INFORMATION ON JESUS’ MILLENNIAL KINGDOM

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I have found Reggie Kelly who hosts the website http://www.mysteryofisrael.org a tremendous resource for information on Jesus’ coming Millennial Kingdom on this Earth particularly to provide answers to questions such as “What Kind of Bodies will Israel have in the Millennium?:

  1. How is it possible that all of Israel will be saved and yet people will be going into the millennial reign of Christ on this Earth without being transformed and having new bodies?
  2. Will all Israel that’s a part of the church be transformed into heavenly bodies?
  3. How will people be going into the millennium without heavenly bodies?

First, we need to know what the text says? Second, what is the evidence for how the biblical writers expected to be understood? Were they correct in how they understood their own prophecies? Or was there a deeper, allegorical meaning that eluded their limited understanding? Was their interpretation of what Yahweh spoke merely a reflection of a “primitive, nationalistic, time-bound” understanding that would someday be replaced by a different interpretation that could not have been understood or recognized by the prophets or their contemporaries? That’s the hermeneutical question in debate.

After establishing the plain person’s reading of plain language, we can then begin to look for light as to how certain antinomies (difficulties/paradoxes) can be reconciled without violence to the original author’s intention.

The very meaning of the millennium is at stake here. Why should God make such a point of ending the age around the “controversy of Zion”, a conflict that is destined to draw all nations into an insoluble, inescapable dilemma over the Land and people of Israel that sets off the final world conflict? (Isaiah 34:8; Zechariah 12:2-3).

It will be a kind of valley of decision designed to test hearts, primarily over the issue of the nature of saving grace and the ‘kind’ of righteousness (not one’s own but the Lord’s alone) that can stand in the judgment. In other words, why should God be so determined to save an elect remnant of ethnic Jews (“natural branches”) unless it is to set forth the wayward nation that was given an irrevocable divine election as the statement and demonstration of His free and sovereign prerogative to change and qualify them for a final and secure inheritance of the Land by predestined grace.

He has set them at the center of the nations, that He might show in them for a thousand years of public demonstration, the power of His ability to choose whom He will, and quicken whom He will (Mt 11:27; Jn 5:21; Ro 9:18) at the “set time” of His choosing (Ps 102:13; 110:3; Isa 30:18; Gal 1:15-16), and thus finally and forever preserve, not only them but each and every one of their children after them in abiding holiness, never again to depart (Isa 59:20-21; Jer 32:40, et al.).

Why? What’s God out to prove? What’s His point?

The design/purpose is to press upon the consciousness of the nations God’s faithfulness to His immutable covenant word that most of the world doesn’t even know exists, as multitudes are even now being preconditioned to despise and dismiss His word by the events that are swiftly hurling us to the time of final reckoning.

That covenant (called synonymously “new” and “everlasting”) is not fully complete or satisfied (in all its original terms) until there is not a living Jew on the post-tribulation earth that is not born again and preserved in the “everlasting salvation” of the “everlasting righteousness” of Christ throughout the entirety of the millennial interim as an all holy nation, “never again” to depart (Isa 45:17, 25; 59:20-21; 60:21; Jer 31:34; 32:37-41, Dan 9:24, with so many more that could be listed ).

This uniformity of a completely saved and eternally preserved Jewish population at peace in their own, covenanted Land is the goal of the covenant, since only then will the long-blinded Jewish nation have their spiritual eyes opened. A coming day when the blind shall see, and those who always before resisted the Spirit opposer shall learn doctrine is promised all throughout Moses and the prophets (compare Deut 29:4 with Deut 4:25-31; 30:1-6; Isa 29:18, 24; Acts 7:51).

Only when, not a mere remnant, but “all” the people are righteous (Isa 60:21; Jer 31:34), with eternal righteousness not their own (Isa 45:24; 54:17; Jer 23:5-6; Dan 9:24), can they fulfill the covenant conditions and thus keep the Land forever in abiding peace and security.

This will be possible because the tendency to backslide and come back under the curses of the covenant will be forever cured by the everlasting righteousness of the everlasting covenant. No more will the righteous remnant suffer the sins and exile of the larger apostate nation, since all will be preserved in new covenant righteousness forever, “world without end” (Isa 45:17).

