The Millennium

CHAPTER 20 

The Millennium and the Final Judgement

This chapter divides itself into three parts. 

The first part shows Satan being locked away in the bottomless pit and God's people ruling the earth with Christ for a thousand years. 

The second part covers Satan's final rebellious act and closes with his destruction. 

And the third part introduces the final judgement from the Great White Throne and the Second Resurrection. 

The Millennium according to Isaiah.  

Isaiah 11:6-9. The prophet spoke a vision of the Millennium Age: 

6: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 

7: The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 

8: The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. 

9: They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” 

In his 65th chapter, Isaiah again writes a detailed prophecy of the exciting, blessed life we shall experience in the Millennium. 

65:17 "For behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.” (Continue to the end of the chapter). 

20:1-3 A powerful angel binds Satan with a chain, and he is imprisoned for 1,000 years; locked away in the bottomless pit. A seal is put on the lock which ensures he will not be able to escape and deceive the nations during the 1,000 years. ‘The nations’ is how the Bible refers to the unsaved from all the nations around the world who are alive and who will continue to live natural lifetimes during the Millennium. 

20:4 Courts of law are shown being set up with thrones for the judges. We need to consider the phrase, ‘judgement was committed to them.’ Who is that referring to? It wasn’t Jesus Christ, He already had judgement committed to Him: “For the father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,” John 5:22 

The answer to that small puzzle is the courts will be established for the Redeemed to judge matters of concern between the people of the nations as they continue to live and die on earth during the Millennium. “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? 

1Cor. 6:2 “Do you not know that we shall judge angels?" 1Cor. 6:3 20:4 (cont.) John then witnesses the souls of the Lord’s martyrs being raised to life and receiving their just positions in the rulership of the earth with the Lord, for the 1,000 years of the Millennium. 

20:5 We need to understand what is meant by ‘the rest of the dead’: that term refers to the dead who were not raised at the Rapture, and people who will be born in the Millennium and later die. There will be millions of un-saved people from many nations who survive Armageddon. Those people will continue to live natural lives, albeit more peaceful and stress-free because Christ will rule ‘with a rod of iron’ and according to His word: 

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall never pass away.”

Matt.24:35 The unsaved will still have their free-will, which is demonstrated in later verses of this chapter. It is reasonable to assume that most of those people will live healthier lives and consequently have a longer and more enjoyable lifespan. 

"Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years. 

20:6 The first line in this verse tells us when we are raised in the first resurrection that we can finally be assured… we are holy! We can then step into our new, priestly role with the full assurance of Christ, for the next thousand years. 

This is a strategic verse in the Scriptures that we would be wise to highlight. The understanding we gain from it will greatly impact the faith we will have for many of the Bible’s foundational truths. 

A-Millennium

The reason that heading is highlighted, is this; a small but increasing number of today’s false prophets are attempting to convince the church that the current Church Age is actually the Millennium. They accept the church is living in the Church Age now but, according to their erroneous thinking, there is no 1,000 years Millennium rule of Jesus Christ! They teach the 1,000 years rule of Christ with His saints is simply a metaphorical image of the church already ruling the earth with Christ’s ‘rod of iron.’

They refer to this demonic teaching as A-Millennial (A meaning no). Their teaching is false and totally unfounded; unfounded because they cannot produce even one scripture to support their doctrine. It is straight out of the pit of hell and it’s a subversive, demonic attack against the power and truth of Jesus Christ. 

Let me explain why: One of the first things Jesus does after Armageddon is to cast Satan into the abyss for 1,000 years. The Bible says specifically: “and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.” 

21:3 Remember the Biblical law? “In the mouth of two or more witnesses let every word be established.” The 1,000 years rule of Christ is named twice in that one verse! 

There are two prongs to this poisonous attack on God’s word: 

A. If there is no Millennium, then Satan cannot be locked away for 1,000 years! When asked how they explain Satan’s imprisonment, their answer goes along the lines of: ‘we agree it says he will be locked up, but we don’t know for how long. But it certainly is not 1,000 years because that’s just a metaphorical number’. 

Many of their muddled people believe Satan is locked away now. Huh? When a believer of this heresy was reminded of all the carnage and evil in the world today, which proves Satan is not yet locked away, he desperately tried to weasel his way around it by suggesting Satan might have a ‘partial imprisonment’. The truth is, the sole purpose of this heresy is to create a false impression of a more powerful Satan who is able to defeat the plans of a 'weaker’ Son of God. And that is demonic! 

B. If there is no Millennium, then Jesus cannot give us the heaven He promised! “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” 21:4 We are living in the Church Age which ceases when Christ returns. In the meantime, we endure Satan ‘going about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.’ 

That statement proves we are certainly not living in the Millennium, as established by the fact that Satan is still spreading his evil. Proof of that is the fact that the world is awash with his lies, corruption, depravity and every other sinful act. God was aware that in the latter days of the ‘last days’ His enemy would inject this lie into His body, the church. 

And so, I believe God created a powerful ‘booster shot’ to kill off this evil virus before it has time to spread throughout the body. 

Here’s God’s Booster Shot: In Revelation, the Millennium is prophesied in Chapter 20, and this 1,000-year rule of Christ is also powerfully prophesied in Isaiah 11 and 65. 

The Millennium is witnessed 6 times in the 15 verses of Revelation 20! To add to that, it is repeated in six consecutive verses: 2,3,4,5,6, and 7! 

That was meant to be a powerful booster designed by God to kill off Satan’s lie. If anyone has infected you with the lie that the Church Age is also the Millennium, get your booster shot; study: Isaiah 11 and Revelation 20! 

Keep this important point in mind: the a-millennium lie has no scriptural reference. Not one! It is nothing more than a figment of man's corrupted imagination. If anyone tries to persuade you of its truth, ask them to show you where it is spoken of in the Bible.

THE END