The Christ in Prophecy Journal

FHCO: Your Future in the Millennial Kingdom (Part 1)

Future Hope Conference Online

Your Future in the:
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Don Perkins

Don Perkins
Founder and Director
According to Prophecy Ministries

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The millennial reign of Christ — I love this teaching so much! As Christians every one of us will be a part of this event and we are going to see some beautiful things. At the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, when Christ will literally come back, the faithful throughout history who will be living in glorified bodies will come back with Jesus and go into His Millennial Kingdom, this 1,000 year reign of Christ.

Outline

What is the millennial reign? I like to define a subject first. We will then look at the order of events leading to Christ’s rule. Next, we will look at different views that are taught regarding this area. We will look at the promise of His reign, as well as the promise of the Saints reigning with Christ. We’ll see the living conditions of the Millennial Reign. And then, we will close up with the scriptural basis, actually looking at Revelation 20 for the Millennium.

Millennial Reign of Christ Defined

What is the Millennial Reign of Christ? First of all, I want to define the term “millennium,” because it is one of those words a lot of people may not understand. I do like the ABC’s of prophecy, and I like to define terms. So, the term “millennium” is taken from two Latin words: mille which means “1,000,” and anam which means “years.” When the words are combined the new word simply means “1,000 years.”

The Millennial reign of Christ is a 1,000 years literal reign. There are many people today who don’t really believe that Christ will physically come back to reign, but we are going to see that He must come back and He will reign. You might say, “Brother Perkins, I thought when Christ comes back He is going to rule forever.” Well, He will rule forever, but we’ve got to see that God has ordained a 1,000 year period in prophecy and that period will accomplish something in the program of God. It is going to be wonderful.

This period of time in which Jesus Christ will reign on the earth for 1,000 years is in fulfillment of many prophecies. During this rule of Christ, Satan will be bound and sealed in the Bottomless Pit, so he will have no influence on the earth to deceive mankind. I really love that part of prophecy, because during the Millennial Kingdom God is going to bind the Devil. Satan will be cast into a bottomless pit and there he will have no influence during the time of the Millennial Kingdom. Even though there will still be sin during the Millennium, Satan’s influence will not be there. A man that sins in the Millennium won’t be able to say, “The Devil made me do it.” The Devil won’t be around during that time, and I will tell you a little more about that in regards to why later.

At that time Jesus Christ will rule the entire world. He will be King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He will sit on the throne of King David ruling from Israel. We know that Christ came the first time and the Jews hailed Him as King. They threw the palm branches in front of Him. But, we know that Jesus never physically officiated as king and ruler on the throne of David. He never really sat on the throne of David. That is a physical prophecy that literally must come to pass, and Christ will fulfill that prophecy.

I want to quote Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost, in his book, Things to Come. Listen to what he says regarding the Millennial Reign of Christ:

“The millennial period will be a period of the full manifestation of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. There will be the manifestation of the glory associated with the humanity of Christ that will be the glorious dominion in which Christ by virtue of His obedience unto death is given full dominion to replace that dominion which Adam lost.”

That will be the glorious government in which Christ as David’s son is given absolute power to govern. That will be the glorious inheritance in which the land and the sea promised to Abraham are realized through Christ. This is going to be an awesome time, this Millennial Kingdom. Christ is going to literally rule and reign!I want to quote Dr. John Walvoord. Listen to what he says:

“Advocates of this view hold that the millennial period in which Christ will literally reign on the earth as a supreme political leader and that many promises of the Old Testament relating to a kingdom on earth in which Israel will be prominent and the Gentiles will be blessed will have complete and literal fulfillment because the distinctive character of this Millennial reign of Christ is maintained in contrast to the present age. This age is sometimes designated as a dispensational interpretation.”

