When All Governments Are Ruled by Jesus

Main idea: Set your heart today on the time Jesus will personally reign over every nation.

1. Be courageous; the invasion is coming.
   2 Thessalonians 2:3–10
   
   • Conquest and judgment
   • Calling and restoration of Israel (Romans 11:26)
   • Defeat of Satan and all enemies (Revelation 19)
2. Order your life for the millennial kingdom.
   Revelation 20:1–6
   Matthew 19:27–29
   1 Corinthians 6:2–3
3. Worship the eternal King.
   Revelation 21, 22
   Revelation 21:6
   Philippians 2:10

Application

(Scripture reading: Isaiah 2:2-4; Jeremiah 33:15-16; Daniel 7:14, 18, 22)

• Automated Transcription

• 0:13
  Good morning, faith, Bible Church, it is so good to see you this morning, and we are going to be continuing on in our series on the End Times today the second coming of Christ. Specifically, before we dive into that, I just want to add my welcome to all of you who are visiting with us. I love having visitors. And if, if you have not introduced yourself, I'd love to meet you. And if I reckon, if I don't recognize you, it doesn't mean you it doesn't mean you haven't been here a long time. It just means I might have a short memory. I'll introduce myself to you again. That's what you do in a big church. When you can't remember people's names, you just keep, keep at it. But if you're visiting with us, love to talk to you and get to know you a little bit. As we as we approach the fall, we're often encouraging, you know, the regulars, the members of faith, Bible, church to be the hospitality team for people who are new. And keep doing that. You do a good job of that. But the second thing to say is groups are about to start, and one of the things I love about our church is how many faithful leaders and host families that we have and make sure you love them too. Like, often you you look at your leaders, is like, Daddy, Daddy. I need. I can I have milk? Can I have like, you know, you act like the child who always needs, but they actually need friends too, you know, so so be the, be the grown ups and care for them as well, so that we have that mutual encouragement and life on life building up. I love I love faith, Bible Church for its willingness to step into people's lives. We're going to be working through a number of passages today as we look at the as we look at the second coming of Christ, our last of our series. And what I'm going to do today is a concise theology. It's some key selected scriptures to give us the big picture about what's coming and when we read our scripture, just follow along on the screen. It won't you won't be able to turn fast enough. And they're all written in your notes, so you can take those notes and and go look them up yourself a little bit a little bit later. But I also want to say that you could text questions you'll see later on. We'll we'll forward to it if you have questions. I'll be doing some podcasts on the Second Coming end times in the coming weeks, and we can get the dialog going for things that you want to know about. All right, stand with me for the reading of God's Word and turn and we're going to start in Isaiah two. And as you do that, I want to put this thought question in your mind. Can you imagine what it will be like when Jesus rules from Jerusalem over every human government? I mean, can you imagine the Brits love to say that, can you imagine we will both worship and serve our King, and both the worship and the service and the government, all of them will be pure, righteous, joyful and peaceful. It's not at all like this time. There's nothing like this time. It is so encouraging. So follow along as I read some some key selected scriptures. What I've tried to do is I've tried to pick, pick scriptures that just speak for themselves, so that if you read English, you go, oh yeah, I see that. We try to pick the most obvious ones to put this together. This is talking about the coming of Christ and His personal rule on earth, starting with Isaiah. Two, two. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be lifted up above the hills, and all the nations shall flow to it. And many people shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us His ways, that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion he shall go, shall go forth the law and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem, He shall judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Jeremiah, 3315, and 16 in those days, and at that time, I will cause a righteous branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days, Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it. Be called the Lord is our righteousness. Daniel, 714, and to Him, the Son of Man, was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away in his kingdom, one that shall not be destroyed. Verse 18, but the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever and ever. Verse 22 the Ancient of Days shall come. The Ancient of days came and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom. This is what awaits. This is the word of the Lord, our great God. We look, look to you, grateful that you know the end from the beginning. Lord Jesus. You say it at the end of the end of Revelation, that you are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end and every letter in between. You are the All in all, you have had a plan before you said, Let there be light. You have had a plan to redeem a people on a planet and to rule forever. We are grateful that we are part of that plan. We're grateful for the grace and mercy that comes through you, Lord Jesus, through the gospel, through you, shedding your blood, rising from the dead and promising to return. We are grateful that those of us who have seen our sin and trusted you as Savior have a home and are sealed. But this world is hard. There are many tragic things, and we grieve. We pray for our sister, Carol, right right in front of me here, who's been diagnosed again with cancer that you would help her. There are there are assorted family strifes and difficulties, and we pray that you would intervene. There is the tragedy of yet another school shooting and a whole high school and a community rocked by violence and our hearts ache there. There are wars. Are our brothers and sisters who are Ukrainian who just texted in prayer requests this week because cities in Ukraine were bombed that their family members live in, and we are in a painful reminder that that sin has far reaching ramifications at a national level. One day, Jesus, you are going to come back and set this world right, remove all evil, establish a reign of peace, and by Your grace, we are in it. Help us endure faithfully in our families, in our city asking that you would be at work through the proclamation of the gospel. This gospel denounces the coming judgment in this time and opportunity for forgiveness of sins. It's in Christ's name we pray amen. You may be seated well the trajectory or the storyline of the Bible, sets out for us a coming kingdom in which Christ will rule every human institution, and saints will rule with Him. It's a profound thought. Worship and service are going to be bound up under the one in the same person, Jesus Christ. What's the end of this? What's the end of this? Philippians 210, and 11. One of my team reminded me of this week. Here's the end. Philippians, 210, and 11, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. That's all powers, human, supernatural, those apart from the grace of God, by their choices, those under the grace of God. It's everyone and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. That's the end. That's the end. The first four weeks of our series, I've tried to focus on what's most immediately important for you. We started in Luke 12, where Jesus tells a parable of the master coming home after a wedding and the servants needing to be ready. And we learned from Jesus multiple times that was one of them, that he could come like a thief in the night any time at a surprise, the most important thing you need to know about the second. Coming as it could happen any time, and you need to be faithful, prepared and anticipating.
  
