Bible Readings — Bible Questions Answered

Conditions During Millennium

What description does the prophet Jeremiah give of the earth during this time? BR-ASI9 235.2

“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.” Jeremiah 4:23-26. BR-ASI9 235.3

Note.—At the coming of Christ the earth is reduced to a chaotic state—to a mass of ruins. The heavens depart as a scroll when it is rolled together; mountains are moved out of their places; and the earth is left a dark, dreary, desolate waste. (See Isaiah 24:1-3; Revelation 6:14-17.) BR-ASI9 235.4

How long is Satan to be imprisoned on this earth? BR-ASI9 235.5

“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.” Revelation 20:1-3. BR-ASI9 235.6

Note.—The word rendered “bottomless pit” in this text is abussos, the Greek term employed by the Septuagint in Genesis 1:2, as the equivalent of the Hebrew word rendered “deep” in our English versions. A more literal translation would be “abyss.” It is a term applied to the earth in its desolate, waste, chaotic, dark, uninhabited condition. In this condition it will remain during the one thousand years. It will be the dreary prison house of Satan during this period. Here, in the midst of the moldering bones of wicked dead, slain at Christ’s coming, the broken-down cities, and the wreck and ruin of all the pomp and power of this world, Satan will have opportunity to reflect upon the results of his rebellion against God. BR-ASI9 235.7