It is one thing for God to bring the Jews into the Land, but a radical transformation is required for them to be assured of permanent security in the Land. This is the very thing the everlasting/new covenant guarantees. From this, it is clear to see why the prophets understood that nothing short of a climactic, apocalyptic day of the Lord could ever bring about such a radical and permanent change in the whole of the nation.

More specifically, not all the nation but only the remnant who escaped death arrive at that ultimately transformative day (Ps 102:13; 110:3; Isa 66:8; Eze 39:22; Zech 3:9; 12:10; 13:8-9; Mt 23:39; Acts 3:21; Ro 11:26; Rev 1:7) .

This is why, not only a remnant, but the entirety of the nation must “all” know Him (Jer 31:34; Eze 39:22, 28-29) for them to be able to keep the Land forever, as promised in the plain language of the covenant. As I like to say, “For the Jews to inherit the Land forever, they must have a righteousness that is forever”.

This righteousness, which is the Lord’s own righteousness (Isa 45:24-25; 54:7; Jer 23:5-6), must extend, not only to a remnant but the whole of the nation and all the children born to them in future generations, lest the tendency to backslide send them back under the curses of the broken covenant.

This “everlasting righteousness”, which is none of their own, but the Lord’s alone, is that righteousness that was perfected in the Son and imputed to the believer whose faith is counted for righteousness. This righteousness, once imputed, is invariably made manifest by the gift and fruits of the enlivening Holy Spirit.

Of course, all of this applies now to every true-born believer of this age and the assurance of eternal inheritance in the age to come (both the millennium and the new heavens and earth), but God intended an earthly demonstration of His ability to accomplish this divine, self-assigned “mission impossible” here, on this earth with the Jewish people, at the scene of the crime, so to speak, in the presence of a helplessly bound enemy (Satan).

This grace needed to be exhibited and put on display by weak, natural jars of clay, supernaturally upheld in holiness by the gift of the Holy Spirit and nothing of human power.

Manifestly, God has set this interim period as the demonstration of His ability, not only “to graft them in again” but to keep them in, forever!. This requires an interim that is a glorious advance on the present age, yet short of the final, ultimate perfection that follows the millennium.

This newly and suddenly saved remnant of penitent survivors (like Paul’s sudden arrest on the Damascus road) will enter the millennium in their natural bodies and be assisted back to their Land by surviving Gentiles. Compare Isa 14:2; 40:22; 60:9; 66:20; Zech 8:23). Manifestly, these survivors from among the nations did not take the mark, but were also not yet born again (not yet “in Christ”) at the time of the last trump, when Jesus was revealed from heaven (Isa 26:12-13 with Mt 24:29-31; 1Cor 15:52).

Many scriptures speak of this sudden salvation of the surviving remnant of penitent Jewish survivors at the Lord’s post-trib return (Ps 102:13; 110:3; Isa 59:17-21; 66:8; Jer 30:6-7; Eze 39:22, 28-29; Zech 3:9; 12:10; Mt 23:39; Acts 3:21; Ro 11:26; with Rev 1:7) with the result that now, an all saved Jewish population will never again backslide and fall back under covenant judgment, but “all”, from the least to the greatest will know the Lord (Isa 59:21; Jer 31:34; 32:40; Eze 37:25; 39:22). This is the O.T. context behind Paul’s statement, “and so all Israel shall be saved”.

This sudden national salvation of a surviving remnant is everywhere shown to take place on the post-tribulation day of the Lord. Its purpose is the open and public vindication of “My covenant with them (natural branches) when I shall (future) take away their (the irrevocably elect and no less beloved enemy’s) sin …”

Several scriptures show very definitely that the time Paul has in view is the post-trib day of the Lord, which the N.T. obviously equates with Christ’s return. When Jesus arrives in glory, the dead in Christ, together with all those alive in Christ at the time, will be changed in an instant, immediately translated into glorified immortality.

