Millennial Children

Q

I have a couple of questions actually all referring to the same thing and am looking for verses confirming your answer.

Will there be children born during this period by believers who survived the Tribulation?

Assuming the above question is true.

I assume freewill is still around even though Satan is bound and in the bottomless pit and the anti-Christ and false prophet are in the lake of fire. Will these children have the choice to or not to believe in Christ? And if they choose not to what happens to them? Will they live till the 1000 years are complete? Or will something else happen to them?

Last, when Satan is released from the pit, some people will be deceived. Will it be the children who were born during this time who have not accepted Christ as Savior?

A

Here’s the way I see it. At the 2nd Coming, when the Lord ushers the “sheep” from the Sheep and Goat Judgment into the Kingdom, He’ll be opening the gates to natural born believers who survived the Great Tribulation. (Matt. 25:31-46) They will repopulate the Earth, bearing children who will have to make the same decision to allow the Lord’s death to purchase their pardon as you and I have made. To help them in this, the Temple in Israel will again offer animal sacrifices as memorial to the Lord’s death, just as they did in prophesying it in Old Testament times. (Ezekiel 40-47) Life spans during the Millennium will be significantly longer, and some will probably live through much if not all of that period. (Isaiah 65:20)

While we’re not specifically told what happens to those who refuse to accept the Lord as their savior, I have assumed that they’re all involved in the revolt at the end of the Millennium and destroyed by fire. (Rev. 20:7-10) So yes, it will be the descendants of Tribulation Survivors who join Satan’s final rebellion.

The idea that Tribulation survivors bear children who re-populate the Earth is based on what we know from Scripture about the population at the beginning of the Millennium and the size of the rebellion at the end, as well as the mention in Isaiah 65:20 & 23. Although the focus there is Jerusalem it makes sense that it would be the same world wide, since at the beginning all are God’s people.

Also the idea that the purpose of Temple services during the Millennium is to serve as a memorial to remind these children of the Lord’s death is justified because otherwise the sacrifices would serve no purpose. The Lord’s sacrifice for our sins happened once for all time, (Hebrews 10:12) and the communion memorial prevalent during the Church age is only until his return (1 Cor.11:26)