See the Mid-ages Musings Series here
See the Human History Ages Series here
Throughout history, and life, in general, the beginnings of significantly impactful events, are always much more attention-grabbing than their conclusions. That’s just how life is designed. The Bible has quite a lot to say about The Millennial Reign of Jesus, especially the slow run-up to this history-shifting event, its final arrival, and what it will entail. Interestingly, only one thing is included about its sudden end, i.e., that satan (presumably meaning his entire kingdom of devils) will once again be released on Earth, after being locked away in a bottomless pit for a thousand years. Ergo, we can only speculate how/whether The Lord’s apparent 4-point ages transition pattern might or might not apply to the ramp-up to the apparent, global, ages-transition judgment that will usher in the final age, the post-Millennial Reign age. I regard the release of satan’s kingdom back on Earth, as that global judgement (Revelation 20:1-3).
Following is what I speculate about how it might apply. (Share your ideas in comments below.)
5th-to-6th Ages (Millennial Reign age, to post-Millennial Reign age)
1. Humanity’s ‘cup of iniquity overspilling its rim’
In the middle of the 2nd age of history (post-flood - pre-cross), there were massive rebellions against long periods of monarchal rule across the world! These rebellions resulted in the fall of many monarchs. One such revolt led to the American Revolution. From a spiritual perspective, these were rebellions against the (then), God-sanctioned mode for human governance. As you ponder whether allowing such results may have been His ‘direct will’, versus His ’permissive will’, please take a moment to consider this insightful perspective…
The Lord will re-institute this exact form of governance
across the entire world during His Millennial Reign!
Imagine that…
We humans reject everything He desires! What a sad testimonial. Given this human proclivity, I speculate the closing centuries or decades of His Millennial Reign, could potentially be the 2nd time people …physically reject Jesus! Jews across ancient Judah violently rejected Him for claiming to be ‘The Son of God’. Folks born late in The Millennial Reign age will not have experienced the apocalypse, and many might even become ‘apocalypse deniers’, similar to today’s holocaust deniers. Might many in those generations reject Jesus for actually demonstrating He IS The Lord God?! If so, that would be a major case of ...‘history repeating itself’!
Consider this:
a. In Psalm 2, David, the second king of ancient Israel, prophesied about The Lord ruling the nations with a rod of iron.
b. The Book of Revelation thrice affirms Jesus will, indeed, rule the world with a rod of iron.
c. Historically, iron-fisted governments end with massive rebellions by the oppressed multitudes! Could such happen with The Lord God and all His saints on Earth, literally GLOWING, and demonstrating our unlimited powers, possibly constrained …by Grace.
In Exodus 33:18-23, Moses worked up the nerve to ask The Lord, ‘Please, show me Your GLORY.’ The Lord agreed, and later did so, while proclaiming His Name before Moses:
The Lord, The Lord God,
merciful and gracious, longsuffering,
and abounding in goodness and truth,
keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin,
by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children and the children’s children
to the third and the fourth generations.
This proclamation reflects His core Nature. Reluctant Judge that He is, I intuit even during His lengthy iron rod rule, He might be somewhat gracious and merciful, tolerant of mankind’s foibles and sins ...to some extent. Moreover, He knows ‘the end of our story’. Thus He is in no rush to judge us. So yeah, I can easily perceive how mankind’s ‘cup of iniquity’ might spill over towards the end of The Millennial Reign age. Can you??
2. Righteousness on Earth figuratively ‘hanging by a thread’
For a millennium, The Lord, all His saints, and all His angels, will enforce righteousness, globally. Even with all devils locked away, the human proclivity to sinful rebellion will very likely remain exceptionally strong, and might manifest more towards the close of this age.
The love of money and wealth (raw greed) have always been satan’s choice temptation for folks to sin. Isaiah 60 gives us a hint of the massive amounts of wealth that will accumulate in Jerusalem, and across the greatly expanded Israel, during the Millennial Reign age. It will come from folks across the world, trying to curry The Lord’s favor for everything imaginable, and then some! Jerusalem, then the global capital and seat of His Throne, will quickly and sustainably become the richest place on the planet!!! Imagine the jealousy, resentment and raw greed that might build-up, century upon century, even though this will be a golden age for every aspect of life on Earth!
Jeremiah 9:23-24 lay out The Lord’s 3-point strategy for dealing with us: long-term Grace, short-term Judgments, hopefully culminating in our Righteousness. Problem: our righteousness is typically short-lived, if it is achieved at all!! As the world careens toward the end of this current (3rd) age, there is growing evidence that The Lord's judgments seem to have no effect in prompting our repentance and turn to righteousness. Since pestilence is one of His chosen judgment instruments, consider how the Covid 19 pandemic ended with explosive criminality, as folks aggressively caught-up on their wickedness following the global shut down!
What might happen as (a) the apocalypse and the Armageddon War eventually become a faint memory, or are forgotten altogether, and (b) wealth continues to accumulate in Israel at a fast pace?! As folks lose their respect, awe and tolerance for monarchal rule, I suspect we Gentile saints, ruling Gentile nations, could then ‘be in for a rough ride’ in our efforts to police and ensure righteousness on Earth! Imagine that..
For more about righteousness on Earth in this age, see: Salvation in The Millennium (Series).
Ponder this: The Bible confirms The Lord will come with ALL His saints and angels (Zechariah 15:5, Matthew 25:31, and 1 Thessalonians 1:17). Perhaps strategically so, it does not say ALL shall remain here with Him throughout the thousand years! So might there be a transition of some of His saints and angels back to Heaven (i.e., possibly to the new, eternal Earth) as the close of the Millennial Reign approaches, and as righteousness might steadily degrade across the world?? Recall, The Lord left Earth some time after Adam and Eve sinned, as sinfulness began to spread.
3. Certain precursors (pre-conditions) reaching their fullness
The Bible’s two declared timeline of a full millennium, might be the primary condition to reach its fullness. For a thousand years, (a) Jesus will be on the Earth with all His saints and angels, and (b) all devils will be locked away. Period.
4. Silence from Heaven (dreaded or welcomed!)
Logically, there cannot be silence from Heaven when all or most of Heaven is on the Earth. I intuit two possible scenarios in which there might be ‘silence from Heaven’ in the ramp-up to the release of satan’s kingdom back on Earth:
1. Either The Lord’s core graceful and merciful nature, noted above, might, for a time, tolerate growing of unrighteousness in the world (just as He is doing in our time), or
2. There might be a period of silence after He, His saints and angels leave the Earth, and before satan’s kingdom is released again on the Earth.
See Part 6,
the conclusion of this rather unique series.
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