LAST THINGS
MILLENNIUM, NEW JERUSALEM, NEW HEAVEN, NEW EARTH
DR. JIM DIXON
HEBREWS 12:22-25
AUGUST 27, 2006
Ponce de Leon, in the 16th century, sought the Fountain of Youth. Of course, he did not find it because the Fountain of Youth is not in Florida. In fact, there are a lot of old people in Florida. The Fountain of Youth is in heaven. It’s in heaven where we find eternal life. It’s in heaven where we find eternal youth.
Francisco Coronado, in the 16th century, sought the Seven Cities of Cibola. He sought the Seven Cities of Gold. Of course, he did not find them because the City of Gold is not to be found in the region of Gallup, New Mexico, where Coronado hung out. The City of Gold is in heaven. It is the heavenly city that is the New Jerusalem.
Of course, Ferdinand Magellan sought, in the 16th century, to circumnavigate the globe and he died in the process but he was like so many who came from Europe and sought to explore the New World. They were adventurers and explorers and they wanted to find adventure and exploration on this earth, but you see it all pales – whatever adventure, whatever exploration we can find in this world – when compared to the adventure and the exploration that we will be able to experience in heaven because the Bible tells us God is going to create a new universe with galactic systems – He says, “a new heavens and a new earth.”
We’re going to look at heaven today. We’re going to look at heaven with all of its beauty and with all of its complexity. We begin today by looking at the subject of the millennium. In the 25-year history of this church we have never, in this context, in a worship service, taken a look at the millennium because it’s a difficult subject, but we’re going to take a few minutes and take a look at what the Bible tells us about the millennium. The word millennium comes from a Latin word meaning, “one thousand,” and its Greek equivalent is the word “chilioi” which means “one thousand” in the Greek language. The millennium is to be a period of one thousand years and the millennium is described in the Book of Revelation. In chapter 20, verses 1-10, we’re told that for a thousand years Jesus Christ will reign on this earth. Of course, the Bible also tells us that Jesus Christ and the Saints will reign forever and ever but, you see, the millennium is a special period where God has a special purpose. So, we look at the millennium and with regard to the millennium in the Christian world there are three different views. I don’t know why it is that there always seem to be three different views, but there are three different views in the Christian world of the millennium and the first is called pre-millennialism.
Pre-millennialism treats Revelation, chapter 20, verses 1-10 literally and it follows the time sequence that is given in Revelation 19, 20, and 21. In Pre-millennialism we have the return of Jesus Christ as described in the Book of Revelation in the 19th chapter, verses 11-16. “Jesus Christ will come in power, King of Kings and Lord of Lords and He will tread the winepress of the wrath of the fury of the Lord God Almighty. He will come in judgement,” and in accordance with Matthew, chapter 25, “He will judge the nations,” the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Then, Revelation, chapter 19, verses 17-21, “Jesus Christ will judge the antichrist and the false prophet.” Remember this globe, this earth, will have just come through the tribulation. Jesus Christ will judge the antichrist and the false prophet. Then we move to Revelation, chapter 20, and we’re told that, “Jesus Christ will bind Satan so that Satan will be bound for a thousand years,” the Bible tells us, “so that he can deceive the nations no more.” Satan will be bound and he will no longer be able to deceive the nations and then Jesus will usher in on this earth a period of time called The Millennium and He will rule this world with His resurrected Saints.
Now within Pre-Millennialism there are a variety of views. Some believe that the Church of Jesus Christ will not be here during the millennium. They believe that the Church of Jesus Christ will be in the heavenly Jerusalem. Some believe that the Church of Jesus Christ will be on earth during the millennium. Some believe that a select few will be on earth and the others will be in the New Jerusalem. Some believe that Christians will be going back and forth. Lots of different views, but you see, during the millennium Jesus Christ will establish justice on the earth. Of course, this is in fulfillment of countless biblical prophecies such as Isaiah, chapter 11, where we’re told that, “Jesus Christ will come and He will have the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Council and Might, the Spirit of Knowledge and the Fear of the Lord. His delight will be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what His eyes see or decide by what His ears hear but with righteousness He shall judge the poor and He shall decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth and with the breath of His lips. He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness will be the girdle of His loins and faithfulness the girdle of His waist.” Isaiah, chapter 11. He will bring justice to a world that has rarely seen it; He will bring justice during the millennium.
