07-08a Of the Millennium, or Personal Reign

cont’d 3. The description of the persons that shall thus reign with Christ, as given Revelation 20:6.

3a. First, they are such who have "part in the first resurrection;" which, what that is, must be inquired into.

3a1. First, this cannot be understood of a spiritual resurrection, or of a resurrection from the death of sin to a life of grace, which men are made partakers of at regeneration; such a resurrection cannot be intended here; for,

3a1a. As this was a vision of something future, that John saw, be it afterwards when it may, it could never be the first resurrection of this sort; since there had been thousands of instances of this, from the beginning of the world to the times of John; and therefore could be nothing uncommon, rare, and wonderful, to be shown him, if this was the case.

3a1b. This can never be the first resurrection, with respect to the persons themselves raised; for they are such who had been raised in this sense before; since they are the souls of such who had suffered for Christ and his gospel, and had bore a testimony against antichrist in every shape; and had refused obedience to him by word or deed: and can it be thought that such persons had not been quickened by the grace of God; or were not raised from the death of sin, before they suffered for the sake of Christ, or professed his name?

3a1c. Persons once raised in this sense, never die again; nor stand in need of being raised a second time; he that lives, and believes in Christ, never dies a spiritual death; grace in him is immortal and incorruptible: and could this possibly be their case, it would not be the first, but a second resurrection.

3a1d. There is no such resurrection after death. Those persons are represented in the vision, as having been slain for their faithful testimony; or as having departed this life, either under Rome pagan or papal; and as they stood in no need of such a resurrection, so if they had, they could not have had it; if a man dies in his sins, he remains in them; if he dies impenitent, and an unbeliever, so he continues; neither faith nor repentance any grace, are given after death.

3a1e. Persons who have been quickened in this sense, or have been spiritually raised from the death of sin, and have lived, never lived corporeally a thousand years; not any of the saints in the patriarchal state, partakers of a spiritual resurrection, even those that lived the longest, not Adam, nor Methuselah, lived to such an age; nor any afterwards to the times of John; nor any since; nor is there any reason to expect that any will in the present state.

3a1f. There will be none to be raised in this sense at the coming of Christ in the last day; the Jews will have been converted, and the fulness of the Gentiles brought in; all that God meant should come to repentance, will now have been brought to it; and when everyone of them is effectually called, or, in other words, raised from a death of sin to a life of grace, then will the day of the Lord come, and the general conflagration take place, in which all the wicked of the earth will be burnt up; and the whole election of grace being gathered in, and the whole church of God completely prepared for Christ her husband, there will remain none to be the subjects of a spiritual resurrection.

3a1g. If this living again before the reign, or at the beginning of the reign of the thousand years, is to be understood of a spiritual resurrection, then the living of the rest of the dead, that is, of the wicked, at the end of the thousand years, must be understood in the same sense, that they shall live a life of grace, being raised from the death of sin; for it is expressly said, "The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished;" which supposes they will live when they are finished, and live in the same sense as they will who will live at the beginning of them; that is, a corporal life, being raised from the dead; not, surely, a spiritual one.

3a2. Secondly, nor is this first resurrection to be understood in a civil sense, of the resurrection of the martyrs, not in their own persons, but in their successors, or of a revival of the cause for which they suffered; which it is supposed will be [13], when in the latter day the Jews will be converted, and the fulness of the Gentiles brought in; the conversion of the Jews being represented by a resurrection, by opening their graves, and bringing them out of them, and causing them to live (Ezekiel 37:13, Ezekiel 37:14), and of which some [14] understand Daniel 12:2 and by the apostle Paul called, "life from the dead" (Romans 11:15). But,

3a2a. Though this may be called a resurrection, in a figurative sense, yet it is never called, "the first resurrection;" nor can it be called so, with any propriety; because there have been already revivals of the cause of the martyrs: there was a revival of the cause of them who suffered in the persecutions of the pagan emperors, in the times of Constantine, when paganism was demolished throughout the Roman empire, and Christianity got ground, and flourished everywhere; and there was a revival of the cause of the martyrs and confessors under Rome papal, at the time of the reformation; when whole nations, even many of the European nations, fell off from popery, and embraced the truths of the gospel; so that, admitting the time referred to may be called the revival of the cause of the martyrs, it cannot be said to be the "first," but rather the "third" resurrection. Besides, a first resurrection, supposes a second, of the same kind. Now after the conversion of the Jews, and the great spread of the gospel among the Gentiles, what further reviving of the cause of Christ is there to be expected in the present state, that can be called a second resurrection?

3a2b. Those that shall have part in the first resurrection, are expressly the same persons who really existed in the times of Rome pagan, and Rome papal, and not any successors of theirs, of whom the same things cannot be said as are of them; nor in the times referred to, will there be any persons similar, and answerable to the martyrs and confessors described; since there will be no antichrist to suffer from, nor to bear a testimony against; for the kingdoms of this world, both pagan, papal, and Mahometan, will now become the kingdoms of Christ, and serve him.

3a2c. The time of the conversion of the Jews, and of the Gentiles, will be over before this first resurrection takes place; and an account is given of those events in the book of the Revelation, before this resurrection and millennium state. They are signified, partly, by the ascension of the witnesses to heaven; and partly by the kingdoms of this world becoming Christ’s (Revelation 11:12, Revelation 11:15), and particularly, the conversion of the Jews, by the marriage of the Lamb being come (Revelation 19:7-9).

