The Millennium is a long link in history between the Tribulation on one side and the new heaven, new earth, and the city of New Jerusalem on the other side. It truly spans a divine canyon of hours, days, years, and centuries. Biblical prophecies herald this 1,000-year era as a time filled with peace and prosperity under the authority of Jesus Christ.
Can you imagine, then, that even the unparalleled joy of the Millennium is just a foretaste of what God has planned for eternity?
Let’s examine the differences between what we will experience in the Millennium versus the new heaven and new earth.
The Status of Satan
During the Millennium, Satan will be bound and imprisoned in the bottomless pit (Revelation 20:1-2). People will enjoy a life free from his tyranny that plagues our pre-Millennium world. However, at the end of the 1,000 years, Satan will be set free once again to oppose Christ and incite one final rebellion.
In eternity, Satan will be in everlasting hell with no parole, no escape, no hope. His final, diabolical attempt to defeat Christ having failed, Satan will be cast into the Lake of Fire to suffer eternal and uninterrupted torment (Revelation 20:10).
The Status of Sin
For the mortals who survive the Tribulation, the children they bear, and the subsequent generations of mortals, sin will still be a reality during the Millennial reign of Christ. Some of you may ask how this is possible, if Satan is imprisoned and Jesus is on earth as our redeeming King. The fact is, the absence of Satan doesn’t eliminate the weakness of the flesh.
Sin and its effects will be significantly abated during the Millennium, but only the new heaven and new earth and New Jerusalem will be pure, sinless, and forever holy. Indeed, in eternity sin will be permanently abolished.
Only the new heaven and new earth and New Jerusalem will be pure, sinless, and forever holy.
The Status of Death
In Christ’s millennial kingdom, those who still have earthly bodies will experience the kind of longevity reminiscent of the early days of Genesis, living for hundreds of years. The prophet Isaiah points to this encouraging promise in his description of the Millennium: “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live our his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed” (Isaiah 65:20, NIV). Sickness and death will be a rare occurrence, but a possibility all the same.
In eternity, everyone will be immortal and imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:42). We’re told explicitly that there will be no death or dying in the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21:4). With sin fully removed once and for all, its penalty of death has no place in eternity.
The Status of Worship
During the Golden Age of the Millennium, our worship will be utterly authentic, Christ-centered, and uncorrupted. Without Satan’s influence to hinder our praise and with God Himself walking among us, our worship can only intensify from the state it is in now. Yet worship during the Millennium will be simply a prelude to the explosion of adoration that will fill and thrill our souls in the new heaven and new earth.
In an eternity filled exclusively with those redeemed by Christ, every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that is in them will sing, “Blessings and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever” (Revelation 5:13).
Every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth will sing, “Blessings and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever” (Revelation 5:13).
The Status of Jerusalem
The earthly city of Jerusalem will be our Lord’s capital in the Millennium. When Jesus returns to earth at the climactic battle of Armageddon, Jerusalem will be His first touchpoint, triggering an earthquake that changes the topography of the Middle East (Zechariah 14:4). Millennial Jerusalem will be spectacular, high, and lifted up, but it still cannot compare to the glorious city of New Jerusalem.
Just like the earthly Jerusalem was Christ’s millennial capital, so the eternal city of New Jerusalem will be His capital forever. Revelation 21 and 22 provide a vivid description of the heavenly city’s dimensions, streets, vast river, wondrous throne, translucent gold, and glittering light.
The Status of the Earth and the Universe
The millennial reign of Jesus Christ will take place on our present earth which is surrounded by the vastness of the material universe. Even during the Millennium, the earth and the universe surrounding it will be subject to the laws of entropy and a temporal state.
But the new heaven and the new earth will be made with eternal elements and will endure forever. 2 Peter 3:12-13 tells us that “The heavens will be dissolved, being on fire…Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” Revelation 21:1 assures us that our present earth will pass away, having been cleansed, glorified, and equipped for eternal use.
Revelation 21:1 assures us that our present earth will pass away, having been cleansed, glorified, and equipped for eternal use.
All evidence of disease will be burned up. All evidence of disobedience will melt away. All the remnants and results of sin, sorrow, and suffering will be destroyed. Out of the smoldering ruins, God will recreate all physical reality, and He will bring forth a fresh universe!
