The return of Jesus and defeat of the Beast
(19:11-21, 14:14-20)
John relates three pictures of the coming of Jesus. We saw two in chapter 14. The picture here is of an invading army, with Jesus at the head of it. He has gathered His troops together, and on the day of battle He is the hands-down favorite. It’s all over in a short time. No other passages in Revelation even come near to describing an actual return of Jesus Christ. There is no hint of a secret coming, and no need of one! The Marriage Supper is announced, Jesus leaves Heaven accompanied by the saints and comes to earth conquering all who stand in His path. Zechariah sees the same thing. Jesus talks about it. Paul and Peter see it. And, from the beginning of this final book, there have been constant hints about the return of Christ:
1:7, “Behold He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, and they also who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him…”
1:8, “...the Lord...Who is to come”
2:25, “Hold fast what you have till I come.”
3:11, “Behold I come quickly.”
11:17, “The One Who is to come...You have taken your great power and reigned…”
14:14-20, The earth is “harvested” and “reaped” by “One like the Son of Man.”
16:15, “Behold I am coming as a thief.”
And now it happens. Yes, this is the only time Jesus comes to earth. This is the only time Heaven is opened to release the Living Word. This is the only time the full army of Heaven is seen with Jesus.
And is there any question as to the identity of this coming King? The Spirit has framed the entire event in language from other parts of Revelation, the prophets, the apostles. This is Jesus. He is:
• Faithful and True (19:11), as in 3:14, introducing Himself to the Laodiceans.
• Righteous Judge and Warrior (19:11), as in Isaiah 11:4.
• possessed of eyes as a flame of fire (19:12), as in 1:14.
• crowned with many crowns (19:12). When the seventh angel sounded (11:15) it was announced that this world’s Kingdoms became the Christ’s. All of them. Here He is seen wearing the crowns He so richly deserves.
• said to have His own special Name (19:12), unknown to anyone but Himself. Well, in verse 13 His Name is “Word of God” but we know that Name. In verse 16, the Name written on Him is “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” But we know that Name too. What is that secret Name? That is for Him to know. His own people have been promised a unique name also, in 2:17.
• clothed with the blood-dipped Robe (19:13). No, that is not His own blood from Calvary. Isaiah 63:2-3 lines up with Revelation 14 and this passage to let us know that Jesus will personally judge sin at His coming and create an unprecedented blood-bath among the nations. He is seen in this robe in anticipation of what He is about to do but also because of what He has been allowing to happen for all time. He is the One who judges sin. His is the control of the universe after all.
• the Word of God (19:13), as from John’s own Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was God...and the Word became flesh” (John 1:1, 14).
• united to His church (19:14). In Matthew 24:31, the elect are “gathered from the four winds.” I Thessalonians 4:14-17 says God will bring with Him “those who sleep in Jesus.” And, “The dead in Christ shall rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” And in I Corinthians 15:51-52, “We shall all be changed in a moment...at the last trumpet” (aka the seventh trumpet). I submit to the church members who read this document that there is absolutely no conflict between the verses I have just quoted and the scene John paints of the second coming of the Lord. I submit further that there is not one reason to take those former verses out of their normal context and make them apply to anything but that second coming.
• wielding the Sword that strikes the nations (19:15). Isaiah 11:4b, "He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked." The Sword is the Word that comes out of His mouth : The Word of God is even sharper than a natural sword (Hebrews 4:12).
• ruling with a rod of iron (19:15). In Psalm 2:8, Messiah is told, “Ask of Me [the Father] and I will give You the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them [the nations] with a rod of iron.” The male child of Revelation 12:5, supervising the overcomers of 2:27, is scheduled to control, absolutely, the planet.
• the Treader of the winepress (19:15). Again, Isaiah 63:3, “I have trodden the winepress alone.” This very scene has been played out in chapter 14, a holocaust of unprecedented proportions. Flesh for birds to eat.
