Jun P. Espina         20 min read

Updated on August 27th, 2022

This world will continue to exist and will be peopled forever. This article seeks to expound on the continuance of humanity here on earth forever (after the Millennium) and the nature of our hopelessness in the next life, including our natural fear of the unknown. It also touches on the final state of the believers of Christ, known as the church, their resurrection; the Millennium, the Holy City, the Old Testament saints, and the life on earth after the establishment of Christ’s kingdom for 1,000 years.

There will be people on this planet forever, and the following Scripture is one of our supporting verses:

The smallest one will become a clan, And the least one a mighty nation. Isaiah. 60:22.

The Power of Fear and the Hope of Our Eternal State

The truth about dying and leaving our loved ones forever hurts us and pierces our inner being. That is why we don’t like those topics that would discuss the idea of our passing away. “I don’t want to count my days,” said someone, “lest I die in fear.” Death is indeed the “king of terrors.” (Job 18:12-14)

But we just don’t understand that, according to the Scriptures, there will be people inhabiting the earth forever. God indeed has many exceptional plans for us. We just don’t know about them.

Why are we so afraid most of the time of the truth that both this world and this life are God’s, and that we’re just mere stewards—not owners!—of all that we have?

Is it because of our natural fear of the unknown world to which death belongs? Cancer patients, for example, have various responses to seeing their certain demise, depending on their knowledge concerning the next life and their faith in God.

Hope of Eternal Life

Without hope of eternal life, man’s natural propensity is to be enslaved by death’s “power of fear.” (Heb. 2:15) Hence, a little Bible knowledge about our eternal state (even including the peopling of the earth forever!) offers a big difference in our inner peace and joy as compared with those who are totally blind about what will happen to them in the next life.

The Holy Bible says that our natural fear of death has been enslaving us all our lives. It is besetting us, even in our most secure state. Great minds have been pursuing this subject, and the promised life beyond the grave for thousands of years.

The result was the invention of thousands of gods, followed by the development of various forms of religion, culture, and civilization.

The truth, however, remains that there will be people on earth forever. A little education and faith in God’s Word concerning His eternal plans for us is one best solution to conquer our fear of death and the unknown.

The Ancient Egyptians

The ancient Egyptians, for example, believed in the body’s preservation as a requirement for immortality. Such superstition has led them to mummify their dead before placing them in rock-hewn tombs or huge pyramids. Endless rebirth, or the process known as reincarnation, has led the Hindus to do good works in order not to be reborn as animals or insects.

Boettner wrote: “In the ancient Greek religion… [a] silver coin was placed in the mouth of the corpse to pay his fare across the mystic river… In China and Japan, belief in immortality took the form of ancestor worship… The American Indians placed within the grave of the departed one his bow and arrows, and sometimes his pony, that he might have these when he reached the happy hunting ground.” ¹

All these beliefs are the fruit of man’s endless quest for the meaning of his immortality.

Battle with the Enemy Called Death

Man’s inquiry about the meaning of death is an investigation for certain prized wisdom as his imminent departure from this world is an integral part of his life, into whose entire essence he always desires to dig. Billy Graham wrote,

Understanding the Eternal State and the Peopling of the Earth Forever

True, we must thoroughly understand death if we want substantial relief from the power of fear it brings persistently into our hearts.

In the eternal state, God said that “The smallest one will become a clan, And the least one a mighty nation.”

Those people who won’t be part of the First Resurrection and will survive the Great Tribulation will continue to live after the 1000-year reign of Christ. The peopling of the earth will forever take place in the eternal state as a fulfillment of the prophecy that “the least one will become a mighty nation.”

The Intermediate State

Our life after death and before the resurrection of our bodies at the Second Coming, as promised by Christ, is known as the intermediate state.

The Catholics teach purgatory, but they cannot prove such a doctrine in Scripture as they wrote it in the Apocrypha or spurious writings after Malachi, where there was no prophet of Israel.

The Lord Jesus did not mention these books, as clearly shown in Luke 24 and verses 27, 44 to 46.

The Jehovah’s Witness taught soul sleep (and with its companion doctrine known as the annihilation of souls at the final judgment), just like the Seventh-day Adventists, among others, as man’s intermediate state. ³ Some others teach about the so-called dreamy or semi-conscious state. Since they are not biblical, let’s spend our time with what the Holy Scriptures teach.

How Do We Reconcile Them?

We have a difficulty that we want to be clarified about man’s final state after the Millennium. Our thesis is that first, the earth will be renovated and not utterly destroyed because God did not create it to be a waste place, but to be inhabited forever (cf. Isa. 45:17,18).

