What will people be like during the Millennium, and what will the millennial Kingdom of God be like?


Email Received:

I have a few questions about the Millennium, and I want your help in this regard. I believe that the Church, the Body of Christ, will return with Jesus. Old Testament saints and people who give their lives for the sake of their faith during tribulation will be there. What will happen to the rest of the people who are alive but not judged for eternal damnation? What will be their state of affairs in millennial Kingdom of God? What will be their attitude to Christ? Will they cooperate like the animals as prophesied in Isaiah 11:6-9?

Suppose in a home a person dies and returns with Jesus in his second coming. How and where will he live in the millennial Kingdom, with his whole family or separately? Will there be a separate place for the glorified people with Jesus?

Soon the age of grace will be over and the Holy Spirit will be taken back. In that case, what will be the role of the Holy Spirit in the millennial Kingdom, and will He convict people of sin like he does now? Will there be an opportunity for people to repent and confess during this period? If yes, where will they live during the millennial period?


Ted’s Response:

During the Millennium, the glorified saints, with imperishable and immortal bodies (1 Corinthians 15:53), will rule and reign over the nations with an iron scepter (Revelation 2:26,27), along with Jesus (Psalm 2:9), after they return with Him from heaven back to earth.

Just prior to the onset of the Millennium, during God's day of vengeance, there will be a considerable reduction of the world's population, mainly due to the terrible Trumpet Judgments (Revelation 8:6–9:21). But many mortal people will enter the Millennium and will reproduce just as people do now. Without the wars and continual deaths of people that take place now, the population of the earth will increase rapidly and substantially.

Many believe that there will be no sin during the Millennium. I completely disagree. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and death will be the final enemy to be destroyed (1 Corinthians 15:26). Not until the end of the Millennium will death be eliminated (Revelation 20:14).

During the Millennium, all rebellion and evil will be exposed and punished by Jesus and the glorified saints. Therefore, at that time, there will be much less motivation to sin—and, as a result, much less death—than there is in the world now.

Generally, the world will be a utopia. People all over the earth will go to the millennial Temple and Holy Mountain in Jerusalem to worship Jesus, and His Law will go out from Jerusalem throughout the whole world (Isaiah 2:2,3). All who acknowledge and embrace the rule of Jesus on His throne as King over the earth (Jeremiah 3:17; Zechariah 14:9), and who accept and obey His commandments, will be greatly blessed and prosperous. They will get along with each other just as the animals will (Isaiah 11:6-9). Throughout the earth, there will be great love for Jesus and for His wonderful compassion and benevolence.

Not everyone will love Him, though. Many will continue to have prideful hearts and will hate the Law and Word of the Lord that will go out from Zion/Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3). It is people like these who will be deceived by Satan when he is released at the end of the Millennium; they will engage in a great rebellion but will be destroyed with fire from heaven (Revelation 20:7-9).

In this present age, God has given us the close relationships of families and friends so that we, as mortal people, can help and support each other with the daily challenges of life. However, at the moment the last trumpet sounds, and believers are translated into imperishable, immortal beings (1 Corinthians 15:52,53), our existence will be eternally different.

From that point forward, our primary allegiance and devotion will be to Jesus and to the Father, not to our wives, husbands, children, friends, or anyone else in this life. It does not mean that we will not know them anymore; but whatever happens to them, whether good or bad, will be up to God, and we will agree with all of His decisions and judgments pertaining to them.

We cannot yet know or comprehend how wonderful our glorified bodies will be; we just know that when we see Jesus, we will be like Him (1 John 3:2). Thus, we will be able to do some of the things He can do such as, for instance, move from place to place at the speed of thought. So if we are anywhere in the world and Jesus summons us, I believe that we will be able to travel to Jerusalem in an instant of time.

We may not necessarily have primary locations where we will reside. Our new, glorified, supernatural bodies, unlike the "tents" we live in now, essentially will be "buildings" or eternal "houses" that God has prepared for us (2 Corinthians 5:1-4). They will be our primarily dwelling places and will contain everything we need to live comfortably, just as large mansions filled with countless things serve that purpose for many people now. Our supernatural "houses" will be with us wherever we go. More about this can be read in the following email response I wrote: Are the "mansions" Jesus is preparing for us actual buildings in which we will dwell while in heaven?

I do not know what you have read at my website. The reign of saints section, which I wrote in the early 1990s, includes three subsections: those who will reign, government under Jesus and the saints, and roles of saints. Most of it is speculation on my part, but what I have written seems very plausible to me.

It sounds like you have adopted a Pre-tribulation view of the Rapture. This view teaches that "the restrainer" of 2 Thessalonians 2:6,7 is the Holy Spirit and that He will be removed, along with believers, prior to the 70th Week.

I adamantly disagree with the Pre-trib Rapture view, as well as with the notion that the Holy Spirit can or will be removed from the earth at any point. I also believe that the Pre-trib Rapture view has given many believers a false hope that Jesus will remove them before the final seven years begin.

People are free to believe whatever they wish to believe. However, they are welcome to read what I believe about the restrainer, which is one section in my Rapture commentary.  Also, I have responded to numerous questions about the Rapture. These can be found in the Rapture Questions and Responses section on my email responses page.

During the Millennium, I believe that the Holy Spirit will continue to do what He always has done. He will be the primary means by which God comforts, counsels, convicts, and communicates with people, just as He does now.

I believe that during the Millennium, mortal people will live all over the world. They will be given every opportunity to repent of their sins and embrace Jesus as their Lord and King. If they do, they will be able to live for hundreds of years, just as men from Adam to Noah lived for hundreds of years, as shown in Genesis 5:1-32. In fact, the two longest-living people were Methuselah (969 years) and Jared (962 years).

Presumably, people who acknowledge, accept, and embrace Jesus as King, Messiah, and Savior of the world will be resurrected and will receive glorified bodies soon after they die. On the other hand, those who reject and renounce Jesus will be resurrected at the end of the Millennium (Revelation 20:12,13). With their names not being found in the Book of Life, they will experience the "second death" by being thrown into the lake of fire, along with death and Hades (20:14,15).


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