He will also, during the millennium, fulfill all of the prophecies and promises with regard to Israel. On your outline on the screen, it mentions Isaiah, chapter 66, verses 10-27. Certainly, this is one of many passages that describes promises, millennial promises, to Israel. Even in the Book of Isaiah there are other passages, certainly Isaiah, chapter 9; Isaiah, chapter 60; and Isaiah 65 and 66. Countless passages throughout the Old Testament refer to millennial promises to Israel. Israel will become the Glory of the Nations and the Divinic Line will be re-established in Jerusalem. This is part of the purpose of the millennium: to honor the promises that God has made to Israel.
Then, of course, we’re told that the millennium will see nature restored. It’s hard to fathom, hard to imagine, what God is going to do in this world when nature is restored and even the animal world is brought into harmony. Of course, today the animal world is at war. Animals are eating animals and every animal has its place in the food chain. Things are going to change.
We’re told in Isaiah, chapter 11, that, “the wolf will dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid and the calf and the lion and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall feed and their young shall lie down together. Lions shall eat straw like the ox and the suckling child shall play over the hole of an asp (which is a venomous snake) and the weaned child shall place his hand in the adder’s den and they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the oceans cover the sea.” And so, we have this millennial picture of nature restored.
It says in Romans, chapter 8, in the New Testament, “The entire creation” (the Greek word “kitzo”) “waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God because nature itself,” it says in Romans 8, “longs to be set free from its bondage to decay.” So the whole natural world is going to be changed.
You might have seen that joke, a very old joke, about a guy that went to the zoo. He was kind of walking around to the various exhibits. He looks in one enclosure and he sees a sign which says, “Peaceful co-existence” and he looks into the enclosure and he sees a lion and a lamb and they’re both sound asleep and he marvels. He says to the attendant, “Hey! This is impressive. How do you do this?” The zoo attendant says, “Well, it’s really pretty simple. Every four days we put a new lamb in there!” Of course, that’s the world we live in, but it’s going to change.
I think most of you know that just 20 miles south of La Junta paleontologists have discovered that there was once right here in this region we now call Colorado, 150,000,000 years ago, paleontologists claim there was a great battle. It was a battle between giants, between the largest of the carnivores, an animal called an allosaur. It was the predecessor of the T-Rex and then another animal called an oppotasaur, which is sometimes mistakenly called a brontosaur. The largest of the carnivores, the meat-eaters, and the largest of the herbivores, the vegetarians, went to war. They can see evidence of this great fight that took place in the geological record and in the layered earth and it’s amazing. They don’t know the outcome. They do know that the allosaur, this predecessor of the T Rex, had massive jaws with which it could shred its opponent and of course huge claws on its legs. Of course, they know that the oppotasaur, this huge vegetarian, was so huge it could stand on its front legs and lift its hind legs way up into the air and then just slam dunk its opponent by dropping its hind legs to the ground. They also know that this giant vegetarian would use its tail like a weapon to just whip its opponent. It was kind of the beginning of Veggie Tales right there.
They don’t know the outcome but they do know this. Paleontologists know that the battle continues. The battle continues to this day. Carnivores and herbivores are still at war with each other, fighting each other. It’s all going to change in the millennium. It’s all going to change and the wolf will dwell with the lamb and the lion will eat straw like the ox. Incredible.
And so we have this concept in the Bible of the millennium and of course at the close of the millennium, in accordance with pre-millennialism, Satan will be loosed and it says this in Revelation, chapter 20, verses 3, 7, and 8, “In order to test the work of God during the millennium, the work of Christ…” remember that during the millennium you not only have the redeemed and the immortals, those of us who are resurrected, but you also have, on the earth during the millennium mortal people who have come through the tribulation and have come through the judgement of the nations. The fruit of God will be tested in their lives. And then finally in Revelation, chapter 20, verses 9 and 10, Satan is judged eternally and the new heavens and the new earth dawn. That’s pre-millennialism.
I want you to know that I think this is the preferable position with regard to what the Bible says, but there are two other views I want us to look at briefly. First of all, there’s post-millennialism. Post millennialism teaches that Jesus Christ won’t come again until after the millennium, so they believe that Christ will come after the millennium. Of course, this is in obvious defiance of the time sequence that is in Revelation 19, 20, and 21. Nevertheless, this is what post-millennialists believe and they also believe we’re in the millennium now. Of course, that means they have to kind of redefine what the millennium is. They believe the millennium is the reign of Christ over the earth through the church. And so, in old post-millennialism as was taught by St. Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo, basically the millennial reign of Christ through the church is summed up by Christendom. Of course, Christendom really began with Constantine the Great. It was Constantine the Great who legalized Christianity and who gave the Christian world power. Of course, Christians in the time of Christendom began to seize nations and governments and societal institutions and so over the course of time you begin to see Christianity dominate Europe and dominate European governments. Of course, that domination of Christianity spread to other parts of the world. It was called Christendom.
