For just one day, wouldn’t you like to see the world as it should be? War zones turned into ceasefire zones. Politicians making godly decisions. Crime nonexistent. Laughter filling our homes. Worshipers filling our churches. Can you picture it?

For just one day, wouldn’t you love to be on a planet without a single natural disaster? Imagine what it’d be like to have a one-day suspension of the devil’s power. Of evil’s grip. Of temptation’s pull. Of anxiety’s torment.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if doctors’ exam rooms were empty on that day? If no funerals occurred? If police officers had absolutely nothing to do? If broadcasters had only good news to report?

Let’s not stop at a single day. What if that utopia-like state lasted an entire week?

Now imagine fifty-two thousand such weeks, all in a row—one thousand years of universal peace, prosperity, and cheer. Ten centuries of happiness, free from war and worry.

No one can count the number of summit meetings, diplomatic negotiations, or peace treaties that have come and gone over the centuries, from antiquity till now. The whole world craves peace yet seems in constant turmoil. Even today, turning on the news is like taking a trip to the land of anxiety and alarm.

But Jesus is coming, and He will change that. I’m eagerly awaiting His imminent return; and just seven years after the Rapture He will come again to our tempestuous earth to make it right. This has become so real I can almost visualize it. There’s no study in Scripture that will satisfy your heart in the exact way this topic will. As I’ll show you later, this thousand-year period is the transition between time and eternity, between the old earth and the new one, between the momentary and the everlasting.

Yes, things will get worse before they get better. After the Lord catches us up in the air to be with Him, the world will descend into seven years of Tribulation that will feel like all the wars and famines and disasters of human history combined. It will reach fever pitch with the battle of Armageddon.

Our Lord will shut down that war the moment He returns, and He will bind Satan with chains that are padlocked for a thousand years. During this time, the atmosphere of earth will be free from satanic static. Demons and the principalities and powers of darkness will be silenced and banished. Imagine the weight removed from our shoulders when we no longer have to be aware of the snares of the devil or the prince of the power of the air!

The Lord will then proceed to do what He did in the Gospels— heal people. Not just one or two here and there, but everyone. The Lord Jesus will be “the Sun of Righteousness” who arises “with healing in His wings” (Mal. 4:2).

Even if you’re not sick, you’ll feel a strength and wellness you’ve never before known. Life expectancy will be measured by hundreds of years, and perhaps you’ll even have enough lung power to blow out all 790 candles on your birthday cake (Isa. 65:19–20).

Think of how wonderful you’ll feel to be rid of aches and pains, chills and pills. No more cancer, no heart disease, no diabetes, no artificial joints. “The lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert” (Isa. 35:6).

You’ll feel like traveling the world—and you will!

The primary destination of the nations will be the land of Israel. The Bible says, “People from nations and cities around the world will travel to Jerusalem. The people of one city will say to the people of another, ‘Come with us to Jerusalem to ask the Lord to bless us. Let’s worship the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. I’m determined to go.’ Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord of Heaven’s Armies and to ask for his blessing” (Zech. 8:20–22 NLT).

Can you imagine the conversations you’ll have on that day? You’ll say to a friend, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths” (Isa. 2:3 NLT).

We’ll no longer need to invest so much effort and spiritual energy into evangelism. Instead, we’ll have much greater opportunities to build one another up in the Word of God. We’ll not need to teach our neighbors, saying, “You should know the Lord.” For everyone from the least to the greatest will already know Him (Jer. 31:34).

You’ll travel to a much-enlarged Israel on a regular basis with no jet lag or terrorist threats. You’ll walk the Highway of Holiness to the city of Zion with a song in your heart (Isa. 35:8). There you’ll find a gleaming and glorious metropolis on a heightened elevation, bursting with luxurious accommodations. The new millennial temple will take away your breath—how massive, how beautiful! Its courtyards and gateways, its altars and priests, its offerings and celebrations will be the delight of the earth (Ezek. 40–45).

You’ll hear music everywhere, for “joy and gladness will be found there. Songs of thanksgiving will fill the air” (Isa. 51:3 NLT).

Most of all, Jesus Christ will be there, physically and personally and visibly. He will teach His truth to the peoples and rule among the nations (Mi. 4:1–3; Isa. 9:7). Don’t you believe He will somehow have enough time for everyone who wants to see Him? He’ll teach us so much more about Himself and His ways, and He will direct the nations in their courses. He will be both King and Priest (Zech. 6:13).

