Who fights against Christ in His Kingdom?

In the Millennial Kingdom, the world will be populated by two kinds of individuals: glorified human begins and natural (i.e., sinful) human beings.

The glorified human beings are those who were resurrected into new, sinless bodies prior to the start of the Kingdom, both Old Testament and New Testament saints. The natural human beings will be men and women descended from Adam (like us) and born during the Kingdom age. So like us today, these people will occupy sinful bodies that naturally oppose God. The glorified population will reign over the natural population, which must be ruled because of their sinful nature.

These sinful men and women will be the descendants of believers who enter the Kingdom coming out of Tribulation (i.e., the “sheep” separated from the “goats” in Matthew 24). Since these believers never died prior to the start of the Kingdom, they were never resurrected into glorified bodies. Therefore, they enter into the Kingdom in the nature of Adam and are able to reproduce as we do today. Their descendants give rise to an unbelieving population in the Kingdom. (You can learn about these two populations in detail by listening to our Revelation Bible study on our website.) 

In Revelation 20 we’re told that at the end of the age, the enemy will be released so he can deceive the nations of natural descendants living in the Kingdom to rebel against Christ’s rule:

Rev. 20:7  When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison,
Rev. 20:8 and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.
Rev. 20:9 And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.
Rev. 20:10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Notice that the natural (i.e., unsaved) population of the Kingdom will grow over the thousand years to reach the point of an uncountable number. They will come against Christ, yet He will prevail and bring Satan and his forces. For a complete understanding of the Kingdom, please listen to our Revelation Bible study, particularly lessons 20A-20D.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org