Second, Christ’s kingdom on earth is everlasting (See Luke 1:31-32; Isa 9:7.). Third, there will be immortal people on earth, the Jewish and the Gentile Nations, and last, the resurrected saints who will have immortal bodies will reign with Christ forever. (See also Rev. 22:5; 21:24-26; Dan. 7:27.)

Those who spiritualize what we treat here as being of literal interpretation will find the above thesis incomprehensible. Another problem is the following biblical thoughts: a) everything will perish; b) nothing will be remembered; c) the earth will be melted by intense heat; d) “then comes the end,” and so on. How do we reconcile them?

The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus

Christ’s parable about the rich man and Lazarus is a good foundation for tackling this important teaching about man’s life in the other world (cf. Luke 16:19-31).

In this parable, we find the great beyond to be no different from our life today, as both the rich man and Lazarus spoke, saw, and remembered everything just like when they were still alive here on earth. If so, how is the next life better or worse?

In the intermediate state, we won’t have bodies until the resurrection. Yet it would be a far better life for the saved ones through faith in Christ’s atoning blood. Why? Because it would be a life of perfect union with our dear Lord Jesus, as He promised us in John 17:24:

Bewitched by his abundance, the rich man in the parable lost his soul and got tormented in the flames; a conscious experience of suffering and intentional devising of a plan to assuage his pain by requesting the impossible—for Lazarus’s help.

The Insinuation of Paradise and Hell

But then father Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.” Lazarus was comforted from his former life as a beggar who was full of sores.

The story insinuated both paradise and hell as future dwelling places in the intermediate state.

For the unsaved soul, God will torment him in the flames of Hades. God will resurrect him to judge and cast both his body and soul into the lake of fire.

“Do not fear those who kill the body,” warned our Lord Jesus, “but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell… an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear… to a resurrection of judgment” (Matt. 10:28-29; John 5:28-29).

The Experience of Paul

The apostle Paul experienced the intermediate state of born-again believers for a little while, for which he wrote: “[But] I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago… such a man was caught up to the third heaven… whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows—was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak” (2 Cor. 12:1-4).

From such an experience, Paul wrote that he was willing to die, for he preferred “rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.” He also said that “I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.” (2 Cor. 5:8, Phil. 1:23)

Death, for believers, said Paul, “is very much better.” Hence, he wrote that “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). Death is gain, and there’s nothing to fear if you are in Christ Jesus.

Serve Him in the Next Life

In the intermediate state, we will continue to serve Jesus our Lord. “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on! ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.’” (Rev. 14:13) Rest here means we will be satisfied and happy with our work in the intermediate state. Our Lord said that until now the Father is working (cf. John 5:17)

It is never the plan of God to let us do nothing in the second life. “For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.” (Rev. 7:15)

Kings and Priests Unto God

The other matter we followers of Christ need to know after death is our preparation for our settled workload, which is to become “kings and priests unto God.” (Rev. 1:6 KJV) Hence, in this life, we are trained and disciplined by God “for our good, so that we may share His holiness.” (Heb. 12:10)

In the Book of Revelation, we find all the residents in heaven doing many things. Even John himself was continually being monitored to write what he saw. “You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” (Matt. 25:21)

Stages of Life

Boettner noted that the saved ones will undergo three stages of existence, viz., the present life, the intermediate state, and the final and eternal state, the resurrection of the body; whereas, the unbelievers will have this life, then the conscious suffering in the intermediate state, and the final and permanent suffering in the resurrection and the judgment. ⁴

There are three kinds of people who will have their respective final states: first, the unsaved ones or the wicked; second, those who will become part of the first resurrection, and third, those post-Millennium immortal people on earth. That is why we say that there will be people on earth forever. It would certainly be a renovated earth, though—to be populated forever!

The Wicked Ones

The wicked ones will be resurrected after the Millennium, but only to be cast into the lake of fire. (cf. Rev. 20:5; 11-15) Christ said that we must “fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Hell’s judgment is excruciating, as it requires both the soul and body to undergo eternal punishment. Those of the liberal persuasion are not happy with this truth, as they think we would be making God “cruel” or bloodthirsty.

