The Destiny of the Bride of Christ - Part 16
When Jesus reigns for 1,000 years from Jerusalem, all of God’s creation will finally begin to experience the fullness of God’s purposes and His goodness. Finally, after millennia of deception, sin, disobedience, destruction, violence, and death, people will begin to experience life as God has always desired for us to experience it.
Where there was violence, there will be profound peace. Where there was death, life will spring forth. Deserts will blossom and bloom with new life. It will be a return to life as it was in the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, before sin and disobedience destroyed God’s best purposes for us.
People will experience life as God intended it for us. Hunger and lack will be replaced by abundance. Robust health will replace disease and infirmities. Truth will replace deception. Joy will replace despair.
“Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days. The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses. Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon. There the Lord will display his glory, the splendor of our God.
“With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees. Say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.’
“And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf. The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing for joy! Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the wasteland. The parched ground will become a pool, and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land. Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived.” —Isaiah 35:1-7 (NLT)
Zion will be the epicenter for these blessings of God. The life of God will cause Jerusalem to flourish, and blessings will flow out from Israel to all of creation.
“In the same way, the Lord will bless Zion. He will feel sorry for her and her people, and he will do something great for her. He will turn the desert into a garden. It will be like the Garden of Eden. The land was empty, but it will become like the Lord’s garden. People there will be very happy. They will sing victory songs to thank God for what he did.”—Isaiah 51:3 (ERV)
This age to come will be a wonderful time to live on the earth. During this coming age there will be people in natural, human bodies, who survived the Great Tribulation period, and there will also be people who have been resurrected and people whose natural bodies have been changed into spiritual bodies, as we are told in 1 Corinthians 15:
“Listen very carefully, I tell you a mystery [a secret truth decreed by God and previously hidden, but now revealed]; we will not all sleep [in death], but we will all be [completely] changed [wondrously transformed], in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at [the sound of] the last trumpet call. For a trumpet will sound, and the dead [who believed in Christ] will be raised imperishable, and we will be [completely] changed [wondrously transformed]. For this perishable [part of us] must put on the imperishable [nature], and this mortal [part of us that is capable of dying] must put on immortality [which is freedom from death].”—1 Corinthians 15:51-53 (AMP)
Those who are found worthy to be included among the disciples who will become the Bride of Christ will be living in this natural world, but they will have been transformed into a new species of people living in spiritual and resurrected bodies. Paul admitted that this is a great mystery, but he tried to explain it to us as best he could in 1 Corinthians 15, within the limitations of our human language and understanding:
“So it is with the resurrection of the dead. The [human] body that is sown is perishable and mortal, it is raised imperishable and immortal. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in strength; it is sown a natural body [mortal, suited to earth], it is raised a spiritual body [immortal, suited to heaven]. As surely as there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.”—1 Corinthians 15:42-44 AMP
Jesus also tried to give the Sadducees a very basic understanding of life on earth after the resurrection in Luke 20:34-36:
Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and the women are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; for they cannot even die anymore, for they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” (NASB)
Death will still be a reality for some people during the millennial reign of Christ and His Bride, because, as we are told in Revelation 20:14, death will not be completely eliminated until the time of the Great White Throne Judgment after Jesus’ 1,000-year reign is completed. Paul tells us that Death will be the very last enemy to be destroyed.
“After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.”—1 Corinthians 15:24-26 (NLT)
But even though death will still come to some people who are living in natural, human bodies, quality of life and health will vastly improve so that the average lifespan will dramatically increase. People in natural, human bodies will live for hundreds of years, as they did in the beginning of creation, when sin had not so deeply corrupted human life here on earth.
“There shall no more be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who dies prematurely; for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner who dies when only a hundred years old shall be [thought only a child, cut off because he is] accursed.
“They shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
“They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat [the fruit]. For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, and My chosen and elect shall long make use of and enjoy the work of their hands.
“They shall not labor in vain or bring forth [children] for sudden terror or calamity; for they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.
“And it shall be that before they call I will answer; and while they are yet speaking I will hear.”—Isaiah 65:20-24 (AMPC)
Families will live together in harmony, following God’s ways. It will no longer be normal for families to be divided, broken, and scattered. Parents will live to see their grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and great-great-great grandchildren, and to watch them grow and live healthy, prosperous, and joyous lives together.
“All your people will be righteous. They will possess their land forever, for I will plant them there with my own hands in order to bring myself glory. The smallest family will become a thousand people, and the tiniest group will become a mighty nation. At the right time, I, the Lord, will make it happen.” —Isaiah 60:21-22 (NLT)
**“**At that time, flowing waters will run perennially from Jerusalem, half toward the Dead Sea and half to the Mediterranean Sea. The Lord will be king over all the earth at that time. There will be one Lord, and his name the only one. The entire land will become like the Arabah plain from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem. It will be raised up and inhabited where it is, from the Gate of Benjamin to the First Gate, then to the Corner Gate, to the Hananel Tower, and to the king’s winepresses. People will live there, there will be no more destruction, and Jerusalem will be safely inhabited.”—Zechariah 14:8-11 (ISV)
Holiness Reigns
With the devil imprisoned, and Jesus Himself teaching people to follow His ways, sin will be greatly diminished during Christ’s reign on earth. Sin and rebellion will still exist, but without the prodding of Satan’s influence, sin will be the exception, rather than the rule.
The reign of Jesus Christ will be marked by holiness unto the Lord.
“In that day there shall be [written] upon the [little] bells on the horses, holy to the lord, and the pots in the Lord’s house shall be holy to the Lord like the bowls before the altar.
“Yes, every pot in all the houses of Jerusalem and in Judah shall be dedicated and holy to the Lord of hosts, and all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil their sacrifices in them [and traders in such wares will no longer be seen at the temple]. And in that day there shall be no more a Canaanite [that is, any godless or unclean person, whether Jew or Gentile] in the house of the Lord of hosts.”—Zechariah 14:20-21 (AMPC)
“A highway shall be there, and a road, And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, But it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, Shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; It shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there” —Isaiah 35:8-9 (NKJV)
