ANNEX 3The events of Christ’s Second coming

The physical return of the Lord will be to the Mount of Olives (Acts 1.11f). It was prophesied in Zech 14.3ff. As he stands on the Mt of Olives it will split in two, creating a valley running east-west, and the people will flee, possibly along this newly created valley. “All his holy ones” will ac-company him as he comes (Zech 14.5).

The Lord at his coming will bring about the following defeats of his and Israel’s enemies. It is pos-sible that he will fight in more than one battle and in more than one location:• to destroy the armies of the nations besieging Jerusalem (Zech 14.3, 12-16; 12.2-9 may refer to

the same battle),• with the Beast and the kings of the whole world and their armies gathered together to wage war

with Him at Armageddon (Rev 19.19ff; 16.14, 16) - possibly at Megiddo in the valley of Jezreel, but it could be another location, perhaps near Jerusalem. The Beast and the False Prophet will be cast into the lake of fire (fulfilling 2 Th 2.8) and their armies will be killed by the Lord’s spoken word. This may also fulfil God’s judgment on the nations gathered to “the valley of Jehoshaphat” (Joel 3.1f, 9-16), and be the winepress of God’s wrath (Rev 14.17-20; 19.15). There are other OT prophecies that this judgment and destruction may also fulfil;

• In Edom, where he will trample the nations in the winepress of his wrath (Isa 63.1-6), and dev-astate Edom and its people (Isa 34.5-end).

But when the Lord returns his coming will also be visible throughout the world. Everyone will see him (it is not clear how), both believers and unbelievers (Lk 17.24; Mt 24.27; Mk 13.26; Lk 21.27; Rev 1.7; “they will see . .” in Mt 24.30 is probably all the tribes of the land of Israel).

Just before he comes, “the sign of the Son of Man” will appear in the sky (Mt 24.30). The nature of this sign is unclear, but it may be the means by which the Jews in Jerusalem and Israel “look on me, the one they have pierced, and will mourn for him” (Zech 12.10) and come to saving faith in their Messiah (Zech 12.10; 13.1). This appears to be the mourning of “the tribes of the land” in Mt 24.30 and Rev 1.7. [The alternative interpretation of Mt 24.30 and Rev 1.7 is that there will be a world-wide mourning for Christ, though not necessarily in repentance and saving faith].

As the Lord comes, “he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect” (Mt 24.31; Mk 13.27). This is explained in more detail in 1 Th 4.14-17 and 1 Cor 15.50-55. “The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a command, the voice of an archangel and the trumpet call of God” (1 Th 4.16). Immediately and instantly all the dead Christian believers (and those in the pre-Christian era who trusted in God) will be raised to life; then straight after all the living Christian believers will be changed into their resurrection bodies (1 Th 4.16f; 1 Cor 15.51f; this is “the first resurrection” of Rev 20.5f). Both groups “will be caught up . . to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Th 4.17). It is the event in which “one will be taken and the other left” (Mt 24.40f; Lk 17.34f).

This catching up of believers will take place at the coming (Greek, παρουσια, ’parousia’) of the Lord (1 Th 4.15), a term that is used in 16 places 1 in the NT to describe his second coming. The noun is used in Greek literature to describe the visit of a royal or official person. It is also used once (2 P 1.16) to describe Christ’s first coming. The fact that its uses to describe Christ’s second coming include 2 Th 2.8 (“the lawless one . . whom the Lord Jesus will . . destroy by the splendour

1 Mt 24.3, 27, 37, 39; 1 Cor 15.23; 1 Th 2.19; 3.13; 4.15, 5.23; 2 Th 2.1, 8; Jas 5.7f; 2 P 3.4, 12; 1 Jn 2.28.

of his coming”), is evidence that his coming for the saints and their resurrection will happen at the same time as all other aspects of his coming 2.

The Lord’s return will be sudden and unexpected by those of mankind who are not Christian be-lievers. It will catch them unawares and unprepared (Lk 17.26-30; 21.34ff; Mt 24.37ff, 50; 1 Th 5.2f; 2 P 3.10 3; Rev 16.15).

