“Providence” is a word we use frequently in talking about God, but we may not have thought deeply about what it means. Theologian Timothy George defines it as “God’s faithful and effective care and guidance of everything which He has made toward the end which He has chosen.”
In quadriplegic’s Joni Eareckson Tada’s book Pain and Providence, she writes about God’s providence in Joseph’s life:
“I draw a lot of inspiration from the story of Joseph. There were plenty of unfortunate mishaps in Joseph’s life, like being tossed by his envious brothers into a pit and left to die. But later on, after more mishaps, Joseph told his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Gen. 50:20-21).
I like that word, intended. He is a God of intention—He has a purpose, a target, a goal, and a plan. Joseph’s problems did not catch God off guard. From the beginning, God calculated for Joseph to experience all these things. Why? For the salvation of others.
God is not a sweep-up boy who follows you with a dustpan and brush, second-guessing how everything will fit into a divine pattern for good. God’s hands stay on the wheel of your life from start to finish so that everything follows His intention for your life. This means your trials have more meaning—much more—than you realize.
Consider this: If Joseph had not been sold to those caravan traders by his wicked brothers, he would not have ended up as the right-hand man to Pharaoh. And if Joseph had not become Pharaoh’s right-hand man, no one would have built giant grain silos to ward off the famine. And if the famine hadn’t happened, Jacob and his family would never have come to Egypt for food and safety. And if Jacob’s family weren’t in Egypt, there would have been no slave laborers. And if no slaves, no Exodus, no Israel and no giving of the law to Moses. And no Promised Land. And, finally, no line of Judah from which the Messiah, Jesus Christ, would come.
What an amazing example of the providence of God! It is enthralling to see how the troubles of one young man named Joseph could kick-start a whole chain of earth-shaking events which would ultimately lead to our salvation.
Joseph’s story could be yours. Only heaven will reveal the incredibly complex intertwining of events in which you have played a pivotal role. Like Joseph, you may not be able to discern it at the time, but God has it all in hand. He has it all in control. And you, dear friend, are needed in His marvelous plan to spread His kingdom in your corner of the world.”
God is in control of history and in His Word, the Bible, He has told us the entire story of this world from the start, a perfect world to its firey end. We know that we are living in the time before Jesus prophesied second coming to earth, first to raise the dead Saints and to rapture the living Saints and pour out His wrath on unrepentant earth, and second to return to earth one year and ten days later for the battle of Armageddon and set up His Millennial Kingdom.
“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 20:4-6
Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall shatter them like earthenware. Psalm 2:8–9 NASB
“But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” Isaiah 11:14
“For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste.” Isaiah 60:12
“Thus says the Lord, “I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.” (Zechariah 8:3 NASB)
In the parable of the talents, Jesus tells the faithful slaves who have doubled their wealth that they will rule cities. I believe by our faithfulness we will have proved ourselves capable of ruling cities in the Millennium.
“Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.” Daniel 7:27 NASB
“Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” 1 Corinthians 6:2
In the Millennium the law and order that God set up for Israel will apply, particularly the Sabbath, Shemitah, and the Jubileefordebt forgiveness and restoration of the land. As well, most of the Feast Days will apply. It will not be enough for people to say that “I love my neighbor”; They must actually invest in their material well-being.
No doubt the death penalty will be reintroduced and is part of Jesus and the Saints ruling with a rod of iron during the Millennium. Moreover, evil deeds will be judged and dealt with speedily.
“Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.” Ecclesiastes 8:11
We know that when Satan is released at the end of the Millennium he is still able to raise an army like the sand of the sea to come against Jesus and the Saints. Just as Satan in the presence of God and the angels in heaven, he was able to convince one-third of the angels to rebel against God, on earth, at the end of the Millennium, Satan is able to convince many people who were born during the Millennium to rebel against Jesus and the Saints.
“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
It must be remembered what the Lord said about the wickedness of man at the time of Noah.
“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5
“For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”Mark 7:21-23
How is your heart are you in rebellion against God and His Kingdom? If you are, you will shortly face the wrath of God that is poured out with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements. At the end of Jesus’ Millennial reign is the second resurrection when you will be judged at the White Throne and then thrown into the Lake of Fire where you face a second death.