3a2d. The resurrection of the cause of Christ, as in the conversion of the Jews, and the accession of the Gentiles, and this first resurrection, are assigned and belong to two different periods; the events relating to the Jews and Gentiles, will be upon the destruction of the Pope and Turk, at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and the pouring out of the sixth and seventh vials, and when all the antichristian kings and states will be destroyed: but the events of the first resurrection, and the millennium, will be not only after the destruction of antichrist, but after the binding and shutting up of Satan and his angels, with the wicked, in the bottomless pit, and after the burning of the world; and not before.

3a2e. If the first resurrection could be understood of the revival of the cause of the martyrs, at the beginning of the millennium, it would follow, that there will also be a revival of it among the rest of the dead, or the wicked, at the end of it; since it is suggested, that they shall then live: but this is not only altogether improbable, but the reverse is the truth; for they will gather together in a body, and encompass the camp of the saints, the beloved city, with an intention to destroy it: it remains, therefore, 3a3. Thirdly, that this first resurrection is to be understood literally and properly, of a corporal one; for,

3a3a. This resurrection is of such who died a corporal death, either a violent one, being slain for their testimony for Christ and the gospel; or in a natural way, not having given into antichristian principles and practices; and therefore their living again, or their resurrection, which is called the first, must be a corporal resurrection; for as is their death, so must be their resurrection from the dead. The souls slain, cannot be understood of such, distinctly considered; for they die not, and cannot be said to be raised again; but of the persons of men with respect to their bodies, which only die, and are the proper subjects of a resurrection; and which being raised, are united to their souls, and live; and so the whole person lives.

3a3b. Of such a resurrection, is the living again of the wicked dead, at the end of the millennium; for as their living then cannot be interpreted, neither of a spiritual resurrection, nor of a civil one, it must be of a corporal one; and if theirs, who are the rest of the dead, is a corporal one, then those who lived before them, being raised from the dead, must be a corporal one likewise; for that one part of the dead should be raised, and live in one sense; and the rest be raised and live in another sense, is not reasonable to suppose.

3a3c. It is a resurrection, which, by way of emphasis, is called, "the resurrection," which some persons are "worthy" of, and others are not; or, "the resurrection which is out of," or "from among the dead;" the wicked dead, leaving them to continue under the power of death for a longer time; and this is the resurrection the apostle was so desirous of attaining to (Php 3:11), where he uses a different word, than what is commonly used of the resurrection; it being "a better resurrection" (Hebrews 11:35), the resurrection of the just, which is better than that of the wicked, being unto life, and "through Jesus" (Acts 4:2), through union to him; and of which he is the example and first fruits.

3a3d. The resurrection in the text has a double article, which makes it the more emphatical, and points at what resurrection is meant, "The resurrection, the first;" that which is the first, with respect to the wicked, whose resurrection can be no other than corporal, and therefore this must be so too. And this may be confirmed by other passages of scripture; as by Psalms 49:14. "The upright shall have dominion over them," the wicked; they rising first in the morning of the day of the resurrection; and the wicked in the evening, or at the end of that day: and especially by 1 Thessalonians 4:16. The dead in Christ shall rise first; this can be understood of no other than a corporal resurrection, which will be at the second coming of Christ; nor of any other but of the saints who die in Christ, in union with him; and of their rising before the wicked, who die not in him, but in their sins; and not of their rising before the change of the living saints, as some think; for the resurrection of the dead in Christ, and the change of the living saints, will both be together, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Corinthians 15:52), and so not one before another. Nor are the several particular resurrections mentioned in scripture, any objection to the resurrection of the saints first [15]; since these were not a resurrection to an immortal life; and besides, would lie as strongly against Christ being the "first" that rose from the dead (Acts 26:23). Nor is the resurrection of the saints, at the resurrection of Christ, any objection to it (Matthew 27:52, Matthew 27:53), for whether or no they rose to an immortal life, is a question; and if they did, which is not improbable, theirs was only a presage and pledge of the general resurrection of the just, which is the first; and that of the wicked, the second.

3a3e. Nor are the passages in Daniel 12:2 and John 5:28, John 5:29 to be objected to a first and second corporal resurrection, and to such a distance of time between them as that of a thousand years; the resurrection of good and evil men being mentioned together, as if they were events that took place at the same time; since, in prophecies especially, as these are, things are often laid together, which are fulfilled separately, and at a distance from each other; as some concerning the first and second coming of Christ; and also concerning his spiritual and personal reign. Besides, these passages may be considered as perfectly agreeing with, and as expressive of this twofold resurrection, as to the time thereof; thus the prophet Daniel says, "Many shall awake," or rise from the dead; that is, "all;" but not at the same time, nor to the same end; "some" of these shall awake, or arise, at the beginning of the thousand years, "to everlasting life;" and "some," at the end of them, "to shame and everlasting contempt": and so our Lord says in the other passage; "The hour is coming;" the word wra, does not always signify that part of time which is sometimes called an hour; but "time" in general, and a very long time too; see 1 John 2:18 and Revelation 17:12 and so here; "The time is coming," the time of the millennium; within the compass of which "all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life," at the beginning of the said hour, or time: "and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation," at the end of it.

3a3f. The apostle John, when, in the context, speaking of the resurrection from the dead, says, "they lived," that is, rose from the dead; "but the rest of the dead lived not again," did not rise again from the dead till afterwards; speaks in the language of his nation; nothing is more common with the Jews, than to call a corporal resurrection Mytmh tyyxt "the quickening of the dead [16]," or causing them to live. And is agreeable to the sacred scriptures (Isaiah 26:19; Hosea 6:2; Romans 4:17). Now since only such who have part in the first resurrection, and which is a corporal one, will reign with Christ a thousand years; the millennium reign will be a reign only of risen saints, in a perfect state, and who will not be in a mortal and sinful one; so that here will be no conversion work, and so no need of the word and ordinances; and much less will there be an indulgence to carnal pleasures.