At the same time (“in one day”; Ps 102:13; 110:3; Isa 66:8; Zech 3:9; Eze 39:22; Mt 23:39; Ro 11:26; Rev 1:7); a surviving remnant of Jews, having just been brought to the end of their power (Deut 32:36; Dan 12:7), “look upon their pierced Messiah”, and immediately go apart to weep in deepest contrition, as when Joseph revealed himself to his estranged brethren (compare Gen. 45 with Mic 5:3-4; Zech 12:10; Mat 23:39; Rev 1:7). After the great purgation of tribulation judgment, the newly saved Jewish remnant (Eze 20:33-40; Amos 9:9-10) goes into the millennium in natural, albeit Spirit filled bodies (Eze 39:22, 28-29).

Now, with it established that the scripture is very clear that a surviving remnant will make up the newly born nation, entering the post-tribulation kingdom in natural bodies, returning by every natural means of transport back to the Land to build and plant, to raise families, and witness to the nations, the question is naturally raised, “what will be the relationship of those who enter the millennial kingdom in their natural bodies and those who have been translated at the rapture?”

When taken together, the cumulative evidence of scripture creates what can be called a “necessary inference”. I believe the puzzle is only solved, with due respect to all that the scripture says, by recognizing what I like to call, a “dimensional divide”.

The mystery of the rapture is not a mystery as to its time. That is no mystery (compare Hos 13:14; Isa 25:7-8; 27:12-13; Mt 24:29-31 with 1 Cor 15:5-54 ). The mystery has to do with a ‘dimensional divide’ between those who will be putting on resurrected bodies with capacities that are like the angels and like the Lord in His post-resurrection appearances for the purpose of spiritual rule, (as for example, ruling over 5 or 10 cities), but in a realm of existence, not any less on earth, but not immediately visible to saved and unsaved mortals in the millennium (compare Mt 19:28; 22:30; Lk 19:17:18; 1Cor 13:12).

There is so much more that can help clarify and harmonize, but the greatest problem (other than failure to fully depend on the Spirit for the mercy of illumination) is the lack of O.T. literacy on the popular level, and on the scholarly level, the tendency to embrace of a set of apriori presuppositions that seeks to harmonize the testaments by a radical method of reinterpretation and spiritualization. It’s a great, historic deficiency in the church due to centuries of neglect of the OT and artificial, unsatisfactory solutions that fail to convincingly harmonize the Testaments.

The second point implicit in the questions is the relationship of the body to national Israel:

To be clear, Israel can only be saved as it becomes the body of Christ by the transforming, regenerating revelation of Christ. If they are alive to God, they are “in Christ”, and thus part of His body sharing in the unity of the Spirit, equally with all saints, whether Jew or Gentile.

“But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” 1 Corinthians 6:17

In the natural order, there is a necessary and crucial distinction between Israel and the church, just as between male and female. But there is no distinction at all in the unity of the one new man, that is all who know the Lord, whether in times past, in this age, or in the millennial age to come.

This unity of the Spirit in the God-Man is not a new truth, but an old truth that has come to full light in the revelation of the mystery. (Remember this: something that is newly revealed, or has come to much greater light, does not mean that it did not exist before, just as the revelation of Jesus has brought much clearer light on the triune nature of the Godhead. Yet no one would say that such a new revelation created something that did not exist before).

In distinguishable contrast from the one new man of the Spirit, natural Israel and the supernatural preservation of Jewish identity throughout the generations, belongs to a corporate election that does not guarantee the salvation of any individual in the set-apart nation. Instead, precisely because of the covenant mandate, belonging to the Jewish race commends the covenant breaker to a “double” discipline, as foretold in scripture and witnessed throughout history.

So when Israel comes to faith on that day, they will be no less the living body of Christ, albeit with a unique and special calling, role, and stewardship to be lived out openly in the presence of the nations throughout the millennium.

Thus, the millennium exists primarily for this open covenant vindication and demonstration of every word and aspect of His everlasting covenant, to be lived out in literal detail before the nations and also the onlooking principalities and powers. This will show for a thousand years of open, fully visible demonstration that God was indeed able, not only to bring the people He first brought out of Egypt back into the Land, but now, because of an “everlasting righteousness” (namely, the righteousness of the Son), eternally secure to one and all, they will abide, preserved in holiness and peace in the Land, within the originally specified borders of the promise.

