SALVATION AND THE MILLENNIUM

Jody <Sojourner@PureWords.org>

The Millennium is the second to last dispensation before going out in eternity into "the everlasting gospel," (Revelation 14:6) "the fullness of time" (Ephesians 1:10). I believe it is one of the most interesting and fascinating of them all. We will look at how the people will get saved and stay saved during this one thousand year period along with some of the things that will be going on. Let's start off by looking at the Scripture that establishes that there is a Millennium and where it will be governed from:

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

(Revelation 20:4-6)

And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

(Revelation 5:9-10)

And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,...And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

(Revelation 20:2, 7)

But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

(Micah 4:1-2)

Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the LORD of hosts. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.

(Zechariah 8:3-8)

Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.

(Zechariah 8:22-23)

That is the basis for how we will know that the Millennium is one thousand years long as the name we call it says and where it will take place. I hope you saw that the Lord will reign here on earth from Jerusalem during that time. Satan will also be bound for that period and then cast into hell. You also saw the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many other things too! Please note that was only a very small portion of the Scripture that covers it. We can look at other text as well to find when it will start:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

(Matthew 24:29-31)

At first glance one might think that the above is speaking of the rapture, especially since most the verses prior to it in the chapter are speaking of the "great tribulation." Actually it is the Second Coming of the Lord and there are ways we can tell. First of all it says, "Immediately after the tribulation...," which is sufficient to tell you that it is after the great tribulation. We see, "then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn," which tells us it is not the rapture, because when we are caught away the Lord will come in secret, "as a thief in the night," to get us and everyone will not see this. Notice also that, "he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet," which again is not the rapture, because of who is sounding the trumpet. Above we see it is angels (plural), but below we see it is completely different:

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

(1 Thessalonians4:16)

As of yet we do not see the Lord hit ground! We need to cross reference Matthew 24:30-31 over to Matthew 25:31-32:

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

(Matthew 25:31-32)

So, "immediately after the tribulation," the Lord will be here on earth and the Millennium begins. At that time he will gather "all nations: and he shall separate them one from another," judging them which we call, the judgment of the nations. The sheep nations of Jews will "inherit the kingdom" which is a physical literal kingdom here on earth with the Lord of glory reigning from Jerusalem. First though, something will happen like has never happened before. This time around the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't come to the clouds to get us, but we will be with him, even so, "our Lord Jesus Christ," will come, "with all his saints," even, "all the holy angels" which is him in all "his glory:"

And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

(Zechariah 14:4)

And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

(Revelation 16:18)

The Scripture is to be taken literally! The second half of the Second Coming of the Lord will be no secret thing like the rapture. All "the tribes of earth shall mourn." It is going to be bigger than any nuclear bomb that has ever been set off before and will totally cause a drastic change in the geography of the Middle East.

Well, we'd better stop here before I really get on a roll chasing this rabbit. GLORY TO GOD brethren and inexpressible thankfulness for being born when we were and saved by the blood of the Lamb! Amen, amen, and amen.

You say, "All this is great, but what about salvation in the Millennium?" I believe it was necessary to show all that for the benefit of those that did not know about the Millennium and to prevent them from believing in some false doctrine that the a-millennials (no Millennium) teach such as Catholics, Lutherans, and some Pentecostals. It was to show that there will be a Millennium, that the Lord will come to reign here on earth, and that the Jews will inherit the promise land as promised. What follows will still be connected and we will eventually see how salvation takes place and keeping it:

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me....And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

(Matthew 25:34-35, 40-43)

Remember that we are dealing primarily with all of Israel now in the inherited kingdom. These are the Lord's brethren in context. Yes, I know he is Almighty God and we are his brothers and sisters too, but we are not going to be down here on earth during the Millennium: rich, poor, in hunger, nor in prison. We need to be in the frame of mind thinking of God and his chosen people at this time on earth in the inherited promise land. The brethren above are the Lord Jesus Christ's brethren in that he is a Jew from the seed of David, even their Jewish Messiah. I realize that is hard to comprehend. It is for me and the only way I can do it is like I said above -- get out of the body of Christ and into the kingdom of the Jews as far as thinking goes. They were and are expecting a human being given by God, a Jewish Messiah to rule over them as King. This is rightly so and will be in the sense of Jesus being here as "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS" in his human flesh and bone body (without the blood).

We see that works is required for them to keep salvation. Those in the "great tribulation" that did not perform the requirements of: feeding the hungry and thirsty, taking the stranger in, and did not visit those in prison and also those that were sick, got cast into the lake of fire. Continuing on into the Millennium we see some more requirements for salvation as seen below:

And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

(Isaiah 66:23-24)

And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days. And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord GOD. And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession....In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering.

(Ezekiel 44:26-28, 45:21-22)

Note: Ezekiel 40 starts the building of the temple that will be used during the Millennium and is where the Lord Jesus Christ will be sitting in Jerusalem.

