Imagine a world dominated by righteousness and goodness—a world where there is no injustice, where no court ever renders an unjust verdict, and where everyone is always treated fairly. Imagine a world where what is true, right, and noble marks every aspect of life, including interpersonal relations, commerce, education, and government. Imagine a world where there is complete, total, and permanent peace, where joy abounds and good health prevails—so much so that people live for hundreds of years.
Imagine a world where the Curse is removed, where the environment is restored to the pristine purity of the Garden of Eden, where peace reigns even in the animal kingdom, such that “the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them” (Isaiah 11:6). Imagine a world ruled by a perfect, glorious Ruler, who instantly and firmly deals with sin.
Humanly speaking, that description may seem far-fetched, a utopian fantasy that could never be reality. Yet it accurately describes conditions during the future earthly kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. The restored and radically reconstructed earth of the millennial kingdom will constitute paradise regained. The thousand-year reign of the Savior over the earth is the divinely planned and promised culmination of all redemptive history and the realization of the hope of all the saints of all the ages.
The Millennial Kingdom
The millennial kingdom is called by many names in Scripture. In Matthew 19:28 Jesus calls it “the regeneration.” Acts 3:19 describes the kingdom as “times of refreshing,” while verse 21 of that chapter calls it “the period of restoration of all things.” The apostle Paul refers to it in Ephesians 1:10 as “an administration suitable to the fullness of the times.”
But the Bible’s teaching on the kingdom is not confined to the New Testament. The kingdom is an important theme throughout Scripture; it is the goal toward which all of redemptive history progresses. In the words of John Bright, “The Bible is one book. Had we to give that book a title, we might with justice call it ‘The Book of the Coming Kingdom of God.’” [1]The Kingdom of God [Nashville: Abingdon, 1953], 197; italics in originalMyriad Old Testament passages speak of the earthly kingdom.[2]Among those are Deuteronomy 30:1–5; 2 Samuel 7:12–16; Psalm 2:6–12; Isaiah 2:2–4; 11:1–10; 12:1–6; 24:23; 32:15–20; 35:1–2; 60:10–18; 65:20–22; Jeremiah 3:14–18; 23:5–6; 30:3; 31:35–40; 33:14–18; Ezekiel 34:23–24; 36:16–38; 37:15–28; Daniel 2:44–45; Hosea 3:4–5; Joel 3:18–21; Amos 9:11–15; Micah 4:1–8; Zephaniah 3:14–20; and Zechariah 14:9–11.
God’s kingdom may be broadly defined as the sphere in which He reigns. In its universal, eternal sense, God’s kingdom encompasses everything that exists, because God is the sovereign ruler over all of His creation. David declared that truth in Psalm 103:19: “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.” Historically, God has mediated His rule on earth through His people, first through Adam and Eve, then Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, the judges of Israel (including Samuel), and the kings of Israel and Judah. In the present era, God mediates His rule politically through human governments (Romans 13:1–7) and spiritually through the church (Acts 20:25; Romans 14:17; Colossians 1:13). In the millennial kingdom, the political and religious elements of God’s temporal, earthly rule will be reunited in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Revelation 20
One of the clearest passages of Scripture on the millennial kingdom is Revelation 20:1–10. This is, in every sense of the word, a climactic chapter in Scripture. It brings us to the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth in His kingdom—the culmination of redemptive history as it unfolds in this world. In a sense, this kingdom is the climax of all human history.
The kingdom of Christ has been called “paradise regained.” Paradise was lost when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, but it will finally be restored with the reign of Christ. Since the Fall, generation after generation of saints have looked forward to the realization of their hopes when Christ will set the world in order again.
It is at that time that Jesus Christ will reign fully as King of kings and Lord of lords over all creation. This kingdom is the end of human history—the end of the present universe as we know it. And after the thousand-year kingdom is completed, everything in the created order will be completely destroyed because it has all been tainted by sin. Even though Christ will rule over it, it will still bear the marks of sin.
Finally, after the Lord completely destroys the created universe, He will create a new heaven and a new earth in eternal perfection. This new heaven and earth will remain untainted by sin and will be the everlasting kingdom where Christ reigns with all the saints from every age.
So redemptive history runs from the fall of man through Christ’s first advent until He comes back in judgment, sets up His kingdom, destroys the world, and, lastly, makes way for the new heaven and the new earth untouched by sin of any kind.
In the days ahead, we’ll look more closely at this passage to get a glimpse of the future reign of Christ on earth. But before we get to that, we need to examine the three common interpretations of the millennial kingdom: postmillennialism, amillennialism, and premillennialism. And that’s exactly what we’ll do in our next post.
