The Millennium and the End of Sin 2
Samuel Smith
23 Jan'19
5
LESSON 7
THE MILLENNIUM AND THE END OF SIN
You are welcome to another edition of Insights from God's Word, a Bible study programme that is committed to sharing God's Word by allowing the Bible to speak for itself.In this edition, we continue with our series on The Plan of Salvation. The topic for this study is: The Millennium and the End of Sin. In our previous study, we ended with a summary of the order of events in relation to the second coming of Christ. I believe this order of events has actually prepared us, and placed us at a point where we are ready to easily zoom into our study today on the millennium.
In this study on the millennium, I want us to focus specifically on the events that characterize this thousand-year period. We will try to answer questions such as:
A) What events take place in heaven during the millennium?
B) What events take place on the earth during the millennium?
C) What events take place after the millennium?
Beloved, the Scripture makes it clear that the millennium begins from the second advent of Christ, and then ends with the final destruction of the wicked. During this thousand-year period, very important events take place in heaven and on earth. Now, I want us to consider these events in a chronological manner:
A) EVENTS THAT TAKE PLACE IN HEAVEN DURING THE MILLENNIUM
1. The saints reign with Christ."And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them ... and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years" (
Friends, during the great controversy war between Christ and Satan, the people of God went through sorrow, suffering and even death by aligning themselves with Jesus (
2. The saints judge the wicked.
"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, AND JUDGMENT WAS GIVEN UNTO THEM ... and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years" (
Friends, during the thousand-year period, the saints are going to judge the wicked that couldn't make it to heaven. But before we continue, we need to find answers to these important questions:
i) What kind of judgement will the saints be engaged in?
ii) Are human beings the ones who are going to judge their fellow humans?
You see friends, the Bible talks about three main types of judgement. The first type of judgement is called the pre-advent or investigative judgement. It is the work of judgement where Christ separates the wheat from the tares (
Moreover friends, we also noted in our previous studies that when Christ appears the second time, He will take the saints to heaven with Him (
Now, this basically means that the work of the investigative or pre-advent judgement will be open to the scrutiny of the saints. In other words, the saints are basically going to check out the records of God's judgement and affirm whether He has been fair with everyone. This type of judgement is called the millennial or post-advent judgement.
Someone has said that when we get to heaven, there are going to be three major surprises. The first of our surprises will occur when it dawns on us that we are also among the saved. Now, when we behold the glory of the Son of God in heaven, and realize that he left all of that to come down on earth to die for us, we will come to understand fully the biblical fact of salvation by grace (
Our second surprise will occur when we cast our eyes around and search in vain for people we thought should have been there. We will go to God and enquire why some of our beloved "friends in Christ" could not make it.
Our third surprise will occur when we see people in heaven whom we knew very well on the earth to be sinful, with some even serving as agents who opposed the cause of Christ. While on earth, we have written-off these people in our sub-conscious minds as possible candidates for heaven. Now, when we meet them there, the question we will want to ask God is this; Lord are you sure about these people? How did they get in here?
Now, with all these questions on our minds, the Lord will give unto us the records of His judgement (
Beloved, God will ensure through the exercise of the millennial judgement that all doubts are removed from our minds. We will come to appreciate and affirm how the Lord has dealt with every person on the earth. Even records of the fallen angels will be open to our view and subsequent approval. From
B) EVENTS THAT TAKE PLACE ON EARTH DURING THE MILLENNIUM
1. The earth is desolate.During the millennium, the saints will be in heaven while the wicked remain dead on the earth (
4:24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
4:25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
4:26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
4:27 For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end."
(
From
20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
20:3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season."
(
The verse 3 of
Now, with the righteous out of his reach in heaven, and the wicked out of his reach in death, Satan will be totally miserable in a desolate earth. This is because the work of deception that calls forth his highest powers and energies will now naturally come to a halt.
