Thy Kingdom Come, page 16
The second coming of Christ will usher the Antichrist and his kingdom off the earth and into hell, and usher in His own thousand-year reign of righteousness.
Israel’s Repentance
I also want to review briefly what will happen to Israel at Christ’s second coming. Israel will not be included in the judgment of the nations, which is basically a Gentile judgment. According to Ezekiel 20:33–38, God will separate Israel out and enter into judgment personally with His chosen people.
At this time the Israelites will look upon Christ, the One whom they have pierced (Zech. 12:10), and will mourn over Him. Israel will recognize Jesus Christ as its Messiah, and all the years of rejecting Him will end. Christ will sit on David’s throne as the acknowledged King of Israel and King of the world.
Some people said for years that end time events and the second coming of Christ sounded too much like a Hollywood script to be true. Too many things had to happen to prepare the world for His coming. But today, those events don’t seem so far away. The nation of Israel exists in the midst of its enemies. A European union exists. The means for instantaneous, worldwide communication is available right now. These things are worth noting, but God doesn’t call us to look for signs. He calls us to look for the Son. The reason is because it is the Son who will rule in the millennial kingdom.
THE MILLENNIUM
The millennium is the perfect way to end the clock ticking of time as we know it. Only God could have conceived of a program that brings His creation called time to an end in such a way that everything messed up by sin and Satan is restored, God’s promises are fulfilled, His righteousness is fully vindicated and displayed, and every legitimate human longing for peace and justice is met. All of that, and more, will come to pass when Jesus Christ establishes His thousand-year kingdom on earth. We call it the “millennium” from the Latin term for the Greek word chilias, which means “thousand.”
Some people think this is just a symbolic term for time, so that the thousand-year kingdom is not literal but merely a way of speaking about eternity. However, John used this term six times in Revelation 20:1–7 to describe this period that follows the tribulation, and He gave no indication that it is to be taken metaphorically. The millennium is a specific period of time.
There will be no lasting peace until Jesus Himself brings it, and He will do so on His terms. His enemies will be destroyed at Armageddon, Satan will be locked away for a thousand years, and the Antichrist and the False Prophet will be sent to hell. No one will be able to stop Christ from taking over. Let’s look at what the Bible says about this glorious period of time.
THE COMPLETENESS OF THE MILLENNIUM
Because the millennium is the completion of time and the culmination of history, God will bring His purposes for Jesus Christ, for mankind in general, and for Israel in particular, to completion during this golden age.
Rightful Rule Restored
Christ’s millennial reign will restore the creation to its rightful order that was interrupted and thrown into disarray when sin entered the human race. The most important purpose achieved in the millennium is the fact that Jesus Christ will take His rightful throne as Ruler of the earth. He was ordained by God to rule, and that purpose will be gloriously fulfilled during this time.
Mankind’s purpose and divine destiny will also be realized during the millennium. God told Adam and Eve to have dominion over the creation (Gen. 1:26–28; see Psalm 8:6–8), a dominion they forfeited when they sinned.
But then Jesus Christ, the last Adam, replaced the first Adam as head of the human race when He died for sin and rose victoriously over sin and death and Satan. So when Christ rules, we will rule with Him as God reverses the effects of sin and restores to mankind the dominion He commanded the human race to exercise back in Eden.
In fact, the Bible often compares Christ’s kingdom to Eden. The prophet Ezekiel wrote, “They will say, ‘This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited’” (Ezek. 36:35; see Isa. 51:3).
The first Adam was created in a perfect environment of absolute innocence. But the kingdom will be even better because the last Adam will reign in a perfect environment of absolute righteousness.
Fulfillment for Israel
The millennium will also mean the completion and fulfillment of God’s purposes for Israel. God promised concerning Israel, “‘I will also plant them on their land, and they will not again be rooted out from their land which I have given them,’ says the LORD your God” (Amos 9:15).
God not only promised Israel that He would give them their land, but that they would be permanent residents of all the land. That’s not the case today. Israel inhabits only a portion of the land God promised to Abraham. But in the millennial kingdom, Israel will get all of its land back.
Israel will also have its rightful King in the millennium. Jesus was rejected when He came the first time to present Himself to the Jews as their King. His birth in Bethlehem fulfilled God’s promise of a King, as the religious leaders of Israel acknowledged when the Magi came to them (Matt. 2:6).
