The Millennial Reign of the Lord Jesus Christ

A Perfect Environment

During the Millennium, the atmosphere of the earth will be perfect. Satan and the demons will be removed and it will begin with believers only. Everything on earth will be perfect because there will be no opposition. The weather will be perfect, business will be perfect, longevity will be restored, children will never be harmed, and the earth will be in peace. Some wonder why the Millennium is even necessary. They wonder, “Why not just go to heaven and live forever there?”

Personally, I believe Jesus Christ will use the thousand years of the Millennium to disprove one of man’s greatest and most long-lived theories about mankind. The theory is if man had a perfect environment in which to live, all of man’s problems would be solved. A perfect environment is not the answer; regeneration is the solution. For years man has said, “If we can just remove man out of the ghetto, give him an education, find him a job, everything will work out fine.” Man’s problem is not what is outside him, it is what is in his heart. And only regeneration can change his heart.

God is going to give man a thousand years of a perfect environment. During that thousand years, people will be born who will refuse to accept Jesus Christ. At the end of the Millennium, the Bible says Satan will be released for “a season” and an army of unbelievers will join him in one last rebellion against God.

Just imagine the world being perfect in every way with Jesus ruling and reigning. No Satan. No demons. Perfect in every respect and yet, some born during the Millennium will not receive Jesus as their Savior. The Millennium will disprove man’s theory that a perfect environment will cause man to live perfectly before God.

The Parable of the Sheep and Goats

Matthew 25 continues describing the events occurring at the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 25:31:

 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

 This verse is describing what will occur following Armageddon at the Second Advent. When destruction comes, believers will remain and all unbelievers will be removed from the earth.

Matthew 25:32:

And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

 Again, the sheep will be the righteous; the goats will be the unrighteous. The sheep will be the virgins with oil; the goats will be the virgins without oil. The sheep will be the wise servants; the goats will be the servants that are wicked. The sheep will be the wise stewards; the goats will be the unwise stewards.

Matthew 25:33-34:

And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then (the Second Advent) shall the King say unto all those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

The “kingdom” is the millennial reign that has been predicted and prophesied throughout the Old and New Testaments, prepared from the foundation of the world.

Matthew 25:35-41:

 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then (the Second Advent) shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Notice, in these verses both the righteous and the unrighteous are mentioned. The righteous are believers and the unrighteous are unbelievers. Notice, too, hell was never prepared for people. It was originally intended for Satan, the fallen angels, and demons. However, since there are some people who choose to reject Jesus and follow Satan, they will be banished to the same place Satan is banished for eternity. Those who accept Jesus and follow God will spend eternity in heaven with Him.

 Matthew 25:42-46:

For I was hungered, and ye gave me not meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me not drink;

 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

 “Everlasting punishment” is a reference to hell and “life eternal” is a reference to the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. The book of Matthew has several parallel verses.

Matthew 3:11:

 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

John the Baptist was addressing believers and unbelievers. He was saying, “There is One coming after me who is mightier than me. I’m not even worthy to latch His shoes. When He comes He will baptize you—believers—with the Holy Ghost. And He will baptize you—unbelievers, Pharisees, Sadducees, religious scribes—with fire.” The next verse further explains.

 Matthew 3:12:

 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

The “floor” is the earth. One day He will thoroughly purge it. The “wheat” (believers) will be gathered into the garner—will go into millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the “chaff” (unbelievers) will be burned up with unquenchable fire.

 Other parallels we have already examined, are found throughout the thirteenth chapter of Matthew. There are seven parables dealing with the Church, the Tribulation, and the beginning of the Millennium. Again, there are good fish and bad fish, sheep and goats, wheat and chaff, all representing the fact that at the Second Advent, all unbelievers will be removed from the earth and all believers will remain.

The Wheat and the Chaff

John the Baptist pointed out the wheat will be gathered into the garner and the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire. To understand what John the Baptist is saying, it helps to understand how the wheat and chaff were separated in his day.

During harvest time, the harvesters would gather both wheat and chaff from the fields. They would not try to separate them at that time. The wheat and chaff that had been gathered would be sent to women who did nothing but separate them from one another. Usually these women would either stand at the mouth of a cave or on a high hill where the wind would blow. They would scoop the grain with large round-shaped grain shovels and throw it into the air. Wheat weighs more than chaff, so each time the women would throw the mixture in the air, the wheat would fall back down and the chaff would be blown away by the wind. They would repeat this process over and over until all that remained was the wheat.

Notice, it is not the believer’s responsibility to separate the wheat from the chaff; it is Jesus’ responsibility. Our responsibility is to preach the gospel. So many Christians want to demonstrate and march against the causes of the unbeliever, but our responsibility is not to root out all of the evil through demonstrations. Our responsibility is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to lay hands on the sick and see them recover. We are to cast out demons. We are to lead people to the Lord and pray for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When Jesus returns He will gather all of the wheat and chaff before Him—the good fish and the bad fish, the sheep and the goats, the wise and unwise virgins, the good and the wicked servants—He will gather all believers and unbelievers together, “throw” them into judgment and the wheat will remain. The believers will enter into the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. The chaff will be blown away. The unbelievers will be banished and burned with an unquenchable fire.