“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 20:6
“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur,which is the second death.”Revelation 21:8
For more on the Millennial Kingdom please go to my new website which is in development http://www.millennialkingdom.net and please click on the link on the Home Page to get the Newsletter advising you of new resources being made available on the website.
Click on RESOURCES to Download the FREE six Powerpoint Presentations on Israel:
God and Israel – Nations are God’s idea – As we approach the time when Jesus will set up His Millennial Kingdom on earth from a renewed Jerusalem. It is helpful to look at why and how God initially set up His nation Israel. God initially set up nations at the Tower of Babel when He confused the languages. Nations are God’s idea and they were made for His purposes. Even before the Israelites entered the Propmise Land, Moses told the people prophetically all that would happen to them including their being cast out of the land and being dispersed all over the world but God would gather them back to the land and eventually their promised Messiah will rule the nations from new Jerusalem.
Israel: History & Purpose – Israel is God’s vehicle to bring salvation to all the world. God created Israel to be His “Kingdom” on earth. Nine times, He described the Land of Israel as His “Land”—“the place He has chosen as the dwelling place for His Name.” The covenant with Abraham is described as “everlasting” or “forever”. Israel’s rebirth in 1948 after almost 1900 years was a miracle, a miracle which Jesus prophesied in the Olivet Discourse (parable of the fig tree) as the first major sign prior to His return.
Jubilee Cycles – Provide Prophetic Milestones in God’s Redemptive Plan – Can we build a reasonable Biblical case for the Jubilee cycles as the prophetic backbone of the Bible? Has God built the entire history of this Cosmos from its beginning to its fiery end based on Jubilee cycles? A straight forward summation of early biblical patriarchal lineages, reveals there were 41 generations which also represent 41 Jubilee cycles between Adam and Abraham and 41 from Abraham to Yeshua. How many Jubilee cycles have there been since Yeshua? Further insight is added when we consider that the book of Revelation associates the New Jerusalem with the number 144 and that the 144th Jubilee begins in the 8th year of the 8th Millennium.
Prophesied Restoration of the Land to Israel – Prior to Jesus’ Second Coming – The prophesied restoration of the land to Israel which began in 1948 is undeniable evidence of Biblical truth and that we are living in the last days. God revealed to all of the Old Testament prophets the future history of His nation. Even before Israel had set foot on the land God told Moses that He would drive the Jews out from the land He was about to give them because they will reject Him and His Messiah, but by God’s grace, all were shown the end of the story with a regathered people in a restored land with a descendant of King David ruling and reigning from Jerusalem. God created Israel to be His nation to show a fallen world, separated from God, His ways, His laws and the consequences of obeying and disobeying those laws. We need to know that the laws concerning the Sabbath, Shemitah and Jubilee are extremely important to God. A major reason for Israel’s 70 year captivity in Babylon was that Israel failed to keep 10 Shemitahs. What about now is God still controlling Israel’s history with regard to the Shemitah and Jubilee? I hope this presentation will convince you that God is controlling history in accordance with His timing, particularly with regard to the Jubilee. As well, I hope to reveal the people and events that God used and is using to achieve His purposes, for His nation Israel, exactly as prophesied.
Israel’s Feast Days – In Type and Prophecy – In the Bible, God set festivals, events, and times according to the lunar calendar of 354 days. God’s timetable meant that these events didn’t line up to MAN’S way, but HIS. Man wants a fixed and predictable timetable. But God says, “Trust Me and My timing”. We will look at Israel’s Feast Days (Moedim –Appointed Times) from a “last days perspective. When God set up Israel as His nation, in Leviticus 23, He established the laws of “acceptable approach” to God which was sacrifice, there is no forgiveness for sin without the shedding of blood. In Numbers, God has Moses institute seven annual feasts. The Lord instituted His Holy Feasts as holy assemblies to remind His chosen people of how to live their lives in a manner acceptable to Him. Moreover, it is also prophetic of God’s plan for His world. Israel’s Holy Days are prophetic, they represent a calendar of His Story of His Cosmos. It demonstrates God’s total control of history. Hopefully, it will strengthen your confidence and hope in our Lord for the future and enable you to endure the coming prophesied tribulation.