3b. Secondly, another part of the description of those that shall reign with Christ in the millennium, and which shows their happiness, is, "On such the second death hath no power": the phrase, "the second death," is only used in the book of the Revelation, and was common with the Jews, and what John was well acquainted with, and is frequently to be met with in their writings [17]; what is meant by it, may be seen in Revelation 20:14 21:8 and is no other than the punishment of body and soul in hell; an eternal separation of both from God; and is called the "second" death, in distinction from the death of the body, which is the first death, and lies in a separation of the soul from the body: now to be free and secure from such a death, must be a great happiness; and this all in the millennium state will enjoy, and for evermore.

3c. Thirdly, those that will share in the millennium reign with Christ, will be "priests of God and of Christ;" that is, made priests to God by Christ; shall serve the Lord as the priests in the temple did; draw nigh to him, and offer up the sacrifices of praise continually; they will be a royal priesthood, both kings and priests; as in Revelation 1:6 5:10 like Christ their head, who is a Priest on his throne; and as his type, Melchizedek, who was king of Salem, and priest of the most high God: nor has it been unusual, in the nations of the earth, for men to be both kings and priests [18]; and certain it is, that those in the millennium are priests, that shall reign as kings; and the same word, in the Hebrew language, signifies both priests and princes.

3d. Fourthly, upon the whole, it is no wonder that they are pronounced "blessed" and "holy": they must needs be "blessed," since they will be always before the throne, and serve the Lord day and night, and hunger and thirst no more; shall be free from evils of every kind, and from death in every shape, and of every sort; and shall be in the perfect enjoyment of the presence of Christ. And they will be holy in body, being raised in purity, in incorruption, and in glory, like the glorious body of Christ; and in soul, being perfectly sanctified, and entirely free from sin, from the being of it, and all defilement by it; see Revelation 21:27.

4. The continuance and duration of the reign of Christ and the saints together, which will be a "thousand years." The things to be inquired into are, whether these years are to be understood definitely, or indefinitely? and whether they are past, or yet to come?

4a. First, whether they are to be taken indefinitely, for an uncertain number; or definitely, for an exact, precise, determinate time literally.

4a1. One ancient writer [19] understands the words indefinitely, for a long time, even from the first coming of Christ to the end of the world; a long time indeed! longer than the thousand years themselves; for more than nine hundred years above a thousand, have run out already. Another [20], indeed, interprets them of the ages of eternity; for which Psalms 105:8 is quoted; but whatever may be the sense of that text, it cannot be the sense of the millennium reign, for that will have an end; it is expressly said, "The rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished" (Revelation 20:5), and of Christ’s reign and kingdom in them, there will be an end, when he will deliver up the kingdom to the Father (1 Corinthians 15:24), or else, as the same ancient writer thinks, the latter part of the last thousandth year of the world may be meant, a part being put for the whole. But however indefinitely this phrase may be sometimes so understood, as in 1 Samuel 18:7 and Psalms 91:7 it cannot be so taken in the passages relating to the binding of Satan, and the reign of Christ and his saints; but must,

4a2. Be interpreted definitely and literally, of a precise, determinate space of time; better reasons for which cannot be well given, than are by a writer [21] in the seventeenth century, though not in the scheme of the personal reign of Christ a thousand years; which are as follow,

4a2a. Because when there is no necessity to take a scripture in a figurative sense, we are to receive it in the letter; but neither the scope of the place, nor the analogy of faith, nor other scriptures, lay any such necessity upon us, so to take it.

4a2b. Because this same space is so often repeated by the Spirit, to which we should take the more earnest heed, as matter of instruction and information (and so fix it on the mind the more strongly) for thrice it is said, Satan was bound a thousand year’s, and afterwards loosed (Revelation 20:2, Revelation 20:3, Revelation 20:7), twice it is said, the saints shall reign a thousand years (Revelation 20:4, Revelation 20:6), once, that the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished (Revelation 20:5), in all six times.

4a2c. The emphasis put upon the phrase. Pareus well observes, that in Revelation 20:2, Revelation 20:6 the thousand years are without an article, cilia eth, "a thousand years;" but in the other places, "four" times, with an article, ta cilia eth, "these thousand years;" these emphatically, these precise thousand years. As if he should say, Satan’s imprisonment shall continue a thousand years; the martyrs shall live and reign with Christ during these thousand years, and afterwards he shall be loosed.

4a2d. The parts to which this number is applied, are so cemented together, as cause and effect, distinction and opposition, that they very much strengthen and prove that just account of a thousand years; namely, Satan is bound a thousand years, that he should not deceive the nations till the same thousand years be fulfilled; then the saints lived and reigned a thousand years with Christ, that same thousand years: but the rest of the dead lived not again until these thousand years were finished; while the holy ones, as their happiness, made priests of God and of Christ, reign with Christ a thousand years: to which may be added, that these thousand years are bounded both at the beginning and end: they are bounded by the binding of Satan at the beginning of them, and by loosing of him at the end of them (Revelation 20:2, Revelation 20:7), and they are bounded by two resurrections; by the first resurrection of the saints, and the reign of them with Christ upon it; and by the second resurrection, or the resurrection of the wicked, at the close thereof. The next enquiry is,

