Part 51 (1/2)

That this earth, purified by the fires of the last judgment, and renewed, becomes the eternal home of the saved.

1. Events at the Beginning of the Thousand Years

The key to the time is furnished by the declaration that the millennium begins with--

The Resurrection of the Just

Speaking of the risen saints, the Scripture says:

”They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead [the wicked] 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.” Rev. 20:4-6.

There are to be two resurrections. The apostle Paul said that this was the teaching of all Scripture: ”There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” Acts 24:15. The first resurrection, that of the just, marks the beginning of the thousand years.

Christ's Second Coming

When is this first resurrection, in the order of events in this ”day of the Lord”? It is at the second advent of Christ. One scripture, out of many, will suffice to state it:

”The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of G.o.d: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” 1 Thess. 4:16.

As the Saviour comes in glory, with all the holy angels, the graves are opened, and His voice awakens His children who sleep in the dust.

”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.” Matt. 24:31.

The time of Christ's second coming, therefore, is the beginning of the millennium.

The Righteous Taken to Heaven

The living righteous are translated, and, together with the risen saints, are taken to heaven, as the apostle says:

”Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thess. 4:17.

This was the Saviour's promise:

”In My Father's house are many mansions.... I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:2, 3.

The Destruction of the Wicked

At Christ's second coming the wicked are slain. The unbelieving left without shelter in that day, cannot endure the presence of such glory as will burst upon the world:

”The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not G.o.d, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Thess. 1:7, 8.

The Binding of Satan

With the saints in heaven, beyond the reach of Satan's wiles, and with the wicked dead, not to live again till the thousand years are finished, Satan is ”bound”--confined by divine power to this earth, which becomes his prison house, there being neither saint nor sinner upon whom to ply his arts of deception. No prisoner was ever more effectually chained.

The symbolical language of the prophet pictures the scene: