Last night we continued our study of what the Bible says about the end times by looking at what the Bible says about the kingdom Christ will establish after he returns. If you’d like further details about this time period, see this post. Here are the notes:
Recapping where we’ve been so far:
- God has promised that he will fix the world by destroying sin and evil, and establish an everlasting kingdom.
- God has promised to do it through the people known as Israel.
a. Abrahamic Covenant: this becomes the promise of global healing
b. Davidic Covenant: this becomes the messianic promise
c. New Covenant: this includes forgiveness of the root of sin - Jesus presented himself as this king God would use to fulfill all these promises.
- He accomplished part of that work in his first coming: the sacrifice for and forgiveness of sins.
- He promised to come back and finish fulfilling everything that had been promised.
- At any time, this process could begin: The Day of the Lord will set in like the first contraction of labor. Over a seven-year period, God will judge the world’s evil, finally sweeping it away in advance of the inauguration of his kingdom.
- Those who believe in Christ will be spared this time period, having been rescued before the Day of the Lord begins.
- During this time period Israel takes center stage as a nation again. Through this period they are prepared as a people to be the center of the fulfillment of the promises—in other words, they are readied to receive the fulfillment of the covenants God made. They will turn to Christ and thus receive the Holy Spirit (Rom 11.) As they see the New Covenant fulfilled in them as a nation, they will then be readied to receive the fulfillment of the other covenants: their King from David’s line restoring their kingdom, and the restoration of their central status as a source of blessing to the whole earth. (see Revelation 12:6, 12:13-17)
- The climax of this period is when Jesus personally returns to the earth to win God’s victory. (see Revelation 19:11-21.)
- He had foretold this event many times. And taught on what would happen then (see Matthew 24:31 & 25:31-34). People who have come to faith in Christ (mainly the nation of Israel?) enter the kingdom.
The Millennium (see Revelation 20)
1. Revelation 20 simply clarifies and adds some detail to what the Old Testament, and Jesus, had already predicted.
• This returning ruler is Jesus Christ, coming as the messiah who was promised. (Dan 7:13-14)
• The throne he takes up is the throne of David (Is 9:6-7)
• He re-gathers Israel (Acts 1:8, Isaiah 49:5-6)
• From his throne in Jerusalem, he extends his rule over the entire earth.
In other words, we already know what to expect when Jesus returns from the Old Testament prophecies of the coming of the Lord: Global healing, all the nations brought under God’s rule, Israel re-gathered, and Jerusalem as the center of world blessing. This happens on our planet, as the culmination of history. This is exactly what John sees in his vision, with much less detail. Evidently he expects us to supply detail from the older prophecies.
2. The new information Revelation supplies:
• This time period will last 1000 years.
• Satan will be bound and shut away during this time period. His influence will be gone.
• Those who are Christ’s will share his rule over the earth. (Rev 19:14, Rev 5:10, Rev 2:26, Dan 7:27)
• Those who trusted Christ during the Day of the Lord (the tribulation) and suffered martyrdom will be resurrected and share in the rule with those who came with Christ. (20:4-6)
• It ends with a Satanically inspired rebellion and final victory for Christ (20:7-10)
• It is followed by the final judgment. (20:11-15)
Some Applications :
1. God will fix everything and rule the world his way.
2. God’s way is not to do things without people, or without humanity.
3. God keeps his promises. He’ll keep them to Israel, and by keeping those promises to Israel, He’ll bless the nations. Since we have the guarantee that he’s going keep his promises to Israel, we can trust him to keep his promises to us (that is, those of us who are gentiles). Therefore, we can trust him to keep his promises to us individually.