“On the day the Son of Man is revealed” - presumably as they see him coming - all mankind will have an instant choice to make: to leave everything and welcome him; or to try and keep their lives and possessions. Only those making the first choice will be taken 4 by the Lord to be with him (Lk 17.30-36; Mt 24.40f). The rest will be left.

The Lord urged his disciples to be spiritually alert, prepared and expecting his return (Mt 24.42-51; 25.1-13; Mk 13.33-37; Lk 12.35-46; 21.34ff; 1 Th 5.4-10; Rev 16.15). Awaiting with expectation his return should be our attitude in life now (Phil 3.20; Heb 9.28; Tit 2.13). There will be signs that it is drawing near (Lk 21.28, “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near”) though the moment of his return will be sudden and unexpected even for believers. We must not let the fact that his coming is delayed to blunt our alertness and expectation. Jesus hinted that it might be a long wait (Mt 25.19; see also 2 P 3.8f).

We should be about the work that he gives us to do. This is a real warning that even believers, or apparent believers, can be caught unprepared (Mk 13.36f; Lk 21.34f, “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap”). The clear implication is that, if they are not ready, they will not be caught up to be with Christ and to gain resurrected bodies.

Resurrected believers will accompany the Lord to the earth - the implication of the promise that they will be with him for ever (Jn 14.3; 1 Th 4.14,17). Their accompanying the Lord as he returns to earth may be taught in 1 Th 3.13; 4.14 (“will bring with Jesus . .”); Jude 14; Rev 17.14; 19.14, though it is possible that some of these refer to angels who will definitely accompany Christ on his return.

Resurrected believers will share Christ’s glory (Col 3.4; 1 Cor 15.43). They will also take part in the marriage of the Lamb as Christ’s bride (Rev 19.7ff; Jn 3.29; 2 Cor 11.2; Eph 5.31f; for other references and discussion, see the Commentary on Revelation and the notes on 19.7). And they will stand before Christ at his judgment-seat or tribunal to give an account before him. See below for further on this.

2 There is a widespread view that the Rapture - the coming of the Lord for his own, their instant resurrection and their gathering to him - will be an earlier event from Christ’s return to the earth in glory as King. But this does not seem to me to be borne out when all the passages describing Christ’s return as considered to-gether. I will leave the reader to make up his own mind!3 Note that in 1 Th 5.2 the “day of the Lord” may start some time before Christ’s return, as it clearly does in 2 Th 2.2 where it starts some time in the last 3 1/2 years before his return (the period of the beast’s reign, Rev 13.5, assuming that beast is the “man of lawlessness” of 2 Th 2.2). In 2 P 3.10 the “day of the Lord” appears to encompass Christ’s return and the dissolution of the heavens and earth that, according to Rev 20.11, comes 1,000 years later. Such telescoping of time in the “last days” is common in the OT prophets. On in-terpreting 1 Th 5.2ff, see the footnote later in this article. For the detail on interpreting 2 P 3.7-13, see the end of the note on judgment under “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed”.4 The Greek verb is παραλαμβανω (‘paralambano’), whose root meaning is “take” or “receive”. It occurs 50 times in the NT and one of its most common meanings is to “take someone along with you”. Occurrences which are similar to Mt 24.40f and Lk 17.34f are: Jn 14.3 (“I will come back and take you to myself”); Mt 4.5, 8 (“The devil takes Jesus into the holy city . . onto a very high mountain”)

Other features of the Lord’s return are:• he will come “on the clouds of heaven/the sky with power and great glory” (Mt 24.30, alluding

to Dan 7.13). Whether the clouds are the physical clouds in the sky is not clear. Note how a cloud featured at Christ’s ascension (Acts 1.9) and his transfiguration (Lk 9.34).

