Christ Will Rule From Earth For A Thousand Years

1) Zechariah 14:4 teaches Christ will return to earth: "And
his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives,
which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives
shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward
the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of
the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it
toward the south".

2) the armies of "heaven" "followed" Christ to battle the
"kings of the EARTH" (why would the armies of "heaven"
"follow" Christ from "heaven" to heaven? If the armies of
heaven are following Christ, as the text plainly says, and
they are going to the place where they will battle the "kings
of the earth", then the plain, natural understanding is that
the armies of heaven, and Christ, came to "earth".

3) The "kings of the EARTH" gathered to battle against Him who
sat on the horse. The guy sitting on the horse is Christ. The
kings of the "EARTH" are gathering to battle against Him. That
means He (Christ) is on "EARTH".

4) The fowls of the air feed on the carcasses that Christ
sleighs. Fowls of the air do not feed on some heavenly
carrion, in heaven. This is "EARTH".

5) Christ will rule the nations that He smote with a rod of
iron. The nations are on "EARTH". Christ will "rule them".
He slew the kings of the "EARTH", now He reigns over the
nations of "EARTH".

6) The souls who were killed (Revelation 20) "lived again",
and were part of the first "resurrection". People are not
raised from the dead in heaven. Their bodies are on earth,
and that's where they're raised from (1 Cor. 15). This is not
referring to souls who remain souls in heaven, but to souls
who live again on earth because they were part of the first
resurrection.

7) The camp of the "saints" is surrounded by the "nations of
the four quarters of the EARTH". The only saints in the
immediate context, are the ones who were souls that "lived
again" because of the resurrection, which occurs on earth (1
Cor. 15). Dead bodies are not stored in and raised from
heaven. If the "nations of the four quarters of the earth"
surround the camp of these saints who "lived again", and will
"reign with Christ for a thousand years", that means the
saints are on "EARTH".

8) The saints reign "with Christ". "With" means "with", not
separated from. If the saints are reigning from a camp on
earth, and they are reigning "with" Christ, that means Christ
is reigning on earth. And why wouldn't we think Christ is on
earth, since chapter 19 says the armies of heaven (identified
in verse 8 as the saints), "followed" Him from "heaven" to the
battle against the kings of the "earth"? Is there some place
that says the saints followed Christ back to "heaven"? No,
there is not.

9) Christ will return in like manner as he departed, and that
was literally from earth (Acts 1:11).

Acts 1
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes,
and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was
going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside
them.
11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here
looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from
you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen
him go into heaven."

Christ departed from the earth literally, physically, and
bodily, in full view of those who stood there watching. He
will return in the same manner he went into heaven.

Yes, the plain statements of the Bible, which mean what they
say, and say what they mean, everywhere indicate Christ will
return to, and reign from "EARTH" for "a thousand years".

©2007 www.pulpitfire.org
--
Christ died for our sins, and God raised Him from the dead.
Rely on this work alone to escape hell and receive eternal
life (Jn. 3:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-3; Eph. 2:8-10; 2 Thess. 1:8-9).