The Millennial Reign of Christ

The Millennial Reign of Christ
Moses and the prophets are unanimous in their testimony concerning the reign of King Messiah — who is God in human form, having entered the world by miraculous conception and virgin birth — over the earth for a thousand years. While they do not mention the duration of His reign, they are constantly describing the conditions that will exist upon the earth at that time. Jerusalem will be the center of the earth. She will be the lodestone, drawing nations thither to worship Jehovah the Great King. At that time the curse will be lifted, and the glory of God will encircle the earth as the waters cover the sea. The knowledge of Jehovah will be universal, for all will know Him — from the least even unto the greatest — and righteousness will be the order of the day. All things will be viewed from the proper perspective — not as now, from a partial, materialistic, physical point of view. Though the spiritual world is invisible to human eyes, yet it is most intimately connected with the physical world which we do see, and it cannot be divorced, in our thinking, from it. Thus all physical phenomena must be interpreted from the standpoint of the predominance of the spiritual. It was left to the Apostle John, in Revelation, chapter 20, to tell us the length of Christ's reign on earth, namely, one thousand years.

The curse having been lifted, the earth will bring forth its full increase. All vegetables and grains will have the proper vitamins and the various other elements that are necessary to provide a balanced ration for the body. Thus there will be no deficiencies in the food which the people will eat at that time, and therefore there will be no disease.

Christ will be King over all the earth. The church will judge the world at that time, being under Christ, and of course will view things from the divine angle and will therefore administer a righteous and just government of the people.

The people over whom Christ and the church will reign will be the descendants of those who will be put on the right hand at the judgment of the nations, as seen in Matthew 25:31-46. These people will be here in the flesh, and they who are put on the right hand of Christ in this judgment of the nations will propagate their species, and they will be normal human beings. They still will have their old nature; but Satan and the demons at that time will be incarcerated in the pit of the abyss and will not be able to deceive the nations during the thousand years of our Lord's reign (read Isaiah 2:1-4; Micah 4:1-8; Psalm 48; and Isaiah 65:17-26).

The Millennium, with the Lord Jesus Christ himself ruling and reigning, will be the earth's real golden, era, concerning which the poets have written and the prophets of God have spoken. The “vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be” of which the poet Tennyson dreamed will be a reality — “And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem ... and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:3,4) — “Earth at last a warless world”!

Satan, who will be bound at the beginning of the thousand-year reign of our Lord, will be released at the expiration of that time, for a little season. He will go forth and deceive the rising generation that will not, at that time, have accepted Christ and His salvation. Thus there will be a huge movement that will arise, at the instigation of Satan, against Christ and His government. These unregenerated people will defiantly make a march against Jerusalem from the four quarters of the globe, in an attempt to intimidate Christ and embarrass His government. When they make this march on the capitol of the Holy City, fire will come down out of heaven, consume them, and blot them from the face of the globe.

Immediately after this the judgment of the great white throne (Revelation 20:11-15) will be set, before which all of the wicked, who will be raised, will be brought for judgment. The “book of life” will be there together with the records of each individual.

Every person who is born is written into the book of life; but only those who accept the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation have their names inscribed in the Lamb's book of life. Whenever a man passes out of this life, without having accepted Christ, without having been born again, his name is erased from the book of life. It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27). Thus all who come before the judgment of the great white throne will realize that their names were blotted out of the book of life because they did not accept the salvation provided by the Lord Jesus Christ. There will also be recorded in the books the record of the lives of all who are thus arraigned. After the judgment of the great white throne the wicked will all be banished from the presence of God and the glory of His might. They will walk in the darkness of the everlasting punishment prepared for the Devil and his angels.