• he “will come in the glory of his Father with his angels” (Mt 16.27; Mk 8.38; Lk 9.26; for ac-companying angels, see Mt 25.31 and perhaps Jude 14)

• he “will be revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels (2 Th 1.7) 5

Following his return, Christ and his resurrected saints will reign on earth for 1,000 years (Rev 20.1-7), during which period Satan will be bound and imprisoned. The implication of Rev 20 (and Rev 2.26f; 19 15; 1 Cor 6.2; see also Dan 7.14, 18, 22, 27) is that they will rule over the nations. This is often called the Millennial Reign or the Millennial Kingdom. To find out who will make up “the nations”, read on!

Everyone will give an account when Christ returns. In the words of Jesus in Mt 16.27, “the Son of Man is going to come . . and then he will reward (lit. return to) each person according to what he has done”. Rev 22.12 is similar. There seem to be four distinct judgments, for different categories of mankind 6:

• The resurrected saints will stand before the judgment seat (tribunal) of Christ in 2 Cor 5.10, Rom 14.10 (“the judgment seat of God”). See also Jas 5.9; 1 Cor 3.8-15; 4.4f; Rev 22.12 and possibly Lk 12.47f; Rev 2.23 and 20.4. It is a time of assessment and rewards (Lk 12.37), not punishment (though individuals may suffer loss - see Lk 12.47f; 1 Cor 3.15; Col 3.25). It will determine the responsibilities of each saint in the millennial reign (Mt 24.47; Lk 12.44; the Parable of the talents, Mt 25.14-30; the Parable of the ten minas, Lk 19.12-27). This appears to be only of the saints taken up by Christ at his coming and given resurrected bodies.

For all the rest of mankind:• The nations (Gentiles) alive when Christ returns will be gathered before him and separated

into two groups, likened to sheep being separated from goats (Mt 25.31-46). Those who have done acts of kindness to the needy saints (“these brothers of mine”) will be welcomed into his Millennial kingdom; but those who have not acted in this way will depart into eternal punish-ment and eternal fire. The second category will include all who have worshipped the Beast and his image and have received the Beast’s mark (Rev 14.9-11). This judgment is that referred to in Rev 6.10; and (possibly) 14.14-20 and 19.15. See also 19.11 where Christ on his return “judges and makes war”. This judgment/separation will determine who will enter the Millennial king-dom and come under the rule of Christ and his saints. That those welcomed into the kingdom “go away . . to eternal life” (Mt 25.46) implies that they become believers in Christ just as peo-ple do in this age before Christ’s return.

• The Jews / Israel alive when Christ returns will undergo a separate judgment. Ezek 20.34-38 is the only explicit text (but possibly also Isa 27.12). It determines who will enter the land of Is-rael, and the millennial kingdom. It seems to fulfil the same function as the judgment of the na-tions in Mt 25.31-46.

• All who have died before Christ returns (apart from the resurrected saints) will remain in the abode of the dead (Hades) until the end of Christ’s millennial reign, when they will be raised from the dead to stand before the great white throne in the final judgment of Rev 20.11-15.

Punishment awaits those who are not admitted into the Millennial kingdom. This appears to be an anticipation of, or perhaps the same place as, “the lake of fire, the second death”, which

5 On interpreting 2 Th 1.7-10, see the end of the note on judgment under “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed”.6 These four judgments are described and discussed in more detail in the Commentary on Revelation and the notes on judgment at “20.11-15 reviewed”.

awaits all the dead who are raised to life at the final judgment whose names are found not to be in the book of life (Rev 20.12-15; compare Mt 25.41; Rev 14.10f). It is described as:• “sudden destruction” (1 Th 5.2f); “the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (2 P

3.7)• suffering God’s wrath, 1 Th 5.9; Rev 14.10• “everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord”, 2 Th 1.9• “eternal fire”, Mt 25.41 (see also the “fiery furnace”, Mt 13.30, 42, 50); “eternal punishment”,

Mt 25.46; also Rev 14.10• “losing their life (or soul)”, Lk 17.32• “the outer darkness”, Mt 8.12; 25.30• “weeping and gnashing of teeth”, Mt 8.12; 13.42, 50; 24.51; 25.30• the Lord’s verdict, “I don’t know you”, Mt 25.12• assigned a place with the unbelievers / unfaithful, Lk 12.46, or the hypocrites, Mt 24.51• Jesus likens it to the destruction of mankind by the flood in which Noah was saved, and to the

destruction of Sodom and its inhabitants (Lk 17.26-30; Mt 24.37ff)• See Lk 16.23-28 and 2 P 2.9 for the punishment of the dead in Hades as they await the final

judgment.

