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The Tribulation Part 14: The Reign of Jesus Christ Begins
When we left off in our study in Part 13, the Lord had just taken back the planet at Armageddon. We have a lot to cover here, so this will be a little long (my apologies, I'll try to be concise in this where possible).Continuing our study now in part 14, the Lord tends to a long overdue piece of business- Satan:
“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time." (Revelation 20: 1-3, NASB, emphasis mine)
The Lord Jesus captures the last member of the "unholy Trinity". He then has him bound with a chain and has the angel seal the Abyss so Satan has no chance of getting free. Millennial Reign will be one of peace and harmony, and Satan will not be released until it is time to test those born during that period. But we'll see him rear his ugly head later on in this chapter; for now, he is securely locked away, unable to do anything.
But before the Lord does anything else, there is the matter of the destroyed ecosystem and the planet no longer being able to support life. While Scripture doesn't speak to this directly, I personally believe that the Lord will restore the air to a breathable condition and restore the waters, so that the people waiting to be judged do not die of asphyxiation or thirst. One piece of evidence to this point is that Scripture points to an extended period of time past Armageddon:
"As for me, I heard but could not understand; so I said, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?” He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days! But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.” (Daniel 12: 8-13, NASB, emphasis mine)
This second half of the Tribulation (The Abomination until the end) is numbered at 1,290 days, but the total time from the Abomination is 1335 days. 1290 days turns out to be 42 months, or 3 1/2 years, but 1335 is a bit more than that: 45 days past 3 1/2 years! So with that in mind: the period of time it takes to sort people here is about a month and a half. And with all those who were not killed in the judgments being in their mortal bodies, I don't think the Lord is simply going to ask people to hold their breath!
The next order of business is judgment, and the Lord has several groups to address:
“Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years." (Revelation 20: 4-6, NASB, emphasis mine)
This group consists of those who died for the sake of the Lord during the Tribulation, and could not be forced to recant their faith, in spite of suffering, torture and the threat of death. As to the identities of "they" who sit on the thrones and judge these believers, I would tend to think that it is probably the 24 elders mentioned previously in Revelation.
The next groups are those that survived the Tribulation:
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. " (Matthew 25:31-33, NASB, emphasis mine)
The Lord Himself apparently conducts this judgment; it's possible that the elders handle the previous judgment while the Lord conducts this one, but Scripture doesn't speak specifically to that.
For those that he considers sheep:
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’" (Matthew 25:34-40, NASB, emphasis mine)
On the surface, it looks like judgment is based on their works; but looking more closely, the clue is "you did it to Me". This shows that the deeds were not the cause of salvation, but the result of the changed heart that salvation brings. During the Tribulation, these kind of acts would make someone stand out in a wicked and evil population and mark them as a believer. That they would do so under such circumstances with no concern for their own comfort and safety speaks to a heart that turned towards the Lord and accepted His gift, and was faithful until the end.
Then we come to the goats;
“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” "(Matthew 25:41-46, NASB, emphasis mine)
Again, their behavior indicates their hearts: when it came time to show what they cared about, the Lord, Israel and Tribulation believers finished last in their eyes. They would not do anything to help them, but chose to "play it cool" and stay in their comfort zones. With no changed heart for the Lord, the Lord never "knew them", and they have no place in his kingdom.
Once that is finished, the time of the Millennial reign begins. While Revelation is largely silent on life during the Lord's reign, other places in Scripture speak on it:
-He would sit on the throne of David forever, and His reign would never end:
"The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” (Luke 1:30-33, NASB, emphasis mine)
-Peace would reign and all would come to Israel to worship:
"And it will come about in the last days That the mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, And the peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, “Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD And to the house of the God of Jacob, That He may teach us about His ways And that we may walk in His paths.” For from Zion will go forth the law, Even the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And He will judge between many peoples And render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they train for war." (Micah 4:1-3, NASB, emphasis mine)
-Israel would be forgiven her sins and a new covenant would be made with her:
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34, NASB, emphasis mine)
-The Adamic curse would be lifted (except for death), and sadness and crying will be no more:
“I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her The voice of weeping and the sound of crying. No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will be thought accursed. They will build houses and inhabit them; They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They will not build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain, Or bear children for calamity; For they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD, And their descendants with them. It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,” says the LORD." (Isaiah 65:19-25, NASB, emphasis mine)
These are but a few of the passages that speak to the conditions of the Millennial Kingdom; in examining these few though, we see that King Jesus' reign will be marked by a peace mankind has not known since the Garden of Eden. The Earth will be restored and people will live, work, play and thrive without threat of abortion, malnutrition, or any kind of harm or death (unless they are wicked and they die while young).
The Millennium will be unparalleled in knowledge of the Lord, safety, security, and hope.
And because there will be children in the Millennial Kingdom, this is yet another reason the Rapture cannot happen just before the Second Coming: only those in mortal bodies can have children. Were the Lord to rapture all those who trusted in Him before the sheep and goat judgment, not only would there be no one spared at that judgment, but no one would be able to have children:
"On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him, asking, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘IF A MAN DIES HAVING NO CHILDREN, HIS BROTHER AS NEXT OF KIN SHALL MARRY HIS WIFE, AND RAISE UP CHILDREN FOR HIS BROTHER.’ Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother; so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh. Last of all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.” But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching." (Matthew 22:23-33, NASB, emphasis mine)
So in that time, there will be those who will have children, and those children will grow up and have families of their own. Soon, the planet will be populated yet again, and even more people trusting in the Lord will join those who have already done so.
But not all will trust in Him.
Even in this dispensation, there will be an undercurrent of those who will despise the Lord as king. And though they will mostly die when they are young, it will be the final generation of the Kingdom Age that will rise up against the Lord...
Satan is set loose once more upon the planet:
" When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." (Revelation 20: 7-10, NASB, emphasis mine)
Satan, released from the Abyss, promptly identifies those in the Millennial Kingdom who bristle under the reign of the Lord. As mentioned, they will be young, and will not have any memory of the world under the curse of sin. In his madness, Satan launches an all out, final attack. At this point, he has no illusions that he will lose, but he no longer cares: he simply wants to hurt and kill whomever he can.
But as his vast army (made up of the young upstarts of the Kingdom) arrives at Zion, the Father in Heaven has had enough. Fire from the sky comes down, and in a blazing fury of flame, Satan's entire army is rendered ashes before they can make a single attack. All his forces are wiped out in an instant, as the Lord has the final say on the matter.
And now, it’s Satan’s turn.
The day Satan has feared for so long has finally arrived. Deprived of all his power, authority, armies, generals, fallen angels, and whatever "glory" he thought he had left, the former Lucifer is thrown into the Lake of Fire. Satan's worst nightmare has now become reality, as he sinks to the bottom of this lake, screaming and cursing the Lord.
All the misery, harm and death he inflicted on mankind throughout history now strikes him all at once. He will endure this torment, this agony, forever.
We'll continue our study in part 15...when the Lord takes the Great White Throne of Judgment.
I bid you all peace.
YBIC,
-Sojo414.
