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When Jesus returns, the Bible lets us know that there will literally be a thousand years in which He reigns as King over the earth (Revelation 20:4). During this time, Satan is locked away in the bottomless pit and unable to deceive anyone (Revelation 20:2–3). But after a thousand years, he will once again be set free.
Revelation 20:7
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Now these facts raise a few very good questions. Why is it specifically going to be for a thousand years? And more importantly, why is Satan going to be released?
Why Does Jesus Reign For A Thousand Years
The Bible doesn’t exactly tell us why there has to be specifically a thousand years in which Jesus reigns on earth. But there are a few things we can gather to make an educated guess.
At first glance, it may seem like an arbitrary number. But it isn’t quite as arbitrary as it looks.
Genesis 2:1-3
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
When God created everything, He spent six full days working on it. On the seventh day, God stopped working and rested. This makes a complete week. God did it this way as a sign. It means something. This is not by accident—it is by design.
Exodus 31:16-17
16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
If you look through the Bible, you will find the number seven consistently used as a countdown to completion. In six days God worked and rested in completion on the seventh day. This pattern repeats itself in many ways throughout the Bible.
The Ten Commandments order people to work for six days but rest on the seventh (Exodus 34:21). The Lord would use seven days to consecrate the priests (Leviticus 8:33). Those sick with a plague were to be separated for seven days (Leviticus 13:4). A rebellious daughter would be received again after seven days (Numbers 12:14).
The countdown from seven is constantly a sign of work, toil, and correction. By the time the number reaches six, the work is done, and on the seventh, the fruit of it can be enjoyed. The seventh is a celebration of the end of work.
It’s not just about seven days, though—it’s about seven full cycles. The seventh cycle is always the last cycle, which is meant for resting.
Leviticus 25:2-4
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord. 3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; 4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
This pattern is continual in Scripture. After six days of work, there will be a day of rest. After six years of the land being worked, there will be a year of rest. This is a sign that God has given to tell us something. It tells us that after six periods of time, there will be a time of rest.
2 Peter 3:8
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
This passage of Scripture may seem like it cancels itself out, but it doesn’t. It is not just telling us that time doesn’t matter to God or that it passes differently. It is doing something we see in other prophetic books—God uses days to represent longer periods of time.
Ezekiel 4:5-6
5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
Daniel 9:24-25
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
Ezekiel was given days symbolizing years. Daniel was given weeks symbolizing seven years each. It is clear that God often gives prophecy in these kinds of symbols. So if a thousand years is as a day, and a day as a thousand years, what can we gather from that?
The context of what Peter was talking about is the end, when the saints would rest in Jesus. He was referring to a Sabbath rest. And when he told us that a thousand years is equivalent to a day, he may have been pointing to a “week” of seven thousand years—six thousand for work, and one thousand for rest.
The text doesn’t say that explicitly, but it can be gathered through context.
If you add up the dates in the Bible using genealogies, you arrive at an approximate age from the beginning of man to now of about six thousand years. That’s six “days” if a thousand years equals a day. The seventh day of rest would then be another thousand years.
I believe this is why the millennial reign of Jesus will last for exactly one thousand years. It is a Sabbath of rest.
Restoration Of Lost Years
There is also another reason I believe this will last for a thousand years.
Genesis 5:27
27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
Before the flood, an average human life would continue to almost a thousand years. After the flood, lifespans decreased dramatically. There have been a number of differences made in the world by the flood. There has been an increase in plagues, disease, and sickness. The years we should have been able to live seem to have been decreased.
Joel 2:25-27
25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. 26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. 27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.
Isaiah 65:20
20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
If our natural lifespan of a thousand years was eaten up and stolen from us, then God is going to have to restore those years to us. We see in Joel that He will restore the years when He is in the midst of Israel. Isaiah tells us people will live out their full days during this time, and a child would be a hundred years old.
This is another reason I believe the millennial reign of Jesus is going to last for a thousand years specifically.
