When the Lord Jesus as the Son of man returns in flaming fire taking vengeance on His enemies, He will be preparing the earth for the wonderful time often spoken of as the Millennium. Many have mistakenly thought that the gospel of the grace of God is to first spread throughout the world and so prepare the way for Christ to come and reign. But on the contrary, the gospel is being despised and corrupted, and soon the real Christians will be taken from the world to be with Christ in the Father's house. Then judgments of increasing severity followed by the coming of the Warrior-King will cleanse the earth before His rightful reign. Judgment, and not the gospel, will prepare the way for the Millennium.
The word "Millennium" is not found in the Holy Scriptures, but has been coined from two Latin words to designate a period of "one thousand years." While the word is not there, the thing itself is very definitely found in many parts of the Bible. The Old Testament abounds with references to the wonderful reign of Christ and its effects on the world, the nations, and the children of Israel. The Lord Jesus also referred to it in the gospels, and when we come to the book of Revelation we find the "thousand years" spoken of six times in the first seven verses of chapter twenty. The Old Testament does not disclose the duration of the time, but the book of Revelation does.
We also get many types in the Old Testament which point on to Christ as King. To mention only two, David and Solomon, we see in them types of Christ coming in judgment and then reigning in peace. David was the rejected, though crowned, king, just as Christ is now. Then the day came when he ascended the throne, and his reign was characterized by war. In his days the enemies of Israel were subdued; and then Solomon, after establishing the kingdom on righteous principles, reigned without "adversary nor evil occurrent." The one is a type of Christ putting down His enemies, and the other of Christ reigning in peace and righteousness afterward. Of course we must remember that these are only types, and the best of men break down as types. What a breakdown there was in Solomon, as a type of Christ reigning in wisdom and righteousness! But the more the types fall short, so much the more will Christ the blessed Antitype stand out in bold relief. Solomon when at his best in his beginning displayed unusual wisdom, but it was only after the sight of his eyes and the hearing of his ears; but of Christ we read,
"He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears" (Isa. 11:3). He will know all fully.
If the Queen of Sheba was overwhelmed by the display of earthly glory found in Solomon, the type of Christ, what will the saved of the nations feel when Christ really reigns! If the shadow was so great, what will the substance be!
In the transfiguration scene (Matt. 17:1-8; Luke 9:27-36) there is a sample of Christ's coming kingdom. Peter refers to it in 2 Pet. 1:16-18, saying that they were eyewitnesses of His majesty. It was the coming kingdom displayed in miniature. There was the Lord transfigured before them.
There were also Moses and Elijah who typify the heavenly saints—Moses a type of those who die, and Elijah of those who go to heaven without dying. Peter, James, and John represent the earthly saints in natural bodies. Thus in the kingdom the heavenly and earthly will be brought close together, with Christ the Object for all.
In the Millennium the curse pronounced on the earth in Genesis 3 shall have been removed. Thorns and briers will not be present as now, for we read that "instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree" (Isa. 55:13). Everything will then be wondrously fertile. The crops will be so great that the plowman will overtake the reaper (Amos 9:13). Psalms 65 and 72 also describe the fullness that will be brought forth by the earth in that time. The seasons are to remain, but all will be ordered for blessing, except where there is disobedience among the nations. Zechariah 14 foretells the withholding of rain to any nation that does not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles at Jerusalem.
Even the animals will benefit from the beneficent reign of Christ. At present they are subject to suffering by reason of the fall. They were made subject to vanity through the fall of creation's head—Adam (Rom. 8:19-22). During the Millennium they will be delivered from such bondage, and according to Isaiah 11 and 65, enmity among them will cease to exist.
The Jews who are now hated and despised in many, many places throughout the world, and forbidden from entering their own land, shall be brought back. Those who are apostate and receive the antichrist, will meet their doom when Christ returns in judgment. Afterward the faithful few who were hunted and chased, together with the scattered all over the earth will be brought back by the Lord. It is written in Matt. 24:31,
"He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
So great will be the national regathering of Israel that they will then not refer to the Lord as having brought them out of the land of Egypt, but as having led them out of the "north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them" (Jer. 23:3-8). Both Judah and the ten tribes will be brought back to dwell as one in the land. Their blessing will be as "life from the dead" (Rom. 11:15), and as the resurrection of the "dry bones" of Ezekiel 37. These scriptures, and also Isa. 26:19, do not speak of the resurrection of the body, but of the national resuscitation of Israel for millennial blessing.
Israel can then sing as in Psalm 48, "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion,... the city of the great King." The magnificence of the city of Jerusalem will surpass anything that the world has ever seen. Many scriptures foretell the future prominence and blessing of Jerusalem and the land of Israel. From Zechariah 14 we gather that there will be certain physical changes in the vicinity.
Who on earth can describe the horrible sufferings of the Jews since the destruction of Jerusalem in A. D. 70? What recompense for those fateful words, "His blood be on us and on our children." But while "He hath smitten" so it will be said, "He will bind us up" (Hos. 6:1). When the "King of glory" appears, then the words of the poet will be accomplished:
"Those gloomy years have rolled away,
The years of Israel's mourning;
The rising sun with healing ray
Proclaims the King's returning."
As for the Gentile nations, they also will be blessed. Those who are left of the Gentiles after the days of judgment, will be brought into the Millennium, and be blessed as they own Israel's King. At present the nations are seeking means of securing peace, but there can be no lasting peace yet. Before such peace can come to this troubled world, an even worse time is due. Instead of peace, the prophet Joel tells us:
"Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men.... Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears." (Joel 3:9-17.)
But in the Millennium it shall be fulfilled:
"He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." Isa. 2:4. The business of learning war—scientific research and the like—is to go on and increase for the present, but when Christ reigns, they shall not learn war any more. Lord, how long till then?
But what of the Church—the true Christians of this day—during the wondrous reign of Christ? (Read Rev. 21:9 through 22:5.) In these verses see something of the displayed heavenly glory of the Church in that period. Of course the language is figurative, but withal it is a beautiful description of magnificence and glory. She is seen descending out of heaven, and displayed over the earth. Thus the heavenly saints will reign with Christ (canopy over the earth) in that day. They are to be associated with Him in His reigning—not to be reigned over, as wonderful as that will be for the earth. The saved of the nations are to walk in the light of that heavenly city, of which the Lamb is the light.
Satan, the devil and arch deceiver, is to be bound in the bottomless pit, or the abyss, during the Millennium (Rev. 20:1-3).
"Thou art coming, mighty Savior,
`King of kings,' Thy written name;
Thou art coming, royal Savior!
Coming for Thy promised reign.
"0 the joy, when sin's confusion
Ends beneath Thy righteous sway;
0 the peace, when all delusion
At Thy presence dies away."