General Christianity

Revelation 20: the millennium and final judgment

Revelation · Revelation 20:1–15; complete chapter

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Revelation 20:4–6

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time. 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 7 And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them. 10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire. 15 And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.

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A peaceful reign before Christ’s return

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On: and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years

Editorial paraphrase of the source · The Church of Jesus Christ, Church Beliefs, beliefs on God’s kingdom, resurrection and Second Coming; editorial paraphrase

The Church of Jesus Christ teaches that a peaceful reign on earth, while people remain mortal, precedes Christ’s Second Coming and the First Resurrection. At his return Christ gathers the righteous, including resurrected believers and those then living who are transformed, to dwell with him for a thousand years. The remaining resurrection and judgment follow. This sequence distinguishes the earlier peaceful reign from the millennium after Christ’s return. The official explanation cites Revelation 20 among its scriptural references. This is the position of the church headquartered in Monongahela.

Church Beliefs · The Church of Jesus Christ, headquartered in Monongahela, official website: beliefs on peaceful reign, resurrection and Second Coming; inspected 11 September 2026.

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2026-10-05T15:53:49+00:00

Alsted: the thousand years begin in 1694 or sooner

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On: reigned with Christ a thousand years

Linked by Rainbow Watch. Alsted’s book argues that the saints reign on earth for the thousand years of Revelation 20, and its title page cites that chapter. This paragraph speaks of “our THOUSAND years” without quoting the chapter.

Source quotation · Johann Heinrich Alsted, The Beloved City (London, 1643; English translation of the Diatribe de mille annis, 1627), third class of arguments, reasons VI–VII, p. 57

Reasons, or Consequences. […] VI. The Period or limited time, for the Kingdom of Antichrist to continue, is almost expired, and at an end, as appears by the Revelation and History. VII. Daniel Chap. 12. declares an end of his prophesie, when he expressely sets down, that 2625. years shall be finished after the end of his Lxx. Weeks, that is from the year of Christ 69. which years, if they be added to the other, the sum of 2694. years is made up. In which current of time all things shall happen out, which are foretold, except the last Judgement, and what follows thereon. Wherefore if from 2694. years, 1000 be subducted, we shall come by the year of Christ 1694. In this year then, or sooner our THOUSAND years shall take their beginning.

The Beloved City · Johann Heinrich Alsted, The Beloved City, or, The Saints Reign on Earth a Thousand Yeares (London, 1643), the English translation of his Diatribe de mille annis apocalypticis (1627), “Faithfully Englished” with notes (ESTC attributes the translation to William Burton); “The third Classis of Arguments”, “Reasons, or Consequences”, nos. VI–VII, p. 57 (heading p. 56). Transcribed from the EEBO-TCP keyed text (CC0; textcreationpartnership GitHub repository A25221). Long s (ſ) rendered s; TCP line-end hyphenation markers joined; page breaks joined; marginal notes and running heads omitted; roman and italic type not distinguished; spelling, capitalization and punctuation otherwise as keyed; omissions marked […].

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Daniel’s vision of resurrection

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2026-10-05T15:53:51+00:00

Augustine on the first resurrection and Satan’s binding

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On: reigned with Christ a thousand years

Source quotation · Augustine, The City of God XX.7, complete chapter; Marcus Dods translation, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series II (1887), CCEL transcription. Editorial footnote apparatus excluded.

The evangelist John has spoken of these two resurrections in the book which is called the Apocalypse, but in such a way that some Christians do not understand the first of the two, and so construe the passage into ridiculous fancies. For the Apostle John says in the foresaid book, “And I saw an angel come down from heaven. . . . Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” Those who, on the strength of this passage, have suspected that the first resurrection is future and bodily, have been moved, among other things, specially by the number of a thousand years, as if it were a fit thing that the saints should thus enjoy a kind of Sabbath-rest during that period, a holy leisure after the labors of the six thousand years since man was created, and was on account of his great sin dismissed from the blessedness of paradise into the woes of this mortal life, so that thus, as it is written, “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” there should follow on the completion of six thousand years, as of six days, a kind of seventh-day Sabbath in the succeeding thousand years; and that it is for this purpose the saints rise, viz., to celebrate this Sabbath. And this opinion would not be objectionable, if it were believed that the joys of the saints in that Sabbath shall be spiritual, and consequent on the presence of God; for I myself, too, once held this opinion. But, as they assert that those who then rise again shall enjoy the leisure of immoderate carnal banquets, furnished with an amount of meat and drink such as not only to shock the feeling of the temperate, but even to surpass the measure of credulity itself, such assertions can be believed only by the carnal. They who do believe them are called by the spiritual Chiliasts, which we may literally reproduce by the name Millenarians. It were a tedious process to refute these opinions point by point: we prefer proceeding to show how that passage of Scripture should be understood. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself says, “No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man”—meaning by the strong man the devil, because he had power to take captive the human race; and meaning by his goods which he was to take, those who had been held by the devil in divers sins and iniquities, but were to become believers in Himself. It was then for the binding of this strong one that the apostle saw in the Apocalypse “an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a chain in his hand. And he laid hold,” he says, “on the dragon, that old serpent, which is called the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,”—that is, bridled and restrained his power so that he could not seduce and gain possession of those who were to be freed. Now the thousand years may be understood in two ways, so far as occurs to me: either because these things happen in the sixth thousand of years or sixth millennium (the latter part of which is now passing), as if during the sixth day, which is to be followed by a Sabbath which has no evening, the endless rest of the saints, so that, speaking of a part under the name of the whole, he calls the last part of the millennium—the part, that is, which had yet to expire before the end of the world—a thousand years; or he used the thousand years as an equivalent for the whole duration of this world, employing the number of perfection to mark the fullness of time. For a thousand is the cube of ten. For ten times ten makes a hundred, that is; the square on a plane superficies. But to give this superficies height, and make it a cube, the hundred is again multiplied by ten, which gives a thousand. Besides, if a hundred is sometimes used for totality, as when the Lord said by way of promise to him that left all and followed Him “He shall receive in this world an hundredfold;” of which the apostle gives, as it were, an explanation when he says, “As having nothing, yet possessing all things,”—for even of old it had been said, The whole world is the wealth of a believer,—with how much greater reason is a thousand put for totality since it is the cube, while the other is only the square? And for the same reason we cannot better interpret the words of the psalm, “He hath been mindful of His covenant for ever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations,” than by understanding it to mean “to all generations.” “And he cast him into the abyss,”—i.e., cast the devil into the abyss. By the abyss is meant the countless multitude of the wicked whose hearts are unfathomably deep in malignity against the Church of God; not that the devil was not there before, but he is said to be cast in thither, because, when prevented from harming believers, he takes more complete possession of the ungodly. For that man is more abundantly possessed by the devil who is not only alienated from God, but also gratuitously hates those who serve God. “And shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled.” “Shut him up,”—i.e., prohibited him from going out, from doing what was forbidden. And the addition of “set a seal upon him” seems to me to mean that it was designed to keep it a secret who belonged to the devil’s party and who did not. For in this world this is a secret, for we cannot tell whether even the man who seems to stand shall fall, or whether he who seems to lie shall rise again. But by the chain and prison-house of this interdict the devil is prohibited and restrained from seducing those nations which belong to Christ, but which he formerly seduced or held in subjection. For before the foundation of the world God chose to rescue these from the power of darkness, and to translate them into the kingdom of the Son of His love, as the apostle says. For what Christian is not aware that he seduces nations even now, and draws them with himself to eternal punishment, but not those predestined to eternal life? And let no one be dismayed by the circumstance that the devil often seduces even those who have been regenerated in Christ, and begun to walk in God’s way. For “the Lord knoweth them that are His,” and of these the devil seduces none to eternal damnation. For it is as God, from whom nothing is hid even of things future, that the Lord knows them; not as a man, who sees a man at the present time (if he can be said to see one whose heart he does not see), but does not see even himself so far as to be able to know what kind of person he is to be. The devil, then, is bound and shut up in the abyss that he may not seduce the nations from which the Church is gathered, and which he formerly seduced before the Church existed. For it is not said “that he should not seduce any man,” but “that he should not seduce the nations”—meaning, no doubt, those among which the Church exists—“till the thousand years should be fulfilled,”—i.e., either what remains of the sixth day which consists of a thousand years, or all the years which are to elapse till the end of the world. The words, “that he should not seduce the nations till the thousand years should be fulfilled,” are not to be understood as indicating that afterwards he is to seduce only those nations from which the predestined Church is composed, and from seducing whom he is restrained by that chain and imprisonment; but they are used in conformity with that usage frequently employed in Scripture and exemplified in the psalm, “So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until He have mercy upon us,”—not as if the eyes of His servants would no longer wait upon the Lord their God when He had mercy upon them. Or the order of the words is unquestionably this, “And he shut him up and set a seal upon him, till the thousand years should be fulfilled;” and the interposed clause, “that he should seduce the nations no more,” is not to be understood in the connection in which it stands, but separately, and as if added afterwards, so that the whole sentence might be read, “And He shut him up and set a seal upon him till the thousand years should be fulfilled, that he should seduce the nations no more,”—i.e., he is shut up till the thousand years be fulfilled, on this account, that he may no more deceive the nations.

