Millennium Kingdom Thinking – Part 7

3 Reasons why we should be thinking about the Millennium Kingdom every day.

You don’t hear too much taught or preached on the topic of the Millennium kingdom. The popularity of the topic seems to be connected to global events in the mid-east that hint at the possible time for the return of Jesus Christ. Other than that the subject of the 1000 year millennium kingdom has pretty much been relegated to the occasional mention in sermons or Sunday School discussions.

So why is the topic of the Millennium Kingdom important for believers to ponder on a daily basis?

If we don’t understand the significance of our role in the millennium kingdom then there is nothing to be excited about and to look forward too. It’s like being promised an all expense paid trip to a location on earth, but we have no idea about where it is, what the area is like, what to expect when we get there. How could you look forward to going some where you don’t know anything about? Only when someone describes the location or shows you pictures and tells you of their experiences does your excitement level begin to grow. It is the knowledge of the place that drives your anticipation and excitement level. So it is with our anticipation of the 1000 year Millennium Kingdom. The scriptures do tell us about the earthly kingdom reign and our involvement in it. We need to deduce from the information in the scriptures to add the color to the sketches of the Millennium Kingdom given to us in both the old and new testament.

Here are three reasons why we should think about the millennium kingdom every day.

1. Jesus’s desire for us to reign with Him – It is a reminder that we will be given the opportunity to reign with Jesus Christ for 1000 years here on earth. Reigning with Jesus Christ is not something we thought of or desired on our own. It is Christ Himself that has given us this honor and role to be His servants in His Kingdom. He will ushers in righteousness and judgement over all the lands and people that survived the seven year tribulation period. See all that Jesus has done and will do for us? Not only has He saved us from our sin and the penalty of sin for all eternity, but He has given us eternal life and has given us positions of ruling over the nations under His authority. We have the privilege every day to see the big picture and plan of God right through the end of the 1000 year reign of Christ. Every day we can worship God in the quietness of our hearts knowing He has a place for each of us to participate in His grand design that was set in motion before the world existed.

2. Having to give an account – The knowledge that our position within His kingdom is based on our faithfulness as servants to His call on our lives. We don’t dread the accountability each of us will face at the Judgement Seat of Christ. We know that each one of us will give an account for all our actions here on earth. We also know that Jesus is both totally loving and totally righteous. The knowledge of His righteousness is what encourages us to make daily decisions that align with His will for us. Remembering the righteousness of God on a daily basis goads us to made righteous decisions. Just as our earthly fathers loved us and would have given their lives for us, so we, because of their love for us wanted to honor them by being obedient to their every wish. In the parable of the stewards of Matt 24, we see that the faithfulness of each steward was rewarded according to their obedience to provide an increase on the investment amount given to them. Each one was given different amounts based on the Kings understanding of each of their abilities. So it will be the same with us as believers. Our reward for being obedient to the direction and commands given to us will be rewarded in positions of authority in the millennium kingdom. Reflecting on this every day helps to bring into focus the things that are important to do for Him every daily.

3. Continuance of our gifts and abilities – The knowledge of the millennium kingdom helps to bring purpose to our lives through the use of our gifts and abilities. God has given us abilities and gifts in this life that I believe were intended to be used in the millennium kingdom for the purpose of aiding people and nations in the kingdom to come. We have discussed earlier that our resurrected bodies will still contain our memories, our “thinking” and our personality. We will be who we have been here on earth, except we will be without a sin nature. Since God has given us as believers spiritual gifts that are meant to encourage believers in this life, and He has given us abilities for us to develop and enjoy, it would seem reasonable to assume that these gifts and abilities will also be carried over and used as part of our tools to reign over people and nations in the millennium kingdom.

We talk about God loving us individually; I believe what we mean by that is: God loves us for our uniqueness. Not only as what is expressed through our personality and character traits, but also in the gifts and talents He has given us. If He loves us in this life just the way we are, it seems reasonable to assume that in our resurrected bodies He will “imprint” all that we are (except our sin nature) into our resurrected bodies. We will not lose any of who we are that makes us unique to God. This would include the very gifts and abilities He as given us. It doesn’t seem reasonable to think that He will give us a brand new set of gifts and talents in our resurrected bodies when He has already given us those things in our current bodies. What will change is our ability to grow to use the gifts and abilities to their full potential as we reign with Christ for 1000 years.

If that is so, I believe that we as believers need to identify what gifts and abilities He has given us. We need to exercise and grow each gift He has given us. We need to be using our gifts and talents on a daily base much like those in the Olympics train with professional coaches to compete for the gold medal. Making ourselves aware on a daily basis that these gifts and abilities God has given us are an important part of God’s plan for us and the nations in the millennium kingdom.