• King of Kings and Lord of Lords (19:16). Make no mistake. He is coming to reign, and reign totally, supremely. The kings of earth, as Nebuchadnezzar of old (Daniel 2:47), will learn who He is as their kingdom is ripped from them and given to Jesus. Only He will be King in that day. For a reference to this grand fact, see Psalms such as 2, 10, and 45.
Now that we know Who He is, and what claim to authority He makes, let us see what He does (19:17-18): We were led to believe that the 4th and 5th bowl judgments did away with the sun for a short period just before the return of Jesus. But here an angel stands in the sun. Perhaps the damage to the sun was temporary. Or perhaps the angel is standing in John’s sky of the first century painting the picture of the supper of flesh.
The strange announcement given to birds is not new to the Scriptures. 700 years earlier God had told Ezekiel to speak to those winged creatures also (39:17 ff): “Assemble yourselves and come… Gather together from all sides to my sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you… on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You shall eat the flesh of the mighty...you shall be filled at My table with horses and riders, with mighty men and with all the men of war.” Much of this is word for word like the passage before us.
Here then is the link between Ezekiel’s end-time war (Ezekiel 38-39), and John’s. There are other connections. Ezekiel says this conflict will be in “the latter years”, will involve European nations, names of which match the table of such places in Genesis 10. Daniel agrees, mentioning the “king of the north” and “tidings out of the north” that trouble the end-time king (Daniel 11). A “great earthquake” is part of the scenario (Ezekiel 38:19) and the fact that “the nations shall know that I am the Lord.” Yes, the King of Kings will indeed take His crowns, as we have already seen. “I will set my glory among the nations” (38:21) is the promise given. Ezekiel and John saw the same day, the coming of Armageddon.
We have seen the approach of Jesus in verses 11-16. Now comes anti-Jesus against Him (19:19). The incredible thing about the confrontation of verses 19-21 is that the enemy of our souls believes he really can, with the powers given him by God, defeat God. Here is tremendous pride, of the sort that leads to eternal destruction, self-esteem taken to its ultimate. With demonic aid, he will summon the earth’s kings to a war. They will respond. His intention will be to attack Jesus and the entire church as they descend together! He will be utterly crushed. Obviously most copies of the Scriptures, that tell of all this in plain detail, will not be a major factor in the world’s population. The Bible will probably have been destroyed or ignored for many years. Only the few saints left (see Daniel 12 for a description of the blessed ones at the end) will know and understand what is happening.
So here sits the little horn, thinking he is a big horn, “the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain” (Daniel 11). The nations rage (Psalm 2:1 ff)! The people plot a vain thing! “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His Anointed!” What is their thinking? The same as always: “Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us!”
And Heaven’s response? Psalm 2:4, “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath: ‘I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.’ ”
Then the beast is captured and with the false prophet thrown into the lake of fire (19:20). Or as Daniel says it, “He shall come to his end, and no one will help him” (11:45). There follows in Daniel an unequaled time of trouble, the coming of Jesus, resurrections, judgments, etc. Just like what is about to happen here in Revelation. The prophets agree.
What next? With the two leaders gone, the battle, such as it was, and it wasn’t, is over. It’s time now to kill everyone else in the same way: the sword that proceeds from Jesus’ mouth (19:21), His sharp and mighty Word. Now comes that slaughter of millions upon millions gathered to oppose Jesus. Kings, captains, mighty men, horses, horse-riders, free, slaves fighting to be free, small, great. These were the ones who so hated Jesus Christ that when the call from demons came to replace Christ as Lord of the Earth once and for all, they responded. They are all now dead. The only sound you can hear is the noisy squawking of preying birds enjoying the feast of a lifetime.
Next we will enter into the description of life after Jesus’ return.
The One Thousand Years
(20:1-6)
The flow of chronology has been restored to the Revelation at this point. There is no need for close-ups now, or set changes. Events flow one after the other as Mystery Babylon is now gone, Jesus has now come, the antichrist and his spiritual side-kick are swimming in a lake of fire. Now comes an angel from heaven (20:1) to the pit that has featured so significantly in the story. In chapter 9 the angel given the key to the pit seems to be fallen and not in ordinary possession of such things. He is given the name “Destroyer” later in the chapter. We watched as that angel released to the world evil creatures that tormented men. Then we noted (17:8) that there is in our day a man who once lived on the planet , who is waiting to ascend from this same pit in the last days. We read that he will come, deceive the nations, and be destroyed, in that order.
