This is a glad millennial year. Away up by the arctic circle, amid volcanoes, lava beds, glaciers, mossy wastes, and where fishing and sheep raising are the principal industries of the sparse population, there is unbounded rejoicing. Iceland is celebrating the thousandth anniversary of her island parliament, or althing; and two tented cities with accommodations for an overflow of fifty thousand tourists and visitors have been erected. Among the distinguished guests are the Crown-Princes of Norway and Sweden; while upon the traditional spot where the first althing met a thousand years ago, King Christian of Denmark delivers a royal address of felicitation.
Iceland, so we are told, is not spending a dollar for army, navy, or other fighting equipment; and the government is free from debt. For these reasons, as well as for the permanence of her institutions, we tender hearty congratulations.
AN OLD PARLIAMENT
A thousand years is a long time. When this parliament had its birth, the sea-roving Vikings, or Northmen, were still raiding the coasts of England and France; the papacy had not yet risen to the height of its power; the crusades were as yet not even a dream; Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” were not penned until four centuries later; while more than five hundred years were to elapse before Christopher Columbus and Martin Luther were born.
Looking, not backward, but forward, a millennium portrayed in Biblical lore stretches on before us. Will it bring war or peace? increasing crime or universal righteousness? intellectual decay or scientific triumph? biologic living and health betterment or racial suicide? All these questions are definitely answered in the Book of books.
The word “millennium,” derived from two Latin words,—mille, meaning thousand, and annus, year,—does not occur in the Bible; while the thousand-year period is mentioned six times, all of which are in the twentieth chapter of Revelation. Concerning the redeemed from this earth, the prophet has written, “I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: . . . and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” Verse 4.
While the Saviour was yet with His disciples, He gave them the definite promise, “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself.” His coming, the Bible assures us, will be personal, glorious, premillennial; and among the many prophetic signs heralding that event we note the increase of wickedness, juvenile delinquency, moral decline, weakening wedlock, the craze for pleasure and wealth, and the decay of true religion. This inspired picture of the time of the end begins with the forceful sentence, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come;” and in the same chapter there is added the significant statement, “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse.” 2 Timothy 3:1, 13.
In another prophecy the apostle Paul reveals that in the period of time just prior to the coming of Christ, Satan will work “with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness;” also, speaking of those engaged in this work of deception and wickedness, it is stated that “the Lord shall consume [them] with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy [them] with the brightness of His coming.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10, 8.
Our Saviour referred to that notoriously wicked city, Sodom, saying: “The same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17:29, 30. These Scriptures give clear evidence that the whole world will not be converted; also that the millennium does not begin until after Christ’s second advent.
To the wicked that day brings “sudden destruction” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-5); to the righteous, fullness of joy: “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17.
CHRISTIAN ERA
WAR OF
THE MILLENNIAL PERIOD (1,000 years)
RIGHTEOUS (EARTH DESOLATE, RIGHTEOUS IN HEAVEN, WICKED DEAD)
HOLY CITY
THE NEW WORLD
EARTH
EARTH LEFT UNINHABITED
Since all the impenitent are dead, and all the saints are in heaven, this world is accordingly left without a human inhabitant. Jeremiah the prophet gives this description: “I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger.” Jeremiah 4:25, 26.
Immediately following the coming of Christ as the “King of kings, and Lord of lords,” as narrated in Revelation 19, the seer of Patmos gives this view: “I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed6it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished.” Revelation 20:1-3, A. R. V.
The “abyss,” as here mentioned, is from the same Greek word used in the translation of the phrase in Genesis 1:2, “Darkness was upon the face of the deep [abyss].” It indicates the chaotic condition of this planet during the one thousand years. The “key” and “chain” are emblems of authority; and on this desolate sphere Satan is “bound,” or confined by a chain of circumstances. For six thousand years he and his host have been intensely active in the warfare against heaven. But now the loyal angels and the sinless inhabitants of other worlds are wholly disillusioned. They see the enemy unmasked, and any further attempts to shake their allegiance are futile. Thus chained to this uninhabited planet with its broken-down cities and once fruitful lands a vast wilderness, Satan has a thousand years of solitary confinement in which to reflect upon the ruin his rebellion has wrought.
RIGHTEOUS IN HEAVEN
Of the righteous during that time it is written: “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” Revelation 20:6. As that long period closes, the New Jerusalem, together with the Redeemer and the redeemed, descends to earth; and the voice of Christ summons the wicked dead of all ages to awake. (Revelation 20:5; John 5:28, 29.)
The resurrection of the righteous occurs at the beginning of the thousand years; the resurrection of the wicked marks its close. Christ referred to the second resurrection as “the resurrection of damnation.” Naturally, the mighty host of the unregenerate come forth from their graves with the same sinful hearts and rebellious spirits that characterized them in this life. Then for “a little season” (verse 3) comes the change in the archrebel’s condition. “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.” Verses 7, 8.
Just how long the “little season” continues, we are not told. Evidently, there is time to construct engines and munitions of war, and to organize the mightiest army this world has ever seen. Then follows the last act in the seven-thousand-year controversy between Christ and Satan: “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.” Verse 9.
Here for the first and the last time, the whole human race meet, the righteous inside the city, and the wicked without. The infinite love of God is manifest to all, and His justice in terminating the lives of the finally impenitent who have despised His mercy is fully vindicated. The lake of fire ends the age-long warfare against God’s government, with Satan and his host consumed “root and branch.” God’s word declares, “This is the second death.”
EXPERIMENT WITH SIN FINISHED
The experiment with sin is forever finished. “There shall be no more curse.” “Affliction shall not rise up the second time.” “He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.” Revelation 22:3; Nahum 1:9; Revelation 21:5. Out of the smoldering ruins of this old world, a glorious “new earth” arises, in which the grateful, happy millions of the redeemed find an eternal inheritance. “I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” Revelation 21:2, 3.
Few of us are privileged to attend Iceland’s millennial jubilee of 1930 A. D.; but, oh, friends, let us each make unfailing arrangements to be present at the grand millennial gathering announced for the Year 2000 in the re-created homeland.
“A thousand years in Jesus’ kingdom,
Rolling along ’mid the chiming spheres,
Will be but the prelude to that blest story
That ushers us into the endless years.”
