Chapter 13
This is probably one of my favorite subjects. It is difficult for me to believe any brother could be an a-millennialist. There are just too many verses that describe too many things about the millennial reign of Christ. Revelation 20:1-3 tells us several things. An angel comes from heaven with a chain with which he binds Satan, described also as the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil, for a thousand years (the entire time of the millennial reign of Christ). Verse 4 describes the first resurrection in two parts. The first part of the first resurrection includes the church age. This is made clear by the references to those who were beheaded for their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, those who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand. These are the ones who come to life and reign with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of this group will not come to life until the new heavens and new earth are ushered in. In other words, the Old Testament saints will not take part in the millennial reign of Christ. I haven’t a clue why that is true; I simply know it is because that is what God’s word declares.
If we go to the fourteenth chapter of Zechariah now, we can learn more about what will be happening during that time. Zachariah 14:9ff tell us the Lord will be King over all the earth. The next phrase simply means that because Satan is no longer free to deceive the nations, all will understand (though some will not submit) that Jesus is the only true King. We are told the world will be flat. Remember, the mountains and islands disappeared in Revelation 16:20. Only Jerusalem will rise above the level of the rest of the earth. The reason is obvious. We are given specific information about the boundaries of Jerusalem in verse 10. That verse tells us people will live in Jerusalem, the curse of Genesis 3 will be no more, and its (Jerusalem’s) inhabitants will dwell in security.
Verses 12-15 describe the plague that will come upon all those peoples who have come against Jerusalem. It’s a rather gruesome description.
Now this will be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot as they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth. It will come about in that day that a great panic from the Lord will fall on them; and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another. Judah will also fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all he surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance. So also like this plague will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey and all the cattle that will be in those camps.
Some teach these verses as a clear indication that nuclear bombs will cause the horrid description they provide us about the humans and animals that will be at Armageddon. Certainly, that is possible. I think, however, concluding such a thing suggests God’s hail, fire, and brimstone is not sufficient to do the same thing our puny nuclear arsenals do. Many times, in the Old Testament, God defeated the enemies of Israel by simply turning the armies who came against them, against themselves. When the enemy begins killing himself, little more needs to be done. Defeating such an enemy requires little more than gathering up the spoils when the battle is over. We are told that the army of Jerusalem will watch as the armies of the world kill each other during this battle. Their turning on each other is likely instigated by the hellfire and brimstone which has just rained from heaven.
Now for the bombshell! In spite of the clear words of God on the subject, it seems no one but me teaches there will be great multitudes of unbelievers entering into the period we call millennial reign of Christ. Zechariah 14:16 makes it so clear, “Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went up against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the feast of booths.” Obviously, there will be some who are citizens of the nations that met the Lord in battle at Jerusalem (Revelation 20:19:11-16 cf. Zechariah 14:12-15), who were not at that battle. All of those on the planet who survived the bowl judgments and weren’t in the military confrontation directly will be ushered into the millennial kingdom. It is also important to note that none of these people will have received the mark of the beast. Too many verses make it clear that all who receive the mark of the beast receive the wrath of God poured out full strength (Rev. 14:9, 10). I can’t imagine any receiving the wrath of God directly surviving that encounter.
So we learn implicitly from Zechariah 14 that there will be great multitudes who will not be deceived by the beast. And strange as it may seem, it is also implicit from Zechariah that these multitudes will have refused to accept the message of the gospel as preached to them during the tribulation. I’m not sure why anyone finds this scenario hard to follow or believe. I have personally spoken with many people who have said they will not receive any such mark when implemented; these same people also refused to believe the gospel. I suspect the more people who read expositions on the Revelation like this one will better grasp the order in which things are going to occur. Thus they will have less of a problem understanding the incredible amount of detail given in scripture which describes the millennial reign of Christ.
