The Millennium in Scripture

The Millennium

Our visitors who are familiar with the teachings of the old Radio Church of God or the Armstrong Worldwide Church of God or the various groups tracing their beginnings from those two organizations will be aware that they have taught that the Feast of Tabernacles represents a millennium of peace, a millennium or a thousand year Kingdom of God on the earth, a period of peace. They got this from various bible helps including bible dictionaries and various commentaries which were written years before Herbert Armstrong began his ministry, in some cases, years before he was even born.

Now, we know that the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles cannot represent a one thousand-year millennium on the earth. We know this because God tells us so in 2 Peter 3:8, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

Therefore the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles could not possibly represent one thousand years. One thousand years is as one day. One day is as a thousand years; so says the Word of God. Seven days cannot represent one thousand years. It is not in God's plan. God does not do things that way.

A day represents a thousand years. Seven days must then either represent seven thousand years or the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles represent nothing at all in the grand scheme and timeframe of world events. There is a second reason why we know that the Feast of Tabernacles cannot possibly represent a one thousand-year millennium on the earth. And that is because the carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God. It cannot be.

Further, spiritual things are spiritually discerned. And the Holy Spirit is given only to those who keep God's commandments. You know the Scriptures. If you don't get a good concordance and blow the dust off your Bible and look them up. Do some independent study and research. God's spirit is given to those who keep His commandments. And these things, these commentaries and these statements were written decades ago. In some cases, a hundred and fifty years ago by people who did not keep the commandments of God, who did not observe God's Sabbath, who rejected God's law on a variety of levels and who did not observe the very festivals they are trying to explain. Because of that, because they were not subject to God, they did not have God's spirit; they could not discern spiritual things.

Therefore what they explained was not accurate. Their explanations were not true or correct. They were wrong. And there is even a third reason why the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles cannot possibly represent a one thousand-year period or millennium on the earth. We find this in Daniel 12 where Daniel is told that the words he is writing are sealed until the end. And the words given to Daniel, the prophecies given to Daniel and those things written in Revelation are keys to the understanding of all else.

Later on in the chapter 12 of Daniel, this statement is repeated. These words are sealed until the end. Therefore an explanation written hundred and fifty years ago, a hundred years ago, even fifty years ago cannot possibly be accurate or correct. It is the mere speculation of human beings.

Herbert Armstrong wrote these things in the 1930s and 1940s. That was a long time ago. That was not the very end. Therefore, as well intentioned as he might have been, he was mistaken. And he took these things directly; in many, many cases from these commentaries and bible dictionaries and bible helps written by unconverted people because that was the best information he had and because he was not putting the Bible first but was studying what unconverted men SAID ABOUT THE BIBLE; and these things were sealed (concealed) by Almighty God at that time.

He could not possibly have understood what God had concealed. That is a fact. So, there are three reasons why the Feast of Tabernacles, the seven-day festival cannot represent a one thousand-year millennium. First, because God says through Peter that one day represents a thousand years, not seven days. Second, because these things were written by carnal, God commandments-defying men, men who did not keep God's commandments and therefore did not have God's spirit; and third, because these things were sealed until the very end.

So, before we go any further into the Feast of Tabernacles, let's look at this subject of the millennium. The word millennium is not found in the Bible. It is a modern word or fairly modern English word which refers to a period of one thousand years, the word mill, meaning a thousand; One thousand years; a millennium. And we find a basis for this in Revelation 20, verse 4, “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,” which is in their minds, or the mark in their hands, which is about their physical activity. This has to do with what you think and how you act, what your activities are. And the last sentence, “And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

This is talking about a thousand-year reign of the saints who are resurrected in the resurrection of first fruits. And after the resurrection of first fruits, they will return to the earth with Christ to reign for a thousand years as it says here in Revelation 20:4.

And for more on the resurrection of the first fruits and the Marriage of the Lamb, please study our paper on that subject of the Marriage of the Lamb or The Wedding Feast.

Verse 5, “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 a part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”

So, when Jesus Christ comes to gather up His saints in the resurrection, His first fruits, He will then return with them to rule over humanity for a thousand years.

Now, going up to verse 2, “And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.”

