He Remains ON THE EARTH
When Jesus returns to earth, the saints will be with Him — they will "ever be with the Lord." He comes in the clouds of this earth's atmosphere wherein they meet Him and then accompany Him to this earth. That is where the saints shall be.
But some contend that Christians return to heaven immediately. The Bible nowhere teaches any such doctrine. Continue reading what Zechariah wrote.
"And it shall be in that day {notice, it is still the same day, not seven years or a thousand years later], that living waters [salvation] shall go out from Jerusalem . . . in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be king over ALL THE EARTH . . . and the land shall be turned as a plain . . . AND INHABITED . . . And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited" (Zechariah 14:8-11). Here is the promise of the coming Utopia.
In the day that Christ returns, not a thousand years later, but in that very day, when the nations that battled against Jerusalem are subdued, the land shall be inhabited and MEN SHALL LIVE THERE. And the Gentile nations, after their entire armies have been destroyed (Zech. 14:12-15), shall come to serve Jesus Christ. "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles" (Zech. 14:16).
The people that shall be left are going to worship the Lord year by year in Jerusalem, which is on this earth, not in heaven. The Lord shall be King over all the earth (Zech. 14:9). The next verses show Him punishing nations for disobedience. The saints are also going to judge and correct the nations as they sit with Jesus on His throne.
None of these events can occur before the thousand years, and none can occur in heaven because there are no disobedient nations there.
Neither will disobedient nations be in the New Earth after the millennium. Therefore these events must happen DURING THE MILLENNIUM AND ON THIS EARTH. These are the plain statements of Scripture.
The Earth Is Not to Be Desolate
In the book of Isaiah, chapter 24, are verses which some seize upon in a feeble effort to contradict the Gospel and the plain statements of Scripture. The time setting of this chapter is just prior to the beginning of the millennium period. The first verse is often quoted as: "Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down . . ."
Just quoting this much, one is left with the impression that there are no inhabitants on the earth, that the millennium will be a period of complete desolation. But why not quote the whole verse? What does God mean by the earth being made empty? Did He mean that there are no inhabitants?
NOT AT ALL! Let's not stop at this verse, as some denominations do, but continue reading this entire chapter.
What will God do? He "scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest, as with the servant, so with the master . . . The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled . . . The haughty people of the earth do languish . . . They that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and FEW MEN LEFT."
Read this entire twenty-fourth chapter of Isaiah. It shows the punishments to be meted out on this earth just prior to the beginning of the thousand years — the complete destruction of civilization and "few men left."
A Utopia can come only when international gangsters in high offices are removed from their seats of power, when their armies are wiped out and when the immediate problems of overpopulation are eradicated.
Remember also what Zechariah said about those who shall be left. They shall go up to Jerusalem from year to year and worship the Eternal who shall be King over all the earth. Isaiah says that those few who are left "shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord [Isa. 24:14] . . . when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem" (verse 23). Yes, Christ will reign on earth from Jerusalem, not heaven, and there will be inhabitants who shall REPOPULATE the earth.
Again Jeremiah 4:23-31 is also lifted out of its context and misapplied to the thousand years. If you will study Jeremiah from the beginning you will notice that these verses are NOT referring to the thousand years. The prophet warns Judah that Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is coming "to make
THY LAND DESOLATE; and THY CITIES shall be laid waste without an inhabitant" (verse 7). This is speaking of Judah, not the whole earth. The "WHOLE LAND SHALL BE DESOLATE; YET WILL I NOT MAKE A FULL END" (verse 27).
The same word in the original Hebrew is often used to mean either "earth" or "land." It actually should be translated "land" in verse twenty-three, because God is speaking of the land of Judah. It shows, too, that there are Gentiles still on the earth who will not be allowed by God to make a full end of Judah, even though they desolate the land completely. Verse twenty-nine shows that not a man shall dwell in the cities. Why? Because there are no human beings on the earth? No! But because whole cities shall flee before the horsemen of the Gentiles.
This prophecy is NOT referring to the millennium.
Together with these two misquoted texts, people who hate God's Utopia turn to II Thessalonians 1:8 and 2:8.
The first of these verses is speaking of angels who will take vengeance on those that know not God and obey not the Gospel. It is assumed that this text says that all people will be destroyed, but it doesn't say that. It is only those who refuse to obey that will perish. But there will be many other Gentiles who shall repent of their wrong ways and admit that their "fathers have inherited lies" (Jer. 16:19).