In other words, it is a period of time that God has ordained in Scripture. This Millennial Kingdom is a 1,000 year government. This 1,000 year reign is when Christ will literally sit on the throne as the political leader. You know, we are living in a time now where we need true political leaders. The world today doesn’t really understand government. We know that because we have lawmakers that make laws that are contrary to God. We need true biblical leaders. At the time of the Millennial Kingdom, Jesus will sit on the Throne of David as the leader of the world. And, again, it is going to be a blessed event for the Redeemed.

Order of Events

Let’s now look at the order of events leading up to Jesus Christ’s rule. We will see some beautiful things.

God has a divine order from which the Tribulation transformers into the Millennium. The close of the Tribulation period will be the Second Coming of Christ. Here the Savior Jesus Christ will literally come back physically riding a white horse. Jesus rode into Jerusalem as king during His First Coming based upon Zechariah’s prophecy. He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. They declared Him King of Israel. They put the palms in front of Him. But, a few days later, they cried, “Give us Barabbas!” They killed Him. At that time Christ never officiated as king on the throne.

Many of the Jews at the time of Jesus’ First Coming really wanted Christ to take the throne. They wanted Jesus to be Lord and Conqueror, but He didn’t. He understood prophetic timing. As a matter of fact, in the Gospel of John chapter 6, there is an account where Jesus did some miracles. He performed the miracle of the fish and the five loaves. He feed the 5,000. The Scripture tells us down in verse 13 that when the people realized that Jesus was the Messiah and King, the Scripture says that Jesus perceived in His heart that the people would force Him to be King at that time. The Bible said that Jesus removed Himself because He realized that if he stayed there, those people would try to put Him on the throne, but it was not time yet. Though Jesus is King of Israel and was called to be King, there is a divine order for when that is going to happen. Jesus came first to die. He rode in lowly on a donkey. But, I want to say something, Saints, our Savior’s donkey riding days are over! He’s riding no more donkeys. When He comes back the next time, He is coming back as a man of war and He will literally reign upon the throne over the entire Earth.

As Jesus comes back at the Second Coming, it will produce an event called the Battle of Armageddon. This Battle of Armageddon will be an amazing battle because here Christ is literally taking authority. He is going to shake the earth! He is going to come as a man of war! The Scripture says that when Christ comes back at that time, He is coming back with fire in His eyes. The world has never seen Christ in this capacity. We look at Christ today and we think of Him as being Mary’s little baby. We only see Him in the manger. But, when Christ returns, we won’t see Him in this weakened capacity. He is coming back as a man of war to take authority over the Earth.

When Christ returns at the Second Coming, He is coming back with His administration. That is going to be everyone of us who was raptured. Those of us at the time who were raptured and glorified will go up to Christ, we will go to the judgment seat of Christ, we will go to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and as the food digests we will mount up on horse and then we will come back down to earth with Christ. But guess what, Saints? We glorified saints are literally coming with Christ to go into His administration. We will be in key positions of authority to help Christ govern the world.

Jesus is coming back with the glorified ones, and the glorified ones who are coming with Him will be like Him. We will literally judge like Him. The sin nature will no longer be a part of our being. So, at the Second Coming when Jesus comes back, we are going to come with Him and go into His government.

What I love so much about Christ coming back and setting up His government is that the world will worship Him. He will truly be King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The world will bow their knee to honor Jesus Christ as King. He will officially sit on the throne of His Father David. And, what else I love so much about this even is that we the righteous will be a part of this great event.

Different Millennial Views

I must give you some different views in regards to the Millennial Kingdom, because there are a number of views out there, and I want to give them to you just in case you may bump into some who don’t hold to a view of a Millennial Kingdom.

Amillennial View
The first one I want to give you is the Amillennial view. Let me define it for you. The Amillennial interpretation is a denial that there will be a 1,000 year reign of Christ after His return to earth. It is an Amillennial or non-millennial view because it denies such a literal reign of Christ on the earth. This view was developed in 400 AD by Saint Augustine and it was adopted by the Roman Catholic Church in 430 AD at the Council of Ephesus. It is called the Amillennial View meaning that there will not be a Millennial Reign. They don’t believe that Christ will physically return to planet Earth.

