a view of the coming millennial kingdom in its heavenly and earthly part

The Bible clearly speaks in both the Old Testament and the New Testament concerning the coming kingdom, the millennial kingdom, the 1000 years age of the kingdom, which only some of God’s people and the nations will enjoy.

For the believers, this time will be a reward given to the overcoming ones, while the ones who are not mature yet will be ripened and perfected to share in the New Jerusalem for eternity.

For the Jews, some of the ones who are left after the great tribulation will be the priests teaching the nations to worship God.

And as for the nations, some will enjoy this time of restoration, while others will be judged and will share Satan’s fate, the lake of fire.

Today we need to aspire to be the overcomers that we may share in Christ’s kingship and be His co-kings in the millennium age, the coming age of the kingdom!

The coming millennial kingdom of God

If we study the Bible “with the glasses of God’s economy on”, and especially in the light the Lord has shown us through brother Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, we will see that at the end of this age – the age of the church – there will be the kingdom age, the millennial kingdom, the age of restoration.

This kingdom will have two sections, two parts – the heavenly part and the earthly part.

In the heavenly part the overcoming believers will rule as kings in the kingdom of the Father, together with and under Christ as the Greatest King (see Matt. 13:43; Rev. 2:26-27; 3:21-22; 20:4, 6).

The earthly part of the millennial kingdom will be the kingdom of the Son of Man, also called the kingdom of the Messiah, the raised up tabernacle of David (see Matt. 13:41; Rev. 11:15; 2 Sam. 7:13; Amos 9:11). Here the saved people of Israel will be the priests teaching and leading the preserved nations to worship God.

The whole earth will be restored, and the earth will be a very pleasant place to exist and live.

The heavenly part: Christ and His overcomers reigning

On the one hand we have to admit that we have no idea how this will happen and when will this be, especially when we talk about the millennial kingdom.

We cannot know the future fully, but we can base our faith on what the Bible says – the Bible is the Word of God, and God left us many hints, many verses and paragraphs here and there, to see what will it be like in the coming kingdom.

If we read Revelation 2 and 3 we see God’s call for the overcomers, and He promises them that they will rule and reign with Him (Rev. 2:26-27; 3:21-22).

In the heavenly part of the millennial kingdom, the Old Testament overcomers and the New Testament overcomers will rule as co-kings with Christ over all the earth. We are destined to rule as kings, and if we are matured today, we will share in Christ’s kingship in the coming age and in eternity!

In the kingdom age, all the overcoming saints from both the Old and the New Testament time will sit with Christ on the throne and will reign with Him!

Here are a few verses indicating this:

• Matt. 13:43, Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. The overcomers will shine forth in the heavenly part of the millennial kingdom, which is the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens as a reward to the overcomers.
• Rev. 2:26-27, And he who overcomes and he who keeps My works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; And he will shepherd them with an iron rod, as vessels of pottery are broken in pieces, as I also have received from My Father. The overcomers’ prize is to reign with Christ in the millennial kingdom, and our rule as overcomers over the nations will be a shepherding.
• Rev. 3:21-22, He who overcomes, to him I will give to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The prize of the overcomer is to sit with Christ on the throne and participate in Christ’s authority over the nations in the coming kingdom age.
• Rev. 20:4, And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and of those who had not worshiped the beast nor his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The overcomers here are vividly shown as having authority over the nations in the coming kingdom of 1000 years.

The earthly part: the Jews will be priests

In the earthly part of the millennial kingdom we have the preserved and proper Jews, who will be saved at the time of the Lord’s coming back, as the priests to all the nations.

When the Lord Jesus will openly return and the remaining Jews will see Him, they will repent and return to Him, and God will save them and make them His priests in the coming kingdom age.

They will be those who passed through fire and were refined (Zech. 13:9), and they will be approached and listened to by all the remaining nations – they will be priests to God (Isa. 2:2-3; 61:6; Zech. 8:23).

In those days the people of Israel will be respected and all the nations will learn of God through the instructions of the Jews, who will be priests to God.

According to Zech. 8:23 though, there will not be many Jews left, but all the nations will listen to them and obey them, being taught by them to worship God and be blessed.

The earthly part: the remaining nations

Who are the nations who will be on the earth? In Matt. 25:31-46 we see that there will be “the sheep”, those who are not saved but they were moral, God-fearing, and they took care in a good way of Christ’s believers and of the Jews.

They clothed the Lord when He was naked and they fed Him when He was hungry by clothing and giving food to the persecuted believers and Jews (God’s people). These ones, these nations, will be transferred into the millennial kingdom and they will inhabit the earth.

They will be part of the lower section of the millennium, called the kingdom of the Son of Man, where Jesus as the seed of David and as the real David will be the king over the Jews and, through the Jews, over all the nations.

God will raise up the tabernacle of David (Acts 15:16) according to His promise that He will establish David’s kingdom forever (2 Sam. 7:16).

In the lower part of the millennial kingdom, on the earth, the Lord Jesus will be the real, true, and only Messiah, the Jews will be the priests, and the nations will be taught to worship God by the Jews.

Being clear about the coming kingdom

We need to dig deeper into the truths in the Bible, into the prophecies, and into all the spiritual books that properly interpret the Scriptures according to God’s economy, that we may see and be clear concerning the coming kingdom age.

Otherwise, if we’re not clear, we will have many strange concepts in our confused mind, and many verses that talk about the Jews or the nations in the coming kingdom we will misinterpret. Many Christians even caused division by mixing these verses and by not having a clear view.

We don’t only need to know concerning the heavenly part and the earthly part of the millennial kingdom – we need to aspire and strongly desire to be produced today as the overcomers, those whom the Lord is calling today to overcome, that we may rule and reign with Christ on the throne and under Christ’s kingship in the millennial kingdom!

Lord Jesus, we love You! Thank You for unveiling us to see something concerning the coming kingdom age. Lord, cause us to be clear concerning what will happen, and what our destiny is. We don’t want to be in the outer darkness for 1000 years, being ripened and matured to be the overcomers…. Lord, make us Your overcomers today! Produce us as the mighty ones, those who overcome anything of the self, the flesh, sin, and death! Oh, Lord overcome in us!

References and Further Reading

• Sharing inspired from, Life-study of Revelation (msg. 56), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of the Minor Prophets, week 7 (entitled, Christ Coming Back as the Real David to Restore His Kingdom).
• Further reading: see the verses above and the footnotes in the Recovery Version, they are very helpful.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Christ comes for His kingdom too; / Heav’nly reign we must pursue, / Let His rule our self subdue— / Yield in time!
  # Son of Man, Son of Man on the throne today; / Son of Man, Pioneer, He has led the way.
  # Time is quickly / Running out each day. / The Lord will come / And swiftly end this age. / At the end of time, / The goal we’ll see / The millennium is our entry.
• Picture credit: Sun Shining (instagr.am-ed by me).