June 25, 2014
Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 20:6
(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)
Let’s continue our study of What Will The Millennium Be Like? We looked at the first two aspects of this one thousand year reign of Jesus Christ in our last blog:
• Since creation was good at the beginning (see Genesis 1:31), it will be returned to that state during the Millennium.
• The world – and all creation – will be delivered from Satan’s control! The devil will be imprisoned – according to Revelation 20:1 and 2 – for that same thousand years Christ will be reigning on earth.
Today let’s look at a seldom-studied aspect of the Millennium – just who will be a part of that thousand year kingdom upon the earth?
• Jesus Christ will be the supreme ruler of God’s earthly kingdom! He will rule over all the nations from the throne of David which is centered in Jerusalem. Isaiah 24:23 says “…the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders, gloriously.” And the famous passage of Isaiah 9:6 and 7 says this:
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will
be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His
government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and
over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from
that time forward, even forever.
In Revelation 12:5, the woman Israel “…bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.” So, obviously, Jesus will be the major personage in the Millennium!
• We Christians – and all those who are part of the first resurrection – will help King Jesus administer His Kingdom. It is written in Revelation 20:6,
Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the
second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ,
and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
But being part of the first resurrection does not mean you have to die and be resurrected. Paul wrote in I Corinthians 15:51 through 53:
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep [die], but we shall all be
changed — in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For
the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we
shall be changed. For this corruption must put on incorruption, and this
mortal must put on immortality.
This refers to the Rapture (see also I Thessalonians 4:13 through 17) – the catching away of the Church just before the 7-year Tribulation breaks upon the earth. Although there will be some who will not die, all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ will be physically transformed into immortal human beings with bodies designed for eternal spiritual living! This is all part of the first resurrection.
Here is something that a lot of people don’t seem to understand. We “…shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years….” But over whom or what shall we reign?
Not all human beings entering the Millennial kingdom will have experienced being changed physically from mortal to immortal! Jesus taught the Parable of the Sheep and Goats in 25:31 through 46. Here are the first four verses of this longer passage:
When the Son of Man comes in His glory…then He will sit on the throne of
His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divids his sheep from the goats. And
He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the
King will say to those on His right hand, “Come, you blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world….”
He goes on to say in the following verses that the basis of their being invited into the kingdom is that their works – how they treated His followers during the Tribulation – showed them to be on God’s side. So they will enter the kingdom as mortal beings, dwelling for the next thousand years in a creation that has been freed from the curse.
How do I know that they are mortal and not immortal? Learn that in the next blog!