The City of God · Augustine; Marcus Dods translation, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series II (1887), book XX. CCEL transcription; footnote markers omitted.

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Now the thousand years may be understood in two ways, so far as occurs to me: either because these things happen in the sixth thousand of years or sixth millennium (the latter part of which is now passing), as if during the sixth day, which is to be followed by a Sabbath which has no evening, the endless rest of the saints, so that, speaking of a part under the name of the whole, he calls the last part of the millennium—the part, that is, which had yet to expire before the end of the world—a thousand years; or he used the thousand years as an equivalent for the whole duration of this world, employing the number of perfection to mark the fullness of time.

2026-09-11T03:53:51+00:00

Bengel’s timetable: 1810, 1832 and 1836

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On: bound him for a thousand years

Source quotation · Johann Albrecht Bengel · translated by William Fletcher

1810. End of the 42 months of the beast; upon the completion of which, and the pouring out of the seven vials, he is not, and Babylon sits as a Queen, xv. etc. 1832. The beast out of the bottomless pit, xvii. xviii. 1836. End of the Non-Chronus, and of the many kings: the fulfilling of the words of God, and of the mystery of God: repentance of those who are left in the great city. End of the short time (“space”), and of the 3½ times. The destruction of the beast, the imprisonment of Satan, xix. xx. Afterwards: The loosing of Satan for a little Chronus: commencement of the 1000 years’ reign of the saints: end of the little Chronus, xx. End of the world: all things new, xx.–xxii. I declare throughout, by what condition I wish it to be thought that the years in this table are defined. Therefore I beg, that no one will suppose anything to be advanced by me which is opposed to true sobriety, but that all will favourably receive that which is suitably offered.

Gnomon of the New Testament, volume V · Johann Albrecht Bengel, Gnomon of the New Testament, vol. V, translated by William Fletcher, second edition (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1859), p.373, final chronological-table rows and the following two qualification sentences. Title page and selected wording visually collated against the historical scan (PDF pages 5 and 407). Table columns linearized, line-end hyphenation joined, spacing normalized, biblical chapter references retained; italic emphasis rendered as plain text. Earlier historical rows are outside the selected unit.

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2026-09-11T15:40:29+00:00

Christ returns before the Millennium

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On: bound him for a thousand years

Source quotation · Sean Durbin · Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements

Introduction ‘Premillennialism’ is a Christian theological term used to describe beliefs relating to the second coming of Jesus and the establishment of the Millennium. Unlike the category millenarianism, which is often applied to a variety of religious and secular movements that emphasize a ‘general golden age or end times’, premillennialism is a specifically Christian theological category. The modifier ‘pre’ in premillennialism is operative, as it defines the point at which the second coming of Jesus is expected to occur. Premillennialism therefore refers to Jesus’s return prior to the Millennium. […] Futurist Premillennialism Although historicist versions of premillennialism had a considerable following, for a variety of reasons, they, along with the once popular postmillennialism in the United States (Moorhead 1984), were eventually supplanted by futurist varieties of premillennialism. The most notable and influential form of futurist premillennialism, known as dispensationalism, was developed in Britain in the 1830s by John Nelson Darby (1800–82). Dispensationalism is futurist because it anticipates the fulfilment of all outstanding biblical prophecy to occur in the final seven years prior to Jesus’s return. According to Darby, God dealt with humanity in a series of ‘dispensations.’ Importantly, within this interpretive paradigm, although Bible prophecy has much to reveal about past and future dispensations, it is silent on the present one, known as the Church Age (Boyer 1992, 87–88). According to Darby, the Christian church had not replaced Israel and therefore had no prophecies of its own; all prophecies relating to Israel would be fulfilled by Israel. The prophetic silence about the present age was due to its existence within what some referred to as ‘the great parenthesis’ that existed between the crucifixion of Jesus and the Great Tribulation (see e.g., MacKintosh n.d., 101–2; Weber 2004, 45–66). From Darby’s point of view, the only event that Christians needed to look forward to was the ‘Rapture’ of the church, which would remove ‘true’ Christians from the earth for a period of seven years, marking the end of the Church Age, or ‘dispensation’, and restarting the prophetic clock. Like other premillennialists, dispensationalists drew (and draw) heavily on the Books of Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation to provide an overview of what will happen during the Great Tribulation. These events include the ingathering of Jews to Palestine, the reinstatement of Temple sacrifice, and the rise of the Antichrist, who will eventually enact a programme of severe persecution on Jews and other Christian converts ‘left behind’ in the Rapture. Other prophesied events include the invasion of Israel by a Russian and Persian army, which will culminate in the battle of Armageddon, at which point Christ will return with the Raptured church to crush the enemies of Israel, judge the nations of the world, and establish the millennial kingdom. The establishment of Israel in 1948 and its expansion in 1967 brought some elements of historicism back into premillennialists’ interpretation of prophecy. Many conceded and celebrated that this event was the fulfilment of biblical prophecy and that the Rapture of the church and Jesus’s return would occur within a generation of these events (Talbot 1948; Bell 1967; Lindsey 1970). The varieties of premillennialism that have emerged over the past three hundred years have always been products of their specific cultural and political contexts, despite their champions and some modernist critics often placing them in the ‘plain meaning’ of scripture or a ‘literal’ reading of the Bible. Current events contribute to which aspects of prophecy are highlighted in a certain time period, and, as with the case of the establishment of Israel, they can alter how some prophecy is interpreted altogether.

Premillennialism · Sean Durbin, Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements, online article. Selected complete sections: Introduction; Futurist Premillennialism. Page heading dates publication 3 January 2023, while its recommended citation gives 3 January 2022. HTML text inspected; paragraph breaks retained, HTML formatting removed and whitespace normalized. Nonadjacent sections separated by an omission marker. Bibliographical references remain in the source article.

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International, explicitly displayed on this article: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Sean Durbin / Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements. Unchanged selected sections, with omissions marked, reproduced for Rainbow Watch’s personal noncommercial reference project; no translation or adaptation.

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2026-09-11T16:24:26+00:00

Chuck Smith: on Ussher’s chronology the seven thousandth year begins about 1996

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On: bound him for a thousand years

Linked by Rainbow Watch. Smith counts six thousand years from Adam’s fall to the seventh thousand, when Christ establishes “His kingdom”; this is the thousand-year reign of Revelation 20, which the passage does not cite.

Source quotation · Chuck Smith, Verse by Verse Study on Jeremiah 31–35 (C2000), 1979–82 series; Blue Letter Bible transcript. Short excerpt of one passage.

The interesting thing to me is that generally the pattern was six years of servitude and the seventh year set free. And it was just about 6,000 years ago now that Adam went into the servitude of sin and Satan. We are coming very, very close to the seven thousandth year. The time of redemption is at hand. I mean, we're... look at it. We're coming out to the year 2000. Now just when it was that Adam fell, we do not know for sure. One chronology, Usher's, Bishop Usher has it figured about 4,004 B.C. If that is so, then the seven thousandth year will begin about 1996. But we don't want to really be date-setters as such, but just know that we're getting close. The time and the seasons, we do know. And man has just about had it; 6,000 years is about all we can take. We've about done as much damage as we can possibly do without destroying now ourselves. And the Lord's going to intervene. And He's going to establish His kingdom, a kingdom that will never end.

Verse by Verse Study on Jeremiah 31-35 (C2000) · Chuck Smith, “Verse by Verse Study on Jeremiah 31-35 (C2000),” transcript of the 1979–82 audio teaching at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, Blue Letter Bible, https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/smith_chuck/c2000_Jer/Jer_031.cfm (audio listed as “Jeremiah 31-35 (1979-82 Audio)” at https://www.blueletterbible.org/audio_video/smith_chuck/5000/jer/verse-by-verse-study.cfm). One passage, from “The interesting thing to me” through “a kingdom that will never end.”. Transcript wording kept, including its bracketed insertions and spoken grammar; whitespace normalized.

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Transcript “Used with permission by The Word for Today. Redistribution without express permission from The Word for Today is prohibited.” Short quotation of one passage of a teaching transcript, reproduced for historical identification and comment.

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2026-10-21T14:09:01+00:00

Colin Deal: Christ’s return around the year 6,000 from Adam, 2,000 A.D.

interpretation

On: after this he must be loosed for a little time

Source quotation · Colin Deal, The Day and Hour Jesus Will Return (Colin H. Deal, 1988), p. 77 and p. 144; short excerpt of two paragraphs from each page.

Thus to allow for the thousand-year millennium, Jesus should return around the year 6,000 (give or take a few years for chronologist disagreements with calendar dating) from the creation of Adam to fulfill the 7,000-year plan. As has been stated, 4,000 years expired from Adam to Christ and 1,988 years since the time of Christ. This gives us a total of 5,988 years that have already expired since Adam. This would leave only a matter of years (allowing for a recognized calendar error) for the return of Christ to establish the kingdom. Of course, the first order of the resurrection should occur around seven years prior to the kingdom’s establishment. Thus, we are close to the rapture of the church according to this plan; just how close, is hard to pinpoint with complete accuracy. The Millennium is stated to be precisely 1,000 years in duration; just after the thousand completed years will be a short Satanic period referred to as a little season. “And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season” — Revelation 20:3. If God’s calendar is exactly 7,000 years pre-eternity, then the time allotted for the little season of unknown duration, after the 1,000-year millennium could push the coming of Christ back some time from the year 6,000 (2,000 A.D.), depending upon the length of the little season. […] Many have asked me, after presenting the message in this book, “If this be the case, when will Jesus return?” I will now attempt to answer this explosive question as sincerely as I possibly can. I feel the month and day are without question, as I have already shown. However, I am a bit uncertain about the exact year.