Israel Fully Restored – Jesus will rule the nations from Jerusalem – As Jesus told some of the disciples on the road to Emmaus “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:27. God’s story from beginning to end is all about Jesus. This presentation seeks to show that right from the beginning God prophesied about Jesus and His battle with Satan and that He will be victorious and rule and reign the nations from Jerusalem in the land He set aside for His nation. The Millennium Kingdom is a transition period prior to the White Throne judgement and God creating a new heaven and new earth where only the righteous dwell. We know that Sarah’s seed was supernaturally produced by God which resulted in Abraham and Sarah producing Isaac. Moreover, we know that God challenged Abraham to sacrifice Isaac which prefigured God sacrificing His own son Jesus. Jesus was of course in Abraham’s lineage. The millennial reign of Jesus fulfills the covenant Jesus made with Abraham and all the prophecies of the O.T. prophets.
Most Christians are giving no thought to Jesus second coming to earth and yet there are far more prophecies about His second coming than there were of His first coming. We need to remember that despite the many prophecies of Jesus’ first Coming, the religious leaders of the day, the Pharisees and Sadducees, totally rejected Him. What about the religious leaders of our Day?
Fortunately, there are many great ministries that God is raising up in these last days to alert Christians to the many signs Jesus has given of His second coming. The primary “end times” ministry, I would recommend is Nelson Walters’s YouTube videos. Make sure you sign up for those. Those that follow this website know that I repost many of Nelson’s videos here.
Jesus’ “end times” warnings are given in all three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Olivet Discourse). Paul confirms key “end times” prophecies in 1 Thessalonians – The Coming of the Lord (1 Thess.4:13-18) and The Day of the Lord (1 Thess.5:1-11). In Revelation, John opens up many of the OT prophecies, particularly the book of Daniel (“Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end” Daniel 12:9). Daniel and John in Revelation give us great detail on the last seven years (70th week of Daniel) prior to Jesus’ return. For Christians, it is imperative that we recognise the Antichrist (Great Deceiver) and the False Prophet when they arrive on the scene. These two individuals are going to look really good as the apparent deliverers from the mounting chaos in the world. Fortunately in Revelation, John takes us through to the end of the story when the Antichrist is defeated and Jesus ushers in His Millennial rule on this earth. All the OT prophets were given the victorious end of Israel’s story with their Messiah ruling the nations from a magnificent new Jerusalem. Great detail is given in the Bible on the last one thousand years of this Cosmos’s existence before God destroys it with fire.
I believe one of my tasks is to get Christians thinking and praying about how they might prepare now for their role when they return with Jesus in their resurrected bodies to rule and reign with Him. Remember, Jesus’ Millennial reign is a transition period. The curse is not lifted from this Cosmos so people are still being born and dying. We are told repeatedly that Jesus and the Saints rule with a “rod of iron”. Satan is bound in the Abyss for most of this time but is released at a time near the end of the thousand years and is still able to gather an enormous army (“their number islike the sand of the sea” Rev.20:8), to come against Jesus and the Saints. Even with Jesus and the resurrected Saints here on earth people will still rebel wanting to be the god of their own little world.
I am in the process of building the website http://www.millennialkingdom.net which I hope you will use to start to become familiar with what God has revealed to us about Jesus’ soon-coming Millennial Kingdom. He has revealed it for a purpose. When you do it will make you more Kingdom-focused and in prayer about how you can fulfill your mission here and now.
In the Millennium, I am sure we will be using the latest technologies; ENERGY: I am confident Nuclear Fusion will be perfected as a power source. TRANSPORT: It appears that Hydrogen Fuel Cells and Battery Powered vehicles will both have a place. ROBOTICS: Use of robots will expand. Amazon’s robotic warehouses have demonstrated the benefits. Robots work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with no tea and lunch breaks, no holidays or sick leave and they do not make mistakes. The biggest unbudgeted saving for Amazon was no mistakes. The savings were huge from Customer Service not having to handle customer complaints about wrong deliveries: phone calls, the cost of returns, and sending replacement products.
