The Messiah's Reign
We are to look forward to the time
when the Lord Jesus Christ will
rule on earth and there will be world peace.
Here's Gene:
Isaiah lived during a period in Judah's history where people were turning away from God.
We see this, really, throughout the book. And what he wrote here had to be very painful.
Now remember he lived in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem was his city. His hometown, as it where. Where he grew up.
Where he raised his family, his two sons.
But notice what the Lord inspired him to write:
The faithful city--what an adulteress she has become! ...
Think of that. And when you see adultery used as a metaphor of Israel or Judah, it means being unfaithful.
Now literally, they became unfaithful in terms of their morality.
But they became unfaithful
to God the Father, the one who called them. And they went after false gods.
And the Old Testament refers to that as spiritual adultery.
...what an adulteress she has become!
She was once full of justice.
Righteousness once dwelt in her--
but now, murderers!
And that's literal.
One of the kings that came next
was Manasseh--after Hezekiah.
And Isaiah's life flowed over into his reign as well. Though it's not mentioned at the
beginning among those four.
And we read in the Bible that during the time of Manasseh, blood flowed through the streets
of Jerusalem because of murder and this kind of horrible activity.
In fact, some believe that this is when Isiah himself was a martyr.
Some say, traditionally, he was sawn [sawed] in two because of his commitment to the Word of God.
And again, it's hard to even believe.
And these are the people of God
that are bringing this kind of evil
on those who are faithful.
Trying to proclaim the truth of the one who said:
Come and let's talk about this.
Though your sins are as scarlet,
they can become as white as snow [Is 1:18].
And so here he's writing--Isaiah is writing about the present situation.
But he gives a future prophecy that is amazing, phenomenal.
In Isaiah chapter 2, verses 2 to 4:
In the last days the mountain of the
Lord's house will be established
at the top of the mountains
and will be raised above the hills. ...
And here he's talking about the
temple of the Lord in Jerusalem.
Has that happened? Has it ever happened? No.
Not in this sense. Temple's been rebuilt.
But notice what else he says
that goes along with this:
...all nations will stream to it and
many people will come and say
"Come, let us go up to the mountain
of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. ...
Has that ever happened? All nations? Never.
What is in existence today?
Israel today is surrounded by nations
that want to wipe them off of the face of the earth.
They're not coming to Israel. They're not coming to the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
This has never been fulfilled.
Will it be fulfilled? Yes, it will.
Notice, we read on:
...He will teach us about His ways
so that we may walk in His paths. ...
This is the will of God that is spoken
from the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.
...For instruction will go out of Zion
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Zion refers probably to the whole area in Jerusalem.
The temple of the Lord is built there
on what now is the Temple Mount,
which is occupied with a mosque.
Someday, according to the future prophecies,
the house of the Lord will be rebuilt.
Probably right in that area.
Some debate that it doesn't have to be
exactly there because the dimensions
are not accurate in terms
of where the mosque is located.
That great golden dome.
That it could be built somewhere close to that.
Some say it's going to be built
exactly where that is--that mosque is.
So there are some mysteries.
But we know that someday
these prophecies will come true.
He will settle disputes among the nations...
Whoa. The nations surrounding Israel.
God is going to settle those disputes
because Jesus Christ will be
reigning on the throne of David.
He will settle disputes among the nations,
provide arbitration for many peoples.
They will turn their swords into plows,
their spears into pruning knives.
And nations will not take up the
sword against other nations,
and they will never again train for war.
Has that ever happened?
No. But someday it will.
Now, the apostle John projects ahead
and gives us a little more information,
I think, about this period of time.
And it's called the millennial kingdom.
And personally, I believe in a literal millennial kingdom.
There are some of my good brothers in Christ,
believe that the promises of Israel are
fulfilled in the church.
And today we're living during this millennial time.
But I have a difficult time fitting in
all the other information and comparing it
with what's happening today in our world.
And in doing so, they do away with
all the promises, in a sense,
that were made to Israel.
