Mm. Wishing for world peace? With man's long history of conflict, don't hold your breath. At least not till Christ returns. Today, on Turning Point, Dr.
David Jeremiah sheds light on the period of peace called the Millennium. which begins immediately upon the second coming of Christ. What will life be like during that time? Listen as David introduces his message: the thousand-year reign of Christ. And that is a subject that most people have omitted from their study of the future.
Interesting thought. Dwight Pentecost, who was one of my teachers in seminary years ago, once said in class that there's more information in the Bible about the millennium than there is about any other event, including the The crucifixion, the resurrection, and the second coming of Christ. I was surprised when I heard that and wasn't really sure how to go about discovering it, but I did. I studied it and I found out that throughout all the Old Testament and many places in the New, there's this truth about the coming golden age. I was so impressed by it, I wrote a whole book about it called The Coming Golden Age.
It came out last year, and many of you have read it and know that it's about the millennium.
Some people have said the millennium is the overture to heaven. For in the thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth, we get a glimpse of what it will be like forever when we are in heaven and sin is banished and Satan is banished and we live in a perfect environment with our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. But I want to give you just a little bit of an understanding of this truth as we study the first 10 verses of Revelation 20. It's one of the central passages on the subject, and we'll get into it in just a moment.
So stay with us as we delve into this interesting discussion. Friends, we're going to New England and Canada in October, and I love telling you about it. We'll be sailing aboard Holland America Zyderdam, a beautiful ship. Our musical team will be together. We'll have a wonderful time seeing the sights.
We live on the other end of the country, but this part of the country is beautiful. And I've been there a couple of times. In fact, I'll never forget. I went on a cruise to New England and Canada the week after 9-11. And half of the people that were supposed to be on the ship didn't show up.
It was really eerie. But I still saw all the sights, and hopefully, this time we'll be joined by many of you who want to come and join us as we see the beautiful sights of New England and Canada. Find out more about it at davidjeremiah.org and be one of those who join us. We have a great group already signed up, but there's room for you. I hope you'll come and be with us.
All right, this is part one of the thousand-year reign of Christ from Revelation chapter 20 and from the series Escape the Coming Night. Man has hoped that someday there would come a period of time. when there would be peace and prosperity. When nations would no longer be in conflict with each other, when disease would be under control. when racial tension would be abated.
and political furor would be gone. Man has looked for such an age, and politicians have Thought to advance their own fortunes by promising it on occasion. But alas, the golden age never comes, and we have our hopes dashed upon the wars and the Terrible destruction of our day. Here in the 20th chapter of the book of Revelation, we find the only occurrence of the concept of the millennium in the New Testament. The word itself refers to a period of time 1,000 years in length.
Verse 4 of the 20th chapter says, And they lived and they reigned with Christ a thousand years. In the first seven verses of the book of Revelation and the 20th chapter, John mentions the thousand-year period no less than six times. In spite of some who have argued that since this number is found in only one New Testament passage, You cannot insist that the thousand-year period will really come to pass, they say, because it's only found here.
Sometimes they take you to 2 Peter 3:8, and they say, One day is with the Lord is a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. And they say, That surely isn't a literal period of time. The thousand years of Revelation 20, maybe that's figurative, just like 2 Peter's thousand years is figurative. It is interesting, as someone has pointed out, to note that the same group that attempts to shorten the thousand-year period of revelation to one day and thus do away with the entire millennium is the same group that wants to expand the six days of creation in Genesis to thousands of years so that they can provide for their evolutionary hypothesis. One is tempted to ask these people: why don't you just take the Bible as it comes and understand what it means because it's plain?
God says it's a thousand years, and in Genesis, God says it's one day. And one day and one thousand years do not equate in those two references in the first and last book of the Bible. Dr. Renee Pash. Writes the following helpful words about all of this.
He said, Let us notice again this fact. The teaching of the Old Testament concerning the millennium is so complete that the Jews in the Talmud succeeded in developing it entirely by themselves. They did not even possess the gifts furnished by the New Testament. They did not have Revelation chapter 20. For example, they affirmed before Revelation was ever written that the Messianic kingdom would last 1,000 years.
One should not therefore claim, as some have done, said Pash, that without the famous passage in Revelation 20, the doctrine of the millennium would not exist. He said, The Jews of the Old Testament studied the Old Testament scriptures and they were able to put together the kingdom age that we study here in the 20th chapter without even having the New Testament. And they believed with all of their hearts that Christ was coming someday to set up his kingdom, that it would last for a thousand years.
