THE MILLENNIUM DESCRIBED
By A. S. Booth
Is the Word in the Bible? — Bounded by the Resurrections of the Righteous and the Wicked — The Judgment Day — Sin and Sinners Destroyed — A Clean Universe The word “millennium” is used so frequently to-day that one would be led to believe that it is found many times in the Bible; but the facts are that it is not found a single time in that book. The thought of a general blessed time coming, in which the whole world will be converted to Christ, is so closely associated with the word, that one would naturally suppose that to be its definition. However, this is not the definition in any sense. The word “millennium” is coined from two Latin words, mille, thousand, and annus, year,—a thousand years. The doctrine of the millennium is found on the twentieth chapter of the book of Revelation. The period of one thousand years is mentioned in that chapter six times. It is applied three times to Satan, twice to the righteous, and once to the wicked. In this chapter, the topic of the millennium is made very clear. The verses applied to Satan read as follows: “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.” Verses 1-3. THE RIGHTEOUS DURING THE MILLENNIUM
Of the righteous we read: “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them: . . . and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. . . . This is the first resurrection. 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.” Verses 4-6. Referring to the wicked, it is said, “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” Verse 5. Here the thought is presented that after the thousand years, the wicked will live again. BOUNDED BY THE RESURRECTIONS
The Bible teaches two resurrections, that of the just, and that of the unjust. Acts 24:15; John 5:28, 29. It is left for John, in the book of Revelation, to separate these resurrections by one thousand years. The thousand-year period is bounded by the resurrection of the righteous in the beginning, and that of the wicked at the close. Christ’s second coming is ushered in by the resurrection of the righteous, and they are caught up to meet the Lord in the air. 1 Thess. 4:16-18. From the air they are received into the city of God. Rev. 22:14. And according to the text, they live and reign with Christ a thousand years. Jesus said, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:3. Some would teach this text as though it read, “If I go, I will come again, and be with you; that where you are, there I will be also.” The text, however, does not so read. If a man were to go to Canada and prepare places for us, and should say, before he went, that when he had the places prepared, he would come and receive us to himself, we would expect to go to Canada, and not to remain in the United States. So the Lord has promised to receive His people to Himself when He comes the second time. The city of God does not come down until the thousand years are finished. Rev. 21:1, 2. God’s people are with the Lord in the city in heaven. In God’s plans there is always a purpose and a time. During the thousand years, the saints reign with Christ in judgment. Rev. 20:4; 1 Cor. 6:2. The judgment, and the pronouncing of the penalty that will fall upon the wicked, will be so righteous and just that the saints of God will be permitted to enter into that judgment, so that at the end they will be able to say, Righteous, just, and true are Thy judgments, Thou King of saints. When Christ comes the second time, at the beginning of the thousand years, the wicked who are living on the earth are destroyed. Rev. 6:14-17; 2 Thess. 2:8; Jer. 25:30-34. There is no promise of their resurrection until the end of the thousand years. Rev. 20:5. Thus we see the world is empty as far as man is concerned. Some texts that reveal the conditions of the world during the millennium are as follows: “The great day of the Lord is near. . . . That day is a day of wrath, . . . a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness.” Zeph. 1:14, 15. “The day of the Lord cometh; . . . a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness.” Joel 2:1, 2. “I beheld the earth; and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. 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. For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.” Jer. 4:23-28. It is in this world in its waste, desolate condition that Satan is confined for the thousand years. He is bound from the standpoint that there is no one to tempt. The righteous are in heaven, and the wicked are in death.357Here, where he has caused all the trouble for the human family, tempting them to sin and reject Christ; here, where he has moved the human family to persecute their Lord and Master, and finally put Him to death,—Satan will be bound and confined by the very Word and the very Christ that he has despised. The adversary has boasted that he could manage a kingdom better than could God; so once, in the end of time, the Lord reduces the earth to the same condition it was in at the beginning, and permits Satan to demonstrate, before the universe, his power. God, when creating all things, simply “spake, and it was; He commanded, and it stood fast.” Ps. 33:9. He created the light, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, and man. Satan will be utterly bound. The birds will have fled; the beasts of the field will have perished; the heavens will be black, and his subjects, the wicked, in death. He may command the sun to shine, the birds to return, and his subjects to rise from the dead; but to no avail. He cannot give life to a blade of grass, much less man. The universe beholds his defeat. THE BEGINNING AND END OF THE MILLENNIUM
At the beginning of the thousand years, the Lord comes with all His angels, to receive His saints. Matt. 24:31-35. At the end of the thousand years Christ comes, and all His saints with Him. Zech. 14:4, 5. The wicked are also resurrected. Rev. 20:5. The city of God comes down. Rev. 21:1, 2. The final drama is now enacted. God, Christ, all the holy angels, and the redeemed of all ages, are in the city of God. Satan, with all the evil angels, and the host of the wicked, who have been resurrected, are on the outside. The combined forces of the holy are on one side, and the hosts of sin on the other. The two kingdoms are compared. Both the righteous and the wicked may behold and see that the Lord’s ways have been best. The wicked that have gone down cursing Christ and persecuting His people, now see, when it is too late, and are convinced of truth and the mistakes they have made. God restrains till all see their mistakes. When God’s Spirit is withdrawn, Satan begins his old work again. Mustering the combined forces of evil, he endeavors to take from the righteous their inheritance, the city of God. God’s justice is then vindicated in destroying Satan and his followers. Fire descends from heaven, and they perish. Rev. 20:9. Again the righteous can say, Amen, Thy ways are true and holy. Then will come forth the new heaven and the new earth, and God “will dwell with them”—the saints. Rev. 21:1-5. The saints having lived and reigned with Him a thousand years, He will then live with them. When God’s plans relative to sin are fully carried out, all will have learned the lesson, the wicked will be destroyed, and “affliction shall not rise up the second time.” Nahum 1:9. “There shall be no more curse.” Rev. 22:3. The universe will be as pure and clean as though sin had never existed. May God help us that we learn the great lesson, that God’s plans and ways are best. If we do not just understand all things, let us not question the Word, but be patient; and when God’s word triumphs, we shall triumph with it.