ANNOUNCER: The thousand year reign of Christ, the Millennium. It’s all over the Bible, but it’s described as a thousand years only in Revelation chapter 20. That’s where we are today in our eschatology series. We are so glad you’ve joined us today, friend, for Grace in Focus, a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Our website is faithalone.org. We want you to know that we have a free subscription magazine. It comes out bi-monthly six times per year. It is free. You just have to sign up for it. Free all except if you live outside of the 48 contiguous United States, you have to pay the postage. A great magazine, we want you to have it, get signed up at faithalone.org. 

Now with today’s discussion about the Millennium, here is Bob Wilkin, along with Philippe Sterling. 

BOB: Philippe, in our journey through eschatology, we’ve come to something called the Millennium. And the word millennium is a word that’s familiar to all of us who are, let’s say, who were adults at the year 2000. Say you were 20 or older in the year 2000. We remember Y2K. 

PHILIPPE: Yes, there was that fear that all the computers were programmed in such a way that they all will go dark at the turn of the new Millennium. 

BOB: Yes. Now, of course, a Millennium is a thousand years, but when you get the year 2000, you’re not only getting a new century, but you’re also getting a new Millennium, right? You have the first thousand years after Christ, and then the second thousand years, and now we’re into the third Millennium, right? We’ve started into that. And so the word Millennium means a thousand years, or the thousand year reign of Christ. And it comes from the book of Revelation, right? 

PHILIPPE: Yes, in fact, it’s the only place where the actual thousand years is mentioned. First in reference to the devil, to the Satan who was bound for a thousand years in Revelation chapter 20, verse 2, “so that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years were finished. But after these things, he must be released for a little while,” and then we’re told in verse 4, “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them.” Those are the Tribulation saints who are resurrected, and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Revelation 20, verse 4. So Satan is bound a thousand years, and the Tribulation age martyrs, and Old Testament believers reign with Christ. And now presumably also, that’s what the Church also reigns with Christ over the millennial period. But Scriptures and Old Testament and New Testament are filled with passages that describe this reign of Christ that we now know would be a thousand years. 

BOB: Yeah. Now Isaiah 65 seems to talk about the Millennium, even though it calls it a new heaven and a new earth, which is Revelation 21, then says I saw a new heaven and a new earth. But in Isaiah 65, the new heaven and the new earth seems to refer to the restored earth during the Millennium. Don’t you think? He says in verse 20 that people will be living lifespans like the trees. In other words, you’re going to have people born at the beginning of the Millennium who are still alive a thousand years later. 

PHILIPPE: Yeah, there may end up being millions and perhaps billions of believers that are old as Methuselah at the end of the millennial period. 

BOBL And so the Millennium is the thousand year reign of Christ before the new earth and the new heavens. And so why have these two things separate? Why have a thousand year reign of Christ then move to a new location and go here? 

And before we do that, maybe I could mention we’ve already discussed here. There’s something called amillennialism. Those who don’t believe—postmillennialism. There’s premillennialism, which we hold to. The Christ will return before the Millennium. And historic premillennialism. We’ve talked about all those views. But basically what we need to recognize is most everybody in theology recognizes Revelation 20 talks about a thousand years. It’s just some people say this is figurative language. 

PHILIPPE: Yes. It’s just a symbolic number for meaning an extended rule of Christ.

BOB: Right. And some would say this is the beginning of a golden era before Christ actually returns and reigns. 

PHILIPPE: And this would be the postmillennial view that the world gets better and better and better and Christ returns. 

BOB: How is that working out for them? Not so good so far. Yeah. So the thousand year reign of Christ, what’s the earth, the earth is going to change, right? 

PHILIPPE: Yes. Isaiah 11 tells us about that rule of Christ and the transformation that happens in the animal kingdom. For example, I’ll ask you a little quiz question here. What kind of animal is it that lies down with the lamb? 

BOB: You know, I used to think it was the lion with the lamb. But I think it’s the bear. Is it the bear?

PHILIPPE: It’s the wolf. The wolf will lie down with the lamb. And what are we told about the lion? 

BOB: The lion lays down with somebody who… 

PHILIPPE: No, the lion will graze like the cattle. The lion will eat straw. 

BOB: So the Millennium is going to be a new earth. Like, I guess we should do a brief history of the earth. When God originally created the earth, it was beautiful, it was glorious. 

PHILIPPE: It was a good creation. And when it was all done, it was all very good. 

BOB: And probably all of the earth would have been like the Garden of Eden. It all would have been fantastic. There wouldn’t have been polar ice caps. There wouldn’t have been all these high mountains and things. But then after the fall, the earth degraded to some degree so that now people were going to die. And they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. But things were still much better than they are now. Because once the wickedness of man was filled up, Genesis 6:3 and following ,where the sons of God intermarried with the daughters of men, after that point, God decided to destroy the current earth with flooding. Yes. And after that, the earth was radically changed. Now we had high mountains. Now we had polar ice caps. I don’t know if we had polar ice caps before the flood, but there were lots of changes in the topology of the earth. 

