--Starting Point of Millennium
--Satan during the Millennium
--The Saints during the Millennium
--The Closing Scenes
--The Ending
--Ultimate Question on the Millennium
--Any period of a thousand years is a millennium;
Therefore, Satan being bound, and unable to deceive anybody, the gospel having no opposition ....
This earth at that time will be the only “land not inhabited” that--Fable of a Temporal Millennium
--SIDE NOTE: Those "Books"?
Below are from Steps To Life/Uriah Smith/A.T. Jones/J.N. Andrews
Intro
The word “millennium” is composed of two Latin words, mille, “a thousand,” and annus, “a year,” and signifies “a thousand years.”
The word “millennium” is composed of two Latin words, mille, “a thousand,” and annus, “a year,” and signifies “a thousand years.”
--but that period of a thousand years designated and understood universally as “the millennium” is a certain thousand years mentioned and measured off in the Scriptures.
Starting Point of Millennium
The particular scripture which defines the thousand years—the millennium—is Revelation 20:1-7.
The particular scripture which defines the thousand years—the millennium—is Revelation 20:1-7.
The connection in which this thousand years is set is such that from it can be certainly known,
--not the date of its beginning,
--but the event that marks its beginning.
Also, the connection in which it is set is such that from it can be certainly known what the character of that millennium is to be. --In that scripture it is said that Satan is to be bound and shut up for a thousand years,
--and that the saints live and reign with Christ a thousand years.
Revelation 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This [living of the saints] is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on 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.
Revelation 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This [living of the saints] is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on 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.
--By these words we know that the event that marks the beginning of the millennium is “the first resurrection”.
--And this resurrection of the saints, this “first resurrection,” is at the coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory;
for it is written,
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which
are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God:
and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
--And this resurrection of the saints, this “first resurrection,” is at the coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory;
for it is written,
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God:
and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-17
Satan during the Millennium
"The Bible says that the devil is to be bound a thousand years and shall deceive the nations no more till the thousand years are finished.Therefore, Satan being bound, and unable to deceive anybody, the gospel having no opposition ....
*And that this desolated earth is certainly the very “land not inhabited” into which Azazel, the real scapegoat, is led, is made plain by the fact that the word translated “bottomless pit” in Revelation 20:1-3 is the identical word which, in the Septuagint, in
Genesis 1:1, is translated “the deep,” and which refers to this earth in its waste, void, dark, and desolate condition, as it first existed.
Jeremiah’s description of the earth in this time makes the connection between Revelation 20:1-3 and Genesis 1:1; for, in describing the earth in the thousand years, Jeremiah uses almost the very words of Genesis 1:1.
Read: Jeremiah 4:23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
Genesis 1:1 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And this battle, into which, by his deception, he leads this multitude
to engage, is a battle against the camp of the saints and the beloved city, for:
Revelation 20:9 They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city.
Read: Jeremiah 4:23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
Genesis 1:1 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
--It is true that Satan is to have no power to deceive till the thousand years shall be fulfilled.
--And it is just as certainly true that when the thousand years are expired, he does have power to deceive the nations.
--And he does deceive them, to that extent that he gathers them to battle against the City of God, and fire comes down out of Heaven and devours them.
Let us read the scripture on this: Revelation 20:1-3,7-9
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in His hand.
And He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled; and after that he must be loosed a little season.
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison.
And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
It says plainly that
--Satan does not deceive the nations for a thousand years,
--and then when the thousand years are expired he does deceive them.
**Now it seems rather incongruous to claim that the world will all be converted during the thousand years, only to be deceived by the devil.
--And he does deceive them, to that extent that he gathers them to battle against the City of God, and fire comes down out of Heaven and devours them.
Let us read the scripture on this: Revelation 20:1-3,7-9
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in His hand.
And He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled; and after that he must be loosed a little season.
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison.
And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
That is a straightforward story.
It needs no addition.It says plainly that
--Satan does not deceive the nations for a thousand years,
--and then when the thousand years are expired he does deceive them.
**Now it seems rather incongruous to claim that the world will all be converted during the thousand years, only to be deceived by the devil.
And this is the Millennium upon the earth.
The Saints during the Millennium
Q: But what of the righteous?
Q: What is their Millennium?
Q: Where are they during this thousand years?
In His resurrection from the dead, Christ was...
1 Corinthians 15:20 ...the first fruits of them that slept.
Matthew 27:52.53 ...many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
And came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
This resurrection of Christ and the saints was the antitype of the wave offering of “the first fruits” of the harvest, which, annually, on the 16th day of the 1st month, was waved before the Lord.
