Last month I offered some of my interpretation of Revelation. However, space did not permit me to cover all of what I think is revealed in Revelation. So, in this article I’m going to touch on another aspect of Revelation.
The 1,000 Year Reign
There is a wide difference of opinion between Catholic and some Protestant interpretations of the 1,000-year reign described in Revelation (Rev 20:1-6). Some Protestant scholars propose this millennium as a future period of peace where the Church gains strength prior to the end of the world.
I think this is because some Protestants believe the Catholic Church has been taken over by Satan. But I believe Jesus Christ spoke accurately when He predicted that the gates of hell shall not prevail against His Church.
According to some Protestant thinking, the rapture predicts the beginning of this millennial kingdom. This is supposed to start sometime after a Reformation liberates the Church from Satan’s grip. Satan will then be bound to permit the Church to grow strong without hindrance from Satan for 1,000 years. But the word rapture does not even appear in Revelation.
My Interpretation
I interpret this 1,000-year reign in Revelation differently. I think the millennium started in 380 AD. This is when Emperor Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of Rome and outlawed pagan religions. This prevented any deviation in religious thought in the whole empire. It even became a criminal offense to deviate from the teaching of the Catholic church.
This long period of peace allowed Christianity to flourish and develop into a marvelous Christian culture. It even saw the development of a group of Christian nations called “The Holy Roman Empire.” What a wonderful world this would be if that empire had flourished and grown into a world-wide empire.
But the 1,000 years of flourishing started coming to an end in the 1300s. First crop failures in Germany and other northern European countries resulted in widespread starvation and death. Then the 100 Years War broke out in 1337. And ten years later, in 1347, the Black Death began ravaging Europe. It killed between 25 and 45 percent of the European population and it took 200 years for the European population to recover.
Also, the people of northern Europe gradually began to lose faith in the Church due to misconduct of some of the clergy. They started to become uncomfortable belonging to a church controlled by a foreign government and with the immense property in land and wealth controlled by that church.
Everything came to a head in 1517 in Germany with the Reformation, which destroyed the unity of the Church. The Reformation encouraged the development of many new sects contradictory to the faith. It also fomented religious wars among the different sects. Wouldn’t this “Reformation” seem like the release of Satan to try once again to disrupt what Christ had established?
The Reformation
The Reformation is a touchy subject depending on which side of the controversy one finds oneself. It does, however, set the stage for the dissolution of Christendom and the confusion of the Christian message. What potent credibility Christianity might have had throughout the world if the Reformation had not happened. It would not have happened had enough Christians, especially churchmen, been personally steadfast and loyal to Jesus Christ.
The Reformation initially caused the departure of Christians into a few conflicting sects. Eventually this became many sects that contradicted Christ’s original teaching. I think the Book of Revelation from this point on plays out in the struggle between Satan and the woman who God predicted would crush Satan’s head.
In the sixteenth century, many individual nations, because of the laxity of some churchmen, withdrew from the Holy Roman Empire, and changed their religious convictions. Wars were even fought over the religious differences. This is what tore the Millennial Kingdom apart.
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of Wittenberg castle church. The clash of different points of view intensified in July 1519 when Luther defended all his views in the eighteen-day Leipzig Debate.
But unbeknown to people in Europe, a spectacular apparition of the Virgin Mary was about to occur in Mexico. I think this is the first historical event demonstrating the woman’s influence in crushing the pride of Lucifer. God wants to defeat Lucifer through the fidelity of the “woman” and her influence in history.
Events in Mexico
In this same year, in Mexico, a 52-year astrological cycle had ended. The year 1519 was the year called “Ce Acatl,” the first year of a new cycle. According to Aztec legend, Quetzalcoatl, their main god, was forced to leave his throne in A.D. 890. He went to the Gulf and sailed east, promising to return in the year Ce Acatl.
In February 1519, Hernando Cortez sailed from Cuba to the Yucatan peninsula with a 500-man army, 16 horses, and 10 cannons in a fleet of 11 ships manned by 100 sailors. His purpose was to explore the mainland, look for fame and riches, bring the people into the Holy Roman Empire, and convert them to the true God.
On November 8, 1519, Cortez began marching toward Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire, conquering any tribe that tried to stop him. Tenochtitlan, at that time, was the largest city in the new world, with at least 200,000 people. The city ruled over an empire of 3,000,000 people. There were also several million more people in Central America not subjugated by the Aztecs.
(Steve Weidenkopf provides a good recap of Cortez’s conquest of the Aztecs in his article “The Real Story of the Conquistadors” if you are interested in reading about this.)
Cortez was mistakenly seen by the Aztec chief Montezuma as Quetzalcoatl returning.
Back in Europe
Meanwhile, in Europe, on December 10, 1520, Martin Luther burned the Papal bull criticizing his stance against the Catholic Church. On January 3, 1521, Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X and outlawed by the Emperor, Charles V. The excommunication document became official on May 28, 1521. In the same month, Cortez began his final Assault on Tenochtitlan. The city was conquered on August 13, 1521.