Just saw this video of aerial robots picking fruit.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Driverless cars and trucks will be the norm. Moreover, it is unlikely we will own vehicles. We will just order the correct-sized vehicle for whatever purpose. It will arrive on time and deliver you or your group to where you want to go and then move on to its next task. The savings will be enormous, fewer vehicles as all working most of the time, no garages at home or work.
AGRICULTURE: Fresh vegetables grown in cities close to where they are consumed will be the norm. It is already happening in places like Singapore. Gardens in the sky – echo urban architecture.
In the Millennium I think God will use me in the business segment as it was a talent He has given me and I enjoyed it. What about you? You can pray into it by asking God to prepare you now for your coming role in His Kingdom.
If you have not already taken a look, let me suggest that you check out my first post CREATIVITY IN THE MILLENNIALKINGDOM PART 1 posted yesterday on the 23rd of November, where I reported on ENERGY and TRANSPORT
We are made in God’s image by the creator of this Cosmos and were given dominion by Him over Earth. We lost that dominion at The Fall when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Satan, a spiritual demonic being, is now the Prince of this World. Regardless, we still have the God-given ability to create using the abundant materials He created, within the boundaries of the complex physical laws God has established to control His universe.
Based on Biblical prophecy we are fast approaching the time of Jesus’ return to this earth to rescue the Saints and to pour out His wrath on an unrepentant world. The world has turned its back on God and His values and His commandments. One of the most significant Biblical end-times prophecies tells us that prior to Jesus’ return God’s nation, Israel would be re-established. Against all odds, the Jews are back in their land with the Hebrew language reborn. This occurred back in 1948. We are now starting to see many of the other prophesied end times signs, wars, and rumours of wars, apostasy in the church as it compromises with the world and its distorted values, gay marriage, homosexual and transgender priests, pestilences, famines, lawlessness and more. What this site is about, is preparing people for Jesus’ Millennial reign on this earth when Jesus and the resurrected Saints will be ruling the nations with a “rod of iron”. There is no doubt in my mind that new technologies will be developed in the Millennium that enhance living standards. Technologies such as Robotics and the use of Computers and AI.
INDUSTRY – Robotics
The race this year between artificial intelligence (AI) giants like DeepMind, Nvidia, Tesla, Google AI, Meta, and OpenAI has been something to watch. Every few weeks has brought a major breakthrough with applications in this incredible technology. This time, it’s a breakthrough in something called imitation learning from OpenAI. Imitation learning is exactly what it sounds like: an AI that learns by imitating. The implications of this kind of imitation learning are incredible and will become very relevant next year.
When I think of a wide range of general tasks where a robotic arm or dexterous humanoid robot could be useful, imitation learning makes perfect sense. Whether at home or the workplace, imagine being able to show an AI-powered robot what task(s) need to be performed. An AI could learn by watching. Then it could supplement that learning by going to the internet and finding more learning material, and soon master any given task(s).
That’s what makes OpenAI’s announcement so incredible. It’s the beginning of robots being able to learn by watching, rather than through weeks of programming and testing.
Flocks of assembler robots show potential for making larger structures. This report comes from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Researchers from MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA) make progress toward groups of robots that could build almost anything, including buildings, vehicles, and even bigger robots.
The new work builds on years of research, including recent studies demonstrating that objects such as a deformable airplane wing and a functional racing car could be assembled from tiny identical lightweight pieces — and that robotic devices could be built to carry out some of this assembly work. Now, the team has shown that both the assembler bots and the components of the structure being built can all be made of the same subunits, and the robots can move independently in large numbers to accomplish large-scale assemblies quickly.
As in previous experiments, the new system involves large, usable structures built from an array of tiny identical subunits called voxels (the volumetric equivalent of a 2-D pixel). But while earlier voxels were purely mechanical structural pieces, the team has now developed complex voxels that each can carry both power and data from one unit to the next. This could enable the building of structures that can not only bear loads but also carry out work, such as lifting, moving and manipulating materials — including the voxels themselves.
