We have considered that, during the thousand years, the righteous will reign with Christ as judges. They will consider the cases of the wicked who are all dead during the thousand years (Rev. 19:21:20:5). Then they will be raised to face the divine Judge on the white throne. Following are passages which support this picture.

Jesus' condemnation of religious leaders
   "The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here." (Luke 11:32)
   The people of Nineveh who repented at the preaching of Jonah and are among the saved will stand up during the millennial judgment when the cases of the Jews who rejected Christ come up, and they will condemn them.

The resting-land motif
   "Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard." (Lev. 25:3, 4)
   "Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go. Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon." (Jer. 50:3, 4).

   While the people of promise were captives in Babylon, the land was essentially depopulated. It "rested" like the seventh-year rest. When they were released Jerusalem was rebuilt. (Nehemiah 2:17-20).

   Thus we see part of the source of symbolism for the picture in Revelation. The age of the earth, following from the Genesis record is about 6,000 years. The thousand years just ahead of us would be the seventh thousand, corresponding to the sabbath rest of the land. At the end of the thousand years the new Jerusalem comes down out of heaven just as Jerusalem was rebuilt after the land had rested during the time of the captivity. We are near the end of the sixth thousand. Next is the millennium where the earth is desolate and the righteous live and reign with Christ in heaven (where they are taken , John 14:1-3. After the millennium, the 7,000 will be over and the New Jerusalem will come down (Rev. 21:1) and the world will forever be at peace.

Described by Daniel and Compared to the account in Revelation
    The prophet watched the horn power persecute the saints until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was given to the saints. In Revelation 20:4 we see the same judgment given to the saints who lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Daniel did not specify a thousand years but indicated that span of time with the word "until." The NKJV and other Bibles read "a judgment was made in favor of the saints." This is not correct. The judgment of the saints is in Dan. 7:10. This is the preadvent judgment. At the end of that time those found righteous are rewarded (Rev. 22:12) Christ and all the angels join the Father (Ancient of Days) in coming to the earth to redeem the righteous (Rev. 1:7; Matt. 16:27; 24:27; Luke 9:26; )

Foreseen by Jeremiah
    We also explain this when we deal with verse 3 2003c. We include it here as one of the descriptions of the millennium.
    "I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger." (Jer. 4:23-26)

   The land being without form and void reminds us of the story of creation. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. . . ." (Gen. 1:1, 2). "Deep" here is equivalent to the Greek word, abussos, translated as "bottomless pit" in the KJV. So did Jeremiah see the earth at the beginning of creation week or was it during the thousand years? Notice that the birds had fled and the cities were broken down. This is the abyss condition of the earth at during the thousand years. It begins after the wicked are destroyed at the end of the time of our present world.

   "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season." (Rev. 20:1-3)

   It's fair to ask whether our interpretation is consistent with the context in Jeremiah. You might want to look in your Bible. Look at verses 14 to 17 (before our passage) we have:
   "O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. . . .  Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah. As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD."

   After a description of distress, we come to our passage where Jeremiah saw the earth without form and void. It was desolate. Then, in the next paragraph, "For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end."

   The Lord is warning about the punishment to come to Jerusalem. Then he shows Jeremiah a picture of the cities completely destroyed on the chaotic earth. The destruction of Jerusalem at the time of the captivity was a sign of the more serious situation coming at the end of time. Then the picture is continued. The special view which we examined above is marked by Jeremiah with the words, "I beheld the earth." This is the state of the earth wile the righteous are in heaven reigning with Christ.

The scape goat
    On the day of atonement in the sanctuary calendar, two goats were brought to the tabernacle. One was killed as a sin offering. Its blood was taken into the most holy place and sprinkled over the mercy seat. The other goat was taken into the wilderness to die, corresponding to Satan, cast into the abyss in Revelation 20. For a detailed look and explaining tables, see the article about this topic. r20x.