A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times

by Kim Riddlebarger

If premillenarians are correct, Revelation 19:11–21 teaches that a great battle occurs at the second advent of Jesus Christ, followed by one thousand years of peace (Rev. 20:1–6), which, in turn, ends in yet another battle, which culminates in the final judgment. But this exposes one of the most serious weaknesses of premillennialism, namely, the presence of evil among the redeemed during the millennial age, provoking the final eschatological battle. Indeed, there are a number of reasons to believe that the two battles depicted in Revelation 19:11–21 and Revelation 20:7–10 are one and the same event, each depicted from a different redemptive-historical angle. The battle of Revelation 20:7–10 is a recapitulation of the battle recorded in Revelation 19:11–21, not a different battle that occurs one thousand years later. These are two pictures of the same conflict. If this case can be made with any degree of probability, it goes a long way toward establishing amillennialism as the biblical understanding of the millennial age.