St. Augustine thought that Christendom would dominate the earth for 1,000 years, for a millennium, and it would make the earth perfect and would bring justice to the earth and then at the end of the millennium Christ would come back and everything would be all set up for him. Of course, it didn’t happen that way. Christendom didn’t produce justice on the earth. Christendom didn’t produce a perfect world and in fact many times Christians were guilty of some of the great errors during the Middle Ages and at the end of the Holy Roman Empire, at the end of what historically we could deem Christendom. Jesus Christ did not come.
Of course, there’s a new post-millennialism and in the new post-millennialism the millennium is spiritualized so that it refers to the reign of Christ over the world through the church spiritually and it’s believed by post-millennialists and it’s been this way since the Reformation Period. These new post millennialists believe that as the church is salt and light on the earth, by the power of the Holy Spirit the world is just going to get better and better until finally Jesus comes again so that Christ is reigning spiritually over the world through the church.
But, of course, there are very few post-millennialists today because in the aftermath of the 20°’ century, where we saw two World Wars, it began to dawn on people that the world was not getting better and better. Of course, today as we look at a world where Judeo-Christian values are eroding, when we look at a world where pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry and pandemic on the earth, it is very evident that whatever salt and light the church is offering is not making the world a perfect place. Of course, today it’s very hard to find a post-millennialist. Post-millennialism really doesn’t even fit the Bible because the Bible makes it very clear as we move towards the consummation and the return of Christ the world won’t be getting better. The world will be getting worse and the world is racing toward the Tribulation, Antichrist, and Armageddon.
The final view of the millennium is called Amillennialism. You might think when you hear the word Amillennialism that it means “no millennium” because the prefix “A” normally means “without,” “without a millennium.” But the truth is Amillennialists do believe there is a millennium. They just kind of redefined it. They redefied it like post-millennialists do and so Amillennialists point out that the Book of Revelation is apocalyptic literature, that it contains a lot of symbolism and that it contains a lot of numerology and of course all of this is true. They look at the word one thousand, the Greek word “chilioi,” and they interpret it symbolically. They say that chilioi, the word one thousand in the Greek was a word of completion, a word of wholeness so that we should think of the millennium as just the complete period, the whole period of Christ’s reign over the church. So the millennium for an Amillennialist is the reign of Christ over His Church from Pentecost all the way through the Second Coming. So this whole church age that we’re living in now, the millennium… And it’s not the reign of Christ over the world, it’s the reign of Christ over the church for an Amillennialist.
They acknowledge that the world is lost and getting worse and they acknowledge that the world is racing towards Armageddon, but they believe that Christ is reigning over His Church and they believe that during this millennium in which we now live Satan is bound and Satan is not able to deceive the Church of Christ globally.
Now, I must say I think Amillennialism has a lot of problems. Number one, it doesn’t take seriously the time sequence of the Book of Revelation—Revelation 19, 20, and 21—where clearly the Second Coming of Christ precedes the millennium. It doesn’t follow the millennium, so Amillennialism is like post-millennialism. They both deny the time sequence of Revelation 19, 20, and 21, but also it says clearly in Revelation, chapter 20, verses 1-10, that Satan will be bound, not simply with regard to the Church (as A-millennialists believe). But it tells us clearly that Satan will be bound with regard to the nations and the world. He will no longer be able to deceive the nations. So Amillennialism obviously doesn’t fit what’s happening now because Satan is deceiving the nations. Satan has always deceived the nations and he continues to do so. And I might add that Satan is also deceiving the Church today and that’s why you see so much apostasy in mainline Protestant denominations. So, to believe that we’re in the millennium today in any sense just doesn’t make any sense.
When you look at pre-millennialism, which I think is the better biblical view, we see that Jesus Christ will come and He will destroy the antichrist and the false prophet and He will judge the nations and He will bind Satan for a thousand years so he can no longer deceive the nations and then Jesus Christ will institute His millennial reign on earth with His resurrected saints and He will bring justice and He will fulfill promises to Israel and He will harmonize nature. All of this will take place during the millennium. This fits the time sequence of the Book of Revelation. It honors countless passages in the Old Testament that clearly describe following the return of the Messiah, a period of semi-perfection and restoration of Israel. I think pre-millennialism is the best view.