His destruction we have just witnessed (19:20), even as we chronicled his activities as deceiver. Now the pit is wanting another resident. This transfer is accomplished by an angel that seems to have been restored to the office of gate-keeper of the pit. Never again will Satan’s forces have free access to earth. Satan himself still lives after the war and needs to be restrained until his services are called for again. The angel merely takes the prisoner, and locks him in (20:2). We are not told how spirit beings are so restrained, but we know they are. He is to be secured for 1000 years (20:3), as the man of sin stayed put for over 2000 years. It is his binding coupled to Christ’s direct rule that will make the Millennium a time of wonder and joy and restoration. His career resumes for a short time (20:7), but before that comes a description of the first resurrection and the wonderful rule of our Lord Jesus .
The First resurrection (20:4-6). It was Jesus Himself who introduced the idea of two resurrections, in John 5:29. He called them the “resurrection of life” and the “resurrection of damnation.” All shall surely be raised from the dead. There is no choice about this. But some shall rise to die no more, to suffer no more, to be totally disconnected from sin forever. Their description in part is in (20:4), and causes thinking believers to tremble.
John sees thrones (20:4). So did Daniel (Daniel 7:27). In that vision the prophet sees that just after the dominion of the little horn is taken away, the kingdom is given to the saints of the most high. This term saints is the one used so often by the apostles of the Lord to refer to true believers in Jesus. To these believers is committed judgment. They shall judge others. That’s what Paul said too, in I Corinthians 6:2-3, reminding us that the time will come when saints will judge the world and even angels. We must also remember though that we shall stand, all of us, before a judgment seat that Christ oversees (II Corinthians 5:10), a preview of which is in Matthew 25, speaking of “when the Son of man comes in His glory.”
So the saints, the believers, are raised to judge others. But John zeroes in on another group here that reminds us of Paul’s statement in Philippians 1:29: “If we suffer with Christ, we shall also reign with Him.” This group is the martyrs. We may have already seen them back in 7:9, arrayed in white robes. They are described as those who refused to worship the beast whether by image or mark. They had therefore been beheaded. You say, how widespread is that practice today? Does it exist at all? Yes it does. Saudi Arabia in particular leans toward this and stoning as its primary methods of doing away with evil-doers. A couple more Muslim countries and one African also use this method, but very scarcely. Is Islam on its way to ascendancy? Will Islamic rule with its beheadings be the means of many believers going to be with Jesus? Saints and martyrs together reign with Christ. Who among us is following Jesus in this way today, willing to suffer and give our lives away totally? Muslims do it regularly in response to a lie. Are we ready to suffer for the Truth?
1000 years is now mentioned again (20:4-6). It is the time of the binding of Satan and the time of the reign of the saints. Let no one call it a figurative number when it is used so often in this chapter. I believe it is the Earth’s seventh day, the sabbath rest of a planet that worked its way to judgment. After six long 1000-year periods of man’s rule, we shall see how the planet ought to have been governed, in its final day.
There are the unsaved dead still to be dealt with (20:5-6). Theirs is the resurrection of damnation. Their fate is discussed in 20:12. Meanwhile the Millennium is beginning and will blossom more year after year. This is the time that the prophets saw, and maybe even a little more. Holy and blessed saints rule with Jesus. They have their new bodies while the rest of the planet continues in their old ones. It is here that a flood of prophecies enter in to let us know exactly what life will be like in that day.
In July of 2001, I was intensely involved in a study of “the kingdom of God”. That Kingdom is spiritual, but also physical. That kingdom is in the Old testament and in the New and now in the Spirit. But our future is a literal Kingdom with a literal King from the line of David sitting on a literal Throne in Jerusalem. In the process of studying out our glorious future I was able to piece together a profile of that wonderful time. I include here some appropriate pages from that book , The Kingdom Handbook...
