Русский
Română
Español
From a comment on the article “Who will live on the new earth?”:
I understand that the 1000 years will not be spent on the earth, but in heaven beside the Savior Jesus Christ who will return to take His own to bring them there. After the Millennium (we could call it a transition period) the holy city, the new Jerusalem, will descend, to the new earth, of course. “The Church will come to earth together with Jesus at His second coming.” I do not know how you came to this conclusion, the Savior Jesus Christ comes to take His Church from the earth. Maybe you formulated this in a hurry and you wanted to give another meaning at first.
The confusion regarding the Rapture of the Church and the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus to earth exists because many people do not understand that these are two different events. At the Rapture, the Lord Jesus does not come to earth but comes in the clouds of heaven and takes the Church to heaven to deliver her from the wrath of God. This is much spoken about in the book of Revelation. In the article I referenced, at the sixth seal, the Church is already in heaven. The wrath of God begins immediately after the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11), with the standing of the abomination of desolation in the holy place and ends with the bowls: this will last for three and a half years or for 42 months (Revelation 13:5, Daniel 7:25, 12:7). You can read about the relationship between the Rapture of the Church and the wrath of God (the Day of the Lord) in the article “What do the Scriptures say about the Rapture of the Church and the Day of the Lord”.
But at His Second Coming, the Lord Jesus will come to restore the kingdom of Israel and to consolidate the throne of David, so that all the prophecies concerning Him may be fulfilled, and that all His enemies will be put under His feet as the apostle Paul wrote to the church of Corinth:
Then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. (1 Corinthians 15:24-25)
As far as the kingdom of a thousand years is concerned, if we follow the context, we see that it will be after the Second Coming of Jesus on earth (Revelation 19). Verse 9 from chapter 20 clearly shows that the 1000-year kingdom will be on earth:
When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. (Revelation 20:7-9)
As it is seen from verse 9, the camp of the saints during the 1000-year Kingdom will be on the earth.
The Word of God is extraordinarily beautiful and God has given us the Holy Spirit who guides us into all the truth and discloses to us what is to come:
But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. (John 16:13)
All that is required from us is to continue to study the Word and ask Him to reveal future things, and then you will be amazed at the way God will answer your prayers.
Translated by Marcela Tasca
Read this article in Romanian.