Living a Thousand Years

Living a Thousand Years

One of the most beautiful words in the colorful language of the Middle East is shalom, or salaam, meaning "peace." We sometimes hear it in the friendly greeting, Shalom aleichem, meaning "Peace be unto you."

Millions today long for peace.

Our heavenly Father assures us that His thoughts toward us are "of peace, and not of evil." Jeremiah 29:11.

The Bible predicts a new world order where peace will reign for all people.

"The meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace."—Psalm 37:11.

But when will the promise of world peace be realized?

Before the outbreak of World War I the nations had built the Peace Palace in The Hague in Holland. Voices everywhere were claiming world peace forever. Then came the thunder of the guns.

Before World War II, prophets of peace declared that world business would not permit another world war. But even the League of Nations was unable to maintain world peace. And the bombs began exploding.

Then came peace and the United Nations. The great powers declared their desire to "beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks," and through the gateway of politics and international agreements, to bring in the golden age when—

"Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."—Micah 4:3.

But, despite all this, Korea, Viet Nam, and the Middle East have darkened the sky, and the shadow of nuclear war looms over the world today. Let us say right here that world peace is nothing but an illusive dream as long as greed, hate, lust of power, and what the Bible calls "sin" exist in the hearts of men. Until these evil passions are uprooted, the millennium, a word which has become a synonym for a thousand years of peace, will be only a dream. The Scriptures declare:

"There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."—Isaiah 57:21.

God can never say Shalom aleichem—"Peace be unto thee"—to the men of this world until their hearts are turned to Him. Nowhere in the Holy Bible do we find a promise that all the world will turn to God, or that all mankind will become righteous and therefore peaceful. Just the opposite—the Scriptures declare that two classes of people, the righteous and the wicked, will be living on this earth up to the very end of time at the second coming of Christ. In Matthew 13 these two classes are represented as the wheat and the tares, or weeds, which grow together until the "harvest" which is "the end of the world." Verses 30, 39.

What will happen to the righteous who will be living when Christ comes in power and great glory? What will happen to the wicked who will be living at that time? What about the countless millions of the dead, both righteous and wicked, of ages past? What will be their destiny when Christ returns?

1. WHAT HAPPENS TO THE RIGHTEOUS LIVING?

What about the righteous, the followers of Christ, who are alive at His second coming?

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and . . . we which are alive and remain shall be caught up . . . in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."—1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17.

What a vivid scene the coming of Jesus will be when He returns with all His holy angels in the clouds of heaven! The saved will be taken by holy angels to meet Jesus in the clouds.

Remember how Jesus has promised in John 14:1-3 that He will come again and receive His people to Himself, that where He dwells, they also might live? That promise will be fulfilled at this time.

After Jesus comes, we find the saved around the throne of God in heaven.

"And after these things I heard a great voice of MUCH PEOPLE IN HEAVEN, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God."—Revelation 19:1.

2. WHAT HAPPENS TO THE RIGHTEOUS DEAD?

Will righteous men and women who are asleep in Jesus remain in the grave while their living friends are enjoying the presence of Jesus in heaven?

"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but WE SHALL ALL BE CHANGED, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and THE DEAD SHALL BE RAISED incorruptible, and we shall be changed."—1 Corinthians 15:51, 52.

"This corruptible must put on incorruption, and THIS MORTAL MUST PUT ON IMMORTALITY. . . . Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."—Verses 53, 54.

The righteous dead will be raised immortal, no longer subject to death. At the same time, the righteous living will be changed to immortality. Together they will ascend to the presence of the Lord.

This change will take place we are told "in a moment"—or, as the original language puts it: en atomo, "or in an atom." As fast as the flash of an atomic explosion, this change will take place and all God's redeemed will appear in the beauty of the Lord. And the saved of all ages will be taken to heaven together.

"THE DEAD IN CHRIST SHALL RISE FIRST: THEN WE WHICH ARE ALIVE and remain SHALL BE CAUGHT UP TOGETHER WITH THEM . . . to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."—1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17.

Think of that reunion of loved ones and friends long parted by death! Those faithful ones who have been taken from us when death broke the family circle will then come forth clothed in immortality. "Wherefore, comfort one another with these words." Verse 18.

3. WHAT HAPPENS TO THE WICKED LIVING?

We have considered the destiny of God's people when Jesus comes a second time. Now what about the fate of the wicked? How different their destiny will be—those who have despised or neglected God's Word and truth!

