11. THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM

11. THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM

After the Tribulation, the Lord Jesus will reign on the Earth for 1,000 years…after which He will then usher us into eternity. During this 1000-year kingdom, humanity will get a taste of what it’s like to live under God’s rule rather than man’s. From the time of the fall, people have tried time and again to bring about an existence marked by true and lasting peace, but no one has succeeded. No matter how hard we try, we are destined for failure because we are all fallen creatures.

In the Millennial Kingdom, however, we will know perfect justice and peace. Society will not be directed by the fickle whims of men, but by our all-knowing and ever-faithful Savior. We will literally experience heaven on Earth!

1. The three different views of the Millennial Kingdom are:

(a) PREMILLENNIALISM – This is the belief that the Second Coming of Christ to set up His earthly kingdom will occur prior to the Millennial Age. This is the view accepted by nearly all Bible Scholars who take the Scriptures literally and at face value whenever possible.

(b) AMILLENNIALISM – This belief holds to a non-literal or spiritualized interpretation of Scripture and attempts to allegorically explain away the coming Millennium. In the Amillennial scheme, there is no anticipation of a literal reign of Christ on earth.

(c) POSTMILLENNIALISM – This is the belief that the world is going to become more and more “Christianized” in time and, as a result, usher in the Kingdom of Christ on its own merits. In this scenario, Jesus would return at the end of the Millennium to an already-righteous earth.

2. Revelation 20:1-6 provides for us some details about the Millennial Kingdom:

(a) Satan is bound in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years by an angel with a great chain in his hand. After the Millennial Reign of Christ, he is released for a little while.

(b) Those who have been martyred for their witness to Jesus and the Word of God; who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands, lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Tribulation believers, along with the redeemed from both the Old Testament and New Testament eras, will reign with Christ (1 Corinthians 6:2; 2 Timothy 2:12) during the 1,000 year kingdom.

(c) “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (verse 6). The first kind of resurrection is described as “the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:14), the resurrection of “those who are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Corinthians 15:23), and the “better resurrection” (Hebrews 11:35). It includes only the redeemed of the church age (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18), the Old Testament (Daniel 12:2), and the Tribulation (verse 4).

3. Isaiah 2:4 and Jeremiah 31:33-34 tells us that while Satan is bound the world will be a different place. It will be a time of peace, and everyone will know the LORD:

(a) Isaiah 2:4 –“He shall judge between the nations, And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore.” With the Messiah on His throne in Jerusalem, the world will enjoy uninterrupted peaceful conditions. Warfare will continue to characterize human history until the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) returns to earth to put an end to it.

(b) Jeremiah 31:33-34 – “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”  This new covenant will be realized by the people of Israel in the last days, including the regathering to their ancient land, Palestine (Jeremiah 30–33). The streams of the Abrahamic, Davidic, and New Covenants find their confluence in the Millennial Kingdom ruled over by the Messiah.

4. According to Revelation 6:9-11 and 20:4, Christians martyred for their faith, because of their witness to Jesus and for the Word of God, will be among those who will reign with Christ during the Millennial Kingdom. Tribulation martyrs will also be executed for refusing the mark of the beast. They along with the redeemed from both the Old Testament and New Testament eras, will reign with Christ (1 Corinthians 6:2; 2 Timothy 2:12) during the 1,000 year kingdom.

5. Revelation 20:6 mentions the “first resurrection,” that is, the people who populate the Millennial Kingdom. According to 1 Corinthians 15:23 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Christ was first, as the firstfruits of the resurrection harvest (1 Corinthians 15: 20–23a). Because of His resurrection, “those who are Christ’s” will be raised and enter the eternal heavenly state in three stages at Christ’s coming (cf. Matthew 24:36, 42, 44, 50; 25:13): 1) those who have come to saving faith from Pentecost to the Rapture will be joined by living saints at the Rapture to meet the Lord in the air and ascend to heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17); 2) those who come to faith during the Tribulation, with the OT saints as well, will be raised up to reign with Him during the Millennium (Revelation 20:4; Daniel 12:2; Isaiah 26:19, 20); and 3) those who die during the Millennial Kingdom may well be instantly transformed at death into their eternal bodies and spirits.

6. According to Revelation 20:7-10, at the end of the Millennial Kingdom, “Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.” Just as his demons will entice the world’s armies into the Battle of Armageddon, Satan will draw them into a suicidal assault against Christ and His people (Revelation 16:13-14). They will encompass and surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city, Jerusalem, and fire will come down from God out of heaven and devour them.

7. According to Revelation 20:10, Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. Continuous, unrelieved torment will be the final state of Satan, fallen angels, and unredeemed men.

8. While Christ’s rule on earth is still a future event, if you are a Christian, He lives and rules in your heart right now. We can grow more in Christ by keep focused on Him, being in His Word on a daily basis, walking in obedience to Him, and sharing the Gospel with others.

All Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible, © 1979, 1980, 1982, 1990, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

©2013 Kenute P. Curry. All rights reserved.