Chapter 7: What Happens After the 1,000 Years?
“There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light” (Revelation 22:5).
We’ve explored scores of scriptures showing the wonderful conditions existing during the 1,000-year reign of Christ and the saints. During this time, the renewed world will flourish under perfect government, righteous law, a healed environment and a spiritually transformed people.
But that 1,000 years will eventually end. Then what?
Satan temporarily released
The apostle John wrote: “Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog” (Revelation 20:7-8).
Satan’s imprisonment will have been a major factor contributing to the wonderful conditions of the Millennium. Removing his deceptive and rebellious influence will remove many of the temptations that lead people to sin. But restraining him will not remove all sinful human nature from humanity or convert people to following God. It appears that while many people will live in the millennial age and experience its blessings, not all will be converted and faithful believers. These people may modify their outward behavior to avoid punishment, but inwardly harbor hostility to God.
If so, they will be tragically susceptible to Satan’s deceptions when he is released.
We may ask, how could anyone living under Jesus Christ’s direct rule and seeing all the blessings it brings choose to listen to and be deceived by Satan’s reasoning?
For the answer, we need look no further than Genesis 3. Adam and Eve also lived under God’s direct rule in a perfect environment, yet they were still led astray. And the book of Exodus shows that most of the Israelites, only weeks removed from seeing God’s many miracles, including their own personal deliverance through the Red Sea, fell victim to distorted reasoning and went back into idolatry (Exodus 32).
Simply put, having God’s presence and seeing His miracles does not automatically convert someone or make him or her faithful. Because God knows this, He will allow this final test on humanity to determine who is and isn’t truly committed to Him.
It’s sad to say, but Satan will succeed in deceiving large numbers of people from all over the world and “gather them together to battle” against Christ in Jerusalem (Revelation 20:8-9). Through cunning and clever reasoning, he will not only delude them to reject Jesus Christ as King, but convince them that they can overthrow His government.
Though many will follow Satan, we hope they will represent only a small fraction of the entire population.
This attempted rebellion will end quickly, before they are even able to attack Jerusalem. John records, “Fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them” (Revelation 20:9). Satan and his demons will be captured again and eternally imprisoned in “the blackness of darkness” (2 Peter 2:17; Jude 1:13), never again able to deceive or harm anyone.
A second resurrection
After this disastrous rebellion is squelched, a period even more amazing than the Millennium will begin with another resurrection—that of “the rest of the dead” (Revelation 20:5). This will be the billions of people who have lived throughout human history without knowing or being called by God. Nobody knows how many have lived throughout history, but some estimate the number at over 100 billion.
Imagine all the people who lived and died through history without ever hearing the name of Jesus or seeing a Bible. Imagine all the babies and children who died prematurely, never having the chance to grow up. Imagine people you have known who died—people who were possibly very good in many ways, but never really had a chance to know God the Father and Jesus Christ.
This prophecy assures us they will all live again.
Here’s how John described this massive resurrection: “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God” (verse 12). This resurrection includes everyone—from the common and lowly to the powerful and wealthy. Jesus referred to this resurrection during His ministry and mentioned examples of gentile nations from history that will be included in it (Matthew 11:21-24; 12:41-42).
In Ezekiel 37, the prophet described these people being resurrected to physical life: “I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live” (verse 6). Although the people in this prophecy are identified as coming from “the whole house of Israel” (verse 11), this event is representative of what God will do for all people.
As for what will happen when these people are resurrected, John said that then two books will be opened to them—“the books” and “the Book of Life” (Revelation 20:12). “The books” (in the Greek, biblion) represent the Bible; “opened” means understanding is unlocked; “the Book of Life” signifies the opportunity for eternal life.
In this time period, sometimes called the Great White Throne Judgment (verse 11), everyone who has ever lived and died without a real chance for salvation will be given a new physical life in order to have an opportunity to receive God’s calling, understand His Word and live by it. As God said, at this point they will, for the first time, “know that I am the LORD” and have the opportunity to receive God’s Spirit (Ezekiel 37:6, 14).
They will be able to see the stark contrast between the way the world was under Satan’s sway and the way the world will have become under the rule of Jesus Christ. It will stand as a graphic lesson of how much better life is when we live by God’s laws. The suffering of the past contrasted with the peace of Christ’s rule will help people see that God’s way is truly the best way to live.
These billions of people will obviously need a place to live. Perhaps one of the biggest projects of the Millennium will be building and preparing homes for them. Christ will assure the best possible environment so they can learn, live and fulfill their God-given potential.
God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). This is the time where all men and women throughout history will be given their first real chance to achieve their ultimate purpose.
Whether they will choose to accept His truth and be saved will be up to them. Those who do will have their names inscribed in God’s Book of Life. We hope, and believe, the vast majority will make the right choice and have their names written in that book—and ultimately live forever in God’s eternal family!
Regrettably, not everyone will make that choice.
The last sad reality we must address is the fate of those who in stubbornness will reject God and snub His calling: “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).
It’s truly tragic that some will choose the way of death instead of life, but their end will be mercifully quick. They will be burned up in the lake of fire, gone for eternity. They will experience the ultimate wage of sin—not some horrific, everlasting, burning torture, but sudden and permanent death (Romans 6:23).
After these people are destroyed, everyone remaining will be spirit-composed children of God. The family of God will be expanded to include, most likely, billions of sons and daughters (2 Corinthians 6:18).
All things become new
When no flesh-and-blood humans remain, there will be no need for the physical elements designed to sustain physical life. The physical earth, as beautiful as it will be, will have fulfilled the purpose for which it was created.
So Peter writes that “all these things will be dissolved . . . the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat” (2 Peter 3:11-12). He then describes what will replace them: “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (verse 13).
The apostle John saw a vision of this transition:
“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 God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:1-2).
New Jerusalem—the city where God the Father dwells—will descend from heaven, and God the Father will reside for eternity with His firstborn Son, Jesus Christ, and the sons and daughters of His family. At this point, God the Father will be “all in all”—all will be in His family and subject to Him (1 Corinthians 15:28).
“Then comes the end, when He [Christ] delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power” (verse 24).
Revelation 21 and 22 describe the beauty and majesty of this coming new heaven and new earth under God the Father. What a glorious picture is painted in chapter 21, verses 3-4:
“And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’”
The entire family of God will dwell together in love, God promising His children “they shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).
The Bible only hints about what God and His family will do for the rest of eternity (Hebrews 2:5-10; Isaiah 9:7), but we do know that God’s nature is always to create, expand and move forward. Perhaps He also gives a slight hint of that in Revelation 21:5, where “He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’”
The best way to discover what will happen next is to be there and find out!