I believe in Rev 20---that is not describing a reign on earth. It just says the saved will reign with Christ a 1000 years, doesn't say on this earth. But I posted the verses that describes the 2nd coming of Jesus, and that involves the resurrection of the righteous dead, and taking the living righteous up into the air to all meet with Christ and reign with Him a 1000 years. We go up -- He doesn't come down. The wicked living are killed at His coming, and the wicked dead stay that way so there is no one to reign over on this earth. As this has also happened
2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2Pe 3:11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
2Pe 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
You see there is also the Jewish rest of the land, from where the 1000 years comes about
Exo_23:10 And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:
Lev_25:3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
Exo 23:11 But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy olive yard.
It is 6000 years---then the whole world will rest for 1000 years after it has been burned up. It is also the 6 days thou shall labor, but the 7th is a day of rest---6 days creation, then a day of rest. The world rests for that 1000 years while the saved are with Jesus in the New Jerusalem. Then it comes down on a remade earth.
Revelation 20:7-9
7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive
the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 9
They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
Zechariah 14:16-21
16 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. 17 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. 18 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. 19 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.
20 In that day “HOLINESS TO THE LORD” shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. The pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. 21 Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts. Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them. In that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.
See, God expressly says there will be survivors, that not every survivor will always obey Him (hence the example of Egypt) but that He will reign over all the nations of the earth from Jerusalem.
Psalms 2:6, 8
6 “Yet I have set My King
on My holy hill of Zion.”
8 Ask of Me, and I will give You
the nations for Your inheritance, and
the ends of the earth for Your possession.
Verse 6 is so surely established that God proclaimed it in past tense. Compare this with what is said in Revelation 11:15: "The kingdoms of this world
have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" This is talking about what happens at the seventh trumpet.
Isaiah 2:2-4
2 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. 3 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. 4
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.
He will change things on the earth, bringing peace as He reigns. He won't kill
everyone when He comes back. The nations will learn a new way of life--true peace--and they will go up to worship Him in Jerusalem.
Isaiah 11
There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. 3 His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist. 6 “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. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. 9 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. 10 “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people; for the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious.” 11 It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left, from
Assyria and
Egypt, from
Pathros and
Cush, from
Elam and
Shinar,
from
Hamath and the islands of the sea. 12 He will set up a banner for
the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
13 Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. 14 But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the
Philistines toward the west; together they shall plunder
the people of the East; they shall lay their hand on
Edom and
Moab; and the people of
Ammon shall obey them.
15 The Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the
Sea of Egypt; with His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the
River, and strike it in the seven streams, and make men cross over dryshod. 16 There will be a highway for the remnant of His people who will be left from
Assyria, as it was for Israel in the day that he came up from the land of Egypt.
This is on earth, involving the nations and geography we know, and yet the Lord will be changing things. The animals (and man) were originally vegetarians in Eden (Genesis 1:30), and fear of man did not affect the animals (see Genesis 9:2) until after the flood. He will be systematically dismantling the curse...
Isaiah 65:18-25
18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19 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.
20 “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.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 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. 23 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.
24 “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25 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.
There are a few interesting things to consider here. This is not heaven, because people are still giving birth and people can still die (maybe only the wicked). Lifespans will greatly increase, as they were in the days before the flood. In the resurrection, Jesus said there would be no marriage, so these are babies and children of the survivors of the nations, not the resurrected Church. Another interesting thing is that while the animals will be returned to their Edenic diets and dispositions, the serpent will still be on its belly--a living testimony to the people of the earth to remind them of the consequence of rebellion against the Creator.
Ezekiel 47:1-12
47 Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces east; and there was water, running out on the right side. 3 And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the water came up to my ankles. 4 Again he measured one thousand and brought me through the waters; the water came up to my knees. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through; the water came up to my waist. 5 Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed. 6 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he brought me and returned me to the bank of the river. 7 When I returned, there, along the bank of the river, were very many trees on one side and the other. 8 Then he said to me: “This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. 9 And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes. 10 It shall be that fishermen will stand by it from
En Gedi to
En Eglaim; they will be places for spreading their nets. Their fish will be of the same kinds as the fish of the Great Sea, exceedingly many. 11 But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt. 12 Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine.”
This river will flow east from under the temple into the Dead Sea. I have been to En Gedi; it is on the western shore of the Dead Sea. Currently the Dead Sea is very salty and it has no fish (they cannot survive in it). But God will heal the waters of the Dead Sea and make En Gedi a place of fishing. (This is En Gedi.)
Ezekiel 47:13-Ezekiel 48 describe the borders for the land of Israel in this new kingdom. It's an Israel according to the borders God promised Abraham (Genesis 15:18), and completely different from the way the land was allocated in the time of Joshua.
I encourage you to just believe what God's Word says about the millennium. The New Heavens and New Earth with the 1380 mile cubed Jerusalem coming out of Heaven (Revelation 21) is totally different than any of these passages describe. This doesn't happen until after the final rebellion and the judgment and the the wicked being thrown into the Lake of Fire. These aren't the only places where Jesus' earthly reign is described, either. There are other passages, but these provide a good picture.