We are led then to infer, most necessarily based on 1 Cor 15:50-52, that all who come to faith during the millennium, with any who die in the Lord during the millennium, will be raised with their new body at the end of the millennium when the great transition to the new heavens and earth follows the final rebellion.

If that explanation does not fully satisfy every question, it is also to be considered that there is a mystery about time in the realm of the Spirit as it intersects with natural historical time. In any event, lingering questions must not be permitted to impose on the clarity of what the text plainly ‘SAYS’.

May the kind Shepherd, “come alongside”, and cause our hearts to burn within us, as He opens to us the Scriptures.

Reggie

AN AGE OF CHAOS: NO OTHER WAY TO EXPLAIN THIS MADNESS

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The unconscionable, uncontrolled, unmanageable debt the US elected governments have managed to accrue is 34 trillion dollars. It’s a number so big it’s impossible to truly conceive, let alone understand.

Recent data published by the Congressional Budget Office show that last year, “Discretionary Spending” in the Land of the Free totaled 1.7 trillion dollars.

Remember, “Discretionary Spending” is one of the three broad categories of federal spending; the other two are interest on the debt and mandatory spending.

Interest on the debt and mandatory spending (which includes programs like Social Security and Medicare) are like your monthly mortgage payment– they get sucked out of the Treasury Department’s bank account every month. Congress doesn’t even debate or discuss those categories.

All of the haggling and bickering and politicking in Congress is purely over discretionary spending. And it includes almost everything else we think of as ‘government’, i.e. military, national parks, homeland security, embassies around the world, etc. So, here’s what’s remarkable:

Again, discretionary spending totaled $1.7 trillion last year– which includes US military expenditures.

However, the other spending categories– mandatory spending (Social Security, Medicare, etc.) and interest on the debt– were so vast that the federal government still had an enormous deficit for the year. How enormous? $1.7 trillion enormous.

Look at those numbers again: Discretionary spending for the year was $1.7 trillion. The fiscal deficit for the year was also $1.7 trillion.

Conclusion? The government needed to eliminate ALL discretionary spending last year– including the military– to balance the budget.

Think about that. US spending is now so high that nearly everything we think of as government– from the United States Marine Corps to Yosemite National Park– needs to be completely eliminated to make ends meet.

Alarm bells should be ringing everywhere. But they’re not. Hardly anyone in power has even noticed. Moreover, the United States will add another TWENTY TRILLION DOLLARS to the national debt through 2033 and 2033 is a REALLY important date because it also happens to be the year that Social Security’s primary trust fund completely runs out of money. This is madness and it can only end badly.

The above information is largely taken from an article by Simon Black, founder of Sovereign Man.

Thank goodness Jesus Christ is coming back, first to defeat the army of the Antichrist at the battle of Armageddon and then to rule and reign the nations with a rod of iron. Jesus rules with the glorified Saints.

“From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.” Revelation 19:15

“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 2:26-27

NEXT ON GOD’S KINGDOM AGENDA

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The Kingdom of God has many facets to it. One important phase of God’s Kingdom which many of the denominational/institutional churches have got wrong is Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom. This is difficult to understand for several reasons: 1. The Christian church for the first two hundred years took the Millennial Kingdom position. 2. All of the O.T. prophets were shown the end of the story for Israel with their Messiah ruling and reigning over the nations. 3. Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom fulfills the Abrahamic Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and particularly the New Covenant given to Jeremiah.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:31-34

4. Explicit prediction is given in the Bible of an intermediate kingdom that is one thousand years long when Jesus and the resurrected Saints will rule the nations with a rod of iron. The curse is not fully lifted off the earth as people still die and need to be saved. Satan is bound in the Abyss for most of the thousand years but God allows him one last chance to deceive people on Earth and sadly we know he raises an army of rebellious people, their number like the sand of the sea. That rebellion is quickly put down and God finally destroys this Earth with fire. The second resurrection and the White Throne judgement follow. Only then does John see a new Jerusalem of incredible size descending from a new Heaven onto a new Earth where only the righteous will dwell.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” Revelation 21:1-3