So, we see that the Kingdom of God is a period of one thousand years during which Satan is bound and detained so that he is no longer able to influence humanity. And during this time, Christ will rule with His saints in an age of peace, prosperity, and harmony. As Isaiah writes, “The lamb shall lie with the lion or the lion shall lie down with the lamb. The child shall play on the hole of the serpent or the asp.”

This will be a period of peace in which the spirit of peace will be poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28). God's spirit will be poured out on all flesh. There will be a period, a thousand years of peace, prosperity in which all men will learn the ways of God.

The Scripture are full of these things and that is one of the things that we look forward to. But this thousand years of joy and rest for humanity and peace has nothing to do with the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles. There is a Holy Day. Actually there are two Holy Days which picture the millennium or the thousand years. Remember now; that a thousand years is as one day, and one day is as a thousand years with God.

Let us go to the beginning, to Genesis and we find that in six days, God made all physical things. In the seventh day, He rested. And this pictures six days or six thousand years of creative activity. And the seventh day or seventh one thousand year period is a period of rest. That seventh day, the weekly seventh day Sabbath, pictures a thousand years or a millennium of rest for humanity.

And we find the apostle Paul picking up on this in Hebrews 4:4, “For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remains that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached,” that is Israel. Israel, the theocratic nation of Israel unto whom these things were “first preached entered not in.” They didn't enter into the land because of unbelief until later the next generation came up and believed.

This is a lesson that those who do not believe God and therefore, do not OBEY God will not enter into God’s rest: Will not have a part in the first resurrection of the saints.

“Again, he limited a certain day, saying in David, today after so long a time, as it is said, today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would He not afterward, have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, his labors as God cease from his labor. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”

Paul is talking here about the resurrection and a millennium of rest from Satan, from the labors and cares of this world, Satan's world. The seven-day Sabbath is a picture of a millennium or a thousand-year period of rest from the labors and cares of this world, this Satanic world. It is a day of rest, a day of deliverance, a day of peace and joy, and a day or a thousand years of man together with his Creator in a relationship with his Creator, even as Adam spent the day, the seventh day after the six days of creation with this Creator.

So,all mankind will have a thousand years as represented by that day; with their Creator in peace and in harmony with their Creator, learning directly from Him and from the first fruits who were brought up in the first resurrection to help serve them, to help Christ in bringing all of this mass of people into the Kingdom of God.

This will be made possible by the repentance of those living at that time, and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ being applied to them, allowing the Holy Spirit to be poured pout on all flesh, Joel 2:28, thus empowering humanity to keep all of God’s commandments!

And there is a second picture or type of the millennium or of a thousand-year rest and this has to do with the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Israel came out of Egypt on the beginning of the first day of Unleavened Bread and they travel through the wilderness for six days; and on the sixth day, they went through a type of baptism, a type of death and resurrection, crossing dry shod through the Red Sea. And on the seventh day; that is the day after they had crossed through the sea, there was a day of rest and great rejoicing over their victory, a victory that was given by God.

The concept that Israel went through the Red Sea ON the seventh day cannot be found in the Bible. In fact it contradicts the Bible, for God was teaching the people to keep that day holy; and would not have destroyed the Egyptians on that day. This entire Feast is an object lesson. The seventh day is HOLY TIME, time spent in peace and rejoicing with our Creator God.

And so, we see that for six thousand years God has been calling some to be His first fruits out of the spiritual Egypt of this world and at the end of six thousand years, the sixth day of Unleavened Bread, there will be a resurrection out of the sea of humanity, out of this world. And this first fruits will be changed into spirit and raised up to meet their Creator in the air, to be with Him; and they will later come down to the earth for the seventh day, that thousand-year period that the seventh-day represents.

It will be a period of rejoicing over the victory over Satan given to them by God and a period of rejoicing in which they will have a close personal relationship, directly face to face with their Creator. And it will be a thousand years of peace and harmony during which Satan will be removed from this world and there will be a millennium or thousand years of peace.

