who will be born during the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ
might live much longer than Methuselah?
Ponder this...
The assertion in Part 1 that there will be great tribulation survivors in the Millennial Reign may sound unbelievable to many Christians who believe tribulation plagues will wipe out all humans on Earth! Zechariah 14, Revelation 20 and many other passages clearly and iteratively reveal there will indeed be survivors of the great tribulation! None, however, will have fought in the Armageddon War, per Zechariah 14:12. Part 1 posits a key role for great tribulation survivors during the Millennial Reign of Jesus, namely to sire and raise a new generation of human beings (‘millennials’) to re-populate Earth. Because they will have willingly received the mark of the beast during the tribulation, they will still be spiritually owned by satan; they will have forever rejected Christ; and they will not be allowed that choice again, per Revelation 14:10-11. But what of their children, millennials who will be born during the Millennial Reign? Will some of them perhaps be saved? This question has spawned many interpretations across the ages. Reviewing some of them reveals a considerable gap that I believe must be addressed.
Part 1 summarizes the three groups of humans who will benefit from God’s plan of salvation, people who constitute a small remnant of humanity. These groups are:
(1) people who were/will be conceived, but who were never born;
(2) people who were/will be born, but who never reach(ed) God’s ‘age of accountability’; and
(3) people who will have:
(a) matured to, and beyond His age of accountability; who, by faith,
(b) embrace His plan of salvation and;
(c) who were both owned and tempted by satan to reject all things Godly, but who broke free of this spiritual ownership/bondage, and overcame deceptions and temptations via saving faith in Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:11). However, Revelation 3:14-22 indicates some of these people will 'back slide', will not remain faithful to their commitment, and will be 'vomited out of' the spiritual Body of Christ. This correlates closely with what Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 about the great falling away of people who were previously faithful. I suspect some of these people who will be alive at the time of the rapture will miss it, but will have sufficient understanding of The Bible to reject the anti-Christ, even at the peril of their death by beheading! (See: Audacious Christians (Series), especially Part 2)
Points 3a - c are the foundation of ‘Christian salvation and spiritual rebirth in Christ’, upon which we are instructed to build and sustain Godly lives until we depart this life. Given this, the question of whether millennials can/will be saved during the Millennial Reign should logically be examined in light of these points. 1
Since satan’s kingdom will be locked away, inoperable on Earth during the Millennial Reign, there will be no direct satanic deceptions and temptations to un-Godliness. Ergo, I personally believe there will likely be no deliverance in Christ, i.e., no Christian salvation as we know it today. Zechariah 14:16-19 indicate all folks will still have Adam’s sinful, disobedient and rebellious human nature, just as you and I do. The Bible reveals Jesus will ardently control this via His iron-rod, monarchal rule. Much of His authority will be delegated through the ranks of us resurrected, then-immortal saints who will govern gentile cities and nations as indicated in Luke 19:11-19. (See: The 4th Delegation of Authority (Series), especially Part 6, Millennial Job Description)
Before God’s Grace of eternal salvation in Christ can be extended to these people born during His reign, it seems plausible that they, too, must be exposed to the virus of satanic ownership and temptations to un-Godliness. Otherwise, their salvation experience would have to be significantly different from that of all peoples who were so owned, deceived and tempted, and who broke free of satanic ownership by faith in Jesus as Christ. The alternative is to alter what we have all embraced as The Bible’s clear definition of ‘salvation and spiritual rebirth in Christ’. I personally doubt this will ever happen. You may disagree, and that’s OK.
To reiterate…
If the Bible’s clear definition of ‘salvation and spiritual rebirth in Christ’ remains unchanged as we know it today, then people born during the Millennial Reign can only be saved once they have been directly exposed to satanic ownership, deceptions and temptations, and have rejected it all in response to God’s offer of saving Grace in Christ.
If I am correct, people born during the Millennial Reign age will not die until sometime in the post-Millennial Reign age. How can this be?! First, recall how long people lived in the pre-flood age. The longest recorded lifespan was that of Methuselah who lived 969 years, just short of ‘a day’ if, as Moses wrote in Psalm 90:4, and Peter reiterated in 2 Peter 3:8 that a Day with The Lord is 'as' a thousand years. But that age was rife with sinfulness on the pristine Earth! Moreover, some devils exponentially increased sinfulness by becoming humans (‘leaving their proper domain’, per Jude 6), and marrying women!
Now imagine this:
—Earth, once again pristine,
—Humans and the entire animal/sea/insect kingdoms are back on their original Genesis 1:29-30 diets,
—All devils are locked away, and
—The Lord, with all His saints and angels, are policing/enforcing righteousness worldwide.
