The Thousand Year Reign

The reality of what it means to be lost, to be separated from God for eternity, exceeds description. Our human language can’t capture its awful reality. Hell is an actual place, a place of conscious torment. This is the language of the Word of God—you cannot escape it.

Hi everyone, I’m Tammy Becker.  Welcome to the Almighty God & Gospel Girl Podcast.  This is week 25 into our series of Revelation and our podcast today is titled: The Thousand Year Reign

My podcast today will be based on the reading of Revelation 20.  And if you would like to follow along with the notes or maybe you would like to find the links to anything mentioned in the podcast today, you can go to the link in the description or by visiting www.youministries.com and visiting the corresponding page.  As we get started today, I would like to remind you of my disclaimer, that as always…do not take my word, or anyone’s word for what you read…get yourself in the Bible and let God discern His Word to you.  I am only human and make many mistakes and do not claim to know or understand everything in the Bible…I just hope by bringing out this study that your interest is sparked enough to get into God’s Word and begin to deep dive on your own.

A millennium, by definition, is a thousand years. The Millennial Kingdom is God’s answer to what the Lord prayed, “Your kingdom come … on earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). For a thousand years, the kingdom of Jesus Christ will last on the earth and at the end, mankind will have its final test under near ideal conditions.

More is written about the Millennium in the Old Testament than any other prophecy. It’s the theme of Old Testament prophecy. David was promised this Kingdom (see 2 Samuel 7:12-17; 23:5). This is the Kingdom predicted in the psalms and in the prophets (see Psalms 2, 45, 110; Isaiah 2:1-5, 11:1-9, 60, 61:3–62, 66; Jeremiah 23:3-8, 32:37-44; Ezekiel 40–48; Daniel 2:44-45, 7:13-14, 12:2-3; Micah 4:1-8; Zechariah 12:10–14:21). All of the prophets spoke of this Kingdom—not one of them missed it. This is the God-ruling kingdom coming to this earth.

And it begins with what we’ve wanted all along. On His return, the first thing Jesus Christ does is imprison Satan. An angel comes down from heaven, having the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand. He captures “the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan” (v. 2) and binds him and throws him into the bottomless pit. Satan’s great power is reduced, for just an ordinary angel becomes his jailor and leads him away captive (see Jude 1:9; Revelation 12:7-9). He sets a seal on Satan till the thousand years are complete.

Satan’s incarceration and total absence from the earth changes conditions from darkness to light. He is the god of this age; he is the prince of the power of the air. His enormous power and influence must be removed from earth’s scene before the Millennium can take place.

Next, Jesus removes the curse of sin from the physical earth. Scripture prophesies that the desert will blossom like a rose.

Many different groups of people make up the world during the Millennium. God follows a very definite program; He always has, and He moves intelligently.

Jesus will first raise the Old Testament saints to life again. “Resurrection” means “to stand up, a bodily resurrection,” and only God can do it. Those who gave their lives for Christ in the Tribulation will also be resurrected (see Daniel 12:1-2; Isaiah 25:8-9). They traded in three and a half years for one thousand years with Christ. Imagine what it will be like to live and reign with Christ on this earth!

The group called “the priests of God” (v. 6), referring to the entire nation of Israel, will also have a job. God originally planned Israel to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6), and now they will be.

Multitudes of both Israel and Gentiles who survived the Tribulation will enter the Millennium in their natural bodies. These are the ones, together with those who are born during the Millennium, who are tested during the one thousand years.

What about the church? Just as Jesus Christ mingled with His apostles and followers in a glorified body after His resurrection, so the church in glorified bodies will mingle with the multitudes in their natural bodies here on the earth. In these glorified bodies, we will move about space, from the New Jerusalem to heaven.

The Millennium is mankind’s final test. It’s the answer to people who think we wouldn’t sin if we lived in ideal circumstances. But we are sinners, and by the end of the Millennium mankind is again in rebellion against God.

