The concept of the millennium, as described in premillennial eschatology, often raises eyebrows and invites skepticism, even among those who share a Christian worldview.

One of the objections raised against the premillennial interpretation of what life will be like in the millennium is that it is unbelievable. Here is how Loraine Boettner, a postmillennialist, puts it:

“That condition, semiheavenly and semiearthly, with Christ reigning—apparently—in Jerusalem, with two radically different types of people (the saints in glorified, resurrected bodies and ordinary mortals still in the flesh mingling freely throughout the world for the long and almost unending period of one thousand years) strikes me as so unreal and impossible that I wonder how anyone can take it seriously. Such a mixed state of mortals and immortals, terrestrial and celestial, surely would be a monstrosity” (Loraine Boettner, The Meaning of Millennium, p. 49, emphasis added).

I admit that life in the millennium is weird and counterintuitive. I can wrap my mind around an imperfect earthly existence or a perfect heavenly one, but I admit it's harder to picture life when both are mixed together and the work of redemption is only half-done (so to speak). Boettner doesn’t raise these points, but I don't really understand how the risen and glorified Jesus reigning on earth is compatible with a world still suffering from sin, sickness, and death. How is that possible? I don’t know. So, yes, I sympathize with Boettner—it can be hard to imagine. Hard, but not impossible. In fact, we have already had a taste of what that mixed reality would be like.

Can you think of a time when “radically different types of people” lived together, when “ordinary mortals” lived with a “glorified, resurrected” person?

I can.

After [Jesus] had suffered, he also presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3).

For forty days the resurrected and glorified Christ lived with ordinary mortals, eating and drinking with them, speaking to them about the coming kingdom of God while also giving them a foretaste of what mixed life in the millennium would be like. What was it like to be with Jesus then? We know His body could do strange things. He could eat fish on the beach or walk through walls. Is that weird? Yes. But one day, the disciples would be the resurrected and glorified ones living among mortals.

So, contra Boettner, while the millennium might seem strange and surreal at first glance, it is far from unthinkable. In fact, Christ’s post-resurrection appearances offer a glimpse into what such a time could be like. Would you call the experience of spending over a month with the glorified Lord “monstrous”? Not me! A better word is “marvelous.”

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