“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” (Rev. 21:1)
There are no indications in the Scriptures that when the thousand-year reign of Christ begins, or during the entire period of the Millennial reign of our Lord, that the curse upon the earth placed there by the Lord after Adam sinned will be lifted, it will remain in effect for the entire thousand years.
Billions of people will have died, nearly all life on this planet will be destroyed, upheavals heretofore unimaginable will occur during the days of Jacob’s Troubles, and that is what type of planet we will return to when we land on the Mount of Olives with our Lord.
“And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” (Matt. 24:22)
All who are left alive on this planet that have trusted in His name will be brought immediately to Jerusalem, all those who did not will be sent to hell, no one who has not trusted in Christ will enter into that thousand-year reign of our Savior.
The entire promised land will flourish, but here I must use conjecture, for we are not told if that will happen because the Lord speaks the word or if it will be a rebuilding process, and the same must be said for the rest of the planet.
One can envision the entire planet being transformed into green pastures and trees with lakes and running waters, yet still under the curse, or an apocalyptic wasteland, slowly being overgrown by nature and a refuge for the animals that survived. We simply are not told.
My point in all this is this, what will be our responsibilities in those days?
“Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Heb. 1:14)
In many regards we will no longer need the angels ministering as we do today, we will have been glorified, our old natures removed from us, and there will be no Satanic influence upon us or the planet until Satan, and one could presume, those that were cast out with him are released for a season.
I have wondered about this often, and the only thing that comes to mind that we will continue to do for those thousand years, and throughout eternity, that we do here today is glorify the Almighty.
Those who will be born and live in the Millennial period will still be born in sin, perhaps in some way we will be in a sense ministering to them, not usurping the place of the angels but assisting them. Perhaps one of our responsibilities will be to tend the garden, and in this instance it would be the entire planet, which could mean in that wasteland that was the result of the Tribulation, or if the Lord renews the earth in that sense.
“And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” (Gen. 11:6)
We were, in part, created to create; we are not stagnant, we are explorers, inventors, seekers, thinkers and doers, we were not created to sit continuously.
This short letter is not meant to give answers, its purpose is simply this, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Col. 3:2)
To contemplate eternity is something each of us should do on a regular basis, minding that our thoughts do not wander too far, but considering that which lays ahead of us in the immediate part of eternity, as it were, that thousand-year time where the Lord Jesus Christ will reign upon this earth.
The prepared mind can be compared to an empty vessel waiting to be filled, it ponders the unknown and sees a myriad of possible paths, and in that regard, it is, in at least a small way, prepared for what may lay ahead.
In a sense my friends, it is the joy of faith, knowing we will be used for His glory, and anticipating every moment of it in faith.