For the first time in his life, the devil will have time to think about the consequences of his rebellion against God. He will have time to reflect on how beautiful God made the earth, and what he has turned it into. He will call to mind the day he entered into Eden and deceived Eve, and subsequently, Adam. He will find time to think about the pain and sorrow that this action of deception brought upon the earth. One thought that will make him shudder will be when he reflects on how his work of rebellion led to the ignominious death of the only begotten Son of God. He and his angels will terribly curse the day that they defected from the government of God. But at this point, they will know and accept the terrible truth that their case is hopeless; and that they are doomed for eternal destruction. On every side, they will witness the terrible consequences of their rebellion; the bones of dead men, women and children that they had worked tirelessly to harden in sin will lie open on the earth. On every side Satan and his angels will witness the curse of sin on the once beautiful planet; broken cities and an utter desolation of the earth. Slowly and painfully friends, Satan and his angels wait for the millennium to pass by.
C) EVENTS THAT TAKE PLACE AFTER THE MILLENNIUM
1. New Jerusalem descends from heaven."And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (
After the millennium, the city of God descends from heaven to the earth. Across the vast expanse of the universe of God, it is the most festive occasion. Within the city are the saints of God, and also their King as well as Redeemer. Now, as the city gets closer to earth, the Mount of Olives is parted and the beloved city settles on the vast plain that has been created (
2. The wicked dead are resurrected.
As the City of God glitters with indescribable beauty, the God who has power over life and death, calls back to life the wicked dead.
From the beloved apostle, we read the following in relation to the resurrection of the wicked: "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished" (
3. Satan is loosed out of his prison.
"7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 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" (
When God resurrects the wicked dead after the millennium, Satan's chain of circumstance is now broken. He is loosed out of his prison, so to speak, as he can now go around and continue with his work of deception. The Bible refers to the resurrected wicked as Gog and Magog. From the Old Testament, we learn that Gog and Magog were two of the bitterest enemies of ancient Israel (see
Friends, with all that heaven offered to ensure that these people could have had the opportunity of salvation, they rather chose to give their allegiance to the devil. Now, after the millennium, they stand in company with him. It does not take Satan much effort to deceive the resurrected wicked, and gather them on a final mission to attempt an overthrow of the government of God.
From
4. The Wicked are Arraigned before the Executive Judgement of God.
20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works."
(
Outside the walls of the beloved city, the wicked will soon discover that God's Ten Commandment law that they had despised and trampled upon is to be the measure of the judgement (
Friends, when God's Ten Commandments law is revealed to the wicked as the standard of the judgement, each one of them will recall with terrible accuracy, the sins that they had committed on the earth. They will also remember the opportunities that God had brought upon their way to draw them unto Himself, but were ignored and slighted. Now on the outskirts of the city, their expression of sorrow is worse than death. The wicked recognize people in the beloved city that God had brought on their path to save them from the fate of eternal loss which they now face. Sad encounters take place at the city wall as friends and family recognize each other and come to understand the hard truth that they are separated for all eternity. The daughter who rejected the fervent pleas of her mother to end an adulterous relationship catches the glance of her mom inside the city and bows her head as a sign of regret. She knows it's too late now, and that nothing can be done to reverse her fate.
All the wicked will acknowledge that their own choice to disobey the commandments of God had taken their names from the book of life, and unfitted them for eternal life. Now, together with their commander, they fall on their knees and acknowledge the justice of God before the entire universe (
5. Satan and the wicked are destroyed.
"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (
"And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death" (
Friends, from the texts above, we learn about the terrible end of the wicked. We learn clearly that as the wicked surrounds the city of God, fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them (
6. God Creates a New Heaven and a New Earth.
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea" (
Friends, the lake of fire that God will use to destroy the wicked is the same fire that He will use to cleanse the earth from the virus of sin. Now, after the fire has finished with its work of destruction and cleansing, the Lord will then extinguish it. The planet will now be rid of sin and sinners. It is at this time beloved, that the God of creation will create a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness (
The redeemed of all ages will now inherit the earth (
Exhortation: Beloved, with what Christ has done for the human race, no one will have to go through the agony of the second death. This is because on the cross of Calvary, Christ paid the price for our sin in full. Our Saviour died outside the city of Jerusalem on that fateful Friday so that we can gain entrance into the beloved city; the New Jerusalem at the end time. It does not matter what you have done in the past, if you come to Christ today, He will not turn you away (
In our next study, which happens to be the last in our series on The Plan of Salvation, we will consider the topic: The New Earth: Our Eden Home Restored. The Bible study references for this study are
Stay blessed and keep shining for King Jesus.
Maranatha!
Powered by White Throne Ministries