One Thousand Years Reign of Christ on Earth
by Samson Hutagalung
The Major Purpose of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ
Starting from the creation of Adam in the Old Testament, the idea of the prevailing of Jesus Christ on the millennium is the most concerned in History that this world will be reigned by Jesus Christ in glory and great power. The book of Revelation tells us that when He comes, all active and open rebellion will be removed. The Lord Jesus Christ will not share this planet with Satan. As in Revelation 19 we are told that Satan and his angels will be put to the bottomless pit and into the lake of fire and they will be imprisoned for one thousand years. Satan will not have any further opportunity to deceive the nations. Romans 16:20 said, “the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” Jesus has crushed his head at Calvary cross.
The beast which is the antichrist, will be destroyed. The Old Testament shows us that one of the instruments that God will use to destroy the enemy's armies of the world will be the re-strengthening the nation of
Israel. As we read in Zechariah 12:5-8, “And the governors of
Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of
Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God. In that day will I make the governors of
Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and
Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in
Jerusalem. The LORD also shall save the tents of
Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of
Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against
Judah. In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of
Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them.” And Micah 5:8 also says “And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.” The Lord will vindicate the nation of
Israel among the nations in this world as a divine instrument for judging other nations. As in the day of Joshua that He would be in the front line and the nation would follow Him. The wall of
Jericho will collapse and the nations of Canaanites will be defeated. The
Israel army will be irresistible, and completely incapable of being stopped and resisted. In fact, the Bible tells us that one of the major purpose of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, is to vindicate before the nations of the world, the misunderstood and hated nation, namely
Israel, His chosen nation. Beside that, all Israelites who are scattered to the entire world will be re-gathered supernaturally by the angel to the
Holy Land.
To Vindicate the Nation of Israel and the Judgement of Other Nations
In Amos 9:9 we read this promise of God concerning Israel “For, lo I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.” Jesus also said at the great message of this course in Matthew 24:31 “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect (that is
Israel) from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
The prophetic promise of re-gathering of
Israel can be seen at least in two major prophecies. Firstly, Isaiah 11:10-12, “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people (this is referring to Jesus Christ); to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious (that is referring to the millenial kingdom). And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of
Israel, and gather together the dispersed of
Judah from the four corners of the earth.” This passage clearly tells us that this gathering will be the second time. Then we ask, where is the first time? The first time was the returning of the
Israel from the captivity of Babylonians, when God brought back the Israelites from
Babylon led by Jerubabbel, Ezra and Nehemiah with the encouragement of Haggai and Zechariah the prophets. In that time those who returned to
Israel were the minority and the majority were still staying in
Babylon with the increasing of wealth, comfort and prosperity. In this event there was no miracle accompanied for their return to
Jerusalem. But when the Israelites returned from
Egypt, there were many supernatural, signs, miracles and wonders. Thus for the second time of re-gathering of Israel, God will do the same thing at the end of the tribulation at the time of the Second Coming of Christ, where every Israelite in this world will be supernaturally brought back to the promised land.
Secondly, Isaiah 27:12-13 says “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the
land of
Assyria, and the outcasts in the
land of
Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at
Jerusalem.” Thus the vital aspect of the Second Coming of Christ and the inauguration of His kingdom will be the visible and physical present of
Israel in their own
land of
Philistine. When the Lord Jesus comes back from heaven, He will set His foot on the promised
land of
Israel. In fact we are told in Zechariah 14 that His feet will stand on the
Mount of Olives, the very place from which He departed for His ascension to heaven. Furthermore Zechariah said when He comes back He will be different from when He left, because of the greatness of His glory, and the mount of Olives will split apart at the moment He sets his feet upon it. The valley will be formed to the east, west, north and to the south in which the water can flow from
Jerusalem right down to the
Dead Sea. There will be tremendous tropical and geographical changes in the Philistine.
