Michael S. Heiser on the millennium & Christ's return
No required position; several views held faithfully
"for many things in eschatology, I don't have a 'position'; I really don't care." and "we need to get off our high prophecy horses and admit that any of these positions are NOT self evident."
THE POSITION
Declines a millennial position outright, and not as a hedge — his argument is that none of the available positions is self-evident from the text and that certainty about them is misplaced. He treats the whole area as an inexact science and says the confusion is the point.
1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the Abyss, holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 And he threw him into the Abyss, shut it, and sealed it over him, so that he could not deceive the nations until the thousand years were complete. After that, he must be released for a brief period of time. 4 Then I saw the thrones, and those seated on them had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years were complete. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
4 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Old Testament and Semitic languages scholar (PhD, Wisconsin, 2004), Scholar-in-Residence at Faithlife/Logos, and host of the Naked Bible Podcast. Argued that the Hebrew Bible assumes a real divine council of lesser elohim under Yahweh, and held that this reading defends rather than threatens the deity of Christ.
Cite this page
"Michael S. Heiser on the millennium & Christ's return", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/heiser/millennium (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/heiser/millennium).