The Millennium: The 1,000-Year Reign of Yeshua on the Earth

Last Updated: 07/25/2008 01:56 |

Whatever diviners, astrologers, and other such sorcerers may say about the dawn of a New Age, the True and ultimate fulfillment of this new age will come when Yeshua is ruling on the earth with a rod of iron as the Bible states. This page focuses in on this new age of Christ's reign with the small amount of scripture that speaks of it.
The term millennium does not appear in the Bible and is used to represent a period of time of 1,000 years. I'm sure there are many different definitions as to when that time starts, but I will present my beliefs and why here. I define the beginning of the last 1,000 years according to scripture.

What is the "Day of the Lord?"

2 Peter 3:8
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

I believe the day of the Lord is the beginning of the millennium and is when God's wrath is poured out from the first trumpet to the last bowl. It then extends to the end of His 1,000 year reign over all the earth with a rod of iron. His rule will be righteous and just. As we can see in the passage above, the end of the millennial reign of Christ on the earth will be followed by the destruction of this heaven and fallen earth to make way for a new heaven and new earth.

Isaiah 65:17
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

Revelation 21:1
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

The Millennium is the 1,000 year time including the reign of Yeshua the Christ on the earth. Christ's reign is the time period immediately after the end of God's wrath when Christ returns in glory at Armageddon. During is almost 1,000 years, Christ will rule from Jerusalem and all the nations will recognize Him as God, making pilgrimages to Jerusalem to worship Him and keeping the Feast of Tabernacles.

Zechariah 14
Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 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. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one. All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses. And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited. And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour. And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague. 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. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.

Clearly this "one day which shall be known to the LORD" is the millennium, or day of the LORD. (2 Peter 3:8-10) I believe the battle the Lord gathers all nations against Jerusalem is Armageddon. Revelation 19:11-21 gives the account of Christ's return to destroy the gathered armies. At or after the battle at Armageddon, Christ will set foot on the Mount of Olives, splitting it from East to West and making a valley in that split, pulling the mountain North and South.

At this time, Christ is here to stay. It is the beginning of the millennium, Christ's 1,000 year reign on the earth before it's destroyed and the new heavens and new earth created. Revelation 20-21 gives this account.

Revelation 20:1-8
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 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. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

What's interesting is that the whole 1,000 years that Christ is here with us ruling from Jerusalem, there will be no nighttime because Yeshua's glory will be the light of the world. His presence will literally light up the atmosphere. I believe that's why His coming is associated with lightning from east to west. (harpazo: Matthew 24:23-27; Luke 17:24-37 | return in glory: Matthew 24:30) We can also see that Yeshua will be residing in Jerusalem and it will be dwelled in safely.

There is a plague that the Lord will use to smite all those that have fought against Jerusalem. It sounds like a neutron bomb, where the flesh, eyes, and tongue are consumed while they are still standing. This means a quick destruction of living matter, kind of what the neutron bomb does. Since this is the Lord doing it though, I don't think it will be a bomb, but His power doing it. It would seem that this takes place after Christ is ruling. Whoever is left over of those who fought against Jerusalem will be required every year to worship Yeshua and keep the feast of tabernacles. If they don't, they will not get rain. This chapter also seems to confirm the sacrifices taking place during the millennium.

Sabbath Millennium - (Earth History 6,000 years + 1,000 years of rest during Christ's rule = 7,000 years)

Genesis 2:1-3
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Exodus 20:8-11
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Colossians 2:16,17
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

2 Peter 3:1-10
This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

So here we see in the original creation, the introduction of the Sabbath day. Then in the 10 Commandments, we are told to keep this Sabbath day holy. Then in the New Testament, we see that these are shadows of things to come. We are now at almost 6,000 years of earth history according to the details by lineage in the Bible. Christ will rule the earth for 1,000 years with a rod of iron and it will be a perfect rule. Can you see the Sabbath millennium there? With that understanding, we can see how being raised "at the last day" is a reference to the beginning of the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord marks the beginning of the 1,000 year period of time. The day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night with sudden destruction.
Matthew 24:29 places that immediately after the tribulation of Matthew 24:15-28, and therefore in the middle of the 70th week of Daniel. See this study as to why.

So to be raised "at the last day" would speak to being raised when the day of the Lord comes. The day of the Lord is God's wrath to which we're not appointed. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Therefore, I would expect that the just would be raised before that wrath comes since they are resurrected before we're all harpazod together to meet the Lord in the air.

Hosea 6:1-3
Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

Reconciling the Jewish Calendar Post by Wickus on FulfilledProphecy

Found this article about the missing 240 Jewish years. It was written in 1999 with the millennium fever:

On its face, this would not seem to be so evident as the year from Creation 5760 according to Seder Olam Rabbah coincides with 1999-2000. That would make it appear that mankind has another 240 years to make a mess of things and this generation shouldn't worry too much unless some cyber-genetic freeze technology makes it possible to go to sleep now and wake up 240 years in the future. And the way the world is headed, who would want to do that?

But wait a second, it appears that someone forgot to wind that 6000-year clock a few times and it may be a few seconds off, in fact, as much as 7,568,864,000 seconds (or about 240 years) according to the Encyclopedia Judaica and other authoritative writings. Interesting that this figure
"240" keeps cropping up!

Millennium Fever Catching As Year 6000 Approaches
“Yose B. Halafta, the presumed author of Seder Olam Rabbah, probably had access to old traditions that also underlay the chronological computations of the Jewish Hellenistic chronographer Demetrius (third century BCE). The most significant confusion in Yose's calculation is the compression of the Persian period, from the rebuilding of the Temple by Zerubbabel in 516 BCE to the conquest of Persia by Alexander (331 BCE) to no more than 34 years.”

Students of ancient history know that the Persian period actually spanned 185 years from its start in 516 BCE to the conquest by Alexander. If Seder Olam Rabbah reckoned the Persian period as only 34 years, then the clock is off 151 years for this interval alone.

Also, according to George Foot Moore's, “Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era,” Volume I, page 6, Seder Olam Rabbah allotted the period of the Medes and Persians together only 52 years. Again ancient history records that Cyaxares I, founded the Median Empire in 625 BCE The Medes ruled 109 years before the start of the Persian empire in 516 BCE

The compression of 109 years that the Median Empire reigned to just 18 years (52 years of Mede and Persian rule minus 34 years of only Persian rule), requires another 91 year adjustment to the 6000-year calendar.

The two adjustments taken together (151 years and 91 years) add 242 years to the Hebrew calendar, making 2000 the year 5760 plus 242 or 6,002!!

However, there is also a mistake in our favor (assuming we want to prolong the world-changing events of the 7th millennium) found in the reckoning of the years from Creation.

It seems that the Seder Olam Rabbah records the destruction of the Second Temple as occurring in the year 3828 from Creation. That translates to 68 C.E. rather than the 70 C.E. which history records. That would make the events of the year 3828 from Creation (or 4070 when adjusted for the period of the Medes and Persians) to have occurred two years later than Seder Olam Rabbah reckons them. . If they occurred later, (or the year 4070 coincides with the year 70 C.E.), then the calendar today should be adjusted two years back to -- you guessed it, 6000! This means we are NOW in the 6000th year since Creation, and the world officially becomes 6000 years old on the next Rosh Hashanah. That date is September 30, 1999.

Millennial Temple - Ezekiel 40-47 describes in extreme detail the exact measurements and descriptions of this temple. It also goes into the sacrifices that will be required by those nations in the world who come to Jerusalem.