But Jesus illustrated Israel’s rejection of Him in His parable of the nobleman who went away to receive a kingdom. His subjects sent the nobleman this message: “We do not want this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14). That was the official position of Israel concerning Jesus. But God had promised David that his Son would rule on his throne forever. Jesus Christ is that Son of David, and He will take the throne in Jerusalem and reign in His kingdom.
By the way, Christ’s rule in Jerusalem will be a righteous dictatorship. “It will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it” (Isa. 2:2).
Jerusalem will be the capital of the world in the millennium (Isa. 2:3; Jer. 3:17–18; Zech. 14:16), which is why at Armageddon the battle will be for control of Jerusalem. The kingdom will be Israel’s golden age of restoration and the realization of all that God promised and purposed for His chosen people.
Revealing the Source of Sin
Here’s an interesting fact about the millennium that I want to note before we move on. This period will reveal the true source of the sin that has infected the human race since Adam, and it will also bring an end to sin. We need to recall that during this thousand-year period, even with Satan locked away (Rev. 20:1–3), sin will still be brewing in the hearts of many people.
It’s clear that the King will tolerate no rebellion during His reign. Christ will deal with any hint of rebellion swiftly and righteously. But there will be people born in the millennium who do not want Christ to rule over them, and when Satan is released for a short time at the end of the kingdom, these rebels will follow him to destruction.
So how does the millennium reveal the true source of sin? By showing that the real sin problem is in the human heart. There will be no devil—no tempter, no liar, no deceiver—active in the kingdom. No one will be deceived or tempted or tricked by Satan into sin. With Satan bound, we understand that his demons will also be out of commission, so that there will also be no demonically inspired temptation during the millennium.
Therefore, those who choose to reject King Jesus and rebel will do so out of the evil in their own hearts. They will opt for sin even in the midst of a perfect environment with a perfectly righteous Ruler on the throne. The millennium will reveal that the cause of sin is not just the devil or the environment, but the evil in human hearts. And the end of the millennium will bring about the end of sin.
THE CHURCH IN THE MILLENNIUM
Revelation 19:7–9 describes the great event awaiting the church when Christ comes for His bride:
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’”
The marriage supper of Jesus Christ, at which He will receive His bride, the church for which He died (see Eph. 5:25–27), is going to be a glorious occasion. Every Christian became a part of Christ’s bride, the church, and became engaged to Him at the moment of our salvation. We belong to Christ, even though we have not yet come to the wedding ceremony. Therefore, to give ourselves to anyone or anything else is spiritual adultery.
Reigning with Christ
As Christ’s bride in the kingdom, we will reign with Him the way a king’s wife shares his throne. Paul said the church will judge the world and even angels (see 1 Cor. 6:2–3), and in Revelation 20:4 John said the resurrected saints will reign with Christ for a thousand years.
The Bible says we are “fellow heirs” with Christ (Rom. 8:17), and our level of authority in the kingdom depends on our faithfulness to Him on earth. That explains why in His parable of the servants, Jesus rewarded the first two servants with authority over ten cities and five cities, respectively (Luke 19:15–19). Jesus is going to administer His kingdom through us.
THE CHARACTER OF THE MILLENNIUM
The first thing I want us to see is that during the millennium, mankind will enjoy the long life people have always wished for. Length of life will be immaterial to the believers who are raptured and come back with Christ, because we will have our resurrection bodies. But those who are saved at the end of the tribulation, the ones Jesus calls His sheep (Matt. 25:31–40), will enter the millennium in their natural bodies and procreate, as we have already seen.
They will live on an earth returned to its original perfection and beauty and fruitfulness, an environment in which long life will be the norm: “No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his days; for the youth will die at the age of one hundred and the one who does not reach the age of one hundred will be thought accursed” (Isa. 65:20).
A Time of Fulfillment
I love this characteristic about the millennium. All of the limitations and frustrations we experience here on earth will be lifted. Isaiah says:
They will build houses and inhabit them;
They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They will not build and another inhabit,
They will not plant and another eat;
For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people.…
They will not labor in vain,
Or bear children for calamity. (65:21–22a, 23)
Your work won’t be in vain in the kingdom. You won’t see your best efforts fail or go up in smoke, or build something only to watch someone else take it over. You’ll enjoy the fruit of your own work in the kingdom. There will be no unfulfillment.
Let me show you a wonderful passage that captures the character of Jesus Christ’s reign. The prophet Isaiah said of the King who will rule, “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him” (Isa. 11:2). Isaiah then went on to describe the fullness of the Spirit that will rest on Christ.