“When we’re building these structures, you have to build in intelligence,” Gershenfeld says. While earlier versions of assembler bots were connected by bundles of wires to their power source and control systems, “what emerged was the idea of structural electronics — of making voxels that transmit power and data as well as force.” Looking at the new system in operation, he points out, “There’s no wires. There’s just the structure.”
The robots themselves consist of a string of several voxels joined end-to-end. These can grab another voxel using attachment points on one end, then move inchworm-like to the desired position, where the voxel can be attached to the growing structure and released there.
Gershenfeld explains that while the earlier system demonstrated by members of his group could in principle build arbitrarily large structures, as the size of those structures reached a certain point in relation to the size of the assembler robot, the process would become increasingly inefficient because of the ever-longer paths each bot would have to travel to bring each piece to its destination. At that point, with the new system, the bots could decide it was time to build a larger version of themselves that could reach longer distances and reduce the travel time. An even bigger structure might require yet another such step, with the new larger robots creating yet larger ones, while parts of a structure that include lots of fine detail may require more of the smallest robots.
Aaron Becker, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Houston, who was not associated with this research, calls this paper “a home run — [offering] an innovative hardware system, a new way to think about scaling a swarm, and rigorous algorithms.”
Becker adds: “This paper examines a critical area of reconfigurable systems: how to quickly scale up a robotic workforce and use it to efficiently assemble materials into the desired structure. … This is the first work I’ve seen that attacks the problem from a radically new perspective — using a raw set of robot parts to build a suite of robots whose sizes are optimized to build the desired structure (and other robots) as fast as possible.”
INFORMATION – Computing power
This year was a banner year in the world of supercomputing. The first major breakthrough was the commissioning of Frontier – the world’s first exaflop supercomputer. It’s capable of doing over a quintillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000) operations per second.
Then this fall, Tesla announced its artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputer, Dojo, which also performs at more than an exaflop.
And just days ago, AI-centric semiconductor company Cerebras announced that it had commissioned its own AI exaflop supercomputer for just $30 million.
The chart above is extraordinary. It’s in log scale, with each vertical tick representing a 10-fold increase in computing power.
The next major performance level will come out next year at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, when Nvidia launches its 10 exaflop supercomputer Venado.
The exponential growth of computing power has resulted in an abundance of both computer processing and data. But the rapid growth created a problem. The International Systems of Units (SI) started running out of SI prefixes like “exa” (1018) to denote the ever-increasing magnitude of the numbers.
After “exa,” there was only “zetta” (1021) and “yotta” (1024). At the current pace, it won’t be long before we blow past those prefixes too.
That’s why, at the 27th meeting of the General Conference on Weights and Measures, Resolution 3 extended the range of SI prefixes to account for even greater numbers in the future:
ronna (1027).
quetta (1030).
Technology is moving so fast right now, it won’t be long before we’re hearing words like “ronnabytes,” or “quettaflop supercomputers.”
What does the Bible say about our ability to create? First of all, it says we are made in the image of the greatest creator of all things, God our Father. We are then told that Adam’s rebellious son Cain built at least one city.
“Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch” Genesis 4:17
Just seven generations down Cain’s line we then learn that Jabal was a farmer who raised livestock, his brother Jubal’s family played musical instruments (lyre and pipe) and Tubal-Cain forged instruments of bronze and iron.
What does this say about evolution and stone age people?
“Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. Zillah also bore Tubal-Cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron.” Genesis 4:20-22
Despite the dreadful judgement of God with the worldwide flood of Noah’s day resulting in eight survivors, just a few generations on we learn that God judges the world again with the confusion of their language at the Tower of Babel. With just one language God says that nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. What does that say about our creative ability? Hence God creates the nations each with its own language.
“Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
Once God had decided to establish His own nation, Israel, we learn that God gifted and called Bezalel to be a skilled laborer, a master craftsman, and a God-glorifying artist. Bezalel and Oholiab were not only to create works of art but also to train apprentices to do so. The gifting and calling were from God:
“He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them master craftsmen and designers”Exodus 35:35
What about today: with the development of the internet, the communication problem that God initiated at Babel is now largely overcome and new technology is being developed at lightning speed in energy, healthcare, agriculture, communication, transport, and in fact every area of activity.