Those who hold that Christ first comes to gather believers to him and later returns to earth in glory with his resurrected saints to reign, may argue that the judgment seat of Christ and the marriage of the Lamb must take place before his return with the resurrected saints, so his coming must be in two stages with a time interval in between. But this argument falls down on two counts. First, the saints gaining their resurrection bodies, the judgment seat of Christ and the marriage of the Lamb may take place in the heavenly realms and be outside human time. Second, it may be that the judgment seat of Christ and the marriage of the Lamb will take place on earth after the resurrected saints re-turn to the earth with Christ.

Footnote.Jesus’ parables and illustrations on his coming and giving account, judgment and rewards when he returns tend not to distinguish between his disciples and the rest of mankind - it is left to the hearer/reader to decide who is a true disciple and to apply the words to him/herself. Also, in Mt 16.27 it is unclear whether those who have died before his return are included in the judgment. See in partic-ular:• illustrations about servants and their returning master: Mt 24.45-51; 25.14-30 (Parable of the

talents); Mk 13.33-37; Lk 12.35-38, 41-48; 19.11-27 (Parable of the ten minas).• Mt 16.27, “ . . then he will reward (lit. return to) each person according to what he has done”• the Parable of the ten virgins, Mt 25.1-13• the illustration of the snare or trap, Lk 21.34ffThese and three other passages on the second coming appear to imply that there will only be two categories of people on the earth on the day the Lord returns: his saints who are expecting him, and unbelieving mankind who will suffer God’s wrathful punishment. Those passages are: 1 Th 5.1-10 7; 2 Th 1.7-10 8; 2.9-12 9. Also, the clear message of the NT is that salvation is only for those who trust in Christ and that God’s just punishment awaits unrepentant sinners: see Jn 3.16ff; 3.36; 1 Jn

7 Note that in 1 Th 5.2 the “day of the Lord” may start some time before Christ’s return, as it clearly does in 2 Th 2.2 where it starts some time in the last 3 1/2 years before his return (the period of the beast’s reign, Rev 13.5, assuming that the beast is the “man of lawlessness” of 2 Th 2.2). “While people are saying, Peace and security” (1 Th 5.3) may be false prophets (active in the run-up to Christ’s return: see Mt 24.11, 24; Rev 13.11-17) or those who reassure themselves with the message of the false prophets. Compare Jer 4.10; 6.14; Ez 13.10, before Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. It is possible that Paul had a double interpretation in mind: that the turn of events dramatically for the worse in the run-up to Christ’s return, which inexorably leads on to his return (the labour pains analogy in v 3), is the “sudden destruction” as the “thief in the night” that will catch unbelievers; AND that it is Christ’s actual sudden return that is the “thief in the night” that will catch them and the judgment that will come upon them following that return is the “sudden destruction”. Paul was not, in this letter, distinguishing between them but expressing them both in summary form.

5.11; Mk 9. 47f; 16.16; Lk 13.3ff. All the above seem to challenge the interpretation I have set out above that some Gentiles and Jews not included in the resurrected saints will be welcomed by the Lord into the Millennial kingdom. However, I consider that it is possible to understand all the above scriptures in a way that allows some Gentiles (and Jews) to be welcomed into the Millennial kingdom though they have not been part of the resurrection of the saints on Christ’s return - in other words they were among those “left” rather than “taken” (Lk 17.34-36; Mt 24.40f). The key seems to be that these people become believers in Christ when they are welcomed into the Millennial king-dom, with the same spiritual status as believers in Christ in the current age.

The article on the next page explores in more detail the future of mankind from the current age, through the events prophesied in Rev ch 19 to 20 and into the new heaven and earth of Rev 21.1-22.5.