4b. Secondly, whether these thousand years are past or to come? To the solution of which, this observation is necessary, that the binding of Satan, and the reign of Christ, are contemporary; that the same thousand years Satan is bound, Christ and his saints reign together; the thousand years of the one, and the thousand years of the other, run parallel with each other: and it is further to be observed, and what will contribute greatly to the settling of this point, and even to the decision of it, that by the binding of Satan is meant, an entire and absolute confinement of him, and of all his angels, in the bottomless pit; so that he and they will not be able "to deceive the nations" any more, till the thousand years are ended; that is, not be able to draw them into idolatry, to fill them with bad principles, and lead them into bad practices, and to stir them up to make war with the saints, and persecute them; and so by any, and all of these ways, deceive; during which time, the church and people of God must be in a state of purity and peace. Now if any such time can be shown, in which the nations of the world, not any of them, were not so far under the influence and deception of Satan, as not to be drawn into idolatry; nor to embrace false doctrines, and go into evil practices; nor to be excited to persecute the saints, for the space of a thousand years; and that the church of Christ, during such a time, has been in a state of perfect purity and peace; free from being disturbed and distressed by idolaters, heretics, and persecutors; then may these thousand years be said to be past; but if this cannot be made to appear, then most certainly they are yet to come. Let us put this to the trial; which will he best done by considering the several epochs, or periods, from whence these thousand years have been dated. As,

4b1. First, from the birth of Christ, who came to destroy the works of the devil, and before whom Satan fell as lightning from heaven; yet this falls short of the binding and casting him into the bottomless pit: whoever considers the state of the Gentile world when Christ came, being under the power of the god of this world, the nations thereof being left to walk in their own ways; nay, Christ forbade his disciples going into any of the cities of the Gentiles; nor had they a commission to preach the gospel to all nations, till after his resurrection from the dead; who, I say, that considers these things, can ever imagine that Satan was now bound? And if we look into the state of the Jewish nation and church, how sadly corrupted in their morals, being a wicked and an adulterous generation, and depraved in their religious sentiments; neglecting the word of God, and preferring the traditions of the elders to it; rejecting Christ, when he came to them with all the marks and characters of the true Messiah, and treating him with the utmost indignation and contempt; and were, as cur Lord says, "of their father the devil," and his "lusts" they would "do;" there can be no reason to believe that Satan was now bound. His many attacks on the person and life of Christ show the contrary; as his putting Herod on seeking the young child’s life to destroy it, in his infancy; and to make that carnage of the infants in, and about Bethlehem, he did; his tempting him in the wilderness, in the manner he did, which was bold, daring, and insolent; instigating the scribes and Pharisees to lay hands on him, and kill him, marching towards him as the prince of the world, and combating with him in the garden; and putting it into the heart of Judas to betray him; and stirring up the people of all sorts to he pressing to the Roman governor, for the crucifixion of him, and by which means he was brought to the dust of death. And though, indeed, Satan was dispossessed of the bodies of men, which possession shows he was not bound; yet when dispossessed he was not bound; and cast into the bottomless pit, but was suffered to go and rove about where he pleased; and though Christ, by his death, destroyed Satan, who had the power of death, and spoiled his principalities and powers, and ruined his works; yet all this did not amount to a binding and confinement of his person in prison.

4b2. Secondly, Others date these thousand years of Satan’s binding from the resurrection of Christ; when it is true, Christ ascended on high, and led captivity captive, and poured down his Spirit upon his apostles, on the day of Pentecost, whereby they were wonderfully fitted to preach his gospel; and accordingly preached it with great success, both in Judea and in the Gentile world; but still Satan was not bound. Not in Judea; for in the first and purest Christian church, he filled the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira to lie against the Holy Ghost. He stirred up the Jews to lay hold on the apostles, and put them in prison; and to stone Stephen the proto-martyr; he raised a violent persecution against the church at Jerusalem, and havoc was made of it, and men and women hauled to prison; he put Herod upon killing James the brother of John, and committing Peter to prison. And whereas the ministers of the word went into other countries, preaching the gospel, the Jews, under the instigation of Satan, stirred up the people against them wherever they came; as at Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Thessalonica, and other places; and what the Christian Hebrews suffered from them, may be seen in Hebrews 10:32, Hebrews 10:33. Nor was Satan bound in the Gentile world; for though the gospel made its way into divers countries and cities, to the conversion of many souls, and the forming of many churches; yet heathenism, under the influence of the god of this world, was the prevailing religion everywhere; and the sect of the Christians was everywhere spoken against; and the apostles and ministers of the word, were everywhere persecuted; bonds and imprisonment waited for them in all places; and all the apostles suffered death for the sake of the gospel; see the account the apostle gives of himself and others, in 1 Corinthians 4:9, 1 Corinthians 4:12, 1 Corinthians 4:13.