Now, the kingdom in the Bible is called by a lot of different things. The millennium is sometimes called the kingdom of heaven.
Sometimes it's called the kingdom of God.
Sometimes it's referred to as the kingdom of Christ.
Sometimes it's called the times of restitution or the times of refreshing or the fullness of times. Or Hebrews 2:5 calls it the world to come. The millennium is a period of 1,000 years. And it falls in this chapter in the following context. We are told that Satan is bound and sealed in the bottomless pit for this 1,000-year period of time.
That's why there's such a great period of prosperity and peace and joy upon this earth. Satan is taken out of the picture, he is concealed in the bottomless pit for the 1,000-year period of time. And the Bible says, as we read, that John saw a group of. People sitting upon thrones, and judgment was given to them. And the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and those who had not worshipped the beast nor his image, neither had received his mark on their foreheads or in their hands.
These people, says John, lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. This is the first resurrection. The first resurrection of the believers takes place before the millennium. The second death has no power over them, according to the scripture. That means they can never be consigned to be separated from God forever.
The partakers of the second resurrection do not live until after the millennium. In other words, there's a thousand years between the resurrection of the saved dead and the resurrection of the unsaved dead. We don't all get resurrected at once and then walk down two corridors when we stand before God. At the end of the thousand-year period of time, the second resurrection takes place, and that's the resurrection of all those who are not saved, who will stand before the white throne judgment of God. Then the Bible tells us that Satan is going to be loosed after the thousand years for a little period of time, and the rebellion of Gog and Magog, which we have talked about occasionally, inspired by Satan, follows the millennium.
This passage, the first seven verses of Revelation 20, is a very important passage because it alone in the New Testament tells us about the 1,000-year period of time immediately after the tribulation when Jesus Christ will set up his rule and he will reign upon this earth.
Now, if you've been with us through the study, you know that the events are as follows. The next event on the prophetic calendar is the rapture of the church, when all those who are alive. Who trust Jesus Christ as their Savior, as well as those who have gone in the grave. As believers, will be caught up together to be with the Lord, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Immediately after the rapture, the tribulation period begins on this earth.
And for seven years, the Holocaust continues until ultimately, at the end of the seven-year period of time, we come to the Battle of Armageddon, and Jesus Christ comes back from heaven. This time, not for his saints, but with his saints, and he fights against the armies of the nations of this planet. And with the word of his mouth, they are all defeated. And immediately upon the defeat of the nations of this world, he sets up his kingdom upon the earth, and he reigns and he rules for 1,000 years. And the Bible says that we shall rule and reign with him as his kingdom.
Co-regents, his vice-regents upon the earth.
Now, it is no secret, if you've ever studied any theology at all, that Revelation chapter 20 is a very crucial passage in the New Testament because it is the battleground for many who have debated the future calendar of events. Without going into much detail, I need to tell you that there are basically three views about this period of time called the millennium. There are those who At least in years past, taught and believed what is called post-millennialism. Yeah. That was the golden age of peace being ushered in by the witness of the church.
The idea was That we could bring in the kingdom, that we could go out and preach the gospel and clean up the world and get it fit so that ultimately, through our work as evangelists and preachers, and godly influence, and salt and light, we could bring in the kingdom. And therefore, we would still be here when the kingdom took place. We would usher in the kingdom of God by our own work. That theory says that through the preaching of the gospel, the world will eventually embrace Christianity and become a universal society of saints. At this point, Christ will then be invited to assume command and reign over the peaceful planet.
that all of God's children have brought into being. Thus Postmillennialists believe in a literal thousand-year reign. But they are wrong, I believe, because they teach that the world situation is going to become better and better until the kingdom is brought in, and the scripture teaches the exact opposite of that. The scripture teaches that things are not going to get better and better, but they're going to get worse and worse, and that the days just before the return of Christ will be the most awful days the world has ever seen. It is interesting.
That this position of post-millennialism was Thought up, it was the brainchild of a Unitarian minister whose name was Daniel Whitby. He lived in the latter part of the 1600s and the early part of the 1700s. And it was a theory that flourished. Until the early part of the 20th century. And you know what happened?
