Wednesday Bible Study: The Millenium

 

What is 'the Millenium?" After the horrors of the Tribulation, Jesus Christ will come and reign on the remade earth for a thousand years.  What kind of earth will this be?  Let's look into it.

According to Zechariah 14, most of what we would call Israel (" ...from Geba to Rimnon south of Jerusalem...") will be a level plain- no more 'songs of ascent'?  Not quite, because that same verse says, "But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses. "  Jerusalem will be situated on the highest mountain in the area- Of course, because the very throne of God will be there.

And this will not be a Jerusalem like any we have known!  This is the famous-in-eschatology "Foursquare city".  It will be an enormous cube 1,500 miles length, width, and height.  How does this work?  I have no idea, and it is just one of many marvels I'll say that about.  It will be twelve-gated, for the 12 tribes, and a wall with twelve foundations having the names of the 12 Apostles.  The wall itself will be built from what John described as Jasper.  This is a stone that comes in many colors- the most valuable being green- and opaque.  The city within is gold, but not gold as we know it, but like clear glass.  Each foundation is "adorned" with a different gemstone, and each gate is made of a single pearl (another "impossible with man, possible with God" moment).

The earth itself will be different.  The very skies will be different; the oceans will be gone, and it will be constant day.  Why?  The 'first heaven' was rent when Christ came with His legions to end Armageddon. The oceans, which were this earth's great purifier- and great divider- will no longer be needed for either purpose.  And Christ Himself will be the light all over the world.

The city will have no Temple; because the Temple was merely a symbol of being in the presence of God; and now Jesus is God With Us.

So, how will this world work? There will be nations, though what kind of structure they will have is unclear.  Isaiah tells us that two of these nations will be Egypt and Assyria:

Isa 19:24  In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 

Isa 19:25  whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.” 

In Daniel 11, he is told that "Edom, Moab, and the prominent men of the Ammonites" will escape destruction; at this point, the only close corrolary to these nations is Jordan.  All of these nations were judged and destroyed in the past, so the "political" future of this earth will be very interesting indeed.

One more thing about these nations- These Gentile survivors of the last war wil be required to keep the Feast of Tabernacles every year.  And if they do not- being still normal humans, they still have a choice- they will face famine.  Egypt is singled out for this; apparently this new Egypt will be naughty at some point.

Finally, the teaser for next week:  "Normal humans?  What does he mean by that?"  Well, there will be three "kinds" of people on this new earth, and that is where we'll start next time.