[Discussion begins already in progress...]
It boggles the mind. I can't even begin to understand. 1,000 years with Satan bound in chains, Christ on an earthly throne. I can't even imagine how the world would be. Just how bad could people be without Satanic influence? I know they can be easily led, and once Satan is released for a final season before being cast into the Lake of Fire, many will fall right back into line with their evil and sinful ways.
But how would the world be during His reign? Death isn't thrown into the Lake of Fire until later, so will there be death among the ranks of the lost during the reign? Inquiring minds want to know...
2 comments:
You're right. Death isn't gone yet, so people do die - both saved and lost. However, they will live much longer.
Here is my confusion. After the 1000 years reign: new heaven, new earth. All tears wiped away - all death is gone. Supposedly... We'll i've contended for some time that Israel (the Nations...) outside of the New Jerusalem keep on as they always have - serving, living, and dying. From Revelation, we know they (the nations) will continue to bring their offerings into the New Jerusalem. Here is one clue:
Isaiah 65
New Heavens and a New Earth
17 "Behold, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people a joy.
19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
will be heard in it no more.
20 "Never again will there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not live out his years;
he who dies at a hundred
will be thought a mere youth;
he who fails to reach [a] a hundred
will be considered accursed.
Revelation 21
24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Ok, I haven't really had time to consider this yet, but here is my initial thought.
As you pointed out, there will be no more death:
Rev 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
And we are further told that death is destroyed:
1Cr 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
With that in mind, here is how I read Isaiah 65:20 -
"Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days"
Obviously, with death destroyed, no babies would be endangered with pre-mature death.
"or an old man who does no live out his years"
Again, with death destroyed, men don't have to worry about getting old and dying when they reach an appointed 'set lifespan' of numbered days.
"he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth"
Since we are told that death is destroyed, this seems to refer to now. We currently see people at 100 as very old, but in a new world without death, 100 will be nothing in eternity.
"he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed."
This one is a bit more confusing to me with the 'accursed' reference, but I strongly suspect it would have the same explanation as the previous section.
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