There is a lot of fuzzy thinking about heaven today. Ask the average Christian and you’ll get a variety of answers. Yet the Bible clears up a lot of this fuzziness when we take the time to study it. For example, did you know that the Bible says believers will experience heaven in three stages?
1. With Christ in heaven after the rapture (I Thessalonians 4:13-5:11). At any moment the Lord Jesus could come for His church to snatch it off the earth to be with Him in heaven. Following the removal of the church, there will be seven years of terrible tribulation on the earth (Daniel 9:27; Revelation 6-19). At the end of the Tribulation period…
2. The Earthly Kingdom of Christ will be established when we will return with Christ and be on the earth for a thousand years (Revelation 20:1-6). At the end of that thousand years there will be a…
3. New Heaven and New Earth where you will be with Christ for eternity if you have put your trust in Him for eternal life (Revelation 21-22).
By far, the most is said in the Bible about the second stage, the earthly kingdom – that earthly reign of Christ that precedes the New Heaven and New Earth. We call this earthly reign of Christ the Millennial Kingdom. In this article, we are going to answer four basic questions about the Millennial Kingdom – What is the Millennial Kingdom? Why must there be a Millennial Kingdom before the New Heaven and New Earth. Why study about the Millennial Kingdom? What will the Millennial Kingdom be like in general?
WHAT IS THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM? The Millennial Kingdom is the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth. The Millennial Kingdom is a real, earthly kingdom. Remember Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a statue in Daniel 2 ?
God told Daniel that the Statue represented six kingdoms. The head of gold represented the Kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar or Babylon. The chest of silver represented the inferior kingdom to follow called Medo-Persia. The belly and thighs bronze represented the third kingdom to rule called Greece. The legs of iron represented the fourth kingdom that crushes and eventually is divided known as ancient Rome. The feet of iron mixed with clay represented the fifth kingdom mixed with strength and weakness known as the Revived Roman Empire. The Stone that grows into a mountain and crushes the kingdom of iron and clay represents the sixth kingdom that is established by God and shall replace all human kingdoms. This is the Millennial Kingdom of Christ.
The first four of these kingdoms were literal and are now historical. The fifth kingdom is described in Revelation as literal and in the future. Why would the sixth kingdom not be literal and historical? Daniel 2:44 says, “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”
WHY MUST THERE BE A MILLENNIAL KINGDOM BEFORE THE NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH? Why not have Christ return to earth, judge all people, begin eternity future, and be done with it all? Why is the thousand-year kingdom on earth necessary? To answer this, let’s first look at God’s Plan in History:
It begins with Creation (Genesis 1-2)…Sin and Death (Genesis 3)…All Men Destroyed (through a global flood), but One Family Saved (Genesis 4-9)… All Nations Dispersed (at Tower of Babel) (Genesis 10-11)…One Family Chosen (the nation of Israel) (Genesis 12-50)… One Nation Adopted (Exodus – Malachi). God spent most of the Old Testament era of history dealing directly with the nation of Israel in preparation for the giving of God’s Son, Jesus – One Son Given (Matthew – John). After Christ’s First Coming and the calling out of a special group of people – One Body of People Saved (called the church) (Acts – Revelation 3). God will once again deal directly and openly with the nations of the world. After the Rapture of the church (Revelation 4-5), God will intervene in world affairs to redeem His people Israel – One Nation Redeemed (Revelation 6-19) during the Tribulation period. At the Second Coming of Christ, God will rescue the repentant nation of Israel, conquer the armies of the world at Armageddon, bind Satan and remove his influence, and set up a perfect government on earth so that All Nations are Blessed (Genesis 12:3; Revelation 20:1-10)…At the end of the Millennial Kingdom, God will crush a worldwide rebellion led by Satan, proving that apart from God’s transforming grace people are rebels at heart to the very end, even after a thousand years of living under a perfect government and a perfect King. Then Sin and Death will be No More (Revelation 20:1-6)…and there will be a New Creation (Revelation 21-22) to enjoy with Christ for eternity.
WHY MUST THERE BE A MILLENNIAL KINGDOM BEFORE THE NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH?
