Life in the Millennium: The Curse Removed
Life in the Millennium will be utopian. The curse on the earth will be removed (Is 51:3). All plant life flourishes and there will no longer be weeds or pests. The great earthquake when Christ returned causes the Euphrates River to empty into the Jordan, bringing a constant flow of fresh water over the landscape. There is also a river which flows from beneath the temple in Jerusalem into the Dead Sea and into the Mediterranean Sea. The Dead Sea is no longer dead but teams with life as many fish now thrive there and much vegetation grows along its coast (Ek 47:7-10). People will live to be very old in age and children will be playing everywhere (Zc 8:4-5). There will not be any animosity between animals: the lion will be next to the lamb; the child will play next to the snake’s home and harm will come to neither (Is 11:6-9). There will not be any want. While these scriptures focus on Israel, it would seem reasonable that these Edenic-type of conditions would exist over the entire earth. Therefore, all the Gentile nations will enjoy such wonderful living conditions as well.
Christ many times taught that more is given to those who do more (Mt 25:28-29). Therefore, during the Millennium there will likely be a rewards system for those more faithful to their tasks than others. However, this will not create the haves and have-nots and not create disunity. Because God does everything in an orderly fashion, Christ will have a just and equitable system for all to follow (1Co 14:33).
Life will continue much as it does today – with some exceptions, of course (Is 65:21-25). Those who returned with Christ and those resurrected just prior to His reign will likely be involved with overseeing what is rebuilt and restoring God’s order to the agriculture, atmosphere, and animal life. All elements of life will continue – but will be focused on the order that Jesus Christ establishes – those with glorified bodies will be part of overseeing all of these aspects of daily life (Rv 20:6). All of one’s skills, talents, and personality traits they possess in this current life will be used by Christ. People will still have need for clothes, houses, implements, etc. in order to carry out their day-to-day activities. However, there will not be power struggles, greed, monopolies, etc. as there are today. Things will be run under a more equitable system. Likely there will still be arts, theater, and music, but they will all be uplifting and giving praise back to God. Joy will abound (Is 12:4). People will still work, joke, laugh, have fun, and entertain. While there are those who suggest such things will be true in the Eternal State, it would seem logical that these same things would occur at this time in earth’s history as well. A big component of life during this time will be worship. Israel will be the one nation that will have the leadership role in this area. Israelites will be the ones most revered and respected throughout all the Gentile nations because of their place in the worship of the King (Is 11:10; Zc 8:23). How different now. Once, they were considered the dregs of society and the ones to stamp out. But now, everyone will want to know what they know and will follow them up to Jerusalem periodically for, hopefully, a face-to-face encounter with their King.
All of these will have close communion with Christ and those that are still in human flesh will want to know all that they can about their King. Those with glorified bodies are the ones who will help share that message about Him. They will be given administrative tasks (Dn 7:18, 22, 27; Ro 8:17; 1Co 6:2-3; 2Tm 2:12; Rv 2:26, 20:4-6). The Bible states that there will be Gentile nations on earth at this time and they will periodically go up to Jerusalem because there are still certain feasts which will be celebrated in Jerusalem (Zc 14:16). Therefore, the rulers and civil authorities of these nations will likely be those with glorified bodies. As judges and rulers, they will likely oversee the work needed to restore justice over every sphere of life and help establish the world government under Christ’s rule by helping to establish judges and governors, or actually being such. They will be able to know their King’s will and administer His wishes throughout the various nations. They will likely be the teachers of the people to help them understand who their King really is, what He has done, how to worship Him, and how to put their faith in Him and dwell with Him for eternity (Is 2:3, 66:18-20).
It will be an exciting time where those in their resurrected bodies will help lead and teach those still in human flesh about Jesus Christ, their King, who He is and how much He loves them. They will be excited to be able to see those born, grow up and decide to put their faith in the King as well. There will likely be many celebrations and Christ will likely welcome each new member of his spiritual kingdom as they come to Jerusalem for worship, as scripture teaches that those who accept Christ will be brought as an offering to Him (Is 66:20).
Does this get you excited about our future? I hope so. It does that for me!
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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens