354 A Thousand Years of Heaven on Earth
Revelation chapter 20 mentions a 1000 year period of Heaven on Earth – Six times in verses 2-7. This period of time has come to be known as the Millennium. It is a compound word from the Latin which means “1000 years.” The millennium is that 1,000 year period of time when the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in person will rule on this earth. He will usher in a time of purity, peace and plenty, such as the world has not witnessed since before man sinned in the Garden of Eden.
There are many who do not believe in a literal 1000 year reign of Christ. They believe that this is just symbolic language. However, there is more written about this future time than about any other event in Biblical prophecy. It is a time that the Bible refers to in a literal sense and there is no reason to believe that it will not happen just as the Bible says. Therefore, those of us who believe the Bible is to be taken literally believe that there will be an actual 1,000 year period of time during which Jesus Christ Himself will reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Since there is so much said in the Bible concerning this Millennium Kingdom, there is no possible way the I could cover all the details in one message. Therefore, I just want to skim the surface today and look at a few specific areas of this great period of time which will give us a little insight into what will take place during that coming glorious season.
At this point, it might be good to refresh our memories concerning the order of some future events. We live right now in a time referred to as – The beginnings of Sorrow – which will be followed by The Rapture of the Church – This is the next earth shattering event when millions of Christians will suddenly disappear? The Great Tribulation Period – This will begin after the Rapture of the church. The Judgment Seat of Christ – This will take place while Great Tribulation is unfolding upon the earth. The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb – This too will take place in Heaven – alongside the Tribulation Period on the Earth.
The Second Advent or Coming of the Lord Jesus – This
event will close or end the Tribulation and will bring about the Judgment of the nations, Matt 25. The Antichrist and his armies will be destroyed and those who have their faith in Christ will enter into the new millennium – a Heaven on Earth.
Now, with that information in our minds, let’s look at a few specific areas of the Millennial period that will help us to understand it a little better. Dear friends, I want you to know that this is one thing you do not want to miss! You want to be sure that you are a child of God so that when this time comes to pass, you can join Jesus in His Kingdom and reign over life with Him for 1,000 years – whish is just a prelude to an eternity of even greater things.
Consider first of all – THE SAVIOUR DURING THE MILLENNIUM
What will Jesus be doing during the Millennium?
Well, to put it simply – he will be reigning! At long last, the Lord Jesus Christ will sit on the throne of David, Isa. 9:6-7. He will rule the world in power, righteousness and glory. His reign will usher in a time of peace and prosperity like nothing the world has ever experienced. His reign will finally bring justice and holiness to the world. The world has never had a ruler like this. All human rulers are controlled by their lusts for power, for wealth and for self glory. Jesus, on the other hand, will reign in perfect righteousness. There’s no doubt about it that the millennium will truly be a time of heaven on earth.
Then, He Will Be Ruling – The Bible tells us that Jesus will “rule the world with a rod of iron” Rev. 19:15. Like a shepherd, Jesus will guide the entire population of the world. However, those who refuse to bow to His authority will be dealt with swiftly and harshly. Rebellion will not be tolerated in that day!
And, He Will Be Revealing – Isaiah. 40:5 reads “And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” This verse tells us that man will finally be able to look on the glory – the brilliance of the Lord in that day! It will be a time unlike anything we could imagine.
At this present time, the Lord Jesus is viewed by most, as some kind of a comical character. He is like a poor fool who got hung on a cross for his out-spoken ways. However, in the Millennial kingdom, He will receive the respect and the glory He has always deserved. All people from every nation will come and bow at His feet and worship Him! Instead of cursing, and taking His name in vain, the people will adore Him and shout His praises! What a transformed time!
Now then, we have considered – The Saviour During The Millennium
Consider next -SATAN DURING THE MILLENNIUM
He (the Devil is another name for him) Will Be Jailed (the Bible says BOUND) – For the 1,000 years, the enemy of God will not be able to hinder God’s work, tempt God’s people, nor will he be able to work in the lives of the lost. He will be chained and bound for the duration of the Millennium! Right now, Satan is empowered by fallen humanity as the “god” of this world, 2 Cor. 4:4. He spends his time doing everything in his power to hinder God’s business, trip up God’s saints and claim souls for Hell. Note the titles given to him in verse 2. He is a wicked and evil enemy! However, in that day, he will be out of the picture. Is hard to imagine a world, ruled by Jesus with no devil!
Verses 7-10 tell us that He Will Be Judged – These verses tell us that at the end of the Millennium, Satan will be loosed from his prison. He will return to the earth and will be able to amass an army of incredible size. He and this army will attack the city of God, Jerusalem – where Jesus is reigning and will plot to overthrow Jesus. However, as the Bible tells it, divine judgment falls and all the people who followed the devil in his scheme will be destroyed. Then, the Devil, and every demon in hell and Hell itself – will be thrown into the Lake of Fire – an eternal everlasting torment. His judgment is certain and his doom is sealed! When he is cast into the everlasting fire – the universe will be forever free from his evil influences and wickedness. Just to know the devil is going to be out of the picture for good, is enough to shout about!
