Resurrection Revelation

Transcript

GR 2053
10/14/2018
Resurrection Revelation
Revelation 20:4-6, Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

We're in the book of Revelation, the concluding book of the Bible. With Genesis these two books form a foundation for the rest of the Bible telling us how it all began in Genesis and telling us how it all will end in the book of Revelation. And if we have these matters settled with clarity in our minds it helps for the rest of Scripture to flow together as God intends. The book of Revelation is, for many people, a confusing and closed book, but God gave it for us to understand. We sometimes have to remind ourselves of that, because it takes a little bit more work, perhaps, concentrated thinking to work through the prophecies of this book partly and perhaps mostly because so much of the book draws on references from the Old Testament. And unless we are familiar with the Old Testament books and writings, the more difficulty we have with the book of Revelation.

The book of Revelation is pulling together God's prophetic revelation down through history and it is adding some material and it is clarifying some material. But it is changing nothing. Later revelation from God does not change prior revelation, it gives further clarity. It may add additional material, but it doesn't change things. For example, the Old Testament prophesied of a coming kingdom over which God would rule on earth, ruling over this creation from the earth, not just from heaven. The book of Revelation helps to clarify that, it gives more sequential order, but it doesn't change anything.

We are near the end of the book of Revelation, into chapter 20, so you could turn there if you would in your Bibles. Christ has returned to earth in Revelation 19, we have had the events of Armageddon take place with the destruction of the world's armies. And we noted that there are judgments that take place in connection with the Second Coming. Those who are alive when Christ returns to earth who are not killed, have not suffered death during the events leading up to His return or the events associated with that return, what we call Armageddon. Those alive and who survive are brought before Christ for judgment. Israel is judged, those unbelieving Jews are killed. The believing Jews will go into the kingdom. The nations (non-Jewish people) are gathered before Christ, those that are alive, and they are judged. The unbelievers are killed, the believers go into the kingdom.

We come into chapter 20 and we noted, we looked at the opening verses where an angel from heaven comes down, takes hold of Satan and binds him with a great chain, cast him into the abyss. Verse 2, “He laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old who is the devil and bound him for a thousand years.” Six times in these first seven verses we will be told about the thousand years. We are familiar with the word millennium, which is just the Latin word which means thousand years. This is what we talk about with the millennium, the thousand years. It comes from Revelation. This is the only place in all the Bible that we are given information on this thousand years as a set period of time. Satan was “cast into the abyss” in verse 3, and he "After the thousand years he is going to be released again. So the events are not yet completed.

But the kingdom began with the coming of Christ in chapter 19 and the establishing of His kingdom. But we are finding out now in these opening verses of Revelation 20, there is a thousand-year period of time at the beginning of the reign of Christ. We think a thousand years is a long time, and it is for us in our present world situation, but this will be a literal thousand years after which Satan will be released, and we'll talk about the events of that as we move through this chapter.

Other things connected with this, we are told, we will pick up with verse 4. “Then I saw thrones and they sat on them and judgment was given to them.” So, what is going to happen here, there is going to be a resurrection. We have done a chart on the resurrections, the resurrections that are unfolded in Scripture. This is a chart we have used on a number of occasions. There is an order. Some people look at the Bible and think Christ will come, there is a resurrection of the dead and we go into eternity. But God has unfolded more details than that.

And as I have mentioned, these charts are available on our website in connection with these studies. You'll note in the order of the resurrections here you have Christ was the first one raised. I put some references here. Christ is called the first-fruits in 1 Corinthians 15, His resurrection is recorded in the passages in the Gospels. 1 Corinthians 15 says Christ is the first-fruits of coming resurrection, in other words the first-fruits they brought in and offered to the Lord in the Old Testament pattern. And that was the guarantee and evidence of a coming harvest. So, His is the first resurrection, it guarantees the subsequent resurrections.

The next stage, what I call the first stage in the air, is the rapture of the church. Remember that happened at the beginning of the seven years we have been talking about in Revelation? The church is removed from the earth, caught up to meet Christ in the air. And we are told in 1 Thessalonians 4 that the dead in Christ shall rise first.

