Maximize Your Life – Walk Through the Word
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Revelation 20:4-6
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Our next few studies will center around the Battle of Armageddon and the Great Millennium that is to come. Today, I want to address three questions:
- What is the Millennium?
- How will we live in the Millennium?
- What kind of people will be in the Millennium?
First, let’s recap the basics.
What is the Millennium?
The word “millennium” means 1,000 years and the biblical Millennium is a 1,000 year period promised to the Elected who were faithful to the Word in their generation. This takes place after the Rapture of the Saints and the battle of Armageddon (which we’ll cover in another lesson) .
The Millennium is a honeymoon period—a sacred time where Jesus Christ, His Bride, and the 144,000 Jews who have received the Holy Spirit live and worship together. It is a time of peace that was typified by the reign of King Solomon in the Old Testament.
Notice that Solomon was the son of David. When he took the throne, Israel knew a time of prosperity unlike any other. His reign was a time of justice and peace for all because of the great gift of discernment (wisdom) that God gave him. So Christ—who is called the Son of David during this Millennium (see 2 Tim. 2:8, Rev. 5:5)—will take His place as King over Israel. This is the time that the disciples were longing to see when they asked if He would “restore the kingdom unto Israel” (Acts 1:6). You see, Israel means a “prince with God.” The name itself promises rulership over the nations yet, since the fall of Israel after Solomon’s time, Israel has never again known the glory that God promised.
But the wonderful God knew that the people that would rule with Him during the Millennium would not only be natural Israelites but an elected people made up of Jews and Gentiles. As I said this morning, He has been hand-selecting that Bride in the 2,000 years since He went away, pulling them to Himself for the great Age that is to come. When the last Bride-member comes in, and the 144,000 members of the Jewish remnant (see Romans 11 and Rev. 14) have received the Holy Ghost, God’s predestinated starter-seed for the new world will be complete.
Now, He can restore the kingdom to Israel. So, in the Millennium Jesus, the Son of David, will rule as head over Israel and as the Bridegroom to the Gentile church. To the Jew, Christ is the Root and Offspring of David. In other words, He was before David (the Root of the royal vine), in David, and after David (the Offspring). But to us Gentiles, He is the Divine Lover shown in Song of Solomon who has finally received a faithful Bride.
How will we live in the Millennium?
Now that we’ve got the basis established, let’s look at what happens to the Bride for and during the Millennium. Now take your time and study the Scriptures I’ll share with you. Pause, pray, think and come back whenever you want to so you can really soak in the Word and, I trust, love Christ more as a result of your study.
First, the redeemed upon this earth will live in a glorified body that is just like the body that Jesus Christ will have.
Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Philippians 3: 21
All of our loved ones that died in Christ are in a theophany (2 Cor. 5:1) that does not age, thirst, sleep or get hungry. Therefore, as the Lord Jesus said, there are no human associated relationships in that body. You remember Christ was asked the question about the woman who had married 7 brothers (Mark 12:18-27)? He showed us that there is no marriage in that estate (called the resurrection).
Not exactly with flesh and blood like it will be in its glorified stage, but it is of a form of a human body that doesn’t eat, neither does it drink, but it’s—it’s a body, a body that’s waiting for us as soon as we leave this one. Now, in there, we enter into that body. And that’s the kind of body that God was, for He said, “Let us make man in our own image and in our likeness.”
57-0828 – Hebrews, Chapter Two #3
Rev. William Marrion Branham
If you recall Brother Branham’s experience beyond the Curtain of Time, you see this same truth born out. They all called him “our precious brother” including his first wife that had passed on. That body is waiting for the resurrection of their flesh which our text calls the “First Resurrection.”
But when Jesus Christ returns to start the Millennium and His saints with Him (see Zechariah 14:5, Matt. 16: 27, Psalm 96:13, Is. 66:15) the saints will no longer keep a theophany. Instead, the dust, minerals and whatever else that makes up your body will combine with that theophany to produce a perfect body that is ready to live and reign for 1,000 years and into eternity.
Brother Branham says this, speaking of the resurrection and the Second Coming of the Lord.
332 And now when that tabernacle…they left there in that body, they come back to the earth, and that type of a body they had took on immortality. The—the dust of the earth gathered into that theophany of somehow and they become human again, had to eat like they did in the garden of Eden. See? “But if this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already waiting.”