With regard to the judgement that God will give to all nations, the prophet Joel gives a description of the place of that judgement namely in the
valley of
Jehoshaphat. Joel 3:2 says, “I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and parted my land.” In this passage we are told that the Lord will gather all nations to the
valley of
Jehoshaphat and He will judge the nations in accordance to how they have treated His people. Jehoshaphat means “Jehovah judges” and the Lord will exactly do it in that place. In fact in Matthew 25:31-32 Jesus assures us that when He comes back He has a specific thing that He is going to do, “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: 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.” All men will fit into two categories, namely there will be sheep namely those who hear His words and believe on Him, during the awful tribulation through the witness of 144,000 and other Jews evangelists and witnesses. And the goats are those who have rejected the message. Thus Jesus illustrates the relationship of those who believe in Him by saying to the sheep, “you have shown mercy to these my brethren” (Matthew 25:40). In other word, Jesus was saying that, “my fellow Jews who have gone out with great personal sacrifice during the great suffering to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the end of the earth and you have welcomed them because you love the message and the saviour they proclaim.” However to the goat Jesus will say when, “I was afflicted, tormented and suffering you never bothered to visit and to encourage me, you are the unbelievers” (Matthew 25:41-46). Therefore all the people in this world will be divided into two parts: those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will be welcome to the blessed
kingdom of
God, on the other hand those who do not believe in Him will be cast into the lake of fire.
In this junction, it is important to know that the book of Daniel actually tells us the chronology of how all these at the end of the great tribulation will happen. The great prophecy in the book of Daniel describes that when Jesus Christ returns He will come back exactly at 1,260th day, after the defilement of the temple in
Jerusalem by the antichrist to the abomination and desolation. Jesus Christ will not come at the end of 1,259th or 1,261st day but He will come exactly at that time.
According to the prophecy of Daniel when the Lord Jesus comes back at His Second Coming there will be two transitions period that will occur. There will be 30 days period during which apparently the temple will be cleansed of horrible satanic, blasphemous, defilement. And there will be another 45-days period, during which the sheep and goat’s judgement apparently occurs. Although we are not precisely sure of what will happen of these two periods but we know that there will be total 75 days between the actual return of Christ to this earth, and the official and the inauguration of the millennial kingdom. As Daniel says in Daniel 12:12, “Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.” In other words, if someone can survive at entire 75 days judgement period, he is the blessed one to inherit the millennial kingdom. So the Second Coming followed by the time of preparation of the world for the complete dominion of God’s true sheep who will repopulate the world with mortal body that God will heal that they might be His earthly people in the kingdom age.
The Fulfilment of the Promises of God to Israel
What happen to the unbelievers? Now we need to study one of the most confusing passages as far as Bible scholars are concerned namely Matthew 24. What was Jesus talking about in this part of the hours of this course when he described the supernatural removal of certain people from the earth? Thus we read Matthew 24:36-40, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.” Who is taken here, the righteous or the wicked? The wicked was taken on the flood. We need to make clear that this is not referring to the rapture of the church because the rapture was not revealed by Jesus, but Paul. Thus Jesus was not talking of the rapture but the supernatural of removal of the wicked to judgement.
Jesus continues to say in Matthew 24:41-42, “Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” There is a consideration here concerning this passage that this event will happen at the end of the tribulation. This is the way the Lord will remove the wicked from this world. This is exactly what Jesus has said in Matthew 13:24-30 that the wheat and the tares will grow together until the end of the age, then the angel will come and remove the tares. The unbelievers will be taken out and the wheat will be gathered into the millennial blessings. Therefore Jesus is here repeating what He said in Matthew 13 and there is nothing to do with the rapture of the church.
Based on the parable of the tares and the wheat, Jesus Christ will not be the One who will remove the wicked but the angels who will do the jobs of removing. In another passage is depicted that the sheep and the goat are the representative of the people in this world. Therefore in the time of tribulation after the end of 1,260th day, millions of people will be banished from this earth to eternal judgement and only the righteous will be left. This is exactly what Isaiah has said 700 years earlier. Isaiah 4:3 says, “And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem.” Now we can see the difference that the hope of
Israel is different from the hope of the church. The hope of the church is to be caught up out of the world at the rapture whereas the hope of
Israel is not to be taken out but to stay on earth and enter the millennial and enjoy the promises of God in the
Holy Land. They will have children, their own vines, fig trees, flocks and all things that the Lord has promised to them. Thus we need to distinct God’s program for
Israel and the church. So when Jesus says, “he that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 10:22) is talking to the Jews. Jews will show that proof by surviving at that final sheep and goat judgement. Ezekiel 20 says that the rebels will be pulled out of the nation of
Israel and they cannot enter the land but those who stay alive, the mortal body will be tormented to come to God’s kingdom.
