The millennium is the period in the future of this world's history, when the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, shall take into His own hands the rule and government of the world.
The Lord Jesus shall reign with His heavenly saints over the earth. At the present time the whole creation groans (Rom. 8:2222For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. (Romans 8:22)), but in that day it shall be "delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." Satan shall be bound by an angel, in the bottomless pit for the thousand years and shall no longer be able to make this world the sphere of his wiles and delusions, leading men captive in their sins. At the beginning of the reign of Christ there shall be the erection of a magnificent temple. "Behold the man whose name is The Branch....He shall build the temple of the Lord." (Zech. 6:1212And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: (Zechariah 6:12).) Connected with this shall be the restoration of the Jewish sacrifices and worship according to the ordinance of God. "In those days.... David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; neither shall the priests, the Levites, want a man before Me to offer burnt offerings and to kindle meat offerings and to do sacrifice continually." (Jer. 33:161.8.) These shall point back to the Lamb of God, once offered as those of old had pointed forward. There shall be no ark in the temple (see Jer. 3:16-1716And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. 17At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. (Jeremiah 3:16‑17).) "At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord." "In those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, 'We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'" (Zech. 8:2323Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you. (Zechariah 8:23).)
Instead of the present short span of life-three score and ten-the days of the Lord's people shall be compared to the days of a tree. "Neither shall there be any more a child that dies untimely or an old man that shall not complete his time, for the youth shall be a hundred years old, and the sinner who dies at a hundred years also is accursed." (Septuagint version of Isa. 65:2020There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. (Isaiah 65:20).)
After the thousand years Satan shall be loosed for a little season. This time he diligently employs in seducing the nations in a last attempt against Christ and His saints. He shall know well that his time is short, God shall come upon the scene, in quick, unsparing judgment when all the living wicked shall be destroyed by fire. (Rev. 20:7-97And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. (Revelation 20:7‑9).)
Vii—the Everlasting State the Judgment of Satan and of the Living Nations at the End of the Little Season Brings Us to the End of Time and the Dissolution of the Present Conditions of the Heavens and Earth. "the Heavens Shall Pass Away With a Rushing Noise and the Elements Burning With Heat Shall Be Dissolved and the Earth and the Works in It Burnt up." (2 Peter 3:1010But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10). N. T.)
There shall be a great white throne and one shall sit on it, before whose face the earth and the heavens shall flee away. This person shall be none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, once the despised "Nazarene," the "man of sorrows," "the Savior;" then a righteous judge.
The wicked dead shall be raised to stand before the throne. (Rev. 20:1212And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Revelation 20:12).) They have not eternal life-nothing but dead works. Books will be opened, probably the record of their works. Another book, the book of life, shall be opened to show that their names are not there. The Bible shall be there (John 12:4848He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. (John 12:48).) The sea, death and hades shall give up their dead. Though the ashes of the infidel may be scattered to the four winds, "There shall be a resurrection." (Acts 24:1515And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. (Acts 24:15).) Death and hades, no longer needed, shall be cast into the lake of fire, and "Whosoever was not found written in the book of like was cast into the lake of fire." (Rev. 20:1515And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15).) "The fearful, and unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (Rev. 21:88But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8).)
In Rev. 21:1-81And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:1‑8) is given a description of the everlasting state. It does not so much describe what it shall be, as it does what it shall not be. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.”
The Church, the bride of Christ, symbolized by the holy city, "New Jerusalem," is seen by the apostle John in his vision, coming out of heaven "prep red as a bride, adorned for her husband," having reigned with Christ through the thousand years. How blessed to see her still maintaining her bridal affection and youthful beauty, her attire unspotted, entering the everlasting state in the full strength and fervor of bridal days, in the most intimate relationship.
There shall be no more sea. Israel and the nations shall have no more place as such; everything that shall recall to mind the present world shall pass away forever.
God's purposes shall be fully realized though opposed by Satan and man from the beginning. "God shall dwell with men." "They shall be His people and God Himself shall be with them and be their God." All that hinders the full outflow of the heart of God to His creatures shall be removed.
(Continued from page 305.)
(Concluded)