If the question means are we presently in that kingdom period commonly called the millennium, the answer is “No.” And for some very good reasons:
1. There can be no millennium until Christ comes again. Even if you don’t believe in the Rapture of the Church first (and I certainly do), how can you believe in a kingdom on earth without the King? This kingdom will not fall into the Saviour’s lap; He must come as a mighty warrior and wrestle it from the grip of the “strong man.” This is described for us in Revelation 19. Then will come that glorious day of which Paul spoke to Timothy: “…our Lord Jesus Christ: who in His times He shall show who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:14-15).
2. There can be no millennium until Antichrist is defeated and Satan is bound. Regarding Antichrist, note these words: “And then shall that Wicked [one] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming” (2 Thess. 2:8).
And when is Satan bound? While the argument can be made that some of the book of Revelation is not in chronological order, it should be clear that the events of Revelation 20 follow hard on those in chapter 19. Chapter 19 brings before us the coming of Christ who “shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” (v. 15). And how does chapter 20 begin? “Then” an angel from heaven “…laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years” (v. 2).
3. But there can also be no millennium until Gentile world power is broken and the true nation of Israel is restored, not simply to Jerusalem but to Jehovah. Both these events will require the return of Christ.
Daniel revealed “that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces” (Dan. 2:34). It is the return of Christ that will bring to an end “the times of the Gentiles” (Lk. 21:24). And it will also be the second coming of Israel’s once-rejected Messiah that will cause a nation to be born in a day (Isa. 66:8). At last the little remnant of Jews who have rejected the wooing of the Anti-messiah will understand. “…They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced” (Zech. 12:10), says the Lord, and cry, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5).
4. Of course there can be no millennium until the saints who have died are raised and we are given new bodies. How could the saints long passed away “reign with Him” without His coming to raise them first? This was the fear of the Thessalonians, calmed by Paul’s triumphant words in 1 Thessalonians 4. It will be during the millennium that those faithful in this life will hear their Lord say: “Because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities” (Lk. 19:17). But before we can be brought into such responsibility, we “…shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we…groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body” (see Rom. 8:21-24). These new bodies will be necessary for the new responsibilities of our new sphere.
The Lord Jesus is never called the King of the Church; we, as His Bride, are to be co-regents with Him. However the New Testament does teach that we in the Church have willingly submitted to the One who is King. As such, God “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son” (Col. 1:13). A queen should be a good example of the way subjects ought to behave. She has a higher motive than law that calls forth her submission; she loves the king. “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Heb. 12:28). Again we cry, “Thy kingdom come!”
Written by J. B. Nicholson Jr