Millennium Part Four – How It Ends

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.”

Genesis 3:1

I suppose it makes some kind of ironic sense that the same evil that deceived Adam and Eve in the garden, a place that was God’s paradise on earth, would also deceive millions or more in the Millennial Kingdom, which will also be God’s paradise on earth in the future.

It’s amazing to think that with everything everyone will witness in the Millennial Kingdom (the best of these things is seeing Jesus Himself) that anyone would be left with any doubts, and that anyone would be left not knowing Christ as Savior.

The twentieth chapter of Revelation is very clear about the return of Satan at the end of Millennial Kingdom, and also his deception of many across the four corners of the earth. No matter what some people have witnessed, touched, tasted, and experienced, they will still have doubt in their hearts about Christ and His glory, and it will be these doubts that will allow them to be convinced by Satan, that God can be destroyed (Revelation 20:7-8).

And there is no doubt that at this time Satan is going out to TRY and destroy Jesus. It’s clear in Revelation chapter twenty verse eight, that Satan will deceive and build an army, and this army will be like the sand of the sea. Of course we have no idea how he will deceive these millions of souls, but we can be certain, as stated in the writings of Genesis; Satan is very clever. And no matter what he promises or what knowledge he provides, these souls are not his worry; they will only be his means in trying to destroy everything that’s left on the earth. Knowing what we know about the devil, it is certain that he’s not building this army to protect anything; instead he will surround every believer and attempt to destroy them all (Revelation 20:9).

But God will not be destroyed…He will not be overtaken….and God will put an end to Satan’s roaming of the earth. Before a punch can be thrown or a shot fired, fire will fall from Heaven and consume Satan and all his followers (Revelation 20:9). And Satan will be thrown into hell, where he will finally stay for eternity (Revelation 20:10).

It will be this event that will end the Millennial Kingdom. God’s Word does not elaborate on any events that will happen after Satan’s fall into hell or before the Great White Throne Judgment. It is only certain that the Millennial Kingdom will exist for one thousand years on earth, and then every believer will finally be reunited in our home in Heaven.

I hope this series has given you some great knowledge about the Millennial Kingdom, as I myself learned much! Hopefully in the future we might experience more series like this, as God lays them on my heart. Thank you.

“Millennium” Part Three- Life and Death

“Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who 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 for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.”

Revelation 20:4-6

There will be two groups found in the Millennial Kingdom, those with earthly bodies and those with resurrected, glorified, bodies.

Those with earthly bodies will belong to the individuals who accepted Christ as Savior during the seven year tribulation and survived. Meaning they were not killed by plague, beheading, or any other sort of device that results in death.

Those with glorified bodies will belong to believers who were apart of the rapture before the tribulation, those believers who were martyred or died during the tribulation, as well as the Old Testament saints. It is important to note that Gods Word is very clear regarding those that will have glorified bodies in His Millennial Kingdom. While some might expect that every soul in Heaven will take part in the Millennial Kingdom, scripture does not back this thought up. Instead only the souls outlined above will take part in the Millennial Kingdom and those in Heaven that are not outlined above will remain in Heaven during the one thousand year Millennial reign of Christ.

These two groups will join together in the Millennial Kingdom and share in the goodness of God. They will worship and work together everyday, they will tell stories about their past lives and their excitement for the future. They will be free from war or persecution and everything they do will be designed to glorify God.

There will be some differences in the two groups that should be mentioned. As the verse in Revelation above tells of those martyred living one thousand years with Christ; so will all those with glorified bodies live with Christ a thousand years. For those with earthly bodies they will most likely not live as long; as they will still carry the one thing that separates all of us from being truly holy, sin. But God in His grace and mercy will allow man to live long years again like those written about in the Old Testament. It will be completely possible that these earthly beings will live hundreds of years and still look very young (Isaiah 65:20). But like all earthly vessels, they will still hold the capacity to die.

Another difference between the two groups will be in their relationships to each other. Those with glorified bodies in the Millennial Kingdom will have no physical relationships; instead, all their relationships will be platonic. Since this group has died physically and rejoiced in Heaven with Christ, their relationships will be completely devoted to Christ. They will be daily fulfilling their destiny as being the bride of Christ, and no one with a glorified body will give into marriage (Matthew 22:30). The same will be true of all believers once we pass on. So if a married couple that are believers, died in the tribulation; then when they meet in the Millennial Kingdom they will still love each other, but not romantically. Instead, their entire hearts desire will be to worship Christ for eternity. It’s always possible that they will live and work together, but they will never marry or give into marriage. This will probably bum a lot of you out to think about (it bums me out) but the truth is, until we know exactly what it is like to have complete and total devotion to God, we’ll never know how awesome it will truly be to be His bride.

On the flip side of things, those with earthly bodies will be allowed to marry and have children, as they will still have earthly bodies. And it is through these relationships and new life that children will be born all over the world, and like today these children will be born into the bondage of sin. One might think in a place where God will physically reign it would be impossible to find an unbeliever anywhere. But this is not the truth, and unfortunately for some, they will die at the end of the Millennial Kingdom not knowing Christ as Savior (Revelation 20:8)

If you have any question or comments, please leave them below! Tune in next week when we’ll discuss the final chapter in our series about Satan’s release and how the Millennial Kingdom will end.

Extra Information:

Scriptural prophecies indicate that anyone who does not trust Christ by the age of one hundred in the Millennial Kingdom will be accursed. If the Bible is taken literally than this means that such people will die on their one hundredth birthdays exposing themselves as unbelievers (Isaiah 65:20)

Millennium Part Two – What Will Change?

“Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation! And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness. Her people will be a source of joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard in it no more.” (Isaiah 65:18-19)

Because of the events of the Great Tribulation, the earth will be decimated. Most of the earth’s lands will be gone do to the many plagues and wars of the Tribulation. But Christ will change this at the beginning of His Millennial reign by restoring the earth to how it was before He cursed the ground because of Adam’s sin (Isaiah 32:14-15; 35:1-2).

So how will things look? I’m going to give my best attempt at describing the kingdom and its environment, but of course my words will not even compare to the reality of Christ’s work. As you read the following try and picture the scene in your mind and heart, and just imagine for yourself the greatness of God’s handiwork.

The sun rises across the earth casting shadows across the dark land in large numbers. A new cycle has begun and from this point on for a thousand years, the sun and moon will be literally identical. They will shine upon the earth with a brightness we have never seen before and the dark of night will no longer exist; those in the millennial kingdom will have to get use to sleeping in the light instead of the dark (Isaiah 30:26).

A single drop of rain hits the land causing a reaction that’s almost immediate; suddenly the land comes to life in a great symphony. More rain falls and the roots of all the vegetation in the world dig deep into the soil causing amazing growth. The rain will come and go in abundance, but will never cease to provide the earth and its inhabitants with what it needs to survive. There will be no more droughts or restricted use of water in the earth’s cities. Instead, rain will be plentiful (Isaiah 30:23).

As the rain clears a wolf can be seen in the distance playing happily and enjoying the beginning fruits of Gods blessings. But if you focus your eyes and look closer you will see that the wolf is not playing alone, and further more it is not playing amongst its pack. Instead a small, heavy wool-coated lamb is moving about gingerly with the wolf in perfect harmony and peace. A farmer stands in a field and watches his heard of cows eat greedily at the abundant hay; next to him a large lion sits quietly. The farmer smiles and pats the lion with a hand that is neither shaking nor nervous. The lion has no fear the man will hurt him as he accepts the gently pat on the head. In the millennial kingdom man and animal of all species will co-exist in peace and harmony (Isaiah 65:25).

As the inhabitants of the millennial kingdom will exist with animals peacefully, it should also be known that these people will also lose any desire to eat meat. Animals will no longer be killed and consumed; instead the population of the earth will gain sustenance from the bounty of trees, bushes, and vines we ourselves harvest from the earth. (Isaiah 65:21)

Amazing students, athletes and techies will find that suddenly they have the desire and knowledge to do things they have never done before. They will plant vast acres, tend massive orchards and build houses. All of this knowledge and desire will consume every part of them. (Isaiah 65:18-24)

A group of a thousand meet and praise God in worship with loved ones as well as new acquaintances of all colors and nationalities. They all do so in one language even if some of them can never remember knowing a word of it before (Zephaniah 3:9). That’s right, there will no longer be confusion or interpreters needed. Everyone will speak the same language and be understood.

Christ physically rules over all the earth and everyone sees His glory. He brings about peace and universal justice (Isaiah 11:4) In this one thousand years Christ will see to it that there is no more war and everything and everyone will bow before Him (Revelation 20:7-9; Micah 4:3; Jeremiah 23:5-6).

If you have any questions or comments about this week’s blog, please do so below. Next week we will go further into the differences between the two groups that live in the millennial kingdom.

Some Extra Information:

The millennial kingdom will be a time of great prosperity, and there will be no poor people or people suffering from lack of economic needs (Ezekiel 34:25-30).

An interesting prophecy says that during the millennial kingdom years all nations must travel to Jerusalem once each year to worship the King (Zechariah 14:16-19).

MILLENNIUM-Part One

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. He seized the dragon—that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years. The angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished.” Revelation 20:1-3

This is the final moment of what will someday be the seven year tribulation. After everything Satan does to destroy the world in only seven years, this is where it ends for him. Well…at least for a long time. But we’ll get to that in the fourth part of our series about Christ’s Millennial Reign.

As you can tell, this series will not focus on the tribulation itself, but instead the one thousand years after it. The bible gives us a lot of information concerning these years and I hope to bring everyone encouragement through this series, as well as maybe some knowledge you did not know. As we get further into this study keep in mind that no matter how amazing things seem, the kingdom Christ rules for a thousand years is not Heaven. It may seem that way, but it’s not.

One of the first questions that came to my mind concerning this topic was, “who will live in the millennial kingdom? Will I get to be part of it?” The Bible tells us in the Old and New Testament just who will be amongst those in the millennial kingdom. In the beginning (after the tribulation) this group of people will meet before Jesus. Now just try and imagine the fact that everyone standing before Jesus at this time is a believer! How do we know this? Because Jesus has already thrown Satan and his followers into the pit so all that can remain are believers. And it will be that in this time Jesus will put those individuals to the right of His throne and announce who they are.

Those that will live in the millennial kingdom will include:

Believers who were apart of the rapture at the beginning of the tribulation.

Believers who died or were martyred during the tribulation.

Those who trusted Christ as their Savior during the tribulation and survived.

And finally, the Old Testament Saints (Daniel 12:2-3, 13, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1 Corinthians 15:21-23, 51-53, Revelation 20:4-6).

These people can really be broken down into two groups; those with glorified bodies and those with earthly bodies who lived through the Tribulation. Because of these differences, both groups will live different lifestyles, and we’ll discuss these differences in part three of the series.

So now that we know just who will enter the millennial kingdom, what kinds of things will they experience? What will the earth’s environment look like? And will everyone speak the same language? Tune in next week, April tenth, as we dig deep into part two of our series.

If you have any questions or comments, leave a comment! :o) I’ll get back with you just as soon as I can.

Some Extra Information:

–In Christ’s reign during the millennial kingdom, David will be resurrected as king and serve under Christ (Jeremiah 30:9, 33:15-17, Ezekiel 34:23-24, 37:24-25, Hosea 3:5).

–The twelve apostles also will have part in the reign of Christ on earth and will judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28)