We are discussing the issue of what is heaven like. The subject I would like to address this time is: Is there a difference between the Millennial Kingdom and the Eternal Kingdom? I believe there is a major difference, and we find that in Revelation 20.
It says in Revelation 20:1, “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,” as we continue down through this passage all the way to Revelation 20:7, we see consistently mentioned that this kingdom will last for one thousand years. In the Old Testament there was a great deal of information, huge sections of Scripture, dealing with what the Kingdom Age, or Millennial Kingdom, would look like. There would be the restoration of the nation of Israel in the land. There would be the believers who were Gentiles joining them. There would be Jesus sitting on the throne of David. There would be longevity in which people would live for much, much longer than they live now. There would be prosperity. The farms could not hardly hold all the produce that is being produced and on and on. It is a reversing of much of the effects of the curse on the planet. That is the Millennial Kingdom, only here in Revelation does it tell us how long it will last, a thousand years, which is of course where we get our word millennium. That is not a big issue unless you decide there is no such thing as a millennium and that the Kingdom Age and all those passages and sections in Revelation and the Old Testament are to be spiritualized. Then you get a blending of the Millennial Kingdom and the Eternal Kingdom that cannot be sustained if you read the Bible literally.
Randy Alcorn has written a helpful book on heaven. It is very large. Then he wrote an abridged version of that, and it is very good in many places. I am not exactly sure of his understanding of eschatology, but Randy Alcorn, makes some serious errors in applying the Millennial passages to the Eternal Kingdom time so that he takes a lot of Scripture that applies only to that thousand-year reign, and he moves that into the Eternal kingdom, and it is quite confusing at times. If you read those books, they are good books, but make sure you notice that he is using Scripture sometimes out of the context of which they are given thereby telling us that there are some things that are not necessarily true. The Millennial Kingdom Age is a physical kingdom. It will be on earth . . .