I am going to tell you this, if Christ does not physically come back to planet Earth, you might as well throw your Bible away because He will fulfill every jot and tittle. This is one reason why Jesus is coming back — to fulfill prophecy. As I shared earlier, Jesus fulfilled the first prophecies that brought Him to the cross. Well, there are future prophecies that are also about Jesus’ life, and He will fulfill them as well, and again we will witness that.

Post-Millennial View
The next view is called the Post-Millennial view. This view basically suggests that the world will get better and better until the whole world is Christianized, at which time Christ will return to a kingdom of peace. This view was originated by Daniel Whitby in 1638 to around 1726. He was a Unitarian in England. Although he was censored for some of his heretical views, many conservative theologians rapidly embraced and propagated his viewpoint on the Millennium.

Again, this view teaches that the world will basically get better and better. Many who hold to this view believe they can get into government and basically turn the world around and make it a better place. Well, I’ve got to tell you something, it won’t happen without Christ. God will not allow any man to have that kind of glory. As a matter of fact, the unstableness in the nation of Israel today is really by God’s design. The world cannot have true peace unless the Messiah sits on the throne of peace. Jesus’ return is the only way that peace will actually take place in the world. Christ must come back in order to stabilize that peace.

As a matter of fact, the Scriptures predict that the world is going to get worse before it gets better. We can’t make it better. Man has tried his humanistic way to bring in a utopia, but it never works. It never works. Mankind cannot create a lasting peace, so this Post-Millennial view is not a viable view.

In the next segment we’ll continue to look at the major views concerning the Millennial reign of Christ, starting with the Pre-Millennial view.

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Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

20 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • The article said "Many who hold to this view believe they can get into government and basically turn the world around and make it a better place. Well, I've got to tell you something, it won't happen without Christ. God will not allow any man to have that kind of glory."

    The part that caught my attention was "God will not allow any man to have that kind of glory."

    I'd say God doesn't have to do a thing to prevent that from happening. MAN could NEVER do anything to achieve such glory. Man could never create a world that gets better and better until it is perfect. All of human history is nothing but killing and wars and stealing and lying and cheating and evil and…….

  • Mitchell

    Re. Tuesday April 2nd 2011.

    I thought this was finished, as it had disappeared below the horizon when you resumed posting on the 25th April.
    I doubt rg has seen your belated comment to him?

    I have noticed this before, it is interesting that it appears to the casual reader that you have had the last word and thereby seemingly we have no argument to your position?

    Salvation is by God’s Grace through faith; not by works lest any man should boast! So no; I am certainly not implying Pre-Trib = Salvation.

    I AM saying that our Sanctification can be spoiled by faulty Eschatology; such as fearing the loss of Salvation by not recognising the FACT of Christ’s sufficiency, Sovereignty and His Character.

    As an amateur gardener, I learned the hard way that we cannot rid weeds from the garden by snipping off their new growth, as pruning actually invigorates these unwanted plants. Ivy, for instance; I now ignore the mass of top growth and go straight for the root, kill that and the rest dies without its aid to life.

    I don’t mean to be rude Mitchell, but that’s how I see all things Postie and Replacement Theology of ALL varieties. It’s the root that’s bad no matter how flowery and abundant the arguments are with the sap of self righteousness feeding the top growth.

    I am NOT being drawn into your P.D. / C.T. interpretation, the end result being Amillenniumism by another name.

    Sue

  • From Tuesday 12th April 2011.

    On the 25th of April Mitchell said “…What is the 'Character of God' that you find in Scripture that should, for all intents and purposes, have raptured millions of murdered Christians that have already died for the faith of Jesus this past decade?”

    I wasn’t going to bother answering this lame question; but I have changed my mind.

    God’s character is such that He say’s what He means and He means what He says.