The other verse often mentioned (II Thess. 2:8) nowhere speaks of ALL THE WICKED. It mentions "THAT WICKED" whom Christ shall destroy, "even HIM, whose coming is after the working of Satan" (verse 9). So it is not all wicked people but one specific individual that is to be destroyed. This wicked one is that false prophet whose destruction is described in Revelation 19:20.
None of the preceding texts describes an earth without inhabitants for a thousand years. But some people just don't want to believe the plain statements in God's Word!
WHAT Will the Millennium Be Like?
Isaiah 11 tells us of the millennium. The Gentiles are going to seek God (verse 10) and Israel and Judah are going to be gathered THE SECOND TIME from the heathen nations (verse 11). This could not be speaking of any "spiritual Israel." The last verses in this chapter speak of men crossing rivers and highways as they leave the Gentile nations and return the second time to the land of promise.
This is the time spoken of by Paul. "Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins" (Romans 11:25-27).
Here is GOOD NEWS! Here is part of the Gospel message. Blindness is happened to Israel, not forever, but until the full number of Gentiles who are to be converted in this age comes into the Kingdom. Then Israel shall be forgiven and the vast majority of Gentiles shall seek God.
Returning to Isaiah 11, verse 4: Christ "shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." At this very time when He is punishing the wicked and "reproving with equity the meek of the earth" — at this very time, notice it — "the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid . . . and a little child shall lead them. . . . And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' {adder's) den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:6-9).
This is a real Utopia.
This can't be in heaven. There are no wicked human beings in heaven. Children are not being suckled and weaned in heaven.
AND THIS CAN'T BE IN THE NEW EARTH BECAUSE THERE WILL BE NO WICKED PERSONS THERE (Rev. 21:1-4).
These events must occur on this earth during the millennium. It can't happen in heaven, nor in the New Earth, nor during this age before the millennium begins. Who is going to tame wild, carnivorous animals to eat straw like the ox before the 1000 years? This prophecy is for the millennium!
Isaiah 35 contains other descriptions of the reign of Christ and His saints for the thousand years. In the preceding chapter the destruction of this present world's civilization is depicted as a bloody catastrophe, but thanks to God, the world won't long be in the throes of destruction. For the wilderness shall blossom as the rose, the blind will see and the lame shall walk, because Christ is going to heal the afflicted just as He did in His ministry nineteen hundred years ago.
This is what the millennium will be like. What a wonderful world! And each of us can have a part in making the glorious age to come possible. This is the message of the Gospel which Jesus preached — the Kingdom of God.
Satan to Be Bound
The Bible teaches that the millennium is the reign of the Kingdom of God ON THIS EARTH — the millennium is not the Kingdom, it is merely the first thousand years' reign of that Kingdom on this earth. Yet some people try to tell you that during the millennium Satan will be bound by circumstances — supposedly there will be no human beings alive for him to tempt! The Bible says no such thing. Satan is taken from the people and bound LEST he should deceive the nations. If there were no nations to deceive, he would not have to be BOUND AND SHUT UP IN A PLACE OF RESTRAINT (Rev. 20:1-3).
When Satan and his demons are restrained from their work of deception, the earth shall at last have its millennial "Sabbath of rest." The resurrected saints will judge the world with Christ, and all nations shall have peace because they will for the first time be following that Law which "shall go forth out of Zion."
Will the Dead Be Resurrected During the Millennium?
Some know that the millennium will occur on this earth. But they teach that there will be resurrections during the entire period. Is this true?
They have on occasion claimed that Revelation 20:5 is not a part of the Bible. This verse says: "BUT THE REST OF THE DEAD LIVED NOT AGAIN UNTIL THE THOUSAND YEARS WERE FINISHED."
This text belongs in the Bible. It is found in the overwhelming majority of Greek manuscripts. It is important that we do not reject this verse. Jesus said: "And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life" (Rev. 22:19).
It is after the millennium (Rev. 20:11-15) that the rest of the dead are raised. If they were raised from their graves during the millennium, there would be no need of a time of resurrection after the thousand years.
Yes, a Utopia is coming — the wonderful World of Tomorrow is just around the corner. You can be there and help make it possible if you yield NOW your life to God and OBEY Him!
What a glorious age that will be!