  10:05
  We looked at the joy in First Thessalonians, one about being saved from the wrath of God. We looked at the rapture. That is when the resurrection takes place. Those who are still alive will be caught up, but not before those whose bodies in the ground and souls are with God get reunited in their bodies, and thus we will all be together with the Lord when Jesus comes back. Last week, we looked at at the day of the Lord this time of coming judgment. And here's this underlying good news around the world, governments are corrupt all the way down to the State Patrol, all the way down to state patrol, I'm not saying our state patrol, but if you went to the Dominican Republic, for instance, and you got pulled over for maybe speeding, you would almost certainly have to pay a little extra to the guy or gal who pulled you over like that's just, that's common life. Lots of places in the world, there's a perpetual drama, election drama in the US. It never ends at the local level. Some parts of Spokane seem like a Hollywood portrayal of Gotham. I don't say that self righteously. That's just like with deep sorrow, domestic violence or substance abuse tears families apart. It turns family rooms and kitchens into relational minefields I mentioned in our prayer another mass shooting at a high school. Satan's fingerprints are everywhere. They're everywhere. They're everywhere from chaos and social media and moral failure of Christian leaders self harm and outright persecution. And I'm not saying people aren't responsible. They are, but we have an enemy that loves to incite our sinful flesh against each other and inside our proud pride but, but here's where I'm getting at with the good news. Jesus has set an expiration date on all evil and all sin. He will throw it out easier than you throw out spoiled milk from your refrigerator. I mean the scripture that we sing every Advent handles Messiah, Prince of Peace, Lord of lords, Everlasting Father, like those great, profound truths. Isaiah, 97 finishes that section of the increase of His government and of peace. There will be no end. And on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice, with righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. That is good news when the evil, trouble, difficulty, internal failure, seem to constantly darken what's around you in life. So this morning, here's here's what I am aiming at. I'm aiming at you setting your heart today on Jesus' future personal reign over every nation. See people who set their heart on Jesus' future personal reign are going to be the people who prioritize what they do in life, they're going to know what's truly important. They're going to know what's less important. It's going to be easier to keep earthly pleasures in the right place. It will help you against an overwhelming cloud of despair over the latest tragedy or difficulty. It's going to give you language to give people who are caught under the avalanche of a tragedy themselves, you can point them to the one person who has written the end of the story already. So as we finish this mini series about the Second Coming, it's going to help prepare us and then the second part, just as we introduced here, we're starting Genesis next week, going to the end of this week, Genesis next week. It's really helpful when we look at, In the beginning God, to know where God is taking the whole story. You know, think of your your favorite multi series book writer, you know, I know Christians wouldn't read anything like Harry Potter. I. Yeah, but if you start at the beginning and you knew the conversations that happened at the end, you're going, Oh, that was interest there. The Bible is written like that. We get the end now so that we can make sense of the beginning. It'll help us do that. We're going to be coming back to this end so many times in the book of Genesis, so many of the processes come forward for us and emerge. We're going to do a concise biblical theology of Christ's coming kingdom. That's how I would describe this Christ's coming rule. Now I've resisted giving you a calendar, not because I don't have a calendar. I do, but I have this fundamental concern that it's easy for Christians to care more about being right about their calendar than the implications of the calendar. We feel like being right is enough. I mean, we finished, I'm right, good. I can walk home. You're wrong, I'm right. I mean, always feels good about that in a marital conflict, you're wrong, I'm right, or does that work that way? So what we've tried to focus on is what you're responsible for, what you're going to act on, but I don't want to leave it without a calendar, so we made you a little calendar, and it's in your notes. So if you've got notes on the way, you can see how it is what we have, what we have looked at is the things right up to the rapture and the beginning of what we have here called this tribulation. Now you you might have a different view of where all these events fit. Christians have had different views on this for for ages and ages, and I understand that, and I hope that today you'll finally get in line with my view. Thank you for laughing. I really am just trying to be funny. I don't have, I don't have a zinger in there, but best understanding of from the rapture to the time of the Second Coming and this kingdom, this this kingdom in the Old Testament, it didn't have a length of time set to it. It just had a coming reign of Messiah from Earth, affecting all of the nations. It was a long time in the Old Testament. It gets a number in Revelation, 20. We're going to take a look at that, and we're going to finish with the Great White Throne Judgment the new heavens and the new earth as we, as we take a look, but, but I have, then that big idea. What I want you to think about is setting your heart today on Jesus, future personal reign over every nation, the God who dwelled with us and healed a woman hemorrhaging by her just touching his garment, is the same God who will reign personally on Earth. It's a profound picture. It's a joyous and glorious picture. And we're going to use a little acronym, bow, B, O, W, be courageous. Order your life and worship the eternal King. You'll see it. It's in your notes. But I say that to help us remember what's the real end? The real end is that we would start doing now what we will do forever. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. So let's, let's dive in and and take this. And I think also, somewhere, if you have questions, text them to that that's not this. I won't see them in real time, but that will help Seth, who's, who's our communications guy and I queue up things that we might do in our podcasts on the Second Coming that are going to be coming up soon. All right, let's, let's just start with these three, three parts. How do you get ready? How do you get ready for this? Let's start with this. Be courageous. The invasion is coming. Be courageous.
  