But God has spoken that the wages of sin is death, and that the free gift of God is eternal life, but only through faith in Christ Jesus, our only Lord and Savior. (Rom. 6:23) Yes, they cannot accept God’s justice system for those who trample underfoot the blood of Christ through rejection and unbelief. God used the phrase “dust of the earth shall awake” and “all who are in the tombs will hear His voice” to show not just spiritual but physical torments as well to the unsaved. (cf. Dan. 12:2; John 5:28)

The First Resurrection Saints

After Chapter 3 of the Book of Revelation, the term “saint,” rather than “church,” is used for those who took part in the first resurrection, which includes the Old Testament Saints, the Tribulation Saints, and not just the ruptured church.

Walvoord wrote, “that saints of all ages will be in the heavenly Jerusalem. The inhabitants of the heavenly city are itemized as an innumerable company of angels, the church, God, Jesus, the Mediator, and the spirits of just men made perfect, the latter designation seemingly referring to all Old Testament saints.” ⁵

There is a special blessing for those who had a part in the first resurrection. The apostle Paul’s sufferings, because he lost all worldly possessions he had for the sake of Christ, was motivated by his passion to “attain to the resurrection from the dead.” ( Phil. 3:7-11)

Following His revelation of His divinity to Martha, Christ emphasized the doctrine of the resurrection by commanding the dead Lazarus to rise.

Christ’s Kingdom on Earth Forever—After the Millennium

The first resurrection saints are those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Their number is fixed because they have a special role in Christ’s kingdom here on earth (there will be Christ’s kingdom on earth forever, not just the 1000-year reign—Rev. 5:10; 2 Sam. 7:16; Isa. 60:21-22; Daniel 7:27) that is to be priests and kings of God and to reign with Christ. (cf. Rev. 1:6, 20:4-6) During and after the Millennium, the earthly people were not given this promise.

Even the apostle Paul understands our role in the afterlife when he said, “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? Do you not know that we will judge angels? (1 Cor 6:2-3) Christ also hinted at our future reign on earth with Him in the Gospel according to Luke when He said that we would “be in authority over ten cities.” (Luke 19:17,19)

I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25-26)

The Final State

In the final state, the saints will live in the heavenly Jerusalem, the Holy City, which will be suspended between the New Heaven and the New Earth. (cf. Rev. 21:1-2) It is the same dwelling place promised by Christ in John 14, for the Saints will have only one place in which to stay and base their activities on God’s kingdom business, although they will be free to roam the universe consistent with Christ’s promise that “where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:3c)

The Saints will serve the Lamb of God and the Father forever (cf. Rev. 22:5). At that age, we will “neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” (Matt. 22:30; 25:31) The post-Millennium earthly people [those who will live on earth forever!] won’t enjoy the same state as the Saints.

The Holy City

The reason the Holy City, the abode of the saints, came down out of heaven and stayed close to earth is given in Revelation 21:3-4: “the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.” Only the saints, who are also the priests of God, can enter the tabernacle, as shown in God’s commands to Moses concerning the priests and the tabernacle. (cf. Heb. 9:6-12)

The people of God to whom He will grant comfort and immortality (cf. Rev. 21:3-4) will be the ones who populate the earth in perpetuity.

Yes, the earth will be peopled forever! The term used for the resurrected saints is bond-servants (NASB), for they will serve God. (cf. Rev. 7:15) Like Moses, they will shine as stars in heaven as they will see God’s face.

They will all have a peculiar look, fitting as God’s priests, since the name of God will be on their foreheads. It is needed, I would think, in the administration of the endless kingdom of God on earth, they being appointed as His servants in His kingdom’s government.

There will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads… the Lord God will illumine them, and they will reign forever and ever. (Rev. 22:3-5)

The Kings of the Nations After the Millennium

In Revelation 21:24-25, we find only the kings of the nations after the Millennium “will bring their glory into” the heavenly Jerusalem, not the entire group of nations: “The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.” (Rev. 21:24-26)

Opines Thiessen that it might be referred to their worship, praise, and thanksgiving that will be “brought” into the Holy City. This will be the fulfillment of Daniel 7:27: “Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.”

How to resolve the comingling issue of the resurrected saints and the non-resurrected immortal people on earth? Dr. Walvoord ⁶ said that Christ, after His resurrection, found no problem mingling with His disciples.

The resurrected saints (comprising the Old Testament saints, and the saved born-again Christians of all ages after Christ’s birth) will comingle with the people of the earth forever.

The Post-Millennium People on Earth

There are many problems after the Millennium as to the state of the people who will survive the Great Tribulation and the 1000-year reign of Christ. The Bible teaches that there will be people on earth forever, for the earth was created to be inhabited and not as a waste place. (cf. Isa. 45:17-18)

What will God do to the immortal people on earth in their final state? He “will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.’”