It's called replacement theology.
I believe through Scripture,
God has a plan--
a future plan for Israel and then for
the whole body of Christ.
And all believers.
And here's what John saw:
Then I saw an angel coming down
from heaven with the key to the abyss
and a great chain in his hand.
He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent
who is the Devil and Satan,
and bound him for a thousand years. ...
Now, if Jesus Christ is going to be reigning
on the throne of David in Jerusalem--
and all the nations are coming for help,
and guidance, and wisdom--
then Satan is not going to be that active.
And the reason is he's bound.
And it says a thousand years.
That's why we call it the millennium--
the millennial reign of Christ.
That thousand years means a millennium.
And I personally believe it'll be a thousand years.
I have no other reason to believe
that it's not literal.
He threw him. That is: God threw him (that is Satan)
into the abyss, close it,
put a seal on it so that he would
no longer deceive the nations until
the thousand years were completed.
After that he must be released for a short time.
Now, let me say something here that
I think is very helpful in understanding
the earth at that time.
I believe, it will be a renewed earth.
Something's going to happen when
Jesus Christ returns the second time,
sets His foot there on the Mount of Olives.
The mountain is split.
There are going to be some geographical changes.
And the interesting thing is that
one of the prophets says that
they'll be fishing out of the Dead Sea.
If you know anything about the Dead Sea,
there's no fish in that sea.
There's nothing alive in the Dead Sea.
There's going to be some kind of
incredible reconfiguration. I'd like to call it a renewed earth
during this period of time.
Now, there's going to come a new heavens and a new earth.
But what we're looking at here is
prior to that event when finally
there will be eternity.
A new heavens and a new earth.
Look at this question that relates to this principle:
Since we have access to the total biblical story...
And again, isn't that significant
that we live during this period of time?
Since we have access to the
total biblical story, what are some
of God's future plans for humanity that
we can understand much more clearly
than Isaiah and other Old Testament prophets?
Well, here are just a few that I've noted.
One is we can differentiate between the first
and second coming of Christ.
And that's something that Isaiah
probably didn't understand.
It's like two mountain peaks.
And you've probably heard this illustration.
When you look at these two mountain peaks
in a distance, you don't see
any gap between them.
In fact, they look as one until you get up
and you see there's a huge valley
between those two mountains.
But at a distance, they look as one.
But actually, what Isaiah didn't see
was what really happened between
those two mountain peaks.
The first coming and the second coming.
And that relates to the church--
the body of Jesus Christ.
And that leads me to another observation.
We understand the mystery of the church.
Isaiah didn't understand that as far as we know.
He did not understand this 2,000 years-- plus whatever--of the body of Jesus Christ.
The family of God. Both Jews and
Gentiles as a family of God--
the body of Jesus Christ.
We understand that.
We also understand that the church
will be removed someday.
Probably introduce us to what Daniel
calls the 70th week.
And you can go to Daniel and look at
the principles related to that.
Where God once again picks up
His plan for Israel once the church is removed from the earth.
We can understand that from the New Testament.
Some details we don't understand.
Sometimes we get a little overzealous,
I think, in trying to interpret it all.
But we can have a general understanding:
the church will be removed.
It's quite clear.
And then we can understand that God will fulfill His promises to Israel.
I personally believe that all the promises
that God made to Israel will be fulfilled in the future.
And particularly during this millennial reign of Christ.
And of course, the other thing we
understand that I don't think Isaiah
understood is: we understand eternity.
We understand that there's going to be,
eventually, a new heavens and a new earth,
which will be the place of God's abode for eternity.
So here's the principle:
We are to look forward to the time
when the Lord Jesus Christ will
rule on earth and there will be world peace.
And one of the reasons we can
look forward to that, which boggles my mind,
is the Bible teaches that those of us
who know Christ--a part of the family of God--
will be ruling and reigning with Christ
during this thousand-year reign.
Then of course, will come the end
and then we're ushered into eternity.