Now, we go back to Revelation and it says, “After the thousand years are over, Satan shall be released. And he shall go forth to deceive the nations.” This is not the end of the Kingdom of God! Therefore the millennium or thousand years does not picture the Kingdom of God specifically. What it pictures is the binding of Satan for a thousand years and a thousand years or a Sabbath of rest and peace for humanity. When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released. There will be some deception going on. There will be another battle and then will come the main or autumn harvest. That is when, after this battle, Satan will be removed forever and atonement will be made for the main body of humanity; as the Day of Atonement pictures.

Atonement will be made for the rest of humanity, the main harvest of humanity. The main harvest, the fall harvest will be brought up, as the Feast of Trumpets pictures and will be reconciled or brought into a relationship with God, as the Day of Atonement pictures. And then they can be brought into the Kingdom of God, brought into the family of God, brought into the temple of God, which is God’s family and His kingdom.

Now, we go back to Revelation 20:10, “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet were cast, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened, which is the books of the Bible, the Holy Scripture; and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books.”

You shall be judged by what is written in the Word of God, not by what is spoken about the Word of God by Herbert Armstrong or the pope or myself or for any other man. You shall be judged by what is written in the Word of God, not by all those billions of words which are written about the Bible. Do not believe the Bible as interpreted or explained by any man. Go to it. Study it. Look at it with an open mind and clear vision, asking God to lead you by His spirit and study His Word. Get your religion out of His Word because He wrote it and it is this Word, the books by which you shall be judged. And they were judged according to their works, their deeds, their behavior.

“And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell were delivered up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works, according to their deeds or behavior.” Was your behavior consistent with the God's Word? Did you keep his commandments or not?

“And death and hell were then cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

And who shall be thrown in the lake of fire? Let's see chapter 21, verse 7, “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, the unbeliever, the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

This will be a time when all humanity, every person who has ever lived who is not already resurrected as part of the first fruits will be raised up. Those who are in the sea, those who are in the earth, even those who are burned in fire or destroyed or eaten by beasts, their spirit still survives and it will be given a new body of flesh and they will be given the opportunity to be judged by God, and to turn toward God. And if they choose to do so, if they start keeping His commandments, if they obey Him and put Him first during a period of testing, then they will be brought into God's kingdom and if during a period of physical life, of testing, they rebel continually and will not repent, they shall end up in the lake of fire.

For we find in Isaiah 65:20, “There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled out his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old; but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed.”

It appears from this scripture, that those who are brought up in this final judgment will have one hundred years in order to learn to observe God's commandments or to be judged by God as being incorrigibly wicked, unrepentant and unsaveable and thrown into the fire.

So, let us give an overview here. The plan of God starts with creation. And for six thousand years, God is calling out certain individuals to be a part of His first fruits. And those who have been called out of this world, who actually overcome and endure to the very end of their lives and are faithful and loyal to God and keep His commandments and put Him first, they shall be brought up in a resurrection of the first fruits. This is pictured by the sixth day of Unleavened Bread and Israel going through a typical, symbolic death in the Red Sea and a symbolic resurrection coming up out of that sea. And on the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a Sabbath of rest and a period of rejoicing over victory; as well as the seventh day Sabbath itself picturing the same thing.

So, this resurrection of the first fruits will take place and then a millennium, a Sabbath of rest, a thousand-year period of peace with Satan removed and Christ directly ruling and pouring out His spirit on all flesh and ruling with the help of His resurrected saints, His first fruits shall rule for a thousand years and all those who are living through into that age physically will be brought into His family, into His kingdom because God's spirit will be poured out on them and they will be repentant and embracing God. After that Satan will be released for a short time during which there will be some deceiving and some fighting going on and immediately after that, Satan will be removed forever.

The rest of the dead, all those who have ever lived, not knowing anything of God, not caring about God perhaps; will be brought up then at that time in the resurrection to judgment. All of these masses of humanity, this great fall harvest, the main harvest of lives will be brought up and be given a period of time in which to learn to keep God's commandments and to be tested and judged as to whether they will do so or not and then they will be judged; either being brought into God's family or being thrown into the lake of fire.

They will have their opportunity, probably for one hundred years of their lives.

