The Christ in Prophecy Journal

Bible Prophecy Issues with Daymond Duck: There’s No Millennial Kingdom

Daymond Duck on Bible Prophecy Issues

Christ in Prophecy was blessed to have as our special guest, Daymond Duck. Daymond is an expert on Bible prophecy who preaches, teaches, and writes prolifically about the subject, particularly on the Rapture Ready website and in his best-selling book The Book of Revelation: The Smart Guide to the Bible Series. The following are some tough questions concerning issues in Bible prophecy that he deftly answered for our program’s hosts Dr. David Reagan, Col. Tim Moore, and Nathan Jones.

Is there really such a thing as the Millennial Kingdom?

Tim Moore: Many people today, both Catholics and Protestants, believe that we are currently living in the Millennial Kingdom. And, still others believe that there will be no Millennium whatsoever as they adhere to the Amillennial interpretation of Scriptures.

Daymond Duck: We are not living in the Millennium right now. First of all, I believe Amillennialism is false teaching. Revelation 20:4 says the Tribulation Saints, meaning those people who will be killed during the Tribulation period, will live and reign with Christ for a thousand years. Amillennialists say that passage doesn’t actually mean a thousand years, rather it means a long period of time. I say if Jesus meant a long period of time, He would have said a long period of time. Jesus said a thousand years, and so the Millennial Kingdom will last a thousand years.

Nathan Jones: Six times in Revelation 20 a thousand years is used to describe the length of time that the Millennial Kingdom will last.

Daymond Duck: The Amillennial interpretation has got it wrong. Go to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream about the statue with the head of gold and the chest and arms of silver, and get down to the toes of iron mixed with clay. Then the rock that is Jesus Christ comes and strikes that statue on its toes and the statue crumbles into dust and the wind blows the dust away. That rock, Jesus, that’s a description of the Second Coming of Jesus at the end of the Tribulation period. That rock — Jesus Christ — grows into a great mountain and fills the entire earth. That is a description of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ before the Millennial Kingdom. We haven’t had the Second Coming of Jesus Christ happen yet, so we are not now living in the Millennium. Amillennialism provides a faulty interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

Dr. Reagan: Amillennialism is entirely based upon spiritualizing what the Bible says about the Second Coming. The First Coming prophecies meant what they said, and so why wouldn’t the Second Coming prophecies mean what they say?

Daymond Duck: Yes, they mean exactly what they say. A plain sense interpretation of Jesus Christ’s return shows there’s a noticeable difference between the Rapture and the Second Coming. In the Rapture we go up, but in the Second Coming Jesus comes down and the Church comes down with Him. In the Rapture Jesus remains in the air, but in the Second Coming Jesus touches foot upon the earth. We are talking about two different stages of Christ’s return. Amillennialists confuse the Rapture with the Second Coming and make them the same event unrelated to the institution of the Millennial Kingdom here on this earth.

Daymond Duck: A plain sense interpretation of Jesus Christ's return shows there's a noticeable difference between the #Rapture and the #SecondComing. Click To Tweet

Dr. Reagan: Along that line I’m reminded of Henry Morris, the founder of the Institute for Creation Research, who wrote a wonderful commentary on Revelation called The Revelation Record. At the very beginning, he said, “The reason I wrote this book is because people tell me the book of Revelation is difficult to understand.” He added, “It is not difficult to understand, it is difficult to believe. If you will believe it, you will understand it.” Regardless, people tend to spiritualize the book of Revelation to death.

Daymond Duck: That’s wrong, and it produces a false teaching apart from the biblical intent. Look at Matthew 24 where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, otherwise known as the Olivet Discourse. I like to tell people that the book of Revelation is a commentary on that sermon. Revelation explains Matthew 24 in detail. Everything Jesus said in the Olivet Discourse is elaborated over in the book of Revelation, providing even more detail. Follow the outline in the Olivet Discourse and then receive further information about the conditions of the Lord’s return in the book of Revelation.

Tim Moore: Another aspect to interpreting the book of Revelation involves referring to the Old Testament as it lays out the prophecies found in the New Testament. The book of Revelation provides so many cross-references to Old Testament prophecies and explains how they are fulfilled in the end times. That requires you to be a student of the Bible. You’ll need to be able to go to the Bible and let it define for itself exactly what those symbols found in Revelation mean.