We need to understand, first, for a better perspective of the post-Millennium people, that the kingdom of Christ on earth is an everlasting kingdom. And the reign of Christ, together with the saints, is everlasting.

The sovereignty and power to rule is given to “the people of the saints of the Highest One,” or to His resurrected saints, and all dominions will obey our Lord forever, for His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom. By the nature of its endlessness, there would be people upon the face of the earth forever. (cf. Isa. 9:7, Luke 1:31-34; Dan. 7:27)

There will be people upon the earth forever, and that is the most satisfying answer to the question: “What will happen to the post-tribulation and post-Millennium people?”

The Kingdom of God on Earth Forever

The apostle Paul said that we “[give] no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God.” (1 Cor. 3:32) Three kinds of people are being treated in the proper understanding of the kingdom of God, viz., the Jews, the Greeks, or the Gentile Nations, and the Church, or the first resurrection Saints.

The eternal kingdom of God on earth during the post-Millennium dispensation includes all three kinds of people having distinct roles, the Jews being the nucleus of the kingdom, the nations, the subjects, and the saints, the servants of God who will reign in the kingdom with Christ. After the thousand-year reign of Christ, the kingdom of God upon earth will assume a certain form of perfection and permanence.

Christ will Reign Over the House of Jacob Forever and Ever

It is clear in Luke 1:32-33 that Christ will reign over the house of Jacob forever (meaning the house of Jacob on earth forever!) and “His kingdom will have no end.” (See: Isa. 9:7) It is easy to grasp the post-Millennium state if we take Christ’s eternal reign on earth literally.

Wrote J. Dwight Pentecost, quoting Ladd, that the use of the word “kingdom, basileia, is ‘reign’ rather than ‘realm’ or ‘people.’” ⁷

I noticed ample intellectualism invested in this subject of the eternal kingdom of God on earth. The affirmation of God’s word, however, that Christ will reign on earth forever is a good foundation for understanding our final state after the Millennium.

Despite teachings to the contrary, Bloomfield observes that the terms “kingdom of God” and “kingdom of Heaven” are used interchangeably. (See also Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:14-15, Matthew 5:3, Luke 6:20, Matthew 19:14, and Mark 10:14.) The church or the saints (including the Old Testament saints), the Jews and the Nations, are the elements of the kingdom.

The Jews—After the Millennium

All the Israelites who will be resurrected during the first resurrection are saints of God who will reign with Christ. The Jewish nation, which will be saved by Christ (cf. Rom. 11:26-27) during their greatest trial, will remain as an earthly people, occupying the land promised to them and living peacefully with the nations. They will live on earth forever.

They will form the nucleus of the eternal kingdom since the kingdom of David will be revived (Read 2 Sam. 7:10,12-13; Luke 1:32,33.) and since it will be, to use Bloomfield, “Israelitish” (cf. Jer. 23:3-8). There will be people on earth forever, with the Jewish nation at the core of the populace.

The Nations—After the Millenium

The Gentile Nations, who will survive the great tribulation, will be forced to worship Christ during the Millennium. Unsaved, they will be ruled with a rod of iron and be compelled to worship our Lord, otherwise, there will be no rain on them (cf. Ps. 2:7-9; Matt. 25:31; Micah 4:1-3; Zech. 14:16-19). They will be the subjects of the kingdom.

To sift off those found worthy, Satan will be released after the Millennium. (cf. Rev. 20:7-10; Matt. 25:31-46) Hence, those who will inhabit the earth forever will be saved people.

The common exegesis of the eternal state is the merging of the nations with the saints to forge the conclusion that God will be “all in all” and that all things will have to be made new, remembering the old things no more. (We maintain that there will be a comingling, not a merging, of the post-Millennium people and the first resurrection saints—the kings and priests of God).

Many prophecies, however, of the final state will be left unfulfilled with the above teaching (that God will be “all in all” or merging, and not comingling), such as found in Isaiah 45:17-18, Luke 1:31-32, etc. (See also Isa. 9:7, Rev. 22:5, 21:24-26, and Daniel 7:27.)

The Church or the Saints

Those who will attain the first resurrection will be called saints and will be rulers of the kingdom. They are formed in heaven, wrote Bloomfield, and growing as there will be people who will be saved through the preaching of the gospel. They are a kingdom that will come down from heaven. (Rev. 1:6 NASB) “In that sense,” added Bloomfield, “the church is the kingdom, and only those redeemed by the blood of Christ may enter this kingdom.” “[Unless] one is born again,” said Christ, “he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)

All the interpretations suggested as to the meaning of the kingdom of God may be summed up by this one: “It is the kingdom of David because the Son of David will reign on earth forever. It is the kingdom of God because it is the workmanship of God. It is the kingdom of heaven because it comes down from heaven.” ⁸

After the Millennium

The eternal state presents some questions given the scarcity of clues we have from the Scriptures. Second, there are various views and all of them are supplied with proof texts.

