Whether or not there is a literal reign of Christ on Earth is of great significance.

I tend to follow the Pre-Millennial viewpoint for several reasons.

The one central theme of the prophets is that Israel must prepare and get ready because the Messiah was going to come and establish His Kingdom.

The heart of the Old Testament prophetic message is the coming of the Messiah to set up an earthly Kingdom over which Christ would rule from the throne of David.

God is restoring all things as they ought to be.

In vindicating righteousness, God will ultimately showcase what He had in mind from the beginning; one world unity under the control of Jesus Christ.

To a large degree, as the seven-year Great Tribulation is a preview of Hell on earth, so the 1000-year reign of Christ is a preview of Heaven.

The Millennium will also be the public honoring of the Son of God.

“Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 14:16).

For centuries, men have longed for a golden age of peace on earth. Philosophers have talked about it. Poets have written about it. Musicians have sung about it. Politicians have promised it. Kings have fought for it. Prophets have foretold it.

 A misunderstanding that Christ would come twice and not once is the main reason that Israel rejected the Messiah and missed their Savior when He came to Jerusalem.

“Then I will pour out a spirit^] of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died” (Zechariah 12:10-12 NIV).

The Old Testament is filled with truth that the coming of the Messiah is not one-fold but two-fold. He comes first during the Great Tribulation to receive all of his Christian saints into heaven. He comes secondly at the commencement of the thousand-year reign.

He would come to die before He came to reign. – Philippians 2:7-10

He came the first time to a cross but the second time to a crown. – Zechariah 12:10

The first time Jesus stood before Pilate. The next time Pilate will stand before Him. – Revelation 20:12

The glorious coming of Messiah is not yet. He came the first time to deal with sin, which is why we need a Savior, which is why we have no reign of peace on earth.

Now that He’s dealt with sin on the cross, He’ll come a second time to set up His earthly Kingdom, (the millennium) and that may be just around that corner.

The King comes to establish His reign on earth. He has one more problem to deal with after Armageddon. The devil himself needs judgment.

The False prophet, the Antichrist and unsaved men and women are awaiting judgment: The Great White Throne judgment where all will be judged guilty and cast into the Lake Of Fire (Revelation 20:11).

All have now perished except for Devil himself who is the source of all the trouble.

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. He seized the dragon—that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years. The angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. Afterward he must be released for a little while. The host of fallen angels, together with the demons and the world of men, during the preceding three and one half years, had bowed to Satan, now “an angel” fastens on Satan a great chain and chains him for 1000 years” (Revelation 20:1-3).

Just before the end of the millennium Satan is set free for little time to do his dastardly deeds to be sure that all evil has been eradicated as the millennium begins.

The demons greatly feared by the abyss most of all. In the story of the Gadarene demoniac, the request of the demons is that Jesus would not command them to leave the man and go into the abyss (Luke 8:31).

He acquiesced and sent them into a herd of swine.

Why does God finally put Satan under lock and key? So that Satan can’t go around deceiving the nations during the thousand-year Kingdom.

For thousands of years, he has deceived the nations of the world into thinking that they can build a better world without Christ. Sometimes he convinced the nations that the only way to solve their problems was by war. At other times he deceived them into thinking that education, environment, and religion could save the world. He sponsored any program that left Christ out.

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