In 1530, the Augsburg Confession was published. It is the primary confession of the Lutheran church, written mostly by Martin Luther. In 1531, Protestant nobles in the Holy Roman Empire formed the Schmalkalden League to oppose Charles V. This, in my opinion, spelled the end of a unified 1,000-year Christian political Empire. Vestiges of the Holy Roman Empire lingered on, but Christendom, as a unified European political kingdom, was gone forever.
Apparition to Juan Diego
In 1531 the splintering of the Church in Europe was beyond repair. At the same time, the seething hostility of the abused indigenous peoples seemed ready to destroy the Spanish, across the ocean. But on December 9, 1531, the Virgin Mary appeared to 57-year-old Aztec Juan Diego near a hill known as Tepeyac.
The Miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the conversion of millions to Catholicism is a story every Catholic should already know, so I won’t repeat it here. Suffice it to say it was a historical event.
Conclusion
These events – the Reformation, the defeat of the Aztecs, and the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe – seem to me to be linked together in Revelation. They seem to reflect a spiritual battle between some spirits who claim to be gods and what all Christians know to be the one and only manifestation of God, Jesus Christ.
While Lucifer was loose in Europe deceiving the nations, people on the other side of the world were being liberated from pagan gods by human endeavors just as brutal as the sectarian wars in Europe. However, behind the scenes in the struggle in America, what God wants done gets done, no matter how unworthy the human beings are who accomplish it.
Why did the Mother of Jesus play such an important role in the struggle of Jesus against Lucifer? I think Because God warned Lucifer to beware of the woman (Gen 3: 14-15) who will crush his head. Jesus, being God in human flesh, could have easily defeated Lucifer through His divine power.
The Blessed Virgin’s apparition in Mexico meshed with the Reformation in Europe.
Around five million Catholics left the Catholic Church in Europe and another million died in the resulting wars. This was the beginning of the disintegration some say has resulted in 45,000 Christian denominations today.
But around eight million natives in the new world entered the Catholic Church while the Reformation was taking place. Millions of people in Mexico, and in Central and South America left the worship of pagan gods and came into the Catholic Church. The Great Commission was taking place.
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“I think the millennium started in 380 AD. This is when Emperor Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of Rome and outlawed pagan religions. This prevented any deviation in religious thought in the whole empire. It even became a criminal offense to deviate from the teaching of the Catholic church.
This long period of peace allowed Christianity to flourish and develop into a marvelous Christian culture. It even saw the development of a group of Christian nations called “The Holy Roman Empire.” What a wonderful world this would be if that empire had flourished and grown into a world-wide empire.“
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Another viewpoint concerning the millennium is that it is the time when Jesus Christ will directly rule the earth after being at the right hand of the Father. I don’t believe that the Church will gain strength. It will not even exist as we know it today. There may be some hybrid of Christianity and Judaism at this time with Jesus ruling from Jerusalem.
Hello Peter Aiello,
Thank you for reading my article and thank you for your comment. Protestant thinking differs from Catholic thinking on the millennium in a profound way. Catholic thinking is based on the biblical text that Satan is bound for 1000 years so that he can no longer harass the church. I think the fulfillment of this is when the Roman people finally began to believe the preaching of Catholic evangelists. Their conviction that the Gospel is valid grew until the Roman Emperor Theodosius I decided to set Catholicism as the mandatory state’s religion and outlaw the old pagan religions. This was a big victory for Christ because so many people now believed His Gospel.
Believing the Catholic faith was made mandatory because most religions were made mandatory by the states. People were required by law to believe the state religion. This is why so many of the early Christian martyrs were put to death.
The idea that the Catholic church was held captive, I think, originated with Martin Luther and was picked up by most of the Protestant sects. When the Roman Empire made Catholicism the official religion in the Roman Empire that’s when the captivity occurred. See the two attached articles Martin Luther (Luther) and (Babylonian).
The reformers argued that the state now took over Christianity and forced the Christins to believe what the state believed. I don’t think it was like that. I think the state is merely protecting the church from adverse opinions of people who do not want to believe.
I googled The Internet to see what is taught about the millennium. I was surprise to see not only protestant religions and sects have a teaching on the millennium, but also the Mormons, which is not merely a Protestant Church, but they have a secondary source of revelation: the Book of Mormon.
Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, was visited by heavenly beings who told him that not only the Catholic church was in error, all the Christians churches are in error. Smith was asked to select twelve men and organized The Church of Jesus Christ anew composed of Latter-Day Saints. Even they have a teaching on the millennium.
You can see on The Internet how the various churches and sects deal with the millennium. But note that I think the millennium is over; it ended with the Reformation. And Protestants think it has not started yet.
Why is the millennium considered different between Catholics and Protestants? In a nutshell because the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ two thousand years ago and the Protestant churches were founder by reformers fifteen hundred years later.
Read the modern Dr. Tim LaHaye’s thoughts on the millennium and Babylonian captivity (LaHaye).
I hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Maurice A, Williams