We are now on sure ground. The meaning of this vision is that the mediatorial kingdom of our Lord is to be established on the earth, and that by the proper use of those instrumentalities which have been given into our hands, namely, the word of God and the blood of the Lamb, it shall advance in spite of all opposition and hindrances, until all worldliness and false prophetism shall be eliminated, until Christ “shall have put down all rule and all authority and power,” until “the kingdoms of this world” shall become “the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ,” and “he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father,” and the prayer shall be fulfilled which daily ascends to the throne of grace, “Thy kingdom come.” The millennium is now. We are living in it. Its light shines but dimly, it is true, but it will shine more and more until the perfect day. The period during which the saints shall live and reign with Christ is stated to be “a thousand years.” Conjecture has been rife as to why this number should be selected. Manifestly, here, at least, the year-day theory, that which makes every day mentioned in the book the symbol of a year, breaks down. Otherwise, the period would be too long; and none have been found to maintain the opinion that the millennium is to last three hundred and sixty-five thousand years. Yet, to interpret the expression literally, as if it meant exactly a thousand of our years, would be to depart entirely from the rule of the Apocalypse, in which numbers are taken as symbols of epochs, not as a measurement of duration. There is no reason given why in this case exception should be made to the constant and unvarying use of days and months and years in this book. Here, again, reference to the book of Ezekiel will dissolve the obscurity and present us with an explanation simple, consistent, and entirely in accordance with the usage which elsewhere prevails in the Apocalypse.