Lesson 14 A Thousand Years

  We studied the Second Coming of Jesus and signs in the previous chapters.  We studied that all the accidents in heaven and all the disasters on earth are signs that the Advent day of Jesus is very close. So what will the world be like when Jesus comes? What will happen during the period of a thousand years after the Advent? This is the content we will study in this lesson. Interestingly enough, there are some Christians who are contending this world will have the happy golden age of a thousand years when the culture of this world develops and the good news spreads into the world. But it doesn't concede with the teaching of the Bible.

 

 

  On the day of Jesus' Advent, all the people of this world will see God descending in glory with numerous angels from heaven. But the brilliant glory of the Advent will destroy all the hateful things of villains and the wicked world.   

"And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming"(2 Thessalonians 2:8). Without the favor of the salvation of Jesus, nobody can live according to the words of Jeremiah.  "At that time those slain by the Lord will be everywhere-from one end of the world to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered up or buried, will be like refuse lying on the ground"(Jeremiah 25:33).

After that all the righteous men, who died from Adam the ancestor of human beings to the day of the Advent, will resurrect. All the living wicked will be destroyed and only the righteous will live. And the remained righteous will be changed to immortal bodies, as resurrected righteous will. Therefore, death will be defeated forever.

"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever"(1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17). 

"Listen, I tell you a mystery; we will all be changed-in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable clothed with imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory'"(1 Corinthians 15:51-54). We have to know that there are two kinds of resurrections. As we know the righteous will resurrect, ascend and live with Lord forever, and almost all of them are dead who died once and resurrected the Jesus' Resurrection. They died by the first death and revived by the resurrection. But those wicked people who died by the glory of the Lord on his Advent or who died in disease or accidents before that time will not revive at the first resurrection. They will resurrect at the end of the era of one thousand years. It is the second resurrection. We call it the second resurrection that is different from the first one. Therefore John said "Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection"(Revelation 20:6).

 

 

 

 

  During the era of One Thousand Years, what will become of the dead evil and righteous ones who ascend to heaven and what will they do?

1. The evil will continue to sleep in a state of unconsciousness and the earth will be in a state of desolation because there will be nothing living on it. Jeremiah, having seen the situation of that time through God's revelation, recorded, I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone. I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking all the hills were swaying. "I looked, and there were no people every bird in the sky had flown away. I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its towns lay in ruins before the Lord, before his fierce anger"(Jeremiah 4:23-26).

2. The devil will be confined, which means that he will be imprisoned in the desolate world on which no living thing will exist. The apostle John wrote about this, And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years."He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations any more until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time"(Revelation 20:1-3). The record tells us that the angel from heaven will seize the devil, bind him and throw him into the Abyss and lock and seal it for a thousand years. The Abyss means the desolated earth. And "to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore" means that there being no one to be deceived in the world, it will be as if he were imprisoned and confined.

3. The saints will ascend to heaven, where they will reign with Jesus.

The apostle John wrote blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. "They will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand of years"(Revelation 20:6).

Reign with him is to judge all evils deeds, that is, investigate them. John recorded, "I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given the authority to judge"(Revelation 20:4). Paul also recorded; "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? Do you not know that we will judge angels?"(1 Corinthians 6:2, 3).

 

 

  When the era ends, Jesus will come to this world with the delivered righteous again. And New Jerusalem will descend on this earth from heaven.

"On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be spilt in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south"(Zechariah 14:4).

When Jesus' feet stand on the Mount of Olives, the mountain will be spilt from east to west, divided into north and south. In the center of it there will be a great plain and the New Jerusalem will be settled there as a capital of New World.

Resurrection of the wicked.

Jesus will wake up all the wicked; this is the second resurrection. Jesus said, "For a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out-those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned"(John 5:28-29). It will be accomplished at that moment. The number of the wicked will be uncountable because He will wake up the wicked from the beginning of history for humanity. Among them, there will be giants who lived before the flood and famous generals or warriors.

Satan who is raised by evil angels will have ambition when he looks at the wicked and Jesus Christ with a lot of righteous beings and angels.

 

The release of Satan

"When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison. (Revelation 20:7).

After one thousand years Satan will be released again. Satan will have a chance to act because the wicked will be resurrected. He will organize the people to fight-the evil angels, generals and warriors of the wicked. They marched across the breadth of the earth and "surrounded the camp of Gods people, the city he loves"(Revelation 20:9).

Second Death

It is foolish to betray God. The result of this battle was that "fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, which had deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever"(Revelation 20:9-10). It is an everlasting death from which they will never be revived. Every one of us is doomed to die, but if we can be part of the first resurrection, "the second death has no power over us"(Revelation 20:6). So we have to believe in Jesus with all our hearts and obey His commandments to participate in the first resurrection.

 

 

 

 

  In Malachi it says, "surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire"(Malachi 4:1).

The wicked will be exterminated. When they are thrown into the fire, their statements vary from case to case because Jesus judges them according to their deeds done in the body. Some will be burning for a while and others will be thrown into everlasting fire. But at the last moment, they must admit and confess their sins and destruction and agree that God is patient and just. And the reason why it is called everlasting fire or burn for ever and ever is that fire will burn out all the roots of sins and it will burn until the wicked admit their sins.

 

 

  "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea"(Revelation 21:1).

The fire that consumes the wicked purifies the earth. Every trace of the curse is swept away, and the new world will be established.

Peter wrote in his letter, "In keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness"(2 Peter 3:13).

It means that the world will be recreated. John recorded the following, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away"(Revelation 21:3-4).

"A religious author who was inspired described the new world; In the Bible the inheritance of the saved is called a country. (Cf. Hebrews 11:14-16.) There the great Shepherd leads His flock to fountains of living waters. The tree of life yields its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree are for the service of the nations. There are ever-flowing streams, clear as crystal, and beside them waving trees cast their shadows upon the paths prepared for the ransomed of the Lord. There the wide-spreading plains swell into hills of beauty, and the mountains of God rear their lofty summits. On those peaceful plains, beside those living streams, God's people, so long pilgrims and wanderers shall find a home"(Ellen G White, The Story of Redemption, 430p).

What should we prepare to be citizens of this new world?

"The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to like holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and see its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heaven by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him"(2 Peter 3:10-12, 14).