Does it bother you that even when Jesus Christ has ruled the world with perfect, righteous judgment, Satan is still able to find a vast multitude to follow him? It bothers me, but it is a clear illustration of the heart of the lost sinner! No matter how good God is to someone, until they are saved by grace and changed by the power of God, they are wicked to the core!
In fact, I believe this is one of the primary reasons for the Millennium. It is to prove the hardness and sinfulness of the human heart! You see, in various ways God has tried to reach men, and each time, man has failed to respond with love toward God. Cast your mind back to:
- The age of Innocence (Gen. 3) which ended with wilful disobedience.
- The age of conscience (Gen. 5-6) which ended with universal corruption.
- The age of human government (Gen. 11) which ended with devil worship at the Tower of Babel.
- The age of promise (Gen. 12 – Ex. 1) ended with the people of God in bondage in Egypt.
- The age of Law (Ex. 2 – Matt. 27) ended with humanity killing their Creator on the cross.
- The age of the church (Acts 1 – this present time) will end with worldwide apostasy.
- The age of Tribulation (Rev. 19) will end with the battle of Armageddon.
- The age of the Millennium (Rev. 20) will end with an attempt to overthrow God Himself.
The Bible says that the human heart is by nature wicked and prone to evil. There is no good and no hope for us without God, The only hope for men is to come to Jesus for salvation. He changes hearts! Anything less will result in damnation and Hell. Where do you stand at this hour? Are you sure that you have been saved – set apart from these awful judgements to come?
So then, we have seen something of The Saviour During The Millennium and Satan During The Millennium
But consider next –
THE SAINTS DURING THE MILLENNIUM
I am not referring now to those who the world or a church has made “saints” but to those who are the Saints in Christ Jesus – those whom the apostle Paul calls redeemed. What will the redeemed people of God be doing during the Millennium?
First of all -They Will Be Reigning – As I see it from scripture, all the saints of God, that is, every person who received Jesus between the Day of Pentecost and the Rapture of the Church will reign with Jesus in His Millennial kingdom. We will share in His glory and in His reign, Check it out in 2 Tim. 2:12; & 1 Pet. 5:1. This does not mean that we will be Lording it over one another – NO! We will be reigning, and in control over life’s circumstances.
The children of God – the Christian community, may be mocked and ridiculed right now, but there is coming a day when we will return with Jesus in power and glory to this world and we will reign with Him on this earth. In that day, we will be different than we are now. In fact, we will have already been through the Judgment Seat of Christ and we will have enjoyed the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. We will have been with Jesus when He took control of the world away from the devil and his armies. We will have shared in it all and we will now share in His glory! When we reign with Him, we will be in our new perfected and glorified bodies! We will be free from sin, free from death, free from disease. We are now only Perfect in Gods eyes, but we will be Perfect in all eyes in that day!
Then Believers Will Be Relieved – These verses makes it clear that there will be a great number of people – new believers at that time, who will have come through to the end of the Tribulation Period with their faith in Jesus. These people refused the Mark of the Beast and they lived until the end. Some will be Jews, others will be Gentiles like us, but they will all enter the Kingdom of Christ. This is pictured for us in Matthew 25:31-46 as the Judgment of the Nations. Jesus will honour the faith of those who trusted in Him and He will receive them into His kingdom. All pain and peril will have ended for ever! Yet for those who lived to the end of the Tribulation and did not place their faith in Christ, they tragically must go through Hell to the Lake of Fire.
I hope you can see that the bottom line is faith! Where is your faith today? Is it in Jesus Christ alone for salvation – or are you putting your faith in your own works? Anything else but Jesus is bad ground. Trust Jesus while you can – trust him now!
So then, we see The Saviour During The Millennium,
Satan During The Millennium, and the Saints During The Millennium – but consider now if you will …
SINNERS DURING THE MILLENNIUM
You may ask – Will there be sinners during the Millennium? Yes! There will be none who enter the Millennium, but there will be millions born during that 1,000 year period. You see, all the remaining, both Jews and Gentiles who enter the Millennium, out of the Tribulation will do so in their flesh and blood or natural bodies. These people are saved, but their offspring will be born with a lost, sinful nature. They will need to be saved too! What is Their Relationship To The Saviour – In that day, even the lost man will know Jesus. He will know Him as King, but He will not know Him as Saviour unless he repents and receives Jesus by faith. Salvation and its means has never changed! Every sinner Will Be Forced To Worship Correctly – Every person on the face of the earth will bow in worship before King Jesus! Every one will lift their voices in praises and in singing to Him who sits on the throne of glory. What a blessed day that will be! However, imagine having to praise Him and not love Him! Imagine worshiping Him outwardly, while hating Him inwardly! It will happen in
that day!