That kicked it into reverse. World War One. When World War I came, the post-millennialists began to ask themselves some questions. If we're bringing in the kingdom, it seems like we're not going in the right direction. World War I was over, and though men wondered, the postmillennial theory was still alive until World War II came.
And it was quietly laid to rest, as someone has written, amid Hitler's gas ovens during the Second World War. One man has written today: a post-millennialist is harder to find than a 1940 Wendell Willkie button.
So, there aren't too many post-millennialists around who believe the world's getting better and better until we finally see all the characteristics of the kingdom here on this earth. They're another group of folks who are called amillennialists. It's very simple. The word ah, the a in front of a word negates its meaning.
So, an ah, millennialist is somebody who doesn't believe there's a millennium at all. And basically, the Amillennialists fall into a camp that Says there is no thousand-year rain at all, and they teach that the New Testament church. Is the inheritor of all of the Old Testament blessings concerning the millennium. In this view, for instance, when Isaiah the prophet says that the bear and the cow will lie down together and the lion will eat straw like the ox. An amillennialist says that means something, but they don't know what, but it doesn't mean what it says because it has no meaning in the church.
However, if you're going to take the 11th chapter of Isaiah and say you can't take that literally, then how do you know you can take Isaiah 53 literally? How do you know that you can understand any of the Old Testament in a literal fashion? The Amillennialists have taken all the promises that were given. To the kingdom age, and they have dumped them all in the church age. And if you read the Old Testament prophecies, especially Isaiah, you will quickly come to the conclusion that if that's happening now, it must be in some other church, because it's sure not happening in the one I know.
We are not in the kingdom in the church. Yeah. The third view, which is the one we embrace and the one that we have in our doctrinal statement and position, says. That Christ will return just prior to the millennium. He will personally rule during the glorious thousand-year reign.
And this is the scriptural position, I believe. It is the oldest of the three views. And from the apostolic period in the New Testament on, the pre-millennial position was held by the early church fathers until this day. Evangelicals have. by and large embraced Premillennialism.
Now, there are many evangelicals who fall into the Amil camp, and we don't break fellowship with them, but we understand the dangers in an allegorical interpretation of the Word of God.
Now With our Bibles open to the 20th chapter and our thoughts on the thousand-year reign of Christ, one of the questions we have to ask is this. And I'm not going to follow verse by verse as I normally do because I just want to give you an overview of this period on the prophetic calendar. The first question that we have to ask ourselves is: why is there going to be a millennium? Why do we need one? What is the purpose of it?
Well, I'd like to suggest there are several purposes for the millennium. One is to reward the people of God. The Bible says over and over again that Jesus Christ is coming back and He is going to reward the saints of God. And the millennial reign of Christ is part of the reward. We are going to be given.
the opportunity to To reign in the government of Jesus Christ on this earth, the theocracy of our Lord as it is embraced throughout the entire universe, you and I, who are Christians, are going to be given a chance to serve with Him, and that will be part of the reward that God gives to us for our faithfulness here in this life. Let me just give you a whole group of scriptures, and you can write the references down as I read them. We don't have time to turn to them. Behold, the Lord God will come with a strong hand, and his arms shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him.
Isaiah 40, verse 10. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward. Matthew 5:12. For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Matthew 16, 27.
Knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance. Colossians 3:24. And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me. Revelation 22, 12. Then shall the king say, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Matthew 25, 34. The first reason why there is a millennium is so that the Lord God can have the opportunity to use that thousand-year period to reward the saints of God. And we are going to be given authority and rulership and opportunity to influence the kingdom on the basis of our faithfulness here in this life. It will be interesting, will it not? When the kingdom age starts.
to see who gets what. But won't it be interesting?
Some of the people that we look to now and say, aren't they a mighty tool in the hand of God? And we're going to get into the kingdom age and we're going to say, where's old Joe?
Well, nobody knows where old Joe is. He's off in some corner taking care of about 14 people because though he appeared to be faithful in this life, he really wasn't, and he is rewarded on the basis of the actuality of his motive, his methods. and his production. Won't it be interesting to walk around in those days and see who's doing what? Secondly, The kingdom is necessary not only to Reward the people of God.
The kingdom is necessary to respond to the disciples' prayer. Have you ever thought of that? In Luke 11 and in Matthew 6, we are told that the disciples are to pray, that we have as our pattern of prayer, one of the guidelines was this: Thy kingdom come. Has the kingdom of God come? No, it has not.
