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Study 24 of 25

The Millennium and the End of Sin

The thousand years bring the great controversy to its final, just resolution in Christ

Hands-free narration of this study — good for the car.

Synopsis

Sequeira surveys the three major Christian views of the millennium — pre-, post-, and a-millennialism — before laying out the Adventist pre-millennial position: the first resurrection of the righteous occurs at the Second Coming, after which the saints reign with Christ in heaven for a thousand years while Satan is confined to a desolate earth, and the second resurrection of the wicked occurs at the end of that period for judgment and final destruction. He insists this doctrine must be read within the larger frame of the great controversy between Christ and Satan that began in heaven with Lucifer's self-exalting rebellion and will end with Satan's utter destruction. During the millennium, the saints in heaven review the cases of the lost, an experience marked by sober grief rather than triumphalism, since believers will discover, sometimes painfully, where they failed to represent Christ to others. At the end of the thousand years, Satan is released, deceives the resurrected wicked into a final assault on the New Jerusalem, and is consumed along with them by fire from God — the universe's decisive, once-for-all vindication that self-centered rebellion against agape love only ever produces ruin. This is presented not as a doctrine of fear but as the sure, gospel-grounded conclusion to sin's long and costly history.

Key points

  • Adventists hold a pre-millennial view: the righteous are resurrected and reign with Christ in heaven during the thousand years while Satan is confined to a desolate earth.
  • The millennium must be understood within the great controversy between Christ and Satan, which began with Lucifer's self-exalting rebellion in heaven.
  • During the millennium the saints judge, reviewing the cases of the lost, an experience that includes real sorrow over missed opportunities to represent Christ.
  • At the millennium's close Satan is released, leads a final assault on the New Jerusalem, and he and the resurrected wicked are destroyed by fire from God, ending the controversy forever.

Key texts

  • Revelation 20:1-6
  • Revelation 20:7-10
  • Isaiah 14:12-15

From the book

Chapter 24 · Belief 27 · Read this chapter

  • “The Millennium and the Great Controversy To correctly interpret the millennium, one must look at it in the setting of the great controversy.” (ch. 24)
  • “During the thousand-year period, the saints will reign with Christ in heaven and judge the wicked: Revelation 20:4-5, 11-15 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge.” (ch. 24)
  • “But fire came down from heaven and devoured [destroyed] them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown.” (ch. 24)

Put it into practice

  • Read Revelation 20 in full this week and trace the sequence of the two resurrections for yourself.
  • Reflect honestly on any place you may be failing, like a watchman, to warn or represent Christ to someone near you.
  • Consider how the millennium's final resolution of sin should shape your confidence in God's justice today.
  • Thank God that the great controversy has a certain, final end secured by Christ, not an open-ended outcome.
  1. Comprehension

    1. Summarize the Seventh-day Adventist (pre-millennial) view of the sequence of events surrounding the millennium.

  2. Scripture

    2. According to Revelation 20:1-3, what happens to Satan at the start of the millennium?

  3. Doctrinal Clarity

    3. How does Sequeira connect the origin of the great controversy in heaven to Lucifer's own words in Isaiah 14?

  4. Contrast

    4. Contrast pre-millennialism, post-millennialism, and a-millennialism as Sequeira summarizes them.

  5. Doctrinal Clarity

    5. Why will there be sorrow in heaven during the millennium, according to Sequeira's reading of Ezekiel 3 and related texts?

  6. Scripture

    6. What happens at the end of the thousand years according to Revelation 20:7-10?

  7. Doctrinal Clarity

    7. How does the millennium's conclusion function as the resolution of the great controversy?

  8. Application

    8. Personal: Where might you, like a watchman, be failing to warn or represent Christ to someone God has placed in your life, and what step could you take now rather than waiting for the millennium's review to reveal it?