And just to spark your curiosity, it raises some interesting theological thoughts as to why God told Adam and Eve they would die the very same day they ate from the tree. But that’s a whole other conversation that is not relevant right now.
The next question is then: what happens after that thousand years?
After The Millennial Reign Of Jesus
During the reign of Jesus, people are going to be born, and some will still die because of sins they commit. I explained that in another study. But that tells us something important.
Satan is not tempting people during this time because he is locked away. This proves something about us. Even if God removed Satan, we would still sin.
Suddenly, the skeptics asking why God didn’t just stop Satan in the beginning no longer have a valid argument. Because it is being demonstrated during the millennium that it was not him who actually caused sin—it was us following our own desires.
James 1:13-14
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
God doesn’t tempt men to sin. Satan does, but even he only plays the role of deception. He doesn’t give us our lusts and desires—he simply magnifies them in front of us. He makes them look better than they are. But those desires come from within ourselves. We are tempted by our own desires, not by ones Satan puts into us.
We then see a world with Jesus in charge—no Satan, no deception, and no lack. But people still sin. Even during a time of rest and peace, people still sin. This leads us to the answer to our other question: why does God release Satan?
Why Is Satan Released After the Millennium
The first resurrection and transformation of the saints happen at the very beginning of the thousand years. But the rest of the dead—the lost—have not yet been judged (Revelation 20:5). God has not yet brought everything to an end. People who are still dead must be judged, and those born during the millennium must choose their side. Evil must end altogether.
So God releases Satan for one last moment of truth.
Revelation 20:7-15
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on 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, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Gog and Magog were symbolic names for the end-time enemies of Israel. They are used in the same way here. These passages tell us that Satan gathers as many people as he can, out of a thousand years of population growth, to rebel against God. It is a time in which those who have not yet been tested will make their final choice.
Those who choose God will be in the city with Jesus. Those who choose to rebel will surround that city. Then the final judgment comes.
2 Peter 3:6-7
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
2 Peter 3:10-11
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
Revelation 21:1
1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Jesus reigned on the earth as it was. It had not yet been dissolved, and the universe had not melted with fervent heat. But on that final day, when judgment comes, God rains fire down on everything.
There are many verses in the Bible about this day, when the heavens will be rolled up and everything dissolved. What this is showing is far more profound than many people realize.
Hebrews 12:28-29
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
If the heavens are torn away and all of the cosmos is removed, what does that leave? God, in all of His glory, steps out from behind the veil, and the universe is consumed in His presence, which is like fire. This is the day of judgment and the day the fullness of God is revealed.
Isaiah 33:14-15
14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? 15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;
Only the saints will be able to withstand the presence of God in all of His glory. And those who cannot will be cast into the lake of fire—that lake which may very well be the burning presence of God itself: a blessing to the saints and torment to the lost. Of course, that is just my perspective on what the lake of fire could be.
Revelation 21:2-5
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
Perhaps you have asked the next logical question: what happens when all is said and done?
This is our answer. The rest of eternity continues as a long, never-ending day of rest. The thousand-year reign of Jesus is over in one sense—but just beginning in another.
God has also given us a sign to show this.
Leviticus 25:8–10
8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. 9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. 10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
Deuteronomy 15:1–2
1 At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. 2 And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the Lord’s release.
These passages show something special. They show what happens after the final thousand-year “Sabbath.” Leviticus tells us about seven sabbaths of years—in other words, a full cycle of seven. Not just six, but the whole seven, including the time of rest. And what it tells us comes after that is not the beginning of a new cycle; it is another period of celebration and complete release from all debts and the need for work.
God has planned this long ago and has given us His sign that after the millennial reign of Jesus, there will be one continual day of rest forever. It is a never-ending day.
Revelation 21:23
23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
Revelation 21:25
25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
Revelation 22:5
5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
Genesis tells us that a full day consists of both daylight and nighttime. But here, the night will never come. It is a perpetual day of celebration.
This is where we end the story—at a new beginning.
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