The Millennial Reign

by J. L. Ferguson, Barrhead | Category: The Finger Of Prophecy | Nov 1970

There are many scriptures which deal with this delightful subject and it can be looked at from several points of view.

What is the Millennium?

The expression is taken from, and only found in, Revelation

20.1-10. It is the period of 1,000 years which follows the coming of the Son of Man to the earth for the deliverance of His saints and the destruction of His enemies. During this period Satan is bound in the abyss, so that his power over men as the god of this age and the prince of the power of the air will be effectively reduced, and "the veil that is spread over all nations" will be destroyed (Isaiah 25.7). The Lord will be seen to reign everywhere supreme. Then shall the meek inherit the earth, and those who have been persecuted for righteousness sake shall inherit the Kingdom. It is the final age of human history in association with the earth that now is. It is man's last testing time.

What is the reason for the Millennium?

No one specific reason is given in Scripture but several seem clear. In the first place, in a universal and general sense, the millennial reign of Christ is for the glory of God in the manifest triumph of His second Man (1 Corinthians 15.47). The purpose of God has long suffered seeming defeat at the hands of the first man, of whom it was written "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; Thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of Thy hands: Thou didst put all things in subjection under his feet" (Hebrews 2.6-8). This sovereignty vested in man was lost through the Fall and since then "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together" (Romans 8.22). In the second Man all the purposes of God will reach glorious finality and in His millennial reign He will deliver the whole creation "from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God" (verse 21).

In the second place, and in a more particular sense, the covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis 15 will come into full operation in the Millennium. The seed of Abraham, great Israel after the flesh, will enjoy, undisturbed, all the land of promise "from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates" (verse 18). The years of the intervening centuries will have been tempestuous. Proud, scornful Israel, described in Isaiah 48.4 as obstinate, with a neck like an iron sinew and brow of brass, will have gone through the fearful

furnace of affliction, and now "the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all righteous, they shall inherit the land for ever; the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified" (Isaiah 60.20-21).

Further, the Millennium will see the glorious fulfilment of the covenant of David. In that day, David's Son and David's Lord will sit on the throne of His glory. Not only so, but the saved of Israel and of the nations will enter into the Kingdom in the joyful blessings of the new and eternal covenant, whereby their sins and their iniquities will be remembered no more. Thus the God of all the promises will be over all, triumphant, and in Immanuel's reign all the nations shall "know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me; I am the LORD, and there is none else" (Isaiah

45.6).

One final point is worthy of comment. Men have ruled each other since ever there were nations on the earth. Forms of government have varied. We saw earlier in the image shown to Nebuchadnezzar the trend from gold to iron mixed with clay. The world has seen government by cruel, aristocratic despots. Of late it has seen the successful contest by downtrodden peoples to take over the rule of their own lands. It is the age-abiding struggle for power and authority, reaching its climax, as we saw earlier, in the universal dictatorship of the man of sin. But the issue of the matter is ever the same, sorrow, strife and bitter disillusionment.

So, "when human cisterns all are dried", of Christ, the King's Son, it is written in Psalm 72.6, "He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth". And to this tired, old world, weary of human misrule, the Prince of peace will come to give to the nations the beneficence of theocratic government, in which the human race will be able to rejoice for a thousand years.

Who will people the Kingdom?

Daniel saw clearly in His vision that after the tribulation of the Antichrist the saints would receive and possess the Kingdom. "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient 6f days came, and judgement was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom" (Daniel 7.21,22). And again in verse 18, "But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever".

When dealing with the judgement of the nations alive on the earth at the coming of the Son of Man, we saw the New Testament parallel to Daniel's vision. At the judgement in the valley of Jehoshaphat the redeemed of the nations are commanded by the King, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25.34). These wilt join the glorious company of regenerate Israel, upon whom the spirit of grace and supplication will have been poured at the descent of the Son of Man. They will join also the illustrious company of the 144,000 servants of God who survived the seven-year period of witness. With these they will enter the Millennial Kingdom, all in their ordinary, natural bodies. From these, the whole earth will in due course become populated, from their children and their children's children during the one thousand years.

