The Millennial Reign of Christ

The Millennial Reign of Christ will begin after the Battle of Armageddon. What a wonderful time of victory and rejoicing this will be! Let’s get a clear picture of what will happen from that point forward.

What happens to Satan?

First, an angel will descend from heaven, holding the key to the bottomless pit and a massive chain.

He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

Revelation 20:2-3 NKJV

Although this enemy of God excels in lying, cheating, stealing, and deceiving, only one angel is necessary to capture and bind him in chains. For one thousand years, the bottomless pit will jail Satan so that he can no longer deceive the world to believe his lies. What a wonderful day of victory that will be!

One interesting detail is that God sets His seal on the bottomless abyss. We know from several references in the Bible that a king’s seal means that the decree can never change. (Read an example from the book of Esther HERE.) Therefore, Satan has no hope of escaping his hellish prison until God releases him.

Christ’s Millennial Reign

After Jesus stops Armageddon and locks up Satan for a thousand years, Christ’s reign on earth begins. The raptured church is part of the heavenly armies who return to Jerusalem at the end of the Tribulation. Clothed in bright white linen, they follow the King of kings and Lord of lords on white horses.

Who is resurrected before the Tribulation?

The pre-tribulation rapture occurs when every believer on the earth who has died in Christ since the beginning of time will receive a resurrected body. Immediately after the dead in Christ meet Jesus in the air, the rest of the believers alive at that moment will be changed in the twinkling of an eye into their glorified bodies and join the others in the sky.

This is the only pre-tribulation group (including Enoch) that will be changed without experiencing death first.

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 NKJV

A dividing line regarding resurrection separates the Rapture from the Tribulation. Resurrection happens before the Tribulation (at the Rapture), and others happen after the Tribulation–at the first resurrection and the Great White Throne Judgment. After the church leaves the world at the Rapture, God’s wrath begins a new and final chapter on the earth, lasting seven years. And then the end arrives with the Second Coming of Christ.

The First Resurrection: Who are they?

Remember that during the seven-year Tribulation, anyone refusing to take the mark of the beast–666–will face a death sentence by beheading. Those in the first resurrection are martyrs who accepted Jesus as their Savior during the rule of the anti-Christ. Their reward for their testimony and the word of God–and for not worshiping the beast or taking his mark–will be to reign with Christ as priests for a thousand years.

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

Revelation 20:4-6 NIV

This blessed and holy group will never die again. The second death is only for those who have rejected Christ, including Satan and his angels, the beast, and the false prophet.

Satanic Rebellion Crushed

At the end of the Millennium, God will release Satan from the bottomless pit for a short time. God will allow him to cast his spell of deception worldwide and gather armies to wage war against the saints in Jerusalem.

Remember that people who have not died or received their heavenly bodies still live on the earth during the Millennium. The only government they have experienced over the last thousand years has been a perfect world without evil, ruled by Christ the King.

Isn’t it amazing that a vast number of people will again fall for Satan’s deception and lies? (Remember how easily Eve believed the serpent’s lie in Genesis.) But there is a reason God allows this. Every person on earth has free will and must choose to either follow God or Satan before they die. For those born during the Millennium, this will be their time to choose whom they will serve.

Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. 

Revelation 20:7-9a NKJV

Who are Gog and Magog?

Satan will gather several nations together for a battle against God and His saints at Jerusalem. To fully understand who these nations are, we must return to a study of Ezekiel 38-39.

Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,‘

Ezekiel 38:1-2 NKJV

Magog, Meshech, and Tubal are descendants of Japeth, the son of Noah. (See Genesis 10:2-3.) After the flood, Japeth and his family migrated to the north, toward Russia and Europe.

Magog means Prince of Rosh or Russia.

Gog refers to a king of the North–in this case, the King of Russia.

Meshech refers to the city of Moscow.

Tubal is a city in Siberia.

Therefore, Russia will be an important leader of this last army to come against the saints in Jerusalem. Satan’s primary objective has always been to destroy God’s holy city and set himself up as a god and ruler of the world. This will be his final attempt.

Satan Destroyed

As soon as these nations gather outside Jerusalem to make war, God sends fire down from heaven to devour them. Finally, God will throw Satan into the lake that burns with sulfur and brimstone where he, along with the beast and the false prophet, will suffer torment forever.

The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Revelation 20:10 NKJV

The Great White Throne Judgment

Imagine a gigantic courtroom with God seated on a huge, white throne. Each person will appear before Him to be judged according to his or her deeds. In this courtroom, only truth prevails–no bribes exist to pervert justice.

If you’re a believer in Christ Jesus, this judgment is not for you. It is only for those who never accepted Christ as Savior. Every unsaved person who has died from the beginning of time will come back to life. Hell, Death, and the sea will empty its prisons of those who must stand before God.

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 

Revelation 20:11-13 NKJV

Anyone summoned to this judgment has no chance of forgiveness. (God forgives us only while we’re alive, not after death.) The books will open where all their deeds are recorded, and those deeds will condemn them. Only those whose names are written in the Book of Life can be admitted to heaven, and since it will be too late to repent, each person’s destination will be the same: the lake of fire and brimstone.

Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:14 NKJV

Dear Lord, we look forward to reigning with You during the Millennium. We rejoice that You will destroy all evil after a thousand years. May people heed the warnings in this book and seek forgiveness and salvation before it is too late. Let
Your Spirit seek those who are lost and bring them to the cross. In Jesus’s holy Name, Amen.

The Millennial Reign of Christ by Karen Jurgens Copyright ©2024 All rights reserved.