Some hold that 1 Th 5.1-11 justify the view that the rapture will take believers out of the world to be with Christ before the “tribulation” events of the final few years before Christ returns, while there is still “peace and security”, but as my note above suggests this is not the only or the right way to understand the passage.8 On interpreting 2 Th 1.7-10, see the end of the note on judgment under “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed”.9 2 Th 2.9-12: we see the same contrast in Rev 13 between the saints and the inhabitants of the earth who are taken in by the miraculous signs of the second beast (vv 11f-15) and worship the first beast (vv 4, 8, 12 15). Rev 14.9-12 make it clear that those who worship the beast and receives his mark will suffer God’s wrath and eternal torment. “Those who are perishing” (2 Th 2.10) is a phrase Paul uses elsewhere (1 Cor 1.18; 2 Cor 2.15; 4.3) to mean that portion of mankind who are not saved through trusting in Christ for salva-tion.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MANKIND WHEN CHRIST RETURNS?

I have attempted here to put together the future of mankind as the current age draws to a close and when Christ returns, drawing on Revelation but also the other books of the New Testament. The NT authors followed the OT in dividing mankind into Jews - those who believed that their physical descent was from Abraham via Jacob, or Israel - and Gentiles - the rest of mankind. The Greek word translated “Gentiles”, is also translated in some contexts, “nations”. But the NT also sees another way of dividing mankind: those who trust in Christ for salvation and have received new life in him, and those who do not. Those who trust in Christ are often called “the saints” (meaning, “the set apart ones”). Saints can be Jews or Gentiles by their birth. John in Revelation uses these distinctions, but he also introduces another category, “those who live on the earth” (see the note at 3.10), which normally means everyone except the faithful saints.

God’s chosen people according to the OT revelation were the people of Israel, who from the time of the exile to Babylon in 586 BC were known as the Jews (the name originally meant, “belonging to Judah”, the kingdom ruled by kings descended from David which came to an end in 586 BC when Jerusalem was destroyed). Jesus in his teaching made it clear that for Jews to be regarded by God as his people they had to accept him as their Messiah and trust in him for salvation. After his cruci-fixion, resurrection and ascension to heaven and the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost, many Jews did believe in Jesus, but most did not. God soon made it clear that salvation and the gift of the Spirit was for non-Jews - Gentiles - also, and that the good news of salvation through Jesus was to be pro-claimed to the whole world. In the years that followed, it was Gentiles rather than Jews that re-sponded to the good news, so that soon the Church (the NT word is ‘ekklesia’, which was also one of the words that the Greek translation of the OT used for the assembly of Israel or of the Lord), the body of those who trust in Christ, was mostly Gentile.

Those who trust in Christ, whilst they are living on earth, also have a heavenly existence, seated with Christ in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Eph 2.6; see also 1.20-23; 6.10ff). “Seated” in-dicates reigning - the saints share Christ’s reign and authority in the heavenly realms.

Those who trust in Christ and who die in faith before the day of Christ’s return go to be with him. This is described in 2 Cor 5.1-9. It is an intermediate state between death and resurrection, in which the believer leaves his old body behind. See also Phil 1.23 and 1 Th 4.17. The Lord referred to it as Paradise (Lk 23.43) and as Abraham’s bosom (Lk 16.22). It may also be described in Jn 14.3 and 17.24, though it is possible that these two scriptures refer to the believer when and after Christ re-turns. Together with the Old Testament saints - those who trusted in God before Christ’s first com-ing - they are the “great crowd of witnesses” of Heb 12.1. In Revelation, this intermediate state is described in 6.9ff; 7.9-17 and probably in 3.4f & 12; 14.1-5. But those who die without saving faith before the day of Christ’s return will go into Hades, described (Lk 16.22ff, 25, 28) as a place of burning, agony and torment, where they will await the resurrection to final judgment (Rev 20.5, 11f) 10 . This state or place appears to be an anticipation of “the lake of fire” - see later in this arti-cle. It may be described in 2 P 2.9 (“the Lord knows how to . . hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment” 11).