The Day and Hour Jesus Will Return · Colin Deal, The Day and Hour Jesus Will Return (Rutherford College, North Carolina: Colin H. Deal, copyright 1988 by Colin Hoyle Deal). Selections from pp. 77, 84–85, 89–92 and 144. Internet Archive item dayhourjesuswill0000coli, leaves 89, 96–97, 101–104 and 156, copyright page leaf 6; transcribed from the page images. The unmatched quotation mark printed before Thus (p. 77) is omitted; a stray mark between date and somewhere (p. 84) is omitted; italics rendered plain; small capitals in B.C.E. rendered as capitals; line-end hyphenation joined; spaced dashes as printed; […] marks omissions.

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© 1988 Colin Hoyle Deal. Short quotations (about 990 words in three excerpts, of a book of about 155 pages) of the dated reckonings, their stated conditions and the author’s own statements of uncertainty, reproduced for historical identification and comment.

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2026-10-21T14:09:01+00:00

Colin Deal: the Great Pyramid places Christ’s Millennial Kingdom around 2,000 A.D.

interpretation

On: lived, and reigned with Christ

Linked by Rainbow Watch. Deal dates “the establishing of Christ’s Millennial Kingdom” from the Great Pyramid; his page names Isaiah’s sign and quotes Jeremiah 32:18–20, not Revelation 20, which holds the thousand-year reign.

Source quotation · Colin Deal, Armageddon & the 21st Century (Colin H. Deal, 1988), p. 81 and pp. 144–145; short excerpt of four paragraphs and one paragraph.

Isaiah said it would be for a sign in that day (last day). It not only reveals knowledge of the birth, death, burial and resurrection of our Lord; but prophetic timetables based on measurements in the Great Pyramid have been discovered which relate to the Twentieth Century. Some of these are: 1914 — the beginning of World War I (Matthew 24:6-7), 1918 — The Balfour Declaration was signed giving the Jew the right to return to Palestine, 1938 — World War II, 1948 — and the refounding of Israel. The Pyramid is also said to project a 7,000-year plan for man this side of eternity. As to the next date in the Pyramid, it can only be stated approximately for there are several things to be taken into consideration of which scholars disagree when drawing conclusions from them. However, the prophetic measurements do reveal the establishing of Christ’s Millennial Kingdom somewhere around 2,000 A.D., give or take a few years. With a seven-year-tribulation period between this time and the kingdom, the trumpet must be extremely close! […] I will let you be the judge of the Pyramid’s projections and conclude by saying that if the pyramid is the subject of Isaiah’s prophecy, then it too is supposedly projecting the end of the age somewhere around the turn of the century. […] I have presented four Scriptural plans in this book that hint of the year of our Lord’s return. But, they rely heavily upon Hebrew chronology as it applies to our modern Gregorian calendar. For instance, the 7,000 year plan depends on the length of the little season and the exact year in which we are presently living. The seventieth Jubilee depends on the precise year the children of Israel entered Canaan. The fig tree parable depends on the length of a Bible generation. Prominent Bible chronologists are out of accord and differ often about historical Biblical dates. Pyramidologists also vary in their interpretation of the pyramid prophecies as to specific dating.

Armageddon & the 21st Century · Colin Deal, Armageddon & the 21st Century (Rutherford College, North Carolina: Colin H. Deal, copyright 1988 by Colin Hoyle Deal). Selections from p. 81 and pp. 144–145. Internet Archive lending item bwb_W9-BRZ-331, leaves 93 and 156–157 (leaf = printed page + 12), copyright page leaf 6; transcribed from page images supplied by the user from their own loan on 5 October 2026. Italics rendered plain; line-end hyphenation joined; spaced dashes as printed; […] marks omissions. The copyright page and pp. 77, 84–85, 89–92 and 144 read the same as The Day and Hour Jesus Will Return (1988), as does p. 81; the two titles are one text.

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© 1988 Colin Hoyle Deal. Short quotation (about 330 words of a book of about 160 pages) of the dated pyramid reckoning and the author’s summary of his four plans, reproduced for historical identification and comment.

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Colin Deal: the seventieth Jubilee and the Millennium between about 1989 and 2030

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On: bound him for a thousand years

Source quotation · Colin Deal, The Day and Hour Jesus Will Return (Colin H. Deal, 1988), pp. 84–85; short excerpt of four paragraphs.

How many years are required to fulfill Leviticus 25? 70 x 49 = 3,430 + 1 = 3,431 years. The plus one is the fiftieth year for the observance of Jubilee as recorded in Leviticus 25:10-11. Therefore, 3,431 years must expire from the time of Israel’s entrance into Canaan (first Jubilee cycle), until the Millennium when every Israeli, “. . . shall return every man unto his possession. . . .”— Leviticus 25:10. […] The question is, when will the designated 3,431 years since Israel’s entrance into the land of Canaan and the ushering in of the 1,000 year Millennium (Revelation 20) begin? […] To determine the terminal year of the Seventieth Jubilee would require the exact date of Israel’s entrance into Canaan; the time they began to observe this God-given festival. According to one chronology (Companion Bible — appendix 50), Israel entered Canaan about 1442 B.C.E. One of the latest chronological datings for this entrance is 1400 B.C.E. (Massoretic Chronology — Unger’s Bible Dictionary). There are scores of chronologist who place the date somewhere between the two. If the 1442 B.C.E. date were used for Israel’s entrance into Canaan, then Israel’s seventieth Jubilee would have occurred around 1989 (not allowing for a 3- to 4-year calendar error as most feel must be done). If the latest date of 1400 B.C.E. is used, then Israel’s seventieth Jubilee should occur no later than 2030 A.D. However, most chronologist feel the 1400 B.C.E. date is too late for the conquest of Canaan. If so, then how many years too late? Thus, what year did the conquest of Canaan occur between these two given numbers? Thus we can see that regardless of the chronology used for the Jews entrance into Canaan, the time for the completion of the seventieth jubilee is precariously close! It is abundantly apparent that now is the time to awaken and begin to observe the signs of the times.

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Edwards: the millennium perhaps about Lowman’s time, after 2000

interpretation

On: and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years

Source quotation · Jonathan Edwards, An Humble Attempt (Boston, 1747), Part III, pp. 126 and 149–150

Object. 5. A late very learned and ingenious Expositor of the Revelation, viz. Mr. Lowman, sets the Fall of Antichrist, and consequently the Coming of Christ's Kingdom, at a great Distance; supposing that the twelve hundred and sixty Years of Antichrist's Reign did not begin 'till the Year seven hundred and fifty six; and consequently that it will not end 'till after the the Year Two Thousand, more than two hundred and fifty Years hence; and this Opinion he confirms by a great Variety of Arguments. […] And this second Destruction of Antichrist, or rather Extirpation of his Remains, together with the compleat Extirpation of all Remains of Mahometanism, Heathenism and Heresy through the World, and the finishing Stroke towards the Overthrow of Satan's visible Kingdom on Earth, and so the Beginning of the Millennium, or spiritual Rest of the World, may, for ought I know, be about the Time Mr. Lowman speaks of; agreable to the Opinion of the ancient Jews, and many Christian Divines that have followed them, that the World would stand six thousand Years; and then, the seventh thousand Years should be the World's Rest or Sabbath.

An Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God’s People in Extraordinary Prayer · Jonathan Edwards, An Humble Attempt to promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God's People in Extraordinary Prayer (Boston, New-England: Printed for D. Henchman in Cornhil, 1747), Part III, Objection 5 (p. 126) and pp. 149–150 (Internet Archive bim_eighteenth-century_an-humble-attempt-to-pro_edwards-jonathan_1747, leaves n135, n158, n159). The running heads of pp. 150–151 read “The Beginning of the Millennium” / “may be about the Year 2000.” The printed duplication “the the Year” (across a line break on p. 126) is retained. Small capitals in “Object.” rendered in title case. Long s (ſ) rendered s; ligatures expanded; roman and italic type not distinguished; line-end hyphenation joined; spacing normalized (one space after punctuation, paragraph breaks as blank lines); running heads, catchwords, signatures, marginal notes and reference asterisks omitted; spelling, capitalization, u/v and i/j usage and punctuation otherwise as printed; omissions inside the selection marked […]. Transcribed from the Internet Archive page images and checked against the item's OCR text layer.

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Justin’s thousand years in Jerusalem

interpretation

On: reigned with Christ a thousand years

Source quotation · Justin Martyr — Dialogue with Trypho 81

And further, there was a certain man with us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, who prophesied, by a revelation that was made to him, that those who believed in our Christ would dwell a thousand years in Jerusalem; and that thereafter the general, and, in short, the eternal resurrection and judgment of all men would likewise take place.

Dialogue with Trypho · Justin Martyr; Marcus Dods and George Reith translation, Ante-Nicene Fathers I (1885), chapter 81. CCEL transcription; embedded editorial footnote omitted.

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2026-09-09T18:58:18+00:00

Lactantius: no more than two hundred years remain

interpretation

On: they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years

Linked by Rainbow Watch. Our link: chapter VII.25 does not quote Revelation 20; it dates the end that the preceding chapter (VII.24) describes as the thousand-year reign of the righteous, and chapter VII.26 continues with the devil loosed at the end of the thousand years.

Source quotation · Lactantius, The Divine Institutes VII.25, complete chapter; William Fletcher translation, Ante-Nicene Fathers VII (1886), p. 220. The preceding chapter describes the thousand-year reign of the saints.

These are the things which are spoken of by the prophets as about to happen hereafter: but I have not considered it necessary to bring forward their testimonies and words, since it would be an endless task; nor would the limits of my book receive so great a multitude of subjects, since so many with one breath speak similar things; and at the same time, lest weariness should be occasioned to the readers if I should heap together things collected and transferred from all; moreover, that I might confirm those very things which I said, not by my own writings, but in an especial manner by the writings of others, and might show that not only among us, but even with those very persons who revile us, the truth is preserved, which they refuse to acknowledge. But he who wishes to know these things more accurately may draw from the fountain itself, and he will know more things worthy of admiration than we have comprised in these books. Perhaps some one may now ask when these things of which we have spoken are about to come to pass? I have already shown above, that when six thousand years shall be completed this change must take place, and that the last day of the extreme conclusion is now drawing near. It is permitted us to know respecting the signs, which are spoken by the prophets, for they foretold signs by which the consummation of the times is to be expected by us from day to day, and to be feared. When, however, this amount will be completed, those teach, who have written respecting the times, collecting them from the sacred writings and from various histories, how great is the number of years from the beginning of the world. And although they vary, and the amount of the number as reckoned by them differs considerably, yet all expectation does not exceed the limit of two hundred years. The subject itself declares that the fall and ruin of the world will shortly take place; except that while the city of Rome remains it appears that nothing of this kind is to be feared. But when that capital of the world shall have fallen, and shall have begun to be a street, which the Sibyls say shall come to pass, who can doubt that the end has now arrived to the affairs of men and the whole world? It is that city, that only, which still sustains all things; and the God of heaven is to be entreated by us and implored—if, indeed, His arrangements and decrees can be delayed—lest, sooner than we think for, that detestable tyrant should come who will undertake so great a deed, and dig out that eye, by the destruction of which the world itself is about to fall. Now let us return, to set forth the other things which are then about to follow.

Divine Institutes · Lactantius, The Divine Institutes VII.25, “Of the Last Times, and of the City of Rome”, complete chapter, translated by William Fletcher, Ante-Nicene Fathers VII (1886), p. 220. CCEL plain-text transcription retrieved 30 September 2026; footnote markers omitted; CCEL double hyphens printed as em dashes (the print has dashes). Collated with the Internet Archive text layer of the 1926 Scribner reprint of the same volume (antenicenefather0007unse_r6g9): wording identical.

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Life during the Millennium

interpretation

On: they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years

Source quotation · James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, Chapter 42, The Millennium (complete section)

The inauguration of Christ's reign on earth is to be the beginning of a period that shall be distinct in many important particulars from all precedent and subsequent time; and the Lord shall reign with His people a thousand years. The government of individuals, communities and nations throughout this Millennium is to be that of a perfect theocracy, with Jesus the Christ as Lord and King. The more wicked part of the race shall have been destroyed; and during the period Satan shall be bound "that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled"; while the just shall share with Christ in rightful rule and dominion. The righteous dead shall have come forth from their graves, while the wicked shall remain unresurrected until the thousand years be past.[1587] Men yet in the flesh shall mingle with immortalized beings; children shall grow to maturity and then die in peace or be changed to immortality "in the twinkling of an eye."[1588] There shall be surcease of enmity between man and beast; the venom of serpents and the ferocity of the brute creation shall be done away, and love shall be the dominant power of control. Among the earliest revelations on the subject is that given to Enoch; and in this the return of that prophet and his righteous people with Christ in the last days was thus assured: "And the Lord said unto Enoch: Then shalt thou and all thy city meet them there, and we will receive them into our bosom, and they shall see us; and we will fall upon their necks, and they shall fall upon our necks, and we will kiss each other; And there shall be mine abode, and it shall be Zion, which shall come forth out of all the creations which I have made; and for the space of a thousand years the earth shall rest. And it came to pass that Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, in the last days, to dwell on the earth in righteousness for the space of a thousand years."[1589] In these latter days the Lord has thus spoken, requiring preparation for the Millennial era, and describing in part the glories thereof: "And prepare for the revelation which is to come, when the veil of the covering of my temple, in my tabernacle, which hideth the earth, shall be taken off, and all flesh shall see me together. And every corruptible thing, both of man, or of the beasts of the field, or of the fowls of the heavens, or of the fish of the sea, that dwell upon all the face of the earth, shall be consumed; And also that of element shall melt with fervent heat; and all things shall become new, that my knowledge and glory may dwell upon all the earth. And in that day the enmity of man, and the enmity of beasts, yea, the enmity of all flesh, shall cease from before my face. And in that day whatsoever any man shall ask, it shall be given unto him. And in that day Satan shall not have power to tempt any man. And there shall be no sorrow because there is no death. In that day an infant shall not die until he is old, and his life shall be as the age of a tree, and when he dies he shall not sleep, (that is to say in the earth,) but shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and shall be caught up, and his rest shall be glorious. Yea, verily I say unto you, in that day when the Lord shall come, he shall reveal all things."[1590] The Millennium is to precede the time designated in scriptural phrase "the end of the world." When the thousand years are passed, Satan shall be loosed for a little season, and the final test of man's integrity to God shall ensue. Such as are prone to impurity of heart shall yield to temptation while the righteous shall endure to the end.[1591] A revelation to this effect was given the Church in 1831, in part as follows: "For the great Millennium, of which I have spoken by the mouth of my servants, shall come; For Satan shall be bound, and when he is loosed again, he shall only reign for a little season, and then cometh the end of the earth; And he that liveth in righteousness shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and the earth shall pass away so as by fire; And the wicked shall go away into unquenchable fire, and their end no man knoweth on earth, nor ever shall know, until they come before me in judgment. Hearken ye to these words: Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. Treasure these things up in your hearts, and let the solemnities of eternity rest upon your minds."[1592] [1587] Rev. 20:1-6; compare Doc. and Cov. 43:18. [1588] Doc. and Cov. 63:50-51; 101:30; compare 1 Cor. 15:51-57. [1589] P. of G.P., Moses 7:63-65. [1590] Doc. and Cov. 101:23-32; compare Isa. 65:17-25 and 11:6-9; see also Doc. and Cov. 29:11, 22; 43:30; 63:51. [1591] Rev. 20:7-15. [1592] Doc and Cov. 43:30-34. See also "Articles of Faith," xx:27-31.

Jesus the Christ · Sixth edition, Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, 1922. Project Gutenberg 22542 transcription. Historical transcription. Paragraph line wrapping normalized; typographical emphasis markers removed. Footnote numbering retained. Original author omissions retained.

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2026-09-10T19:00:34+00:00

Life Everlasting: six thousand years end in 1975

interpretation

On: reigned with Christ a thousand years

Source quotation · Life Everlasting—in Freedom of the Sons of God (Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 1966), chapter 1, pp. 28–30; short excerpt: paragraph 41, the first sentence of paragraph 42 and paragraph 43.

Since the time of Ussher intensive study of Bible chronology has been carried on. In this twentieth century an independent study has been carried on that does not blindly follow some traditional chronological calculations of Christendom, and the published timetable resulting from this independent study gives the date of man’s creation as 4026 B.C.E. According to this trustworthy Bible chronology six thousand years from man’s creation will end in 1975, and the seventh period of a thousand years of human history will begin in the fall of 1975 C.E. So six thousand years of man’s existence on earth will soon be up, yes, within this generation. […] How appropriate it would be for Jehovah God to make of this coming seventh period of a thousand years a sabbath period of rest and release, a great Jubilee sabbath for the proclaiming of liberty throughout the earth to all its inhabitants! This would be most timely for mankind. It would also be most fitting on God’s part, for, remember, mankind has yet ahead of it what the last book of the Holy Bible speaks of as the reign of Jesus Christ over earth for a thousand years, the millennial reign of Christ. Prophetically Jesus Christ, when on earth nineteen centuries ago, said concerning himself: “For Lord of the sabbath is what the Son of man is.” (Matthew 12:8) It would not be by mere chance or accident but would be according to the loving purpose of Jehovah God for the reign of Jesus Christ, the “Lord of the sabbath,” to run parallel with the seventh millennium of man’s existence.

Life Everlasting—in Freedom of the Sons of God · Life Everlasting—in Freedom of the Sons of God (Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, International Bible Students Association; copyright 1966 by Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of Pennsylvania), first edition, chapter 1 “Why Human Creation Will Yet Be Set Free”: paragraph 41 complete (pp. 28–29), the first sentence of paragraph 42 (p. 29) and paragraph 43 complete (p. 30); the rest of paragraph 42 (Psalm 90 and the six days) is omitted and marked […]. Internet Archive item watchtowerbooks, file 1966_Life_Everlasting_in_Freedom_of_the_Sons_of_God, leaves 29–31, page images inspected; copyright page leaf 3; chart of significant dates p. 35 (leaf 36). Paragraph numbers, footnote markers, footnotes and study questions omitted; line-end hyphenation joined; whitespace normalized.

