If you have never had the opportunity to watch the movie Vantage Point, here is a quick summary of the film: the attempted assassination of the American President is told and re-told from several different perspectives. It views the same event from the vantage point of several different characters. Each perspective is seeing the same event, but things are seen from their vantage point. Only by combining all the details from each vantage point does the whole story become clear.
The book of Revelation is no different. It contains seven different parallel sections. These are seven different vantage points of the same event: everything between the first advent of Christ and the second advent of Christ. This is known as recapitulation. Anyone who has bothered to pay attention to the details in Revelation will easily note the various parallels between each vantage point. They are seven different visions of the same period of time. The book of Revelation is not linear and consecutive. The structure of the book is as follows:
Prologue: 1:1-8
Section 1: 1:9—3:22
Section 2: 4:1—8:1
Section 3: 8:2—11:19
Section 4: 12:1—14:20
Section 5: 15:1—16:21
Section 6: 17:1—19:20
Section 7: 19:21—22:5
Epilogue: 22:6-21
The "millennium," which only appears in the last section, is unknown to Scripture outside of this passage. There are several end-time passages of Scripture that exclude such a concept.
If you want to understand and interpret the book of Revelation correctly, there are four principles you need to understand and apply. They are,
1. The Principle of Recapitulation
2. The Principle of Successive Visions
3. The Principle of Symbolism.
4. The Principle of Ethical Purpose.
Without paying attention to the natural structure of the book, without paying attention to the details in each section, you are bound to create all sorts of imaginative theories and fanciful fictions, such as that found in Dispensational theology. The concept of a "millennium" is foreign to Scripture. It finds its root in Jewish myth. What did Jesus say?
When the disciples asked Jesus, "Will you restore the kingdom to Israel now?" (Acts 1:6), He responded by saying, "You will receive power from the Holy Spirit and you will be My witnesses in the world" (Acts 1:7-8). In other words, what Jesus said to them was that the revival of Israel (true Israel, spiritual Israel) would be found in the preaching of the Gospel. Whoever believes in Jesus is true Israel. Romans 2:28-29; 9:6-8; 11:17-26; Galatians 3; Ephesians 2:11-3:13; and 1 Peter 2:9-10, and other passages make this abundantly clear for the wise and discerning individual rooted in Scripture."The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or, 'There it is!' For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst." Luke 17:20-21
"My kingdom is not of this world." John 18:36