4b3. Thirdly, others begin these thousand years of Satan’s binding at the destruction of Jerusalem, which was very dreadful; in the siege of it eleven hundred thousand men perished [22]; and when such insurrections, internal quarrels, seditions, murders, and scenes of iniquity were among the Jews themselves, Satan could never be thought to be bound then; and after it, though things took a different turn with the Jews, and in favour of the Christians, in Judea and elsewhere; the Jews, though they had the same ill will to them, had not the same power against them; yet they themselves manifestly appeared to be under the deception of Satan, by their giving heed to false prophets, and false christs, which our Lord foretold would arise; witness Bar Cochab, a false messiah, who rose up in the times of Trajan, whom the Jews embracing, rebelled against the empire, which brought a war upon them in which fifty eight thousand were slain [23]; and under the same deception by false messiahs, and under the same blindness and hardness of heart, and malice against Christ and his gospel, have they continued to this day. And as for the Gentile world, though the gospel got ground every where, and multitudes of souls were converted, and the Gentile oracles were struck dumb [24]; the temples almost desolate, and worship in them was intermitted [25]; yet Gentilism continued to be the prevailing religion throughout the Roman empire, till the times of Constantine, at the beginning of the fourth century; as appears by the persecutions of the Christians by the Roman emperors: the first persecution was under Nero; this was indeed a little before the destruction of Jerusalem; the occasion of it was this, he himself set fire to the city of Rome, and then, under the instigation of Satan, charged it upon the Christians, whom he most inhumanly racked and tortured, and put to the most cruel deaths that could be invented [26]. The tenth and last persecution was under Dioclesian, a little before the times of Constantine; his area was called by the Egyptians the area of the martyrs [27]; the whole world was imbrued with their blood; and the world was more exhausted of men thereby than by any war, as the historian says [28]; it was the longest and most severe [29], it lasted "ten" years; and perhaps, in allusion to the ten persecutions, or to the ten years of the last persecution, it is said in Revelation 2:10. "The devil shall cast some of you into prison, and ye shall have tribulation ten days;" and if the devil cast the saints into prison, he himself could not be bound and cast into prison; nor could this be their reigning time; nay Dioclesian thought he had got an entire victory over the Christians, and therefore set up pillars [30], in some parts of the empire, signifying that the Christian name was blotted out, and the superstition of Christ everywhere destroyed, as he called it; and the worship of the gods propagated; so far was Satan from being bound, that he triumphed over Christ and his cause: and that he could not be bound in this period of time, appears by the multitude of heathen deities worshipped; the number not only of heathen philosophers among the Greeks and Romans, but of the Magi in the east, and of the Druids in the west, and of the Brahmins among the Indians; also from the vile and false charges brought by the heathens under the influence of Satan against the Christians, of idolatries, murders, incests, impurities, and unheard of crimes; which obliged their writers, as Justin Martyr, Tertuilian, &c. to write apologies in the defence of them; to which may be added, the scoffs and flouts, the malice and blasphemy of the heathen writers against Christ and the Christian religion, as Crescens, Lucian, Celsus and Porphyry: and if we look into the Christian church in the three first centuries, how it was harassed and distressed with heretics and heresies, we shall soon be convinced that Satan was not bound, nor Christ’s reign began; to reckon up only the names of them from Simon Magus to Sabellius, would fill up a page; some denying the doctrine of the Trinity; some the distinct personality in the Deity; some the person of Christ, either his real humanity or his proper Deity, or divine Sonship; as vile a set of men now were, for corruption in doctrine and practice, as perhaps ever was, and may truly be called a "synagogue of Satan," as they seem to be in Revelation 2:9 in the times of these men therefore the devil could never be said to be bound, when he had a synagogue of them.

4b4. Fourthly, others begin the date of Satan’s binding, and Christ’s reigning, from the times of Constantine; and reckoning the thousand years from hence they will reach to the beginning of the fourteenth century. Those who go this way suppose the vision in Revelation 12:1-17 and that in Revelation 20:1-15 to be the same, which cannot be; that in the former respects the imperial dragon, or the papal empire under the influence of Satan; the latter the person of the devil himself, with his angels; the former respects a battle in heaven, the latter a combat on earth; the former represents Satan as east out of heaven on earth, the latter as cast out of the earth into the bottomless pit; the former says nothing of the binding and shutting up of Satan, the latter does; the former speaks of him after his casting down, as at liberty to go about in the earth and distress the nations, and annoy the church; but the latter as in such confinement as to be able to do neither: but that Satan could not be bound, nor the reign of Christ take place in the above period of time is manifest; for though upon Constantine’s coming to the throne, and declaring himself a Christian, the Christian religion lift up its head, and flourished greatly with respect to numbers, wealth, riches, and grandeur, yet all its outward greatness in the issue ended in its ruin; and though heathenism was demolished throughout the empire, and pagan temples shut up [31], yet pagan rites and ceremonies were introduced into the church, and gradually prevailed; and especially when the man of sin was revealed, so that the followers of antichrist go by the name of Gentiles (Revelation 11:2). That the devil was not now bound, appears by the flood he cast out of his mouth to destroy the woman, the church, who was obliged to disappear and flee into the wilderness, the remnant of whose seed he persecuted (Revelation 12:13-17), by which flood is meant either a flood of heresies, as those of the Arians, Nestorians, Eutychians, Macedoninns, and Pelagians, which sadly infested and disturbed the churches; or a flood of persecution, particularly by the Arians, which was begun by Constantine himself; who, as the historian says [32], exercised "vin persecutionis," towards the latter end of his life, being imposed upon: and this was carried on with great violence by his sons, Constantius and Valens, who embraced that heresy; and in after times by some of the northern nations, who broke into the empire, and became Arians. In the reign of Julian, which, though but short, heathenism was in a great measure restored, and many diabolical arts were used by him to revive paganism, and extirpate Christianity; the schools of the Christians forbid, their temples shut up, and those of the heathens opened. These, with his attempt, in favour of the Jews, to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem, in spite of prophecy, and his outrageous blasphemies against the Galilean, as he used to call our Lord, plainly show that Satan was not bound. The irruptions of the Goths and Vandals, and other northern nations, into the empire, and the destruction they made in church and state, is a full proof of this. Within this interval of time antichrist rose up, and manifestly appeared; whose coming was after the working of Satan, with all powers and signs, and lying wonders; whose followers give heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; and who worship devils, and idols of gold and silver; and whose reign is to continue one thousand two hundred and sixty days or years, and so not yet at an end: and while antichrist reigns, Christ’s reign cannot take place, nor Satan be bound. Also much about the same time, that vile impostor Mahomet, under the instigation of the devil, arose; when the bottomless pit was opened, and then Satan surely could not lie bound in it; out of which came the smoke of the absurd Alkoran, which darkened the sun and moon, the light of great part of the world; and from whence came his locusts, the Saracens, which, for some centuries, greatly afflicted the Christian empire, whose king was called Abaddon, and Apollyon (Revelation 9:11), as did the Turks after them, whose empire was set up in the beginning of the fourteenth century, and continued to distress Europe till the latter end of the last. And now, so long as Mahometanism prevails over so large a part of the world as it does, the thousand years reign, and the binding of Satan, cannot be expected. To which may be added, the persecutions of the Waldenses and Albigenses, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, by the papal antichrist, and which have been exercised on them, even in the last century, in the valleys of Piedmont [33], show that Satan cannot be bound. And as to the state of heathenism, it will appear, by consulting the Magdeburgensian centuriators, that it has subsisted in various parts of the world, throughout all the centuries, from Constantine to the fourteenth century; and about the end of the fifteenth, when America was first discovered, in what state were the inhabitants of it? Idolators: yea, they worshipped the devil in some places in the West Indies [34]; as the inhabitants of the East Indies [35], and others in North and South America: and how many nations and kingdoms, both in America and in the East Indies, are, at this day, under the power of heathenism? And it was a calculation made by some in the last century, that if the whole known world, was divided into thirty equal parts, nineteen of them would be found idolatrous Gentiles [36]. Surely then Satan cannot be bound, so as not to deceive the nations.