Now as we have talked about what happens at physical death, you as a person will leave your body. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you leave your body and go into the presence of God in glory. Paul said “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” And that's very much better. Just before the rapture of the living, we are told that the dead in Christ shall rise. They are first. So, we talk about the rapture of the church, the living are caught up to meet Christ, but just before the living who are alive . . . So, if the rapture would occur today in the next 5 minutes, those who have died since the beginning of the church in Acts 2, they are the dead in Christ, that unique relationship with Him, His bride the church, their bodies when they died, they moved out of those bodies, their bodies were physically dead. They were placed in a grave. At this point those bodies are raised from the dead, caught up to meet Christ in the air.

Then 1 Thessalonians 4, it's immediately after those bodies have been raised, those believers who have been with Christ in heaven since their physical death move back into those glorified bodies. Immediately following, “we who are alive are” bodily transformed, “caught up to meet Christ in the air.” 1 Corinthians 15 talks about that, says “it will happen” in an atom of time, just that quick, “the blinking of an eye.” The rapture would occur, immediately every believer in this room would be caught up to meet Christ in the air, would bodily disappear. Their bodies are transformed in that instant, 1 Corinthians 15, to conform to the body that Christ had when He was raised from the dead. So, we have seen that.

Now here is where we are in our chart. When Christ returns to earth, at the end of this seven-year period, Revelation 19, Israel and other Old Testament saints, by that I mean those who would have been prior to Israel, established with Abraham and his descendants, in Genesis 12. Old Testament saints and those who have become believers during this seven-year period and have been killed are all resurrected in connection with the Second Coming of Christ to earth.

So we have a resurrection that occurs here—Old Testament saints, tribulation saints. They are put together because remember this seven-year period is part of God's program for Israel. “Seventy sevens are determined upon you,” your people, your holy city, Daniel was told. The Jews. This is a completion of God's program with Israel. That's why Israel was not resurrected here with the church, the church has its unique role and place in God's program, outside, if you will, His program with the nation Israel. So, when the church began back here following the death of Christ and resurrection in Acts 2, Israel was put on a sidetrack. Not a change in God's program, His plan of the ages, but it is a change in what had been revealed to that point. Then He begins His work with the church which is primarily Gentiles, some Jews, but the church is primarily focused to the Gentiles. Then here we resume the program with Israel in the Old Testament so when we get done with that Old Testament saints, the nation Israel has to be resurrected from the dead, so they can go into the kingdom that was promised to them.

We noted there is a judgment here of those who are alive when Christ returns, judgment of Israel, a judgment of living Gentiles. There will also be a judgment of Old Testament saints, just like back here with the church. When the church is resurrected and caught up to meet Christ in the air, we appear before what we call the bema seat. It's the judgment seat, not a judgment to determine our destiny because everybody resurrected here and brought to the bema seat is judged in light of their faithfulness and the rewards they will be receiving. That's also true with the resurrection here of Old Testament saints and tribulation saints. They will be judged to be rewarded. Then we will go into the kingdom here, the first phase of that kingdom is a thousand-year period. Satan is not active, his demons are not active. We're going to read some of the description of this thousand-year period and the rest of the kingdom as well. But important we are going to be focusing on what happens here in preparation to going into the kingdom.

Come back to Daniel 12. You note, and we talked about this but I just draw it to your attention, in an earlier study, Daniel 11:36-45 are talking about events connected to that seven-year period covered in Revelation 6-19, that culminate with Christ's return to earth.

Then we come into Daniel 12, we are going to now explain more detail about what is going on in those seven years. Daniel 12:1, “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people will arise.” Michael, the archangel, is the chief angel over the nation Israel. We talked about this on other occasions. Evidently God has specific angels assigned to different nations. The devil has mimicked that, he has specific demons assigned to special nations.

Remember in the book of Daniel, the angel Gabriel told Daniel that he came to answer his prayer, came from God to answer the prayer Daniel had offered. But it took him weeks to get there because the demonic prince of Persia had withstood him. And there is this conflict going on in the angelic world. But here Michael, he is the great prince, Michael the archangel, he is the one who is appointed by God to protect the nation Israel. At that time he will arise.

What time? The time we have been talking about, that seven-year tribulation. What does he say? “There will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time.” We know we are in the middle of that seven-year period when that occurs, we have looked at this numerous times. Remember Jesus talked about this in Matthew 24 when in the middle of that seven-year period when the abomination of desolation is set up in the temple in Jerusalem, then there will be a time of distress, Jesus says, like the world has never seen.

