The Coming Millennium

The Coming Millennium

            Let me begin this last teaching and 7^th in the end times series by saying the Battle of Armageddon is over and the mess is being cleaned up.  We cannot leave out some important events that take place prior to the battle following the Rapture of the Believers; this is the Judgment Seat of Christ where true Christians will be given rewards or lose rewards according to his/her service.  No believer will lose their Salvation because that is a gift of God, but as the Bible says in Romans 2:6 TLB “He will give each one whatever his deeds deserve.”  

            Those in Christ have been judged; “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)  We are speaking of the saints which are made up of those believers from the beginning and those who were still alive and taken up in The Rapture.  I Thessalonians 4:16 tells us that only the ‘dead in Christ’ would be caught up to meet Jesus. “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a mighty shout and with the soul-stirring cry of the archangel and the great trumpet-call of God. And the believers who are dead will be the first to rise to meet the Lord. Then we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with him forever.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (TLB)

            The Marriage Supper of the Lamb has taken place; the Judgment Seat of Christ is over and now begins a thousand years of peace. 

            The Millennium begins:  “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. Rev. 20:1-3 Can you imagine a life on earth without Satan temping and deceiving people?  What will it be like?  What will be different from what we know now?  Think of it; there will be no wars, violence or murders for 1000 years.  No one will have to be afraid of anyone. 

            Look at Isaiah 2:4, “For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.  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.”

Here are some things that will be different on earth during this time.

a.      Restoration of the original creation

b.     Life spans restored to their original length of over a 100 years.

c.      Animals will no longer be a threat or be threatened

d.     No one shall be sick or dying

e.      Jesus will sit on the throne and rule the world

f.       No one will be deceived any longer

g.      A time of prosperity and peace

            Isaiah 65:20-25 “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old.” At this time, food will be so abundant that people will have to wait to plant because the harvest isn’t completed.  You can see there will be no hunger on the earth.   Amos 9:13 “The time will come," says the LORD, "when the grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested. Then the terraced vineyards on the hills of Israel will drip with sweet wine!”  NLT 

As kings, priests and teachers, we will have the privilege of assisting Him in governing and teaching mankind the way of God.  We will also have help from the angels; they will be under our judgment.  I don’t think they will actually need judging, but will move and do things under our direction.  Remember – they were created for service as well as worship and praise. I Cor. 6:2 “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?  Do you not know that we shall judge angels?” 

          People will marry, have children and all will be offered salvation during these thousand years.  They will be able to see Jesus and learn about him first-hand.  It will be a wonderful period of time and leads into a glorious eternity. 

At the end of the thousand years, God said, “Now when the thousand years have expired, 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. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, which deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” 

Next comes the time when Satan is released on earth again.  Many question why God would do this?  Obviously, not all people living on earth during Christ’s reign accepted him as their Savior and not all nations bowed to his rule. Satan appears to still want to overcome God as much as he ever did.  We are not told how long he was loose but it must have been for a length of time until he got the nations of the earth stirred up to come against Jerusalem.  At last God says enough is enough and he literally scorched them with fire and cast them into the lake of fire. 

You may be wondering what happened to the countless dead people who never had salvation and the answer is very clear in the Revelation 20:5, “ But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.  This is the first resurrection.” Revelation 20:5 (NKJV) At this time there is another judgment the Bible speaks of in Revelation 20:11-15 and it is called The Great White Throne Judgment.  This will take place at the end of the thousand years of peace on earth.  This trial is for all those who have rejected God's salvation by not accepting Jesus as their Savior.  Those who have died over the centuries and those who lived through the Tribulation times will not escape this terrible judgment.  At this time they will kneel before their Creator, and acknowledge that He is God; that he is Christ is Lord!

In Matthew 7:23, Jesus told this to those who did not accept who he was, “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.”  Then they will then be cast into the Lake of Fire, which will be their place throughout Eternity.  You can read more about it in Revelation 20:11-15.

 

 

 

 

          Ever wonder what happens to you after you are gone from your body?  There is a lot more to it than you can imagine.  Next week begins a 2-part teaching on, "What Happens When we Die?"  Be sure and read it; you might be surprised.