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The Millennium: Discussion between Dave & Miles [WLC Radio, Ep. #69] | Part B

The King James Version (KJV) is mostly used in these lessons. Click here to access the KJV online.
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Miles: And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of Yahuwah and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. [Revelation 20:1-6]

Dave: A blessing is pronounced upon all who are raised back to life in the first resurrection that occurs at Yahushua’s return. These are the righteous throughout all time who have gone to their graves, trusting in the promise of a Saviour, and then later, after His death and resurrection, trusting in His promise to return.

The blessing is: “Over such, the second death has no power.”

Miles: Before you go on, Dave, I want to go off on a little tangent for a moment. Many very sincere Christians believe that at death, they go directly to Heaven. But this verse, along with numerous others in Scripture, reveals that to be an incorrect assumption.

In Revelation 22, verse … 12, I think it is, Yahushua says: “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Christ brings his reward with him. It’s not given at death. It’s bestowed at his return when the righteous are raised to life, and the wicked remain in the grave awaiting the execution of their sentence at the end of the millennium.

Dave: Thanks for bringing that out, Miles. You’re right. Your reward isn’t given at death, folks. Only at Yahushua’s return. Ecclesiastes 9, verse 5 could not be more clear. It says: “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.”

Miles: Well, you’ve got Job, too! Give me just a second to look this up. I know we’re getting a bit off track here, but I think it’s important because if you think you go to heaven or hell at death, the two resurrections surrounding the millennium just doesn’t make sense.

Here we go. It’s Job 19, verses 25 to 27. It’s an absolutely outstanding statement of faith.

“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see Yah: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.”

Dave: Such a powerful statement of faith.

Miles: Isn’t it, though? Job was so depressed with the loss of his children, and everything else, that he wanted to die. But even then, he didn’t think he would just suddenly wake up in Heaven. He knew he would sleep in the grave—worms would destroy his body—until his Redeemer came. But when the Saviour came, Job knew he would be raised back to life because for everyone who trusts in the merits of the Saviour’s blood, the first death is just like a sleep.

Dave: That’s how Yahushua described it in John 11, as well. He said: “Our friend Lazarus sleeps.” [Verse 11.]

Miles: As opposed to the second death from which there is no resurrection. It is a death of total and complete annihilation from which there is no resurrection. Ever. That’s why the blessing for those who are raised in the first resurrection is stated as: “over such the second death has no power.”

Dave: Thanks for bringing that out, Miles. It’s a good point. We don’t have time to get into it now, so I’ll just encourage our listeners to visit our website and read the articles, or watch the videos there. But there is no eternally burning hell.

Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death … not eternal life in torment. That death from which there is no resurrection is the “second” death; not the sleep-type of death that is the lot of everyone.

Miles: Sorry to take up so much time on my tangent, there.
Dave: No, it was good.

Miles: We’re going to take a short break and when we come back, I’d like you to tell us some more about the differences between the two resurrections and what the millennium holds in store for the righteous.

Miles: Revelation spends quite a lot of time describing the final battle between the beast and his followers versus the Lamb and those who are faithful to him. If anyone dies or is martyred trusting in the merits of Yahushua’s death, he or she will be raised back to life at Yahshua’s return. This is the first resurrection that begins the millennium.

However, everyone who has ever died in rebellion against Yah, from Cain, down to the last sinner who dies in the seventh plague when Yahushua comes, will sleep in the grave through the millennium and be raised back to life at the second resurrection, to meet their punishment on the earth.

My question is: What about the wicked that are still living? I was taught that any of the wicked still alive are destroyed when Yahushua returns.

Dave:
I was taught that, too, but that’s what happens when you take Scripture out of context. When you go back and gather all the various passages together and read them in context—that’s important. You’ve got to look at them in context—when you do that you see a surprising truth: not all sinners are destroyed at the Saviour’s return!

Miles: Where do you get that? Because that’s the exact opposite of what I was taught.

Dave: Well, you find evidence of this in Zechariah 14. Let’s turn there. This is a chapter that is speaking specifically of Yahushua’s return. Verse three says, quote:

Then Yahuwah will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.

Now read verse 4. What does that say?

And in that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south.

Dave: After the redeemed of all ages are caught up in the clouds to welcome the Saviour home, they don’t go to Heaven. Instead, the redeemed accompany Yahushua as he descends down upon the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives then splits in two, forming a huge plain. This is to prepare it for what happens after Yahushua makes the world new.

Keep your finger there in Zechariah 14 but turn over to Revelation 21 really quickly and read verses 1 and 2. What does that say?

Miles: “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from Yah, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

Dave: The New Jerusalem, the capitol of the Heavenly government, is moved to earth, there to be the eternal home of Yahuwah, the Saviour, and the redeemed.

Miles: That’s a new thought to me that it comes down at the start of the millennium. But where do you get that there will still be sinners alive on earth? Are they going to be allowed into the holy city?

Dave: Revelation 21, where you were just reading, gives a stunning description of the New Jerusalem: it has 12 foundations, each of which is a double-refractory gem; it has 12 gates; the gates are pearls, the streets are gold, etc. Then, down at the bottom of the page. What does it say? Last verse, verse 27.

Miles: It says, quote: “But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Unquote.

So no sinners will enter the New Jerusalem. But where do you get that some sinners will still be alive?

Dave: Let’s go back to Zechariah 14.

Remember, Zechariah 14 describes Yahushua standing on the Mount of Olives and it splitting apart to receive the New Jerusalem. Something else happens then. Read verses 12 to 14.

Miles: And this shall be the plague with which Yahuwah will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem:

Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet,
Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets,
And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.

It shall come to pass in that day
That a great panic from Yahuwah will be among them.
Everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor,
And raise his hand against his neighbor’s hand;
Judah also will fight at Jerusalem.
And the wealth of all the surrounding nations
Shall be gathered together:
Gold, silver, and apparel in great abundance.

Dave: This has never happened. This is a prophecy of the future. Many of those who were the worst at persecuting Yah’s people will be destroyed at this point.

Miles: I guess that makes sense. In his trial before the Sanhedrin, Yahushua told the Jews, quote: “Hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” [Matthew 26:64] Unquote.

If the energy radiating from him actually did destroy the wicked as I was always taught, they’d be wiped out before he ever got close enough to see, wouldn’t he?

Dave: Exactly. There is a series of events following Yahushua’s return we haven’t understood before. Now, the ones Zechariah 14 describes as being destroyed, again, are those who were worst in persecuting Yah’s people or were consciously in rebellion against Him.


WLC Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKswMD01BII