  19:29
  Let's start with a history analogy, a World War Two analogy in Europe, when Hitler and his allies overran all of the European continent, there were still hundreds of 1000s of people who were a part of a resistance against the Nazi regime. They were hoping and anticipating. An allied invasion, which the great Allied invasion, is called D Day in which the Allied Forces Land at Normandy and start taking France. That's what's going to happen, Jesus, at the Second Coming, at the beginning of this period tribulation, Day of the Lord, He is going to initiate the invasion. And right now, we are courageous over all kinds of forces, the internal conflict within us, the out, the outward conflict toward us. We need to be courageous until that day the invasion is coming. The Lord is going to come and rescue. We're the resistance movement to Satan and idolatry, and we await King Jesus and his army. I turn over to second, Thessalonians, two, one through 11 tries, trying to pick a couple of passages that give these these large features about what's going to happen. Second, Thessalonians two, one through 11, and the Apostle Paul is encouraging the believers in Thessalonica to be courageous, to remain faithful as they are, to continue to love each other and proclaim the gospel. He's telling them all these things, and there was some concern that all of the tribulation that they were dealing with was a sign that the rapture had already come and that they were in the day of the Lord. So Paul writes this now concerning the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and our being gathered together to him, that is the referring back to First Thessalonians, four with the rapture, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. So he's talking about two things that the gathering and the day of the Lord. We looked at it last week. The Day of the Lord is that time period where Jesus begins the invasion, and it is when Jesus takes vengeance on all of his enemies, all his people's enemies, and where he rids all evil and it's power from the earth. I want you to know about this. There's three features that I want you to look at. They don't unpack here as much as they emerge. There's conquest and judgment. It's in your notes, conquest and judgment. There's a calling and restoration of Israel and there's a destruction of Satan. Let's let's read how they're woven together. Here the conquest and judgment, the calling and restoration of Israel and the destruction of Satan. We pick this up in verse three. Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so called God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple proclaiming himself to be God. Paul's borrowing language back in Daniel chapter nine, that Jesus used in in Matthew 24 and 25 when Jesus raptures His saints and the invasion begins, you start to see in Revelation, various judgments, various things unfold, and the nations don't suddenly say, Oh, we better just surrender. No under Satan's powerful influence and his demons powerful influence, the kings of the world, the idolaters of the world, gather together to make a great stand against Jesus. Their rebellion actually increases. This is a difficult time with believers taken out. You see this principle of lawlessness, this person of lawlessness. Now this time period's called lots of things, the tribulation, the Great Tribulation, Jacob's trouble, the 70th week of Daniel. I don't have all the details within the tribulation and this, it's just too many for a morning like this, but all of those things are here. Jesus' aim is to tear down idolatry, Antichrist, satanic forces that foment the nations of the earth and overthrow them. He's coming. He's coming to overthrow the governments of the world conquest and judgment. Now notice here there's a calling and restoration of Israel. We get it, not so much explicitly from this passage, but implicitly in verse four. Is this? This, this anti God person, this. False Christ, this antichrist, this beast. If we're looking at the old looking at Revelation chapters 11 through 13, for instance, it says so he takes his seat in the temple of God. What is the temple of God? Well, where Paul is, Jerusalem has not been destroyed. Yet. There still is a temple. And he is envisioning that time, just like Jesus warned that there would be a figure who comes to deceive the nations. We fast forward through time, and we find that Jerusalem is destroyed, according to Jesus, it's a discipline and a judgment, the first preaching of the gospel in Acts, chapter two, Jews preaching to Jews, calling for faith and repentance because their Messiah has come, and a large number of Jews believe, but only a fraction, a small percentage compared to the totality. That's why in Romans chapter 11, he talks about a partial hardening being upon Israel. And Romans 1125, and 26 talking about, when the fullness of the gentiles come in, all Israel will be saved. And he quotes a couple of verses from Isaiah to say, this is what's going to happen
  
