The
Millennium, or The Millennial Reign
I’m hoping
to open a discussion on this subject, so if you have any opinions or questions
please respond in the ‘comments’ section. Where you disagree with something,
please provide scripture references to support your argument. Thanks.
What is the Millennium?
It is a one
thousand year period on earth that immediately follows the return of Christ at
the end of the Great Tribulation. On Christ’s return Satan is bound for 1000
years (Rev 20:2) and effectively
nullified until the end of the period when he will be loosed and allowed to
foment one final rebellion involving Gog and Magog (Rev 20:7,8).
What will
it be like?
During that
time – and it is not definite that we are talking a literal 1000 years – Christ
will reign on earth. Scriptures indicate that there will be peace; that the
wolf will lie down with the lamb, the lion will eat grass, and children will
play near snakes without fear of being bitten (Isaiah 11:6-8; 65:25). However, I am not clear whether these
scriptures refer to the Millennium or the resurrected earth. Such things sound
as though the Curse has been lifted which does not happen until the end of the
Millennium and God resurrects the New Heaven and the New Earth. (Matthew
Henry’s commentary affirms that the second reference has to do with the New
Earth, but the first certainly appears to be in line with the Millennium
Reign.) For more on the New Heaven and New Earth see: Isaiah 65:17; 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1.
Who will be
there?
Everyone
who survives the Great Tribulation will be there, at least in the beginning. It
is likely that those people will continue to have limited life-spans and will
die of natural causes – for the most part. They will be replaced by their
children and grand-children, etc. It is also clear that those who are martyred
for Christ will also be there. They will reign with Him for the entire period (Rev 20:4).
Most
Evangelical Christians teach that all the saints will also reign with Christ
during this period – I have not found scripture to support this, or even that
saints who were not martyred are even present, except those few who are likely
to survive the Great Tribulation (Rev
20:5). Feel free to correct me here…
Will there
be sin?
Those
people – probably half or more of the world’s population – who enter live into
the Millennium will still have a sin nature that they will almost certainly
pass on to their children (hence, they will not live the entire 1000 years).
Consequently, sin will exist but not at the intensity with which it flourishes
today. While Satan will be bound (that
he would not deceive the nations
any longer- Rev 20:3), there
is no indication of anything happening to the demons during this period. They
may still be able to cause afflictions, or they may simply try to fly under the
radar until their leader returns. But it seems clear that their influence will
be greatly diminished if not completely muted.
Regardless,
the Bible says that Jesus will rule with a rod of iron. If there were no sin,
He would not need to rule with a rod of iron, but also, there will be very
little tolerance for sin. Furthermore, Truth will be taught in schools and all
through society with little opposition from people influenced by evil. They will not hurt or
destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of
the LORD as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9). Also, there will not be the constant pull
of the media toward the lusts of the flesh. Today’s pornographic society will
be destroyed.
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