The Millennium Of Peace
- Revelation 19:11–21 A prophetic picture of Jesus’ coming. (See also Matthew 24:27, 28; Luke 17:37). This is just before Revelation 20, which begins the 1,000 years or the “millennium.”
- Revelation 20:1–3 TWO POINTS: 1) An angel binds Satan to the bottomless pit for 1,000 years. 2) After the 1,000 years, Satan will be loosed for a little season.
- Revelation 20:4 During the millennium, the righteous are in heaven and judgment is given to them. (See also 1 Corinthians 4:5; 6:2, 3).
- Revelation 20:5 The wicked who perished either before or at the second coming do not live again until after the 1,000 years expire. They then come up in the second resurrection and are with Satan during the short season mentioned in vs. 3. The wicked will then meet their final sentencing before the throne of God and be cast into the lake of fire to die the second death (Rev. 20:6, 11–14).
- Revelation 20:6 Blessed are those who are in the first resurrection when Jesus returns because they are saved for eternity.
JESUS SPEAKS OF THE TWO RESURRECTIONS (John 5:28, 29)
- The resurrection of life (before the 1,000 years).
- The resurrection of damnation (after the 1,000 years).
FOUR KEYS WHEN JESUS COMES
- Righteous living (1 Thes. 4:16, 17; John 14:1–3).
- Righteous dead (1 Corinthians 15:51–54).
- Wicked living (2 Thes. 2:8; Isa 13:9, Rev. 6:14–17; Lk. 17:26–29).
- Wicked dead (Rev. 20:5).
- Isaiah 14:12–15 Satan will be brought down to the “pit” (vss. 18–20), but he will not be joined with the wicked in burial. He is “chained” (symbolic) by chains of darkness (2 Peter 2:4) and the circumstances under which God places him and which Satan cannot escape from.
- Malachi 3:17,18 The righteous will judge and determine that God has been just and fair.
- Revelation 21:2 The New Jerusalem comes down from heaven at the end of the 1,000 years. The wicked are then raised in the second resurrection and, with Satan, are loosed for a short season (Revelation 20:5, 7).
- Revelation 20:8,9 All the wicked throughout the ages are here. All humanity meets together: The saved are inside the holy city with Jesus, and the wicked are all outside the walls of the holy city with Satan.
- Revelation 20:9 God destroys the wicked with fire, and the world is then purified also by fire.
- Revelation 21:5 Finally, the Lord will create out of the ashes the “new earth".
- Matthew 5:5 The meek will inherit this new earth as their eternal home.
WHEN WILL HELL-FIRE BURN?
- Matthew 13:36–50 The wicked are punished at the end of the world.
- 2 Peter 2:9 The wicked are “reserved” until the judgment day.
WHERE WILL HELL-FIRE BURN?
- 2 Peter 3:7 God is keeping it all in store to burn at the end of the world (vss. 10–13). The earth and all that is in it will be burned up and God will then create a new heaven (atmosphere) and earth.
HOW LONG WILL HELL-FIRE BURN?
- Romans 6:23 The wages of sin is death (not everlasting life in hell-fire).
- Psalm 37:9–11, 20 The wicked shall not be any more—they will cease to exist.
- Psalm 104:35 Sinners will be consumed, and the wicked shall be no more.
- Malachi 4:1-3 The wicked will be as stubble; the fire shall burn them up, and they will be ashes under our feet in the day that God does this.
- Ezekiel 28:18, 19 The devil will also be devoured in the lake of fire. He will be brought to ashes and will never be any more.
WHAT HAPPENS AT DEATH?
- 1 Timothy 6:15,16 Only God has immortality.
- Ezekiel 18:4 Souls that sin, die. (See also James 5:20.)
NOTE: A soul in the Bible is always a man, bird, fish, or animal—anything with a combination of a body and the breath of life. It is never a conscious entity apart from the body. Examples: Acts 2:41; Gen. 46:27; Acts 27:37; Revelation 16:3.
- Ecclesiastes 12:7 The body returns to dust; the spirit (breath) returns to God.
- Genesis 2:7 Body + breath = a living soul.
- John 11:11-14,17 Jesus called death a sleep.
- Ecclesiastes 9:5,6 The dead know nothing; they have no memory, and all feelings are perished.
WHAT ABOUT THE RESURRECTION?
- 1 Cor. 15:51–55 Mortals put on immortality at the second coming of Jesus. This is when our change occurs. Those who are saved in Christ will all be changed at the last trumpet call (Matthew 24:31) as Jesus comes. The righteous dead will then be raised, changed, and given immortality.
- 1 Thess. 4:13-–8 When Jesus comes with a shout, the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call, the dead will then be raised to meet Jesus in the air and forever be with Him.
- John 6:39,40,44,54 Four times in this chapter, Jesus says the resurrection with occur “at the last day,” which is referring to the day of Christ’s visible return.
- John 5:28,29 Both the righteous and the wicked dead are in the grave awaiting the voice of the “Life-giver”—Jesus Christ—but the resurrections of the righteous and the wicked occur at different times. (See also Revelation 20:5.)
- 2 Timothy 4:6-8 The crown of righteousness awaiting the faithful is given at the appearing of Jesus Christ. The appearance is with all the angels and in the glory of the Father also. (See Matthew 16:27; 24:30.)
- Luke 23:43 The comma has been often misplaced in this verse. This verse when correctly punctuated perfectly agrees with the rest of the Bible on the subject of death. The usage of the word “Today” by Christ modifies the words, “Verily I say unto thee.” See also Zech. 9:12 for another similar usage of the word “today.” Christ did not tell the thief they would be together in heaven that very same day of Christ’s death, but merely that the thief would be a saved man in paradise in the day when all the saved are there together with Christ.
- 2 Corinthians 5:8 Paul never tells his listeners in this verse that they go directly to heaven upon death. He has already made the issue clear in his letter of
- 1 Corinthians 15:51– 55 and in many other places in Scripture. In this passage, he merely tells the church that it is his earnest desire to leave the earthly body and be clothed with the heavenly body. When the time comes that he is clothed with the heavenly body, he knows that he will be with Christ.