4b5. Fifthly, some begin the thousand years reign, and the binding of Satan, at the reformation from popery; but whether the date is from Wicklift, John Huss, and Jerom of Prague, or from Luther; they all of them either suffered death, or met with great inhumanity and ill treatment, from the instruments of Satan, and therefore he could not be bound; and great numbers of their followers were persecuted unto death. Since the reformation, were the massacre in Paris, when ten thousand Protestants were murdered in one night, and seventy thousand in seven days time [37]: and the many martyrs burnt here in England, in queen Mary’s reign; and the massacre in Ireland, in which two hundred thousand perished; all under an hellish influence, are clear demonstrations that Satan was not bound. Besides, though various nations, at the reformation, fell from popery, yet all did not, and some have revolted to it since; and whoever considers the great decline of religion in our day, the increase of popery, and the spread of errors and heresy among us, and the great profaneness and immorality that prevail, can never think that Satan is bound, or that the millennium is begun. Upon the whole, it must clearly appear, that there never as yet has been such a time, in which it could be said, that Satan had no power to deceive the nations, either by drawing them into idolatry, and other bad principles, or into persecuting practices; nor any time in which the church of Christ has been in a state of purity and peace, free from idolatry, heresy, and persecution; wherefore it may be strongly concluded, that Satan is not yet bound; and that Christ’s kingdom is not yet come; nor are these things to be expected in the present state. The spiritual reign in the latter day bids fairest for it; and which, indeed, is a branch of Christ’s kingdom, when both Pope and Turk will be destroyed; but then Satan will only be destroyed in his instruments, but not in his person bound. Besides, the spiritual and personal reign of Christ, though branches of his kingdom, belong to different periods; and will not both take place in the present state; the spiritual reign will be in the present earth, and of saints in a sinful, mortal state, and in the use of ordinances: but the millennium reign will be on the new earth, and of saints in a risen perfect state, standing in no need of ordinances, as now. The millennium reign will not be till after the first resurrection; and the first resurrection will not be till the second coining of Christ, when the dead in him shall rise first. The personal reign of Christ will not be till the new heavens and the new earth are made, which will be the seat of it; and these will not be till the present heavens and earth are dissolved and burnt up; and this conflagration will not be till Christ comes a second time. The reign of Christ with his saints, will not be till Satan is bound, as well as antichrist destroyed; and Satan will not be bound, till Christ, the mighty angel, descends from heaven to earth, which will not be till the end of the world.

5a. I close all, with an answer to a few of the principal objections to the above scheme; and to two or three questions relative to the same.

5a. First, to objections. As,

5a1. It may be objected, to what purpose will Satan be bound a thousand years to prevent his deception of the nations, when there will be no nations to be deceived by him during that time, since the wicked will be all destroyed in the general conflagration; and the saints will be with Christ, out of the reach of temptation and seduction? I answer, this will not be the case at the first binding of Satan, which is the first thing Christ will do when he descends from heaven; first bind Satan, then raise the righteous dead, and change the living saints, and take both to himself; and then burn the world: but as the time between the binding of Satan, and the burning of the world, may be but short, I lay no stress on this. Let it be observed, that the same nations, Satan, by being bound, is prevented from deceiving any more, till the thousand years are ended, are those that will be deceived by him after his being loosed; as appears by comparing Revelation 20:3 with Revelation 20:8 and to prevent their being deceived by him, and put upon schemes to the disturbance of the saints, in their reign with Christ, he and they, that is, their separate spirits, will be shut up together in the bottomless pit; so that the one will be in a state of inactivity, and incapable of tempting and deceiving; and the other in a case and condition not susceptible of temptation and seduction; and both will have enough to do to grapple with their dreadful torments in this confined state; the one will not be at leisure to propose a mischievous scheme, nor the other to hearken to it; and Satan will full well know, that should he form a scheme, it would be impossible to put it in execution in their present circumstances. That the wicked, in an immortal state, are capable of being tempted and deceived by Satan, appears by a fact, after the loosing of him; for which reason it was necessary he should be bound during the thousand years: and that the saints, in an immortal state, are not exempt from attempts upon them, by him and his emissaries, only when he is under absolute confinement, which made it necessary, during the said term of time; and which will be his case after this affair is over, to all eternity.

