In the last issue we considered the term "Millennium," and noticed that it is a word used to designate the wonderful one-thousand-year reign of Christ. During that time all the earth will be blessed; the repentant and renewed Israel will be especially blessed under their true Messiah. The nations also will enjoy peace and tranquility under the righteous rule of the King that shall reign in righteousness. The seductions of Satan will not tempt men in that day, for Satan will be confined in the bottomless pit, or abyss. But before that glorious time can come, the Lord Jesus will return as the Son of man to execute judgment. His redeemed will soon be taken from the earth to heaven, and will be with Him when He comes to take vengeance on His enemies, and on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel.
Only those Israelites that are born again will enter into the kingdom on earth. The rebels and apostates among them will be purged out and will not see that glorious time. The seed of Jacob will never again turn aside after that, for it is written:
"The Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. As for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the LORD; My Spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and forever." Isa. 59:20, 2120And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. 21As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever. (Isaiah 59:20‑21).
But among the saved Gentile nations, there will later be those who will submit themselves because of fear, without true repentance or new birth. It is said of some of them that they will yield feigned obedience. It is written in Psalm 18:4444As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me. (Psalm 18:44):
"As soon as they hear of Me, they shall obey Me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto Me." The margin in some Bibles says, "yield feigned obedience," instead of, "submit themselves." (See also marginal reading of Psalm 66:33Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. (Psalm 66:3) and 81:15.)
Therefore, while evil will be restrained and the influence of the devil removed, there will be rebellion and sin among the Gentiles. This will be put down promptly, as we gather from another psalm, which speaks of how the kingdom will be restored.
"Every morning will I destroy all the wicked of the land" (Psalm 101:88I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord. (Psalm 101:8); J.N.D. Trans.). Another part of Scripture may be referred to in this connection.
There will not be sin and death on every hand as now. Death will be the exception rather than the rule. Men will live out their days then, which they have never yet done, because of sin. Even Methuselah who lived to be 969 years old did not live as long as the Millennium. One entering the Millennium from among the righteous will continue on through and live longer than Methuselah. One who dies for his sin at the age of 100 years will be considered only a youth or child, much as we now consider a person seven years old in relation to the present span of life. He who dies then will be a sinner and be suffering the wages of his sin—"the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed."
There is a mistaken idea that all sin now is the result of Satan's seductions. Such an idea tends to deceive people into blaming Satan for all sin, and excusing themselves, but the truth is that man himself is also bad. Man has an evil nature which of course is easily acted upon by the devil. There are lusts in his heart which are easily stirred to action. During the blessed and glorious time of Christ's reign on earth, when evil will be immediately put down and Satan be confined, there will be proof that man is bad. Even under such favorable circumstances there will be sin. with the resultant death.
Then there is to be still another proof of the evil nature of man. For after he has experienced a time of freedom from war, fear, want, and all other troubles, and enjoyed a time of blessing such as the earth since the days of Adam's fall has never seen, many will rise up in open rebellion against the kingdom of Christ. Let us notice the prophetic Word as to this rebellion.
"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and 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. And 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." 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). In the third verse of the same chapter it was said that after Satan is bound for the thousand years, he "must be loosed a little season."
During that long period of prosperity and blessing—one thousand years—there will be a great increase in the population of the earth, whereas it had been much depopulated by the terrible judgments before the Millennium began. Millions will be born and not be tested by evil in those years. The test will come in the
Little Season
at the close of the Millennium, when Satan is loosed. The thousand-year confinement will not have changed that deceiver. He will immediately show himself as the enemy of God, and seduce many of the nations to make one last rebellious outbreak against magnificent goodness. Such is Satan and such is the heart of man that will respond to his suggestion.
The term, Gog and Magog, used of the vast multitude that will rise up in open rebellion, is not to be confused with a similar expression found in Ezekiel 38 and 39. In Ezekiel it refers to Russia and her allied hordes from the north who will come against Israel just as the Millennium begins. They will be destroyed on the mountains of Israel. The scene in Revelation takes place at the close of the Millennium, or one thousand years later than the one in Ezekiel. In Revelation the countless number come from the four quarters of the earth, while in Ezekiel they come only from the north. The judgments also differ, for in Revelation it says that "fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." This judgment, similar to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, is very different from being slain on the mountains of Israel.
When we think of the enmity that there is in the heart of man toward his Creator, we who are saved can praise God that our hearts have been won. We who were enemies have been reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Man's natural thought is that God is his enemy who must be appeased with a present, but the truth is that all the enmity is on man's part. God is not and never was man's enemy. When man first fell in the garden, enmity was implanted in his heart to his Creator. While man's sin has separated him from God, God has been seeking man. He even sent His Son into the world to reconcile it, but men killed the Reconciler. But even now God is beseeching lost men to be reconciled to Himself. Every one who knows the Lord Jesus as his personal Savior believes that God is love. This love has been demonstrated in the gift of the dearest object of His heart—"God so loved—that He gave His only begotten Son."
Such love has melted the heart of the believer and, whereas he was once the enemy of God, now he loves God.
Reader, is this true of you? If it is not, may the love of God melt your heart now.