It’s important to note the specific Old Testament feast that is reinstituted during the millennial reign. It is the Feast of Booths (see Lev. 23:34ff). It was celebrated on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. As with all the celebrations, it was to be a time of rest, regeneration, and acknowledgement of their complete dependence on the provision of the Lord. This was a time God’s people offered their burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings. These offerings were not sin offerings. They were offerings made to acknowledge both the authority as well as their complete submission to the God of creation. The grain and drink offerings were offered as a celebration for the abundance that had been provided by God. Israel built and lived in booths during this celebration as a reminder of their wondering in the wilderness for forty years depending every moment of every day upon the provision of God.
Anyone who fails to attend this celebration will suffer the instant withdrawal of God’s blessing. Whatever families do not go up to celebrate the feast will get no rain on their crops. Three times in verses 17-19 Zechariah reiterates this threat. Thus it seems clear there will be many who do not wish to subject themselves to anyone but themselves. All of these people rejected the rule of the beast. Clearly, great multitudes of them are also going to reject the rule of the one true God, though they are no longer being deceived by the devil. The millennial reign will disprove the religious lie so flippantly proclaimed by so many today, “The devil made me do it.” All of the fools today who are making such a claim will have eternity to think about its absurdity. The devil does not nor has he ever made anyone sin. He has only provided the avenue or idea through which man can choose to rebel against his creator. During the millennial reign of Christ, in spite of the fact that neither the devil nor his influence will be present, great multitudes will still rebel against the rule of the King of kings.
I believe the millennial reign will prove two important facts for us to consider for all of eternity: 1. Adam and Eve would probably have eventually sinned without the serpent’s help. 2. Because God created man to be the object of His love and provision, he must have the option to reject that love. No one in all of eternity will be able to argue that God set man up to fail. And, or course, one doesn’t have to share the gospel with too many to know there are great multitudes who actually believe God is the villain with reference to the fall of man.
Zechariah 14:20, 21 tell us five final and significant things about the millennial reign: 1. Horses during the millennium will wear bells with the words “HOLY TO THE LORD,” inscribed on them. 2. The cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be like the bowls before the altar. 3. Every cooking pot in Jerusalem will be holy to the Lord of hosts. 4. All sacrifices will be done in these bowls. 5. No Canaanite will be allowed to enter Jerusalem during the millennium.
I’ve raised and trained horses, and I have to say they are magnificent animals. They can be trained to do some rather extraordinary things. I had a relatively young horse once accidentally lose me in his attempt to flee when a pheasant popped up right in front of him in the tall grass. He stopped about twenty yards away and looked back at me, as I sat on the ground dumbfounded and startled, as if to say, “What happened to you? I was getting us out of that threatening situation and you just fell off.” Horses can be trained to stand deadly still as a high powered rifle is discharged within inches of their ears. Warriors on horseback for millenniums have known they will charge valiantly and fearlessly into battle with cannon balls exploding all around them. They are truly special creatures, and it’s clear they will have a special part to play in the millennial reign of our Lord.
Cooking pots in the Lords house and all of Jerusalem, those used for the burnt offerings, will all be like those bowls before the altar of Rev. 16. They will be holy to the Lord of Host. And no sacrifice will be allowed to be offered in any other bowl. There will be no acceptable substitute bowls. Anyone who thinks this is a trivial piece of information might want to read Leviticus 10. Nadab and Abihu made the mistake of thinking they could substitute strange incense for the real thing. They offered their strange incense in the firepan of God and got fried instantly.
Finally, the statement that no Canaanite will be allowed into the holy city must be understood in light of the curse pronounced on Ham’s son in Genesis 9:25. It’s one of the many mysteries of the bible I do not understand. I’ve never heard anyone provide a sensible explanation for it, so I won’t try. It is one of those questions many will likely ask Jesus when they get the chance. Suffice it to say that Ham’s sin was sufficient that his children were cursed for all of time. Approximately five thousand years after it was originally pronounced, this curse is still in effect.