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© 1966 Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. Short quotation (about 270 words of a book of more than 400 pages) of the dated chronology and the book’s own framing of it, reproduced for historical identification and comment.

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Lowman: the antichristian power destroyed about 2016, before the millennium

interpretation

On: and bound him for a thousand years

Source quotation · Moses Lowman, A Paraphrase and Notes on the Revelation of St. John, 2nd ed. (London, 1745), note (i) to chapter XVI, pp. 204–205

(i) The fulfilling of this Part of the Prophecy is, according to the Order and Series, at so great distance, that we can only guess at the historical Events which are to answer them, and even such Conjectures will likely be very uncertain too; yet as these Prophecies are design'd for the Benefit of the Church in every Age, to encourage Patience and Faithfulness, from Hope in God's Promises of Protection and Deliverance, we learn in general this useful and certain Truth, that the remaining Efforts of the antichristian Powers, against the Truth and Purity of the Christian Faith and Religion, whatever they may be, shall as surely be punished in the Times yet to come, as we have seen they were punished in the Times already past. And farther, we may well be satisfied, that this Plague which will fall in with the Times of the last Period, at the End of it, suppose, from about the Year 1900, to about the Year 2016, shall quite destroy the tyrannical and persecuting Power of the antichristian Kingdom, and make way for the next Period, the pure and happy State of the Christian Church, which, in the Order of these Prophecies, is to follow upon the Downfall of mystical Babylon, when the Dragon, which is the Devil and Satan, shall be bound and shut up in the bottomless Pit, Rev. xx. 2, 3. This may then be looked upon as a sure Word of Prophecy, that this antichristian Power must, and shall certainly fall in God's appointed Time, though all the Powers of Wickedness unite all their Strength, and collect all their Force together to defend it; the last Vial shall have as sure an Effect, as all the former Vials have already had. This should encourage the Faith and Patience of all Saints, exhort them to be stedfast and unmoveable, always to abound in the Work of the Lord; for his Council shall stand for ever, and the Thoughts of his Heart unto all Generations.

A Paraphrase and Notes on the Revelation of St. John · Moses Lowman, A Paraphrase and Notes on the Revelation of St. John, second edition (London: John Noon, 1745), note (i) to chapter XVI, pp. 204–205 (Internet Archive paraphrasenoteso00lowm, leaves n245–n246). Transcribed from the page images; OCR used only to locate the passage. Long s rendered s; “ct” ligature expanded; spacing before semicolons and colons normalized; line-end hyphenation joined; italics not distinguished; spelling as printed, including “Council” for counsel.

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The seven bowls of wrath

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One judgment, after the resurrection

interpretation

On: a great white throne

Source quotation · John Wesley · The Good Steward

III. 1. It now remains, that, being no longer stewards, we give an account of our stewardship. Some have imagined, this is to be done immediately after death, as soon as we enter into the world of spirits. Nay, the Church of Rome does absolutely assert this; yea, makes it an article of faith. And thus much we may allow, the moment a soul drops the body, and stands naked before God, it cannot but know what its portion will be to all eternity. It will have full in its view, either everlasting joy, or everlasting torment; as it is no longer possible to be deceived in the judgment which we pass upon ourselves. But the Scripture gives us no reason to believe, that God will then sit in judgment upon us. There is no passage in all the oracles of God which affirms any such thing. That which has been frequently alleged for this purpose seems rather to prove the contrary; namely (Heb. 9:27, ) “It is appointed for men once to die, and after this the judgment:” For, in all reason, the word “once” is here to be applied to judgment as well as death. So that the fair inference to be drawn from this very text is, not that there are two judgments, a particular and a general; but that we are to be judged, as well as to die, once only: Not once immediately after death, and again after the general resurrection; but then only “when the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all His holy angels with Him.” The imagination therefore of one judgment at death, and another at the end of the world, can have no place with those who make the written Word of God the whole and sole standard of their faith. 2. The time then when we are to give this account is, when the “great white throne comes down from heaven, and he that sitteth thereon, from whose face the heavens and the earth flee away, and there is found no place for them.” It is then “the dead, small and great, will stand before God; and the books will be opened:” — The book of Scripture, to them who were entrusted therewith; the book of conscience to all mankind. The “book of remembrance,” likewise (to use another scriptural expression,) which had been writing from the foundation of the world, will then be laid open to the view of all the children of men. Before all these, even the whole human race, before the devil and his angels, before an innumerable company of holy angels, and before God the Judge of all, thou wilt appear, without any shelter or covering, without any possibility of disguise, to give a particular account of the manner wherein thou hast employed all thy Lords goods!

The Good Steward · CCEL electronic text of Sermons on Several Occasions; historical English sermon text; Sermon 51, section III, paragraphs 1–2. Complete consecutive paragraphs retained. Editorial footnotes and web note markers excluded; source paragraph breaks retained and whitespace normalized. No scan collation claimed.

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Jesus’ discourse on the Mount of Olives

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2026-09-11T16:24:26+00:00

Spurgeon keeps watch without fixing the sequence

interpretation

On: The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished

Source quotation · Charles Haddon Spurgeon · Watching for Christ's Coming

When will he come? Ah, that is the question, the question of questions! He will come in his own time. He will come in due time. A brother minister, calling upon me, said, as we sat together, “I should like to ask you a lot of questions about the future.” “Oh, well!” I replied, “I cannot answer you, for I daresay I know no more about it than you do.” “But,” said he, “what about the Lord’s Second Advent? Will there not be the millennium first?” I said, “I cannot tell whether there will be the millennium first; but this I know, the Scripture has left the whole matter, as far as I can see, with an intentional indistinctness, that we may be always expecting Christ to come, and that we may be watching for his coming at any hour and every hour. I think that the millennium will commence after his coming, and not before it. I cannot imagine the kingdom with the King absent. It seems to me to be an essential part of the millennial glory that the King shall then be revealed; at the same time, I am not going to lay down anything definite upon that point. He may not come for a thousand years; he may come to-night. The teaching of Scripture is, first of all, ‘In such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.’ It is clear that, if it were revealed that a thousand years must elapse before he would come, we might very well go to sleep for that time, for we should have no reason to expect that he would come when Scripture told us he would not.” “Well,” answered my friend, “but when Christ comes, that will be the general judgment, will it not?” Then I quoted these texts, “The dead in Christ shall rise first.” “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.” I said, “There is a resurrection from among the dead to which the Apostle Paul laboured to attain. We shall all rise; but the righteous shall rise a thousand years before the ungodly. There is to be that interval of time between the one and the other; whether that is the millennial glory, or not, this deponent sayeth not, though he thinks it is. But this is the main point, the Lord shall come. We know not when we are to expect his coming; we are not to lay down, as absolutely fixed, any definite prediction or circumstance that would allow us to go to sleep until that prediction was fulfilled, or that circumstance was apparent.”

Watching for Christ's Coming · Spurgeon Library transcription, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit 39, sermon 2302; header gives delivery 7 April 1889. Selected two complete conversational paragraphs in section I. Web transcription verified, not scan-collated; whitespace normalized.

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Luke 12: be ready for the returning master

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Swedenborg: the Last Judgment accomplished in 1757

proposed fulfillment

On: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books

Linked by Rainbow Watch. Swedenborg speaks of the Last Judgment and of the Dragon cast into the Abyss but does not cite Revelation 20 in this section. Linked because Revelation 20:11–15 is the Last Judgment he says took place.

Source quotation · Emanuel Swedenborg, De Ultimo Judicio (1758), n. 45, in the anonymous English translation of 1788

That the Last Judgment is accomplished. 45. It was shewn in a preceding Chapter, that the Last Judgment does not take Place in the Earths, but in the Spiritual World, where all are collected together from the Beginning of Creation; and such being the Case, it is impossible for Man to know when the Last Judgment is accomplished, for every one expects it to take Place on this Earth, and at the same Time, that all Things which appear in the visible Heavens and in the Earths will undergo a Change, together with Mankind who dwell thereon. Lest therefore the Man of the Church should from Ignorance continue in such Faith, and lest they who think concerning the Last Judgment should expect it for ever, and thereby the Belief of what is said about it in the literal Sense of the Word should perish, and in Consequence thereof many depart from their Belief in the Word, it was granted me to see with my Eyes, that the Last Judgment is now accomplished, and that the Evil are cast into the Hells, and the Good elevated into Heaven, and thus that all Things are reduced to Order, and thereby the spiritual Equilibrium restored, which subsists between Good and Evil, or between Heaven and Hell. In what Manner the Last Judgment was accomplished, it was given me to be an Eye-Witness from Beginning to End, and likewise how Babylon was destroyed, and they who are meant by the Dragon cast into the Abyss; I was further permitted to see in what Manner the New Heaven was formed, and a New Church established in the Heavens, which is understood by the New Jerusalem. All these Things it was given me to see with my Eyes, in Order that I might be able to testify of the same. This Last Judgment commenced in the Beginning of the Year 1757, and was fully accomplished at the End of the same Year.

