The Bible tells us of six things that will happen during the Millennial Reign of Christ.
- The Son will rule.
- Satan will be removed.
- The Saints will reign.
- Satan will return.
- Society will revolt.
- then Sinners and saints will be resurrected for the final judgment.
In my last post I shared the first three things the Bible teaches us about the Millennium. In this post I’ll share the next three. During the Millennium…
4. Satan will return. Revelation 20:3,7
Revelation 20:7 says, “Now when the thousand years have expired [when they’re over], Satan will be released from his prison…” (cf. Rev 20:3) Now when you read that God lets Satan go you’re probably asking “Why?!!” Well you need to understand that during the Millennial Reign some will be good and live godly lives because they love Jesus, while others will live right only because they are forced to (Remember, in those days righteousness will be enforced with a rod of iron so some will be good only cause they have to be). But Jesus knows that love that is forced is no love at all. So after a thousand years Jesus will use Satan to test the sincerity of peoples love for him. In this sense, even Satan serves the purposes of God. So at the end of the thousand years, Satan will return to the earth from the Abyss.
But not only will Satan return…
5. Society will revolt. Revelation 20:8-9
Rev 20 says that that when Satan is released from the Abyss he , “…will go out to deceive the nations…to gather them together to battle…” So once again an army of Satan will fight against the armies of God.
Now this really blows my mind. At Jesus’ first coming, mankind killed Jesus and of necessity, God allowed it. Well at His second coming man will once again try to kill Jesus. But this time they will fail, for this time God will not allow it. In the most anti-climatic end to a story you’ve ever read, the Bible simply says “And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them” (Revelation 20:9). At the second coming Jesus won’t cry out as he did at his first coming, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” At the second coming God will destroy the enemies of Jesus.
Now the fire God will send from heaven won’t be your average kind of fire. No – this fire will be so intense and so powerful that in the next part of John’s vision in Revelation 21:1 he “…saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (presumably from the fire God sent).
What comes of Satan you ask? Well, having served God’s purpose of collecting the unbelievers of the world together for judgment, God now metes out Satan’s punishment. We read in Revelation 20:10, “The devil, who deceived them [deceived them into thinking they could defeat Jesus], was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
But not only will society return…
6. Sinners and Saints will be resurrected. Revelation 20:11-15
In Rev 20 we read of the Great White Throne judgment, where anyone whose name isn’t found in the lambs book of life is cast into the lake of fire. This is the judgment Jesus spoke of in John 5:28-29, “…a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.” Hebrews 9:27 says that everyone will die and then face judgment. For those of us who are raptured, we will not experience the Great White Throne Judgment. We will experience the Judgment Seat of Christ spoken of in 2 Corinthians 5:10. But if you miss the Rapture (and consequently the Judgment Seat of Christ), your judgment will come at The Great White Throne Judgment at the end of the Millennium. So the last thing the Bible give us that takes place at the time of the Millennium is the resurrection of sinners and saints for judgment.
So there you have it! During the Millennial Reign of Christ:
- The Son will rule.
- Satan will be removed.
- The Saints will reign.
- Satan will return.
- Society will revolt.
- then Sinners and saints will be resurrected for the final judgment.