5a2. That though the saints are said to reign with Christ a thousand years (Revelation 20:4, Revelation 20:6), yet they are not there said to reign "on earth." But it is elsewhere said, the meek shall inherit the earth; and righteousness, or righteous men, shall dwell in the "new earth;" and the redeemed of the Lamb, who are made kings and priests unto God, shall "reign on earth;" and they are the same with the priests of God and Christ, that shall reign with him a thousand years. Besides, it appears from the context, that this reign will be on earth; the angel that descends from heaven to bind Satan, descends on earth; the binding of Satan will be on earth; for there he deceived the nations before, and will after his loosing: the resurrection, and living again of the dead, will be on earth; and so, in course, their reign with Christ there. Besides, they are manifestly the camp of the saints, the beloved city, the Gog and Magog army will encompass, who will come up on the "breadth of the earth;" and therefore the saints, the beloved city, must be on earth; and who are no other than the holy city John saw come down from God out of heaven, that is, on earth, where the tabernacle of God will be with them (Revelation 21:2, Revelation 21:3).

5a3. It is objected to the personal reign of Christ with the saints on earth, that they, by reason of the frailty of nature, will be unfit to converse with Christ, in his glorious human nature; but, like the apostles Paul and John, who, when he appeared to them, fell down at his feet, either trembling or as dead. But this objection proceeds upon a supposition, that the saints will then be in a sinful, mortal state; which will not be the case; but as their souls will be perfectly sanctified, so their bodies will be raised in incorruption, power, and glory, and fashioned like to the glorious body of Christ, and so fit to converse with him in it; yea, more so than separate souls in heaven.

5a4. It is suggested, that for the saints to come down from heaven, and leave their happy state there, and dwell on earth, must be a diminishing of their happiness, and greatly detract from it. No such thing; for Christ will come with them; all the saints will come with him, and dwell and reign with him; and where he is, heaven is, happiness is. Did Moses and Elias lose any of their happiness when they came down from heaven, and conversed with Christ on the mount, at his transfiguration? None at all. No more will the saints, by being and reigning with Christ on earth, in a more glorified state than he was then in: yea, so far from being lessened hereby, that the happiness of the saints will be increased; their bodies will be raised, and united to their souls, they had been in expectation of, to complete their happiness: and this being now done, they will be more like to Christ, and more fit to converse with him. At the death of Christ, he committed his human spirit, or soul, to his Father, and it was that day in paradise; on the third day, when he rose, his soul returned, reentered, and was reunited to his body; and after his resurrection, he continued on earth forty days, showing himself to, and conversing with his disciples. During this time, was his soul less happy than before his resurrection? yea, was it not more so?

5a5. The bodies of the wicked lying in the earth till the thousand years are ended, may be objected to the purity of the new earth, and to the glory of the state of the saints upon it. The purification of it by fire, will, indeed, only affect the surrounding air, and the surface of the earth, or little more, and the figure of it, and its external qualities and circumstances; and not the matter and substance of it, which will remain the same. And as for the bodies of the wicked, that will have been interred in it from the beginning of the world to the end of it, those will be long reduced to their original earth, and will be neither morally impure, nor naturally offensive; and if anything of the latter could be conceived of, the purifying fire may reach so far as entirely to remove that; and as for the bodies of the wicked, which will be burnt to ashes at the conflagration, how those ashes, and the ruins of the old world after the burning, will be disposed of, by the almighty power, and all wise providence of God, it is not easy to say; it is very probable they will be disposed of underground: and this will be so far from detracting from the glorious inhabitation and reigning of the saints with Christ upon it, that it will greatly add to the glory of that triumphant reign; for now all the wicked that ever were in the world, will be under the feet of the saints in the most literal sense; now they will not only tread upon the wicked as ashes, but tread upon the very ashes of the wicked; and so the prophecy in Malachi 4:3 will be literally fulfilled, which respects this very case.

Secondly, to questions.

5b1. What will become of the new earth, after the thousand years of the reign of Christ and his saints on it are ended? whether it will be annihilated or not? My mind has been at an uncertainty about this matter; sometimes inclining one way, and sometimes another; because of the seeming different accounts of it in Isaiah 66:22 where it is said to "remain" before the Lord, and in Revelation 20:11 where it is said to "flee away" from the face of the judge; as may be seen by my "notes" on both places, and by a "correction" at the end of the "fourth" volume on the Old Testament; but my last and present thoughts are, that it will continue for ever; and that the passage in Revelation 20:11 is a rhetorical exaggeration of the glory and greatness of the judge, which appeared such to John in the vision, that the heavens and earth could not bear it, and therefore "seemed" to disappear; the phrase, "from whose face," which is unusual, seems to suggest and confirm it. I am of opinion therefore, that the new earth will be a sort of an apartment to heaven, whither the saints will pass and repass at their pleasure; and which agrees with other scriptures, which speak of the saints dwelling on, and inheriting the earth for ever [38].