And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

(Zechariah 14:16-19)

No doubt about it. The law will be back in during the Millennium. If you took the time to read the above passages you found out at least the passover, new moon festivals, and the feast of tabernacles will be enforced. A requirement has been added to go to Jerusalem to worship the Lord. If salvation were the same in all dispensations, why on earth would a sin offering be back in effect and why would there be a warning left for people to, "go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh."

Those coming out of the "great tribulation" that overcame it by keeping "the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus," (Revelation 14:12) and not taking the mark of the beast, etc. will merit the, right to eat from a tree, a tree that will keep them alive as long as their works are acceptable with what God requires of the saints in the Millennial dispensation:

And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.

(Ezekiel 47:12)

The tree in Ezekiel can easily be confused with the, "tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God," which will remain in heaven untill the new heaven and new earth come down. Notice that there will be "no more curse" (Revelation 22:3) which tells us that the "tree of life" is not the same as the trees in Ezekiel for it shows up on the new earth after the Millennium. Also, "the leaf thereof [is used] for medicine" from the Millennial tree, whereas "the tree of life" is use "for the healing of the nations." There is another difference that shows us that they are different:

And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: (Also see: Revelation 21:1-4.)

(Revelation 22:1-3)

Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.

(Ezekiel 47:8-9)

The river that flows out of the Millennium (Ezekiel) temple is different than the one that flows "out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." The first flows out and heals the Jordon River all the way southward to bringing the Dead Sea back to life. The one from "the throne of God and of the Lamb" is the Living Water.

Now we come to a point of "classes" of Jews. There is no problem placing the Christian Jew that got saved during "the dispensation of the grace of God," for he is in the body of Christ with us. What about the Old Testament saints that were saved to Abraham's bosom that inherit the promise land? Also, what about those that did not go up with Christ in Abraham's bosom like king David? Will there be two classes of Jews? We saw above that those coming out of the "great tribulation" and also being born in the Millennium will eat from the "tree of life" if their works merit it. Now look at Ezekiel 37:11-14 and you will see a resurrection of the remainder of OT saints that did not go up with Christ:

Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.

That sure looks like a rebirth to me as in being born again. Hey, how about that -- the Old Testament saints are born again after all, but not until the Millennium contrary to popular belief. If the Old Testament saint were born again like us he would not have to be born again, again! (See my study on "How the Old Testament Saints Were Saved.") The dry bones of Ezekiel 37 is a physical bodily resurrection of the nation of Israel. Notice king David is over there in verse 24, but he gets "demoted" to prince in 25. The "KING OF KINGS" gets that spot and rightly so:

And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.

We know that anyone that is born of the Spirit as we saw above in Ezekiel 37:11-14 liveth forever which Ezekiel 37:26-28 also further points out and was foretold in Jeremiah 31: 31-34:

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

There's that new birth that Nicodemus should of knew about in John 3:1-10:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

(John 3:10)

The Jews coming out of the "great tribulation" will also be born again as we see in Ezekiel 36:24-28:

For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

So, there will be two different classes of Jews in the Millennium. One will be those a type of glorified body from the resurrection. The second will be those coming out of the "great tribulation" and those born during Millennium. It is important to know that there is a difference between the born again Jew and us. They are not in the body of Christ as we are. Being born again does not mean being in the body of Christ. The body of Christ was not available until the cross. It became unavailable at the Rapture. Remember, that the Jew has a different set of promises than we do. Here are some promises to the nation of Israel:

...they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever:...and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore....Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom,...But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

(Ezekiel 37:25-26; Isaiah 9:7; Joel 3:20)

Those are not for the resurrected Jew, nor the Christian. They are for the Millennial Jew. Notice the promises above. The nation of Israel will be reproducing forevermore, even out into eternity. You know that they will not multiply evermore from the resurrected Jew because of what the Lord said in Matthew 22:28-30:

Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

Those that came up in the resurrection from the dead will have some type of glorified body. They will not be doing the marrying and having children like those that we discussed above. They will be those that rule in the kingdom of heaven, even under the "KING OF KINGS" the Lord Jesus Christ and king David as their prince. They will not be eating from the "tree of life" because they "are as the angels of God in heaven."

There is one final thing we need to touch on and that is faith in the Millennium. Having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is nowhere to be found in the Bible for those saints. There is a good reason for this. The Lord will be right there with them. Do you remember what faith is?:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

(Hebrews 11:1)

You will see "fear thy name...fear thee...fear him," but you will not find belief anywhere. Nowhere in Millennial doctrine will you see "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" nor anything that even resembles it:

...them that fear thy name, small and great;...Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.

(Revelation 11:18, 15:4, 19:5)

Well, that is the basics of the Millennium. I hope you got something out of it and enjoyed studying it as much as I did. I give special thanks to brother Kevin Tsai on this one for aiding me in finding some answers to some things in it that I was questioning. I realize that to some of you that may have read this it was completely new stuff to you. Before I believe anything I search the Scriptures diligently to see if they are true. Above all, be honest with God and yourself!

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved!