The [believers] came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Revelation 20:4
After finishing the section on eschatology in one of my systematics classes, I have found that much of the discussion in contemporary theology regarding the Millenium has been very trivial and oblique.
Most of the debates regarding this topic center around the timing of the millenium and we have positions such as pre-mil, post-mil, a-mil, and its various variants. While an important discussion, I do not believe it is the discussion that we should be engaging in. I believe the discussion we should be engaging in is what is actually going on in this time.
Whatever the position on the timing (except probably A-mil), there seems to be a connection in what we are doing in this life right now and what we will be doing in the Millennium. The description in Rev 20 is one of the few descriptions about what believers are doing after they are resurrected from the dead, and they are said to “reigning with Christ for a thousand years.”
And how we shall reign with Christ is a subject that is common in Jesus’ parables about the kingdom of God. He exhorts for faithfulness with few, being unashamed of the son of man in order that he would not be ashamed of us and that we would be found with much in the age to come.
And unfortunately, accuracy about the timing of when we will reign with Christ is not pertinent nor encouraging to believers to actually be blessed in this time. And to be exact, it’s a very long time. My main point is this: The length of this period and the weightiness of our responsibilities during this time is much too disproportionate to what is being spoken of in eschatology.
And so here is another example of how Western theology has gone awry–when discussions have no end but the discussion themselves (i.e. they have no application).
