Position: The 1,000 year reign of Jesus is not a literal reign on earth.

Challenge
The 1,000 year reign of Jesus on earth will begin when Jesus comes back to earth.
Defense
Jesus will not come to the earth. Believers will meet him in the air.
"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words."
(I Thessalonians 4:13-18)

Challenge
Because Jesus was rejected, the church was set up as a substitute for the earthly 1000 year kingdom on earth.
Defense
The purpose of Jesus was to be the sacrificial lamb. It was no surprise!
"He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priest and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
(Mark 8:31)
"It was just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father."
(John 13:1)
Jesus never intended to set up a physical kingdom on the earth.
"Jesus said, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But, now my kingdom is from another place...You are right in saying I am King. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.'"
John 18:36,37

Challenge
Revelation says Jesus will rule for 1,000 years on earth. (Revelation 20)
Defense
Actually it says all the dead saints would reign with Jesus. Whatever John meant by 1,000 years has to be studied in the context of the book of Revelation.
Whatever was to happen in the book of Revelation was going to happen soon.
"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place."
(Revelation 1:1)
"Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near."
(Revelation 1:3)
Revelation was written to believers who were already in the kingdom.
"To him who loves us and has freed us by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father- to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen!"
(Revelation 1:5,6)

Challenge
The 1,000 year reign of Jesus is literally 1,000 years.
Defense
If we decide to make 1,000 years literal, it raises some interesting challenges. To be consistent we need to make everything in the context literal.
The woman in chapter 12 was literally clothed with the sun and actually stood on the moon.
In chapter 14 a literal 144,000 men (no women) from the tribes of Israel were standing with Jesus, but the listing of the 12 tribes found in chapter 7 does not match the literal 12 tribes. Only 11 tribes are listed and the list of tribes include Joseph who was not in the literal 12 tribes. One of Joseph's sons Manasseh is listed, but Joseph's other son Ephraim and Dan are left out of the list. If this is a literal list, it is mighty confusing.
In chapter 16 we have 7 literal bowls. One of these bowls of wrath was literally poured on the sun and one was literally poured into the air.
The woman in chapter 17 was literally drunk with the blood of saints. In chapter 18, the kings of the earth literally committed adultery with the drunk woman in chapter 17.
Revelation 19 says Jesus was dressed in a literal robe soaked in blood, a literal sword came out of his mouth and killed much of the army of Satan.
In chapter 20 an angel was literally holding a large chain and Satan was a literal dragon.
Why would anyone pick out 1,000 years to make it literal...and accept that none of the other descriptions in the context are literal? Only if they are struggling to prove a point!

Challenge
All true Christians will be secretly, and suddenly, taken away in the rapture. Unbelievers will be left.
Defense
Some say this will happen before the 1,000 year reign of Jesus. Some say it will happen after the 1,000 years. The truth is, neither the word rapture, or the idea of rapture is found in the Bible. I Thessalonians 4:13-18 plainly tells us it will not be a secret when Jesus comes.
For more information, go to our rapture section.

Challenge
The antichrist (Lawless One) will appear and deceive people.
Defense
The antichrist is first mentioned in I John 2:18. John was talking about the same events as he wrote about in Revelation.
"Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour."
John goes on to define the antichrist.
"Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son."
(John 2:22)
"For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming."
(II Thessalonians 2:7,8)

If you have other objections, send them to cvalentine@childrensbiblestudy.com.