When Jesus walked the earth roughly two thousand years ago, the people who saw him as the Messiah had a range of understanding of what his coming would bring. Plain to say, I believe, most of then believed he would be the conquering king who would usher in the glorious age with him reigning over the whole world with a rod of iron. In tandem with Israel fully restored and set above all the nations. What did they get? Instead of a Psalm 2,110/Isaiah 2,11,60-66/Ezekiel 37-end/Micah 4,5/Zechariah 8,14 … type of reign they envisioned they got an Isaiah 53 type suffering servant that didn’t even make it alive 3 more years. What they were expecting was a fast-forward trek to what was going to happen after his second coming now known to new covenant Christians (spiritual Israel) as the millennium.
Ironically, it’s the book of Revelation that finally gives us a label for that time period but also tells us very little about it. It says quite a bit about the time period after it known as the “new heavens and new earth” but only about 10 sentences in the beginning of chapter 20 about the millennium and 5 of those verses are about how it ends. Again, we need to go to other books in the Bible to learn more about it
The list of scriptures in the first paragraph give a pretty robust knowledge the Old Testament millennium descriptions which far out weigh in number the new testament references.
The largest set of scriptures describing the millennium is Ezekiel 37 to the end of the book and that understanding was only solidified in my mind tonight when I went back to reread it in putting together the index for this study. Up to this point I have been influenced by the bulk of prophecy teachers believing the section had a pre- (H)armageddon fulfillment and the Revelation 20:8 reference only described metaphorically the breath of area that the combatants were pulled from.
What first struck me was Ezekiel 37 verses 23 and 24 (KJV)
“23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with Idols, (do you see them putting away their idols on their own?) … 24 And David my servant shall be king over them… (David is dead and in heaven now – does he come back before H-armegeddon?)
And the the verse that clinched it, 27 “My Tabernacle also shall be with them” Hey, that is clearly God on earth. Not before the parousia!
I’ve always wondered how Ezek 38:14 could be realized in the current trajectory “38… when my people of Israel dwelleth safely.” – it doesn’t in this age, but I the millennium will be realized.
Also, Going back to Zechariah 14 and picking up at verse 6 where I left off in section #3. (KJV) we read.
“And in shall come to pass in that day , that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:”
What does that mean? Let me sub in New American Standard for the last half of verse 6 which is clearer “the luminaries will die out” Picking up with verse 7
“But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. 8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; …”
Skipping down to verse 16 we see something very interesting.
“16 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. 17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.”
There we have a clear picture of Jesus “Ruling with a rod of iron” but the thing that stood out to me which I made bold is that like Ezekiel 38 there are non-believers who survive after Harmegeddon!
I surmise that many of you thought no one survives Harmegeddon when reading Revelation 19 verse 21 where we read… (KJV)
“And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse,…”
That forces us to take a closer look at verse 19 where we read (KJV)
“And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against his that sat on the horse and his army.”
This verse only mentions the armies and not the non-combatant citizens. Again we see previous scriptures clarifying Revelation. Like before I’ll encourage you to read all Zechariah 12,13 and 14. You will find it worthwhile.
Another notable Old Testament description of the millennium is Isaiah 11:6 where we have the following heart warming description.
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.”
The whole chapter is another worthwhile read in studying the millennium.
The Ezekiel 37-40 passage is a fairly unique section of the old testament where events appear in a fairly chronological progression. Isaiah on the other hand is very jumbled up. Zechariah and Micah somewhat jumbled yet if you dig enough you can find common items. I’ll pick out 5 items from each that showed me they were millennial. They are as follows:
- No more idols – Isa 2:18-20 Ezek 37:23 Zech 13:2 Mica 5:12
- One king over all – Isa 2:4 Ezek 37:24 Zech 14:9 Micah 4:2-3
- God’s presence – Isa 2:3,60:13 Ezek 37:27 Zech 14:9 Micah 4:2-3
- Source of light changed – Isa 60:19 Zech 14:6
- Security for God’s people- Isa 60:18, Ezek 37:26, Zech 8:16 Micah 4:4
For a New Testament scripture reference we have Matt 19:28 Where Jesus says to his disciples… (KJV)
“Assuredly I sat to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel.”
Another scripture found in Matt speaks of a future time frame and that is Matt 22:29-30 which I referenced in section 12 where Jesus uses the term “resurrection” rather than “regeneration”. I believe the regeneration refers to the condition of the earth rather than resurrection which refers to the condition of a specific group of people.
At this point I can not think of any other clear descriptions of the millennium in the new testament. Given the scriptures and analysis I’ve included in this study you may realize a strange characteristic of the millennium. If some unbelievers survive and need to go to Jerusalem every year they will die of old age but there will also be the saints who will be resurrected since the seventh trumpet and not die. Kind of strange to think of but that is what the text reads.
Another scripture that seems to relate to this occurrence is Zechariah 8. Note the description of the Israel’s health at that time starting with verse 3 and 4. (I believe the ESV gives the best description.)
“Thus says to LORD: I have returned to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the holy mountain. 4 Thus says the LORD of hosts; Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem. each with stall in hand because of great age.
Clearly millennium! Is Jerusalem a faithful city now? I believe the great age is the result of glorified bodies.
I could bring more out of those scriptures in the first paragraph but you have them now to glean from so I’ll just sign off for now