That wave sheaf of the first fruits offered to the Lord was a sample of the whole harvest.
Q: What is their Millennium?
Q: Where are they during this thousand years?
In His resurrection from the dead, Christ was...
1 Corinthians 15:20 ...the first fruits of them that slept.
Matthew 27:52.53 ...many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
And came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
This resurrection of Christ and the saints was the antitype of the wave offering of “the first fruits” of the harvest, which, annually, on the 16th day of the 1st month, was waved before the Lord.
That wave sheaf of the first fruits offered to the Lord was a sample of the whole harvest.
Accordingly, Christ and these saints rising from the dead, “the first fruits of them that slept,” as the antitype of that wave sheaf of the first fruits in the Levitical law, were a sample of the whole harvest of saints that should be gathered from all the earth, in all ages.
Accordingly it is written:
Revelation 20:4-6 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded. for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God,
and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands;
Accordingly it is written:
Revelation 20:4-6 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded. for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God,
--and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
--But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on 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.
Daniel 7:7-8 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
“Judgment was given unto them.”
Q: What judgment is this?
Bear in mind that the wicked are, at this time, in the thousand years, all dead. They have not been judged; their judgment is yet to come; for they “lived not again until the thousand years were finished.”
2 Corinthians 5:10 ...whether...good or bad. Every man is to be judged according to his works.
*And since God is not an arbitrary governor or judge, but governs only with the consent of the governed, the judgment that shall come upon each of the wicked must be such, and so well understood, that all, even the wicked themselves, will acknowledge the perfect justice of it.
*Therefore, the Lord, the righteous Judge, takes into His counsels concerning the final judgment all these who have been redeemed from the earth, who have been men among these other men who cannot be saved, who know all the circumstances among which these men lived, sinned, and rejected salvation.
*The Lord Jesus Himself came to this world and became a man, and lived thus among men, in order that He might be a righteous judge of those who must be lost, as well as a faithful high priest of all who shall be saved.
*And so it is written that not only the judgment is given to the saints, but: 1 Corinthians 6:2,3 Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?
Know you not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
This is true, because the angels that sinned, as well as wicked men, are reserved unto judgment. 2 Peter 2:4, 9; Jude 6-8.
And this judgment is given to the saints at the coming of the Lord; for it is written: 1 Corinthians 4:5 Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.
By the righteous the Millennium is spent in the presence of God, in company with Christ, in association with all the gladsome, heavenly host.
Daniel 7:7-8 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
“Judgment was given unto them.”
Q: What judgment is this?
Bear in mind that the wicked are, at this time, in the thousand years, all dead. They have not been judged; their judgment is yet to come; for they “lived not again until the thousand years were finished.”
2 Corinthians 5:10 ...whether...good or bad. Every man is to be judged according to his works.
*And since God is not an arbitrary governor or judge, but governs only with the consent of the governed, the judgment that shall come upon each of the wicked must be such, and so well understood, that all, even the wicked themselves, will acknowledge the perfect justice of it.
*Therefore, the Lord, the righteous Judge, takes into His counsels concerning the final judgment all these who have been redeemed from the earth, who have been men among these other men who cannot be saved, who know all the circumstances among which these men lived, sinned, and rejected salvation.
*The Lord Jesus Himself came to this world and became a man, and lived thus among men, in order that He might be a righteous judge of those who must be lost, as well as a faithful high priest of all who shall be saved.
*And so it is written that not only the judgment is given to the saints, but: 1 Corinthians 6:2,3 Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?
Know you not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
This is true, because the angels that sinned, as well as wicked men, are reserved unto judgment. 2 Peter 2:4, 9; Jude 6-8.
And this judgment is given to the saints at the coming of the Lord; for it is written: 1 Corinthians 4:5 Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.
By the righteous the Millennium is spent in the presence of God, in company with Christ, in association with all the gladsome, heavenly host.
They are priests of God and of Christ,
and reign with Him a thousand years.
The Closing Scenes
"Accordingly it is written of him that immediately when Satan is loosed, he goes...Revelation 20:8 ...out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.And this battle, into which, by his deception, he leads this multitude
to engage, is a battle against the camp of the saints and the beloved city, for:
Revelation 20:9 They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city.
They are enabled to do this because, it is declared that when the Lord Jesus comes, at the end of the thousand years: Zechariah 14:4,5 His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley…
...and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with you.
*Thus, the holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem, the camp of the saints, is brought down upon the earth at His coming to the judgment of the wicked.