Thus far we have clear guidance from Scripture. The question of whether and to what extent the saints of earlier dispensations will be on the earth during the Millennium in their resurrected bodies, merits consideration. (We do not refer to those counted worthy to rule, with whom we shall deal in the next section.) We think first of Old Testament saints. The nation of Israel enjoyed the covenant of Abraham, which guaranteed to them the seed and the land. In addition, as in the case of Abraham, they "looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Hebrews 11.10). Generally they sought "after a country of their own ... that is, a heavenly" (verses 14,15). It would seem reasonable then to assume that the covenant of Abraham will find adequate fulfilment in the Israelis, who have been redeemed at the coming of the Son of Man, going into the millennial reign in their natural bodies to enjoy with their posterity the large land promised to their fathers. There would appear to be no need to have all the righteous dead of Old Testament Israel raised to people the land with them in order to fulfil the covenant. Contrariwise, the faithful of Israel looked beyond an earthly inheritance to a heavenly, and the city they looked for is the one which has the foundations, the new Jerusalem and not the old, the city which will come down out of heaven to the new earth, as seen in Revelation 21. There is no doubt that many Old Testament saints will share in the glories of Messiah's Kingdom. Daniel, for example, is to stand in his lot "at the end of the days" (12.13). These are the days of "the abomination that maketh desolate". So at the close of the tribulation period and prior to the Millennium the Old Testament saints will be raised and suitably rewarded (see Revelation 11.15-18). Then Daniel, with all those who are accounted worthy, will sit down with Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God (Luke 13.28). But for the rest of the Old Testament saints it seems reasonable to suggest for consideration, that when they are raised they will go to heavenly places where they will be for the millennial period; enjoying, it may well be, an association with the eternal city of their pilgrim longings; then come with it to the new earth for the eternal day of God. We appreciate, of course, that many enjoy the thought that the resurrected saints of Old Testament days will remain on the earth throughout the millennial period, nor do we wish to take this enjoyment from them.

Similarly, and again the matter is submitted for consideration, the members of the Church the Body will go at the Rapture to the place prepared for them in the heavenlies. This too may well prove to be the eternal city, at present in the heavens, to come down in due course to the new earth. That they will be "for ever with the Lord" is clear. But concerning the Lord Himself in the Millennium, we recall His word to Nathaniel in John 1.51, "Ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man". The perfect setting of this verse is the Millennium. The extent to which men on earth will see heavenly things when the heavens are opened, and whether in particular they will see the heavenly Jerusalem, is still one of God's secret things, but certain it is that the ascent and descent of the angels upon the Son of Man will be visible to all. And in that day of glorious communication between heaven and earth, of which the ladder of Genesis 28.12 was a delightful symbol, the day when the heavens "shall answer the earth" as Hosea foresaw it in 2.21, the resurrected righteous dead, in their glorified bodies, may well be manifested with Christ in His visits to earth, even as they will accompany Him in His warlike descent in 2 Thessalonians 1. There is certainly no clear scriptural indication that the earth will be peopled in the Millennium by dwellers in natural bodies together with vast, uncountable multitudes of resurrected saints of all the ages in spiritual bodies. (We do not refer, of course, to those saints who will reign with the Lord, as dealt with in the next section.)

Who will reign over the Kingdom?

Isaiah cried, "Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgement" (32.1). A King shall reign and princes shall rule. Jacob predicted the King in this way, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the obedience of the peoples be" (Genesis 49.10). The universal King would come from Judah, the royal tribe. So, centuries later, G6d not only exalted David to the throne and made him the highest of the kings of the earth, but gave him also the covenant of the house, the throne and the kingdom, as described in 2 Samuel 7.11-16 and Psalm 89.19-37. This became known as "the sure mercies of David" (Isaiah 55.3), and in particular they were made sure to David's great Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as witness Acts 13.34. He was the One of whom Jeremiah wrote, "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute

judgement and justice in the land" (23.5). For, said Gabriel to Mary, the virgin of Judah, "Thou ... shalt call His name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High; the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1.31-33). This was the child born and the Son given of Isaiah 9.6-7.

So the King who shall reign in righteousness in the Millennium is the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God as to eternity, Son of David as to time. He shall sit on His throne and bear the glory of the Kingdom in the beloved city, Jerusalem.

Who then are the princes who shall rule in judgement? Of whom did Isaiah prophecy, "and I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning" (1.26)? Or Ezekiel, "Let it suffice you, 0 princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgement and justice" (45.9)?

When Ezekiel wrote of the great regathering of Israel in their own land as a re-united twelve-tribe nation, after the many days of Hosea 3.4 in which they would abide, "without king, and without prince", he says, "and David my servant shall be their prince for ever" (37.25). David here has been variously viewed, as Messiah (David's Son), as some other descendant of David or as the son of Jesse himself. A literal interpretation that David the son of Jesse is intended would appear to be more in keeping with the vision of Ezekiel in chapter 44 and in keeping also with the principle of reward in resurrection administration, as seen also in the assignment of priestly service to the sons of Zadok. That being so, we view David as one of the great princes in millennial rule. From the faithful also of his dispensation many others will be selected for the position of judges.

Then our minds go to such scriptures as Matthew 19.28, "Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel", and Luke 22.30, "And ye shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel".

So the twelve apostles, Matthias doubtless replacing Judas Iscariot, were appointed as princes to rule in judgement on the day-to-day problems of Israel's twelve tribes during the millennial reign. What a contemplation in the field of reward What an inspiration to those who loyally serve Him "outside the camp"! These appointments are the expressions of His appreciation.