As this age nears its close there will be a multitude of saints, believers in Christ both Jew and Gen-tile, many of whom will die for their faith but some will still be alive at the moment Christ returns (described prophetically in Rev 19.11-21). At this moment they will be instantly gathered to meet

10 This is the traditional Evangelical position. I do not enter here the debate over what happens to those who die in the womb, or through abortion, or as infants or children, or to those not in an era or place where they could hear the NT gospel message.11 But note that there is some uncertainty over translating this verse. See the NIV’s text note.

him in the air as he returns, gaining their eternal resurrection bodies (1 Th 4.13-17; 1 Cor 15.51f; Mt 24.31; Mk 13.27). This is often termed the Rapture 12. Just before that happens all the saints who have already died and are with the Lord will also gain their eternal resurrection bodies (Rev 20.4, “the first resurrection”). Also included in this resurrection will be believers in God in the era before Christ’s first coming (Heb 11.39 to 12.1). Together they will all make up Christ’s bride in the marriage of the Lamb (Rev 19.7ff). They will also stand before his tribunal for assessment and receipt of rewards (Rev 22.12) and responsibilities in the Millennial reign which is about to start 13. It seems clear 14 that all these believers in their resurrected bodies will return to this earth with Christ on his return (they may be the “armies of heaven” in Rev 19.14). But it is not possible to as-certain the precise order in which the marriage of the Lamb, the tribunal / judgment-seat of Christ and the return to this earth with Christ will take place.

Christ on his return will kill all those who are part of the beast’s armies that are drawn up to make war on him, and will cast the Beast and the False Prophet into the lake of fire (19.19ff). All mankind who have died before Christ returns, including (I assume) those he kills in 19.21, and who are not among the resurrected saints, will remain in Hades, the abode of the dead (see 20.13). But the rest of mankind who are alive when he returns and who are not saints who will have been gath-ered to meet him, will stand in judgment before him (Mt 25.31-46; Rev 6.10 and possibly 14.14-20 and 19.15 is about this judgment), to determine who will enter his Millennial kingdom 15. Those who have done acts of kindness to the needy saints will be welcomed into his Millennial kingdom; but those who have not acted in this way will depart into eternal punishment and eternal fire. These will include all who have worshipped the Beast and his image and have received the Beast’s mark (14.9-11). This place of punishment appears to be “the lake of fire” of Rev 20.14f; 21.8.

Since Mt 25.32 speaks of “all the nations” being gathered before the Son of Man, a term that nor-mally is distinct from the people of Israel, the Jews, it is possible that those Jews who are alive when Christ returns and are not included among the saints, will undergo a separate judgment before Christ to determine who will enter his Millennial kingdom. That judgment is prophesied in Ez 20.33-38 (and possibly also Isa 27.12) 16.

This means that there will be two categories of mankind in Christ’s Millennial kingdom - the reign of Christ on earth with his resurrected saints for 1,000 years described in Rev 20.1-7 (see also 2.27; 5.10; 2 Tim 2.12). One category comprises the saints (Jew and Gentile) in their resurrection bodies; the other comprises those of mankind alive when Christ returns (again, Jew and Gentile) who come through Christ’s judgment and are welcomed by him into his kingdom. They remain in their mortal

12 Those holding a pretribulational premillennialist understanding of Christ’s return maintain that the range of ways in which Christ’s return is described in the NT, as well as in the OT prophecies, require that it will be in two stages. The first stage will be a return in secret, to take the true Church to be with him as his bride, which is the Rapture. Christ will not at this point return to earth. That awaits the second stage, when he re-turns in glory to the earth as King and is visible to all. This doctrine is attractive to Christians, as the Rapture is held to take place before the events prophesied in Rev 6-18, so they are spared the trials and sufferings of the saints described in those chapters. According to this view, it will be those who come to a saving faith in Christ after the Rapture who are the suffering saints of Rev 6-18. But there is no Scripture that unambigu-ously describes Christ’s return as taking place in two stages, and the traditional doctrine of one return to the earth by Christ to reign, in which believers gain their resurrection bodies, appears to be the one that is true to all the scriptures. That is what I have set out in the first part of Annex 3.13 For a full description including all the NT references, see the discussion on judgment under “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed” in the Commentary.14 From 1 Th 4.14, “God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep . .”. For all the possible refer-ences, see the note on Rev 19.14, “the armies of heaven were following him”.15 for a full discussion and further OT & NT references, see the 1st bullet in the discussion on judgment un-der “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed” in the Commentary.16 see the 2nd bullet in the discussion on judgment under “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed” in the Commentary.