The Great Judgement of the Nations
The Great Judgement at the End of the Great Tribulation
One of the things that Christ will do at the great judgement of the nations in the final phase of the transition period, before the official and inauguration of the millennial, is to give
Egypt special treatment for all the terrible things that
Egypt has done for
Israel. In Ezekiel 29 says that
Egypt will receive special kind of punishment. They will be deported from their land to scatter to the entire world to react as what the wandering Jews have experienced. But after this experience
Egypt will be restored to their native land and they will remain as the basis for confidence for
Israel. This is to say that the hate to
Israel is the hate to God that
Israel represents. God is keeping the record of how the people in the world handle the chosen nation.
With regard to war that will occur in
Israel in that time, Isaiah 9:4-5 tells that all weapons of the war in the world will be rolled and cleaned up. “For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.” This is a great cleansing of the world from the left over of the global battle of Armaggedon. The prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 39 says that after the war ends and the kingdom has started and the nation of
Israel will have special works to do namely to bury the deaths, and not one body can be left on the surface the
Holy Land. In fact it says that it takes for 7 years long to burn up all remnants of mercenaries and weapons in the land of Philistine from the destruction of God and the destruction of the antichrist on the Armageddon. And also it will takes about 7 years to grow all the tree in the forest to replace that Satanic and demonic majesty had afflicted on this planet earth.
The Inauguration of the Millennial Kingdom
The prophet Isaiah tells us of what the Lord has planned in Isaiah 25:6, “And in this mountain (Jerusalem) shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees will refined.” In other words, according to the Jewish custom, the richest, the most delicious and valuable will be provided to honour the occasion when Jesus Christ launches His own kingdom. That is why Jesus Christ said in the upper room, “I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29). The great banquet will be provided to usher His coming and Jesus will drink as the fulfilment of this passage. Jesus also said to His disciples in Matthew 8:11, “Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” This is the great banquet for all the resurrected saints both Old and New Testaments, and the raptured Christians will be present. The sheep which are those who are saved during the great tribulation and the 144,000 Jews and other Jewish believers will also be present in that great feast. Thus there will be hundreds of millions of people that are invited to the banquet to welcome Jesus Christ and His bride to this planet earth. That is the official inauguration of the one thousand years reign of Christ.
After the inauguration of the millennial kingdom, what will happen in that millennial? The answer is, there will be universal peace, and Jesus alone will be the One who will do it. As Isaiah 2 describes to us what will happen in that great kingdom. Isaiah 2:2-4 says, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of
Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from
Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” There will be totally perfect peace in that time where all the works of people that are related to making peace will be abolished.
Another aspect of the plan of God concerning the
land of
Israel in the time of the millennial kingdom is the desert found in that land. In Isaiah 35 tells us that the desert shall blossom like the rose and the rock will be full of waters and the wilderness will be like the fruitful field (Ezekiel 35:1-2). Psalm 72 says that the fertility of that land will be incredible even in the top of mountain. In fact Amos goes to the ultimate when he said, so great and beautiful, and the farmers are seeing for the coming harvest. “Behold, the days come saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt” (Amos 9:13). The flow of the agriculture product of that land will be like the flood to supply the need of the world. The lion will stop devouring people and start eating the straw like oxen, and the leopard and the bear will sit together and the little child will lead them (Isaiah 11:6-9). In fact the child will play with snake and they will not harm anymore because the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the water covers the sea. Everyone will know the Lord and the Jews will be no longer necessary to say to another person “Know the Lord” (ref. Isaiah 31-35). This will be the time that the animals have harmony with people again because when man has the right relationship with God, the animals will have harmony with man, as in the Garden of Eden when Adam has the right relationship with God.
Beside what has happened in the Garden of Eden, there was another occasion where we can see the right relationship of man with God, man and the animals which lived in harmony. This was happening during the Noah’s flood, where all animals walked peacefully to the Arch two by two and stayed together peacefully and not devouring each other or Noah’s family. The same thing will happen in the millennial kingdom because only people who believe in the Lord will live in that period of time. All the animals in those days will not harm people anymore and there will be no sickness as Isaiah 33:24, “And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick” because there is nothing left on this earth that makes people sick. Isaiah says, “They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands” (Isaiah 65:22). This is to say that the age of the people in that time will be one thousand years because there are trees in
Israel which are thousand years old. Therefore everyone that enters into the kingdom age will live for a thousand years because no one will die when one enters the kingdom.
