The Millennial Kingdom

By Chuck Smith
Pastor, Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California

The Bible teaches Jesus is coming again to this earth. In Acts 1.11 as the disciples were watching Jesus ascend into Heaven, two men standing by them in white apparel said to them, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here gazing up into Heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven.”

Matthew 24.30 tells us, “They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory!” Revelation 1.7 tells us, “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him and they also which pierced Him.” Zechariah, speaking for the Lord, said, “And they shall look upon Me Whom they have pierced,” Zechariah 12.10.

The purpose of the second coming of Christ is to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth. In His model prayer, Jesus told His disciples to pray, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven,” Matthew 6.10. During the Millennium, the damage of the Tribulation will be reversed and Christ will reign on the throne of David: Isaiah 9.6-7 and Zechariah 12.10. In Revelation 5.10, John said, “And hast made us unto our God kings and priest: and we shall reign on the earth.” Hence, when Jesus comes to reign, the Church will reign with Him. Revelation 20.4 tells us the length of our reign on the earth will be one thousand years. In Latin a thousand years is mille annum, from which we get our English word millennium.

Revelation 5.9-10 speaks of the new song the Church will be singing in Heaven of the worthiness of the Lamb to take the book and loose the seals: “For Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, people and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”

His Kingdom will not be meat nor drink, “but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost,” Romans 14.17. It is at this time “the wolf…shall dwell with the lamb; and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them,” Isaiah 11.6. “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock,” Isaiah 65.25.

This is the time when “they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more,” Micah 4.3. God’s promises to Israel included both earthly and spiritual blessings.

Christ’s disciples, who understood the earthly aspect of the blessings on Israel, asked Christ just prior to His ascension when He would fulfill the earthly blessings and establish His Kingdom: Acts 1.6. They were then ignorant of the fact this phase of Christ’s Kingdom would not take place until the End Times.

Until Christ returns, our purpose and commission is to be at work declaring His Gospel to the world: Matthew 24.14.

“Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!” Revelation 22.20.