Doctrine #14: The Millennial Reign of Christ

The Lord will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore. [Isaiah 2:4]

After the Blessed Hope (The Rapture) is the 1,000-year reign of Jesus after the tribulation and before the Great White Throne Judgment of the wicked.

This is considered the second return of Christ, which this time will be visible. Jesus will return with us (the believers that were raptured) and we will reign with him on this earth for those 1000 years.

We are going to review the benefits of sound doctrine, then we are going to read scriptures that outline the reasons for the 1000-year Millennial Reign. I’m not going to add too much commentary because I can get sidetracked really easily when we are talking about prophetic messages. So, will do my very best to stay focused on our goal of establishing the biblical doctrine for the 1000-year Millennial Reign.

Benefits of Sound Doctrine

1. Sound doctrine gives us hope and a bright future!
2. Sound doctrine proves who is really in control.
3. Sound doctrine provides comfort and peace when all hell is breaking loose.
4. Sound doctrine shows us ALL of God’s promises since the beginning of time, for current times, and in the future.
5. Sound doctrine provides healing from sickness and disease.
6. Sound doctrine gives you the ability to have a relationship with God All Mighty.
7. Sound doctrine equips you to do what you are called to do.
8. Sound doctrine baffles the devil, he doesn’t know what to do with it.
9. Sound doctrine will give you the ability to trust in the Holy Spirit leading.
10. Sound doctrine will prevent you from straying from the Lord.
11. Sound doctrine gives you a deep sense of awe for God.
12. Sound doctrine gives you a reverential fear of the Lord.
13. Sound doctrine is imperative for all believers in these last days.
14. Sound doctrine will cause you to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
15. Sound doctrine will produce a church that allows the Holy Spirit to lead.
16. Sound doctrine will provide power and supernatural workings of the Holy Spirit.
17. Sound doctrine provides a life of peace, prosperity, and purpose.
18. Sound doctrine gives you a solid foundation for everything in your life.
19. Sound doctrine prevents you from living in fear and anxiety.
20. Sound doctrine will give you boldness in the Holy Spirit.
21. Sound doctrine will give you the ability to be a living sacrifice.
22. Sound doctrine will help prevent you from receiving the antichrist spirit.
23. Sound doctrine gives you discernment about heaven and hell.
24. Sound doctrine will allow you to live a holy life.
25. Sound doctrine will keep you from falling away from the faith.
26. Sound doctrine will prevent you from being deceived.
27. Sound doctrine will help you from going insane in this crazy world.
28. Sound doctrine will help you to STAND FIRM.

During the millennium, Jesus will reign as king over Israel and all the nations of the world. The world will live in peace. Satan will be bound, and, at the beginning, everyone will worship.

The purpose of the 1,000-year reign is to fulfill various promises God made to the world. Some of these promises, called covenants, were given specifically to Israel. These covenants include the Abrahamic Covenant, the Land Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant. Others were given to Jesus, the nations of the world, and us. The 1,000-year reign will be a time when promises are fulfilled.

THE LORD’S CHOSEN SERVANT

Look at my servant, whom I strengthen. He is my chosen one, who pleases me. I have put my Spirit upon him. He will bring justice to the nations. [Isaiah 42:1]

THE LORD WILL RULE THE EARTH (ZECHARIAH 14)

Watch, for the day of the Lord is coming when your possessions will be plundered right in front of you! I will gather all the nations to fight against Jerusalem. The city will be taken, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the population will be taken into captivity, and the rest will be left among the ruins of the city.

Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south. You will flee through this valley, for it will reach across to Azal. Yes, you will flee as you did from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all his holy ones with him.

On that day the sources of light will no longer shine, yet there will be continuous day! Only the Lord knows how this could happen. There will be no normal day and night, for at evening time it will still be light.

On that day life-giving waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half toward the Dead Sea and half toward the Mediterranean, flowing continuously in both summer and winter.

And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one Lord—his name alone will be worshiped.

All the land from Geba, north of Judah, to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become one vast plain. But Jerusalem will be raised up in its original place and will be inhabited all the way from the Benjamin Gate over to the site of the old gate, then to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. And Jerusalem will be filled, safe at last, never again to be cursed and destroyed.

And the Lord will send a plague on all the nations that fought against Jerusalem. Their people will become like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away. Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.

On that day they will be terrified, stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will fight their neighbors hand to hand. Judah, too, will be fighting at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the neighboring nations will be captured—great quantities of gold and silver and fine clothing. his same plague will strike the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the other animals in the enemy camps.

In the end, the enemies of Jerusalem who survive the plague will go up to Jerusalem each year to worship the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and to celebrate the Festival of Shelters. Any nation in the world that refuses to come to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, will have no rain.

If the people of Egypt refuse to attend the festival, the Lord will punish them with the same plague that he sends on the other nations who refuse to go. Egypt and the other nations will all be punished if they don’t go to celebrate the Festival of Shelters.

On that day even the harness bells of the horses will be inscribed with these words: Holy to the lord. And the cooking pots in the Temple of the Lord will be as sacred as the basins used beside the altar. In fact, every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. All who come to worship will be free to use any of these pots to boil their sacrifices. And on that day there will no longer be traders in the Temple of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. [Zechariah 14:1-21]

THE THOUSAND YEARS

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. He seized the dragon—that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years. The angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. Afterward he must be released for a little while.

Then I saw thrones, and the people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and for proclaiming the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They all came to life again, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

This is the first resurrection. (The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years had ended.) Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years. [Revelation 20:1-6]

REWARD FOR THE FAITHFUL

But in the end, the holy people of the Most High will be given the kingdom, and they will rule forever and ever. [Daniel 7:18]

until the Ancient One—the Most High—came and judged in favor of his holy people. Then the time arrived for the holy people to take over the kingdom. [Daniel 7:22]

THE WOLF AND THE LAMB LIE TOGETHER

He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment.

In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. the calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all.

The cow will graze near the bear. The cub and the calf will lie down together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm.

Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord. [Isaiah 11:4-9]

ALL PEOPLE WILL WORSHIP THE LORD

In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. People from many nations will come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem. [Isaiah 2:2-3]

ALL OF ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED

I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ. And so all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say, The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins. [Romans 11:25-27]

THE LORD WILL BE ISRAEL’S SHEPHERD

For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search and find my sheep. I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day. I will bring them back home to their own land of Israel from among the peoples and nations. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel and by the rivers and in all the places where people live. Yes, I will give them good pastureland on the high hills of Israel. There they will lie down in pleasant places and feed in the lush pastures of the hills. I myself will tend my sheep and give them a place to lie down in peace, says the Sovereign Lord. [Ezekiel 34:11-15]

ISRAEL’S ULTIMATE DELIVERANCE

Justice will rule in the wilderness and righteousness in the fertile field. And this righteousness will bring peace. Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in safety, quietly at home. They will be at rest. Even if the forest should be destroyed and the city torn down, the Lord will greatly bless his people. Wherever they plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up. Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely. [Isaiah 32:16-20]

ESTABLISHMENT OF UNIVERSAL PEACE

The Lord will mediate between peoples and will settle disputes between strong nations far away. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation,  nor train for war anymore. Everyone will live in peace and prosperity, enjoying their own grapevines and fig trees, for there will be nothing to fear. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has made this promise! Though the nations around us follow their idols, we will follow the Lord our God forever and ever. [Micah 4:3-5]

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.
[1 Corinthians 16:13]