The Lord Reigns

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. Revelation 20:1-3

First order of business for the Age of Christ: bind and incarcerate Satan. The millennial kingdom will start fresh, populated by only believers in Jesus Christ, and with no prince of evil to lead them astray. One thousand years of peace and prosperity with God the Son as ruler. All of Satan’s efforts to “make the world a better place” only made the environment worse and added to the confusion of mankind. Jesus, the creator, has the power, knowledge and authority to make the world perfect. Imagine a clean, calm, prosperous earth where nothing is lacking and the inhabitants are content.

Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. Revelation 20:4-6

Matthew 19:28 “Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” This was Jesus speaking to his apostles. They will be granted that authority in His earthly kingdom for 1000 years.

The tribulational martyrs in resurrection bodies will also be given positions of authority there. When we studied these prophecies back in the late 1960s, execution by beheading was so rare in the world that it was almost unimaginable. The preachers expounding on this gruesome manner of death would say that the guillotine would be revived as a method of execution for those who didn’t worship the beast. Well, now in the 21^st century we are very well acquainted with beheading as a means of assassination by terrorists. They don’t need a guillotine to accomplish it. They are quite skilled with the sword to do this job. Unbelieving mankind has grown ever more evil, more hostile to Christianity and more eager to kill any who don’t honor the religion of Satan. They do it with great glee.

These in authority in the coming kingdom have come through the first resurrection. They have received their eternal bodies and their rewards. Obviously, they are now immortal. There will be millions who will enter the millennium in their original human bodies. Their lifetimes will be greatly extended and they will also reproduce, bringing children into the perfect world who will also have longer lifespans. Since they are not in resurrection bodies, though, they will retain the old sin nature from Adam. Without Satan roaming freely in the world, there will be much less enticement and opportunity to sin. They will lead lives of serenity in perfect environment, ruled by a perfect king with total authority over creation. Being fully human, however, with old sin natures, means that they will not have eternal life until they believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Salvation in the Age of Christ will be by the same means as salvation in all other ages: faith alone in Christ alone.

And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Revelation 20:7-10

As if to prove perfect environment does not produce perfect people or perfect peace, Satan will be let out of prison for “a little season” (v. 3) at the end of the millennium. So, for 1,000 years, natural humans with old sin natures have been born on the earth, grown up and reproduced also, and they’ve had perfect environment and not much to complain about or rebel against—UNTIL Satan is released from the abyss and is determined to make one last attempt to overthrow the authority of Jesus Christ. He uses his tried and true tactic of deceiving the masses into following him to his and their final doom.

This time it will be over. Satan’s deceptions have run their course. Satan’s false religions and his renovation plans for mankind were obvious failures, and he could not keep people from believing in Jesus Christ for salvation. He was sentenced to the lake of fire in eternity past, but was given all these millennia to try to prove his superiority and to try to prove that sinful man would never truly trust in Jesus. Now the sentence is executed. He will go forever into the lake of fire, where the beast and false prophet await him. There will be others. What else can God do with a people who hate Him and reject his provision for eternal life? God cannot allow sin or human good in heaven. Only His own righteousness will qualify us for eternal life, and many humans are rejecting His righteousness, because they think they can make it on their own. Jesus paid our penalty and there remains no more sacrifice for sins. These last rebels will die in the fire from heaven. 

Next stop: the Great White Throne.