Revelation 20 is the foundation of Christian millennialism. According to Revelation 20:4-6, God’s people will enjoy 1,000 years of reigning with Christ in heaven following his Second Coming. This has been a core belief of Christians who have taken this to be a literal period of 1,000 years and who have accepted the eschatological description as authoritative.
The Millennium is the thousand year reign of Christ with His saints in heaven between the first and second resurrections. During this time the wicked dead will be judged and the earth will be utterly desolate, without living human inhabitants, but occupied by Satan and his angels. At its close of the thousand years, Christ with His saints and the New Jerusalem will descend from heaven to earth. The unrighteous dead will then be brought back up in the second resurrected, and with Satan and his angels will surround the city, but fire from God will consume them and cleanse the earth. The universe will thus be freed of sin and sinners forever. At this time scripture shows, God finally get rid of evil and what will happen to Satan.
Now some think that its on earth, that is called Chialism which is the belief that the 1000 years is a literal period that will take place on earth. They believe that the saints of God will live and wander on earth for the thousand years and then Satan will unite them against God to fight Him at Armageddon. This however makes no sense, as why would the redeemed spend the millennium on earth, and not go to heaven following the second coming as has been a core belief of Christians from even before Christ came.
But people in the church have debated for centuries about the nature of Christ’s second coming, and somehow this idea of Chialism crept in. The roots of chiliasm can be traced back to the early Christian believers who were grappling with persecution and the hope for divine intervention. This idea was particularly appealing to those who wanted it to change here on earth quickly where justice and peace would prevail under the direct rule of Christ. But this is the same idea was what confused the Jews when Christ first came as they thought He would throw off the evil yoke of the Romans and rule here on earth, but He made clear His kingdom was not of this earth. it is a heavenly kingdom.
The Bible shows us as it describes what will happen at end in the events of the Millennium. In the Millennium, the thousand-year period, Satan's influence over the earth will be restricted, and Christ will reign with His saints.
If we look in the Bible, we see Revelation 19 and 20 belong together, there is no break between these chapters. They describe Christ's Second Coming and immediately continue with the Millennium, their sequence indicating that the millennium begins at Christ Second Coming after He takes the saints up to heaven.
At the Second Coming, the first resurrection takes place. The righteous, the "blessed and holy," are raised for "over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years" as we see in Revelation 20:6.
After the resurrection of the righteous dead, they and the living saints are caught up "to meet the Lord in the air" as given in 1 Thess. 4:17. Then Christ will fulfill the promise He made just before He left this world: "'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 to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also'" from John 14:2-3. Jesus described the place to which He will take His followers as "'My Father's house,'" where there are "'many mansions,'" or dwelling places. Here Jesus refers to the New Jerusalem, which does not come to this earth until the end of the millennium. At the Second Coming, then, when the righteous "meet the Lord in the air," their destination is heaven, not the earth that they have just left. Christ does not establish His kingdom of glory on the earth at this time. He does that at the end of the 1000 years of the millennium.
The Millennium is the thousand year reign of Christ with His saints in heaven between the first and second resurrections. During this time the wicked dead will be judged and the earth will be utterly desolate, without living human inhabitants, but occupied by Satan and his angels. At its close of the thousand years, Christ with His saints and the New Jerusalem will descend from heaven to earth. The unrighteous dead will then be brought back up in the second resurrected, and with Satan and his angels will surround the city, but fire from God will consume them and cleanse the earth. The universe will thus be freed of sin and sinners forever. At this time scripture shows, God finally get rid of evil and what will happen to Satan.
Now some think that its on earth, that is called Chialism which is the belief that the 1000 years is a literal period that will take place on earth. They believe that the saints of God will live and wander on earth for the thousand years and then Satan will unite them against God to fight Him at Armageddon. This however makes no sense, as why would the redeemed spend the millennium on earth, and not go to heaven following the second coming as has been a core belief of Christians from even before Christ came.
But people in the church have debated for centuries about the nature of Christ’s second coming, and somehow this idea of Chialism crept in. The roots of chiliasm can be traced back to the early Christian believers who were grappling with persecution and the hope for divine intervention. This idea was particularly appealing to those who wanted it to change here on earth quickly where justice and peace would prevail under the direct rule of Christ. But this is the same idea was what confused the Jews when Christ first came as they thought He would throw off the evil yoke of the Romans and rule here on earth, but He made clear His kingdom was not of this earth. it is a heavenly kingdom.
The Bible shows us as it describes what will happen at end in the events of the Millennium. In the Millennium, the thousand-year period, Satan's influence over the earth will be restricted, and Christ will reign with His saints.
If we look in the Bible, we see Revelation 19 and 20 belong together, there is no break between these chapters. They describe Christ's Second Coming and immediately continue with the Millennium, their sequence indicating that the millennium begins at Christ Second Coming after He takes the saints up to heaven.
At the Second Coming, the first resurrection takes place. The righteous, the "blessed and holy," are raised for "over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years" as we see in Revelation 20:6.
After the resurrection of the righteous dead, they and the living saints are caught up "to meet the Lord in the air" as given in 1 Thess. 4:17. Then Christ will fulfill the promise He made just before He left this world: "'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 to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also'" from John 14:2-3. Jesus described the place to which He will take His followers as "'My Father's house,'" where there are "'many mansions,'" or dwelling places. Here Jesus refers to the New Jerusalem, which does not come to this earth until the end of the millennium. At the Second Coming, then, when the righteous "meet the Lord in the air," their destination is heaven, not the earth that they have just left. Christ does not establish His kingdom of glory on the earth at this time. He does that at the end of the 1000 years of the millennium.