The Millennium - What Will Life be Like During the 1,000 Year Reign of Christ?

The Millennium

After the second coming of Christ, the Rapture and Resurrection, and the battle of Armageddon, there’s still the 1,000-year reign of Christ and the final war to go.

What Will Life be Like During the 1,000 Year Reign of Christ?

Revelation 20:1-6 – And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. ² He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. ³ He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

⁴ I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. ⁵ (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. ⁶ Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.”

Reigning with Christ

This passage sounds as though only the martyrs of the Great Tribulation will be raised when Christ returns. As we have seen, however, all persons in Heaven have returned and been raised to eternal life. The martyrs, though, are given the special privilege of reigning with Christ during the 1,000 years. The other Christians and Old Testament believers who have been raised will still enjoy life as citizens of the Millennium but will have no governing authority.

Raised in the First Resurrection

The rest of the dead, to be raised at the second resurrection, include non-believers and any new believers who will be born or repent during the 1,000 years. No non-believers are raised during the Rapture. They will only be raised at the Final Judgment.

Millennial Children

Also, whereas, those believers who have already been raised will no longer be able to have children, the rest of humanity will still be able to. Therefore, the hope is that the majority of children born during the Millennium will become Christians, since they will be able to see Christ visibly reigning at the time.

Matthew 22:30 – “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in Heaven.”

This is referring to those who have already been raised. After the second resurrection, at the time of the Final Judgment, no one will be able to have children. We’ll see why this is in a later section. The point for now is that once people are raised, they are no longer involved in romantic relationships and can no longer have children. After resurrection, they no longer have the desire or the ability to do so.

Jews

We also have faith that when Christ returns, many who were previously unbelievers will repent and turn to Him.

Matthew 24:30 – “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.”

There are two reasons for people to mourn when they see Christ returning. One is because they are afraid of Him, and the other is because they realize how wrong they were not to believe in Him. My guess is that most people will be mourning for both of these reasons. Perhaps those who will mourn the most, however, are the Jews.

Zechariah 12:10-14 – “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on Me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son. ¹¹ On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. ¹² The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, ¹³ the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, ¹⁴ and all the rest of the clans and their wives.”

This weeping and mourning by the Jews are tears of repentance as they turn to Christ. The Apostle Paul saw the mass salvation of the Jews in Romans chapters 9-11.

Romans 9:1-5 – I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— ² I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³ For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, ⁴ the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.⁵ Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

Romans 11:11-15 – Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. ¹² But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!

¹³ I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry ¹⁴ in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. ¹⁵ For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”

Romans 11:25-31 – I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, ²⁶ and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:

“The deliverer will come from Zion;

He will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

²⁷ And this is My covenant with them

when I take away their sins.”

²⁸ As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, ²⁹ for God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. ³⁰ Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, ³¹ so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.

Paul foresaw a time when Israel will turn back to God through Christ. In his day, they had rejected God’s Messiah, but that would not last forever. After all, Israel would never stop being God’s chosen people. “His call [is] irrevocable.” Instead, Israel will only delay their salvation “until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.” Then “all Israel will be saved.”

The full number of the Gentiles who will believe will believe during the Millennium. That will be their last and best chance to accept Christ. It is therefore during the Millennium when the Jewish people will also find their salvation. As Paul wrote, “What will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” This tells us that the Jews will turn back to God during the time of the resurrection.

Gentiles

Micah 4:1-4 – In the last days

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established

as the highest of the mountains;

it will be exalted above the hills, 

and peoples will stream to it.

² Many nations will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, 

to the temple of the God of Jacob. 

He will teach us His ways, 

so that we may walk in His paths.”

The law will go out from Zion,

the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

³ He will judge between many peoples

and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. 

They will beat their swords into plowshares

and their spears into pruning hooks. 

Nation will not take up sword against nation,

nor will they train for war anymore. 

⁴ Everyone will sit under their own vine

and under their own fig tree, 

and no one will make them afraid, 

for the Lord Almighty has spoken.”

Jesus will be reigning from Jerusalem, and all the nations will come to Him to learn His ways. He will judge fairly between the nations so that there will no longer be any need for war. When all peoples are God’s, and Christ is ruling them fairly, there will be no division or discord, only unity and peace.

Zechariah 2 – Then I looked up, and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand. ² I asked, “Where are you going?”

He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.”

³ While the angel who was speaking to me was leaving, another angel came to meet him ⁴ and said to him: “Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and animals in it. ⁵ And I Myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will be its glory within.’

⁶ “Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the Lord, “for I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven,” declares the Lord.

⁷ “Come, Zion! Escape, you who live in Daughter Babylon!” ⁸ For this is what the Lord Almighty says: “After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye — ⁹ I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent Me.

¹⁰ “Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the Lord. ¹¹“Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become My people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent Me to you. ¹² The Lord will inherit Judah as His portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. ¹³ Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because He has roused himself from His holy dwelling. ”

Again, just imagine a world in which all nations serve the Lord! There will be so many people coming to Jerusalem to see Christ that the city will have overgrown its walls.

