...I hold to ... Chiliasm...
1000 Years Here Or 1000 Years There?
The scripture speaks about 1000 years that will come:
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, (Revelation 20:2)
And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. (Revelation 20:3)
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received [his] mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4)
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This [is] the first resurrection. (Revelation 20:5)
Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, (Revelation 20:7)
Those passages speak about a "1000 years" "reign", a "millenium" [latin: "mille":1000 and "annum":years] that shall be with CHRIST JESUS and HIS Saints.
Where will this "1000 years" "reign" with CHRIST JESUS be? Shall it be here upon this Earth? or shall it be elsewhere instead [and if elsewhere, where then, and what of the Earth at that time, and where will Satan and the wicked be during this same period, and what then after the 1000 years]? Let us look to the scriptures for these answers:
There are two "reigns" ["1000 years" and "forever and ever"], one leading into the other:
[1] The "1000 years" reign "in Heaven" [Psalms 50:5; Matthew 5:3,8,10,12, 6:20, 13:30, 24:31; Mark 10:21, 13:27; Luke 6:23, 18:22, 23:43; John 14:2-3, 17:24; Colossians 1:5; Hebrews 10:34; 1 Peter 1:4; Revelation 7:9, 14:3, 19:1; "Paradise", Luke 23:43; 2 Corinthians 12:4; Revelation 2:7] with CHRIST JESUS [1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 20:6] and...
[2] The "reign on earth" ["made new", not this sin polluted Earth; 2 Peter 3:13; Isaiah 65:17, 66:22; Revelation 21:1]
that lasts "forever and ever" [Revelation 5:10; "meek inherit earth" ["made new", not this sin polluted Earth], Psalms 37:9,11,34; Proverbs 11:31; Isaiah 25:8, 65:21; Daniel 7:27; Matthew 5:5; Revelation 5:10].
The passages which speak about the "1000 years" "reign" of the Saints with CHRIST JESUS [Revelation 20:1-7] make absolutely no mention of being "on the earth". The passages which speak about the "reign on the earth" [Revelation 5:10] does not end after a "1000 years", for it is even "forever and ever" [Revelation 11:15, 22:5]. In fact, the passages declare that those Saints reigning with CHRIST JESUS in the "1000 years" are "in Heaven" before the throne of GOD on the "sea of glass mingled with fire" [Revelation 4:6, 15:2].
What then begins the "1000 years"? The First Resurrection and the 2nd Advent of CHRIST JESUS [which there is no longer any possibility to change sides in the Great Controversy]:
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. (Revelation 22:11)
HE [JESUS] will come with "clouds" to reap the earth:
And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud [one] sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. (Revelation 14:14)
In scripture these "clouds" are HIS Angels, the very "reapers" [see Article "The Day Of The LORD"; Psalms 68:17, 104:3; Isaiah 66:15; Matthew 13:39,49, 16:27, 24:30, 25:31,51, 26:64; Mark 8:38, 13:27; Luke 9:26, 21:27; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 3:13, 4:16-17; Hebrews 1:7; Revelation 1:7, 12:7, etc] and every Angel in Heaven [all of them] is coming back with HIM in the most glorious triumphant return...and there will be silence in Heaven "about the space" of "half an hour" [Revelation 8:1]...
Just as there was a resurrection of "many" [not all] Saints that "slept" around Jerusalem [locally] at the time of JESUS' own resurrection [Matthew 27:52], the very "firstfruits" of that Great "Harvest" of the Earth [Revelation 14:15] which is coming to begin the "1000 years" [see Exodus 23:16,19, 34:22,26; 1 Corinthians 15:20,23; Ephesians 4:8]:
And just as those who were resurrected then as "Firstfruits" came out of their graves and were later then taken into Heaven with CHRIST JESUS, so likewise all of the righteous saints still on the earth at the 2nd Advent will likewise rise and be "caught up" "into the air" "to meet the LORD" and be taken back with HIM into Heaven, to "the place" HE has gone to "prepare for" us [compare Revelation 20:4-6], just as the Bridegroom comes for HIS Bride and takes her back to the room that was built onto the FATHER's House [Psalms 19:5-6; Matthew 25:1-13]:
In my Father's house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2)
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also. (John 14:3)
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. (1 Thessalonians 4:15)
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: (1 Thessalonains 4:16)
Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17)
Looking closely at Revelation 20:4-6 [which is directly linked to 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; the "first resurrection"] reveals together then that the Saints [who were all "caught up" "into the air" to meet their LORD] then live and reign with CHRIST JESUS for "1000 years" in "Heaven". Not a single text there in vs 4-6 say that the "1000 years" "reign" is to be on this earth. Not a single text reveal that all of the Saints then suddenly drop out of the sky after meeting their LORD in "the air" to then reign on the Earth, and we are about to see scriptures which reveal why the Saints cannot reign on the Earth during the "1000 years":
In the 2nd Advent, "every eye" [wicked and righteous living] "shall see HIM" [JESUS] and they "shall see HIM as HE is" [1 John 3:2], yea, even "they who pierced HIM" and "all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of HIM" [Revelation 1:7; see also Matthew 26:64; Mark 14:62]; "all the tribes of the earth" [Matthew 24:30].
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. (2 Peter 1:20)
...regarding the "power" and "coming" [in the Greek is "parousia" "παρουσία"; see end of Article "The Day Of The LORD"] of our "LORD JESUS CHRIST" that Peter and others have "made known"...
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. (2 Peter 1:16) [see Mount of Transfiguration, a miniature type of that which is to come.]
...here are some of those texts [see also Joel 2:32; Revelation 6:14-17]...
"...the Son of man in heaven ... they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." (Matthew 24:30;p)
[the "clouds" are the "reapers", the Angels, see Article "The Day Of The LORD"]
"...the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him..." (Matthew 25:31;p)
"...the Son of man … when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." (Mark 8:38;p)
"...the Son of man … when he shall come in his own glory, and [in his] Father's, and of the holy angels." (Luke 9:26;p)
"...they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." (Luke 21:27;p)
"...the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints." (1 Thessalonians 3:13;p)
"...the Lord himself shall descend from heaven..." (1 Thessalonians 4:16;p)
It is exactly during this monumentous event that every single "dead in CHRIST" [1 Thessalonians 4:16] will "awake" from their "sleep" and "slumber" in the "dust" of the earth [Isaiah 26:19; 1 Corinthians 15:55], "arise" from their first death, and "shout" and "sing" and be given immortality then, as will then the living righteous [1 Corinthians 15:52-54; 2 Timothy 4:8; clearly showing that they did not have it beforehand, they were mortal before].