WILL SIN BE PRESENT DURING THE MILLENNIUM REIGN OF CHRIST?
By Ezekiel Kimosop
During the millennium reign, Christ will return to the earth with believers who constituted the first resurrection group contemplated in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. According to premillennialism theory, the millennium reign will take place after the celebration of the wedding feast recorded in Revelation 19:1-10.
Believers who came to faith during the tribulation period will also be alive on earth. These faithful servants who survived the great tribulation period will bear children, in whom the sin nature will still reside, because the fallen human nature will not be eliminated until eternity begins at the end of the millennial kingdom.
Those who were martyred during the tribulation period will reign with Christ during the 1000 year reign in Jerusalem. Revelation 20:4 says "Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." (NKJV).
This suggests that the tribulation saints were adorned with glorified bodies at this point in time.
There will also be people who rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ and were left out of the rapture. These rebellious people will raise their children during the millennium reign and will most probably negatively influence them to reject Christ.
The world will therefore experience sin because the eternal reign of Christ recorded in Revelation 21-22 is yet to take place at this point.
Will there be an opportunity for sinners to turn to Christ during the millennium reign?
Bible scholars believe that since Satan will be bound to the bottomless pit for 1000 years, there would be a final opportunity for people to turn to Christ. However, resistance to Christ's kingdom which started during the great tribulation period will still be present among those who rejected Him at that time. Some people will therefore reject Him again!
After the 1000 year reign, Satan will be loosed from the bottomless pit and will deceive the nations for a period of time (Revelation 20:7-10). The release of Satan from divine confinement marks the final apocalypse in human history.
The final battle against Christ and His saints in Jerusalem will unfold. These dark forces will surround Jerusalem, intending to destroy the kingdom of God in Christ. God will destroy these enemies of Christ in the battle of Gog and Magog recorded in Revelation 20:7-10.
When will believers found alive during the millennial reign be joined to those who were caught away during the first resurrection?
Scripture is silent on this question. Some scholars have suggested that the millennium believers will adorn glorified bodies at the end of the millennium reign to allow them to join the eternal state described in Revelation 21-22. Others say the transformation of these saints will coincide with the second resurrection and judgement recorded in Revelation 20:11-15.
The dead will be raised to life and those whose names shall not be found in the Lamb's book of life will be consigned to eternal damnation in the lake of fire🔥.
Those who were martyred for their faith during the great tribulation will adorn spiritual bodies and join the "first cohort" saints and together they will dwell in the presence of Christ and of God forever.
This marks the eternal state of the church recorded in Revelation 21. The former things shall pass away forever and God will make all things new.
Shalom
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