JESUS COMING MILLENNIAL KINGDOM

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The time is coming when this world will be radically changed for the better. It will last for a thousand years, bookended by resurrections. The following passage in Revelation is the summation of the event. However, many O.T. Scriptures give much detail on Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom with Jesus ruling the nations from a much elevated and improved Jerusalem compared to the Jerusalem that exists today. In fact, all of the O.T. prophets were shown the triumphant end of Israel’s story with their Messiah ruling the nations. God has unfinished business with the nation He established for His purposes. The Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12:1-3, Gen. 15:7-12, 17 ), Davidic Covenant (2 Sam. 7:12-16), and the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34) have yet to be fulfilled

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be released for a little while.
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also, I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” Revelation 20:1-6

Go to http://www.millennialkingdom.net for more information and free resources on Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom.

JESUS SOON COMING MILLENNIAL KINGDOM

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God’s Jubilee: after 7 x 7=49 years the next year is a Jubilee year when debt is forgiven, land is returned to the original owners, release of slaves or indentured servants, and the land is to lie fallow. The Jubilee year is the first year of the next 49-year cycle. The Jubilee gives us a beautiful picture of what the future holds during Jesus’ coming Millennial Kingdom.

The Jubilee is also a promise to Israel that guarantees a future return to their land after the great tribulation and the wrath of God is poured out with the Trumpet and Bowl judgments.

The Jubilee is never used in Scripture in such a way that we can draw up precise eschatological timelines and charts depicting exactly when future prophetic events will take place. However, we should use the Jubilee and all the other symbols used in the Scriptures to describe the return of the Messiah (Jesus) and the Messianic age (Millennial Kingdom) to impact our hearts and lead us into a deeper adoration of Jesus and more fervent anticipation of His coming glorious Millennial Kingdom.

All around the world, support for Palestine after Hamas’s invasion of Israel is further evidence we are fast approaching the time when Jesus returns to rescue Israel at the battle of Armageddon. Hundreds of school students with the sanction of their teachers protested in Sydney, Australia in support of Palestine. Who is educating these children? Hamas is at once Palestinian, Arabic, and Islamist. In its worldview, any Palestinian state would need to embrace Islamism. The horror of Hamas’s barbaric attack on Jewish women, children, and old people in southern Israel on October 7 is not an aberration. It’s what the group actually stands for in its formal charter. Antisemitism is spiritual warfare and it is intense as we approach the Biblical prophesied end times.

End times prophecies are playing out now which tells us that we are fast approaching the end of this era when Jesus returns to rapture the Saints and after the wrath of God is poured out. usher in His Millennial Kingdom. Go to ww.millennialkingdom.net for more information.

The 70 Weeks Prophecy of Daniel is an amazing message of hope as it predicts an end to Satan’s deceptive rule and the beginning of the rule of Israel’s Messiah to put everything right. It has symbolic significance related to Israel’s Sabbath cycle of years, the Jubilee, and the historical period of exile/restoration. The 70-weeks theme weaves together a number of theological strands from the Hebrew Bible as a way of pointing us toward the age of Jubilee restoration in the future. Understanding the symbolic and literal meaning of the 70-weeks prophecy is vital. Many scholars have recognized that from a Biblical perspective, the 70 weeks must represent a period of 490 years. There is an intricate and complementary relationship between Daniel’s 70 weeks and the Sabbath cycle in ancient Israel that requires us to read Daniel 9:24 as though it depicts a specifically demarcated period of time (10 Jubilee periods = 490 years).

Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom is spoken of by all the Old Testament (O.T.) prophets. In the following Scripture, Peter tells us that all of the O.T. prophets proclaimed that God would send Jesus a second time to restore all things.

“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago... Moses and all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.” Acts 3:19-20, 22, 24

THE BIBLE’S PROPHESIED SIGNS OF JESUS’ RETURN SHOULD BE OBVIOUS TO ALL BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIANS

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Preaching shortly after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, Peter tells his Jewish listeners that if they repent, God will send the Messiah back to earth, since heaven must receive him “until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago”. Note, Peter says that all of the O.T prophets “proclaimed these days“.

