Revelation 20 and the Millennial Debate

by Matt Waymeyer

Often quoting the propronents of each view regarding premillennialism, amillennialism, and postmillennialism, this book summarizes and contrasts the arguments of the three positions as they relate to Revelation 20. Though premillennial in its conclusions, it provides a valuable and clear resource as to how each school of prophecy deals with this watershed passage.

Genres: Theology, Christian

136 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1969

Reviews

[Carol Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a very readable, understandable expose on the three major views of eschatology relating to Revelation chapter 20. The author says in his introduction, that it "reads much like a syllabus, and that's because it is, or at least it was. It began as a paper I wrote while studying at The Master's Seminary, and then it evolved into a class I taught at the Logos Bible Institute... Its current form is very similar to what I handed out to my students in that class. The strength of this format, I believe, is that it sets forth the various views--and arguments for those views--in a manner that is easy for the reader to follow." I definitely agree with his last statement. It WAS easy to follow his explanations.

The only argument I have with the book is that he put so much into Endnotes section that I felt should have been incorporated into the text of the book. The endnotes were quite lengthy, but for the most part, essential to the thought progress, that they would have been much more convenient in the main section of the book. As it was, I had to have a big clip to keep track of the two sections and continually flip back and forth.

I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to know more about the premillennial, postmillennial and amillennial views of eschatology. Mr. Waymeyer is a premillennialist and he definitely spends more time supporting that viewpoint, but still gives a good explanation of the other views, usually by quoting from adherents of the other viewpoints.

[Michael Dionne]

Clear, exegetical, humble. If more theologians wrote about eschatology this way, there would be more harmony in Christ's church—even among those who disagree!

[Shaun Marksbury · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent commentary on Revelation 20, reviewing the various views, arguing for premillennialism, and providing an easy-to-read format. Recommended!

[Donald Stevenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another catch up from me:

Just finished reading "Revelation 20 and the Millennial Debate" by Matt Waymeyer. The book looks at postmil, amil and premil views of Revelation 20 in a detailed balanced fashion. It defends a Premil understanding and is an excellent resource that supports a literal grammatical historical interpretation of scripture. The book would be helped by the end notes being footnotes, as they are extensive, however the content is first rate! Thoroughly recommend this short but valuable book that forces you to look at the Biblical text.

[Sean Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book by Matt Waymeyer is about as perfect as it could be for its purpose. It's a brief look at Revelation 20, which is the crucial passage in Scripture related to the "thousand years," the *millennium*. Waymeyer compares the three main approaches: Premillennialism, Postmillennialism, and Amillennialsm, and provides the proposed answers of each view to the interpretive questions required to understand each paragraph. In his introduction he states, "the primary contribution of this book rests not so much in the area of original though as in its presentation of the arguments of writers who have gone before." And it is a *great* contribution and service to the reader. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to know what's *in* Revelation 20 more than what they need to *bring* in to it.

[Rylan S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent primer on premillenialism. Waymeyer's strength is in his clarity and succinctness. On the other hand you will not find any extended defenses or technical arguments.

Overall he offers a good case. The position that he makes weakest is for the non-symbolic nature of "1000 years."

[Eli · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding, useful, and succinct exegesis of Revelation 20, showing how a careful reading of the chapter precludes the amillennial and postmillennial positions. Highly recommended.

[Slawrenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful, solid book that helps navigate the premillenial view.

[Colby Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise presentation of each millennial view’s understanding of Rev 20:1-6 and the different aspects of the passage; a case for pre-mill. Straightforward and to the point.

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best summary of the defense of the Premillennial view that I have read. Worthwhile read. The work was originally a syllabus that the author had for a Bible institute. Currently, the author is an adjunct professor. Waymeyer makes it clear that the work was not intended to give new arguments in support of Premillennialism, but more towards a summary and the gathering of the arguments for a Premillennial interpretation of Revelation 20. However, I did learn several new things from this work. Some of the issues that Waymeyer tackles that I enjoyed includes whether or not there is recapitulation going on in Revelation 20, the issue of a biblical demonology in interpreting when Satan is bound, etc. I think if there is ever another edition of this book, perhaps my compliant is thatsome of the lengthy endnotes can be moved into the main portion of the book since some of the discussion there was worth the attention of the readers. The book can also cite works with a footnote rather than a parenthesis with the author's name, year of publication and page number, since the serious reader will end up having to have his hands in three different places in the book (one hand on the body, one hand on the footnote page, then still yet another hand on the bibliography). This seems to discourage most readers from thoroughly following the additional supplemental arguments (at times, it seems important enough not to be just left as an endnote!) or track the sources of the citation. The format would not encourage readers to use the endnotes and follow the sources, and defeats the purpose of why citing them in the first place.

[Philip Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Positives

- The chapter on the binding of Satan was mostly well put. It stated the problem for amillennialists in a concise and clear way and provides a useful text for them to respond to. I liked it and it challenged me to more carefully nuance what I mean when I talk about the binding of Satan.
- The chapter on hell was good.

Negatives
The struggle with eschatology is that the different views can often talk past each other, all the while failing to consider what the other side is actually saying. I found this to be the case in this book. I would challenge anyone who found it compelling to read a book defending amillennialism written by someone who actually holds to it.
- From my perspective, the arguments for interpreting the thousand years being literal and not symbolic were weak.
- As were the arguments for the reign of Christ and the saints being on earth (although I had not considered Rev 5:10 which was interesting).
-As were the arguments about the resurrections.

My main frustration with all of these points was that Waymeyer seems to show familiarity with amillennial authors whom I think are compelling (Riddlebarger, Cox, Hoekema etc.), but chooses to leave out their thorough responses to his various arguments. That is to say, he'll cite them briefly to say what their view is on a particular aspect of the topic, but after he attempts to refute them, he won't let them speak for themselves as to how they would respond. I understand that it is a short book, but I suppose I merely find it frustrating to read my view being glossed over in a book that claims to review all the millennial views fairly.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a helpful book for understanding the various views on the Millennium in Revelation 20. It's written from a premillennial perspective, but it describes other positions (namely, amillennial and post-millenial). It's concise and in a very easy to read format.

[Dan Sudfeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm presently teaching a class on 'the future.' This book was very helpful in clarifying some things.

[Justin Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional work by Matthew Waymeyer, if one is studying the eschatological positions concerning the millennial reign of Christ this book is a must read.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written, relatively even-handed treatment of the three main views in the millennial debate.