The thousand years.
The believers who have surrendered themselves to God and Jesus Christ have gone to heaven to be with Jesus for a thousand years. However, those remaining on Earth will continue to face difficulties. They will persist in their efforts to ensure their long-term survival through self-centered, overconfident means. But they won’t receive the usual help in their evil pursuits. Why? “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him up for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.” Revelation 20:1–3. That Satan will not tempt the nations suggests that people will populate the earth during the thousand years.
Those who do not ascend to heaven will continue living on Earth during the millennium. The beast, whose deadly wound has been healed, will continue in their pursuit of their self-confident ways. The ten kings must prepare this world for Satan, whom they will reinstall as prince. Earth’s inhabitants must willingly surrender it to Satan through human actions because Satan does not have the right to take it by force, as stated in Revelation 17:17. What would be the point of removing Satan from the way?
When people do something wrong, they often justify it by saying, “The devil made me do it.” However, if Satan is no longer present, would those on earth commit evil, or would they choose what is right? God told us that we cannot do good once we are accustomed to doing evil. Jeremiah 13:23. During the thousand years of Satan’s imprisonment, people will reveal their natural tendency toward evil. Satan will not have an opportunity to influence others to do wrong. People will do so on their own initiative and by their nature. Humans are not sinners because they sin. Humans sin because they are natural sinners. During these thousand years, humankind will demonstrate the seriousness and irreversibility of the decision made by the first man, Adam, in the Garden of Eden. Those living on Earth will prove that the sinful nature cannot change.
The end of the thousand years; read the next blog.