The background for that is what is said here in Daniel 12:1. We saw this in Revelation 12, where Satan is cast out of heaven and begins an all out persecution of the Jews. Now Michael will stand up at that time as the protector of Israel, to keep them from being annihilated. There was not a time like that since the beginning of time. “Everyone who is found written in the book will be rescued. We saw the 144,000 Jewish men come under the protection of God, the region of Bozrah, modern Jordan, Petra will become a safe haven from some of the Jews and so on.

“Many of those,” now note, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life.” So here you get a summary statement in verse 12 of what is taking place that we read about at the end of Daniel 11. Remember there were no chapter divisions or verse divisions when this was originally written. But when that period is over, Israel is rescued, then we have a resurrection that is in connection with the coming of Christ. That's what we talk about when Christ returns to earth, Israel will be raised. “Those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life.” So only believers, Old Testament saints and tribulation saints from the seven-year tribulation are resurrected at that time. Those who had died, resurrected and glorified bodies. They are raised to everlasting life. The others to disgrace and everlasting contempt, those not raised at this time.

Could you pop that chart back up easily, just carry you a little ahead of our time. This is not the last resurrection, unbelievers will be resurrected at the end of the thousand years right here. We'll get to this at the end of Revelation 20. Unbelievers, those who have not been saved by God's grace from the beginning of time, the beginning of events in the book of Genesis down to this period of time, they will be resurrected in one resurrection, the resurrection of those who are going to be condemned to an eternal hell at the Great White Throne. So, this is the last resurrection of the Bible, but no believers are included in this because, evidently, no believers have died during this period of time. But there will be people who die, we'll talk about that a little bit later.

So here is where we are now. The Old Testament saints are resurrected and there will be a judgment of these believers who have been resurrected and they will be rewarded for their faithfulness. If you are still in Daniel 12, come down to verse 7. You'll note toward the end of verse 7, “a time, times and a half time.” And we saw that in Revelation 12-13, also called 1260 days or 42 months. So, we know we are in the same time period. And Daniel didn't understand all this, this is why later revelation clarifies, later revelation is not for the purpose of confusing. And what we have studied in Revelation doesn't change anything in Daniel, but it fills in and clarifies.

Look at verse 9. Daniel says, “I don't understand, how is this all going to work out.” I mean, he is living 500 years before Christ, Babylon is ruling, and Medo-Persia. Putting this all together, “The angel said to him, ‘go your way, Daniel, these words are concealed,’ sealed up ‘to the end time.’ Many will be purged, purified and refined. The wicked will act wickedly, none of the wicked will understand. But those who have insights will understand.” There is going to be further clarification in Revelation that will give insight. You understand we are privileged to live at this time. The wicked will continue to be wicked but there will be understanding for those who have their eyes open.

Now note, “from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up,” that goes from the middle of the tribulation, that's when the abomination of desolation is set up. Then you have 1260 days to complete that seven-year period, the last half of it. But here we are told there will be 1290 days. We are told in Revelation “we have 1260 days.” We have an extra 30 days here. Then we're told how blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1335 days. He just added 45 more days. See how precise God is.

Some people come to the Bible and say the numbers are just symbolic, they don't mean anything. See how precise God is? Look at all the time, the thousands of years that go by, all the events that take place. Now you are going to have an extra 30 days here, Daniel gets and extra 45 days, so a total of 75 days. And the one who gets to the ending there, 1260 days plus 30 days to 1290 plus 45 days to 1335 days, that's the blessed one. Do you know why? When Christ comes and there are events here, there is resurrection. We have Armageddon taking place, not just in an instant of time, but a series of events. We have the cleansing of the earth that will take place, we have the judgments that will take place.

So even though we are not giving all the specific details of what goes on in that particular breakdown of time, we get an idea of why this extra 75 days is here. That's when some of these events will take place that we are talking about—judgments, the sifting. So that those who survive to the 1335 days from this middle period, they are going into the kingdom. We're talking about living ones now, survive all the judgments and everything going on, they will go into the kingdom. So, you have people going into the kingdom in physical bodies and you have resurrected saints. The church will be part of the kingdom, we saw that in Revelation 19, the bride of Christ coming with Him. Resurrected Old Testament saints are going into the kingdom in glorified bodies. And then people who have become believers in this seven-year period and lived, survived, will go into the kingdom in their physical bodies. So, we are going to have glorified saints and non-glorified people in the millennium? Yes, we may have that in eternity, we'll talk about that later as well.

