In the episode of Keeping it Israel, Jeff Futers, Executive Director of First Century Foundations, talks to Stephen Briggs, a Christian Filmmaker who has an astounding comprehension of God’s Word and God’s faithfulness to Israel. Learn about Stephen’s new film, AMERICA AND THE ISRAEL EFFECT: BLESSING, CURSE OR COINCIDENCE – the newest film in a powerful series about God’s promises to “bless those who bless” and “curse those who curse” Israel.
I first met Stephen through our involvement with the International Christian Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) at an ICCC International Conference in Jerusalem. I think it was 2008, Stephen had just joined Hatikvah Films and Lance Lambert who produced and presented the first video in the series “Blessing Curse or Coincidence? The womb of the Kingdom of God on Earth” was a speaker at our conference. Every conference attendee received a copy of the first video in the series.
Israel’s existence is a reminder to the nations that God is in control of nations. The evidence is clear that God deals with those nations that curse Israel. Babylon, Persia, British Empire, and Germany to name some of the significant nations. Stephen covers this in-depth.
Is Jesus enthroned in your life? Is allegiance to King Jesus central to your life? If not, then it is unlikely you will rule and reign with Jesus in His Millennial Kingdom.
An important and neglected part of the Gospel Message is Jesus return to this earth to fulfill the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants and the prophecies of the O.T. prophets that has Israel’s Messiah ruling and reigning over all the nations of the earth from a totally renovated/restructured Jerusalem. How many pastors are talking about the need for Christians to prepare now to rule and reign with Jesus on this earth.
“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” Revelation 5:9-10
“Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” Revelation 20:4-6
Moreover, Jesus and the Saints will need to rule with a rod of iron even though we are told Satan is bound for one thousand years . The curse has not been lifted off this earth. This earth still has one thousand years of existence in its fallen state before it is finally destroyed with fire. Jesus will rule and reign on this earth for one thousand years and then the unthinkable happens Satan is released and he gathers an enormous army from those who are living under the reign of King Jesus and His Saints to come against them. It is not a battle, fire comes down from heaven and destroys them. Even with Jesus and the Saints ruling on this earth in what must seem like paradise in comparison to today people will still rebel against God reigning over them just as Satan and one third of the angels did.
This earth and heaven is then destroyed and what follows is the second resurrection of the dead, the White Throne Judgement and only thena New Heaven and Earth where sin/rebellion is no more along with no more pain, suffering and death.
Ruling with a rod of iron in Jesus Millennial Kingdom
“The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.” Revelation 2:27
“From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron.” Revelation 19:15-18
What will life be like in the Millennial Kingdom? Does God reveal in His Word what it will be like? Yes He does, and I will be revealing much of it on this website as I believe this is what God has called me to do with the final years He has allocated for me on His Earth. I am presently working on a new website http://www.millennialkingdom.net where House Church leaders in particular will be able to access PowerPoint sermons and videos on the Millennial Kingdom.
To encourage you to search God’s Word for information on the Millennial reign of Jesus on this earth, we will take a look at what the Scriptures say about the new Jerusalem. Did you know the entire world will be restructured when the wrath of God is poured out with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements? Did you know that the new Jerusalem will be on the highest mountain in the world?
“The cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.” Revelation 16:19-20
“It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,” Isaiah 2:2
“It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it,” Micah 4:1
•It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,” Isaiah 2:2
The mountain’s great height emphasizes Jerusalem as the centre of world authority, for all the nations will flow to it.
The millennial Jerusalem is nine times larger than the current city.
Jerusalem – A new city, A new name – The Lord is There, A new Temple
The temple is located outside the city, in the northern section of the sacred land given to the priests and it alone is bigger than the current city of Jerusalem.
The millennial Jerusalem sits on the highest plateau and has two rivers flowing out of its east and west sides. A totally new construct.