I believe there is no reason why this will not continue during Jesus’ reign in the Millennium. However, its development will be controlled by Jesus and the Saints who the Bible says will be ruling in this transition era with a rod of iron.
“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,” Revelation 2:26
“She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron,” Revelation 12:5
“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
In this post let us look briefly at ENERGY and TRANSPORT
ENERGY: NUCLEAR FUSION
A UK-based company called First Light Fusion came up with an idea to build a nuclear fusion reactor that hits nuclear fuel pack with a projectile, having a speed 200 times more than that of sound and releases enormous heat, which gets absorbed by lithium that transfers heat to water through the heat exchanger. The reactor will repeat the process of hitting the fuel pack with the projectile every 30 seconds, resulting in generating a pulse of energy that could generate 5800kWh of electric energy. They plan to put the first commercial nuclear fusion technology power plant within a budget of $1 billion, generating 150MW power.
A major group of American scientists has agreed to work toward opening a nuclear fusion plant by the 2040s. The timeframe is intentional, letting scientists work on and learn from giant projects like Europe’s ITER and China’s EAST before designing a prototype of a fusion plant for the United States.
TRANSPORT: FUEL CELLS
Like batteries, fuel cells generate electricity, meaning that any car that runs off a fuel cell is actually an electric car. Also, like batteries, fuel cells mix two chemicals that react to produce an electric current. However, the important difference with fuel cells is that, unlike batteries, they do not store energy internally. Rather, they have their “fuel” fed directly into the battery “cell”, thus the term fuel cell.
The most likely fuel cell is the Hydrogen Fuel Cell. There are others in development. In the case of the hydrogen fuel cell, the two chemicals that react together are stored hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen. When reacted together they produce water. So if you have a hydrogen car, you can drink its exhaust. Also, fuel cells aren’t limited to smaller vehicles, they can power buses and, even, tractors. Whilst many fuel cells are under development the Polymer Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMF) is one of the big favourites.
The Einride Pod driverless truck will begin operating for the first time on a U.S. public highway. The vehicles will have to stick to a defined route during a limited test program.
This short video is helpful in understanding what the Bible says about what is coming next for this world. Because it is short it does not address some of the big questions. It does answer one of the purposes of the Millennial Kingdom and that is God has not fulfilled all of the promises He made to the nation He established for His purposes. God will have His Messiah ruling and reigning over all the nations from His city, Jerusalem, and His nation Israel. God has unfinished business for Israel and its Messiah on this earth.
However, the main purpose of the Millennium is to prepare the Nations and Saints for the Father coming in the fullness of His glory to a new earth. The millennial Kingdom is a transition period.
Revelation 21:1-4 “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.”
Writing about the Millennial Kingdom, Paul stated, “Then comes the end [of the Millennial Kingdom], when He [Jesus] hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power [it will take time to do this]. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet”
1 Corinthians 15:24-25 “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
We know it is a transition period because even with Jesus and the resurrected Saints ruling the nations and Satan and his demons bound in the Abyss when he is released Satan is still able to raise an army of rebellious humans their number like the sand of the sea.
“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
Just as God appointed Italy’s new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, its first female prime minister (see recent post “Italians Made Wise Choice“), whose focus is on protecting the institutions of God, family, and country, we now have the new UK Prime Minister Liz Truss pledged “wholehearted” support for the Jewish State during a speech at the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) conference on Monday.
“I am so pleased to be here for the first time at the CFI event as your prime minister,” Truss was quoted as saying by the Jewish Chronicle.
“As you know I am a huge Zionist, I am a huge supporter of Israel, and I know that we can take the UK-Israel relationship from strength to strength.”
Prime Minister Yair Lapid meets with UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, September 21, 2022,
“In this world – where we are facing threats from authoritarian regimes who don’t believe in freedom and democracy – two free democracies, the UK and Israel, need to stand shoulder to shoulder and we will be even closer in the future,” she said.
Truss stressed that her country’s support for Israel is “absolute” and “wholehearted,” while adding that the UK and its allies would ensure that Iran “will never…get a nuclear weapon.”