61-0112 – Questions And Answers
Now there are so many things we don’t understand about how this body will work, as the Bible tells us that it is not fully revealed to us what kind of a body we will have, but we can look back at the pattern of God to get a good idea of what things will be like in the Millennium.
Notice how God brought man from a thought (attribute)–> theophany–> flesh man (glorified). If you can see my diagram it might make a little more sense.
God thought of Adam then He created Adam as a theophany (Gen. 1:28) and then He put Adam in flesh (Gen. 2:7). So we see the same pattern repeating again. From thoughts in God’s mind, we were put into flesh but that flesh was fallen because of sin. Christ’s blood brought us back into God’s order and so we enter into a theophany after this life is over. But the journey isn’t over yet!
And, then, when this robe of flesh is dropped, there is a natural body, theophany, a body not made with hands, neither born of a woman, that we go to.
Then that body returns back and picks up the glorified body.
65-0221E – Who Is This Melchisedec?
Rev. William Marrion Branham
At the coming of Christ, we return to a glorified body just as Adam and Eve were given. Now notice how human desires were granted to them in their glorified state. They got hungry. Tired. They loved. And yet they were divine beings. We see the same pattern in Jesus Christ.
After His resurrection He had to follow a specific order until He ascended to His Father (John 20:17). He did not eat or drink contrary to what He told Jairus to do when He raised up the little girl from the dead. Why? His body was not ready for that yet. But once He ascended and then returned to His disciples, He came with a glorified body that could eat, drink, and be touched. Do you remember what He said to Thomas (John 20:27). Something had changed for, instead of not being touched and eating or drinking, He asked them for food (which He had always loved) to prove that He wasn’t a theophany or a vision!
Now in the Millennium we will have a restoration of all that makes us human. We will eat. Drink. And love.
Micah the prophet predicted this Millennium about five hundred years before Jesus Christ came the first time.
But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
Micah 4:5
Isaiah also prophesies of this great, agricultural society that lives in the blessed presence of the Son of God.
And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.
Isaiah 65:21-23
In that world, all wrongs will be made right. Those without the correct spouse here will find that God brings them to the correct mate so they can live in happiness and peace.
What people will inhabit that world?
Now, here we’re going to venture into some deep water so get your Bibles and stay with me. The Millennium is only for the Bride and tribes of Israel that stayed true to God. However, the earth will be well-populated.
Notice that all the Elect (those whose names are on the Lamb’s Book of Life) from Adam on to the last one that comes in before the Rapture will be there. But God brings in the twelve tribes of Israel with Dan and Ephraim (who were not among the 144,000 group according to Rev. 7) into the picture. There they establish the temple worship with the nations flowing to the House of the Lord according to Micah 4:1-3.
Let’s read.
4 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Micah 4:1-3
Here we see the Gentiles (many nations) being a part of the plan of God. We will all go to worship the Lord in Jerusalem during this time. Whereas these nations (Gentiles) once fought against each other, now they use weapons as agricultural tools for the world has been reset and we turn back to an agricultural society instead of the high-tech, high pressure world that we now know.
Ezekiel chapters 40-48 spell out in detail the order of worship that Israel is to follow and show us that there will be weights, currency, and measurements in this new world–much like there is now. We often think of it as a sort of mystical, dream world but it will be extremely tangible with work and trade being a part of it.
Some have wondered at my repeated statements that there will be children born in the Millennium but let me share just one scriptural promise regarding this matter. It is a beautiful scripture found in the book of Ezekiel chapter 47. Here God is ordering the layout of the tribes of Israel during this Millennium and He says,
And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.
Ezekiel 47:22
You see, a glorified body doesn’t mean that we cease being human. Frankly, Eve conceived although she was in a glorified body, did she not? I’ll let you think on that awhile.
Our human talents and skills remain with us. We will use them to glorify the Lord who will be in our midst. Think of what it will be as we worship for a thousand years with singers like David and Sankey, as we hear testimonies by Paul, Peter Cartwright and Bro. Branham. Truly, I wonder how we’ll find time to sleep with so much excitement going on!
And through it all is the blessed presence of the Lord Jesus incarnate among us.
But, at the end of this Millennial period, some incredible things take place—the anointing of the New Jerusalem, the resurrection of those who have never heard the Gospel, and the general resurrection. How do these events affect the world? How do they fit into Bible prophesy? How does Isaiah’s statement that a child shall die at an hundred years fit into the great picture? Lord willing, we’ll look at this next time.