“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago... Moses and all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.” Acts 3:19-20, 22, 24

And so, in one clear sentence, Peter tells us that everything the prophets spoke of in the past, including all the promises to Israel about the Messiah’s glorious rule on the earth, will come to pass when King Jesus returns. So much for the New Testament “spiritualizing” away the promises of the Old Testament.

What the Bible repeatedly states will happen in the future will happen in the future. It’s that simple.

Jesus is coming to Earth a second time and all the Biblical prophecies about that return are playing out in our world today. The return of the Jews to their promised land which occurred over 70 years ago now in 1948 was the KEY sign. The rest of the prophesied signs such as God shaking things with earthquakes, pestilences, and famines, godlessness and lawlessness, apostasy with much of the church compromising with the world on gay marriage, homosexuality, transgenderism, increased persecution of Christians who are upholding the authority of God’s Word and God’s commandments, all of these prophesied events are occurring with increased frequency. Jesus warns us that endurance will be required during this time of tribulation: “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

“Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you,” Luke 21:10-12

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13

“Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” Ezekiel 37:21-23

“I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” Ezekiel 37:26-27

FINAL SEVEN YEARS BEFORE JESUS MILLENNIAL KINGDOM

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The United Nations Is Planning to make a Covenant with the Many in September 2024. Will this begin the Tribulation, the last seven years before Jesus returns (70th Week of Daniel)? They call it the “Pact for the Future” Watch the Nelson Walters video below for details and how this matches perfectly with Bible Prophecy.

I had not realised how many Bible prophecies there are about Jesus’ Second Coming to Earth. All of the O.T. prophets were blessed by God to be shown the end of the story for the nation, Israel, that God established for His purposes. Jesus will rule and reign over the nations from a new temple in a new Jerusalem. Look at the detail in the following two Scriptures given to Jeremiah and Ezekiel about what our Lord will do.

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch and a King shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.” Jeremiah 23:5-8

“For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be built. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it. Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord.” Ezekiel 36:24-38

JERUSALEM – A NEW CITY, A NEW NAME – THE LORD IS THERE ON THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN

The Millennial temple described in Ezekiel 40-48

https://youtu.be/E1jxj_q1BhI?si=OEb1k3kJC9NZrMEi

GOD’S INTENT FOR THE CHURCH

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God’s intent for the Church has always been that it be a place where lost people get found and the broken get put back together — a place filled with “weres” who are learning to build new lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It’s time for surveys to tell us that churches are breaking new ground and being filled with those from broken families, broken relationships, and broken lives. But they should also tell us churches are doing all they can to break the downward cycle of family dysfunction and restore health to marriage and fatherhood. Only then can people step into the life God has for them, and only then can they be part of God’s heart for breaking new ground through the power of the Gospel.

“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes …” (Romans 1:16).

In Paul’s first letter to the church in Thessalonica, he reminded them they had “turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God …” (I Thessalonians 1:9). When he took the Gospel to the city of Ephesus, many who engaged in sorcery and pagan worship left their ways to follow Jesus (Acts 19: 19, 23-27). The survey question, “How many of you came from families that practiced sorcery and idolatry?” Would have had embarrassing results. Yet Heaven was smiling as new ground was being broken.

But the city of Corinth tops them all: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the Kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (I Corinthians 6:9-11). That must have been quite a congregation! New ground was being broken.

“Churches must work to restore healthy marriages and fatherhood to combat a growing decline in Christianity, according to a survey released by a faith-based group.” The article went on to detail how the decline in resident fatherhood and the collapse of marriage are likely explanations for the increase in religious non-affiliation throughout the United States.