So this is the time that we're dealing with and the events.

Come back to Ezekiel 34. With all the references, there are so many references prophetically that we can draw from, I've tried to sift some down. Ezekiel 34 opens up by God condemning the rulers in Israel, verse 1, “Woe shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves. Should not the shepherds feed the flock?” And they have scattered the flock and then mistreated them. He is condemning the kings of Israel, the rulers for not caring for God's people. And rather they have been destructive so that God's people have been scattered and so on. And that is the background.

You come on down and God is going to bring judgment ultimately to restore the land. Verse 11ff, “The Lord God said behold I Myself will search for My sheep, seek them out. As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, I will care for My sheep, deliver them, gather them from where they were scattered from the other countries, bring them into the land, feed them.”

Then there is going to be a judgment. Verse 17, “I will judge between sheep, one sheep and another, the rams, the goats.” Remember we talked about this in Matthew 25, the sifting judgment that is going to take place for those who can go into the kingdom. Verse 20, “I will judge between the fat sheep, the lean sheep,” and those who have mistreated His people. Verse 23, “Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David.”

Now here is a specific reference. I realize Christ is the son of David, but He doesn't say David, He says, “My servant David.” “He will feed them himself,” be their shepherd, “and I the Lord will be their God, My servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken.” So I think what happens here in that resurrection of Old Testament saints, David obviously is one of those who will be resurrected. And part of the reward to him as he is judged for his faithfulness as a servant, we'll look at that again in a moment in another passage, is he is given the position of ruling over the nation Israel. Christ is coming to earth to rule over the world.

But there will be assigned position of rulership throughout the kingdom and here we are told David is going to have particular responsibility in the nation Israel. It comes one down, verse 30, “Then they will know that I the Lord their God am with them and that they the house of Israel are My people, declares the Lord.”

Come over to Ezekiel 37. Again this is in the context of when God will restore the nation. It is what is going to happen at the Second Coming of Christ and preparation for the establishing of the kingdom. So verse 21, “Behold I take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, I will gather them from every side, bring them into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel. One king will be king for all of them. They will no longer be two nations.” Remember, under Solomon's son the nation split, the northern and southern kingdom, the northern ten-tribe kingdom and the southern two-tribe kingdom. But now there will be one kingdom again as it was under the rule of David and his son Solomon. And who will be king? Look at verse 24, “My servant David will be king over them, they will all have one shepherd.” Look at the end of verse 25, “And David My servant will be their prince forever.” He's going to rule forever, he's not going to be subject to death. David will be there, having been glorified, body raised from the dead.

Verse 28, “I will make a covenant of peace with them, it will be an everlasting covenant with them.” Verse 27, “My dwelling place will be with them, I will be their God, they will be My people. The nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel.” It is in this context also we have the rebuilt temple that will be in operation during that thousand-year period. That is so important that God has recorded the details of that in Ezekiel 40-48. You can take time to read that, it talks about the coming kingdom temple, which I take it will be what we call the millennial temple during that thousand-year period. And David is going to be reigning because God will have raised him.

One more passage on David, Jeremiah 30:9, God is going to, this is in the context of the tribulation. Verse 7, “Alas for that day is great, there is none like it. It is the time of Jacob's distress, but he will be saved from it.” Remember this is going to be a time of distress and tribulation like the world has never seen, but Israel will be saved. Remember Jacob is another name for Israel, because God changed Jacob's name to Israel. So that's where we get the name Israel for the nation. God said, “your name will no longer be Jacob, but you are Israel.” Come down to verse 9, “But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king whom I will raise up for them.” Pretty clear promise. What is David raised up for? I will raise him up to be their king. David hasn't been raised from the dead, yet, but he will be in the future. Those promises are sure and settled. So here we see part of what God unveils in those times.

Come over to Matthew 25. Don't get off track because this just doesn't apply to Israel, as we are going to see in a moment. We ought to know where we are going, what is our future. Well, we're going to heaven, that's all I need to know. No, God says that is not all you need to know. And if you want the fullness of His blessing, He says you will have to understand the book of Revelation and live in light of it. He pronounces blessing on those who do.