Our thesis remains focused on Christ’s Eternal Kingdom on earth. (Luke 1:32-33; Isa. 9:7) Thus, the eternal population of the earth is logical teaching given the indestructible nature of our Lord’s government. “In the days of those kings,” wrote Daniel, “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.” (Dan. 2:44)

The Redemption of the Earth

The new earth will be the renovated old earth since Christ redeemed it too, just as He saved the sinners from the devil’s domain.” (For the Redemption of the Earth, see: Rev. 5:4-5, Rev. 11:15)

When God created the world, He said it was good; He didn’t create it as “a waste place.” Wrote the prophet Isaiah: “For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited).” (Isa. 45:18)

The Earth was formed to be inhabited. During the Tribulation, “every island fled away, and the mountains were not found” (Rev. 16:20), but no record that the earth became uninhabitable since there were people on the earth and “men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.” (Rev. 16:21)

The People Who Will Survive the Wrath of God—After the Millenium

After the Great Tribulation, which precedes the 1000-year reign of Christ upon earth, there will be people who will survive the wrath of God and the purging of the earth. “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.” (Matt. 24:22)

Read More: Earthly People After the Millennium—Ruled by the Believers

In Isaiah chapter 60, for another proof, we find the people possessed the earth forever and that the “smallest one will become a clan, And the least one a mighty nation” (Isa. 60:20-22).

This is consistent with Isaiah 9:7, where it says that “There will be no end to the increase of His government… over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it… From then on and forevermore.” If you believe that melting the earth is the same as destroying it, where will you put these ever-growing people, each of whom will become a powerful nation?

Partakers of the First Resurrection

As mentioned, the born-again Christians, the Old Testament Saints, and the Tribulation Saints will become partakers of the First Resurrection. They will not people the earth but occupy the New Jerusalem to help administer Christ’s Kingdom on the new earth as priests and kings. (Rev. 5:10) Hence, Christ taught that “where I am, there you may be also.”

The New Jerusalem will come out of the new heaven, suspended above the earth like a 1,500-mile bejeweled cube. It would be the fulfillment of Christ’s “I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2)

With this teaching, Revelation 21:22-26 makes sense:

This Scripture supports the teaching that the New Jerusalem will stay above the new earth to give off its light to the earthly people (the nations), acting like the sun.

The leaders of the Seventh-day Adventists Church taught that the New Jerusalem would land on top of the Mount of Olives, but the Bible does not teach that. Jesus taught that no one “light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.” (Matt. 5:15)

The New Jerusalem

The New Jerusalem, where the Father and the Son would be “the Temple, the Light, and the Lamp” there, would illumine the whole earth. There will be no night in the eternal state.

“The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.” (Rev. 21:24-26)

In 1 Corinthians 15:23-28, Paul wrote that “each in his own order… then comes the end…. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.” The word “end” does not mean the destruction or the end of the earth or all the people on earth.

The Process of Preparing the Kingdom of God

It rather means the end of the process of preparing the kingdom of God, and the thousand-year reign is the cleansing and preparation stage for the kingdom to assume perfection after the Millennium. That is why Satan is going to be released at the end of a thousand years.

The phrase “so that God may be all in all” means that the Trinity, to borrow from Bloomfield, loses its meaning after the Millennium, and the process of the redemption of man is over.

There Will be Countless People on Earth Forever—After the Millennium

There will be countless people on earth forever whom we, the saints of God in Christ, will administer together with our Lord Jesus after the Millennium. (cf. Rev. 22:5, Dan. 7:27) Our final state as Christians will be that of a ruler and judge who will have immortal bodies just like our Lord Jesus, heirs and children of God in Christ, our beloved Savior.

The earth will be peopled forever by the post-Millennium earthly people; whereas the saints of God, namely, the church, the old testament, and the tribulation saints, will take the helm of government [with Christ as King] in Christ’s never-ending kingdom on earth.

There Will be People on Earth Forever!

In Revelation 21:24-25, we find only the kings of the nations (after the Millennium) “will bring their glory into” the heavenly Jerusalem, not the entire group of nations: “The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there), its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.” (Rev. 21:24-26)