So too will it be with the faithful among the saints of both this dispensation and the next. As touching our own day Paul says, "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him" (2 Timothy 2.12). And again, "Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?" (1 Corinthians 6.2). And of the faithful of the tribulation period it is written, "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgement was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand: and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years" (Revelation 20.4). So it is the faithful saints who will reign as princes and rule in judgement. This judgement has nothing to do with the assessment of the lives of the dead at the time of the resurrection, but with the day-to-day affairs of the living who enter the millennial reign or are later born into it. The principle of allotment of authority over cities in varying degrees as seen in the parable of the pounds in Luke 19 provides much food for thought in connection with the manner of world-wide rule in the coming kingdom. In keeping with this principle is the word to the overcomer in Revelation 2.26,27, "And he that overcometh, and he that keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers; as I also have received of My Father". So ranging from David in relation to Israel, and the twelve apostles in relation to the individual tribes, over all the nations will be assigned posts of varying responsibility to individual overcomers, as expressing the appreciation of the King in the city.

What will be the conditions in the world?

In the Moral Sphere

Zechariah wrote, "And He shall speak peace unto the nations: and His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth" (9.10). Psalm 72 by Solomon (appropriately, his name means peaceable) is a delightful preview of the conditions in the millennial kingdom. The key words are n.ghte9usness and peace. Verse 7 reads, "In His days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace, till the moon be no m6re". The peace from Calvary will flourish in abundance. Isaiah saw it and wrote, "And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and confidence for ever" (32.17). And again, "I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness" (60.17). These two great qualities will act like an international militia, the outcome of the law which will go to earth's uttermost bounds from the Prince of peace in Jerusalem, administered by princes who everywhere rule in judgement. Peoples and nations "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" (Micah 4.3). The nightmare of terror which characterized the reign of the Man of sin will be forgotten in the comfort and contentment of Messiah's benign rule. "As one (literally, Hebrew ish, a man) whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you" (Isaiah 66.13) - the comfort as of men and not as of children. (As we write, Israel's famous Weizmann Institute of Science is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Its staff of 1,200 scientists are working at present in seven Research Units on 40Q research projects. During one of the orchestral celebrations, over the platform was printed in large letters, "Science will bring peace to this land". Alas, Israel, it will not, neither to you nor to any other land. But the coming Christ will, and shortly.)

In that day, "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11.9). As' a consequence the deep peace and understanding which will come into human life will enter also into the animal world. This is referred to in several scriptures but nowhere more graphically than Isaiah 65.25, "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD".

In the natural sphere

Isaiah sang of it, "Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest"' (32.15). "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose" (35.1). "And the glowing sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water" (35.7). "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree" (55.13). And Solomon wrote in Psalm 72.16, "There shall be abundance of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon".

We marvel today at the accomplishments of the Israelis in the Negev and elsewhere in their land, transforming by brilliant schemes of irrigation and by sheer hard work former wastes into flourishing settlements. Beersheba, the capital of the Negev, is today a town of around 70,000 inhabitants, and as we write it has just been decided in Jerusalem that a new university is to be founded there. Some fifteen years ago there was no town, only arid sand dunes. But these recoveries will be insignificant by contrast, when, in the vast territory which will fall to Israel in the Millennium, "They shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations" (Isaiah 61.4).

In the physical sphere

The pouring of the bowl of the seventh angel described in

Revelation 16.1-21 will lead to fearful devastations on the earth. There will be a massive earthquake, as a consequence of which the cities of the nations will fall, islands flee, mountains disappear. It is evident therefore that at the beginning of the Millennium there will require to be a world-wide reconstruction of the communal dwellings of men, in accordance with a divine plan which we may be assured will exceed in glory anything this world has ever seen. That there will be again city dwellers is indicated in Psalm 72.16. Then Isaiah predicted, "they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them" (65.21). Further, men will still recover the precious and other metals from the earth (60.17). The Arab races will still have multitudes of camels and dromedaries (60.6). Micah pictured weapons of war converted into plowshares and pruninghooks, with every man under his vine and fig tree, none making them afraid (4.3,4), a delightful contemplation of men being left free to pursue peaceful, profitable occupations. So in the world at large, the great inventive genius of men and all the brilliant applications of the discoveries of science will doubtless be turned to peaceful uses for the well-being of earth's inhabitants in her golden age; so, to take an obvious example, when the nations present themselves annually to keep the feast of tabernacles (Zechariah 14.16) it may well be by means of massive air lifts. As to the precise nature of life in the Millennium, we shall have to content ourselves and wait and see. One thing is certain - it will be infinitely more marvellous than mortals have ever known or the human mind has ever imagined.

J. L. Ferguson, Barrhead | Nov 1970
The Finger Of Prophecy