God’s roles for males and females need to be restored. Male leadership in the home and church is clearly laid out in God’s Word but it like most of God’s commandments has been jettisoned by an unbelieving world. Fortunately, God tells us in His Word that this would be the case and the only solution is for Jesus to return and restore righteousness by ruling and reigning the nations with a rod of iron, and this He will do for 1000 years with the resurrected Saints. Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom is a transition period prior to God establishing a new Heaven and new Earth where only the righteous dwell. Whilst Satan is bound for most of the thousand years. In the end, God allows him to be released and astoundingly he is still able to raise an army of rebellious people like the sand of the sea to come against Jesus and the Saints. The rebellion is promptly put down and this earth and heaven are destroyed. A second resurrection occurs of those unbelievers who were not raised at the first resurrection and all those who died during the Millennium. Jesus White Throne judgement follows. Only then does John see a new Heaven and a new Earth and a magnificent New Jerusalem descending from Heaven onto the new Earth.

BOOK OF REVELATION – GOD’S GRAND FINALE

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Revelation, the Bible’s last book is God’s final word to mankind—and the breathtaking revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ and His return to Earth to fulfill God’s promises to the nation He established for His purposes. Though Revelation describes depravity, devils, destruction, and God’s wrath, it also provides an incredible portrait of our almighty God, delivering profound insights into who He really is and how He will end the story of planet Earth and the Cosmos He created.

Christian Post interviews Jeff Kinley, the author of GODS GRAND FINALE – Wrath, Grace, and Glory in Earth’s Last Days. I have added my own views on Revelation’s seven churches, its seven seals, and Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom.

KINLEY: We try to make God in our own image. We customized Jesus, if you will, to fit our preconceived thoughts about Him or emotions. We want to express love for God, but the basic premise of worship is that we cannot worship a God that we do not know. And it goes back to John 4 when Jesus told the woman at the well that God is searching for worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. And so, there has to be a theological foundation for Who God is before we can ever even love that God. In order to truly love God, we have to first do a little bit of theology. 

CHRISTIAN POST: Regarding the book of Revelation, you wrote that it is not “a riddle to be solved, but a revelation to be believed. It’s not a metaphoric tale laced with undecipherable symbols, but rather, a literal scene-by-scene depiction of history, to be written down in advance of its fulfillment.” Do you believe a lot of churches have this misunderstanding about the Book of Revelation?

KINLEY: I do. I think people view Revelation as sort of being off-limits to Christians because of its apocalyptic language, and some of its symbolism that’s in there. Also, it’s ironic because number one, it is the last book God ever wrote and He tells us that everyone who reads it will be blessed. Also, the very word, “Revelation,” means to uncover or reveal or to unveil, not to hide. So, the irony is that people think that it’s a book of hidden knowledge when the very title of the book tells us that it is a book that tells us Who God is and tells us what’s going to happen.

And with a little bit of study and a little bit of guidance, it really isn’t that hard to understand.

CHRISTIAN POST: You dedicated two full chapters to the topic of the letters sent to the seven churches mentioned in Revelation. Why did you believe that the topic needed to be covered in two chapters rather than just one? 

KINLEY: I think because Jesus’ heart is for His bride, the Church. He loves His Church, He loves believers very, very much, and the thing He wanted most for those first-century churches is for them to get their relationship, their doctrine, and their lives calibrated to Who God is, to God’s character. The only way He could do that was to send some messages to them that would rebuke them for their error and then offer them a way back to Himself.

And so, five of the seven churches received severe rebukes from Christ, two did not. But I think they mirror many churches today. And so, that’s why it’s so relevant for today because those seven churches, we can look around us today and say, ‘Wow, there’s that church, there’s Ephesus, there’s Smyrna, there’s Sardis, there’s Philadelphia, and so it’s a relevant section of the book. So, I wanted to spend more time on it. 

EDWARDS: Sadly, Jeff Kinley misses the fact that the seven churches are prophetic, they represent the church in each of the last seven years prior to Jesus’ return. Just as the seven seals are prophetic of what is unfolding/happening on Earth during the last seven years. It is obvious the church of Philadelphia in the sixth year is the church that is raptured and the seventh church of Laodicea (spew you out of my mouth) is the church that is left behind. Just as at the sixth seal, we see the Celestial signs that precede Jesus’ return and the announcement that the wrath of God has come.