A Treatise Concerning the Last Judgment, and the Destruction of Babylon · Emanuel Swedenborg, A Treatise Concerning the Last Judgment, and the Destruction of Babylon … Translated from the Latin (London: R. Hindmarsh, 1788; originally published in Latin as De Ultimo Judicio, 1758), n. 45 with its section heading, pp. 86–87 (Internet Archive bim_eighteenth-century_a-treatise-concerning-th_swedenborg-emanuel_1788, leaves n101–n102). Long s (ſ) rendered s; ligatures expanded; roman and italic type not distinguished; line-end hyphenation joined; spacing normalized (one space after punctuation, paragraph breaks as blank lines); running heads, catchwords, signatures, marginal notes and reference asterisks omitted; spelling, capitalization, u/v and i/j usage and punctuation otherwise as printed; omissions inside the selection marked […]. Transcribed from the Internet Archive page images and checked against the item's OCR text layer.

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Swedenborg’s Latin (1758) and this anonymous 1788 English translation are public domain. Historical printed text, public domain (published before 1929). The historical wording is reproduced.

Another witness · Emanuel Swedenborg, De Ultimo Judicio (1758), n. 45, pp. 32–33; English translation by Rainbow Watch (2026)

Quod Ultimum Judicium peractum sit. 45. SUPRA in suo Articulo ostensum est, quod Ultimum Judicium non existat in terris, sed in Mundo spirituali, ubi omnes a principio creationis simul sunt; & quia ita est, non potest ad cognitionem ullius hominis venire, quum Ultimum Judicium peractum est, quisque enim exspectat id in terris, & simul tunc omnium mutationem in Cœlo quod coram oculis, & in Terris, cumque Humano Genere ibi: ne itaque homo Ecclesiæ in tali fide, ex ignorantia vivat, & illi, qui de Ultimo Judicio cogitant, præstolentur illud in perpetuum, unde tandem peritura sit fides de illis quæ in sensu literæ Verbi de illo dicta sunt, & ne forte ideo plures recessuri sint a fide de Verbo, datum est mihi oculis meis videre, quod Ultimum Judicium nunc peractum sit, & quod mali conjecti sint in Inferna, ac boni elevati in Cœlum, & sic quod omnia in ordinem redacta sint, & inde restitutum Æquilibrium spirituale, quod est inter bonum & malum, seu inter Cœlum & Infernum. Quomodo Ultimum Judicium peractum est, datum est mihi videre a principio ad finem, tum quoque quomodo Babylonica destructa est, ut & quomodo illi, qui intelliguntur per Draconem, conjecti sunt in abyssum; tum etiam quomodo formatum est novum Cœlum, & instaurata est nova Ecclesia in Cœlis, quæ intelligitur per Novam Hierosolymam. Hæc omnia data mihi sunt oculis meis videre, ob finem ut possim testari. Ultimum hoc Judicium inchoatum est in principio Anni præcedentis 1757, & in fine illius Anni plene peractum est. New Rainbow Watch translation (2026): That the Last Judgment has been accomplished. 45. It was shown above, in its own article, that the Last Judgment does not take place on earth but in the spiritual world, where all from the beginning of creation are together; and because this is so, it cannot come to the knowledge of any man when the Last Judgment has been accomplished, for everyone expects it on earth, and at the same time a change of all things in the heaven that is before the eyes and on the earth, together with the human race there. So that the man of the Church may not live in such a belief from ignorance, and that those who think about the Last Judgment may not wait for it forever, whereby faith in what is said of it in the sense of the letter of the Word would at last perish, and that many may not therefore withdraw from faith in the Word, it has been granted me to see with my own eyes that the Last Judgment has now been accomplished, that the evil have been cast into the hells and the good raised into heaven, and so that all things have been brought into order, and thence the spiritual equilibrium, which is between good and evil, or between heaven and hell, has been restored. How the Last Judgment was accomplished it was granted me to see from beginning to end; also how Babylon was destroyed, and how those who are meant by the Dragon were cast into the abyss; and also how the new heaven was formed and a new Church established in the heavens, which is meant by the New Jerusalem. All these things were granted me to see with my own eyes, so that I might be able to bear witness. This Last Judgment was begun at the beginning of the preceding year 1757, and at the end of that year it was fully accomplished.

De Ultimo Judicio, et de Babylonia Destructa · Emanuel Swedenborg, De Ultimo Judicio, et de Babylonia Destructa (1758), n. 45 with its heading “Quod Ultimum Judicium peractum sit”, pp. 32–33 (Internet Archive bim_eighteenth-century_de-ultimo-judicio-et-de_swedenborg-emanuel_1758, microfilm leaves n31–n32, imaged rotated). Long s (ſ) rendered s; æ and œ, spelling, capitalization and punctuation as printed; the drop capital of “SUPRA” and spacing normalized. English translation new (Rainbow Watch, 2026) from this Latin text. Transcribed from the Internet Archive page images.

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Swedenborg’s Latin (1758) is public domain. Historical printed text, public domain (published before 1929). The English translation beside it is new (Rainbow Watch, 2026).

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2026-10-01T14:02:23+00:00

The Catechism on Christ’s reign and the final trial

interpretation

On: reigned with Christ a thousand years

Source quotation · Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church 668–677; approved United States English second edition. This doctrinal exposition cites 2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 20 among its biblical sources.

668 “Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” 549 Christ’s Ascension into heaven signifies his participation, in his humanity, in God’s power and authority. Jesus Christ is Lord: he possesses all power in heaven and on earth. He is “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,” for the Father “has put all things under his feet.” 550 Christ is Lord of the cosmos and of history. In him human history and indeed all creation are “set forth” and transcendently fulfilled. 551 669 As Lord, Christ is also head of the Church, which is his Body. 552 Taken up to heaven and glorified after he had thus fully accomplished his mission, Christ dwells on earth in his Church. The redemption is the source of the authority that Christ, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, exercises over the Church. “The kingdom of Christ [is] already present in mystery,” “on earth, the seed and the beginning of the kingdom.” 553 670 Since the Ascension God’s plan has entered into its fulfillment. We are already at “the last hour.” 554 “Already the final age of the world is with us, and the renewal of the world is irrevocably under way; it is even now anticipated in a certain real way, for the Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real but imperfect.” 555 Christ’s kingdom already manifests its presence through the miraculous signs that attend its proclamation by the Church. 556 . . . until all things are subjected to him 671 Though already present in his Church, Christ’s reign is nevertheless yet to be fulfilled “with power and great glory” by the king’s return to earth. 557 This reign is still under attack by the evil powers, even though they have been defeated definitively by Christ’s Passover. 558 Until everything is subject to him, “until there be realized new heavens and a new earth in which justice dwells, the pilgrim Church, in her sacraments and institutions, which belong to this present age, carries the mark of this world which will pass, and she herself takes her place among the creatures which groan and travail yet and await the revelation of the sons of God.” 559 That is why Christians pray, above all in the Eucharist, to hasten Christ’s return by saying to him: 560 Marana tha! “Our Lord, come!” 561 672 Before his Ascension Christ affirmed that the hour had not yet come for the glorious establishment of the messianic kingdom awaited by Israel 562 which, according to the prophets, was to bring all men the definitive order of justice, love, and peace. 563 According to the Lord, the present time is the time of the Spirit and of witness, but also a time still marked by “distress” and the trial of evil which does not spare the Church 564 and ushers in the struggles of the last days. It is a time of waiting and watching. 565 673 Since the Ascension Christ’s coming in glory has been imminent, 566 even though “it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority.” 567 This eschatological coming could be accomplished at any moment, even if both it and the final trial that will precede it are “delayed.” 568 674 The glorious Messiah’s coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by “all Israel,” for “a hardening has come upon part of Israel” in their “unbelief” toward Jesus. 569 St. Peter says to the Jews of Jerusalem after Pentecost: “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.” 570 St. Paul echoes him: “For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” 571 The “full inclusion” of the Jews in the Messiah’s salvation, in the wake of “the full number of the Gentiles,” 572 will enable the People of God to achieve “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” in which “God may be all in all.” 573 675 Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. 574 The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth 575 will unveil the “mystery of iniquity” in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh. 576 676 The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatalogical judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, 577 especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism. 578 677 The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. 579 The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God’s victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven. 580 God’s triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world. 581 Source footnotes 549 Rom 14:9. 550 Eph 1:20-22. 551 Eph 1:10; cf. Eph 4:10; 1 Cor 15:24, 27-28. 552 Cf. Eph 1:22. 553 LG 3; 5; cf. Eph 4:11-13. 554 1 Jn 2:18; cf. 1 Pet 4:7. 555 LG 48 § 3; cf. 1 Cor 10:11. 556 Cf. Mk 16:17-18, 20. 557 Lk 21:27; cf. Mt 25:31. 558 Cf. 2 Thess 2:7. 559 LG 48 § 3; cf. 2 Pet 3:13; Rom 8:19-22; 1 Cor 15:28. 560 Cf. 1 Cor 11:26; 2 Pet 3:11-12. 561 1 Cor 16:22; Rev 22:17, 20. 562 Cf. Acts 1:6-7. 563 Cf. Isa 11:1-9. 564 Cf. Acts 1:8; 1 Cor 7:26; Eph 5:16; 1 Pet 4:17 565 Cf. Mt 25:1, 13; Mk 13:33-37; 1 Jn 2:18; 4:3; 1 Tim 4:1. 566 Cf. Rev 22:20. 567 Acts 1:7; cf. Mk 13:32. 568 Cf. Mt 24:44; 1 Thess 5:2; 2 Thess 2:3-12. 569 Rom 11:20-26; cf. Mt 23:39. 570 Acts 3:19-21. 571 Rom 11:15. 572 Rom 11:12, 25; cf. Lk 21:24. 573 Eph 4:13; 1 Cor 15:28. 574 Cf. Lk 18:8; Mt 24:12. 575 Cf. Lk 21:12; Jn 15:19-20. 576 Cf. 2 Thess 2:4-12; 1 Thess 5:2-3; 2 Jn 7; 1 Jn 2:18, 22. 577 Cf. DS 3839. 578 Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, condemning the “false mysticism” of this “counterfeit of the redemption of the lowly”; cf. GS 20-21. 579 Cf. Rev 19:1-9. 580 Cf. Rev 13:8; 20:7-10; 21:2-4. 581 Cf. Rev 20:12; 2 Pet 3:12-13. Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America Copyright © 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with Permission. English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio Typica copyright © 1997, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops—Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

