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Who Will Populate the Millennium?
The Millennium is the 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth after He returns at the 2nd coming (Rev. 20:1-10). During this time, Jesus will set up His Kingdom in Jerusalem and people will continue to live on earth until the earth is destroyed at the end of the millennium (2 Pet. 3:10-13, Rev. 20:11). Many people wrongly believe that the earth is destroyed with Jesus returns. The 2nd coming is not the end of the world, but the end of the age--the end of this time period as we know it (Matt. 24:3).
Some people believe the Rapture and the Second Coming are the one and same event. But if that is true, we've got a big problem. The problem is…who will populate the Millennium? Consider the following:
Only a few will enter into the millennial kingdom (Matt. 24:22)
"Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up year to year to worship the King." (Zech. 14:16). This verse indicates that most of the earth's population will be destroyed before Jesus returns.
By the end of the millennium, there will be multitudes on earth.
Rev. 20:8 tell us "the number of them will be like the sand of the sea."
If only a few people enter the millennium and there are multitudes by the end, how did all those people get there?
Only saved people enter the millennium.
At the Second Coming, only the sheep (saved people) enter into the kingdom, while the goats (lost people) are cast into hell. See Matt. 25:31-46.
By the end of the millennium, there will be many lost people.
At the end of the 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth, Satan is loosed from the abyss and deceives the nations on the earth, who try to overthrow the throne of Jesus. These are obviously lost people. Zechariah 14:16-19 tell us that during the millennium people will be required to go to Jerusalem once a year to worship the King (Jesus). For those who refuse to go, punishment will come upon them.
Why would a saved person refuse to worship Jesus? Obviously, saved people will look forward to worshiping Jesus. But these are lost people. How did they get in the millennium?
The answer is simple. These are people born during the millennium!
Resurrected people can't beget children.
Jesus said, "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven." People with resurrected bodies won't be able to marry or have children. At the Rapture, every Christian will receive a resurrected body, therefore we can't be involved in repopulating the earth. So, the Rapture can't occur at the same time as the 2nd coming because no one would be available in natural bodies to repopulate the earth.
Children will be born during the millennium.
Only people in their natural, unresurrected bodies are able to have children. Because the earth's population will be drastically reduced because most people will be killed (or raptured) before Jesus returns, the earth will need to be repopulated. Jesus referred to the millennial kingdom on earth as the "regeneration" (see Matt. 19:28) which means "repopulation."
Many children will be born on earth during this 1,000 year of Christ (Zech. 8:1-5, Isa. 65:20-23, Ezek. 47:22, Rev. 20:7-9). Zechariah 14:16 tells us that those who refuse to worship Jesus in Jerusalem come from "the families of the earth," indicating these are the children and grandchildren of those who entered the millennium.
The parents are those people saved after the Rapture who are alive at the Second Coming!
As a matter of fact, this is why the Rapture and the 2nd Coming of Christ cannot be the same event. If the Rapture happens at the same time as the Second Coming, there would be no people to repopulate the earth because all saved people would have resurrected bodies. We also know only saved people enter the millennium, so these believers must be those people saved after the Rapture who are alive at the Second Coming. God kept them alive through the Tribulation Period so they would be able to repopulate the earth during the millennium.
Therefore, the Rapture serves 2 purposes: 1) For the church to receive our resurrection bodies and home in heaven 2) To provide a group of people to populate the earth after the Second Coming.