CHURCH OF PHILADELPHIA: “I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name… Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.” Revelation 3:8,10

SIXTH SEAL: “When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” Revelation 6:12-17

CHRISTIAN POST At Armageddon, you note that “The risen Christ is the hero of the ages, a conqueror for all time. The world knows virtually nothing about this Jesus described in Revelation. And sadder still is that the church knows very little of this side of Jesus as well.” Why do you believe that the church knows very little about this End Times side of Jesus?

KINLEY: Two reasons. Number one, we tend to spend most of our time about Christ in the Gospels. And we get our vision, our image, our view of God from the Gospels. But the rest of the New Testament really tells us more about the character of God and Who Christ is. And when we get to Revelation, specifically chapter one, there’s a vision of Christ there, but it’s unlike anything we hear preached in most churches today. 

By the time we get to Revelation 19, the close of the age, we see a Christ coming back to essentially, get rid of sin, get rid of sinners, to set the world right again. Which is really something that everybody wants to happen in their heart. They want evil to go away, they want righteousness to reign, justice and fairness, and Christ is going to bring that kind of Kingdom immediately following his second coming.  

EDWARDS: I have not read Kinley’s book so do not know if he understands that what is next on God’s agenda is Jesus’ Millennial reign on the Earth. When Jesus returns to Earth it is to rule and reign with the Saints with a rod of iron for 1000 years. Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom is a transition era when the covenants with Abraham, David, and the New Covenant are fulfilled. Also, Satan is bound for most of the thousand years but when he is released his still able to raise an army like the sand of the sea to come against Jesus and the Saints. Fire from heaven quickly disposes of Satan and the rebels. What follows is the White Throne judgement and then a new Heaven and a new Earth where only the righteous dwell.

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.” Revelation 20:11-12

CHRISTIAN POST: What do you hope people take away from your book?

KINLEY: The main thing is that they just know God and love Him more. Revelation is the last book of the Bible and God wants us to know Who He is. And Revelation was written so that we could know our God better. And so, that’s what I want people to do: to know God, to love Him more as a result of this book.

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor

WHAT’S NEXT FOR PLANET EARTH ON GOD’S AGENDA?

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We already know how the next few years will play out. Why? Because the Bible, God’s Word is largely a book of prophecy. There are more than 1,000 Bible prophecies about Jesus’ second coming to Earth so I am sure God wants to prepare us for this event. Sadly, the religious leaders of the time of Jesus first coming to Earth misread it totally, not because of what the Scriptures said but because they wanted a Saviour from their Roman oppressors. They did not want the suffering servant depicted in Isaiah 53. What about the religious leaders of our day? Well, the Bible tells us that there will be a great falling away from true faith in the last days (apostasy) before Jesus returns. We see that already happening as many of the denominational/institutional churches have accepted gay marriage, and homosexual pastors/leaders. Look what Jesus told us would happen in the end times:

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:9-12

Are you taking these words of Jesus seriously? You should, because the re-establishment of the nation of Israel 75 years ago was the first major end-times prophecy fulfilled. The Bible clearly tells us that Jesus’ second coming to Earth is to rescue the nation of Israel at the battle of Armageddon when all the armies of many nations come against Israel. Israel did not exist as a nation prior to 1948 so all the end times prophecies which are Israel and Middle East-centered made no earthly sense. Its rebirth was miraculous and God has sustained it miraculously ever since despite Satan’s desperate efforts to destroy it.

The good news is that what’s next for this planet is Jesus’ Millennial reign on this earth for one thousand years, The earth will then have had six thousand years of man’s rule under Satan’s dominion. It is still to have 1,000 years with Jesus ruling the nations with the glorified Saints so that the covenants God made with Abraham, David, and the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34) can be fulfilled. Israel will finally be the leading nation in the world with its Messiah ruling from a magnificent new Jerusalem.

During Jesus’ Millennial reign, Satan is bound in the Abyss but God allows him to come out at the end of the thousand years and he is still able to gather an army whose number is like the sand of the sea. I often wondered why during Jesus’ Millennial reign, He and the Saints have to rule the nations with a “rod of iron” until I read the following Scripture.

“And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20:7-10