During a meeting with Prime Minister Yair Lapid last month, Truss mentioned that the UK is weighing moving its embassy – which is currently located in Tel Aviv – to Jerusalem.
God reestablished Israel as a nation back in 1948 as part of His “end times” plan and He has used leaders like Trump and now Truss to support His plan. We know from Biblical prophecy that Israel will suffer greatly under the Antichrist and as many as 2/3 of the population killed or deported but ultimately Jesus will return to rescue His nation at the battle of Armageddon and set up His Millennial Kingdom in a completely restored Jerusalem.
“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 20:4-6
Albert Wolters concisely and persuasively demonstrates that God’s plan for righteous humanity to live on and reign over an uncursed earth was not thwarted by Satan or by man’s sin. God never revoked or abandoned His original great commission for us to rule on a perfect earth to His glory. The last chapters of the Bible promise that His original design—as revealed in the first chapters and greatly enhanced and magnified through Christ’s work—will indeed be fulfilled on the New Earth. Having fallen on mankind’s coat-tails, Earth will rise on our coat-tails—resurrected humanity will occupy and rule a resurrected earth. This is the full gospel of the Kingdom, and it is vital to a biblical worldview, which alone explains the Bible’s description of Christians as those who are “looking forward to a new heaven and new earth.”
Al Wolters writes, “[God] hangs on to his fallen original creation and salvages it. He refuses to abandon the work of his hands—in fact, he sacrifices his own Son to save his original project. Humankind, which has botched its original mandate and the whole creation along with it, is given another chance in Christ; we are reinstated as God’s managers on earth. The original good creation is to be restored.”
Moreover, prior to the White Throne judgement and the new heaven and the new earth, the promises God made to Israel that their Messiah will rule and reign from Jerusalem over all the nations will also be fulfilled in Jesus during His Millennial reign after the battle of Armageddon and Satan is bound in the Abyss for 1000 years.
“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.” Revelation 20: 2-3
“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 20:4-5
To my knowledge, Albert Walters does not address Jesus’ Millennial reign prior to the White Throne judgement. Nevertheless, Albert’s other penetrating insights help us to stop redefining the gospel in narrow and shallow, and individualistic terminology and assumptions that discredit the breadth and depth of God’s redemptive plan.
Regardless of theological leanings, anyone reading this book will undoubtedly find it a treasure trove.
God’s reasons for the Millennial Kingdom (www.millennialkingdom.net)
The purpose of the thousand-year reign is to allow for the fulfillment of the promises God made with Jesus, Israel, the Saints, and Creation to vindicate His Holy name. These Scriptures make it abundantly evident that God has unfinished business with Israel and this world, His creation.
“Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.“Ezekiel 36:22-24
“So, when they (disciples) had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” Acts 1:6–7
This verse clearly indicates that Jesus is yet to come to restore the Kingdom to Israel. The Millennium is the prophetic climax of God’s overarching redemptive agenda. His completed promises to Israel, found in the unconditional covenants, will be on full display before a world of believers and unbelievers alike.
Soon after the birth of the Body of Christ at Pentecost (Acts 2), Peter spoke these words to his fellow Jews from Solomon’s Portico
“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.” Acts 3:10-21
“But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.” 1 Corinthians 15:23-25
The Messiah must reign over his kingdom until he has defeated all of his enemies. Once this is accomplished, Jesus will hand over the kingdom to the Father. When the Kingdom of God is handed over to the Father, it will be free of sin and death, identifying it as the Eternal State (Revelation 21:4, 8).
Promises to King Jesus
The Millennium is all about Jesus. He will reign supreme. “Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11
In Psalm 110, David records the promises that God (The Father) made to Jesus. God the Father invites Jesus to sit at His right hand until He makes Jesus’ enemies a footstool. Jesus will rule over, judge, and shatter His enemies while His people worship Him freely. This combination of judging enemies and being worshiped by the faithful cannot happen in the eternal heaven, because in heaven there will be no sin or rebellion to judge.
In Daniel 7:11-14, Jesus is given dominion over all the people, nations, and languages before His enemies are permanently destroyed.