Sadly, it also happens in this day! A lost person comes into the church; – they stand with the congregation of the saints and they sing the hymns of praise unto the Lord. They join in with all the redeemed of God as we worship the King. Outwardly, there is no difference, but inwardly, the heart of the lost sinner is not in love with Jesus. He is merely going through the motions. My dear Friend, it does not have to be that way! God can make this thing real for you today – if you will only come to Him by faith!
In that day the Sinner will be Forced To Walk Correctly – Now, lost people walk and march to their own tune. They do what they please without regard to what the Lord has to say about it. However, it that day, they will be forced to live rightly! Again, there will be outward obedience, but without inward love! People will need salvation then, just as they do now!
And don’t forget that they Will Be Deceived – The Bible tells us that when Satan is loosed from his prison, he will deceive a great multitude of those who are not saved. They will join him in his bid or plot to overthrow Jesus and his Earthly Kingdom.
I find it amazing that people who have known nothing but the holiness, goodness and blessing of God would rather fight Him than love Him; I don’t understand that! Yet, we see it all around us in the world today. Even listening to me today, there are people who eat God’s food, breath His air and enjoy His goodness, yet will still not bow before Him and receive Him into their heart and life. That is something I will never understand! Willing to tread underfoot the goodness of God, while heading toward a destiny with Hell! May I remind you that it is the “goodness of God that leads … to repentance.” Rom. 2:4.
So then ….
We have focused on The Saviour During The Millennium,
Satan During The Millennium. Saints During The Millennium, And Sinners During The Millennium
Finally let us consider –
SOCIETY DURING THE MILLENNIUM
For just a few minutes, I would like to share with you some of the changes that will come about during the Millennium. It won’t take too long, but these insights are such a blessing.
There will be a permanent Peace – Cessation of all war by the unification of the nations and the resultant economic prosperity. This will be a time of personal and national peace.
Then society will be characterized by Joy – The fullness of joy will be a trademark of the Kingdom. A happiness unknown since the days of Eden Garden will prevail everywhere, and a smile will reside on every face. Holiness too will prevail – This Theocratic (God centred) kingdom will be a holy kingdom. This holiness will be evident, flowing through the King Jesus to his subjects. The land will be holy, the people holy, the city holy
and the entire world will be holy unto the Lord!
We shall live in a constant Glory – This kingdom will be a glorious kingdom, with the glory of God in full display. We will know a Comfort – Jesus will fully minister to every need, so that there will be fullness of comfort. There will be no miscarriages in the courtrooms for Perfect Justice will be administered to every individual in the entire world. We will be equipped with Full Knowledge – All the subjects of the king will possess fullness of knowledge and understanding. No doubt, there will be an increase in the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. We will function in the fullness of our brain capacity not as we do presently – apparently we only use one third of our brains right now, – some I know appear to use even less?
Then we will experience the Removal of the Curse – In Gen. 3:17-19, God placed a curse upon the earth. During the millennium, this curse will be removed, resulting in an increase in the productivity of the earth, and it will cause animals the loose their ferocity and venom. It could be that we will be able to communicate with animals, remember that the serpent spoke words in Eden Garden – it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that God will give a voice back to the animal kingdom.
All Sickness will be Removed – The King will be a healer, so that sickness and death will vanish. We will witness the Healing of the deformed – All deformity will be healed – there will be no disabled amongst us. Consider our Protection – There will be a supernatural preservation of life during the millennium; And there will be No oppression – There will be no social, political, racial or religious oppression in that day,
There will be no laziness, or welfare. A perfect economic system, all needs will be provided for, by our work and labour under direction from our king. It will be a fully industrialized world, we will enjoy great Economic Prosperity – The perfected labour situation will produce economic abundance, so that there will be no want – no more third world hunger or the like.
There will be an increase in solar and lunar light, accounting for the increase in productivity. All language barriers will be removed. The entire world will worship God and Jesus,
God will be present upon the earth in the personage of Jesus,
and always recognized by man. Fellowship with God will be experienced in an unprecedented degree, All who are subject to the King will experience divine enablement and divine presence,
I recon that after the 1000 years are up, the whole of the created universe beyond ours, (also under the curse) will be our eternal employ – to free it all for Jesus. Those distant stars are not a waste of space – God never created anything without a Purpose, a Function and a Value. While many of us understand their purpose, only the wise will get to see their function and value.
NOW THIS FINAL WORD
I have been preaching today about a time when Jesus will reign as King upon this earth. That will be a special time and it will be a most blessed time. However, you do not have to wait to the Millennium for Jesus to be King. If you will trust Him as your Saviour, He will reign as the King of your heart right away. I wonder, have you ever bowed before Jesus and confessed your sins and received Him into your heart? If you haven’t, you need to and you can if you will come to Him today. Will you do that?
God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
God Bless You – Amen