Max Lucado Believes in a Literal Millennium

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Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years (Revelation 20:1-2, ESV).

A couple of weeks ago, my wife told me that she had listened to a podcast from Lamb & Lion Ministries that featured Max Lucado.

I paused — a really big pause. Why?  

Max Lucado comes from my religious heritage, from a belief system teaching that Biblical prophecy is figurative, not connected to real-life events in history. Max’s background is my background, too. Lucado has written over 100 books in the past few decades and probably has sold more Christian books than any other contemporary Christian writer.

And now Max Lucado is on a Lamb&Lion Podcast. . . a ministry that’s all about a literal Millennium. Was he debating David Reagan, the founder of Lamb & Lion, about literal vs. figurative views of prophecy? No. In the podcast, Lucado admitted that he had changed his mind and was talking about his new thinking in his recent book What Happens Next.

Max Lucado, from my church background — a huge best-selling author who is now changing his mind to believe in a literal Millennium.

Pause — a really big pause!

I changed my mind from figurative to literal early in my Christian walk, considering that if the prophecies of Christ’s first coming in the Old Testament had a literal baby in a manger in Bethlehem (actual historical fulfillment), then the prophecies about the second coming in both the Old and New Testament, should have a real-life explanation as well.

In the podcast, Lucado discusses his change of mind. . .  

I was taught in the seminary where I studied, and also in the ancestry of my faith to believe that most of the teaching about End Times is allegorical. I did not believe in a literal thousand-year reign of Christ.

Then, Max gave three reasons for his differing viewpoint on the millennium. . .  

First. . .  

Revelation 20 speaks of the overthrow of Satan during that time, during that thousand-year reign or during that reign of Christ. I do not believe Satan is overthrown in our world today.

Second. . .

If I’m correct, I think it’s six times in Revelation 20 the Revelator John refers to a thousand-year period of time. And so, it makes sense to me if he says it six times using a thousand, the number thousand. Why not take it more literally, a word-for-word interpretation?

Third. . . 

Another convincing reason for me was that the vast majority of early church fathers were pre-millennial in their interpretation, one of whom was a student of the Apostle John himself. Papias was his name. And what an extraordinary thought to think that the student of John was a believer in the literal thousand-year reign of Christ. 

That’s almost enough by itself to convince me.

I’ve read a lot of Max Lucado books, but none in the last decade (I’m not sure why), but I’ve read his latest book on the end times. You should, too. I will discuss what Max Lucado says about one of the most exciting prophecies in the entire Bible next Monday.

Let’s pause until Monday, but in preparation, read Daniel 9.

(Editor’s Note: Psalms On Saturday — tomorrow. Daniel 9 and the amazing prophecy next Monday. Wait patiently!)