The horrid day of judgment ends, the new day dawns, the Lord of hosts begins His glorious reign, the desert rejoices, the Lord arises, restoration is the work of the coming centuries, there is great deliverance, the past is forgotten. We shall now discuss the elements of this new day.
The 1000 Years.
With everyone talking about a “Millennium”, you would think that the word is sprinkled all over Holy Writ. In fact you will never find it. The prophets describe the age which we later identify as the 1000 years. Jesus ignores such a time frame altogether. Not until Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is there a hint in the New Testament that something comes between our day and the eternal one. In 15:20-28 is his classic delineation of the resurrections. Christ is resurrected first. Then come Christ’s people. Then , the end when Jesus delivers the kingdom (what kingdom?) to the Father. The explanation of the kingdom is that time when Jesus shall reign, destroying one enemy after the other, much like David did in His day. David is even associated with this Millennial reign by prophetic greats Jeremiah (30:9) and Ezekiel (34:23-24, 37:24-25). The last enemy to be destroyed is death, and yes, death and dying are part of this final reign (Isaiah 65:20).
But it is not until John, the last Bible writer, in one of his last chapters (Revelation 20:1-7), that the number “1000” is attached to the Kingdom as a time limit. Putting it all together, we have to
go back into the text and realize that there is a special time on earth for the reign of Jesus, and an ensuing time for the reign of the Father, on a new earth! This can get so tricky at times that some researchers have preferred to write off a literal millennium altogether. I feel this is dangerous, and sets a man up to be rebuked by the Lord, for even the smallest aberration from the revealed truth will earn such rebukes.
Knowledge of the 1000 years causes us to go back and insert it into passages we had before considered simple, and which were taught in simplicity to give an overall picture of the truth being communicated. Jesus’ talk of the resurrection of life and the resurrection of damnation in John 5, must be understood as separated. This style is in keeping with the Old Testament prophets who saw the first and second coming of Christ as nearly one event, hardly mentioning the long church age between. II Peter 3 says that it is in the “day of the Lord” that the heavens pass away, everything is burned up, and we look for a new heavens and earth. There’s 1000 years in that statement. Peter sums it up very neatly. Even Daniel saw that many who “sleep” (bodily) in the dust (souls-spirits are not in the dust!) will awake in that day, some to everlasting life, some to everlasting contempt (12:2). But John puts those resurrections 1000 years apart!
Where?
In a classic passage of the return in victory of our Lord Jesus Christ, the very place of His touch-down is recorded. Zechariah in chapter 14 gives in vivid detail the geography of our future. He says that the day of the Lord is coming. He repeats the oft-spoken theme that all nations will be gathered to battle against Jerusalem. There will be another captivity. After horrific plagues spoken of by other prophets, the Lord Himself descends and His feet touch the very Mt. of Olives where he had ascended so long before. The impact of that landing will split the mount in two, allowing a place for those who need to, to flee. Then there are the signs in the heavens, the river of life is opened, the Lord becomes King over all the earth. But from Jerusalem. At that time, adds Jeremiah (3:17) Jerusalem shall be called “The Throne of the Lord.” All the nations shall be gathered to it! They will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart. The Gentiles will be gathered to the capital city of the earth, the new Jerusalem. ..
The New Jerusalem is the logical outcome of the New Covenant, the expanded Israel which takes in whosoever will, Jew and Gentile alike. She is the reigning capital of the New Earth, but will reign over the kingdoms of the world that have real names that we recognize.
The host of Scriptures that point out Jerusalem as the center of this world’s future begins with the Psalms (2:6). Yet have I set My King on My holy hill of Zion. The “hill” theme is consistent throughout. See Psalm 24:3 and Revelation 21:12 (on the new earth). The gates of Psalm 24:3 are also found in Revelation 21:12. Psalm 48 mentions the City of our God, and the holy mountain thereof. Psalm 99:9 invites us to worship at His Holy Hill. So Psalm 132:13-14. Then comes Isaiah talking about a “mountain” that shall be established on top of the mountains, to which all nations shall flow. See Isaiah 25:6, 26:1, 35:10, 40:1, 52:1, and 66:12-13.
