Editing Christian eschatology (section)

==The Millennium==
{{Main|Millennialism}}
Millennialism (from [[millennium]], Latin for "a thousand years"), or ''chiliasm'' (from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] equivalent), is the belief that a [[Messianic Age]] will occur on [[Earth]] prior to the [[Last judgment|final judgment]] and future eternal state of the "[[World to Come]]".

Christian millennialism developed out of a Christian interpretation of Jewish [[apocalypticism]]. Christian millennialist thinking is primarily based upon the Book of Revelation, specifically 20:1–4,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tabor |first=James D. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism |date=17 October 2011 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-994052-3 |editor-last=Wessinger |editor-first=Catherine |editor-link=Catherine Wessinger |location=New York |pages=252–266 |chapter=Ancient Jewish and Early Christian Millennialism |author-link=James Tabor |chapter-url=https://jamestabor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Tabor-JewishXtn-Chap-13-OHM.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721192503/https://jamestabor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Tabor-JewishXtn-Chap-13-OHM.pdf |archive-date=21 July 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> which describes the vision of an angel who descended from heaven with a large chain and a key to a bottomless pit, and captured Satan, imprisoning him for a thousand years:

{{blockquote|Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years . . . that he should deceive the nations no more. . . . Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God. . . . They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. |Rev. 20: 1–4}}

The Book of Revelation then describes a series of judges who are seated on thrones, as well as his vision of the souls of those who were beheaded for their testimony in favor of Jesus and their rejection of the mark of the beast:

{{blockquote|They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him a thousand years.|Rev. 20:4–6}}

Thus, Revelation characterizes a millennium where Christ and the Father will rule over a theocracy of the righteous. While there are an abundance of biblical references to such a kingdom of God throughout the Old and New Testaments, this is the only reference in the Bible to such a period lasting one thousand years. The literal belief in a thousand-year reign of Christ is a later development in Christianity, as it does not seem to have been present in first century texts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bobichon |first=Philippe |title=Millénarisme et orthodoxie dans les écrits de Justin Martyr |url=https://www.academia.edu/36639639 |journal=In Mélanges sur la question millénariste de l'Antiquité à nos jours, Martin Dumont (Dir.) [Bibliothèque d'étude des mondes chrétiens, 11], Paris, 2018, p. 61-82.}}</ref>