Because Christ rules in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, His administration will be totally different than any government we have ever seen. For example:
And He will delight in the fear of the LORD,
And He will not judge by what His eyes see,
Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;
But with righteousness He will judge the poor,
And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth;
And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.
Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins,
And faithfulness the belt about His waist. (vv. 3–5)
People say they want justice and honesty from their rulers. We have a hard time today finding people of integrity who can occupy the offices of government. But that will not be a problem when Jesus Christ takes the reins of government.
His administration in the millennial kingdom will result in a thousand years of perfect justice and righteousness. The earth will also abound with health and prosperity (Isa. 29:18; 32:2–4; 33:24; 35:5–6). All of this will take place because the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God (Isa. 11:9; 32:15; 44:3), and God will personally communicate to the hearts of His people (Jer. 31:33–34).
THE CULMINATION OF THE MILLENNIUM
When the millennium comes to an end and the thousand years are completed, the Bible says that “Satan will be released from his prison” (Rev. 20:7) to gather all the rebels for one more run at overthrowing God.
Satan will “come out to deceive the nations” and will amass an army of rebels so great its number “is like the sand of the seashore” (Rev. 20:8). Satan’s army will surround Jerusalem, but this fight will be over before it starts, because “fire came down from heaven and devoured them” (v. 9).
Then the devil will finally and forever get his due. “The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (v. 10).
We know that there will be people in the millennium who refuse Christ and want to rebel against His rule. But even when we read it in Scripture, it seems hard to believe that people will rebel in a perfect environment.
Even so, out of that mass of humanity, Satan will find enough sinners to gather an army that can’t be counted. Yet this brief rebellion will be the final expression of Satan and the final expression of sinful man. History will culminate in Satan’s final rebellion and his eternal judgment. Those who belong to Christ will be ushered into eternity, and those who refuse Him will come up before God for the great white throne judgment. History will end with God’s final and complete victory.
Handing Over the Kingdom
According to 1 Corinthians 15:24–26, at the end of the millennium Jesus Christ will hand over the reins of authority to God the Father. Paul described this amazing moment:
Then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
Christ will defeat all of His enemies in a perfect reign as King, and then deliver His kingdom to the Father to extend the rule of heaven into eternity. What was true of the millennial kingdom will become the normal, eternal operation of heaven. Jesus Christ will turn to His Father and say, “I have fulfilled My reign. The kingdom is Yours.”
The church’s calling is to set in place the mechanisms of God’s kingdom agenda. The reason we study prophecy is not to satisfy our curiosity, but to learn how we are to carry out our lives while we look for our King’s return.
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PROPHECY AND THE GREAT WHITE THRONE
You’ve probably watched at least one of those episodes of a series that feature amazing or frightening or dramatic events caught on tape. Cameras on phones in today’s world make it possible to record almost anyone doing almost anything.
One series of these programs features employees caught doing all kinds of illegal or ridiculous things at work. On one show, a clerk in a department store was filmed taking money from a customer and slipping it into her pocket instead of the cash register. The clerk transferred the money with such a quick and slight move that it would never have been detected, except for the fact that a surveillance camera was in the ceiling directly above her filming the theft.
As the hosts on these shows often say, the camera doesn’t blink, and it doesn’t lie—even though a lot of “caught on tape” shows are filled with stuff the person on camera didn’t want anyone to see.
This is about the closest illustration I can find of what it will be like for the unbelievers who must stand before God in judgment at the end of the millennium. We could also compare it to a medical CAT scan, which looks past a person’s outer attire to reveal the true condition of the inner organs.
This judgment is the last event in time before God ushers in eternity, and so in one sense it is the termination point of His prophetic program for mankind. It is best known by the description of the seat upon which the Judge will sit.
John said, “I saw a great white throne” (Rev. 20:11). The white throne judgment is the event most people are referring to when they talk about “judgment day” in terms of having to face God. Let’s look at the details of this judgment in which unrepentant sinners “fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31).
THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE JUDGMENT
The most important participant in this final judgment of mankind is the Judge Himself—although interestingly enough, He is not identified by name. But this is an awesome person “from whose presence earth and heaven fled away” (Rev. 20:11). That can only be a description of Deity, and so we understand that the Judge is a member of the Godhead.
The Judge is Jesus Himself, who has already been sitting on the throne in Jerusalem ruling and judging the world for one thousand years. Besides, He has just defeated Satan and his rebellious forces at the climax of the millennium (v. 10), so He is already exercising judgment. The whiteness of the throne speaks of Christ’s purity and holiness.
