The Millennium: God's Golden Age

One of the top three Christmas hymns is Joy to the World by Isaac Watts. It is personally one of my favorite Christmas songs too, but it is not a Christmas song per se. Let’s examine the words.

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King;”

When Jesus was born, did the world receive Him as King? I do not think so.

“He rules the world with truth and grace”

Does His truth and grace rule the world today? Absolutely not!

Only during the Millennium will the words of Joy to the World be lived out on planet earth.

What is the Millennium? It is a subject covered in the Bible extensively but it is not preached very often from the pulpit.

The word Millennium just simply means 1,000 years. It comes from “mille” meaning 1,000 and “annum” meaning years.

Those 1,000 years will be in the future, at least 1,007 years from this very moment. It will be a time when Christ rules and reigns from the Davidic throne with His saints. Although the Millennium is mentioned often throughout the Bible, especially the minor and major prophets and Revelation 20, it is one of the more controversial subjects in the Bible.

Let’s see what we can discover about the Millennium.

I. Three Perspectives on the Millennium

Throughout church history, three competing views have arisen regarding the Millennium.

A. Post-Millenialist Perspective

Basically, post-millennialists believe the world will keep getting better until Christ returns.

This perspective was widely held until World War 2 when it became painfully obvious that the world was not getting better and better. The Millennium would never happen if we had to wait on the world to get better and better.

B. A-Millenialsts Perspective

A-Millenialists do not believe in a literal Millennium.

They believe, and I do not know how, that the devil is currently chained, and that we are currently living in the Millennium as the church has inherited all the blessings promised to Israel.

C. Pre-Millennialists Perspective

I am a Pre-Millennialist. If this earth is ever going to be what describes in His Word, Christ must return, rule, and reign.

Pre-Millennialism is the oldest of the three views. Christ will physically return to this earth and set up His Kingdom, and He will rule and reign with His saints for 1,000 years.

I have given you a graphic that shows a timeline that contains the past, present, and future of the Bible. It is a great way to visualize what we are describing.

Just fyi. The early church fathers were all Pre-Millennialists, and Pre-Millennialism is widely accepted among evangelicals today.

II. Three Purposes of the Millennium

A. To reward the saints of God

The best way to paint the picture of the Millennium is to let God’s Word paint it for us.

Isaiah 40:10 “Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.”

Colossians 3:24 “knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

Matthew 25:34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Revelation 22:12 ““Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.”

Immediately after the Rapture, Christians from the Church Age will appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ.

The purpose is reward saints for those things done or rebuke them for things not done in service to Christ and the Christian body. Paul writes about it.

1 Corinthians 3:10–12 “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—”

1 Corinthians 3:13–15 “each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”

At the Judgment Seat of Christ, you will either be rewarded, or you will suffer loss which means loss of rewards.

The responsibilities to rule with Christ during the Millennium will be more than likely linked to a Christian’s service on earth.

Luke 16:10 ““One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.”

Christ will reward Christians for their service to Him. What will we do in the Millennium? The Bible gives us some details.

1 Corinthians 6:2 “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?”

Revelation 20:4 “Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

You and I will judge the world. Remember by this time, Christian friend, you will have a new body free from the curse of Adam which will allows you to judge sin as it should be judged,

One of the purposes of the Millennium is to reward the saints of God.

B. To respond to the prophets’ predictions.

There are many prophecies concerning Israel that are yet to be fulfilled, and those promises, those predictions will be fulfilled during the Millennium as Jerusalem will be the capital of the world, Israel will be regathered, and Israel will claim her inheritance.

Let’s take a look through Scripture at some things that have not been fulfilled.

Psalm 72:11 “May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!”

This prophecy definitely has not been fulfilled yet, but it will.

Isaiah 9:7 “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

Isaiah 60:21 “Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified.”

Zechariah 9:10 “I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”

Israel has been plagued by warfare from day one but not during the Millennium.

Luke 1:32–33 “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.””

The Bible is very specific. Christ is going to rule forever, and that prophecy will come true.

The second purpose for the Millennium is to respond to the prophets’ predictions.

C. To re-emphasize man’s depravity and the necessity of Christ’s death

The Millennium proves once and all, as if there is any doubt, that man is depraved, and that Christ absolutely had to die for man’s sins.

When Christ returns at Armageddon, every lost person, every person who had taken the mark of the beast will die, but there will be some who enter the Millennium in earthly bodies. Those will get married and have children.

Those children, if they are going to live in eternity in Heaven, must get saved, and they will be saved in the same way that you and I were saved, but many will reject Christ incredibly.

Satan will be locked away for 1,000 years, but as he is released, one sees through Scripture the depravity of man.