    Jesus said “…In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”. John16:33.

    Paul said “…For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,…” 1Thess5:9.

    Unless one bothered to ‘search the Scriptures’ for a distinction between these two verses, some would argue that God’s Word was contradictory. You know as well as I do, that is not the case, so why have you laboured over such a wordy challenge, when you know the answer as well as the rest of us here?

    Sue

  • The REAL issue in Mitchell's post is NOT that God didn't rapture millions of murdered Christians. It's that he, as a "postie", is afraid that the Rapture IS going to occur BEFORE the Tribulation, thereby robbing him of his chance at self glorification when he is bravely martyred in the Tribulation. That's what he is all about. He wants to be glorified as a martyr.

  • Let me clarify that my previous post isn't specifically about Mitchell, it is, in general, the perception that I have of "posties". They seem to WANT to go through the Tribulation for some inconceivable reason. No one should WANT to go through it. So why would one if they could? Self glorification would seem to be the only reason I could imagine from their perspective.

  • Billy

    I agree with your observation!

    'My' Postie insists it isn't true, he doesn't want to go through it and hopes Pre-trib is right. Yet his/their ongoing attitude doesn't support this.

    There is ALWAYS this superior air that they are more than ready to go through the Trib for a variety of reasons that contradict Scripture. e.g. To preach the Gospel – not recognising that it will be the gospel of the kingdom that will be preached by the two witnesses, the 144,000 and the Gospel angel.

    In the end it boils down to their stubborn self-righteousness refusing to accept they have had it wrong. As a result, they keep digging at the Postie 'hole' as it gets deeper and deeper. No matter how much Scriptural evidence is provided, they refuse to give way to their pride, preferring it to THE TRUTH.

    If only they would honestly admit to themselves the doubt, say 'I don't know' and ask The Lord to show them the truth.

    God bless

    Sue

  • I think another reason some people fervently hope believers go through the tribulation is for the purpose of making believers "worthy."

    But what they fail to understand is that nothing WE do will ever make us worthy. That's works-based salvation!

    Thank God for Christ for He has made us righteous, holy, and blameless. We deserve to go to hell, but God has not given us what we deserve (that's mercy); in fact, He's given us much more than we deserve (and that's grace)!

  • Laura,

    Glad to hear from you – was hoping you were still around (or could be I just missed some of your previous postings).

    Anyway, I agree with all you said. More good points.

  • Well said, Laura! Isn't it interesting that those who want the Church to suffer through the Tribulation seem to think the Church has it coming? I wonder if their anger derives from some bad dealing with a church or some mishap with another Christian.

    Wanting the Church to "pay" is rather hypocritical when we ponder over it, for we all hurt someone accidently at some point, and there's probably someone out there who wishes we burned for awhile!

  • Hi, Billy. Yes, I'm still around, and I pop in every now and then as I have time.

    Good point, Nathan. I didn't think of anger towards believers as a reason, but that's certainly a possibility–and a sad one.

    Hi, Sue. It's always good to read your posts.

    You know, it's a constant battle to make Christianity NOT all about us, isn't it? And putting self front and center can be so darn subtle–our obsessive self-analysis about sin comes to mind!

    I myself fall into the it's-all-about-me trap WAY too often. God, save me from myself (Oh, yeah, You already have–that's why we were crucified, buried, and resurrected with Christ)!! Sometimes I forget.

  • Dearest Laura

    We are all in the same battle against our old sin nature.

    1John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
    Vs10.If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
    Thank God for vs. 9 sandwiched in between “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

    Jesus has started this good work in each of us, and He WILL bring it to fruition when He presents us faultless to the Father.

    Trust Him.

    ((( BIG HUG)))

    Sue
    x

  • First of all, I'm not saying we don't sin anymore. Of course we still struggle with sin. My point is that we FOCUS on our sin way too much. We have not taken to heart the fact that Christ has dealt with ALL of our sins once for all according to Hebrews!