Catechism of the Catholic Church · Holy See-approved United States English translation, second edition, paragraphs 668–677 and footnotes 549–581, printed pages 174–177. USCCB online edition; print line breaks and discretionary hyphenation normalized, paragraph numbers restored to reading order. The edition’s spelling “eschatalogical” is retained. Marginal cross-reference numbers are excluded; all selected paragraphs and numbered footnotes are included.

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USCCB guidelines, sections I–II, permit fewer than 5,000 words in electronic form without individual permission, with complete accurate excerpts, acknowledged footnotes and prescribed copyright notice. This single bounded selection is below that threshold; required notice follows the quotation. Permission policy: https://www.usccb.org/committees/catechism/use-catechism-catholic-church

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2 Thessalonians 2: the lawless one and the restrainer

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2026-09-11T03:53:51+00:00

The Millennium before Christ’s return

interpretation

On: bound him for a thousand years

Source quotation · Sean Durbin · Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements

Introduction ‘Postmillennialism’ is a modern Christian theological term used to denote the belief that Christ’s bodily return to earth will occur after the thousand-year period known as the Millennium, described in Revelation 20. Postmillennialism is a specifically Christian-inflected form of what Ashcraft (2012) calls ‘progressive millennialism’ and is based upon the expectation that society will progressively improve through human activity. Postmillennialism, then, is a Christian eschatological system that emphasizes the creation, through human initiative (though ostensibly based on divine or biblical principles), of an ideal society (e.g., ‘the kingdom of God on earth’ or the Millennium) that will last for a thousand years. After those years of millennial bliss, postmillennialists assert that Jesus will return, the New Jerusalem will descend from heaven, and paradise on earth will be established (Revelation 21). In theory, postmillennialism is more focused on human activity and engagement with the world than premillennialism, which has a much more pessimistic view of the world and anticipates that Jesus will return before society can improve. In practice, however, such a distinction does not always hold and both pre- and postmillennialists are involved in institution-building intended to nurture their ideal social order.

Postmillennialism · Sean Durbin, Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements, online article. Selected complete sections: Introduction. Page heading dates publication 3 January 2023, while its recommended citation gives 3 January 2022. HTML text inspected; paragraph breaks retained, HTML formatting removed and whitespace normalized. Bibliographical references remain in the source article.

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2026-09-11T16:24:26+00:00

The Watchtower in 1967: six thousand years end in the latter half of 1975

interpretation

On: reigned with Christ a thousand years

Source quotation · Unsigned article “Mankind’s Millennium Under God’s Kingdom—Why Literally So,” The Watchtower, 15 April 1967, p. 236, paragraph 25, two sentences (short excerpt).

According to a more recent calculation of the Bible timetable, six thousand years of man’s existence will end in the latter half of the year 1975, which is well within this century. The Bible millennium is ahead of us, and, according to the count of time and the events of world history, it is approaching.

Mankind’s Millennium Under God’s Kingdom—Why Literally So · The Watchtower, 15 April 1967, unsigned article “Mankind’s Millennium Under God’s Kingdom—Why Literally So,” pp. 229–237, paragraph 25 (p. 236), two sentences from “According to a more recent calculation” through “it is approaching.” Watchtower Online Library transcription (w67 4/15), retrieved 1 October 2026. HTML removed.

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Copyrighted modern publication. Short excerpt of 55 words (two sentences) quoted for commentary on the 1975 reckoning.

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The Watchtower regrets statements that raised 1975 hopes

retrospective response

On: shall reign with him a thousand years

Linked by Rainbow Watch. The paragraph speaks of “the millennial reign of Christ” paralleling the seventh millennium but does not quote or name Revelation 20; the link places this retrospective beside the 1968 note on the same chapter.

Source quotation · Unsigned article “Choosing the Best Way of Life,” The Watchtower, 15 March 1980, p. 17, paragraph 5, complete.

In modern times such eagerness, commendable in itself, has led to attempts at setting dates for the desired liberation from the suffering and troubles that are the lot of persons throughout the earth. With the appearance of the book Life Everlasting—in Freedom of the Sons of God, and its comments as to how appropriate it would be for the millennial reign of Christ to parallel the seventh millennium of man’s existence, considerable expectation was aroused regarding the year 1975. There were statements made then, and thereafter, stressing that this was only a possibility. Unfortunately, however, along with such cautionary information, there were other statements published that implied that such realization of hopes by that year was more of a probability than a mere possibility. It is to be regretted that these latter statements apparently overshadowed the cautionary ones and contributed to a buildup of the expectation already initiated.

Choosing the Best Way of Life · The Watchtower, 15 March 1980, unsigned article “Choosing the Best Way of Life,” p. 17, paragraph 5, complete. Watchtower Online Library transcription of the identified issue, retrieved 30 September 2026. Paragraph number omitted; zero-width spaces in the web text removed; HTML removed and whitespace normalized.

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2026-10-01T14:02:23+00:00

The Watchtower: 6,000 years end in the autumn of 1975

interpretation

On: reigned with Christ a thousand years

Linked by verbal allusion. The excerpt speaks of “the long-looked-for thousand-year reign of Christ” and “the sabbathlike thousand-year reign of Christ” without naming Revelation 20.

Source quotation · Unsigned article “Why Are You Looking Forward to 1975?”, The Watchtower, 15 August 1968, p. 499; short excerpt: last two sentences of paragraph 29 and first four sentences of paragraph 30.

Well, for one thing, if 4,026 is added to 1,968 (allowing for the lack of a zero year between C.E. and B.C.E.) one gets a total of 5,993 years, come this autumn, since Adam’s creation. That means, in the fall of the year 1975, a little over seven years from now (and not in 1997 as would be the case if Ussher’s figures were correct), it will be 6,000 years since the creation of Adam, the father of all mankind! Are we to assume from this study that the battle of Armageddon will be all over by the autumn of 1975, and the long-looked-for thousand-year reign of Christ will begin by then? Possibly, but we wait to see how closely the seventh thousand-year period of man’s existence coincides with the sabbathlike thousand-year reign of Christ. If these two periods run parallel with each other as to the calendar year, it will not be by mere chance or accident but will be according to Jehovah’s loving and timely purposes. Our chronology, however, which is reasonably accurate (but admittedly not infallible), at the best only points to the autumn of 1975 as the end of 6,000 years of man’s existence on earth.

Why Are You Looking Forward to 1975? · The Watchtower, 15 August 1968, unsigned article “Why Are You Looking Forward to 1975?”, p. 499, paragraph 29 (last two sentences, from “Well, for one thing”) and paragraph 30 (first four sentences, through “man’s existence on earth.”). Watchtower Online Library transcription of the identified issue, retrieved 30 September 2026. Paragraph numbers and study questions omitted; HTML removed and whitespace normalized.

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© Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. Short quotation (about 200 words of a roughly 4,000-word article) of the dated chronology and its stated qualification, reproduced for historical identification and comment with the article identified.