When the thousand years are complete, Satan is released from the abyss. A great company, who lived under the personal reign of Christ under ideal circumstances, goes over to Satan. Imagine the tragedy of this revolt: People who have been living in a perfect environment, under the perfect government of God’s Son, will finally admit the truth, that they hate Jesus Christ, and rebel against Him as King and Savior.

Who are these people? Multitudes entered the Millennium, and multitudes are also born during the Millennium (see Isaiah 11:6; 65:20). This season marks earth’s greatest population explosion. With no disease and the curse of sin removed from the physical earth, there will be enough food to nourish its greatest population. But the human heart alone remains unchanged under these circumstances, and many will turn their backs on God and will join with Satan. The opportunity is offered to them to rebel, and they go for it. The nations of the earth again will come under Satan’s spell and will plot a rebellion.

But this last resistance and rebellion against God is as foolish and futile as man’s first rebellion in the Garden of Eden. God deals with their sin and rebellion definitively, ending man’s disobedience to God. Nothing remains now but the final judgment.

One of the imponderable statements of Scripture is why God let Satan loose after He once had him in the abyss in chains? Because He has a great purpose in it. Therein is the great problem of evil: Why does God permit it? He is working out a tremendous program; it’s a mystery to us today but will be revealed someday. He asks us to walk with Him by faith. We need to trust God that whatever He is doing is right.

God will throw Satan in the lake of fire where the Antichrist and False Prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. This is a solemn statement. It’s a relief to God’s child to know that the enemy— both his and God’s—will at last be brought to permanent justice. But the reality of what it means to be lost, to be separated from God for eternity, exceeds description. Our human language can’t capture its awful reality. Hell is an actual place, a place of conscious torment. This is the language of the Word of God—you cannot escape it.

THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT

John then tells us in his vision of these events that he sees a great white throne. The lost people of all ages will be raised from death to face God’s judgment and given an equitable, fair, and just evaluation of their works in respect to their salvation. This courtroom will be nothing like our modern court cases. There will be a Judge but no jury, a prosecution but no defense, a sentence but no appeal. No one will be able to defend himself or accuse God of unrighteousness. It will be a sober, awesome scene.

The holiness of God’s throne is revealed in heaven and earth’s reaction to it: “from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away” (v. 11). Seated on the throne is the Lord Jesus Christ (John 5:22, 26-29).

The Great White Throne judgment is the judgment of the lost. People say today that they want to be judged according to their works. This is their opportunity. The judgment is just, but since they failed to believe in Jesus Christ, no one is saved. They come from all classes and groups of humanity. The “books” contain a record of their “works” (see Daniel 7:10; Malachi 3:16; Matthew 12:37). But not one turned to Jesus for salvation (John 5:40).

If you are saved, you won’t stand before this judgment. As a child of God, your works will have already been judged at the judgment seat of Christ, and then only for the purpose of rewards (see 2 Corinthians 5:10). At the judgment seat of Christ, everything that is wrong will have been corrected. All sin will be dealt with there. Rewards will be given out. The Lord will also cleanse the church with the Word, such a mighty cleansing agent (see Ephesians 5:27).

But now for the White Throne judgment, the graves on earth will give up their bodies and the sea give up its dead; and hades, the place where the spirits of the lost go, will disgorge for this judgment. All who stand at this judgment are lost and are cast into the lake of fire where Satan, the Beast, the False Prophet, and their minions were consigned. If people do not accept the life of God, they must accept the only alternative: Eternal association with Satan.

God never created man to be put in this place, but there is no other place for him. Hell was created for the devil and his angels. God never goes here. The “second death” means eternal and absolute separation from God. The Lord called it “outer darkness.” This is literally worse than actual fire or darkness; it is an eternity without God.

“Death,” the great final enemy of man, is now finally removed from the scene. The apostle Paul writes: “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death …. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades [grave], where is your victory? … But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:26, 55, 57).

Next week will take a look at your future home address