11.4. Summary of the Millennial Kingdom

It is not our purpose here to describe the Millennial Kingdom at great length. It is a large topic and the subject of scores of prophecies, especially in the OT. (See Additional Resources on the Millennial Kingdom.) The chart below provides a summary of the main characteristics of the Millennial Kingdom. As is readily seen, it will be a time unlike any in history. It will also be unlike the conditions in the eternal state (Rev. Rev. 21:1+-Rev. 22:1+).

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 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, enforced, 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, so 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” (Isa. Isa. 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.¹

Character of the Millennial Kingdom

Attribute	Description	Scriptures
Duration	One thousand years.	Rev. Rev. 20:2-5+
Theocratic Rule	God will rule in the person of Jesus Christ on the throne of David. King David reigns as a prince under Christ. See Millennial Reign of Messiah.	2S. 2S. 7:16; Ps. Ps. 89:20-37; Isa. Isa. 24:23; Jer. Jer. 30:9; Jer. 33:15-17; Eze. Eze. 34:23-24; Eze. 37:24-25; Eze. 45:22; Dan. Dan. 7:13-14; Hos. Hos. 3:5; Luke Luke 1:30-33.
Representative Rule	The twelve apostles will represent Christ ruling over the twelve tribes. Church-age and Tribulation saints will represent Christ ruling over the Gentiles. See Millennial Reign of the Saints.	Isa. Isa. 32:1; Dan. Dan. 7:17-18, Dan. 7:21-22, Dan. 7:27; Mtt. Mat. 19:28; Luke Luke 22:30; Rev. Rev. 3:21+; Rev. 5:10+.
Universal Rule	Christ’s rule will extend both spiritually and literally over the entire earth.	Ps. Ps. 2:6-9; Ps. 72:8; Dan. Dan. 2:44; Dan. 4:34; Dan. 7:14, Dan. 7:27; Mic. Mic. 4:1-2; Zec. Zec. 9:10
Seat of Government	The earthly Jerusalem will be restored, blessed, and greatly expanded to serve as the seat of government and worship. See Jerusalem Married to God.2	Isa. Isa. 62:1; Isa. Isa. 65:18-19; Eze. Eze. 48:15-19; Luke Luke 21:24; Rev. Rev. 11:2+.
Global Environment	The heavens and earth will be renewed to restore the creation to Eden-like conditions and repair the damage from man’s long reign of abuse and the judgments of the Tribulation period.3	Isa. Isa. 65:17;4 Mtt. Mat. 19:28
Populace	Resurrected and glorified saints will rule in the midst of Christ’s “brothers” (the faithful Jewish remnant), and the “sheep” (faithful Gentiles) who survive the Tribulation and enter the kingdom to form its initial population. Children will be born to those who enter the kingdom in their natural bodies.	Dan. Dan. 12:2; Isa. Isa. 26:19; Isa. 65:20, Isa. 65:23; Mtt. Mat. 25:31; Rev. Rev. 20:4+
The Curse	Many aspects of the curse (Gen. Gen. 3:15-19) will be reversed. People will live to a great age, but death will still occur.5 As before the flood, animals will revert to vegetarianism and will no longer fear man. Living waters will flow from beneath the sanctuary of the Millennial Temple bringing life to the regions they water.	Isa. Isa. 11:6-9; Isa. 65:20, Isa. 65:25; Eze. Eze. 47:8-12; Zec. Zec. 8:4; Zec. 14:8; (cf. Rev. Rev. 21:1-2+)
Productivity	The earth will be fruitful and men will enjoy the fruit of their labors.6	Ps. Ps. 67:6-7; Ps. 72:16; Isa. Isa. 35:1; Isa. 55:13; Isa. 65:22; Joel Joel 2:24-26; Joel 3:18; Amos Amos 9:13-14
Mount Zion	The region of Mount Zion will be lifted up to form the Mountain of the Lord’s House.7 See Millennial Temple.	Isa. Isa. 2:2; Isa. 56:7; Eze. Eze. 20:40; Eze. 40:2; Zec. Zec. 14:4, Zec. 14:10-11; Mic. Mic. 4:1
Israel	Israel will finally inhabit the Promised Land permanently. She will serve as the focal point of the nations because Jesus will reign from Jerusalem.8	Gen. Gen. 13:15; Gen. 17:8; 1Chr. 1Chr. 17:9; Ps. Ps. 105:8-11; Isa. Isa. 60:21; Jer. Jer. 3:18; Jer. 7:7; Jer. 30:3; Jer. 31:8-9; Eze. Eze. 37:25; Eze. 39:25-29; Amos Amos 9:11-15
Peace	All implements of war will be destroyed in favor of implements of productivity. Nations will no longer go to war. Disagreements between nations will be judged by Christ from Jerusalem.	Ps. Ps. 72:3-7; Isa. Isa. 2:5; Isa. 9:7; Eze. Eze. 37:26; Mic. Mic. 4:3
Worship	A temple will stand in Jerusalem and all the nations will go up to Jerusalem to the Feast of Tabernacles. Sacrificial offerings will be resumed.9	Isa. Isa. 2:3; Isa. 56:6-7; Isa. 66:20-23; Eze. Eze. 43:20, Eze. 43:26; Eze. 45:15, Eze. 45:17, Eze. 45:20; Jer. Jer. 33:18; Dan. Dan. 9:24; Joel Joel 3:18; Hag. Hag. 2:7-9; Zec. Zec. 6:12-15; Zec. 8:20-23; Zec. 14:16-21; Mal. Mal. 3:3-4. See Millennial Sacrifices.
Demonic Realm	Satan will be bound in the abyss and demons will be imprisoned in the regions of Babylon, Edom, and possibly, the abyss. See commentary on Revelation 18:2 and Revelation 20:1.	Isa. Isa. 34:8-17; Rev. Rev. 18:2+; Rev. 20:3+
Language	The curse of Babel (Gen. Gen. 11:7), the introduction of varied languages, will be reversed. All the earth will have one language.	Zep. Zep. 3:8-1210

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Notes

¹ John MacArthur, Revelation 12-22 : The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 2000), Rev. 20:1.

