A Glaring Flaw With the Premillennial Conception of a Millennial Age
In a recent comment on X (June 2026), a noted evangelical apologist offered a thought experiment based upon a conversation with a colleague (a professor of New Testament) about human nature in a future millennial age. He raised two points for consideration: “Will Christ reign on earth for some time AFTER His return?” “And if Satan is absent, would humanity finally choose to follow Him?” The first question assumes that the answer is “yes”—a standard premillennial assumption. The second question assumes the premillennial notion that Satan is not bound until Christ’s return and that the Devil’s absence is associated with the beginning of Christ’s one-thousand-year reign upon the earth.
The colleague gave the following response (summarized by the apologist) to the second question: “even after the return of Jesus and under His perfect reign, the human tendency is still to turn away from God and choose brokenness. Understanding this condition of mankind helps make sense of the millennium as a vindication of God’s justice.”
Such an answer to the second question exposes a serious flaw in premillennial expectations regarding the future course of redemptive history, one which premillennarians often and glibly dismiss as though this rather obvious problem has no impact upon the millennial question: “How can there be people on the earth in natural, unresurrected and redeemed bodies, still retaining a sinful human nature and susceptible to the wiles of Satan, when Jesus is, supposedly, physically reigning on earth?”
Just who are these people, and how do they get through the resurrection and the judgment that occur at Christ’s return without being raised bodily from the dead? Christ’s return does not commence something new—a millennial age—it brings the course of human history to an end. Christ’s return is described as the “Day of the Lord” (2 Thessalonians 2:2–3; 2 Peter 3:4). It is the time of the general resurrection (Daniel 12:1–4; John 5:29; Acts 24:15; 1 Corinthians 15:22; Revelation 20:4–5, 12), when all people are judged (Matthew 25:31–46; 2 Thessalonians 1:6–9; Revelation 20:11–15). Furthermore, the Bible is clear that when Jesus returns, there is cosmic disruption and the creation of a new heaven and earth (Romans 8:21; 2 Peter 3:10). If lions lie down with lambs, it occurs on a renewed earth—where righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:13).
The unanswered question for premillennarians is simply this: “After Christ returns, how can there be people present on the earth who turn away from God (in premillennial theology, Jesus is present on earth and engaged in some sort of earthly rule) and who ‘choose brokenness’ (whatever that means???)?” Please explain how this is a “vindication of God’s judgment,” since that judgment has already occurred when Jesus returned at the end of the age.
I just scratch my head—too many times, I might add.
I discuss the implausibilty of premillennialism in more detail here: Episode Two: "This Age and the Age to Come: The Implausibility of Premillennialism"