Then there is Ezekiel who also mentions a holy mountain (20:40). And in 40:2 he himself is taken to a very high mountain, to see the structure of a city and a special house inside of it. In 43 he sees the eastern gate, the inner court, the place of God’s Throne “where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever.” Now Revelation 21:3, speaking of the new heavens and the new earth, likewise talks of the “tabernacle” or dwelling-place, of God being with man. I believe the same basic city will be visible at both times. I believe Ezekiel’s vision refers to the Millennium because of his mention of a temple, absent in the New Earth’s City, and his insistence on the literal David being present to reign under Christ.
Ezekiel is given a vision of the rest of the holy land of those days, roughly the size of David’s old Kingdom, with Jerusalem being 10-12 miles in every direction, according to Revelation. See Ezekiel 47-48.
The Revelation City, like Ezekiel’s, has high walls, 3 gates on each side (Ezekiel 40:6 ff, Revelation 21:12 ) with tribal names (Ezekiel 48:30, Revelation 21:12). There are healing waters and trees. One can imagine the need for the healing of the nations after the pollution of what seems to be a nuclear war on the planet (Ezekiel 47:1-12, Revelation 22:1-2).
Ezekiel tells us further that the whole area surrounding the mountaintop is holy. No foreigners, uncircumcised, allowed in, Revelation 21:27. There is a special place for the “prince” and the Lord, Ezekiel 44:1-3, 45:6-8. And for priests, 45:1-5.
Is “New Jerusalem” identifiable by both John and Ezekiel? Ezekiel’s City has a temple, but not John’s. One has day and night, not the other. I believe Jerusalem which is above is the same city throughout, with variations that fit the situation. Ezekiel saw her in her Millennial Phase. John saw her in her New Earth Phase. Right now she is in her heavenly preparation Phase. But the streets of gold are still there, along with the tree of life, the water of life, and whatever else is needed to make a heavenly city. Both John and Ezekiel saw these features. What a wonderful future is ours!
Who is There?
It may be a shock to some to realize that there are several categories of persons who will be present on that great day of the Lord.
First and foremost will be Jesus Himself.
Yes, the Father is always present when Jesus is here, but these 1000 years will be especially the Son’s, per I Corinthians 15. Only at the end of this Kingdom does the Son somehow give all to the Father. This is a mystery somewhat beyond us now, but we’ll have 1000 years to learn how it will happen.
Jesus will be accompanied by the angels .
So it says in every passage talking of His coming, Matthew 13:40,41, 24:31, 25:31, I Thessalonians 4:16, Revelation 19:17, 20:1.
The holy people.
They are not only on the earth, but on the hill, in the City. Psalm 24: 3-6 takes on a new light as we see a literal hill before us, allowed to be ascended by only a literal people with clean hands and a pure heart, the generation of those who seek His face. It brings us to Revelation 21:27, talking of the same city in a new world, telling us that nothing that defiles will ever enter that place, only those who are in the Lamb’s Book of Life. These are people that (22:14) do his commandments, and therefore have right to the tree of life, and to enter at will into the City.
Daniel is told (12:12) that a blessed group of people will “wait and come to the 1335 days.” The end of the tribulation period. These are the ones who make it all the way. They are given special honor for special endurance. Who among us is worthy of this position, we who must have our comforts and our pleasures and our distractions?
Then there are the 144,000.
A Jewish remnant. I start the tracing of this group in Isaiah 4:2. In that day the Branch (Jesus) shall be beautiful, the fruit of the earth excellent for those of Israel who have escaped. 1:9 talks about how the Lord in His mercy left us a very small remnant. If not, annihilation like Sodom. Isn’t that what Jesus said, Except those days be shortened…but for the elect’s sake, they shall be shortened. Is the Jewish remnant in mind here? There they are again in 10:20-23: The remnant of Israel will never again depend on him who defeated them, but will depend on the Lord. Saved Jews. At the end of all things. The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob. For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them will return…An escaping remnant is likewise mentioned in 37:32 and 66:19. In that last passage the escapees are sent out to the nations to declare His glory to the Gentiles! They shall actually bring people physically to the City of God in that day! A rescued remnant used to preach for Messiah during the reign.