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Wesley gathers the signs before judgment

interpretation

On: the dead, the great and the small

Source quotation · John Wesley · The Great Assize

I. 1. Let us, in the first place, consider the chief circumstances which will precede our standing before the judgement-seat of Christ. And, first, God will show “signs in the earth beneath” (Acts 2:19); particularly He will “arise to shake terribly the earth.” “The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage” (Isa. 24:20). “There shall be earthquakes,” kata topous (not in divers only, but) “in all places;” not in one only, or a few, but in every part of the habitable world (Luke 21:2); even “such as were not since men were upon the earth, so mighty earthquakes and so great.” In one of these “every island shall flee away, and the mountains will not be found” (Rev. 16:20). Meantime all the waters of the terraqueous globe will feel the violence of those concussions; “the sea and waves roaring” (Luke 21:25), with such an agitation as had never been known before, since the hour that “the fountains of the great deep were broken up,” to destroy the earth, which then “stood out of the water and in the water.” The air will be all storm and tempest, full of dark vapors and “pillars of smoke” (Joel 2:30); resounding with thunder from pole to pole, and torn with ten thousand lightnings. But the commotion will not stop in the region of the air; “the powers of heaven also shall be shaken. There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars” (Luke 21:25, 26); those fixed, as well as those that move round them. “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come” (Joel 2:31). “The stars shall withdraw their shining” (Joel 3:15), yea, and “fall from heaven” (Rev. 6:13), being thrown out of their orbits. And then shall be heard the universal shout, from all the companies of heaven, followed by the “voice of the archangel,” proclaiming the approach of the Son of God and Man, “and the trumpet of God,” sounding an alarm to all that sleep in the dust of the earth (1 Thess. 4:16). In consequence of this, all the graves shall open, and the bodies of men arise. The sea also shall give up the dead which are therein (Rev. 20:13), and every one shall rise with “his own body:” his own in substance, although so changed in its properties as we cannot now conceive. “For this corruptible will” then “put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:53). Yea, “death and hades,” the invisible world, shall “deliver up the dead that are in them” (Rev. 20:13). So that all who ever lived and died, since God created man, shall be raised incorruptible and immortal. 2. At the same time, “the Son of Man shall send forth his angels” over all the earth; “and they shall gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:31). And the Lord himself shall come with clouds, in his own glory, and the glory of his Father, with ten thousand of his saints, even myriads of angels, and shall sit upon the throne of his glory. “And before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, and shall set the sheep,” the good, “on his right hand, and the goats,” the wicked, “upon the left” (Matt. 25:31, etc.). Concerning this general assembly it is, that the beloved disciple speaks thus: “I saw the dead,” all that had been dead, “small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened” (a figurative expression, plainly referring to the manner of proceeding among men), “and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Rev. 20:12).

The Great Assize · CCEL electronic text of Sermons on Several Occasions; historical English sermon text; Sermon 15, section I, paragraphs 1–2. Complete consecutive paragraphs retained. Editorial footnotes and web note markers excluded; source paragraph breaks retained and whitespace normalized. No scan collation claimed.

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Public-domain historical English author text; modern editorial notes and website material excluded.

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Jesus’ discourse on the Mount of Olives

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2026-09-11T16:24:26+00:00

Why Satan’s sentence did not mean immediate destruction

interpretation

On: and bound him for a thousand years

Source quotation · Joanna Southcott

But some may say, if Satan’s sentence is past, and this calling is of God, he must be immediately cut off from the face of the earth. I answer, no.—Read the 12th Chapter of Revelation: after he is cast, who is the great accuser of mankind, he is there described to come down in great wrath against the woman; because he knoweth he hath but a short space to gather in those who will not turn to and unite with God, but have the image of the beast in their foreheads. It is in the 20th Chapter of Revelation he is mentioned to be chained down.—And now I shall give you the meaning of our dear Redeemer’s words, Luke xxiii. 31. “If this be done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?”—beginning from a parable of a child being left in a house by his parents and forbid to open the door to any; but a thief prevailed over the unsuspecting innocence of the child to open the door; so he entered and robbed the house. Perfectly so was it with our first parents: for, like the child, they were betrayed—and like the child they acted; and thus they were robbed of all true happiness: but help was laid upon one that was mighty, to bind the thief, and free the child.

Sealed Prophecies: First and Second Books · First Book of the Sealed Prophecies, p.5, from But some may say to free the child. Historical scan visually collated 20 September 2026; long s rendered s, line-end hyphenation joined, whitespace normalized, emphasis rendered plain. Second edition, December 1814, printed from first edition of March 1803; imprint on PDF page 2.

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Historical English original, public domain; modern scan-host apparatus excluded.

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2026-09-21T02:03:32+00:00

Zion’s Watch Tower, 15 November 1904: the millennial day from October 1914 and the Millennium from 1874

interpretation

On: reigned with Christ a thousand years

Linked by Rainbow Watch. The article reckons the Millennium as a thousand-year “day of Christ” and quotes “a day with the Lord is a thousand years”; it does not quote Revelation 20. The link places it beside the thousand-year reign.

Source quotation · Zion’s Watch Tower, 15 November 1904, “Further Confirmation of Our Chronology,” pp. 343–344 (unsigned; C. T. Russell, editor).

Diagram No. 3.—This diagram presupposes that in the divine plan the day of Adam (Gen. 2:17) and the “day of Christ” were each one thousand years long: as the Apostle declares, “a day with the Lord is a thousand years.” Adam’s “fall” into death was fully accomplished seventy years before the end of his “day,” and presumably Christ will accomplish the full lifting up of Adam and his race (or all of them willing to obey the righteous conditions necessary) before the end of the millennial day. This diagram views the Millennium as beginning with the end of “Gentile Times,” October, 1914, and shows that the intervening space, 5040 years, is exactly twice “seven times;” and more than this, it marks the turning point as B. C. 606, as well as the ending point A. D. 1914. … Diagram No. 4 in some particulars resembles No. 3, yet it is quite different as a whole. It views matters from another Scriptural standpoint, taking A. D. 1874 for the date of the Millenium, as shown by the Jubilee cycles and various other prophecies.—See Dawn, Vol. II., chap. 6, and Vol. III., chap. 5.

Zion’s Watch Tower, 15 November 1904: “Further Confirmation of Our Chronology” · Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence (Allegheny, Pa.), 15 November 1904, unsigned article “Further Confirmation of Our Chronology,” pp. 343–344 (reprint p. [3460]): the paragraph on Diagram No. 3 from “Diagram No. 3.—This diagram presupposes” through “the end of the millennial day.”; the first two sentences of the next paragraph; and the paragraph on Diagram No. 4. Diagram No. 3 marks “1000 Yrs” after “1914 A.D.” with the words “Restoration by second Adam”; Diagram No. 4 marks a “Millennial reign 1000 Years” from the “End of 1874 AD” to the “End of 7000 yrs after Adam’s fall.” Read in the Watch Tower Society’s reprint of the magazine: Internet Archive item magazines-zions-watchtower-and-herald-christ-presence-1904, BookReader leaves 165 (running head “November 15, 1904”) and 166. Transcribed from the page images. Small capitals rendered in title case (“Diagram”, “Dawn”) or with capitals (“A. D.”, “B. C.”); “Millenium” kept as printed; line-end hyphenation joined; whitespace normalized; omissions marked “…”. C. T. Russell was editor.

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Publication of 1904, reproduced in the Watch Tower Society’s reprint volumes; public domain in the United States.

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2026-10-05T23:02:44+00:00

On the timeline

All 18 dates for this reading

Approximately 90–95 CE · one proposed rangeEstimated composition of Revelation’s final form Prophecy given or recorded
1757 · claimed date; published 1758Swedenborg dates the Last Judgment he reports to 1757 Interpretation recorded
December 1814 · second editionSealed Prophecies: inspected second edition Interpretation recorded
15 November 1904 · semimonthly issue“Further Confirmation of Our Chronology” in Zion’s Watch Tower Interpretation recorded
1966 · first editionWatch Tower Society publishes Life Everlasting—in Freedom of the Sons of God Interpretation recorded
15 April 1967 · The WatchtowerThe Watchtower dates the end of six thousand years to 1975 Interpretation recorded
15 August 1968 · The Watchtower“Why Are You Looking Forward to 1975?” Interpretation recorded
Autumn 1975 · end of 6,000 years; Armageddon “possibly”The Watchtower: 6,000 years end in the autumn of 1975 Predicted date · stated 15 August 1968Restates Life Everlasting: the seventh thousand years of human history begin in the fall of 1975 (Fall 1975 · end of 6,000 years from man’s creation).
Fall 1975 · end of 6,000 years from man’s creationLife Everlasting: the seventh thousand years of human history begin in the fall of 1975 Predicted date · stated 1966The Watchtower: 6,000 years end in the autumn of 1975 (Autumn 1975 · end of 6,000 years; Armageddon “possibly”) restates this date.The Watchtower looks back on 1975 (15 March 1980 · The Watchtower) responds to this date.
1979–1982 · Calvary Chapel teachingChuck Smith teaches on Jeremiah 31–35 Interpretation recorded
15 March 1980 · The WatchtowerThe Watchtower looks back on 1975 Interpretation recordedResponds to Life Everlasting: the seventh thousand years of human history begin in the fall of 1975 (Fall 1975 · end of 6,000 years from man’s creation).
1988 · published by the authorColin Deal publishes The Day and Hour Jesus Will Return Interpretation recorded
1988 · published by the authorColin Deal publishes Armageddon & the 21st Century Interpretation recorded
about 1989 to 2030 · 3,431 years from the entry into CanaanColin Deal: the seventieth Jubilee ushers in the Millennium between about 1989 and 2030 Predicted date · stated 1988
about 1996 · 6,000 years from Ussher’s 4004 B.C.Chuck Smith: on Ussher’s chronology the seven thousandth year begins about 1996 Predicted date · stated 1979–1982
About 2000 · “for ought I know”Edwards: the beginning of the millennium perhaps about 2000 Predicted date · stated 1747Adopts Lowman: the antichristian power destroyed about 2016, before the millennium (About 2016 · end of the 1,260 years).
around 2000 · the year 6,000 from AdamColin Deal: Christ returns around the year 6,000 from Adam, 2,000 A.D. Predicted date · stated 1988
around 2000 · the Great Pyramid’s next dateColin Deal: the Great Pyramid’s measurements place Christ’s Millennial Kingdom around 2,000 A.D. Predicted date · stated 1988

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