PHILIPPE: And after the flood, there was on a great ice age too that enveloped much of the earth and then gradually dissipated to more of the what we have now. 

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PHILIPPE: But that creation, post fall, became a groaning creation. Creation was subjected to futility and groans. So we had a glorious creation which has become a groaning creation

BOB: Romans chapter 8. And then when the Millennium comes, there’s going to be a great cleanup. In fact, the first seven years of the Millennium, they’re still going to be picking up debris, right? 

PHILIPPE: Yeah, all of the debris of the military equipment and the dead bones and everything. It’s going to take a major cleanup, but still will not yet be a new heaven and the new earth. But the curse apparently is partially lifted where animals no longer prey upon each other. And of course, Amos tells us that there’ll be bountiful harvest. He talks about the one who sows the seed, the one who reaps is going to catch up with him. And so one harvest after another will just follow each other, just quickly in succession there. The earth is going to be much more willing to give than it was for Adam. when you fail, we’re thorns and thistles.The sweat of the brow will not be much in effect during the millennial period. 

BOB: And also won’t all of the earth be leveled out to where we’re not going to have the Himalayas anymore. And the highest mountain isn’t that going to be Mount Zion? 

PHILIPPE: Yes. Jerusalem will be the chief among all the cities of the earth and perhaps on this vast mountainous area in view of all the earth. 

BOB: Okay, I’ve got a little odd view so see what you think of this. Remember where Jesus said if you have faith like a mustard seed, you say to this mountain move and it would move, right? Yeah. I wonder if at the 75 days between the end of the great Tribulation in the beginning of the Millennium, He might send believers out and go, okay, I want you to move the Himalayas. I want you to move the Rocky Mountains. I want you to move these and we’re going to be dropping them in the sea. And so we’re going to go out and they’re going to say, okay, Philippe, you take the Himalayas and put them with that great trench, the Marianas Trench. Just fill that up with the Himalayas. And so boom, the Himalayas are gone. 

PHILIPPE: What will our powers be as glorified believers? Will we have that opportunity to be part of that transformation of the earth that takes place for its vast well-being during the millennial period? 

BOB: I mean, right now, if God said to you or me, okay, Philippe, I want you to go and I want you to move this 14,000 foot Pikes Peak in Colorado. I want you to move it into the ocean. If you knew God was actually telling you to do that, you would go do it and it would move now. But God doesn’t do that now because that’s something that’s going to be reserved. And I don’t know if we’ll be the ones moving the mountains. Maybe God just zaps it. But he may be actually saying, well, 

PHILIPPE: Or maybe we’ll work with the angels in doing that. And we know that the angels have vast powers over the natural world. Because Revelation tells us that about restraining the winds and other third things. 

BOB: And one thing I think it’s important to recognize, I’ve heard people say that the reign of believers is limited to the thousand year reign of Christ. And after that’s over, now, we don’t reign with Christ anymore on the new earth. Instead, we’re all the same. There is no degrees of rulership or anything like that. That’s a tremendous mistake because in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul says, we’re striving for an imperishable crown. It’s a permanent crown. 

PHILIPPE: And again, carries the idea of ruling with Him. Revelation 22 definitely says, “and his servants shall serve Him.” So the capacity for service that we have carries on into the new earth. And ultimately, I think throughout the new heavens and universe.

BOB: Yes, absolutely. So the rulership that begins in the Millennium will continue because, as Peter says in 2 Peter chapter 1, this is the eternal kingdom. The Millennium is the first thousand years of the eternal kingdom. It’s not some different kingdom. Like we get the kingdom of the Millennium and then we get Jesus’ kingdom after it. No, no, it’s all Jesus’ kingdom. 

PHILIPPE: I think it is the everlasting kingdom. Now, there may be two phases to it, you know, the millennial phase and then the new heaven, new earth phase. 

BOB: One other point about that, the millennial phase will have believers and unbelievers. Whereas the new earth, there won’t be any unbelievers anymore. 

PHILIPPE: And in the new earth, of course, is when there is no more curse, Revelation 22. 

BOB: No more death. 

PHILIPPE: Nor more death, death is the final enemy. 

BOB: And no night, if you’re in the new Jerusalem, 

PHILIPPE: There’s no need of the sun. 

BOB: No need of the moon. It’s like Las Vegas. It’s lit up all the time, except it’s not going to be like Las Vegas. It’s going to be a righteous Las Vegas. 

Well, thanks so much, y’all, and remember to keep grace in focus.

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On our next episode: what is the Great White Throne Judgment? Please join us again and in the meantime, let’s keep grace in focus.