Pastor Jim McClarty of Grace Christian Assembly took issue with comments that Gary DeMar made on the subject of the 1000 years of Revelation 20 in an interview a few years ago. He claims that I didn’t do any “exegesis” in support of my claims. Friends, it’s hard to do exegesis in an interview.  McClarty, a premillennialist, claims the 1000 years should be taken literally. Gary’s position is that the number 1000 is often used figuratively (e.g., Ps. 50:10). It’s amazing that premillennialists are so insistent that the number 1000 should always be interpreted literally (it isn’t), but words like “shortly” (Rev. 1:1) and “near” (1:3; 22:10) are not to be interpreted literally. A similar thing is done with “this generation” in Matthew 24:34. This is Part 1 of a three-part series.