Nathan Jones: Daymond, I don’t understand the reasoning behind the Amillennialist interpretation because Amillennialism steals a promise out of the Bible. The promise is found in Revelation 1:3 which reads, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in, for the time is near.” Jesus promises a bona fide blessing in the book of Revelation if we read the book and we take it to heart, then we will be blessed. This blessing is a promise made by God Almighty. And yet, it seems like so many churches that adhere to the Amillennial perspective are stealing that promise by not teaching Revelation for its plain sense, literal interpretation.

Daymond Duck: I believe they are standing in the way of people understanding the book of Revelation. They will often cite some false prophet and say something like, “Well, in 1988 some guy said the Rapture would be in 1988.” Or, they’ll claim, “Nobody understands it.” Or, “Let’s don’t go overboard.” Then they hinder people from studying the book of Revelation. Let me remind our fellow Christian teachers that it is the responsibility of pastors and Sunday School teachers and seminary professors and all of God’s teachers to tell people what is in that book. We are living in perilous times, dangerous times even, and people need to know what the Bible says about the times that we are living in. The book of Revelation certainly helps.

Daymond Duck: We are living in perilous times, dangerous times even, and people need to know what the #Bible says about the times that we are living in. The book of #Revelation certainly helps. Click To Tweet

Nathan Jones: We must remember that the book of Revelation is Jesus Christ’s victory lap. Sure, there’s a lot of terrible events happening as God brings judgment upon the world, but it all leads to Christ’s victory and the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom where Jesus is made king over all of the earth. Why would anyone read a mystery novel but then not read the last chapter and find out who done it? Why would you read the Bible but not read the last book to learn about Jesus Christ’s victory?

Daymond Duck: Revelation reveals a lot of terrible stuff is about to happen, but it also explains a lot of good stuff will be happening as well. There’s only good stuff coming for Church Age believers.

Dr. Reagan: Daymond, I want to emphasize that you cannot understand New Testament end time Bible prophecy unless you know the Old Testament. Most Christians don’t study the Old Testament and so they don’t know the prophecies found in the Old Testament. For example, the book of Daniel fits together with Revelation like a hand in a glove. So, that is one of the reasons why there is so much misunderstanding about Bible prophecy, because there’s a lack of knowledge of the Old Testament.

Another confusion is an adherence to Replacement Theology. The Bible focuses its end time Bible prophecy on the Jewish people and a Jewish kingdom that God is going to establish and so reign over all of the world. If you don’t believe that God has any purpose left for the Jews then you’ve got to reinterpret prophecy to fit that perception. So, for example, did you know that about 85% of all Bible commentaries claim that in Revelation 7, where it talks about the 144,000 Jews that God is going to anoint, that they are a symbol for the Church? That’s the Amillennial interpretation!

Daymond Duck: And that is totally wrong. The Church is not there in Revelation 7. God makes it quite plain that the 144,000 servants of God derive from the 12 tribes of Israel.

Dr. Reagan: Don’t you think that God could have told us that the 144,000 were the Church if He meant the Church?

Daymond Duck: When God says Church He means Church, and when God says Israel He means Israel. It’s not the other way. God is not confused. He is not mentally challenged.

Tim Moore: I find it ironic that in the season in which we live so many people have discounted even studying Revelation, and they wonder, “What’s the point?” But, using a football analogy, it would be like watching a whole game and at the two-minute warning to the end of the game turning the television off because you don’t care how it will end. A lot of crazy things are happening today because Satan knows that the end is coming quickly and he doesn’t want people to study Revelation or understand how the whole thing ends with the victory of Jesus Christ.

Dr. Reagan: Daymond, I hope you’ll keep emphasizing to people every time you teach and preach that the book of Revelation really can be understood.

Daymond Duck: Yes, it can! It really can. Just interpret the Bible literally and utilize some good commentaries. Do that and you can certainly understand Bible prophecy.

Again, I want to reiterate that we have to know the scriptures in the Old Testament in order to understand the prophecies in the New Testament. Let Scripture interpret Scripture. No scripture is of any private interpretation. We don’t say what it means, rather we search the Bible and let the Bible tell us what it means. And, not only do you have to know the Old Testament to interpret Revelation’s symbols, but a lot of those symbols are explained in the book of Revelation itself, so you look for their interpretation in the book of Revelation itself. There are only a few symbols that I know of, not very many at all, that are questionable and we don’t have a scripture to tell us what that symbol means. But, for the most part, Revelation’s symbols are explained right there in the text.

In the third part of our interview with Bible prophecy expert Daymond Duck, we will explore whether all of Bible prophecy was fulfilled in AD 70 or not.

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Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

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