“THE MILLENNIUM”
–Let’s Enjoy It Now!
(Part 2)
What would this divinely controlled period (of the “millennium”) be? What would be its beginning? Its end?
Think Now!
Recently a Bible student was heard to exclaim with delight, “Why, we are in Revelation 20 right now!” With such understanding this Scripture becomes a much needed assurance of what is in place now rather than a dream of a wonderful time in the future, some time before the end of the present age.
Does it work? Do the things spoken of here fit into the present?
Consider:
1) Satan bound and kept from deceiving the nations. It is done! In chapter 12 we hear the voice from heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers . . . has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.
Now, in these last days, Satan is already defeated, bound and controlled. Like a dog on a long leash. He cannot deceive the Gentile world where the word of their testimony sheds its light of gospel truth. When speaking of his death, Jesus declared: “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of the world will be driven out” (Jn. 12:31).
Praise God, the victory is now!
2) “They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Rev. 20:4b).
When do these saints, who loved not their lives unto death, “come to life”? The Apostle Paul assures all believers that “God made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions” (Eph. 2:5).
Praise God, we do not need to wait for that “first resurrection.”
And this “reigning with Christ.” Is this not already a reality, though the glory of it is hidden until the day of Christ’s revealing? In Ephesians 2 we also read: “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (2:6). The Apostle Peter is bold to term all believers in Christ “a royal priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:9).
The gospel assures us that Christ rules over all things now (“All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me . . . I am with you always, to the end of the age“ (Mt. 28:19-20).
Praise God, we are living and reigning with Christ now!
3) At the end of our “millennium,” “Satan will be released from his prison” to mount a final assault against “the camp of God’s people, the city he loves” (20:9). The outcome of this Armageddon is quick and sure: “But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.” The devil and his cohorts are “thrown into the lake of burning sulphur” (v. 10).
Then the climax, the glory of the Lord’s judgment. The opening of The Book of Life. The Lord’s people are finally safely separated from the lost and condemned (v. 15, as in Matthew 25:31-46).
Note that this follows the “millennium” as the blessed and glorious conclusion. It is the giving of the crown to those who, by the grace of God, have stood firm until the end (Mt. 24:13).
Praise God that such glory awaits us after the serving years of the “millennium.” Meanwhile our risen, reigning Lord is even now giving all we need for the living of these days!
Now!
Oh that we might catch and keep the spirit of Psalm 118 as it looked forward to the time when Jesus would inaugurate the “millennium” with His first coming at Bethlehem!
With shouts of joy and victory resounding, the believers confess: “THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE; LET US REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT!” (Ps. 118:24)
Truly, the “Millennium” is NOW. Do let us enjoy the peace and promise it affords us now!
–Pastor Rollin A. Reim