And don’t leave out Ezekiel! (6:8-10) Yet I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries. Those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive...
What about Old Testament saints?
Are O.T. folks a part of this first resurrection and this glorious reign in the City? Of course. Theirs was the first call, and those men who grasped and believed the promises of God are the original elect to whom the Kingdom was given. They were not given the Spirit in the measure given to His church, but the promises are theirs. Ezekiel 37:12-14 spells this out: In explanation of the rising of the dry bones, God says, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land.
Get ready for it! This is going to be a very Jewish kingdom! Not only will Abraham and Jacob and Moses and Joseph and David be there, but Jesus promised that His own Jewish apostles will sit on twelve thrones judging the kingdom! Paul says that Old Testament saints did not receive the promise (Hebrews 11:39, 40) in their day, but only because God was waiting on the rest of us to come in! Don’t rule out the Jew. It is His Kingdom first, then yours. Nevertheless properly grafted Gentiles will be fully operational in that wonderful land of Immanuel. There the King and the Queen rule. The Queen, His bride, is you, in Christ. Notice how the last (Gentiles) become first in receiving the work of the Spirit in its fullness in this church age, while the first (the Jews) will not receive that until they are resurrected.
There’s life outside the city, too.
There are kings and their kingdoms, for the Kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. They will somehow bring glory to the City. This reality demands a closer look and a discernment, to avoid blurring the two entities.
We begin with Daniel who in chapter 2 explains the king’s dream in terms of the nations to follow him, and even their end-time disposition. In 34-35, Nebuchadnezzar is said to have seen a stone cut without hands striking the image of the vision on its feet, representing end time nations. At this time, all the elements of the statue disintegrate. The stone? It becomes a great mountain and fills the world. For at the end of history, a bloody end mind you, the God of heaven sets up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed (2:44) It shall break in pieces and consume all these nations. In 7:11-12, Daniel’s angel tells us that after the final kingdom is destroyed (we believe this to be revived Rome ruled by the man of sin) the other kingdoms (the rest of the world, I take it) , though their dominion is taken away, their lives are prolonged. Gentile nations are allowed to enter, sans leadership, into the millennium.
The Father tells the Son (Psalm 2: 6-9) to ask Him, and He will give Him the nations for His inheritance, and the ends of the earth for His possession. He is in fact to rule these nations with a rod of iron. That’s why nations of today are warned (2:10-12) to get on God’s good side. Especially should nations be a friend to Israel. Though Israel will be punished by God through Gentile nations who are so disposed to hate her anyway, those nations will in turn be punished for touching her. Since just about every nation hates Israel in our day, the conflagration at the end will be nearly universal.
The mention of the rod of iron lets us know that the Gentile nations, though subservient to Christ, and yes, without Satan’s temptations, as he will be bound for the duration, are still not heart-followers of Jesus. Many of these citizens, we know not how many, yet they are as the sand of the sea, will, when once given the Satanic nod at the end of the 1000 years, turn against Christ and be damned forever.
Isaiah has interesting insights about the Gentiles of this day. (56:6-8). The sons (for they shall give birth) of the foreigner (Gentile nation) who joins himself to the Lord, of his own will, will be allowed to come to the mountain where Jesus and the holy people reside. God comments that not only the “outcasts of Israel” but others will be gathered to Him in that day (Isaiah 2).
The difference in people groups is brought out again in Isaiah 61:5. It is indicated that the foreigner will be servant to the people of God, who will be a special priesthood. The saved people will eat the riches of the Gentiles. Honor will be given to God’s people. That is why we must never seek it now.
