Before God implements the everlasting new world order, a preparation is needed. He will give His people the opportunity to understand His righteous judgement.
A millennial kingdom of peace?
In Revelation 20, a period of a thousand years is mentioned. This period sometimes is interpreted to as an earthly kingdom. It would point to a future time of prosperity and well-being on earth, in which God fulfills his promise to the historical people of Israel. But such a concept of a millennial kingdom of peace on earth is nowhere to be found in the Bible.
The supposed relationship between the thousand year-period and a time of prosperity and peace is derived from the statement that God's people will ‘reign as kings with Christ.’ This certainly must be a time of peace, right? Also, don’t you think this would be the perfect time for all the Old Testament promises to be fulfilled? After all, the biological lineage of the Jewish people still owes these promises, assuming that the literal nation of Israel equals ‘Gods covenant people’. Not all predictions about its future, like being the political center of the world, have been literally fulfilled yet. The millennial kingdom must be the time this finally happens.
The question, however, is where the saints reign as kings and what they do.
At the second coming of Christ [the great day] Jesus has taken all the saints with Him. Paul says this meeting takes place "in the air" (I Thessalonians 4:17). And Jesus says He will gather His people so that they will be where He is (John 14:3).
Note that God brings His own people in safety first before judgment comes. Just as He did at the great flood in Noah’s day, when Lot was taken out of Sodom before the destruction, and when Jesus warned his disciples in advance to leave Jerusalem as soon as the Romans came. Likewise, God removes His community from the world stage before executing His judgment.
The earth, therefore, will be a desolate place [ a desolate earth ] after the second coming of Jesus. There is nothing to rule on earth during this time.
Only after the thousand years have passed does the Bible speak of the coming of a 'new heaven and a new earth'. By that time all tears are wiped from the eyes. In other words, before that time the new world hasn’t come yet. The assumption that there will be a kingdom of peace on earth before the introduction of the new heaven and earth leads to all kinds of massive theological contradictions. For example, in the thousand-year reign of Christ there would still be sickness and death and tears. Also, the devil still would have the power to deceive many of the men and women, who for many centuries experienced the righteous reign of Christ, after the thousand year comes to an end. This makes no sense whatsoever.
Find out how God fulfills all His promises to ‘Israel’ in [490 year - Israel].
So why is God inserting such an enormous interval of a thousand years, between the great day and the start of the new heaven and earth? It turns out to be a crucial preparation for the eternal covenant of love. Check out why in [God's people gain insight into world history].
