Grace be unto you all and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. As the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ draws nearer each day, we deem it necessary to begin to write to you all concerning the coming millennium during which time Christ will reign for a thousand years on the earth with all His saints to quash all rebellion and literally establish the kingdom of heaven on earth. The saints that shall come with Him from heaven to the earth in those days shall comprise the righteous that are now asleep in Christ and the living righteous that will be caught up at the rapture of the church at the sound of the last trump. This millennial reign of Christ shall begin at the second coming of the Lord when He shall come bodily to reign on the earth and subdue it unto God. It is the DAY OF THE LORD. The day of redemption of Judah when the LORD GOD shall turn back her captivity before her eyes. Alas! The great day of the LORD is at hand! Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name. Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD. This is the third and final outpouring of the Holy Spirit spoken of by Joel the prophet concerning which we recently wrote to you all. Surely, these things shall be done and the time of their fulfillment is now at hand. Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. For the LORD dwelleth in Zion. He has chosen and desired it for His habitation.
There are some in the body of Christ today that speak of a millennium of righteousness before the return of Christ to the earth. They speak of restitution of all things as the scripture has said while they yet lack understanding of what these things really mean. They claim to bring restored truth to the earth while applying eschatological passages for Israel to the church. These are false doctrines that must be rejected through the knowledge of the truth. There will be no millennium of righteousness before the Lord's return. Sin will continue to thrive on the earth until the Lord shall come with His saints to quash the rebellion. The scriptures liken the second coming of the Lord which immediately precedes the millennium to the days before the flood of Noah. Sin continued up to the very day Noah entered the ark, so sin will continue up to the day of the second coming of Christ. Hence again, there is no room for a millennium of righteousness before Christ's coming. In fact, Christ must come before the millennium of righteousness begins (Rev 19:11-20:10) and even some sinners shall enter into the millennium (Isa 65:20-25, Rev 20:7-10, Eph 1:10). Now, the purpose of the millennium is to put down all sin and rebellion (1 Corinth 15:24-28). Going by God's calendar alone, this task will take a thousand years to complete. Isn't that amazing? Revealing the depth of decay of the earth in sin, rebellion and curse?
The millennium comes from the Latin root word mille meaning a thousand, and annus meaning year. It is literally translated a thousand years which is used 6 times in Rev 20:1-7. It is the last dispensation for man on the earth before the removal of the curse (Rev 22:3). In the Scriptures, it is called:
The thousand years reign of Christ (Rev 20:2, 4, 5, 6, 7) - so called because Christ shall reign on the earth a thousand years with all His saints. This will be a government whose foundation will be based on righteousness.
The dispensation of the fullness of times (Eph 1:10) - so called because all enemies and rebellion will be put down and all creation united in one as before rebellion by Lucifer and later by Adam (1 Corinth 15:24-28). Fullness of times refers to the completion of probationary times of rebellion on the earth. Christ's reign will end the probationary period of man on earth with the purpose of ridding the earth of all insubordination and restoring God's administration over the earth as it was in the beginning.
The day of the Lord (Isa 2:11; 4:1; 19:21; 24:21; 26:1, Ezek 39:22; 48:35 etc.) - so called because it is the day in which Christ will come to set up His kingdom in the world, when it will be the Lord's day to reign on earth and not man's day any longer.
The world (age) to come (Matt 12:32, Mark 10:30, Eph 1:21; 2:7; 3:21) - so called because it is a different age that will come after the one we currently live in where the world will be ruled by God as opposed to man.
The kingdom of Christ and of God (Eph 5:5, 2 Tim 4:1, Rev 11:15) - so called because Christ will deliver the kingdom to God at the end of His one thousand year reign on earth so that God can be all and all as it was in the very beginning (1 Corinth 15:24-28). The Son and His millennial earthly kingdom do not cease to exist, for both are eternal. The Son will continue to reign under the Father forever after the millennium (Isa 9:6-7, Dan 2:44-45, 7:13-14, 18, 27, Zech 14, Luke 1:32-33, Rev 5:10, 11:15, 22:5).
The regeneration (Matt 19:28) - so called because it is the time of restitution of all things when the earth is supposedly restored by God.
The times of the restitution (restoration) of all things (Acts 3:20-21) - Greek word is apokatastatis. So called because it is a time of complete restoration or re-establishment. It refers only to the millennium when Christ through His reign shall restore all things to perfection and sinlessness as before the rebellion of Lucifer and Adam (Isa 65:17, 66:22-24). When this complete restoration work is finished, then the Son will deliver the restored and perfect kingdom to the Father.
The redemption of Jerusalem (Luke 2:38) - so called because the Lord Jesus Christ shall reign in Zion in Jerusalem, in the city of David after redeeming it from the Gentiles by defeating the armies of the Antichrist at Armageddon who shall gather together against Judah and Jerusalem in those days to destroy it.
Concerning more truths on the millennium, we shall write to you all in our next letter. We exhort you all to continually abide in the Lord and keep the faith. The coming of the Lord is at hand. Peace be to you all. Maranatha.
