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The History of the Ages – Lesson 62

We continue with the characteristics of the Millennium.

  1. In point 2 earlier I said the Millennium would be a true theocracy. One of the first things that must happen as Christ establishes His kingdom is the publishing of the laws of the kingdom from Jerusalem, so the nations will know what is required of them (Isaiah 2:2-4). These laws will be both civil (Isaiah 11:1-5) and spiritual (Zechariah 14:16-21) and will result in heretofore-unknown universal peace and prosperity. In the points that follow, you will be able to see what the Lord does in the Millennium to make this peace and prosperity possible. And, I hope you can see the mercy of God exhibited here. Since the criteria for entering the Millennial kingdom has nothing to do with salvation, deliverance, being a believer, being in Christ or somehow showing loyalty to Him (however you choose to describe it), many of the people who enter into this time will not fit any of those descriptions. As previously discussed, during the tribulation period and due to the events that unfold, there will be a great awakening on the earth and many will come to Christ during that time. However, many others, due to religious and cultural influences or isolation and ignorance, will not. Now they have 1,000 years and the best of conditions to get it right. But, if they do not, they will suffer the consequences, as you can see from the references above and others that have been given in previous points.
  2. The presence of Christ on the earth and the administration of His government according to His commands will bring universal peace. “Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end….” (Isaiah 9:7a) To this you can compare Psalms 46:9; Isaiah 2:2-4; Hosea 2:18; and Zechariah 9:10.  
  3. All the nations of the earth will be segregated and given their part of the earth as God designated it. “Remember the days of old, and consider the years of many generations past. Ask your father and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. This is when the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of men and when He established the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of God. And the Lord’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.” (Deuteronomy 32:7-9) If you check your Bible you’ll see that is says “children of Israel” at the end of verse 8 where I have “children of God”, which seems to be the best translation and agrees with the Masoretic Text found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. To this you can compare Paul’s statement in Acts 17:26, where he says with reference to the nations that God “determined their periods of time and fixed the boundaries of their habitation”. The timing of this was probably Genesis 11:1-9 in the account of the tower of Babel. And to this you can compare Genesis 10:5, 20, 31-32. Israel is a clear example of this segregation of nations. In verse 9 of the passage above from Deuteronomy it says the Lord’s portion is Jacob (Israel). In Matthew 24:31 Jesus tells us (the context is established in verse 29, the end of the tribulation at the 2nd coming of Christ, the beginning of the Millennium) He will send out His angels to gather His elect (again, Israel) from the four winds (directions) of the earth. This is to finally begin to fulfill His promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:7, again in 13:14 and yet again in 15:18-21, that the established boundaries of Israel’s eternal habitation would be the land of Canaan. This land was never fully occupied by Israel, even in the most prosperous times of David or Solomon. In the Millennium this land will be portioned out to the tribes of Israel for their permanent possession (Ezekiel 47:13-48:29). Miscegenation (intermarriage of the races) has always been forbidden in scripture (Abraham insisted that Isaac not marry a Canaanite woman, Genesis 24:1-4; Esau violated this and started a rift in his relationship with his father Isaac that was never healed, Genesis 26:34-35; Israel was warned against it, Exodus 34:12-16, and suffered the consequences when they violated it, Numbers 25:1-9; there are many other examples of this and the principle was taught in Leviticus 19:19.) Now, as to the reason why God has determined to do this, I will speculate. When you consider the conditions present on the earth during the Millennium and throughout eternity and the restoration that takes place, there is one constant that remains – the fallen, fleshly nature of those living on the earth and the children born to them. And, if you look at history, the examples of ethnic cleansing, genocide and territorial disputes leading to war between nations abound. And what caused the conditions to exist that brought about this destruction and death? Some of it was intermarriage and the resulting mixture of religious and cultural values that further resulted in the prejudice and hatred that led to the violence and killing. Sometimes it was just simple greed, wanting to possess the land or wealth of others, or the desire to enslave them. In the Millennium and then on into eternity, God will segregate the races, forbid intermarriage and give people their own lands.
  4. As I have mentioned in other places, when Christ establishes His kingdom, all forms of man-made religion will be abolished and only He will be the object of worship. The religions of the world that don’t recognize Christ will become irrelevant. The Christian religions will be forced to abandon their traditions, rituals and wrong doctrines. “From the rising to the setting of the sun, My name will be great among the nations. In every place incense and a pure offering will be offered to My name, for My name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 1:11) “The Lord will be terrible to them, for He will destroy all the gods of the earth; and men will worship Him, everyone from his own place, even all the isles of the nations.” (Zephaniah 2:11) “For then I will give the people a pure speech (barar sepheth, in this context, language free from religious deception), that they may all call upon the name of the Lord and serve Him with one consent.” (Zephaniah 3:9)
  5. There will be complete and perfect justice for all. Much has already been said about the Lord and the saints ruling during this time with a rod of iron. There will be no special interest groups to distort justice; no ambiguous laws to abort justice; no dishonest or self-serving politicians to pervert justice; and no courts or appeals to delay justice. Justice will not be based on the flawed ideas or concepts of men, but on the righteousness of God (Isaiah 11:1-5; 32:16-18; Revelation 19:11, 15). There will be no so-called social justice, where the results of one man’s labor is taken from him and given to another (Isaiah 65:21-22a). 

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