The Millennial Kingdom
Although the promise of God was given thousands years ago, yet the Lord will never forget what He has said. The Lord will fulfil His promises to David as we read in 2 Samuel 23:4-5, “And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.” David was saying here that his kingdom was not the millennial kingdom but he knew somebody whose kingdom in the millennium and he was waiting for him, for He is his hope and his salvation, namely the greater David, the Lord Jesus. As we are told in Isaiah 9:7 that, “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever.” The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this and nobody else can handle it because He who will come is Jesus, the One who is greater then Solomon. Thus He will be the One who will bring the kingdom to this earth because it is a Jewish kingdom.
The program of God for
Israel in the millennial kingdom involves the establishing of the millennial
temple of
God by Christ and the administering of the animal sacrifices on the altar by Levitical priests of the Zadokians family as mentioned in Zechariah, Ezekiel, Joel and Isaiah. These prophets have spoken it clearly as the Spirit of God told them about this plan of God. This will not happen in the church age but in the millennial kingdom. As we read in Daniel 9 that God told Daniel about the universal worship provisions in the millennial temple. Daniel 9:24 says, "seventy weeks are determined upon thy people” to do six things as listed in this verse. One of the six things here is “to anoint the most Holy place” that is the millennial temple.
It is important to understand that
Israel cannot have a King if they do not have the temple, priests, altar and sacrifices. Thus the sacrificial system God inaugurated through Moses and Aaron will be seen with great impact. This is not to say that the blood of the animals will save the people. It would never happen even in the Old Testament times as well as in the millennial kingdom. It just symbolises the covering of sins. Therefore as Ezekiel tells us that what will happen in the millennium is just like the Holy Communion or the Lord’s supper, the church does today. The juice of the grapes and the bread symbolises the blood of Christ and it cannot take away sins. This is to say that in the coming kingdom,
Israel will have an appropriate symbolic system to remind them what Christ has paid in the cross. However we need to remember according to Ezekiel 11 and 36 that the new covenant in the heart that
Israel some day will be a revised system. It is not the re-instituted Mosaic system, because there will be no a Day of Atonement in the millennium for Christ will be there. There will be no Levitical High priest, for the Melchizedekian priest will be there. In addition to this there will be no Veil, holy of holies and sacrificial lamp in the temple. Thus the sacrificial system will be changed in its structure, which only appropriates for that kingdom. God will fulfil His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the promises that the Lord has given to His people.
However, despite of the perfectness of the millennial kingdom, there will be a simple fallen of the deprived heart of men. These will be the second generation onward of those who survive from the great tribulation and enter the millennial kingdom. But the fallen percentage will be very small and not like today. This event is illustrated by the survival of eight people and the ten thousands of animals (because there are ten thousands species of animal according to science) from the Noah flood. Although all the wicked people had already died by the flood and only eight people lived during the flood, yet the sinful nature of these eight people still continued. As a result, we can see what happened after the flood, namely the wicked people built the
tower of
Babel which brought ruins to this world. Thus we need to understand that the Jews who are born again, who enter the millennium, the survival of the great tribulation still have their sinful nature. Every new child born in the millennium has the sinful nature and he needs to have personal decision by faith through the grace of God. And millions of children will be born in the millennial kingdom but not all of them will accept Jesus as their Lord. That is why Isaiah 65:20 says that some will die, some will be supernaturally judged even in the kingdom and the child will die a hundred years old. “There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old; but the sinners being a hundred years old shall be accursed.” Isaiah 32 says that the wicked man will no longer rise of the top of government, Christ will deal with rebellious people. But if a person died on the age of hundred, the people will say ‘he is still a child.’
The End of the One Thousand Years Reign of Christ
The Release of Satan from His Bound
Revelation 20:7-10 says,“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 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. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” Although Satan has been bounded for one thousand years, he will never learn the lesson. He continues hatred in his heart. But the Lord will deal with Him as He has said. The fire will come from heaven and devour them and the whole world will be destroyed and melted with fervent heat (2 Pet 3). God will create the new heaven and the new earth in which the righteousness will dwell forever.