From the beginning of the world, the Lord has never ceased to plead with the rebellious human heart. He pleads:

"Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?"—Ezekiel 33:11.

But millions have turned a deaf ear to such pleas. God Himself says:

"I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof."—Proverbs 1:24, 25.

John the revelator describes the reaction of the wicked when Jesus comes:

"And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and SAID TO THE MOUNTAINS AND ROCKS, FALL ON US, AND HIDE US FROM THE FACE OF HIM THAT SITTETH ON THE THRONE, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"—Revelation 6:14-17.

The wicked do not want to see Christ coming in glory, for they do not love Him. So they beg for the rocks and mountains to hide them from His face.

At the second coming of Christ the wicked then living will be slain by the brightness of His appearing.

"But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed."—Luke 17:29, 30.

No one will be left on earth to lament or bury them, as we read in Jeremiah 25:31, 33:

"A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord. . . . And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground."

4. LIVING WITH CHRIST 1,000 YEARS

Look now at what happens to the righteous after Jesus comes. We have seen that the righteous dead come forth at the second coming of Christ, to enter heaven with the living righteous who have never tasted death. Heaven will be their home, for this old world will be unfit for habitation at that time.

The raising of the righteous dead is spoken of in the Bible as the first resurrection.

"Blessed and HOLY is he that hath part in the FIRST RESURRECTION: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, AND SHALL REIGN WITH HIM A THOUSAND YEARS."—Revelation 20:6.

This thousand-year period is often erroneously spoken of by men as a time of world peace when there will be no more wars and everyone will be happy here on earth. But the Bible does not teach this. Instead we have Christ's promise that He is preparing a place for us in His Father's house.

"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."—John 14:2, 3.

In Acts 1:9-11 we find that Jesus went to heaven to do this work of preparation, and the apostle Paul spoke of the day when we too would ascend to meet the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17.)

When the righteous dead are raised, they with the living righteous people will return with their Saviour to His Father's house.

What will Christ's holy people be doing in heaven during this one-thousand-year period?

"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 worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."—Revelation 20:4.

So the saved will have a part with the Lord in the judgment. In 1 Corinthians 6:2, 3, we are told that they will judge the world. As a result they will fully understand why some of their friends and relatives, even some professedly religious people, are not among God's children at last. They will see that all God's ways with sinful men have been just and right. Evil will never rise up again after this judgment has been concluded and its decrees executed.

"What do ye imagine against the Lord? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time."—Nahum 1:9.

5. THE DEVIL IN CHAINS

The condition of the earth after the second coming of Christ is dramatically described in the symbolic words of Revelation 20:1-3. Here a mighty angel is said to come from heaven with the key of the bottomless pit in his hand. He lays hold on the dragon, the old serpent, called the Devil and Satan. Now notice the next words:

"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."—Verses 2, 3.

The expression "bottomless pit" used here is the same term used in Genesis 1:2 to describe the earth as it was in the beginning, when the earth "was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." In fact, this term "deep" is translated "bottomless pit" in the Septuagint, or Greek translation of the Old Testament.

The earth is left without an inhabitant during the one thousand years. The wicked are all dead; the righteous are all in heaven. Satan and his angels are left in this empty world to think over all the havoc they have caused through the centuries.

No wonder we read that Satan is bound. Satan is left on this ruined earth without any human being under his control. We often hear people use the figurative expression, "My hands are tied; I can't do a thing." There are no strings around their hands, but we know what they mean. And so we know here how Satan is bound, or tied. No iron chain binds him, but he is bound by circumstances resulting from the events that have taken place. No human beings will be left on the earth. So Satan and his angels have no wicked to lead and no righteous to tempt.

Satan's sin began in heaven and resulted in his expulsion from God's presence. He came to this earth and cheated man out of his dominion. Jesus came and, by His sinless life and cruel death on the cross, bought back man's lost dominion. He made possible man's freedom from the dominion of Satan.

Now we find Satan in the last phases of his age-long struggle against God. He and his angels are finally bound or confined to our empty world. He cannot deceive anyone. He cannot tempt dead men. In the death cell of all time he can only meditate on the end of all his ways.

6. WILL SATAN EVER GET OUT OF HIS CHAINS?

Satan and his demon army are bound until the end of the thousand years. Then what happens?

We must observe that the Bible teaches that there are two general resurrections:

"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done GOOD, unto the RESURRECTION OF LIFE; and they that have done EVIL, unto the RESURRECTION OF DAMNATION."—John 5:28, 29.

