Commentary Response to Dr. Koniuchowsky on the Millennium and Resurrection
- Charles
- Aug 18
- 4 min read
Fair Use Notice:
This image and commentary reference the video “When is 1,000 Not 1,000 The Millennial Invention PT 10 Teaching Only” available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U550codIWPc. The use is for educational, critical, and theological commentary purposes under Section 107 of the Copyright Act (fair use). All rights remain with the original creator.
Introduction: Appreciating the Zeal, Testing the Claims
Dr. Koniuchowsky rightly desires to see Revelation through Hebraic eyes and covenant promises. He notes how “a thousand” in Scripture can symbolize fullness (Psalm 90:4; Psalm 105:8). He also ties the binding of Satan to Yeshua’s earthly ministry and suggests the Millennium might already be realized spiritually. While this shows zeal for the Kingdom, covenant Scripture calls us to test every claim against the Royal Covenant’s structure of promise and fulfillment.
The heart of the question is this: Is the Millennium symbolic, or is it a literal thousand-year reign on earth? And tied to that: How many resurrections does Scripture reveal?
On the Use of “A Thousand” in Scripture
Dr. Koniuchowsky points out passages where “a thousand” means completeness rather than arithmetic, such as Deuteronomy 7:9 (“keeping covenant to a thousand generations”). This is true in its context—yet Revelation 20 repeats “a thousand years” six times in as many verses. Unlike the poetic parallelism of Psalms or covenant hyperbole in Torah, here John anchors a prophetic timeline with deliberate repetition.
Covenant logic says: when symbolic numbers are meant, they appear in vision form (seven horns, ten crowns, 144,000 sealed). When time periods are meant, they are marked in days or years (42 months, 1,260 days, time-times-half a time). The “thousand years” in Revelation 20 fits this second category. To make it symbolic collapses the covenant harvest structure of resurrections.
Thus, while “a thousand” can symbolize fullness elsewhere, in Revelation 20 it refers to a literal reign.
On the Binding of Satan
The video links Yeshua’s ministry—“binding the strong man” (Matthew 12:29)—to Revelation 20’s binding of Satan. There is partial truth: Yeshua did disarm principalities at the cross (Colossians 2:15). But the binding of Revelation 20 is covenantally different. John says Satan is bound “so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished” (Revelation 20:3).
Clearly, today nations are still deceived. Wars rage, idols thrive, false prophets abound.
Thus, the binding of Satan at Calvary was judicial, a down payment. The binding in Revelation 20 is geographic and eschatological—he is confined, shut up in the abyss, unable to act until the little season. These must not be conflated.
On Preterist Readings and 70 AD
Dr. Koniuchowsky suggests much of Revelation may have been fulfilled in 70 AD, tying the “little season” to Rome’s destruction of Jerusalem. While it is true that 70 AD marked the end of the imposed tutor-law (Galatians 3:19), covenant promise reaches further. John sees beyond Rome to the global deception of nations and the final clash when Satan is loosed at the end of the Millennium (Revelation 20:7–9).
70 AD was covenant transition. Revelation 20 is covenant consummation. To equate them is to confuse stages in the covenant harvest cycle.
On the Nature of the New Covenant Writing
In the video, he emphasizes that the “Torah” is written on the heart (Jeremiah 31:31–33). Here we must be precise. What is written is not the entire Book of the Law (the Levitical tutor), but the Royal Covenant—the Ten Words spoken at Sinai (Exodus 34:28). Hebrews 8:10 quotes Jeremiah, but places it in Yeshua’s mediation. It is His covenant words, not the imposed ordinances, that are engraved on hearts by the Ruach HaKodosh.
Thus, covenant fidelity requires us to distinguish: the New Covenant restores the Royal Covenant vows, not the Levitical code.
On the Resurrection Order
Perhaps the greatest gap in the video is the flattening of resurrection. He tends to merge them into one, or see Revelation 20’s “first resurrection” as symbolic. Yet Scripture shows four resurrections:
Yeshua Himself (1 Corinthians 15:20).
The saints who rose with Him (Matthew 27:52–53).
The first resurrection of Revelation 20—the Lamb’s Book saints raised to reign for a thousand years.
The final resurrection—the rest of the dead before the Great White Throne (Revelation 20:11–15).
This covenant sequence makes sense of the Millennium. Without it, either the Millennium dissolves into symbol, or resurrection hope is blurred. But with it, we see a literal kingdom: Messiah and His Bride reigning for a thousand years, before the final resurrection and judgment.
The Covenant Hope in the Literal Millennium
The video treats the Millennium as possibly figurative. Yet covenant testimony anchors it as literal:
The prophets foresaw Messiah reigning from Jerusalem, nations streaming to His throne (Isaiah 2:2–4; Zechariah 14:9).
Revelation shows resurrected saints ruling with Him for a thousand years (20:4).
Only after this reign do the rest of the dead rise for judgment (20:11–15).
This sequence protects covenant promise. The Millennium is the covenant wedding feast preview, the reign of Bride and Bridegroom on the renewed earth before the eternal state.
Conclusion: A Faithful Response
Dr. Koniuchowsky’s teaching highlights the Hebraic richness of Scripture, but it collapses the covenant stages. By seeing the Millennium as symbolic, the four resurrections blur into one. By conflating Satan’s present defeat with his future binding, the covenant sequence is shortened.
The covenant response is this:
The Millennium is literal, not symbolic.
There are four resurrections, not one.
The Royal Covenant, not the tutor-law, is written on hearts.
70 AD was covenant transition, but the Millennium and final judgment are still future.
The Bride’s hope is not vague spirituality but concrete resurrection, covenant reign, and the everlasting kingdom. As John declares:
“Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power.” (Revelation 20:6)
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