Commentary on Revelation, Vision 7 · Chapter 20 · Part 1 · Commentary · Section 1
I. WHITHER THE THOƲSAND YEERS BE DEFINITELY TO BE ƲNDERSTOOD: whether I ſay, the thouſand yeers be definitely or indefinitely to be underſtood, in both appeareth a difficulty. If thou ſay indefinitely, taking a thouſand for many, or for all unto the end, then in vaine it were ſaid: Afterward Satan ſhall be looſed. If definitely, then the difficulty will be ſo to expound the beginning and ending thereof, and how in the meane time Satan was bound, afterwards looſed, that we runne not into the errour of the Chilasts, or ſome other inconvenience.
Auguſtine, whom moſt of the ancient, and latter Writers follow, Lib. 20, de C. D. cap. 7underſtood the thouſand yeers indefinitely, that is, for the whole time from Chriſts death and reſurrection, (when Satan began to be bound, that he ſhould no more ſeduce the Nations) unto the end of the world: becauſe that ſometimes in Scripture a thouſand ſignifies indefinitely, a very long time; as: Pſal. 105.8He hath remembred his Covenant for ever: the word which he commanded unto a thouſand generations: Notwithſtanding he doth not preciſely extend the thouſand yeers, unto the end of the world, but untill the time of Antichriſt, who, as he thought, (following herein the errour of his Predeceſſours, miſlead by Papias) ſhould come in the laſt foure years of the world, and reigne three years and an halfe: but he queſtioneth whether Antichriſts time ſhould be added to the thouſand yeers, or rather to the little ſeaſon, in which Satan is to be looſed.
This opinion Ribera proſecutes at large, ſhewing, Com. in Apoc. cap. 20 N. 36.37 &c.that theſe thouſand yeeres ſignifie the whole time from Christs Reſurrection, unto Antichriſts Kingdome: becauſe by thouſand, in Scripture we often underſtand a very great, and indefinite number, Joh. 9.3. Pſal. 91.7. 1. Sam. 18.7. Pſal. 90.4. &c. The like alſo we find in Heatheniſh Writers. Virgil. 1. Aeneid. 11. Aene. 2. Perſ. Sat. 5. Ovid. Met. Lib. 13. &c.
But this opinion cannot ſtand, for many cauſes: for first, we may not raſhly, and without neceſſity goe from the Letter to Figures: Now here no neceſſitie urgeth us to turne from the proprietie of the letter (about the thouſand yeers) unto a trope of indefinite ſignification.
Beſides, neither the Subject, Yeers, nor the Epithite, Thouſand, doth here admit a Trope. Not the Subject, becauſe howſoever other names ſignifying time, as houres, dayes, weekes, moneths, are often in Scripture taken improperly. Yeers alſo attributed to God do improperly ſignifie eternity, Job. 10.5. & 36.26. Pſal. 102.25.28. Heb. 1.12. Or by an Hebraiſme the time of divine Iudgement, as Iſa 61.2. Luke 4.19. the acceptable yeere: Iſa 34.8. the yeere of recompence: Jerem. 23.12. the yeere of Viſitation: Notwithſtanding Yeers with a numerall Epithite, as in this place, have never any other ſignification, ſave propet and definite. Againe, neither the Epithite, Thouſand, the which howſoever it doth ſometimes, both in ſacred and humane Writers, only amplifie a matter indefinitely: as may be ſeen in the Examples before mentioned: Notwithſtanding being in Hiſtories and Propheſies of Scripture joyned to yeers, I ſhall alwayes beleeve that it is never taken but in a definite ſignification, except any man can ſhew me the contrary.
Thirdly, the Text it ſelfe yeelds us a weighty reaſon: becauſe Iohn indeed at firſt in verſe 2. determinates the thouſand yeers without the Article, having it only foreign, but afterward emphatically repeats it foure times with the Article, foreign theſe thouſand yeers, and undoubtedly defines the ſame.
Fourthly, from the Text wee have another evident reaſon, viz. that during thoſe thouſand yeers Antichriſt was worſhipped: for within thoſe thouſand yeers they alſo that worſhipped not the Image of the Beast, that is, of Antichriſt, lived, and reigned with Christ: and therefore it cannot be underſtood that theſe thouſand yeeres were finiſhed before Antichriſts coming, nor indefinitely untill his coming.
We are therefore to embrace their opinion who hold that theſe thouſand yeers are definite. And now let us come to conſider the termes.