In Matthew 25, this is where we saw a series of judgments, first on Israel with the parable of the ten virgins and then the parable of the talents. And then we saw the judgment on the nations, beginning in verse 31. Just note in the parable of the talents, and remember the talents are an amount of money given. The margin of my Bible says a talent was worth about 15 years of wages for a laborer. So we're talking about a significant amount. The picture in this parable, remember, is the master is going to take a trip, he is going to be absent. So he entrusts each of his slaves with responsibility with a certain amount of his possessions. And then when he comes back he calls his slaves to account for what they have done with what he entrusted to them. So the one who received five talents had doubled it. So, what does the master say? Verse 21, “His master said to him, well done good and faithful slave.” You see what it is—being faithful with what God gives you, faithful in serving Him. We are His slaves, He is the master. It is His will that must be done. It is not the accomplishments the world might applaud, but it is faithfulness to the One that we serve.

“His master said to him, well done good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things,” now note this, “I will put you in charge of many things.” You see responsibility delegated in the kingdom is connected to the rewards that will be given. Some say I am not interested in rewards, whatever, as long as I am there. That's dishonoring to the Lord. It's like you offer to one of your children and you say, I have something really special for you if you complete this task as you should. And the kid just says to you, I don't care about your rewards, I don't care about getting anything special. That's not honoring to you. The goal of it is that he wants to please you. And yet sometimes believers are that way, as long as I am going to heaven, that's all that matters. It's not all that matters. Now we might not understand fully how much it matters until that day comes, but then it will be too late. So, faithfulness is so crucial. “I will put you in charge.” Like David was faithful, he is going to be in charge of Israel, ruling and reigning. “And enter into the joy of your master.” And for Christ when He is doing this judging of Israel, it will be going into the kingdom.

Verse 23, “His master said to him, ‘well done good and faithful slave.’” Another one, He hadn't been given as much but he was faithful with what he was given. “You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things.” Same thing. I don't have to accomplish what someone else does, I just have to be faithful, satisfied. God, this is what you made me, this is what I am to be as your child. So, comparing ourselves to one another is of minimal value. I can't be them, but I can be challenged in my faithfulness by them. “Enter into the joy of your master.”

Now come over to Revelation, this is just not for Israel, we haven't gone in detail on this occasion, in these studies to the judgment of the church. We've done that and if you want it you can get the material or check the material on line on 1 Corinthians 3, for example. And there will be more detail. And the judgment of the church following the Rapture. But in Revelation 2-3, remember, this began with addressing the churches. And we live in the church age which will end with the Rapture of the church. So, these two chapters are current material for us, chapters of are future that pertain particularly to Israel.

In Revelation 2 in the letter to the church at Thyatira note what he says. Verse 25, and they are in difficulty, there are challenges, he says “Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.” Be faithful, hold fast. “He who overcomes,” and remember 1 John 5, John defined that—"who is he who overcomes, but he who believes that Jesus is the Christ.” “He who overcomes, he who keeps My deeds,” is faithful serving Him, my works. It's not being saved by works, you have become an overcomer by believing in Christ and now the reward comes. We are faithful with the work He entrusted to us. So, we just don't want to fill our lives, there is nothing wrong with it but we are just filling space, filling time. That's not being a faithful slave. What did you do? I did nothing. We could have gone on in Matthew 25, there was a slave like that. I didn't do anything with what you gave me, I didn't lose it, I didn't waste it but I didn't accomplish anything with it, either. He says you don't belong to Me, you are not one of those who enters into My joys. Condemned to judgment.

“He who overcomes, he who keeps My deeds until the end.” We often say finish well. There are those that you think . . . I remember thinking one time many, many years ago, “Lord, give me a few men like that." With the passing of time I thank the Lord that He didn't give me men like that. That is sad, but you think it just seemed like they were on fire and what happened? Only the Lord knows whether they ever were saved or not. And being faithful to the end doesn't bode well. God judges the heart. Serious matter.