Zechariah 8:23 – This is what the Lord Almighty says: “In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.’”

And for those who don’t come on their own, Jesus will send out missionaries.

Isaiah 66:18-21 – “And I, because of what they have planned and done, am about to come and gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come and see My glory.

¹⁹ “I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. They will proclaim My glory among the nations. ²⁰ And they will bring all your people, from all the nations, to My holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord—on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the Lord. “They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the Lord in ceremonially clean vessels. ²¹ And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the Lord.”

I love that God says He is going to choose some of the Gentiles to be priests and Levites, since they are some of the most honored positions in Jewish society. This just shows how unified we will all be in Christ when that 1,000 years comes.

Unfortunately, though, there will still be some nations or people who will accept Christ, as shown in Zechariah 14:

A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.

² I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.³ Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as He fights on a day of battle. ⁴ On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. ⁵ You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with Him.

⁶ On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. ⁷ It will be a unique day—a day known only to the Lord—with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light.

⁸ On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.

⁹ The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.

¹⁰ The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up high from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses, and will remain in its place. ¹¹ It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.

¹² This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. ¹³ On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another. ¹⁴ Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected —great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. ¹⁵ A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.

¹⁶ Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. ¹⁷ If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain. ¹⁸ If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord will bring on them the plague He inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. ¹⁹ This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.

²⁰ On that day holy to the Lord will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. ²¹ Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to theLord Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord Almighty.”

This passage starts with a summary of Armageddon and Christ’s return. The Anti-Christ will attack Jerusalem, but then, Christ will return and defeat the Anti-Christ and his army. He will then rule over the earth from Jerusalem. Those nations who do not willingly serve Him will suffer drought until they submit.

The New World Order

For the most part, however, there will be peace – not just between nations but throughout creation.

Isaiah 11 – A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; 

from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 

² The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—

the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and of might, 

the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—

³ and He will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what He sees with His eyes, 

or decide by what He hears with His ears; 

⁴ but with righteousness He will judge the needy, 

with justice He will give decisions for the poor of the earth.

He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth; 

with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. 

⁵ Righteousness will be His belt 

and faithfulness the sash around His waist.

⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb, 

the leopard will lie down with the goat,

the calf and the lion and the yearling together;

and a little child will lead them.

⁷ The cow will feed with the bear,

their young will lie down together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 

⁸ The infant will play near the cobra’s den,

and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy 

on all My holy mountain, 

for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah’s prophecy shows us a time when the animals will be peace with each other, just as they were in the Garden of Eden before sin entered the world. With the Creator actively ruling the world once more, creation will no longer be in chaos but will return to its original tranquility.

Isaiah 65:19-25 – “I will rejoice over Jerusalem

and take delight in My people;

the sound of weeping and of crying

will be heard in it no more.

²⁰ “Never again will there be in it

an infant who lives but a few days,

or an old man who does not live out his years;

the one who dies at a hundred

will be thought a mere child;

the one who fails to reach a hundred

will be considered accursed.

²¹ They will build houses and dwell in them;

they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

²² No longer will they build houses and others live in them,

or plant and others eat.

For as the days of a tree,

so will be the days of My people;

My chosen ones will long enjoy

the work of their hands.

²³ They will not labor in vain,

nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;

for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,

they and their descendants with them.

²⁴ Before they call I will answer;

while they are still speaking I will hear.

²⁵ The wolf and the lamb will feed together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox,

and dust will be the serpent’s food.

They will neither harm nor destroy

on all My holy mountain,”

says the Lord.”

People who have not yet been resurrected or perfected – those who were not Christian at the time of the Rapture or those who will be born during the Millennium – will still die before the Second Resurrection and the Final Judgment, but when Christ is reigning, people will live to be a hundred or more. How will this happen?

In a world where the nations and creation are at peace, people will no longer die by war or disease. We won’t have to poor money into defense budgets but will be able to focus all our resources on researching ways to heal and extend life. Besides this, the Great Physician Himself will be present and available for those who may need to call on Him.

What an amazing and incredible time that 1,000 years will be!

The Temple

We’ve been reading about people will go the Temple in Jerusalem. The last we saw, however, the Anti-Christ had defiled the rebuilt Jewish Temple with the statue of himself, the abomination that causes desolation.

Daniel tells us when the Temple will be cleansed and put back to proper use.

Daniel 9:24 – “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.”

At the beginning of the Millennium, all sin will be done away with because Christ will be reigning on Earth, and there will no longer be any need for prophecy. The Most Holy Place, the sanctuary, will then be anointed.

Daniel 8:13-14 – Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, “How long will it take for the vision to be fulfilled—the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, the surrender of the sanctuary and the trampling underfoot of the Lord’s people?”

¹⁴ He said to me, “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated.”

2,300 days. It will be six and a third years from the time the Anti-Christ desecrates the Temple to the time the Temple is re-consecrated. This means that the Temple is re-opened toward the end of M (Millennium) 2.

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