FACT: The Bible teaches that Jesus will return to this earth to reign for a thousand years from Mount Zion in Jerusalem.

Key Scripture: "And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one LORD - His name alone will be worshiped" (Zechariah 14:9 - NLT).



The Bible - both the Old Testament and the New - clearly teaches that Jesus is returning to this earth to reign for a thousand years. The only way to get around that fact is to spiritualize what the Bible says. But keep in mind that the First Coming prophecies meant what they said, and there is no legitimate reason to conclude that the Second Coming prophecies do not mean what they say.



The future reign of Jesus over all the world is called the Millennium, which is Latin for one thousand years. It is mentioned many places in the Old Testament. Two in particular can be found in Isaiah 2:1-4 and Micah 4:1-7. In the New Testament, Revelation 20:1-10 is devoted to it, providing the new information of its duration. This passage says six times that it will last one thousand years.



The Nature of the Millennium

The reign will be worldwide (Isaiah 2:2 and 9:6-7). It will be peaceful in nature (Isaiah 2:4), and the world will be blessed with righteousness (Isaiah 11:4-5) and justice (Isaiah 42:3-4).



The Lord's throne will be established in Jerusalem, for He will occupy the throne of David (Isaiah 2:3). His government will be theocratic one in which He will serve as king, legislator and judge (Isaiah 22:17-22). The Redeemed will reign with the Lord as princes (Isaiah 32:1). And because the Lord will be reigning from Jerusalem, the nation of Israel will be the prime nation in the world (Isaiah 2:2-3, 49:22-23, and 60:1-62:7).



Isaiah spends a large amount of time outlining the spiritual blessings of the Millennium, the greatest of which is the fact that the glory and holiness of the Lord will be manifested (Isaiah 40:3-5, 52:13-15, 61:3 and 66:18). Holiness will abound (Isaiah 4:2-4), and an attitude of joy and praise will prevail: "And the ransomed of the Lord will return, and come with joyful shouting to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away" (Isaiah 35:10).



A rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem will serve as the worship center of the world (Isaiah 2:2-3, 56:6-8, and 60:7b,13). Incredibly, the Shekinah glory of God will hover over the city of Jerusalem like a canopy (Isaiah 4:5). And "the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9).



One aspect of the Millennium that is heavily emphasized by the Hebrew prophets is the redemption of nature. The land of Israel will no longer be a place of desolation (Isaiah 62:3-5). Instead, "the fruit of the earth" will be the pride of Israel (Isaiah 4:2). "Waters will break forth in the wilderness," and the deserts will become pools of water (Isaiah 35:6b-7).



In addition to agricultural abundance, the animal kingdom will be restored to its original perfection. Poisonous animals will cease to be poisonous, and meat-eating animals will become herbivorous. All members of the animal kingdom will live together in perfect peace with each other and with Mankind (Isaiah 11:6-9 and 65:25).



In a thrilling passage in Isaiah 65, the prophet reveals that lifespans for those in the flesh will be greatly expanded to "the lifetime of a tree" (Isaiah 65:22). Accordingly, anyone who dies at the age of 100 will be considered a youth (Isaiah 65:20).



Every person will have his own home and vineyard. There will be no homeless or hungry people (Isaiah 65:21-22). All labor will be redeemed (Isaiah 65:23) in the sense that it will be productive, and it will not be confiscated by others.



Disease will be curtailed (Isaiah 33:24), and persons born with physical handicaps will be healed: "Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will shout with joy" (Isaiah 35:5-6).



These are the descriptions of the literal realities of a literal kingdom, and it is a serious matter to spiritualize them into non-literal meaninglessness. Keep in mind that when Jesus was about to ascend into Heaven, His disciples asked, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6). Jesus did not rebuke them for believing there would be a future kingdom. Rather, He simply told them that it was not meant for them to know the timing when the kingdom would be established (Acts 2:7).



The Purpose of the Millennium

The central question concerning the Millennium is "Why?" Why not simply take all believers to Heaven at the Second Coming and be done with this sin-sick world? The reason is that God has made a number of promises that must be fulfilled during the Millennium.



Promises to the Jews - The first reason there must be a Millennium is that God has made promises to the Jews which He will fulfill during that time.



God has promised that He will gather to the land of Israel the remnant of Jews who accept Jesus as their Messiah at the end of the Tribulation (Ezekiel 36:22-28 and Zechariah 10:6-9). He will pour out His Spirit upon this remnant (Isaiah 32:15 and 44:3), greatly expand their numbers and their land (Ezekiel 36:10-11 and 48:1-29), and make them the prime nation in all the world (Isaiah 60-62).



Zechariah says the blessings of God upon the Jewish remnant will be so great in those days that "ten men from all nations will grasp the garment of a Jew saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you'" (Zechariah 8:23).



Promises to the Church - A second reason for the Millennium relates to a promise which God has made to the Church. God has promised that the Redeemed in Christ will reign over all nations of the world.



 This promise was given through the prophet Daniel in the following words: "Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him" (Daniel 7:27).



In the New Testament, Paul repeated the same promise in the simplest of terms: "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him" (2 Timothy 2:12). Jesus affirmed the promise in His letter to the church at Thyatira when He wrote: "And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I  will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron . . ." (Revelation 2:26-27).



When John was taken to Heaven for a visit to the throne room of God, he heard a heavenly host singing a song that contained the following verse: "And You have made them [the Redeemed] to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth" (Revelation 5:10).



This promise to the Church of worldwide dominion is going to be fulfilled during the Millennium. That is what Jesus was referring to in the Sermon on the Mount when He said, "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5).