What is He going to do? “I will give him authority over the nations.” Now here He is addressing the church and note where the authority is—over the nations. Where is David's authority? Over the nation, singular. Where are the twelve apostles going to be given authority? Over the twelve tribes of Israel is their primary realm. But, believers who are faithful in this church age will be given authority over the nations. “And he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I have received authority from my Father.” In other words, we are given authority with Christ.

Come over to Revelation 3:21, further explains this. “He who overcomes,” this is the letter to the church at Laodicea, but to the churches, “I will grant him to sit down with Me on My throne.” That means we share His throne, His rule, His time of ruling. He delegates authority to us and our authority comes from Him. “As I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” So, the order there is in the Godhead—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And Christ says I have received full authority from My Father. “And now you will receive authority from Me.” And that is part of the rewards, don't know everything and how . . . But we know there are gains and there are losses according to 1 Corinthians 3, for believers in the church at the judgment seat of Christ. Some will suffer great loss. But they are saved because they have believed in Christ. That's where we always say, ultimately only God can look at a heart. The greatest tragedy is a person never comes to believe, and they will be consigned to an eternal hell. But what a tragedy for a believer who could be storing up rewards that God says are precious and worthwhile and waste his life, and we won't know. Now we can say as long as we are going to heaven, it can't be bad. There won't be any tears and so on. But while we are there being judged, we will know it was worthwhile. I wish I could live those 60, 70, 80, 20, whatever years the Lord gives us, as believers more diligently, more faithfully. Why did I get caught up in that? Why was that . . ., as we stand there, and He says our works are cast into the fire, the chaff is burned up. Then I think I filled my life with worthless things. In and of themselves they weren't bad. We think as long as they are neutral I am good. But we are slaves of the master, to be busy about His work, to be diligent. And we will be judged and rewarded on that.

All of this to say when Christ comes to reign there will be those who reign with Him, believers and unbelievers. It is going to be a glorious kingdom. It starts with the coming of Christ, it will go on for eternity. This first thousand years is very important and very significant. Understanding much of what the Old Testament says depends on understanding now what Revelation reveals.

Come back to Isaiah 2, let me just read a few passages with you. They are familiar to you if you have been in the study of the Word for long. But being reminded is good. I want to say something here, we will be coming back to it in future studies. The Old Testament prophets did not write about the millennium. Let me clarify that. They wrote about the kingdom. They knew nothing about a thousand-year period at the beginning of the kingdom. So, it can be anachronistic if we are not careful to say Isaiah is writing about the millennium. Isaiah, if you would ask him and you say are you writing about the millennium or the eternal part of the kingdom, he would have to say I don't have any idea what you are talking about.

Just like if you had talked to Isaiah about the first coming of Christ and the Second Coming of Christ he would say I don't know what you are talking about. Peter clarifies that, he says the Old Testament prophets didn't understand how the Messiah could suffer and die and rule and reign in glory. They only knew the Messiah was coming and when He comes He would bring judgment, when He comes He will suffer, when He comes He will reign. So they wrote about the coming of Christ and all of that is included. It takes later revelation for us to be clear. Yes, now we know Christ is coming twice, the first time to suffer and die and be rejected; the second time to destroy His enemies and rule and reign in glory. That's the way it is with the kingdom. There are things that are put together in the Old Testament that won't take place until after the thousand years.

Come to Isaiah 2. This is just one of those passages on the coming eternal reign of God on earth. Verse 2, “Now it will come about in the last days,” so that's where we are going, we are going to the end here of these prophetic statements. “The mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains.” And Mt. Zion and the kingdom there will be centered there, all other kingdoms, remember a mountain is a symbol of a kingdom, it is used that way in Daniel's prophecies, just like here. And so all other kingdoms will be subject to this kingdom, but there will be kingdoms. And that's why we will be ruling and reigning. “All the nations will stream to the mountain of the Lord,” because Jerusalem will be the capital of the world and the center of worship. “Many people will come and say let's go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us concerning His ways as we walk in His paths. For the Law will go forth from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” This is the world's capital in the kingdom. “He will judge between the nations, render decisions for many peoples.”

So all these things going on. During this time, Paul writes to the Corinthians and says you and I as believers will be judging, ruling over angels. And remember Hebrews says angels were created to be ministering servants for those who are the heirs of salvation. These things we know, but the outworking of it is awesome. That's when “they will hammer their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, never again will they learn war.” That is not happening today, we are not in the kingdom. It will happen at the future.