 One Thousand Years of Peace

When Jesus returns and separates believers from unbelievers, the Millennium will begin. The Millennium will be one thousand years of peace. Ephesians 1:10 calls it “…the dispensation of the fullness of times.” Notice, “the dispensation” (singular) “of the fullness of times” (plural). All times and dispensations ever in existance will be wrapped up in that one millennial dispensation. Some dispensations were Jewish, some were Gentile; but this final dispensation will be both Jewish and Gentile together. Both Jewish and Gentile believers will live in harmony together under the rulership of Jesus Christ. This will last for a thousand years.

All who come through the Tribulation will still have natural bodies. There will be great abundance in every way. Many babies will be born and there will be very little death. Death will occur during this time because capital punishment will exist. The Bible says Jesus will rule with a rod of iron (Revelation 19:15) during that time because of the unbelievers who rise up against His kingdom. Many unbelievers will at least obey the law, proliferate, and will not revolt against Jesus until the very end of the Millennium when Satan gathers them all together to rebel against Jesus Christ. When Satan is released for the last time, it will prove to the world that Satan has not and will not change. Some believe that Satan will one day be saved, but this is wrong thinking. He will never change. Satan will be cast into everlasting punishment. At the end of the Millennium, all unbelievers will stand before Jesus in heaven at the Great White Throne Judgment and those names not found written in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire for eternity.

At the end of the Millennium, all believers and unbelievers will receive resurrection bodies. These bodies will exist forever and forever. Believers will live with Jesus in these bodies for eternity, while unbelievers will be eternally in the lake of fire with Satan, the fallen angels, and demons.

 A New Heaven and New Earth

 After all of these things occur, Jesus will completely destroy the earth and the atmosphere around the earth. He will create a brand new heaven (the atmosphere around the earth) and earth. Why will he create a new heaven and earth? Because the current heaven and earth have been polluted by Satan. Satan is called the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2). The air is referring to the atmosphere around us. Jesus will destroy all of this and replace it with a brand new heaven and earth. The new earth is described in the last two chapters of Revelation, and will be completely different than the earth we now know.

 The new earth will have no oceans. It will operate by completely different scientific principles. Oceans are currently necessary for rains to water the earth. The water evaporates off the oceans, forms clouds, the winds blow them over the earth, and the rains fall causing vegetation to grow. The excess waters flow back to the oceans and the process repeats itself again. Without oceans, the earth would not survive. With the new earth, a brand new principle will be set in motion. There will be no oceans. Neither will the earth be lit up by the sun or moon. Heaven, where God lives, will come and rest over the new earth and remain there forever. The earth will be lit by the glory of God. Heaven will light up the earth! Because the glory of God will be the light of the new earth, it will be different than the light we know. The glory of God comes from every direction. Anyone who works with lighting understands that to get rid of shadows, light must come from every direction. Heaven will light up the earth equally and there will be no shadows. There will not be a dark side to the earth. The Bible says in God there is no shadow of turning (James 1:17).

 During that time, we will have access to both heaven and earth. We will also be able to go anywhere in the universe! Many people wonder why God made such a vast universe; He made it for us! When we have our resurrection bodies, we will be able to go anywhere in the universe.

God is light; that is one of His attributes. I believe God travels at a speed greater than the speed of light. I personally believe if man could exceed the speed of light, he would enter into God’s dimension. Going beyond the speed of light is the separation of the natural world and spiritual world. I am thankful that angels travel more quickly than the speed of light because if I had troubled and called for help, if angels only traveled the speed of light, it would take them millions years to get to me! I do not believe angels travel at the speed of light; I believe they travel at the speed of thought.

 Distance determines time. If a car travels sixty miles an hour, it will go one mile in a minute and sixty miles in an hour. The distance determines the time. But if you travel the speed of thought, you could travel one mile or sixty miles in the same amount of time! You would just think it and be there. In our resurrection bodies we will travel the speed of thought.

Positionally, man is above the angels but by creation we are below them. Angels are a superior creation, but that superior creation is just under us positionally. The moment we accept Jesus, angels become servants to those who are heirs of salvation. One day by creation we will be superior to angels. We will have resurrection bodies and travel wherever we want. The reason we will be superior to angels is because we will be redeemed, spirit, soul, and body, and the angels are not redeemed.

People often ask, “Won’t we get bored in eternity?” I believe the universe alone is so infinite, every visible planet, sun, star, and moon we will have opportunity to explore in eternity. What has been discovered in the universe is incredible, but I believe we are only seeing a very small section of the universe. We are only seeing what is in our own backyard. We have yet to see all the vastness of it. One day we will be able to travel any place we desire. Our resurrection bodies will be able to exist in outer space or on any planet of the universe! Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, all that God has prepared for those who love Him (I Corinthians 2:9)!