The land surrounding Jerusalem will have been transformed into a plain. It will run from Geba in the north to Rimmon in the South. The plain will contrast with the then highly lifted Jerusalem. (Zechariah 14:10)
Geba and Rimmon/Beersheba marking respectively the northern and southern limits of Millennial Israel. (2 Kings 23:8)
I hope the above has encouraged you to do your own research: Isaiah and Ezekiel are replete with information on the Millennial Kingdom. You will note that I have quoted from Isaiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Revelation Zechariah and 2 Kings in the above post. I will be posting more on the Millennial Kingdom in the months ahead as the “end times” prophesied events continue to play out.
The Ninth Amendment to the Fundamental Law of Hungary, the country’s equivalent of a constitution, was passed in Parliament last week by a margin of 134-45. The amendment, which was backed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, will amend Section L paragraph (1) of the Fundamental Law to read:
“Hungary protects the institution of marriage as the association between a man and a woman and the family as the basis for the survival of a nation. The foundation of the family is marriage and the parent-child relationship. The mother is a woman, the father is a man.”
“The main rule is that only married couples can adopt a child, that is, a man and woman who are married,” said Justice Minister Judit Varga, Reuters reported.
Varga, who sent the amendment to Parliament last month, said it will also work to provide “all children with an education based on the values of the Christian culture of Hungary and guarantees the undisturbed development of the child according to their gender at birth,” Hungary Today noted.
“The Fundamental Law of Hungary is a living framework that expresses the will of the nation, the form in which we want to live,” Varga wrote in the justification section of the bill. “However, the ‘modern’ set of ideas that make all traditional values, including the two sexes, relative is a growing concern.”
“The constant threat to the natural laws of the forms and content of human communities, to the concepts arising from the order of Creation that harmonize with them and ensure the survival of communities, and, in some cases, the attempt to formulate them with a content contrary to the original raises doubts as to whether the interests, rights and well-being of future generations can be protected along the lines of the values of the Fundamental Law,” Varga added.
The passage of the Ninth Amendment comes less than a year after Parliament voted in favor of a measure that defines gender as “biological sex based on primary sex characteristics and chromosomes.” Like the measure-preserving the traditional definition of sex, the Ninth Amendment faced strong pushback from LGBT advocacy groups.
Note the response from Amnesty Hungary
“This is a dark day for Hungary’s LGBTQ community and a dark day for human rights,” said David Vig, director of Amnesty Hungary. “These discriminatory, homophobic and transphobic new laws — rushed through under the cover of the coronavirus pandemic — are just the latest attack on LGBTQ people by Hungarian authorities.”
Jonathan Cahn does a great job of showing how God has been in control of nations down through history. How each nation deals with God’s nation, Israel, determines its fate – bless Israel and the nation is blessed, curse Israel and the nation is cursed.
The book of Joshua is a brutally stark reminder that God is ultimately judge of all the nations. God leveraged Israelites as His instrument of judgement on the nations of that land for their sins, just as hundreds of years later God would leverage the Babylonians to pass judgement on the nation of Judah for its sins. God is sovereign judge over all the nations.
Read what Job said about God controlling nations:
“He makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and guides them. He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless wilderness. They grope in the dark without light, and He makes them stagger like a drunken man.” Job 14:23-25
In the last days, before Jesus returns to rule and reign on a restored earth, God says He will gather the Jewish people back to their land. He did this in part in 1948 and then gave them back Jerusalem in the Jubilee year 1967. We can be sure all of the rest of the end times biblical prophecies will unfold exactly as given.
Anyone interested in what God is doing and will do in the years ahead need to listen to Jonathan expound the relevant “end times” scriptures.
The only disagreement I have with Jonathan is on the identity of the Antichrist. Jonathan says, he will be a Roman, based on Daniel 9:26-27. I believe he will be from the Middle East, the long awaited Muslim Mahdi. In Daniel 9:26-27, we see that it is the people of the ruler shall destroy Jerusalem. The people groups that made up the four legions that Titus led were the ancient enemies of the Jewish people, from lands that surrounded Judea.
“And the people of the prince (ruler) who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war, desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.” Daniel 9:26-27
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 