    Secondly, I disagree with you that we still have a "sin nature." In fact, the NIV, with all it's faults, is the only version of the Bible that translates "flesh" as "sin nature," and in their latest version, they have changed "sin nature" in most places back to "flesh"!

    When you say we still have a sin nature, you are saying that when God made you a new creation, He flubbed it up: He couldn't create anything better than the result of Adam's screw-up in the garden. You're saying God REmade you into a sinful person! So why bother remaking you to begin with since you were already a sinful person!

    We are new creations in Christ Jesus, yes? That means at our core, we are holy, righteous, blameless, acceptable, accepted SAINTS. How else could our spirits be joined to God's holy, righteous Spirit? In God's eyes, there are two types of people: those who are IN Adam (unsaved) and those who are IN Christ (believers). So our identity is based on who we are IN!

    And finally, I don't believe 1 John 1:9 is for Christians. John is writing to a mixed group of people–believers and unbelievers. He is addressing unbelievers in 1 John 1:9. Because if he's not, we're all in a heap of trouble! Notice how 1 John 1:9 is conditional: IF we confess, God will forgive us and cleanse us. If this is true, then the opposite is also true: If we don't confess, God will not forgive us nor cleanse us. So let me ask you, if this verse is for Christians, have you confessed ALL of your sins? What about the ones you don't even know you've committed? Have you confessed those, too? What if you missed one? If so, you're DOOMED to hell!

    No, this verse cannot be for believers. If it were for believers, then we would not have ANY assurance of our salvation. On the contrary, though, notice how God says he will cleanse us of ALL unrighteousness. All means all, right? That's unrighteousness past, present, and future, right? Hey, wait: That sounds like what happens to us at salvation! And so it is. This verse is directed at nonbelievers in the congregation who need to come to Christ!

    Also note that all other verses after Christ's resurrection say that we HAVE BEEN (past tense) forgiven. You know as well as I do that you have to cross reference Scripture and you can't focus on one verse alone, so how do you deal with these other verses that say we are already forgiven and that Christ has dealt with all our sins?

    By the way, I've spent way too many years being sin focused, and it didn't help me stop sinning one bit! In fact, my sin focus had the exact opposite effect (more sinning)! From now until I go home, I'm going to focus on Christ. After all, He's much more worth looking at!

  • Finally I can respond (was having trouble posting).

    We DO still have a sin nature. We are STILL in the flesh and this flesh will either die or be transformed. But until then, we are still sinners, forgiven yes, but still sinners.

    Christians tend to foucs on their sin because when we sin it causes guilt and remorse. This is okay. We KNOW we are forgiven but that doesn't mean we don't feel sorry for what we have done. That's part of repenting. Though we don't go through this repenting process for every sin, we do on the sins that cause us guilt, usually because we've messed up big time. (BTW, I agree you don't have to ask forgiveness for every sin – we are forgiven of all sin, past, present and future). As long as I sin in the flesh, I will feel guilty at times and feel the need to ask for forgiveness. I am always so sorry when I sin because I feel I've disappointed God. Guilt, remorse, repentance, forgivness is a natural process for the Christian trapped in a mortal body awaiting the day we die or are raptured and our sin nature is at last taken away.

  • BTW again, I am not saying you HAVE to feel guilt, remorse and ask for forgiveness. We ARE forgiven of our sin. It is NOT anything WE do but ONLY the blood of Christ that forgives us. I do understand this.

  • Hello Laura

    Your Quote “…I don't believe 1 John 1:9 is for Christians. John is writing to a mixed group of people–believers and unbelievers. He is addressing unbelievers in 1 John 1:9”…

    If we were to follow your logic, then the Apostle John is also an UN-believer.

    Exegesis reveals the personal pronouns John uses as he clearly includes himself in all his cautions to believers. For example (and there are many) vs 6 – 8. “ If ‘WE’ say that ‘WE’ have FELLOWSHIP with Him, and walk in darkness, ‘WE’ lie and do not practise (APPLY) the truth.