In our hearts is Christ the king, but that is not what the prayer is all about. The prayer is that the kingdom of God might come, and the kingdom of God will come someday in that future period that we're talking about. And one of the reasons it must come is in order that it might be a response to every single person who, even unknowingly, has prayed the Lord's Prayer, and in the Lord's Prayer, had prayed, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. That prayer can never be answered completely until Jesus Christ begins to reign on this earth. The third reason why we must have a millennium is in order to redeem creation.
In Genesis 3, God cursed nature. Because of Adam's sin. And from that point on, man's paradise became a wilderness. The roses contain thorns. The tigers became hungry meat-eaters.
But during the millennium, all of this is going to change. Paul describes the transformation in his epistle to the Romans, which I have chosen to read from the living Bible paraphrase. Listen carefully. For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day when God will resurrect his children. For on that day, thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay, the things that overcame the world against its will at God's command will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God's children enjoy.
For we know that even the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer in sickness and death as they await for this great event. All the world is groaning. For Eden Recreated. And one of these days, the curse will be lifted, and when Christ comes to rule and reign on this earth, we will go back to life as it was before the curse in Genesis 3. Then I would like to suggest to you one perhaps remote reason for the millennium that I thought of that perhaps will cause you to understand again the sovereign purposes of God.
We need the millennium, and there will be a millennium to reemphasize man's depravity. You say, now, wait a minute, Pastor, I thought that was a period of holiness and righteousness and purity. But let me show you something that perhaps you haven't thought through regarding God's sovereign control over this universe and the way things are from the beginning of time.
Some of you know that there is a way of studying the scripture called dispensationalism, which looks at periods of time in the history of the Word of God. And there are seven of them. The first age was the age of innocence. And how did it end? It ended in willful disobedience.
The second dispensation was the dispensation of conscience. It ended with universal corruption. The third dispensation was human government. It ended with devil worshiping at the Tower of Babel. The next dispensation was the age of promise, and it ended with God's people out of the promised land enslaved in Egypt.
The next dispensation was the age of the law, and it ended with the creature killing the creator, Matthew 27. The next age was the age of the church, and it will end in worldwide apostasy, 1 Timothy 4. The next age is the age of the tribulation, and it will end with the battle of Armageddon, Revelation 19. And the final age is the age of the millennium, and it will end with an attempt to destroy God Himself, according to the very chapter that we're reading. What does that say about man left to himself?
He is absolutely, totally, inwardly corrupt. There is no hope for man apart from the intervention of God. And even the millennium is an illustration of a perfect period of time for 1,000 years. And I know some of you are saying, well, if nobody goes into the millennium who's not saved, how does sin get into the millennium?
Well, these people who go in, who are saved, are going to have children. In fact, they're going to have a lot of children, and these children are going to grow up, and many of them are not going to embrace the faith. In this perfect age, under the rulership of a king who makes no mistakes, they will still inwardly, in their own hearts, rebel and do their own thing, and sin will enter into the millennial period, even though it will be kept under absolute control by the king. And at the end of that period, Satan will be loosed for a little season, and there will be enough ungodly people on this earth to follow him in his final revolt. What does that say to you about man?
I never read this and study it, but I'm overwhelmed at how the scripture teaches us our incapability apart from the intervention of God in our own lives. We should not be surprised at the things that happen in our world. when we understand the true nature of man.
Well, I said that many years ago when we first recorded it, and if that was true then, how true is it today, looking at the things that are happening? Every day I get up and when I turn on the news, It seems like there's a new kind of tragedy that took place the day before, some new attack.
Some new terrible thing that happens, some new clash between the ideologies of the people in this nation and around the world. We live in a period of chaos, but that period is going to come to an end, and I don't think it'll be long. I think the stage is being set, and one of these days we're going to see the resolution of all things. We'll have part two of the millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ, tomorrow. And then on Wednesday and Thursday, we're going to talk about the great white throne judgment, another important event that takes place in the future.
Till then, this is David Jeremiah. I'm so honored that you joined us, and we've been doing this for so many years, and you're still there with us every day. We are blessed to have you, and I trust you're being encouraged as well. Have a great day. See you next time.
For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's series Escape the Coming Night, please visit our website where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected. Our monthly Turning Points magazine and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio or call us at 800-947-1993.
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That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series Escape the Coming Night on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
