In this web site we take a literal view of the Millennium.
What is the Millennium?
The Millennium is a period of 1000 years,
written about clearly in both New and Old Testaments of
the Bible, in which Jesus Christ, the Messiah, reigns as King of
kings, and rules
the whole world in righteousness.
It will be a time of world peace, and nature will also live in harmony.
Satan
will be imprisoned, but sin and death will not be completely removed until
the New Heavens and New Earth which will follow the Millennium,
and a short rebellion,
when Satan is released for a short time.
It is important to be clear about which Biblical references refer
to the Millennium, and which ones refer to the perfect New Heavens and Earth, where there will be no sin, death or pain.
The
Millennium
"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. But after these things he must be released for a little while. . . . . .Then I saw the
souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast [Antichrist] or
his image, and had not received his mark on their forehead or on their hands.
And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand
years.
But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 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.
Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison
and will go out to deceive the nations . . .
(Revelation 20:1-8).
For a detailed explanation of the "first resurrection"
see the Rapture page.
There are two very detailed prophecies in the book of Isaiah
about the Millennium.
(Chapters
11 and 65:17-25).
Please read these for yourself. But I will try to give as much detail here as practical.
Jesse, was King David's
father, and God promised David that on His (the Messiah's) human side,
the Messiah King would come from David's family.
Jesus was/is the Son of God,
miraculously born to The Virgin Mary.
Mary was a decendent of King David. So humanly through Mary,
Jesus was/is also Human.
The only perfect human since Adam and Eve sinned.
"There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit
of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
His delight is in the fear of the LORD, And He shall not
judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide
by the hearing of His ears; But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide
with equity
for the meek of the earth: He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips
He shall slay the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
The 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.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw
like the ox.
The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole' And the weaned child shall put his hand
in the viper's den.
They
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.
And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek
Him, And His resting place shall be glorious." (Isaiah 11:1-10)
Further details are given in chapter 65,
" 'For behold,
I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what
I create; For behold I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing,
And her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, And joy in My people;
The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, Nor the voice of crying.
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, But sinners being one hundred years
old shall be accursed, They shall build houses and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They 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.
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.
It shall come to pass That before they call I will answer; And
while they are still speaking, I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, The lion shall eat straw like the ox,
And
dust shall be the serpents food, 'They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,'
Says the LORD." (Isaiah 65:17-25)
"
'On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages;
I will raise up its ruins,
And rebuild it as in the days of old;' . . . . 'Behold the days are coming,'
says the LORD, 'when the plowman shall overtake the reaper,
And the treader of grapes him who sows seed;
The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, And all the hills shall flow with it. I will
bring back the captivity of My people Israel; . . . . I will plant them in their land, And no longer shall they be pulled up
From
the land I have given them,' Says the LORD your God." (Amos 9:11-15).
There is much more detail and
information about the Millennium given throughout Scripture which space will not permit to be included here. But it is evident
that the atmosphere (heavens), and the topographyof the earth will be restored, probably to the conditions that existed
before
the Great Flood of Noah's time.
At that time "all the fountains of the great deep were broken up" (Genesis 7:11) causing
major changes in our world's topography and climate. It is very likely that during the Great Tribulation,
God will be using some
of the Tribulation judgments
of that time to bring the earth back to pre-Flood conditions.
Before the Great Flood people lived
to be almost 1000 years of age. That long life span will be restored.
It's possible that many people will live all the way through
the Millennium,
("as the days of a tree"). Many trees live for thousands of years.
"Every valley shall be exalted And every
mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked place shall be made straight And the rough places smooth;
The glory of the LORD shall
be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
(Isaiah 40:4-5)
THE FOLLOWING IS A
LIST OF SOME OF THE DETAILS ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM GIVEN IN THE BIBLICAL REFERENCES ABOVE
(1) The King of kings, Jesus, will reign
over the whole world from Jerusalem.
(2) His judgments will be completely fair, because He is God, and will know the facts of each
case without needing witnesses.
(3) Nature will live in peace and harmony.
(4) People will live extremely long lives.("as the days of
a tree"). Someone who dies at 100 years,
will be considered, just a child.
(5) Crops will grow abundantly, and food will be plentiful.
(6)
Satan will be imprisoned, but sin and death will not yet be completely eradicated.
"Then comes the end, when He [Jesus] delivers
the kingdom to God the Father,
when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
For He must reign till He has put all enemies
under His feet.
The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. (1 Corinthians 15:24-26).
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The New
Heavens, and The New Earth
We have looked at the Scriptures about the Millennium, but a reminder should be noted here.
There is much confusion in understanding Bible prophecy if the Scriptures about the Millennium
are confused with those about the perfect
New World.
In the New Heavens and Earth which begins after the 1000 year Millennium there will be no more death, pain, tears,
sorrow or sin.
And only true believers from both Old Testament and New Testament (Christians, = Christ's ones)
will live there.
"Now
I saw a new heavens and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.
Also there was no more sea.
Then I John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And
I heard a loud voice from heaven saying,
'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be
His people,
God Himself will be with them and be their God.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more
death, nor sorrow,
nor crying.
There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.' Then He who sat on the throne
said, 'Behold I make all things new.' And He said to me, 'Write, for these words are true and faithful.'
And He said to me, 'It
is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. . . . .
Then one of the seven angels, carried John "away in the Spirit
to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory
of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, clear as crystal". (Revelation 21:1-6 & 10-11).
Before we continue to see
a detailed description of the Holy City. Let me point out a few things.
There is a lot of information in the Old Testament about the
Millennium, but it is harder to find very much about the Eternal City. Nevertheless there is evidence that Old Testament saints
knew about, and believed in it.
David wrote in the 23 rd Psalm: "I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever."
We are told in
Hebrews chapter 11, that when Abraham was a stranger in a foreign land,
"he waited for the city which has foundations, whose
builder and maker is God. (verse 10).
And of both Abraham and Sarah, it says, "They desire a better, that is, a heavenly
country,
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. (verse 16).
Doesthat not sound a lot like the words of Jesus, as he comforted His disciples, who were sad because they knew He would be leaving them
soon? Just before He went to the cruel cross to die for their sins, (and mine and yours) Jesus said:
"Let not your heart be troubled;
you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house
are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself;
that where I am, there
you may be also. (John 14:1-3).
The New Jerusalem brings together both Old and New Testament
believers for Eternity.
The City, "had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates,
and
names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: . . . .
Now the wall of the city had
twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the
twelve apostles of the lamb [Jesus]. (Revelation 21:12 & 14).
Revelation
chapters 21 and 22 give a lot of detail, and the reader is encouraged to read it
for themselves,
but a few highlights will be given
here. The City is massive in size, about 1400 miles square and high
(no doubt with many floors or levels) The City walls are very
high and are made of jasper.
The City and streets are made of pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations are made of twelve
different kinds of precious stones (Jasper, sapphire, emerald, chalcedony, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase,
jacinth, amethyst.)
And of course the well known, twelve gates of pearl (one single massive pearl for each gate).
And
John, "saw no temple in it, for
the LORD God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple,
The city had no need of the sun or of the
moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminates it.
The Lamb is its light.
And the nations of those who are saved shall walk
in its light. . . . (there shall be no night there). . . . .
But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes
an abomination or a lie,
but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. (Revelation 21:22-27)
"And he showed me a pure
river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God
and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and
on either side of the river, was the tree of life,
which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month.
The leaves
of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in
it,
and His servants shall serve Him.
(Revelation 22:1-3)
What a great future is waiting for those who have repented of their
sin,
and trusted Jesus Christ as their Saviour !
Are you ready?
You can be! See "Your Response" page!
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