We have already seen that the first resurrection, here spoken of as the "resurrection of life," takes place at the second coming of Christ. In this resurrection the people of God arise from their dusty beds. Revelation 20:6 calls this the "first resurrection." One thousand years later the resurrection of the wicked, which is the second resurrection, will take place.

"But the rest of the dead [the righteous dead have already risen in the first resurrection] lived not again until the thousand years were finished."—Revelation 20:5.

"The rest of the dead," or the wicked, are raised from the dead at the close of the one thousand years. And this fits in with the words of verse 7:

"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison."

At the beginning of the one thousand years Satan is bound by the fact that all his human subjects are dead, and all the righteous are taken out of this world at Christ's second coming. His loosing can be accomplished only by the return of his subjects. When the wicked dead are raised at the end of the thousand years, this looses Satan.

Now he has someone to deceive, someone to lead. But his character has not changed, neither has theirs. They are now his willing captives, his willing slaves. Satan now makes his final effort to rule the earth, and so resumes his activity for "a little season." Revelation 20:3.

7. HOW SIN MEETS ITS FINAL END (Part 1 of 3)

At this time the Son of God returns to this earth, bringing with Him all His people. Then the Holy City, New Jerusalem, descends. The revelator says:

"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."—Revelation 21:2, 3.

To Satan and the wicked, this seems to be a perfect opportunity. The Holy City is unfortified, its inhabitants unarmed. He decides to take it by force and possess it for himself. He convinces his followers that, because they outnumber the righteous, victory is certain. So he gathers them to battle against the City of God.

"And [Satan] shall go out to deceive the nations [the wicked] 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."—Revelation 20:8, 9.

As Satan lays plans for the battle, he has the counsel of military geniuses from all periods of earth's history. There are kings and generals who conquered nations, valiant men who never lost a battle, proud, ambitious warriors whose approach made kingdoms tremble. In death these men's characters have experienced no change. They come from the grave with the same ambitions, the same selfish desires.

At last all is ready and Satan gives the order to advance. The vast, wicked multitude moves with military precision to surround the Holy City and claim it as their own capital.

But the genius of Satan and his followers is as nothing compared to the righteousness of our Lord. It is at this crucial time that the final execution of God's judgment upon the wicked takes place.

7. HOW SIN MEETS ITS FINAL END (Part 2 of 3)

"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."—Revelation 20:12.

Here, for the first and last time, all the human race meet together face to face. The redeemed children of God are led by Jesus Christ; the wicked, by the fallen archangel, Satan.

Because the Redeemer—

"Humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that EVERY TONGUE SHOULD CONFESS that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER."—Philippians 2:8-11.

Thus will end the great controversy between Christ and Satan which has been waged through the long centuries of earth's history. Every person who has ever lived on earth will act a part in this final drama.

Not only men, but evil angels and Satan himself will bow before the "King of kings and Lord of lords." Revelation 19:16. All will confess that Satan has been wrong and that God's ways are true and just. Satan and the wicked see that their way of evil and selfishness has led only to unhappiness and discontent—that such a life is not worth continuing. Destruction is preferable.

This is the end of the great controversy between good and evil; this is the final overthrow of sin and sinners, for it is written:

7. HOW SIN MEETS ITS FINAL END (Part 3 of 3)

"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. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. THIS IS THE SECOND DEATH. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."—Revelation 20:9, 10, 14, 15.

The final judgment scene and the fires of the eternal God will destroy sin and those who have clung to it so stubbornly. Satan and all the lost are destroyed in this second death, which is eternal and from which there is no awakening. The heavenly fire finishes its work, and God has a clean world, a clean universe.

8. GOD CLEANSES THE EARTH

This world was destroyed by the Flood in the days of Noah. Now it will be purified with fire. God wants a clean universe. He wants a sinless world. He wants every trace of evil removed. Then, out of the ashes of the cleansing fires, the Lord will bring forth a new world, untainted by sin.

"Behold, I make all things new. . . . And I saw A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away."—Revelation 21:5, 1.

Then this earth will be restored to its original beauty. There will be no sin nor sorrow, no sickness, no pain, and no death. It will be a real world with real people. There will be a whole universe to explore, and ages upon ages to learn and to live and to love.

So the curtain falls upon the ancient drama of sin, and rises on the glory of a great new world of peace forever. And of the Ruler of that coming world we read:

"His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end."—Isaiah 9:6, 7.

Where will you be on that great morning? Outside the city without Christ and lost forever, or inside the city with Christ and saved forever in the earth made new?