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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