And this is how it is that Satan can gather all the nations of the wicked, who have then been raised from the dead, against this camp of the saints and the beloved city. And how easy it will be for him to deceive them all in this, however much he has deceived them before!
*And now Satan and his armies are there, with his spirit reigning supreme, to seize their minds in this crisis and in this spirit of war, and to draw them up to battle against the camp of the saints and the beloved city.
*And now Satan and his armies are there, with his spirit reigning supreme, to seize their minds in this crisis and in this spirit of war, and to draw them up to battle against the camp of the saints and the beloved city.
*And thus, and at that time, the Son of man sits upon the throne of His glory, and before Him are “gathered all nations,” and they are separated one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats: the sheep—the righteous—are at “His right hand,” in the city, and the goats—the wicked—are at “His left hand,” outside the city.
And thus, by the direct action of Satan,
all the wicked,
with himself and his angels at their head,
stand in the presence of Christ,
for the execution of the judgment.
Revelation 20:11-13 And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell [margin: “the grave”] delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. These are all the wicked dead; for the righteous dead all lived a thousand years before.
---And mark: these are judged out of the things “written in the books;” not out of the things written in the book. These books are the records of their lives. The book of life is there as the witness
that they might have had their places in that book, and so might have had all the records in “the books” blotted out and have lived at the beginning of the thousand years and be reigning now with Christ. But they would not have their place in “the book of life,” and so they must now meet the record in “the books,” exactly as that record is, “according to their works.”
And now all the books are opened; and every soul of that vast throne, as it stands compassed about “the camp of the saints and the beloved city,” sees his life exactly as it was lived. He sees all the blessedness and the joy that he might have had.
And every soul of them, seeing all this, and, in the light of the judgment of the just Judge,—seeing that it is all just, every knee bows to Christ, and every tongue confesses to God that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Isaiah 65:17
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth:and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Revelation 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord your God in the midst of you is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over you with joy;
Q: How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him.
1 Kings 18:21
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell [margin: “the grave”] delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. These are all the wicked dead; for the righteous dead all lived a thousand years before.
---And mark: these are judged out of the things “written in the books;” not out of the things written in the book. These books are the records of their lives. The book of life is there as the witness
And now all the books are opened; and every soul of that vast throne, as it stands compassed about “the camp of the saints and the beloved city,” sees his life exactly as it was lived. He sees all the blessedness and the joy that he might have had.
And every soul of them, seeing all this, and, in the light of the judgment of the just Judge,—seeing that it is all just, every knee bows to Christ, and every tongue confesses to God that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Romans 14:11 For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. Philippians 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Thus, Psalm 22:29 All they that go down to the dust shall bow before Him...
Yet, as each one has chosen his way in spite of all that the Lord could possibly do...The Ending
And thus, is fulfilled the promise made of old: Isaiah 65:17
Revelation 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord your God in the midst of you is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over you with joy;
He will rest in His love,
He will joy over you with singing.
Ultimate Question on the Millennium
Q: Where will you spend the thousand years?Q: How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him.
1 Kings 18:21
Fable of a Temporal Millennium
"That the doctrine of the world’s conversion and a temporal millennium [the belief that the Millennium is before the 2nd Advent and all the world converts at the beginning of it] is a fable of these last days,
"That the doctrine of the world’s conversion and a temporal millennium [the belief that the Millennium is before the 2nd Advent and all the world converts at the beginning of it] is a fable of these last days,
---calculated to lull men into a state of carnal security, and cause them to be overtaken by the great day of the Lord as by a thief in the night (For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 1 Thessalonians 5:3);
---that the second coming of Christ is to precede, not follow, the millennium; for until the Lord appears, the papal power, with all its abominations, is to continue (And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: 2 Thessalonians 2:8). "
---that the second coming of Christ is to precede, not follow, the millennium; for until the Lord appears, the papal power, with all its abominations, is to continue (And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: 2 Thessalonians 2:8). "
SIDE NOTE: Those "Books"?
God's Microfilm: Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; [1] and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: [2] but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment with every secret thing, [3] whether it be good, or whether it be evil. Ecclesiastes 11:9/12:14
"Researchers said the new study shines a light on a most intriguing mental phenomenon which they coined "life review experience" (LRE) with memories flying back at them from all periods of their life.
Researchers said that the phenomenon could be caused by the parts
of the BRAIN that STORE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORIES. This suggests that a representation of life-events as a continuum exists in the cognitive system."
TheTelegraph
Q: Are those "books" (presented as "books" to the ancients) imprinted in every human? Does God just push "play" in your memory banks in the end and you see the points of your life?