JESUS FIRST COMING TO EARTH
JESUS SECOND COMING TO EARTH
Promises to Israel
God’s covenant with Abraham was unilateral (one-sided) it was unconditional and it remains unfulfilled as does the Davidic Covenant and the New Covenant.
The Abrahamic Covenant: Numbers 34:1-12 outlines the exact borders Israel is to possess; the nation of Israel has yet to encompass these specific boundaries.
“On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring, I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” Genesis 15:18-20
“Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” Exodus 19:5-6
The legitimacy and authenticity of Judaism come from the fact that the entire nation was a part of the revelation. God spoke to the entire nation at Mt. Sinai. And these words that He spoke are yet to be fulfilled
Even before they went into the Promised Land Moses told them their entire checkered history, including their being cast out of the land and dispersed throughout the nations but also the end of the story when God would regather them and their Messiah will rule the nations and they will be a people, “holy to the Lord your God”.
“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.” Deuteronomy 28:1
“And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them,” Deuteronomy 28:13
“And the Lord has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as He has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, and that He will set you in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations that He has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the Lord your God, as He promised.” Deuteronomy 26:18-19
“And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and He will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.” Deuteronomy 30:1-3
“And the Lord yourGod will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” Deuteronomy 30:5-6
The Davidic Covenant: 2 Samuel 7 is the promise that God made to David that David’s heir would sit on the throne of Israel. Jesus is that heir, but He has yet to take His physical, political birthright.
The New Covenant: It outlines the promise that Israel as a nation will return to God and worship their Messiah. These covenants will be fulfilled during the 1000-year reign.
“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, 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… 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.” Jeremiah 31:31-33
“And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.”Isaiah 59:21
The Mystery of Israel’s Salvation
Moses was told on Mt Sinai to speak these words to the people of Israel just before God spoke directly to the entire nation. Israel has yet to be that nation but it will fulfill this prophecy in the Millennium.
Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” Genesis 19:5-6
Paul confirms all of these O.T. prophecies with these two Scriptures.
Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”Romans 11:25-27
“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.” Acts 3:19-21
MAP OF ISRAEL TODAY
MAP OF ISRAEL IN MILLENNIUM
Promises to the Saints
Daniel 7:11-14 says that Jesus will be given dominion over all the nations. The whole world will know God.
“for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah 11:9
In addition to Jesus’ rule over the nations, His resurrected Saints will be given positions of authority to rule with Him.
“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
“When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know thatthe saints will judge the world?” 1 Corinthians 6:1-2
Promises to Creation
Jesus’ sovereignty will extend beyond human political systems and into all of creation. The curse will be partially lifted. Animals will live in peace again in Israel.
“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain.” Isaiah 11:6-9
“And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.” Isaiah 33:24
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water;” Isaiah 35:5-7
One of the parables Jesus told the disciples when they asked Him about “what shall be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3) was the Parable of the talents.
This parable demonstrates clearly that God expects us to be productive with the money He gives us in this life in accordance with the natural abilities He has given us.
Note both men who were successful, the one given five talents and the one given three talents, both receive the same commendation “Well done, good and faithful servant: you have been faithful over a little, I will make you ruler over much: enter you into the joy of the lord.” Matthew 25:21
Ninety percent of serving is just showing up, so being faithful means being available. One person that doesn’t show up is one person who won’t serve. That means more for someone else to do, so just showing up is essential to being a faithful servant. If you think what you are doing is insignificant, don’t miss the fact that Jesus said that if “You have been faithful over a little,” He “will set you over much,” so you might “Enter into the joy of your master” (Matt 25:21). Your faithfulness doesn’t depend on how little or how much you have, but on what you do with it. Are you faithful in showing up and in using what you have been given by God?
What you will be doing in Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom depends upon how faithful you are with what God has given you in this life.
I hope this gives you cause to consider what you are doing now and call on the Holy Spirit to help you get on track with the time you have left before Jesus returns, first to rapture His church and pour out His wrath upon the unrepentant, prior to setting up His transitional Millennial Kingdom on this earth.
“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 20:6
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 