“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)