I have absolutely no problems believing people born under such conditions could live much longer than a thousand years. Do you??
Admittedly, without clear, specific Bible guidance, this is obviously a controversial topic. My opinions are derived from a broad and deep strategic understanding of The Bible’s ‘salvation context’. Believe as you are led. (See: Salvation in the Millennium (Series))
The Bible twice reveals satan’s kingdom MUST/WILL be released for 'a little while' after the Millennial Reign, to tempt the whole world. Why must this occur?! 2 I perceive their release will present a trio of opportunities for ‘millennials’:
(1) to be tested by God for faith in Him who will, once again, be un-seen
(2) to experience, and hopefully resist satanic, un-Godly deceptions and temptations sustainably, and
(3) hopefully choose to embrace God’s salvation in Christ.
In the series, Anti-Christ, I explain The Lord’s clear, persistent, strategic pattern He is applying across the first six ‘ages of humanity’, leading to the seventh age of eternity. His strategic pattern includes a well-defined role for satan’s rebellious kingdom. The Lord ‘strategically decommissioned’ and locked-up a contingent of this kingdom before or during the global flood judgment, for ‘leaving their proper/angelic domain’, and corrupting the human race by marrying women. (See: Humans’ DNA Hacked (Poem)) The remaining contingent of satan’s kingdom remains useful in The Lord’s strategic pattern.Thus the predicted post-Millennial release.
If God’s strategic plan is indeed to extend this trio of opportunities to every human being who will have ever lived past His age of accountability, then the inference is that the lifespans of millennials, people born during the Millennial Reign, will be significantly extended, and that none of them will likely die during the Millennial Reign. Thus, it seems safe to intuit that some millennials at that time (especially those born early in the Millennial Reign) might live even longer than people lived in before the global flood, i.e., possibly as long as, or longer than Methuselah who lived 969 years. (Genesis 5:27) This is indeed significant.
If this is the case, it fits very well with the insight God gave to Isaiah that people ‘from Jerusalem’ at that time will enjoy long lives. (Isaiah 65:20) This same verse, however, clearly indicates there will be death during the Millennial Reign, prompting the question, ‘How can there be death in that period if millennials might live exceptionally long lives, well beyond the Millennial Reign?’
The answer to this question is revealed in reviewing the groups that will comprise Earth’s millennial population:
(1) immortal saints from across all ages,
(2) great tribulation survivors (both Jews and Gentiles), and
(3) millennials (both Jews and Gentiles) born in the new millennium.
Only the second group will no longer be candidates for God’s saving Grace, and thus will be subject to death in accordance with the age(s) in which they were born, i.e. The Church age or the tribulation age — the third and fourth ages of humanity. The third group, however, will not directly experience satanic deceptions and temptations to un-Godliness until AFTER the Millennial Reign, and to experience such, they must …be alive. Makes strategic sense?? Believe me, I was as surprised/shocked at this insight as you likely are now! ;o)
This intuited strategic pattern will ensure there will be no human being who was born, and who survived to reach God’s ‘age of accountability’, will appear before His Judgment bar without having been directly exposed to the virus of satanic ownership, deceptions and temptations to un-Godliness, and the opportunity to accept God's offer of redemption in Christ. The Bible reveals this exact, same offer was made available to ‘just people who were made perfect/righteous', including people who lived and died before Christ’s sacrifice was made available. (Hebrews 12:22-24)
This also might explain why Revelation 20:12 and 15 declare, '...and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is The Book of Life ...And anyone not found written in The Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire'. Because I was (erroneously) taught all souls raised in the second resurrection were to be cast into the lake of fire, I wondered why then would The Lord need to consult/open The Book of Life at that time?? I now understand the reason likely is to ascertain/verify who, among people born both during and after the Millennial Reign, will have embraced God's offer of salvation in Christ, during the 'little while' the kingdom of satan is once again released on Earth!!! Makes strategic sense??
For you who might believe people born in the millennium will die during that period, this belief raises this critical question:
What might be their position, spiritually, at the last (White Throne) judgment,
having never experienced direct satanic temptations to un-Godliness??
Similarly, believing some people born during the Millennial Reign will be saved in that period triggers this critical question:
Saved from what?!
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1 The age of accountability is believed to be the age at which a child is spiritually accountable to understand good from evil, and therefore be responsible for his/her words and actions. See: What is the age of accountability?
2 The issue of how long ‘a little while’ might be is open to much speculation. For sure, it will be ‘long enough to get the job done!’ See: Revelation 20:3, 7. See also: God’s Inferred Strategic Timelines; Bible Raptures (Q&A); Millennial Parallelisms (#5); First and Second Comings (Poem)