Revelation 20:7–9 “And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them,”

Those who reject God even living in a pristine, perfect environment number as the sand of the sea at the end of the Millennium, and God consumes them with the fire of His judgment, and those destroyed will appear at the Great White Throne Judgment along with all the lost for all the ages.

The depravity of man is a biblical concept that sometimes we do not fully grasp.

I know Hope used to struggle with my terminology of the first Adam and the Second Adam, but you must understand this, and Hope does now. Consider what the Bible says.

Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—”

1 Corinthians 15:45–47 “Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.”

The first Adam sinned by choice. He was not deceived, and through him, all men, women, boys, and girls inherit the nature to sin, and sin brings death.

Eve was deceived, but the curse is not through Eve. It is through Adam who sinned wilfully. Adam was not tempted by Satan, was he? He sinned because he wanted to sin. He wanted to experience what his wife experienced. He made a choice, because Adam made the choice he did, death, sin, and the curse passed into all men.

That is why Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, had to come to earth, to die for the sin of the first Adam. During the Millennium, countless people, without being tempted by Satan, will make the choice to sin, and finally God will have enough and consume them with fire, and then they will appear before the Great White Throne Judgment to be cast into the Lake of Fire.

I can hear them now as they offer this excuse.

“God, it is not my fault. It was my environment in which I was raised”, and God is going to say, “What are you talking about? I gave you the Garden of Eden to live in for 1,000 years, and you still chose to sin. Depart from me to the place I prepared for the Devil.”

The three purposes for the Millennium are to reward the saints of God, to respond to the prophets’ predictions, and to re-emphasize man’s depravity.

III. The Five Profiles of the Millennium

These will be rapid fire.

The Millennium will be characterized by traits the world has desired but never achieved.

A. A time of great peace

There have been many diplomats who have tried to negotiate peace in the world. The result has been constant warfare.

Outside the United Nations, a statue says this:

“Let us beat swords into plowshares.”

Well, dear friend, the United Nations will never achieve peace, but Jesus will.

Psalm 72:7 “In his days may the righteous flourish, and peace abound, till the moon be no more!”

Micah 4:2–3 “and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away; 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 anymore;”

Now, dear friend, I must say this. I am glad Baptists will be changed and given a new nature at the Rapture because that is probably the only way a Baptist will ever give up his or her gun. For 1,000 years, there will be no violence. There will be no guns. No money will be spent on the instruments of war. You will not need locks on your doors, and you will not need security systems. Police forces will be obsolete.

Jesus Christ will be ruling with an iron fist, and He can read every thought and intent, and those thoughts of warfare, crime, and violence will be dealt with accordingly, and guess what? You and I will have the same nature as Christ with the authority He gives to judge sin also.

Not only will there be peace between men and nations. There will be peace between man and the animal kingdom.

Isaiah 11:6–9 “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

B. A time of great prosperity

I for one cannot in my wildest imaginations begin to describe how perfect and bountiful the Garden of Eden was, but I will see the whole earth transformed into the Garden of Eden one of these days.

Even the desert places will bloom.

Isaiah 35:1–2 “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.”

Ezekiel 34:26–27 “And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them.”

Amos 9:13 ““Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.”

What an incredible verse. During the Millennium, as one man is reaping, another will be coming behind him sowing. It will be 1,000 years of incredible prosperity with no starvation and no famine.

C. A time of purity

Sin will be dealt with severely.

Zechariah 13:2 ““And on that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more. And also I will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness.”

There will be no idols, no cults, and no false religions.

Isaiah 66:23 “From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord.”

Isaiah 11:9 “They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

During the Millennium, the entire earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.

Today, people think they hide sin from God, but that will not be the case during the Millennium.

D. A time of prolonged life

During the Millennium, those with earthly bodies will live to be 7, 8, and 9 hundred years old as the lifespans that were present before the Flood return.

Now, it is obvious that before the Flood, conditions were different on planet earth as more than likely there was a protective canopy surrounding the earth that protected man from those things which shorten life today. We know at the Flood, Methuselah was 969, but after the Flood, the oldest recorded in the age in the Bible is 130. Moses, according to the Bible, was still strong at 120 when he died.

During the Millennium, that protective canopy is restored, and it is the young man who dies at 100, and he or she will die because of sin.

Isaiah 65:20 “No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.”

E. A time of happiness, contentment, and joy

You and I cannot possibly imagine how happy we will be during the prelude to eternity. The Bible gives some incredible descriptions.

Isaiah 9:3 “You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.”

Isaiah 14:7 “The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing.”

Isaiah 25:8–9 “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.””

Isaiah 42:10–12 “Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants. Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains.

Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare his praise in the coastlands.”

Praise the Lord!!!! Can you imagine what God has planned? There is no way we can even get a picture of it as images of this current world pollute our minds, but there is coming a time when every Christian will revel in the blessings of the promises God has made.