bodies but are regenerated in their spirits 17, just as the saints were prior to Christ’s return. The res-urrected saints have the responsibility of reigning over the rest of mankind, the roles and responsi-bilities of each having been determined by Christ when each appeared before his tribunal.

The rest of mankind - the second category - have mortal bodies that will eventually die, though long age-spans will be the norm (see Isa 65.20) I assume that they will be able to have children in the same way as mankind in the current age, and it will be up to those children to come to a saving faith in Christ just as people come to faith in Christ now 18. It appears from Rev 20.7ff that many if not all of those who are alive at the end of the 1,000 years of the Millennial reign and who are in this second category will be deceived by Satan, now released, and will rebel against Christ’s reign and the reign of his saints. But God will destroy them by fire from heaven and consign Satan to the lake of fire.

At this point all the dead since the creation of the earth will be raised in resurrection in order to stand before the great white throne, where Christ will judge them (Rev 20.11-15). This will not in-clude the saints who are already in their resurrection bodies as the result of the “first resurrection” (20.6) - the first category of mankind in the Millennial kingdom. But I assume it will include all the second category of mankind, both those who have died during or at the end of the Millennial reign and (I assume) any who remained alive by its end (i.e. who did not join in the rebellion of Rev 20.7ff). They will all be judged both by their deeds and also by whether their names are in the Book of Life (Rev 20.12-15). Those whose names are in the book of life will be God’s people in the new heaven and earth, and have the right to enter the new Jerusalem (Rev 21.24-27). They will be one people with the saints who gained their resurrected bodies in the first resurrection, when Christ returned. They will have perfect fellowship with God, who will now dwell with men in the new Jerusalem. They will all live and reign for ever and ever (Rev 22.5). This must mean that any person in the second category of mankind who is still alive at the end of the Millennial reign and who is found to be in the Book of Life must gain a resurrected body, so joining the saints who gained their resurrection bodies in the “first resurrection”, though this is not made explicit in Reve-lation.

But all who stand before the great white throne and whose names are not found to be in the book of life will spend eternity in the lake of fire, where the beast, the false prophet and Satan already are. Death and Hades will be thrown into the lake of fire too (Rev 22.14f), as there will be no death in the new heaven and new earth, often termed the Eternal State.

For a detailed discussion on the issues that the above reconstruction raises, see the Commentary on Rev 19.11 to 22.5. In particular see the notes at:

20.4 (“they reigned with Christ . .”)20.12, 15 (“the book of life”)Rev 20.11-15 reviewed21.24f (“the nations . . . and the kings of the earth . .”)22.2 (“the leaves of the tree . .”)

On the interpretation that there will be people - “the nations” - in the Millennial kingdom over whom the resurrected saints will rule for the 1,000 years, consider the implications of 1.6; 2.27;

17 The scriptural basis for this is given as a footnote to the 1st bullet of the discussion on judgment under “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed” in the Commentary18 A G Fruchtenbaum (Prophetic Witness magazine, March 2016) argues from Isa 65.20 that the children born during the Millennial reign will be given by God until their 100th birthday to come to saving faith in Christ. Those that do will live throughout the Millennial reign and will never die. This is why the Bible never speaks of a resurrection of millennial saints. But those that persist in unbelief will die at the age of 100. No unbeliever will be permitted to live past their 100th birthday. Thus death in the Millennial kingdom will be greatly reduced and will be for unbelievers only. But this view seems to me to go considerably beyond what Isa 65.20 says.

5.10; 15.4; 19.15. Also see the notes at 14.7 (“worship him . .”); 19.15 (“he treads the winepress . .”); 20.6 (“They will be priests of God and of Christ . .”).

ENDS