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The History of the Ages – Lesson 61

Now at last we’re ready to begin our study of the eternal kingdom. It begins with the 2nd coming of Christ when He returns to the earth to establish what is commonly called the Millennium, His thousand-year reign on the earth. I call it the eternal kingdom because it continues beyond the thousand years into timeless eternity. As stated before, the Millennium is the final age in the History of the Ages and is the time of transformation when the earth and its inhabitants are prepared for the eternal state. Then the Triune God will take up permanent residence on the earth to finally be “all things to all people” (Revelation 21:1-7, I Corinthians 15:28).


In these next several lessons we’ll look at the characteristics of the Millennium. Here they are:


  1. First of all, the Millennium is not symbolic in any way. It will be a literal, eternal kingdom established here on the earth by Christ. “In my night visions I looked, and on the clouds of the heavens came One like the Son of Man Who approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. And there was given to Him dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve only Him. His dominion is a dominion that will never pass away, and His kingdom will never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14) See also: Revelation 11:15, 19:11-16 and 20:4.
  2. The Millennium will be a true theocracy in which Christ will be recognized as the supreme ruler. “And the Lord will be King over all the earth; in that day there will be only one Lord (to be worshipped by men) and His name one (the only one recognized as God).” (Zechariah 14:9) “And in the days of these final ten kings will the God of heaven establish a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will its sovereignty be given to another people; but it will crush all who oppose it and will stand forever.” (Daniel 2:44)  
  3. During this time Satan is confined to the bottomless pit (Revelation 20:1-3). The purpose of this confinement as stated in the scripture reference above is so he cannot deceive the nations. The absence of evil influence will be an important factor as we continue with some of the characteristics of the Millennium that have to do with the spiritual dynamics of this time.
  4. David has always held a special place in God’s heart (I Samuel 13:14) and while he was yet living God promised his throne would be eternal (II Samuel 7:8-17). This was confirmed later in a Psalm written by Ethan the Ezrahite (Psalm 89:3-4, 19-37) and other Old Testament passages (Jeremiah 30:8-9; Ezekiel 34:23-24, 37:24-25 and Hosea 3:4-5). So, in the Millennium and throughout eternity, David will rule over Israel.
  5. As a reward for their faithfulness Jesus promised His twelve disciples they would rule over the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matthew 19:27-28, Luke 22:28-30)
  6. We’ve already discussed in previous lessons how the saints will rule with Christ during this time and throughout eternity and noted some of the many references to this (Revelation 1:6, 3:21, 5:10, 12:5, 20:4-6, 22:4-5). But there are other references that give us a more complete picture. For instance in Romans 8:17 Paul says believers will be “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ”. The word translated “joint-heirs” is sugkleronomos from sun, together, and kleronomos, an heir, or one who has been allotted a portion. This word is used to illustrate a personal equality based on an equal possession. Of course, there are those who get uncomfortable when there is talk of having anything equal with Christ. However, this is a reference to saints ruling with the full authority of Christ, an authority that He Himself will give them (Revelation 2:26-27). In I Corinthians 6:2-3 Paul talks about the saints judging the world and then says they will even judge the angels. This is not talking about passing sentence on angels for punishment. It does mean the saints will have the greater authority and will make decisions that will directly affect angels and the affairs of the universe. As we have already noted from Romans 8:17, saints, not angels, will become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ to inherit all that has been promised (Hebrews 6:12; Revelation 21:7). Then there is a revealing passage in Psalms 149:6-9 that describes how the saints will rule during the Millennium and what they will have to do in dealing with those who might oppose Christ’s authority (read it and see what I mean). This gives full meaning to how Christ and the saints will rule with “a rod of iron”.  
  7. During the Millennium Jerusalem will be the capital of the world. It is from there the law and instruction of the Lord will go forth to the nations (Isaiah 2:2-4). If you read Ezekiel 40-48, you will see detailed descriptions of the Millennial sanctuary where the ritual sacrifices will be reinstated, how land will be apportioned to the tribes of Israel that have been gathered back to the land and a description of the city that looks like a miniature of the heavenly city that will descend to the earth from God after the Millennium. In Zechariah 14 there is a description of some of the physical changes that will take place in Palestine to accommodate the building of the city, which will become the largest in the world. The name of the city will be “The Lord is there”. (Ezekiel 48:35)
  8. As mentioned in Lesson 59, Christ will determine who will enter the Millennial kingdom when He judges those still living on the earth following Armageddon. An additional note to this is found in Matthew 13:41-42, 49-50, where we see Christ sending angels to “gather out of His kingdom all causes of offense” (verse 41) and to “separate the guilty from the innocent” (verse 49). We can only assume the criteria for these is the same as that stated in Matthew 25:31-46, which is whether or not they support the destruction of Israel.
  9. All the nations will be required to send representatives to Jerusalem every year to acknowledge their loyalty to Christ (Zechariah 14:16-19). I say “representative” because the text uses the word yathar (translated “everyone that is left” in the KJV) and means, what is left, the remainder or a portion. It is interesting that they will be required to observe the feast of tabernacles (Leviticus 23:33-41), an eight-day celebration of worship commemorating the end of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness. This forces the nations of the world to recognize both Christ’s authority and the elevation of Israel as the head of all nations. The nations of those who fail to do this will suffer drought and plagues (verses 17-19).

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