The classic passage in Isaiah 2 is not for us, but for those special Gentiles allowed to live at this time. All nations will flow to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. Many will come and say, let us go up to the house of the Lord. He will teach us. We will walk in His paths. He shall then judge between the nations, and rebuke many people. Notice it is many, not all. The invitation to come will be ignored even still by some, but these folks will not be in any way a threat to the security of the age. Jesus will rebuke them, and they will straighten up or else! All power will be in Jerusalem. Isaiah later adds in 26:9-14 that when God’s judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Oh yes, there were many other masters in centuries past, even trying to rule in the name of Jesus, but they and their memory are perished.
Out of Jerusalem will be sent those who will go to all the Gentiles and attempt to bring them to the City, Isaiah 66:20. Those who come will fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah 14:16-17, where it says that all who are left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King. And if they do not go up, there will be no rain on their land! Some, it seems, hold out to the end. The Gog-Magog confederation of Ezekiel is perhaps the “northern army” of Joel 2:20. It is this slaughtered army that is being buried for seven months. The remnant is pushed back to a barren and desolate land (as Siberia, for example). Here the hatred for Jesus Christ , it seems, is allowed to fester, and in the very last of days, at the end of the 1000 years, this nation will once more be instrumental in an assault against God’s priorities (Revelation 20).
Individual nations are outlined in Isaiah 19:18-25, and 27:13. Assyria, that we see as extinct today, will be in most favored status in that day, along with Egypt, “My people”, though according to Joel 3:19, Egypt will at first be a desolation, along with most of the world. Egypt is differentiated of course in this passage from Israel, “My inheritance.”
These nations will be willingly, for the most part, subservient to the Kingdom people. Psalm 47:3 and 8 foresee a time when God will subdue the peoples under “us”, sitting on His holy throne, reigning over the nations. Psalm 48 is a similar picture of the elevated Jerusalem having become the joy, and no longer the burden, of the whole earth, because it is the city of the Great King. God is in her palaces now. Terrified kings are seen passing by and marveling! So in Psalm 72:11, and in the oft-quoted Psalm 110, where the Lord says to the Lord (Jesus) to rule in the midst of His enemies! These are the conquered Gentile nations, whose leaders have already been destroyed. Something like post-war Germany without Hitler. Terrified, conforming. For, vs. 5-6, He shall judge among the nations, and execute the heads of many countries.
Though conquered and serving, Zechariah puts the best face on it when he says in 2:10 and 11 that He is coming to dwell in our midst, and many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day. They shall become My people.
Also, could it be, there are sorcerers, sexually immoral, murderers, the crop of evil that Satan will use at the end of 1000 years to lead a rebellion against that City, after he goes on a whirlwind campaign around the earth to deceive the nations again! All this in Revelation 20:7-10. (Here dies the theory that says all unbelievers are dead until the second resurrection, and that all the saints are with Christ in Heaven for that 1000 years.)
Lifestyle:
What will life on earth be like during the millennium? Let’s allow several men to give us their vision of things, to add to the picture we have already drawn above.
Solomon (Psalm 72:2ff) tells us of a time of universal righteousness. Justice for the poor. Peace. No oppression. The needy will be delivered by crying out.
Isaiah (2:3) describes a constant flow of people to Jerusalem, all wanting to know the ways of the Lord. No more war. Agriculture will flourish. The house of the Lord the centerpiece of the world. (11:6ff)Rule by the rod. The wicked killed. Animals all get along. Children safe. The earth full of the knowledge of the Lord. (12:12ff) a place of constant praise. (27:6) fruit everywhere, supplied by Israel. (35:4ff) All blind see, all deaf hear, all lame leap, all dumb speak. The Highway of Holiness opened. Everlasting joy for the ransomed of the Lord. No sorrow, not even sighing. (54:13) All children taught by the Lord. They shall have great peace. (55) Nature in harmony. No briers. (56:7) Burnt offerings restored. God’s house a house of prayer for all nations. (60:5ff) The abundance of the sea will be ours, and the wealth of the Gentiles. People come by air and water to bring gifts to God. Thus Jerusalem’s gates open day and night. Nations that refuse this honor to the Lord shall perish! Yet no violence in the land, for matters will be dealt with immediately, quickly. The sun not our light now? A little one shall become a thousand, a new nation. Birth and death shall continue. (62:2) You will be considered “married” not forsaken (a bride adorned for her husband), (66:23ff) weekly and monthly worship, but able also to see a ghastly reminder of what sin will do.