² “In Holy Scripture there are two Jerusalems: the one is on earth in the land of Palestine; the other is ‘above’ in heaven (Gal. Gal. 4:25-26; Heb. Heb. 12:22). Now the Old Testament prophets speak of a city which, in the coming Kingdom, shall be reclaimed from Gentile power, rebuilt, restored to the historic nation of Israel, and made the religious center of the world. This Jerusalem cannot be the ‘heavenly Jerusalem,’ for that city is impeccably holy, the eternal dwelling of the true God, and has never been defiled or marred by human sin and rebellion. Any such notion is to the highest degree impossible and absurd. All predictions of a restored and rebuilt Jerusalem must therefore refer to the historical city of David on earth.”—Alva J. McClain, The Greatness Of The Kingdom (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1959), 244.

³ “In Matthew Mat. 19:28 Jesus declared that ‘the regeneration’ would take place ‘when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory.’ His terminology is significant. It indicates that when Christ, as the Son of man (as a human, a kinsman of mankind) rules the earth, there will be a return to the original state that existed when the earth was born, which is recorded in Genesis and involved mankind’s tenant possession or administration of the earth as God’s representative. Christ taught that He will begin to exercise that rule when He returns in glory with His holy angels (Mtt. Mat. 25:31). . . . Peter declared that ‘the times of refreshing’ and ‘the times of the restitution of all things’ will come when God sends Christ back to be personally present on the earth. . . . F. F. Bruce wrote that ‘the restitution’ to which Peter referred in Acts Acts 3:21 ‘appears to be identical with’ ‘the regeneration’ to which Jesus referred in Matthew Mat. 19:28, and that the restoration involved will include ‘a renovation of all nature.’ ”—Renald E. Showers, Maranatha, Our Lord Come (Bellmawr, NJ: The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, 1995), 86-87.

⁴ This passage in Isaiah either describes the regeneration of the heavens and earth (cf. Mtt. Mat. 19:28) since it precedes the description of the millennium which follows, or Isaiah saw the final heavens and earth and the millennium (Rev. Rev. 21:1+), but the order of their presentation in this passage is reversed.

⁵ Some believe that only unbelievers will die during the Millennial Kingdom: Rev. 20:4-6+).”—LaHaye, “A Literal Millennium as Taught in Scripture, Part 4,” in Thomas Ice, ed., Pre-Trib Perspectives, vol. 8 no. 10 (Dallas, TX: Pre-Trib Research Center, February 2004), 2.

⁶ “Some allege that the Millennial Kingdom cannot be a spiritual one if it is earthly. But ‘earthly’ and ‘spiritual’ are not necessarily mutually exclusive. If the two concepts were incompatible, Christians today could not be expected to live spiritual lives in earthly bodies. During the millennium, God will join the spiritual and the earthly in a full display of His glory on this earth. The earthly kingdom will manifest the highest standards of spirituality.”—Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology (Wheaton, IL: SP Publications, 1986), 510.

⁷ “The area of the present Temple Compound is not large enough to hold the Temple described by Ezekiel and will require some major geographical changes. That is why the new Mountain of Jehovah’s House will be necessary.”—Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of Messiah, rev ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2003), 457.

⁸ “The whole Bible, even the New Testament, is written by Jews. If revelation is to recommence in the millennial kingdom, converted Israel must stand at the head of humanity. In a religious point of view, Jews and Gentiles stand on an equal footing as both alike needing mercy; but as regards God’s instrumentalities for bringing about His kingdom on earth, Israel is His chosen people for executing His plans.”—A. R. Fausset, “The Revelation of St. John the Divine,” in Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, 1877), Rev. 20:6.

⁹ But not for salvific purposes. See Millennial Sacrifices.

¹⁰ “Here not only giving the millennial nations ‘cleansed’ or ‘purified’ lips, as regenerated peoples, but apparently also in the sense that ‘lip’ signifies ‘language’ (Gen. Gen. 11:1, Gen. 11:6-7, Gen. 11:9), and possibly indicating that the Hebrew language will be the one universal language of the Kingdom age (Zec. Zec. 14:9). That would be not all that surprising, since Israel will be the chief nation in that economy (Deu. Deu. 28:13) and Jerusalem in that day will be the religious and governmental capital of the millennial earth (Isa. Isa. 2:2-3; Zec. Zec. 8:20-23). Moreover, it is all the more probable since the judgment of the nations at the second advent will eventuate in the destruction of the satanic world system . . . That system had its beginning in ancient Babylon with its pride, idolatry, and rebellion (Gen. Gen. 10:8-10; Gen. 11:1-6). The gift of a pure speech will remove the curse of Babel, and it will anticipate the great millennial outpouring of the Spirit (Joel Joel 2:28-32), of which Pentecost (Acts Acts 2:1-11) was an illustration.”—Merrill F. Unger, Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2002), Zep. 3:9.