“I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man [Jesus], coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days [God the Father], and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:13-14.
Verse 13 has been added here to help maintain the context. The incident portrayed above comes directly after the courtroom scene wherein the Ancient of Days (God the Father) has pronounced judgment upon the beast/Antichrist, see Daniel 7:8-11.
Now let us look at verse fourteen separately so we can examine its meaning more closely.
“Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:14.
Christ’s kingdom will last for a thousand years; those who survive the tribulation and enter His kingdom will live for the entire thousand years.
The fact that this will be a literal thousand year period is underscored by the fact that the words a thousand years are repeated six times in Revelation 20:1-7.
God does not waste His or our time on meaningless words; repeating something six times means that He is telling us something that we need to pay attention to.
Revelation twenty describes how Satan is chained and shut up in the bottomless pit for a thousand years so he can no longer deceive the nations.
After Satan is bound for a thousand years, and perhaps after the separating of the sheep from the goats, Christ will set up His millennial government.
“And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” Revelation 20:4.
While it is difficult to assign a strict order to these events, they do explain the extra days given after the end of the tribulation in Daniel 12.
“And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.” Daniel 12:11-12.
It has been made clear in different passages that the abomination of desolation will be set up in the middle of the tribulation (see Revelation 13:11-18) and that from that time to the end of the tribulation there will be 1260 days.
Why do we have a number of 1290 days and another one of 1335 days? Is it possible that the extra thirty days from 1260 to 1290 are used up in the separation of the sheep from the goats and His setting up of His government?
Is it then possible that the extra 45 days from that point on will be used in the regeneration of the earth, His taking up His throne and the marriage supper of the Lamb?
These are all good questions and the events that happen after the end of the tribulation would account for the extra 75 days given in the book of Daniel.
Concerning the regenerated earth it should be recalled from the book of Revelation that islands have sunk, earthquakes have flattened perhaps all buildings, the ocean has been turned to blood, and the plant and animal kingdom will have been devastated.
The entire globe will need to be restructured, perhaps, including the inward foundations of the globe itself. During this period the millennial temple would be constructed; it will be huge and more than likely be built by Christ Himself.
One of the lies used to convict Jesus at His trial was: “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’” Matthew 26:61.
This was a perversion of His true statement (see John 2:19-22), but what an irony if Jesus actually builds what will be a greater temple for His reign on earth.
For the size of the new temple and other millennial changes see Ezekiel 40:1-47:12.
As for the regenerated earth several Old Testament verses give us a good idea of what that will be like. While it may seem like the earth will be returned to its original state as it was in Eden, it will not. But it will appear to everyone as though it had, as beautiful as it will be.
One of the indications of this will be that the world will continue to have rain. There was no rain before the flood, so things will be somewhat different.
“…a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.” Genesis 2:6.
Compare this with the millennial passage in Zechariah fourteen.
“And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.” Zechariah 14:16-19.
While it will rain and there is the punishment of a lack of rain, the world will be a beautiful place indeed. Not only will the whole earth be green, but the ground will produce an abundance of food, famines will be forgotten.
And the animal kingdom will cease to be a danger to one another and to mankind. Mankind will also be at peace and war will be forgotten.
“Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Isaiah 2:2-4.
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah 11:6-9.
“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.” Isaiah 65:17.
This verse should not be confused with the new heavens and the new earth which are created for the eternal state in Revelation 21:1-2.
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Revelation 21:1-2.
If you read all of Revelation 21 you will find that the New Jerusalem which comes down from heaven is 1500 miles square, and high, and that there will be no more sea. None of this is true of the millennium which occurs shortly before the events in Revelation 21:1-2.
So Isaiah 65:17 concerns the regeneration of the millennial earth spoken of earlier in this post. This should give us a good idea of the extent of the rebuilding of the earth and the atmosphere.
“But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth children for trouble; for they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” says the Lord.” Isaiah 65:18-25.
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and treader of grapes him who sows seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.” Amos 9:13.
Not only will the earth be rebuilt, the ground produce bountifully, and nature become at peace as it was in the Garden of Eden, but those who go into the millennium and those who accept Christ as Savior during the millennium, will all live through it.
However, according to verse 20, those who do not accept Christ by the age of one hundred years will die in their hundredth year.
“No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.” Isaiah 65:20.
“Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:14.
But a thousand years is a thousand years, what shall be the end of these things?
Time’s Epoch, Part B taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 4-23-16, updated on 7-28-21.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.