1. To allow God to gradually reverse, restore and redeem everything that was lost or defeated in past history. When you look at God’s plan in history, you can see how He does this step by step. Just as He narrowed His dealings from all men to all nations to one nation to Christ, so as history winds up, God broadens His dealings from one nation to all nations to all men. According to I Corinthians 15:24-28, Christ must rule until every enemy is put down, including death. This thousand-year reign of Christ on earth is the capstone of God’s dealing in human history where God will finally reverse the effects of sin and death forever. What the Bible says about the future is how God sets out to straighten out the mess His creation caused by sin. This is not an overnight “fixit job,” but a grand plan and program that God has been at work on for thousands of years. To send Christ back to earth, merely to raise the dead and judge them and begin eternity is insufficient in God’s plan to take care of all the problems. God has too much invested in His people, Israel, and in the nations for such a blithe scenario.
2. To reveal and demonstrate God’s character and righteousness in human form to all mankind.
3. To enable God to fulfill His promises to Israel, including the fulfillment of their destiny as a light to the nations, especially those nations to which Israel has been subject for thousands of years.
4. To bless all nations and nature itself while the human heart is still fallen and in need of a Savior. God’s desire has always been the salvation of as many millions of people as possible – the Millennial Kingdom, with its population explosion and universal opportunity, will be the greatest time of soul winning the world has ever seen.
WHY STUDY ABOUT THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM? In His famous Sermon on the Mount the Lord Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).In the context of the Sermon on the Mount, the kingdom to which Jesus is referring is the Millennial Kingdom. “17Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17-18). When does heaven and earth pass away? At the end of the Millennial Kingdom when the new heaven and new earth are ushered in.
Also in Matthew 6, in the famous Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it isin heaven” (Matthew 6:10). God’s will being done on earth is fulfilled when God’s kingdom comes to the earth. So in Matthew 6, we are not only told to seek His kingdom, we are also told to pray for His Millennial Kingdom. If we are to seek and pray for this Millennial Kingdom, then we also know we are to live for this Millennial Kingdom. Since we are to seek, pray and live for this Millennial Kingdom, then we need to know something about it. What we believe about the future influences how we think, feel, and live in the present.
WHAT WILL THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM BE LIKE in general? Under this I want to ask four questions. 1. When will it be? 2. Who will be there? 3. What will it be like? 4. How can I prepare for it?
1. When will the Millennial Kingdom be? In Revelation 20:6, we read, “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.” Revelation is a chronological development of God’s plan for the ages. See chart below.
Revelation 1-3 describes the church age from the time Revelation was written until the Rapture described in Revelation 4-5 which pictures the church as the twenty-four elders raptured and rewarded. Sometime after Rapture will be the 7-year Tribulation described in Revelation 6-19. When we come to the end of Revelation 19 we read of the Second Coming of Christ to earth with His church. Then when we come to Revelation 20 we see the Millennial Kingdom. After the Millennial Kingdom is the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15). The Great White Throne Judgment is the judgment of all unbelievers. It will be demonstrated to the unsaved that they have not trusted in Christ as their only hope of heaven and their works will be revealed to determine the degree of punishment they will receive in the Lake of Fire. Then all the unsaved will be cast into the Lake of Fire. The final event of God’s plan is seen in Revelation 21:1: “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.” This is the New Heaven and New Earth where believers in Jesus will live for eternity with King Jesus. So the Millennial Kingdom takes place after the return of Christ to earth with His church at the end of the sever-year Tribulation period.
2. Who will be there?
A. Those who live in resurrection bodies.
a. Jesus Christ (Revelation 20:4c).
b. Church saints(I Thessalonians 4:17). When Christ returns to takes us in the Rapture we will be with Him forever. And then at the end of the Tribulation, Christ will return to earth with His Church (Revelation 19:7-21). Jesus said in John 14:3: “Where I am, there you may be also.” This includes the thousand years on earth.
c. Tribulation saints (Revelation 20:4). During the seven-years Tribulation, the beast (Antichrist) will demand people take his mark or be beheaded. Believers who do not bow down to Antichrist will lose their lives. It says in Revelation 20:4 they will be resurrected and reign with Christ a thousand years.
d. Old Testament saints. “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life” (Daniel 12:2). At the Second Coming of Christ, Old Testament saints will be resurrected and be with Christ for a thousand years.
A second category of people who will live in the Millennial Kingdom are
B. Those with mortal bodies. Where do those with mortal bodies come from? In Matthew 25:31-46 we are told that when Christ returns to earth He will judge the Gentile nations. In this judgment,
a. Those believers who survived the Tribulation, will enter the Millennial Kingdom in their mortal bodies. However, those who did not trust Christ during the Tribulation will be cast off the earth into the everlasting fire.
b. Offspring of believers who survived the Tribulation. Isaiah 65:23 speaks of these: “They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth children for trouble; for they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.”