Jesus will reign as king of the world from Mt. Zion in Jerusalem (Isaiah 24:23 and Zechariah 14:9). The Redeemed, in their glorified bodies, will help Him with His reign by serving worldwide as administrators, judges and spiritual tutors to those who enter the kingdom in the flesh - and to their children (Daniel 7:18, 27, Jeremiah 3:15 and Luke 19:11-17).



Promises to the Nation - God has promised that a time will come when the nations will be provided with their greatest dream - namely, worldwide peace.



God has promised to give Mankind and the earth a rest from its wars. But that peace will not come until the Prince of Peace returns. Only then will the nations "hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks" (Isaiah 2:4). Only then will we realize the dream of a world where "nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war" (Isaiah 2:4).



Promises to the Creation - God has also made promises to His creation which He will fulfill during the Millennium. God has promised to remove the curse which He placed upon the creation due to the sin of Man. He has promised to deliver the Creation from its bondage to decay and to restore it to its original beauty, balance, and peace (Romans 8:18-23).



 The land of Israel will be so radically transformed that visitors will proclaim in amazement: "This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden" (Ezekiel 36:35).



Promises to Jesus - The most important reason for the Millennium is that God is going to use it to fulfill promises which He has made to His Son. God has promised Jesus that He will be glorified in history (Isaiah 24:23, Isaiah 66:18-19 and 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).



God also has promised that He will give Jesus dominion over all the world and that He will reign over the nations from Mt. Zion in Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:2-4 and Zechariah 14:1-9).



Psalm 2 presents Jesus in a pre-incarnate appearance speaking to David of His Father's promise: "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron . . .'" (Psalm 2:7-9).



It must be kept in mind that Jesus is currently a "king-in-waiting." Like King David, who had to wait many years after he was anointed before he became King of Israel, Jesus has been anointed King of kings and Lord of lords, but He has not yet begun to rule.



He is currently serving as our High Priest before the throne of God (Hebrews 8:1). He is waiting for His Father's command to return and claim all the kingdoms of this world (Hebrews 2:5-9 and Revelation 19:11-16).



A Final Reason

There is one other purpose for the Millennium that should be noted. God is going to use the Millennium to prove to Mankind once and for all that Satan's religion of Humanism is totally bankrupt.



All Humanists, regardless of their political or theological labels, are agreed that the source of evil in the world is external to Man. They view evil as rooted in the corruption of society. They believe that the solution to all Man's problems can be found in societal reform.



But such reforms do not transform the basic nature of people. You do not change people's basic nature by improving their environment. Changing their environment simply converts them into more sophisticated sinners.



The Humanist view is absolutely contrary to Scripture. The Word of God teaches that the source of evil is rooted within Man's fallen nature, and that it is Man, and not society, which needs to be changed (Genesis 8:21, Jeremiah 17:9-10 and Mark 7:20-23). The World also teaches that the only way this change can take place is through the work of the Holy Spirit within those persons who put their faith in Jesus.



God is going to prove this point by using the Millennium like a great experimental laboratory. He is going to place Mankind in a perfect environment of peace and prosperity for a thousand years. Satan will be bound. Righteousness will abound.



Yet, at the end, when Satan is released, most people will rally to him when he calls the nations to rebellion against Jesus (Revelation 20:7-10). The Millennium will prove that what Man needs is not a new society but a new heart.

Answers to Two Key Questions about the Millennium

  Who will populate the earth during the Millennium?

  Those who live to the end of the Tribulation and have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior will     be allowed to enter the Millennium in the flesh (Matthew 25:3-46). This will be a very small number of people because most of those who place their faith in Jesus during the Tribulation will be martyred

 for their faith (Revelation 7:9-14). All surviving unbelievers will be consigned to death and to Hades

  (Luke 17:26-37).

  The believers who go into the Millennium in the flesh will begin to propagate, and the population   of the world will grow exponentially. The reason the growth will be so rapid is because life spans will be expanded and death will be curtailed.

Isaiah says that people will live as long as a tree (Isaiah 66:20). The implication of Isaiah's prophecy is

 that during the Millennium the life span of those in the flesh will be returned to what it was before

 the Noahic flood, when people lived 800 to 1000 years. If so, then by the end of the Millennium, the

 population of the earth could easily exceed the current seven billion.

  Will the Millennium take place on this earth or on a new earth?

  The Millennial reign of Jesus will take place on this earth, but the earth will be greatly changed in

  nature. The first earth, the earth of Adam and Eve, was perfect. There were no poisonous animals

  or plants. There were no meat-eating animals. There were no natural cataclysms like earthquakes,

  tsunamis, or hurricanes. Man and nature lived together in perfect harmony.

  But when Man sinned, God placed a curse on the earth, and the nature of the earth was radically

  changed. Death entered the world. Nature turned against Mankind. This new earth, earth number

  two, existed until the time of Noah.

  When the worldwide flood occurred, this second earth was "destroyed" (2 Peter 3:6) in the sense   that it was radically changed again. The earth's vapor canopy collapsed, its land mass separated into

  continents, the earth tilted on its axis, and the pressure of the water forced the formation of new

  mountain ranges. We have been living on earth number three ever since.

  When Jesus returns to reign, the earth will be radically changed once more. The change agents will

  be earthquakes and supernatural phenomena in the skies (Revelation 6:12-14). Every island will be

  moved (Revelation 16:18-20), every valley will be lifted up and every mountain lowered (Isaiah

  40:4). The topography of Israel will be radically changed, with Jerusalem becoming the highest place

  on earth (Isaiah 2:2).