Isaiah 65:20-25 gives us a great deal of information about the millennium.
No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his days; for the youth will die at the age of one hundred and the one who does not reach the age of one hundred will be thought accursed. They will build houses and inhabit them; they will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They will not build and another inhabit, they will not plant and another eat; for as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of my people, and My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain or bear children for calamity; for they are the offspring of those blessed by the Lord, and their descendants with them. It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking; I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain, says the Lord.
Like pre-flood life on planet earth, people will once again live a lot more than the seventy or so years they live to day. It really does make me chuckle when I hear modern medical specialists brag that they can extend life today with proper medical care and medications. They’re making millions from the fools who are willing to pay for as much as $100,000 for an operation that might extend their life four or five years. Personally, I wouldn’t pay a doctor a rubber nickel to keep me out of heaven. I’m not opposed to doctors. I am opposed to their arrogant thinking that they are the ones who extend the life of anyone. No doctor in history has ever extended anyone’s life for a moment of time without the approval of the Creator of the universe. Many, if not most of those whose lives are extended, become little more than living zombies as a result of these so-called miracle medical procedures. My own father had triple bypass heart surgery. He never recovered from the incredible ineptitude of the surgeon who got at least $50,000 for the few hours he spent whacking away at his already weakened body. Frankenstein was intended to be a fictional story about a fictional doctor. Today it has become a living nightmare.
There is a simple biblical story for anyone who wishes to live longer than God intends. It is found in II Kings 20. It is a story about how King Hezekiah prayed to God and asked for an extension of his life after Isaiah had told him to get his house in order because he was going to die. Hezekiah wept before God and reminded Him of all he had done as the faithful king of Judah. God extended his life fifteen years. Isaiah’s medical remedy puts contemporary medicine to shame. He told Hezekiah to take a lump of figs and lay them on the boil. Then we read the simple but poignant words, “and he recovered.”
Only two things are possible for anyone who is willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money to have a doctor extend his life: 1. He knows he is going to hell when he dies. 2. He knows he will be living in a somewhat diminished capacity in heaven. i.e., his reward is going to be insignificant because he has not been a faithful servant (Luke 19:13-27 cf. I Cor. 3:10-17, II Cor. 5:10; and Rev. 2:12). Either way, this person who is willing to spend hard earned money on such foolishness is not looking forward to the second coming of Christ or his own death, should it come before Christ’s physical second coming. If he were truly looking forward to eternal life, he would not be fearful of this thing we know as physical death. All true believers know this body we currently inhabit is only temporary and will be quickly forgotten when we finally inherit our eternal one.
Isaiah 65 tells us several things about God’s blessing on His people during the millennium. They will eat the food they plant; they will inhabit the houses they build; they will live long lives; their labor will be rewarded and their children will be healthy; they will be blessed by God; God will provide their needs even before they finish asking; all wild and domestic animals will once again eat grass; the serpent, because of his identity with the devil, will still eat dust. Finally, of all the places on the planet during the millennial reign, there will be complete peace in Jerusalem. Of course, that implies there will be unrest and rebellion in the rest of the world with which His under-rulers will have to deal. These are those spoken of in Revelation 20:4; and they are the priests and kings of Revelation 5:10 who will reign with Him.
So, as I stated earlier, there is an abundance of information in God’s word that describes in great detail the social, political, religious, and economic life of those who enter the one thousand year period the bible calls the millennial reign of Christ. Only a person determined to interpret all relevant scripture spiritually could deny it is a biblical period of time when Christ will reign on earth as its King of kings and Lord of lords. It will be a glorious time for all of us who will be reigning with Him. It will also be a glorious time for all of those ushered into it who had not accepted His lordship before it began. It will be a trying time for those who refuse to accept the Lord of lords in spite of His physical presence. It will not be a time of complete, undisturbed peace on planet earth. But it will be a time of complete unmitigated justice by the King of kings and all who represent him throughout the world.
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