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The Millennium
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. Rev 20:6
Once Christ has returned with the resurrected Saints and the ‘day of the Lord’ reaches it’s conclusion at Armageddon, what will take place next?
The above verse points to those that were resurrected reigning with Christ. We can get a little more information from verses such as Luke 22:30
And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; 30 That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
The twelve disciples are amongst those that will be ruling (in high positions) with Christ, in this case over the twelve tribes of Israel. All of the Saints in the first resurrection have positions of authority.
Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 1 Cor 6:2
In Daniel 2:44 in answer to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream the interpretation (that is absolutely sure) explains there will be a kingdom set up by (Christ) that shall replace all the governments of the world.
Many other verses in the bible state that the kingdoms of the world will be swept aside and Christ will rule the earth.
His headquarters will be in Jerusalem.
Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD. Zech 8:22
And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it. Micah 4:2
A Different World
If I had to pick just two verses to sum up a vision of the future world it would be these:
Isaiah 19:24 and Isaiah 11:6.
The world at peace
Isaiah 19 shows how dramatically human relations have changed. Nations that had been perpetually at odds with each for most of recorded history are united as one.
In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: 25 Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance. Isa 19:24
A peaceful world
The other verse answers the real concerns that the world has not had to face until recent times, the state of our natural planet. The natural world has been changed very dramatically.
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. Isa 11:6
This really is a picture of a completely different world, a Garden of Eden, with one main exception. With the exit of the ‘serpent’ along with those that preferred the dark ways of the ‘night’, peace descends on an entirely unified world. There are no divisive differences of opinion; the world is moving forward with one purpose in mind.
The Purpose of The Millennium.
Christ and the Father are busy about their work. Since ‘Christ changes not’ and He and the Father are the same this will continue.
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. John 5:17
God created man for a purpose; mankind will ultimately join Them in that work. We are given very little information on the endeavors undertaken during eternity, which will undoubtedly be one of the features of what we learn during the millennium.
Once the ‘mystery’ is accomplished, the true goal and direction for our future will be first and foremost in our minds, both from Christ’s perspective and the world’s.
The Alternative Way of Life
The world was given its period of time to discover just what sort of ‘whirlwind’ our ways would eventually reap. The end time was the reaping of our own self centered way. The millennium is our opportunity to experience the alternative. A thousand years of non-stop progression without a single war or financial cave-in to upset the pace. The ‘compound interest’ factor will see advances never even thought of. However, we are not talking about wealth or technology, we are talking about the improvements to be gained over ‘humane nature’.
The fundamental building block the whole universe and beyond is waiting on is ‘Holy righteous character’. This is the one most precious commodity in existence. With that, the whole universe will eventually be given to man ‘to dress it and keep it’.
For the earnest expectation of the creature (creation) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. Rom 8:19
The articles in the left column deal with all aspects of the millennium. What will we do and how will we do it? What will life be like in this new world?
The geography will be different; new islands are to be formed, mountain ranges will come down. This will see the weather patterns change as a result. All the physical disturbances during the tribulation were for a purpose. Since this has been written many centuries in advance it shows God has it all planned very carefully.
The first article is ‘The New Covenant’. What is it?
The other articles address some of the questions about day-to-day life during the millennium.
Simple Living.
For a while at least the world will need to revert back to a very simple lifestyle.
Nelleke and I once spent a few weeks high up in the Atlas Mountain region of Morocco. We had chosen the area as an opportunity to visit communities that were still largely untouched by modern society to see how they lived. Villages that still cooked on open fires on the ground, baking their bread each day. Transport was still by donkey and cart. Some more remote villages still had no electricity and fresh water was only just being introduced. We saw fields of grain being cut by hand with a sickle. ‘Fields’ were sometimes no more than a large vegetable patch, no more than could be managed by hand without additional equipment.
All this at first impression might lead you to think life is very primitive in those hills. Primitive is not the word that came to our minds. We saw people that were friendly, caring and happy. What we saw was a simple life style, not a primitive one. I would not suggest that this is an ideal by any means, but it did give us an insight into how life could be much less complicated.
The children are different; they are growing up with the usual ‘western’ attachments: mobile phones, skateboards, boom-boxes and all. It’s this pressure from the outside world and the fast pace of western ‘civilization’ that causes the people the most anxiety.
The photographs (clockwise) show part of a former palace, mealtime at the ‘table’, harvesters with their sickles, a small field that had an intricate system of irrigation by diverting a stream to it. Plenty of fresh vegetables at the market. Nelleke at the local 'restaurant' with an egg omelette and sweet mint tea. More very fresh fruit and vegetables, the community washing ‘hung’ out to dry (all the ladies did their washing together in the river). Last but not least, a happy and proud shoemaker in his six square meter shoe factory.
