consumed comes directly from Ellen White. In 1903 she wrote this in her Manuscript 80:
I learned that I had a God who was altogether too merciful to perpetuate throughout eternity the lives of the beings whom He had created for His glory, but who, instead of accepting the Saviour, had died unrepentant, unforgiven, unsaved. I learned that the wicked shall be consumed as stubble and that they shall be as ashes under our feet in the new earth; they shall be as if they had not been. There is no eternally burning hell; there are no living bodies suffering eternal torment.
Further, a statement of annihilation isn’t a necessary component in a belief statement about the millennium. Its only purpose here is to repeat this Adventist doctrine in yet another setting with the apparent idea that if one says it enough times it must be true, whether or not the Bible actually supports the teaching.
The core elements of the Adventist teaching on the return of Christ being a visible return before the start of the millennium falls within the broad range of teachings accepted within the Christian church. However, the Adventist doctrinal statement adds details that are not found in Scripture. Based on these many extra-biblical elements which skew the biblical teaching of eschatology and which reflect the input of their prophet, this Fundamental Belief statement can’t be accepted as true and accurate. †
* The explanations of amillennialism, premillennialism, and postmillennialism are derived partly from the study notes on Revelation 20:2 in The Zondervan NASB Study Bible, the Eschatology Comparisonchart on fivesolas.com, and the Zondervan book Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond.
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