Jeremiah (31:5ff) Israel to be rebuilt, a people of the dance, a people of vines. Abundance. Some of the measurements of that City are mentioned.
Ezekiel (28:25ff) Build houses, plant vineyards, be secure. (34:25 ff) Animals tamed, people live in safety. Trees abundant. No longer a prey to the nations. A garden of renown to be there. (36:30ff) No famine. You will loathe yourselves as you remember your evil ways. The ruins shall be rebuilt. I will do it, you will pray to me about it. (39:12) First seven months, burial of Gog a type of employment. (40:38-43) a description of the new city and new temple, and sacrifices there. (43:13-27) the new altar (44:10-31) The new priesthood, as Revelation 20:6 mentions that those of the first resurrection will be priests to God! (46:1ff) the Sabbath and the new Moon will be observed, with the other feast days.
Joel (2:26ff) never shame again to the people of God. (3) No aliens pass through Jerusalem again. Much wine, milk, water.
Amos (9:14) Waste cities rebuilt and inhabited. Vineyards, gardens. Never pulled up again.
Obadiah (17) Deliverance and holiness.
Micah (2:12ff) So many sheep that they will make a loud noise. Led by the Lord and their King. (5) He is great to the ends of the earth. He feeds His flock.
Zephaniah (3:19-20) The lame saved and those driven out, appointed to fame and praise.
Zechariah (6:12) Messiah shall build the Temple. He shall rule on His throne, and be a priest also. Those far away shall likewise build the temple. (8:4ff) Old and young sit in streets of Jerusalem, very old. The vine and the ground shall prosper. Fasts to be kept at certain times. Inhabitants of one city shall go to another and say, let’s go to pray and seek the Lord! Many strong nations shall come to seek the Lord in Jerusalem! Ten Gentiles of ten nations will grab a Jew and say, let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. (12:10ff) at the beginning, great mourning as Jews realize who they have rejected. (13:1 ff) Fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. Prophets not accepted. No need to prophesy now that the Lord is here! (14:8ff) living waters flow from Jerusalem. The Lord is King over all the earth. Specific geographical note. Nations that came against Israel, remainders shall worship the Lord in person from year to year. No go, no rain! Holiness to the Lord will be the universal theme.
The Throne(s).
The center of the Kingdom of God has always been the Throne. Psalm 45: 6, Your Throne O God (says the Father to the King, Messiah) is forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.
Isaiah says that the government (of this whole world) will be upon the shoulders of the Son Who is the Father. Of the increase of that government and of peace there will be no end upon the Throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and establish it from that time forward even forever.(9:6-7) So the eternal (forward and backward) throne comes to earth, meshing with the Throne of David, and takes its forward thrust into eternity from there.
In Ezekiel 43:7, The Lord says to Ezekiel that the Millennial temple foreseen by the prophet is “the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of Israel forever.”
Daniel 7:9 makes mention of thrones, showing us the uniqueness of the reign of Christ as opposed to the reign of the Father to follow. Perhaps included here is the idea of the “prince”, David, not to mention the twelve thrones of the apostles. A lot of reigning going on in the New City, but no question as to who is in charge, like today!
Hebrews 8:1 gives us the present situation of the Throne in Heaven, with the Son at the right hand of the Father. And in Revelation 3:21 Jesus is sitting down with the Father in His Throne, as we are to sit with the Son in His Throne. Jesus’ Throne is the Throne of David, that covers all things human. Jesus sits on that Throne, heir apparent of all humanity. But He also sits in the Father’s throne, for He is God and over all things. Revelation 7:15, 8:5, 19:4, 20:11, 21:5-6, 22:1 all refer to the Throne. From chapter 4 of Revelation, The Lamb and the Throne are inseparable. The rule of God through Christ with us is thus well established .