  26:22
  there. Ever since the Reformation began, as people started rereading their Bibles, after the sort of the darkness of the the Roman period under under the Roman Catholic Church, where people weren't encouraged to read their Bibles, people started reading Romans, 1126, and 27 and realizing, Hey, is that going to be a real time in the Geneva Bible, the first writers of the first English Bibles like, yeah, Israel's going to be saved. John Owen, the great Puritan, answered the question about, about when world governments would be torn down and the kingdom of Christ would be set up. He's preaching to Parliament in 1649, he says this must happen, quote, when the bringing home of his ancient people to be one fold with the fullness of the Gentiles, raising up the tabernacle of David and building it as in the days of old, and the accomplishment of innumerable promises and answer to millions of prayers put up at the throne of grace for this very glory in all generations. So when's it going to happen? When is this judgment going to happen? When is the shaking of heaven and earth going to happen? When are the nations going to be torn down and Christ's kingdom going to be be raised? Well, it has to be after the calling and the restoration of the Jews. That's just what Romans 1126, and 27 or 25 and 26 tells us. And that, of course, follows with just all the Old Testament promises, innumerable promises about this happening. We find more of this revelation seven tells us of 144,000 Jews being sued from the 12 tribes of Israel, and them being sealed revelation 11, we find a rebuilt temple. So somewhere between the time Paul wrote this here in Thessalonica and the personal return of Christ, Jews will be returned to their homeland, and there will be a massive revival among Jews. Many will become Christians. Many will be saved. 1949 when Israel became an official Jewish state, suddenly made you realize, oh, we're not very far from this being a reality. It is something that the Puritans had been praying for for 300 years. Let's keep going so you have a calling and restoration of the Jews. I'm sorry when Jesus starts to unleash the judgments he has not done offering mercy. Somebody asked us this really, what if the rapture happens now in my six year, what's going to happen with my six year old grandson? Jesus will take care of everybody who's truly innocent, but the people who are left may have to endure great difficulty. It's true, but Jesus won't be done offering grace and mercy and the Gospel, Revelation seven has 144,000 Jews from the 12 tribes of Israel, and Revelation Chapter Seven has an amount that you could not count before the Lamb worshiping Him that had come out of the Great Tribulation. God is going to do a saving work here, but the earthly takeover has begun. Verse five, back to encouraging them. You're not on the day of the Lord. You haven't missed the rapture. Do you not? Remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things, and you know what is restraining him now, so that he may be revealed in his time, this figure, this mystery of lawlessness, this man of lawlessness, this man of sin, this antichrist. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way the he that makes sense to me here is the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God working through the people of God has always been a buffer against how awful the world can really get. Over history, you find times of revival, times of social change and times of appropriate political and policy change in the world, where Christians have stepped up and said, This is what's right. This is where a government should stand. And they do. Then there are times of decline. One day, all of those will be done away. It will just be the glorious reign of Christ. Verse eight, talking about the destruction, says the lawless one will be, will be revealed whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. What I want you to circle is the way Jesus conquers his enemies the way Jesus conquers Satan. How does he do it? With the breath of his mouth, with a word, Jesus, power. It's the same power in Genesis, one two. God said, Let there be light. And there was the same power that could bring all things into existence through a word. Is the same power when he does it in you to believe the gospel. Same God who said, Let there be light, has shined a light of the gospel of the glory of Christ in our hearts, and we believe that same power will slay Satan or will destroy Satan by a Word, you have an omnipotent, Holy Savior who will end the reign of Satan in this world by a word. We've sung about a bunch of implications about that, haven't we, so all things bad in your life. Jesus could end with the word, but he doesn't, because he has more than one plan in mind, more than your immediate ease. He has a plan for the other people in your life. He has a plan for your growth in life. He has a he has a plan that is far beyond just immediately making it easy for you, but there is a plan that one day there is an expiration date on the trouble, on the evil, on the difficulty, and on the rebellion, and there is a day of peace coming, and God did make Good authority structures in the world, governments, families, work, churches, they all have authority structures. We all live under authority structures. God has ordained authority structures. And we are all very familiar with governments or some parents or some spouses or some employers, some siblings abusing their authority. We are all familiar with it,
  
