[YTM] 40.0 How Lost People Enter the Millennium

According to Scripture, only saved people enter the Millennial Kingdom when Yeshua the Messiah returns. At His Next Coming, He separates humanity into “sheep” and “goats” (Matthew 25:31–46). The sheep—those who believed during the Tribulation and remained alive—enter the kingdom in their natural bodies. The goats—the unbelievers—are removed and cast into punishment. Thus, the Millennium begins with an entirely redeemed population: all who enter possess eternal life (Matthew 25:46).

However, at the end of the thousand years, Revelation 20:7–9 reveals that multitudes of people will join Satan’s final rebellion. These individuals are clearly lost, proving that although the Millennium begins with only saved people, it ends with a significant number of unbelievers. Zechariah 14:16–19 further confirms that some people during the Millennium will refuse to worship the Messiah in Jerusalem, and judgment will fall upon them. Such stubbornness could not come from a believer, so these resisters must be unbelievers living during the Millennial Age.

How, then, do these lost people appear in a kingdom that originally contained only saved individuals? The answer is simple: they are born during the Millennium.

Jesus taught that resurrected people cannot marry or produce children (Matthew 22:30). At the Rapture, all believers of the Church Age receive resurrected, immortal bodies, which means they will not participate in childbearing. Therefore, the future population growth during the Millennium cannot come from resurrected saints but only from humans who enter the kingdom in their natural, mortal bodies.

Those who survive the Tribulation, believe in Messiah, and remain alive until His return will form the initial population of the Millennial Kingdom. These individuals—saved, but still physically mortal—will marry, have families, and repopulate the earth. Jesus referred to this period as “the regeneration” (Matthew 19:28), which carries the idea of renewal and repopulation.

Scripture supports this repopulation clearly. Isaiah 65:20–23 describes children being born, long life spans returning, and generations multiplying. Zechariah 8:1–5 pictures streets filled with boys and girls playing again in restored Jerusalem. Ezekiel 47:22 presents land inheritance for “your children after you.” By the end of the thousand years, Revelation 20:7–9 says that the earth contains nations “like the sand of the sea”—the outcome of a thousand years of marriage, family, and growth under ideal conditions.

Not all children born during the Millennium will choose to follow Messiah. Though raised in a perfect environment under a righteous King, each person must make a personal decision of faith. Some will rebel, refusing to worship Yeshua, as Zechariah 14:16 shows. These individuals become the lost people living within a kingdom that began with only saved inhabitants.

The parents of these children are those who were not raptured, but who came to faith during the Tribulation and survived until the Next Coming. They enter the Millennium in their natural bodies and repopulate the earth. This distinction shows why the Rapture and the Next Coming cannot be the same event—if they occurred simultaneously, all believers would be resurrected and no mortal humans would remain to repopulate the earth.

Thus, the Rapture serves two purposes: giving resurrected bodies and heavenly home to the Church, and ensuring that a group of redeemed but mortal believers remains on earth to populate the Millennial Kingdom. These believers, living under Messiah’s rule, raise generations—some saved and some lost—until the final rebellion at the end of the thousand years (Revelation 20:4, 6).