I appreciate the Got Questions? website. I think it’s very helpful in answering a lot of questions about the Bible. However, as an Amillennialist, I strongly disagree with their Dispensational Premillennial position. In one of their articles titled, “What is Dispensationalism and is it Biblical?,” they make the following statement about the thousand years of Revelation 20 (bold print mine):
“Dispensationalists hold to a literal interpretation of the Bible as the best hermeneutic. The literal interpretation gives each word the meaning it would commonly have in everyday usage. Allowances are made for symbols, figures of speech, and types, of course. It is understood that even symbols and figurative sayings have literal meanings behind them. So, for example, when the Bible speaks of “a thousand years” in Revelation 20, dispensationalists interpret it as a literal period of 1,000 years (the dispensation of the Kingdom), since there is no compelling reason to interpret it otherwise.”
They argue that there “is no compelling reason to interpret” this thousand years as anything but a literal thousand year period. This comes after saying, “allowances are made for symbols, figures of speech, and types, of course.” Remarkably, they don’t regard the thousand years of Revelation to be among those occasions, and this is in a book that is full of symbolism, which includes many numbers that are obviously symbolic in nature.
On this website (Christocentric Biblical Studies), I provide many “compelling reasons to interpret it otherwise,” contrary to their bold statement. In the study below, I provide one of the most “compelling reasons” not to interpret this passage (Rev 20:4-6) as a literal thousand year period.
Key Passage That Disproves an Earthly Millennial Kingdom – [Eph 2:5-6]
This is just one “compelling reason” to interpret the thousand years of Revelation as symbolic, and not to be taken literally. You may find more compelling reasons under the category “Kingdom of Christ.”