  34:11
  but it has an expiration date. By the word of Jesus mouth, he will destroy the one who incites it, your suffering from other people's sinful action now is not the day of the Lord, it's that's not it. It might be God's fatherly discipline. It might be the tragedy of living in a fallen world, but God has a plan to come avenge and end through Jesus. What is this time? This is the time of calling to the lost, to believe in Christ, to preparing Christians to meet the Lord. This is. What that time is about. Your willingness to suffer as his servant, it will be rewarded. Your patient endurance of all sorts of affliction will be rewarded. So remember, the invasion is coming. Take courage. Take courage. Brother, take courage. Sister, take courage. Saint, whatever the difficulty is, whatever the hardship is Jesus has an end date and a glorious next step. Now turn with me to Revelation 19 and 20. Revelation 19 and 20 be courageous second order your life, specifically order your life for the millennial kingdom. Order your life for the millennial kingdom until revelation 20. We're not told how many years it is, so it's just called a kingdom. But throughout the Old Testament, we looked at three passages that speak of this very long reign. When we get to Revelation 19, we find the scene of Jesus on the white horse leading a massive army ready to retake the planet from the world and and I still envision Helen Campbell. Our dear Helen Campbell is going to be on one of those horses, and she's going to have a sword in the back of her sheath right here.
  