C. What will the Millennial Kingdom be like?
1. Satan will be bound so he won’t be able to deceive the nations (Revelation 20:1-3). Will there still be sin? Yes, because there will be people in mortal bodies who have the conscious choice to sin just like Adam and Eve did before they sinned. James 1:13-14 tell us we are tempted and carried away by our own lust. We don’t need Satan’s temptation to sin.
2. We will be in resurrected bodies. “20For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:20-21). Our bodies will be like the resurrected body of Jesus Christ. Christ’s resurrection body was…
a. Recognizable– our risen Lord was recognized by His voice and appearance.
b. Real– Jesus’ resurrected body could be felt – flesh and blood of a different kind – resurrected and eternal. Not subject to aging or decay. Christ’s body could appear and disappear instantaneously and go through walls, etc.
c. Resistant to sin– we will no longer sin in our resurrected bodies. We won’t even be tempted.
3. There will be universal peace. “3Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4He 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”(Isaiah 2:3-4). Differences between nations and people will be resolved by King Jesus.
4. There will be changes to the animal kingdom. The Bible says,“6The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. 9They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah11:6-9). Man will be at peace with the animal kingdom. Imagine having a tame lion in your house?! Animals will be vegetarians. Even snakes will be harmless to people.
5. There will be topological changes to the earth. Jerusalem will be changed with new mountains and valleys. A river will flow from Jerusalem to both the Mediterranean and Dead Sea (Zech. 14:3-9). Deserts will be transformed into gardens; the territory of Israel will be transformed into a place of remarkable beauty reflecting God’s glory (Isaiah 35:1-7).
6. Longevity of life will return as in the early years on the earth. Scripture tell us, “No more shall an infant from there live but a fewdays, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old”(Isaiah 65:20). People will live longer. When a man dies at one hundred years of age, he will be considered just a child. People may live to be a thousand years old like people before the Flood lived close to that age.
7. There will be industry and development. The Bible says, “21They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands” (Isaiah 65:21-22). After the terrible tribulation and Armageddon, much rebuilding will need to be done. There will be time to do things you have wanted to do: other careers, exploring, developing relationships. A renewed earth will more than adequately provide for the population.
8. There will be profound worship. A new millennial temple will be built (Ezkiel 40-46). People will come from all nations to Jerusalem to worship King Jesus. Animal sacrifices will remind everyone of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God upon the cross. Everyone will have a knowledge of the Lord.
9. There will be perfect government and swift justice.
a. King Jesus will rule all the nations from His throne in Jerusalem. God the Father says, 6“Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion. [Where is Zion? Jerusalem.]7I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, ‘You areMy Son, today I have begotten You. 8Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth forYour possession. [Christ will rule the nations] 9You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel’ ” (Psalm 2:6-9). Sin will be dealt with swiftly as Christ rules with a rod of iron.
b. David shall rule over the Jewish branch of government as the prince (Ezkiel 37:23-24). King David will be resurrected and serve as the prince over the Jews who yields to the Kingship of Jesus. For example, just as a governor of a state is under the authority of Presdent Trump, so Christ will be the King over all nations, whereas David will be the ruler over Israel.
c. The Twelve Apostles shall rule over the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:27-28).
d. There will be a king over each Gentile nation (Psalm 72:10-11). King Jesus will reign over all nations, but each Gentile nation will have their own king who reports to Jesus.
e. Faithful Christians shall rule with Christ (2 Timothy 2:12; Rev. 2:25-27). The apostle Paul writes, “If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us” (2 Timothy 2:12). If believers endure in their profession of faith, what reward will they receive? Ruling with Christ. If believers deny Christ their endurance, what will He deny them? The reward of ruling with Him.
In the Millennial Kingdom there will be many opportunities to rule with Christ. Some will hold positions of authority like Presidents, Governors, Mayors, City Council Members, Judges, Senators, Representatives, and the like. There may also be transportation companies, publishers, developers, utilities, entertainment, and sports companies, and so on. All of these businesses will need people in various levels of management. We can have one of those positions of authority if we live faithfully for the Lord until we go to be with Him.
The Christian life is like a long, grueling race (cf. Hebrews 12:1-2). You may be running that race now…But what about 10 or 20 years from now? Will you keep living for the Lord even when life gets really tough? Will you finish strong for Him? Knowing what God has in store for us in the Millennial Kingdom, should motivate us to live for Him until we go to heaven. Together with Christ we can finish strong if our trust remains in Him.