5b2. Who the Gog and Magog army are, that shall encompass the camp of the saints, when the thousand years are ended? What makes an answer to this the more difficult is, that at the general conflagration of the present earth, all the wicked in it will be burnt up, and none but righteous persons will dwell in the new earth; it is to no purpose therefore, to think of Turks, Tartarinns, Scythians, and other barbarous nations [39], types of these; nor of any remains [40] of the wicked who escaped the general destruction, as supposed; nor of such frightened at the first appearance of Christ, who fled to the remotest parts, and now resume their courage, and come forth: it is a strange absurd notion of Dr. Burnet [41], that these will be men born of the earth, generated from the slime of the ground, and the heat of the sun; and increasing and multiplying after the manner of men, by carnal propagation, after a thousand years will become very numerous, as the sand of the sea, and make the attack they are said to do. But there is no need to have recourse to so gross an expedient as this: the persons are at hand, and easy to be met with; they are "the rest of the dead," the wicked, who live not till the thousand years are ended; and then will live, being raised from the dead, even all the wicked that have been from the beginning of the world; which accounts for their number being as the sand of the sea: and these rising where they died, and were buried, will be in and come from the four quarters of the world; and as they died enemies to Christ, and his saints, they will rise such; hell and the grave will make no change in them; and as they laid down with the "weapons of war, their swords under their heads," they will be in a readiness, and rise with the same malicious and revengeful spirit; and though it will be a mad enterprise, to attack saints in an immortal state, who cannot die; and Christ, the King of kings, at the head of them; yet when it is considered, that they will rise as weak and feeble: as unable to resist temptation, and as capable of deception as ever; and what with being buoyed up with their own number, and the posse of devils at the head of them; and especially considering the desperateness of their case, and this their last struggle to deliver themselves from eternal ruin; it may not so much be wondered at, that they should engage in this strange undertaking [42].

5b3. What the fire will be, which shall come down from heaven, and destroy the Gog and Magog army? Not material fire; but the wrath and indignation of God, which will be let down into their consciences; and which will so terrify and dispirit them, that they will at once desist froth their undertaking; like the builders of the tower of Babel, when the Lord not only confounded their language, but smote their consciences for their impiety. The issue of all this will be, the casting of the devil and his angels into the lake of fire, where the beast and false prophet are; and the everlasting destruction of the wicked, soul and body, in the same, after the general judgment is over; which is the next thing to be considered.

ENDNOTES:

[13] So Brenius in loc. et de Regno Eccl. Glorioso, c. 10. The Author of Theopolis, Whitby on the Millennium, Dr. Ridgley in his Body of Divinity, &c.

[14] Brightman in Dan. xii. 2.

[15] Theopolis, p. 53.

[16] T. B. Sabbat, fol. 88. 2. Sotah, fol. 48. 2. & Sanhedrin, fol. 92. l. Targum Hieros. in Gen. 19. 26. et in Gen. 25. 24.

[17] Targ. Hieros. in Deut. 33. 6. & Tou in Isa. 22. 14. & 65. 6, 15. & in Jer. 51. 39, 57. deuterosV qanatosV is a phrase in Plutarch. de facie in luna, p. 942.

[18] “Rex Anius, rex idem hominum Phoebique sacerdos,” Virgil. Aeneid. l. 3. so the Roman emperors were called Pontifices.

[19] Ambros. in Apocalyps, c. 20. col. 473.

[20] Aug. de Civ. Dei, l. 20. c. 7.

[21] The Author of Theopolis, p. 43, 44.

[22] Joseph. de Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 9. s. 3.

[23] Lampe Synops. Hist. Sacr. et Ecclesiast. l. 2. c. 3. p. 110.

[24] “----Delphis Oracula cessant, Juvenal,” Satyr. 6. v. 554.

[25] Plin. Epist. l. 10. ep. 97.

[26] Sulpicii Severi Sacr. Hist. l. 2. p. 96.

[27] Schmid. Compend. Hist. Ecclesiast. sec. 3. p. 116.

[28] Sulpicius ut supra, p. 99, 100.

[29] Orosii Hist. l. 7. c. 25.

[30] Gruter. Inscript. p. 280. apud Fabricii Salutar. Lux. Evangel. p. 157.

[31] Orosius, ibid. c. 28.

[32] Sulpicius, ibid. p. 102. Socrat. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 11, 12.

[33] See Perrin’s History of the Waldenses, and Morland’s History of the evangelical Churches in the valley of Piedmont.

[34] P. Martyr de Angleria Decad 1. l. 9. Oviedo de Ind. Occident. c. 5.

[35] Vartomauni Navigat. l. 5. c. 2. 23. & 16. 27. Ross’s View of all Religions, p. 59. see p. 77, 79, 80, 88, 89.

[36] Schmid. compend. Hist. Ecclesiast. sec. 17. p. 500.

[37] Ibid. sec. 16. p. 462.

[38] The Stoic philosophers speak of the final resolution of all things into fire, into a liquid flame, or pure ether. Dr. Burnet was of opinion that the earth, after the last day of judgment, will be changed into the nature of a sun, or of a fixed star, and shine like them in the firmament, Theory of the Earth, l. 4. c. 10. p. 317. Mr. Whiston thinks it will no longer be found among the planetary chorus, but probably become again a comet for the future ages of the world, New Theory, l. 4. c. 5. p. 451 [39] Vid. Hieron. in Ezek. 38. fol. 238. K.

[40] Lactant. Institut. l. 7. c. 24.

[41] Theory of the Earth, l. 4. c. 10. p. 313.

[42] See my Exposition of Rev. xx. 8. See Gill on “Revelation 20:8.”