The land of Israel will become the center of the earth, and the people of Israel will become examples of godliness for all the world. “All who remain in Zion will be a holy people—those who survive the destruction of Jerusalem and are recorded among the living. The Lord will wash the filth from beautiful Zion and cleanse Jerusalem of its bloodstains He will provide a canopy of cloud during the day and smoke and flaming fire at night, covering the glorious land” (Isa. 4:3–5 NLT).

Jerusalem will also be the financial capital of earth as merchants from the seven seas bring the wealth of many nations to the Holy Land. Ships from the ends of the earth will dock at the ports of Israel, bringing Jews home and carrying silver and gold (Isa. 60:5–11). Jerusalem’s gates will always stand open; they will never be closed (v. 11).

Old people will walk through Jerusalem’s boulevards and plazas with strength, and the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in the streets (Zech. 8:4–5). Look! There’s a horse and carriage rumbling through the streets, and on the horse’s harness bells are the words “HOLINESS TO THE LORD” (14:20).

No longer will the Jewish people be the punching bag of the world. Antisemitism will be a distant memory, and the nation of Israel will be paramount on earth. When people encounter a Jewish person anywhere on the globe, they will grab his arm and ask for a blessing (Zech. 8:23).

Day and night, the air will be filled with songs praising our God and our Messiah, Jesus Christ. In that day, Jerusalem will be called by many names: “The city of our God” (Ps. 48:1), the city of God’s delight (Isa. 62:4), “THE LORD IS THERE” (Ezek. 48:35), “the City of Truth” and “the Holy Mountain” (Zech. 8:3), and Mount Zion, “the perfection of beauty” (Ps. 48:2; 50:2).

The land of Israel will be a symbol and source of blessing for all the earth (Zech. 8:13).

Can you visualize that Golden City with its glorious canopy covering it—the clouds above it, a wall of fire around it, and the glory of God in its midst (Zech. 2:5)? Everyone there will be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ezek. 39:29). The Lord will take delight in His people and rejoice over them with singing (Zeph. 3:17).

To the south of Jerusalem, you’ll enjoy visiting the breadbasket of the world—an area of former desert hills now turned into a garden of Eden by the crystal river gushing from the temple precincts (Isa. 51:3). At some points you’ll see people wading in that river, and in other areas they’ll be swimming (Ezek. 47:3–6). You’ll no longer have to settle for floating in the Dead Sea because the slimy residue of the centuries will be flushed away. The inflowing living waters of the crystal river will turn the Dead Sea into one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. It will be a fisherman’s paradise (Ezek. 47:9–10).

This entire area will be called “the garden of the Lord” (Isa. 51:3). What vineyards you’ll see, watered by showers of blessing (Ezek. 28:26)! The hills will drip with sweet wine; grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested (Amos 9:13). The orchards and fields will yield bumper crops, and everyone will live in safety, sitting under arbors and fig trees (Ezek. 34:27). Gardening and farming will be a joyful task, unhindered by weeds, drought, or pests. The entire land of Israel will blossom like a lily and spread out like an olive tree (Hos. 14:5–6).

Even earth’s wildlife will be transformed. Lions and lambs will lie down together, and children will play with tigers and bears the way they now play with puppies and kittens. Imagine that!

The Pentagon, if it’s still standing, will become a worship center or a biblical seminary. Military bases will be vacated. People will no longer kill, steal, or destroy. Hospitals will be torn down. Prisons leveled. Slums transformed. People will forget about locking their doors at night or carrying a weapon for protection.

You and your loved ones in Christ will enjoy a thousand-year prelude to an even greater future blessing—eternal life in the new heaven and new earth and the city of New Jerusalem. You’ll have an entire Millennium to prepare and condition you for eternity.

Does this seem too good to be true? The Lord will say to us something like, “All this may seem impossible to you now, but is it impossible to Me?” The Lord’s implied answer is no, because for Him nothing is impossible (Zech. 8:6; Luke 1:37).

If the God who created the world long ago is truly in charge, how else do you think His story of redemption on earth—what we should rightly call His story—would conclude? The work of the Lord never ends in tragedy but in triumph. Jesus didn’t die for the world only for it to end in a man-made nuclear holocaust or biological disaster. Those things may appear, but they’re not the end of His plan for us.

There’s coming an appointed hour when our Lord Jesus Christ will return as He promised and descend in glory clouds to the Mount of Olives to establish His kingdom and fulfill all His promises to Israel and to the world. And in that coming Golden Age, “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9).

Imagine what a time that will be!