This period of time is the period of time that is called the Feast of the Ingathering of Nations, the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Great White Throne Judgment. It is seven days long, the Feast of Tabernacles because it pictures a seven thousand-year period, seven days, seven one thousand-year periods. A total of seven thousand years during which all humanity who have ever lived will be brought up to life and given an opportunity to enter the Kingdom of God. That is why it is called the Feast of the Ingathering of Nations.

And if you listen to this morning's program, you will understand about the branches and about the bullocks and about the various symbols involving bringing in the nations into the family of God. So, we have the fall festivals which are a mirror image of the spring festivals. As Passover is on the fourteenth day of the first month, and Unleavened Bread begins on the fifteen day of the first month, even so the Feast of Tabernacles begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, exactly six months apart.

One is a mirror image of the other. The spring holy days picture the spring harvest. The fall holy days picture the main harvest of humanity, the harvest of all living human beings and the dead, who will be raised up and given their opportunity to enter the Kingdom of God and when the Feast of Tabernacles is over and the end of this period of judging is over, then the earth will be destroyed and the Last Great Day symbolizes eternity, going forward forever in peace and joy and harmony with God and with our fellowmen, without the evils brought upon us by Satan.

There are many articles on all the various Holy Days and special occasions commanded by God at the Festivals of God site. And going through all of them step by step in their proper order, that is, first Passover and then Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Wave Sheaf, and so on, one can get a thorough step by step perspective and overview of all of these festivals and what they all mean.

To understand the fall festivals, it is much easier if one understands the spring festivals. So, be a good idea if you're new to this site to study through the spring festivals, get some background, and then you'll have a foundation upon which to consider the fall festivals.

The Feast of Tabernacles is the so-called Great White Throne Judgment during which human beings will be resurrected; probably in their courses. That is; in the order in which they were born, so that you don't get 20 or 30 billion people all at once on the planet. And they'll be brought up in the order in which they were born over a period of seven thousand years and they will be tested and judged by God as to whether they are willing to learn to keep His commandments and to repent of their wickedness and to turn to Him.

These seven thousand years are a direct mirror image of the spring harvest, the seven days of Unleavened Bread. So, we see that the Feast of Tabernacles pictures all those who have ever lived being brought into the temple of God, brought into the family of God. And the first fruits are being taught now so that they can be readied as laborers to bring in the harvest. And they shall get some practice with that during the millennium, bringing in those humans who live at that time and then during the Feast of Tabernacles, the main harvest, they will be in a situation and have the knowledge and experience to help bring in the main harvest of humanity for God.

Everyone will have his chance. Everyone will have his or her opportunity. Everyone will be able to say, “I was shown the way.” And whether the person accepted it or rejected it, that's going to be up to them but they will all have their opportunity. And this Feast of Tabernacles is about turning all mankind toward God.

And we can start doing that right now in a certain sense by turning our own selves toward God, by turning our hearts toward God, by repenting of allowing men to come between us and God, and by understanding that there is only one intermediary, only one intercessor between us and God and that is our High Priest, Jesus Christ, who intercedes between us and God daily, atoning for our sins as we repent of them.

Let us therefore turn to God with a whole heart now so that we can have a part as His first fruits and therefore have a part in helping to bring in this main harvest of humanity.

The millennium or the thousand years represents a one thousand year: binding of Satan; the Kingdom of God will last far longer than one thousand years. It will last for ETERNITY!. It is representing a thousand years of peace, a Sabbath of rest and a thousand years of Satan being bound and unable to influence humanity.

The Kingdom of God, the theocracy of God the Father in Jesus Christ will begin the millennium. But it will not end when the thousand years are over. The Kingdom of God will begin and when it does it will last forever. Forever and ever and ever and of the increase of that kingdom, there will be no end, and if the increase in peace and harmony and love and happiness, there will be no end.

The Feast of Tabernacles does NOT represent a millennium, or a one thousand year period. The Feast of Tabernacles is SEVEN DAYS: NOT ONE DAY!!!

The Feast of Tabernacles represents the SEVEN THOUSAND YEARS of the Great White Throne Judgment. The Feast of tabernacles is about BRINGING THE SHEAVES OF HUMANITY INTO THE FAMILY OF GOD!!!