You come over to Isaiah 9, in this very familiar passage, impressed upon our minds with the music ministry and the message that goes with that. “A child will be born to us, a son will be given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. His name will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal Father, prince of peace. No end to the increase of His government of peace on the throne of David over his kingdom to establish it, uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord will accomplish this.” There's a little problem here, it says for a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us. That happened at the first coming of Christ, He was born in Bethlehem. God became man, God-Man. The problem is the rest of this won't be fulfilled until the Second Coming. If you don't keep that clear, some people say it must be God changed the plan, it's a spiritual kingdom because it began at the first coming. No, it didn't. The government will rest on His shoulders, there will be no end to His peace and the increase of His government, and you won't need weapons of war as we saw in Isaiah 2 and so on. So, you have the first coming of Christ stated and then you have the Second.

Come over to Isaiah 11, another example like that. “A shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, a branch from his roots.” That is Christ. He had to be of the line of David, of Jesse who was the father of David to fulfill the Davidic Covenant. “The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding” and so on. You come down to verse 3, wait a minute these first two verses happened at the first coming of Christ. Verse 3, “He will delight in the fear of the Lord, he will not be judging by what his eyes see or make a decision by what his ears hear. With righteousness he will judge the poor, decide in fairness for the afflicted of the earth, strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, with the breath is his lips he will slay the wicked.” That didn't happen, the wicked slayed Him, He was crucified. From the world's perspective, He lost. That's what happened. Why? God revealed truth, everything happens, the first two verses happen exactly as prophesied for the first coming of Christ, the rest of the verses will happen exactly as prophesied at the Second Coming of Christ. You recognize a distinction there.

Verse 6 talks about the wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the young goat, the lion and the calf, a little boy will lead them. Verse 9, “They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,” all the kingdom, “for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” That just hasn't happened. But the first part of this happened 2000 years ago. “A shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, a branch from his roots will bear fruit and the Spirit will be on him.” And He demonstrates that, and He demonstrated He was the one who could bring this all to fruition when He was here, with the wisdom He displayed, with the miracles of healing He did. But He was rejected. That didn't change the plan of God, God had planned from eternity past what would happen. But what would happen was not revealed. So you don't find that between verses 2 and 3, and there will be 2000 years later that He will come and judge and render decisions. It is just not there. Well, God should have told us. No, they didn't need to know.

At the end of Daniel 12, we didn't read it, the angel says to Daniel, “you won't understand these things, just go your way. You are going to die with your people and then you will be raised from the dead.” You and I know these things. We can't go on, but many of these millennial passages, that's what we are going to do. We are going to rule and reign with Christ, all glorified saints will rule and reign with Christ, non-glorified saints will have positions of functioning in the millennium. And I take it there will be a distinction. Going on we will talk more about, as we move into eternity, but this first thousand years is key because as we look further in as we get further along we will see there are things that happen in the first thousand years that will not happen later in the kingdom. And so important that we are clear on this. Multitudes of people who claim to be Bible-believing Christians don't interpret prophecy literally, don't believe there is a thousand-year kingdom. They just say that is a figurative number. But that is our future, the kingdom, literal earthly kingdom. It's not just heaven. And we'll find out about that when we get there. It is heaven in the sense it is the presence of God, but it is an earthly kingdom in fulfillment of what God has promised.

So important days. Most important thing in these days, recognize your sin and guilt before God and place your faith in Christ. If you don't, the kingdom has nothing to do with you because you will be in hell when we are in the kingdom. If you are a believer, blessed are those who read, those who hear, those who practice these things, keep them. We ought to live in light of this. We don't get distracted and caught up with the silliness and emptiness of the world, the lust of the eyes, and so on. We are about the Master's business who soon will require an account from me. I can't reclaim yesterday, the wasted days, but I can determine the time left to me will be a time of zealous service for the One that I will give an account to.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for Your Word. Lord, its riches. We study it and we study and we study it, and yet Lord we have not plumbed the depths, the riches of this truth. Lord, we want it to fill our hearts and minds, to control our thinking, control our actions. Lord, we profess to be Your people, we want to be about Your work, doing what honors and pleases You so we might give an account before You with confidence. May that be before us even as we serve you today and in the days ahead. In Christ's name, amen.