When the Lord comes down to reign, the Millennium begins: a thousand-year kingdom on the earth (Revelation 20:1–6). It has rulers in glorious bodies, subjects who are still mortal, and a bound Satan.
Who Reigns and Who Is Ruled
The Lord comes down with the Old Testament saints, who were raised with Jesus; the New Testament saints and the bride, taken up in the rapture; and the martyrs, who are resurrected as he descends. Together they are the New Jerusalem, a spiritual city. They live in the Lord's light and rule in glorious bodies, like angels. The gates are never shut, so more keep entering and the city keeps growing.
The subjects are the people left on earth:
- The 144,000 of Israel, who stand with the Lamb on the Mount of Olives. How they come we are not told, but it is written that they will be there.
- Israel, the woman, who flees for 1,260 days to her prepared place, guided by the message of the two witnesses; and the rest of her offspring, whom the Antichrist pursues. Those he catches die as martyrs; perhaps some survive, and they are ruled too.
- The sheep among the Gentiles, who survive to the end and helped the martyrs and survivors. The goats are not taken into the kingdom. It is not written plainly, but they appear to be put to death.
Satan Bound
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years…
— Revelation 20:2
Satan is a spirit, so the chain is a spiritual one. He is shut in the bottomless pit, the hell side of the realm of the dead (Hades), where wicked spirits already are. It has no bottom, for the earth is round and going down on one side comes out on the other.
The reason is the world today: while Satan is free, each generation grows worse, since people marry in ways that make the next one worse. In the forty-five days God destroys the wicked, as in Noah's day, but if the world then filled up and worsened again it would be pointless.
With Satan bound, the wrong thoughts he plants stop. Only God's prompting and the people's own thoughts remain, and God will give each person a suitable partner, so that every generation is better than the last.
Some will still have bad tendencies and no wish to follow God, but will behave well because everyone around them is good. When Satan is loosed 'a little season' at the end, he will put thoughts into their minds as he did in the garden, and they will be deceived. That is the test of the kingdom: those who are not good follow Satan, and those who are good stay in God's way.
Thrones, Priests and the First Resurrection
The judging given to the rulers (Revelation 20:4) is not the final judgement of a life, but authority, like a king settling disputes. The twelve disciples will sit 'upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel' (Matthew 19:28), ruling their ordinary lives. The martyrs of the 1,260 days, who refused the beast and his mark, are resurrected and join the rulers in the Lamb's capital.
'The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished' (Revelation 20:5). They are the dead not raised to eternal life. The realm of the dead has a place of comfort, from which Jesus took the Old Testament saints, and the hell side, where the rich man of the Lazarus story was. The wicked dead, and any who die wicked in the kingdom, wait there until the end and then rise for judgement (John 5:28–29).
So there are two resurrections. The first, 'the resurrection of life', comes in three stages: the Old Testament saints with Jesus; the New Testament saints and the bride at the rapture; and the martyrs when he descends. They are priests of God and of Christ, teaching his word and standing between God and people, and kings as well: 'a royal priesthood' (1 Peter 2:9).
Life in the Kingdom
The 'rod out of the stem of Jesse' (Isaiah 11:1) is Christ, born in David's line, who judges the poor with righteousness.
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid…
— Isaiah 11:6
Dangerous animals no longer harm people or other animals, because the earth's atmosphere will have changed: the lion eats grass like the ox, and a child plays safely by a snake's hole.
The new heavens and new earth (Isaiah 65:17) are the same earth made new in the forty-five days. The sun's heat grows and the seas dry up, and a thick layer of vapour forms round the earth like a shield, keeping out harmful rays. Before the flood such a layer surrounded the earth, and when it fell as rain lifespans shortened to 120 years. In the kingdom people will again live as Adam did, who lived 930 years. A death at a hundred will be like a child's, and 'the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed' (Isaiah 65:20). The limit is a thousand years, a day to the Lord, the day within which Adam was to die.
People will live as long as the house they build or the tree they plant, and their work will not be in vain. There will be no weeping, and the Lord will answer before they call (Isaiah 65:19, 24). He rules with a rod of iron, so sin is punished at once and the sinner knows why.
Death and Being Taken Up
Dust is still 'the serpent's meat' (Isaiah 65:25), and people still die, though the curse of toil and thorns is gone.
Yet the way of being taken up stays open. The bride was taken up alive because the Lord made atonement, and so the punishment of death stopped for those who walk in his way. That door remains open to those who walk as Enoch did. Scripture does not say so specifically, but perhaps some in the kingdom will be taken up while others, under the curse, die.
Takeaway
The way to being taken up is open to everyone who walks in the Lord's way, as Enoch did. We are to walk in it and stay in it, so that we are among those who go through.