    The Apostle John, as well as Paul, was just as capable of walking in darkness, and the need to repent of PERSONAL sins, just like the rest of us. Its important to know the background of this ‘Epistle’, which is like James and is not a formal letter at all (no address) but a Bible Study to believers, first delivered as an oratory, and only penned later in a spontaneous un-structured form.

    So I am glad to declare that the Biblically correct interpretation of 1John1 means that I am not ‘doomed to hell’ as you morbidly assert, because this text IS to BELIEVERS, with not a un-believer in sight. The context concerns a believers SANCTIFICATION and his FELLOWSHIP with God; salvation is not the issue; rather it’s a warning against the carnality resident in every believer.

    A few of the many Scriptures that support 1John9 are in John 15; Galatians, Ephesians, 1 Cor.2 …

    Billy
    I agree with you! Rome's teaching on Penance has become confused with Repentance; a simple 'change of mind'. The Bible isn't concerned about FEELINGS of guilt – a thief may steal and feel no guilt, he is non-the-less guilty; and heavens court judges us definitely guilty, whether we FEEL guilty or not.

    But we are JUSTIFIED – declared to have the righteousness of Christ. He is our substitute, He takes our sin and imputes to us His righteousness. That doesn't mean we have stopped from being sinners, but Jesus has paid the price for EVERY sin – so sin is no longer the issue – FAITH is.

    Praise the Lord!
    Sue

  • The following statement was taken from prewrath author Heidi Nigro's site. I believe it's an excerpt from her book.

    “When Jesus returns, He is coming back for a Bride “without spot or wrinkle” (Eph. 5:27). Can we truly say that if He returned today, the entire body of believers could be described as “without spot”? The seals are a time of refinement by fire so that the Bride may be presented blameless before Him. While the Church may be positionally righteous before God, this is a far cry from being without spot.”

    So there you have it. Pity those who miss the tribulation and the cleansing process.

    rg

  • Hello rg 🙂

    "…The seals are a time of refinement by fire so that the Bride may be presented blameless before Him.”

    IF – and it isn’t – true; what about the ‘dead in Christ’?

    They are as much a part of the Bride as the living are. Come to think of it, the dead in Christ are the biggest part of the Bride. So if ‘she’ requires further refinement, then the dead in Christ also need to be further refined along with the living.

    This means there has to be a resurrection of the ‘dead’ Bride back into their OLD physical bodies, so that they could suffer a bit more. That, of course would include ALL the martyrs through the ages, as well as ALL the Apostles.

    This teaching also means that the suffering of Christ was insufficient and He was a liar when He said “it is finished”.

    Yet Heidi thingy supposedly recognises our POSITION in Christ. It would seem to be just a word to her, as she sure as eggs is eggs doesn’t grasp the CONCEPT.

    1John 3:2 Beloved, NOW are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

    Just to be clear, the Greek verb ‘esmen’ translated ‘are we’ is PRESENT tense, which is why the English enforces it with NOW.

    Sue

  • You nailed it, Sue!

    Is everyone from ages past (including OT saints) going to have to go through some special refining process?

    Here's another one – how is everyone going to be refined all at the same time so the rapture can occur? We wouldn't want to Leave anyone Behind.

    Or this one – does this mean we should be seeking out the persecution during the trib just to get the refinement happening? no hiding in the woods?

    I spent a lot of time reading Heidi's stuff and the contradictions gave me a headache.

    rg

  • Rg

    That’s what I would call devotion to spiritual masochism!

    BUT somebody has to keep on top of all this twisted reasoning otherwise there would be no one to warn of the error. Then at the Bema when The Lord says ‘you said WHAT’? They can’t say they weren’t warned!

    So well done you! If my blood pressure steadies, I may take a peek?

    God bless.
    Sue
    x

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