The 1,000 years of Revelation 20. #7 When does the Millennium End? When the meek Inherit the Earth?

"When does the millennium end?

"Revelation 20 says that it ends when Satan is loosed.

"Then you have Satan’s little season (3) followed by the end of the world.

"Thus the millennium finishes at the end of the world minus Satan’s little season,
a tiny little sliver, immediately before the very end.

"Then comes the final judgment in which Jesus Christ will judge the world
on His great white throne (11-15).

"Acts 24:15 teaches that there will be one resurrection,
both of the just and the unjust, who are raised from the dead
for the purpose of the final judgment.

"Let us put all this together.

"The millennium begins with Christ’s first coming, Calvary and Pentecost.

"It ends with His second coming, and then we have the final judgment.

"Thus the millennium is the New Testament age,
the period from the first to the second advent of Christ (here, for simplification,
I am setting aside the tiny little sliver at the very end
before Christ returns when Satan is loosed).

"This period, between the first and second comings of Christ,
is pictured as a thousand years in the vision of Revelation 20 for a specific purpose.

"It emphasizes the completeness and fullness of the New Testament age.

"This is how the New Testament age is complete and full:
all the elect are saved from all nations.

"These are the days predicted by the prophets as the fulfillment of their hopes
until finally the eternal state is ushered in.

"This is the era in which Jesus Christ personally rules
from His throne in heaven over all things.

"This is the age in which the Spirit of Jesus Christ works in all the world...

"So the millennium covers the same period as the “last days” (another biblical phrase),
the period from the first coming to the second coming of Christ.

"These days are called the “last days”
because nothing comes after them but the eternal state.

"There is no intermediate period or halfway house
between the millennium or last days and the eternal state.

"Now we can see why Satan is bound at the very beginning of the millennium
and why he is not loosed until the very end of the thousand years.

"For, to speak hypothetically, if all the nations were allowed to unite against the church,
say, some fifty years prior to Christ’s return, then all the elect could not be gathered.

"Then all... could not be saved.

"What then about the predictions of the prophets?

"What about the rule of Jesus Christ from His throne?

"Thus the message of the millennium is a message of comfort.

"It is comfort, first of all, because it proclaims that Jesus Christ is Lord
and that He is Lord even of Satan—
not in the sense that the old serpent worships Him as his Saviour,
but that He rules over the devil.

"He binds Satan and He looses Satan.

“Satan,” Christ says, in effect, “I am going to see to it
that you do not unite and destroy My church. I am going to bind you.

"And when I please, and when you fulfil My purpose, then I’ll loose you.”

"Satan just does what he is allowed to do,
to serve the sovereign purpose of Jesus Christ.

"Second, this is also our comfort: Satan is defeated.

"Satan is bound now so he can not unite all the nations against the church,
and then Satan will be loosed for a little while for one all-out assault on the church.

"Then, Revelation 20 says, he will be cast into the lake of fire forever and ever (10).

"All this means, therefore, that all the Elect will be saved.

"Since the millennium teaches us that, no matter how fierce the persecution,
the whole church will not be attacked by all the nations together
until Satan’s little season, the millennium is the period of missions for the church
in which the gospel is sent out to all the world.

"The millennium, therefore, means victory for the church.

"This victory is not the victory of earthly peace or power or prosperity,
as if the church were just another kingdom of this world.

"The millennium is a period of victory as a period of spiritual peace,
power and prosperity.

"Christ’s word that His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36)
does not mean that His kingdom is somehow inferior
to all the other kingdoms of this world.

"No, when He says that His kingdom is not of this world,
He means it is a far better kingdom, a far richer kingdom—
rich with the blessings of peace and fellowship with the true and living God.

"Unlike every other kingdom, this one is everlasting and indestructible.

"All its meek citizens will inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5)."