Let’s move on. We’ve done the millennium thing. Let’s take a look at the New Jerusalem. We can’t look at heaven without looking at the New Jerusalem and of course the New Jerusalem is the heavenly city and it’s pretty exciting. We’re told in Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 10 that the New Jerusalem is a city built by God, a city whose builder and maker is God. We’re told in Hebrews, chapter 11, that Abraham and the patriarchs looked forward, longed, to see the New Jerusalem, that Abraham and the patriarchs longed for the day when they would see the heavenly city. We’re also told in Hebrews, chapter 13, verse 14, that we who belong to Jesus Christ are to seek the New Jerusalem, that we are to seek the city which is to come. Of course, God has prepared the New Jerusalem for His people.
Depending on how we take Revelation, chapter 21 and 22, we view the New Jerusalem as having streets of gold, gates of pearl and we view the New Jerusalem as massive. It’s a heavenly city. It’s in the Third Heaven and we’re told that it will descend to earth. It will pass through the Second Heaven and come into the First Heaven, the atmosphere of the earth. As we come to the conclusion of the millennium and the New Heavens and the New Earth dawn, the New Jerusalem will descend. It’s 1500 miles, the Bible tells us, in every direction. And so its depth, its width, its height is like a 1,500-mile cube in every direction and it has room for everybody who has loved God and room for everybody who has followed Jesus Christ. It is the heavenly city.
We’re told in the Book of Hebrews, the 12th chapter, our passage of scripture for today, that within the New Jerusalem there will be three groups of beings who reside and dwell. The first are innumerable angels in festal gathering. That’s kind of an image—countless angels all dressed up for festivities, for festivals; happy angels. I don’t know about you but I’d like to spend a little hang time with some angels. I’d just like to hang out with some archangels, maybe some cherubim or seraphim, maybe thrones, dominions, authorities. I’d like to see guardian angels. I’d like to see messenger angels. I’d even like to see warring angels. I’d like to see angels and spend some time with angels.
We’ll be able to do that in the heavenly city and we’ll dwell in that city with them because we’re told the second group in the New Jerusalem will be the assembly of the first-born enrolled in the heavens. The word for heaven is in the plural, “ouranios,” so it’s the assembly of the first-born enrolled in the heavens. Of course, this is the Church. This is us because the word for assembly is the Greek word “ekklesia,” which means “church.” Normally it’s translated “church.” Who is the first-born? The first-born in the Bible is Jesus Christ. The Bible says, “Jesus is the first-born of many brothers and sisters,” so the assembly of the first-born is the Church of Jesus Christ. We’re enrolled in the heavens because our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
So, in the New Jerusalem we see countless angels. We see the assembly of the Church and then finally we’re told that in the New Jerusalem we will see the spirits of just men made perfect. Of course, in “just men,” men is generic and means, “men and women.” So we’ll see the spirits of just men and women made perfect. Who is this group? Nobody knows. There are some people who know. There are some people who always know but of course they don’t really know. So, when you look at it in terms of biblical scholarship, no one is completely sure. Who are the spirits of just men made perfect? Some have suggested, “Well, maybe they’re the men and women throughout the ages who have longed to know God.” Maybe here in the United States of America before the coming of the Europeans, before the gospel, maybe many Native Americans longed to know God and some of them will be called just men and their spirits will be made perfect. We don’t know but others believe (and I think certainly this is true) the spirits of just men made perfect are the Old Testament saints. Certainly, the Old Testament saints are going to be in the New Jerusalem. That we know and I think that’s going to be fun too. I’d like to have a cup of coffee with Abraham or with Moses, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel… I’d like to see the Old Testament saints. I’d like to see the Heroes of the Faith. I’d like to spend a little time with Elijah and Elisha. I’d like to hear them tell a few stories. We’re all going to be able to do that in the New Jerusalem. It’s going to be a wonderful place.
I hope you know that sometimes in the Bible the New Jerusalem is described very literally in the Bible. I mean it is a literal heavenly city, but when you look at Revelation, chapter 21 and 22, it seems like the New Jerusalem is described, at least partially, in a symbolic way so that when you look at the New Jerusalem in Revelation, chapter 21 and 22, the New Jerusalem is a symbol of the Church of Jesus Christ. In fact, it’s really a descriptive symbol of all those who will inhabit the New Jerusalem.