  36:24
  Yeah,
  
  36:26
  as far as I know, she never needs to take it out. Jesus just does it. So at the end of 19 this is this, this beast, this, this false prophet, these deceivers that are satanically empowered are thrown into the lake of fire. Then we have chapter 20, verse one. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he sees the dragon, the ancient serpent, who was is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for 1000 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 1000 years were ended. After that, he must be released for a little while. I'll get to that in a minute. Story. We'll get to it in a minute. Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom authority to judge were committed. I also, also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands, they came to life and reigned with Christ for 1000 years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the 1000 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. That's the final judgment. But they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for 1000 years. Where does the Bible say that we're going to reign with Christ for 1000 years? Right here. It was promised without the length of time in 30 passages in the Old Testament, many passages, we get the clear picture here. Three things are really helpful to remember when you look at this first, the curse is rolled back, but not ended. Isaiah 65 has a picture of this kingdom. We know it from Revelation 20 as the millennial kingdom, as a time where the young will die at 100 but they will still die. Some might still die. There's still sin present in the world, but the curse is rolled back. The curse is rolled back in Isaiah 65 I think it's verse 15, where it says the lion will lay down at the lamb. The lamb will lay down at the lion. There is going to be a roll back of the curse that natural enmity between creatures, between people. The natural enmity will be rolled back because Jesus will be reigning personally. Isaiah two which we read, says that Jesus is going to need to settle national disputes. The curse is rolled back. It's not ended. It's the best way to tell when an Old Testament passage is talking about this 1000 year reign, or the eternal kingdom, because the eternal kingdom, all the presence of sin, will be gone. We'll get there before we're done. The second thing to remember is that Jesus will reign over nations and people that can still disobey Him. Curse is rolled back. Jesus will reign over people that can still disobey Him. You. And the third thing is that the ruling officials and governments and law enforcement will be resurrected. Saints now, just stop there. Just stop there. What he talks about is saints given the rain, so rapture, saints are transformed. Jesus begins the invasion. People die during this tribulation period, lots of people die, but they're resurrected, and they are all going to reign with Christ. I think of the Can you imagine questions? Can you imagine government officials that have no sin nature. They're perfected. They can't be corrupted. They can't die. Elections are over. No more elections. The rulers will be immortal. They will be perfected and glorified and wise. It's profound, profound, and Satan will be chained for all of church history, some have thought that this binding is just a binding of Jesus, of Satan's influence, the gospel will still be able to go forward. It just doesn't add up for me that Satan is right now bound. Some people say he's bound right now. It's like that's not what the Bible actually says. Ephesians six, the apostle Paul, says, We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, principalities of this present darkness. It's demonic forces. Peter says to the believers, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. In the millennial kingdom, you have perfected saints as CO regents with Christ, fulfilling a great part of the mandate from Genesis, one he makes Adam and Eve Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, exercise dominion and subdue it. Here you have in the millennial kingdom, the new Adam Jesus reigning over perfected saints who are subduing and exercising dominion over the earth with the curse rolled back. Jonathan Edwards would speculate with the curse rolled back and just the issue of infant mortality being rolled back. In Edward's day, more babies died than lived. Imagine how quickly and how vastly the world would be populated under godly families. It's profound with no satanic, no satanic influence. Now, at the end of the 1000 years, the end of the 1000 years, Satan is going to be released, and it will again show how powerful the sin nature is. After 1000 years of having the Prince of Peace ruling on Earth with perfected governing rulers all the way from from presidents, governors, kings, down to local law enforcement, with all of them being incorruptible and perfect, the sin in the human heart will still so easily be deceived, let Satan out, and an army will gather, and Jesus will call down fire from heaven and destroy them in one stroke that is coming. What do we do with this? What do we do with this? There's a couple important thoughts about this. When Jesus told the parable in Luke 12 that the master is going to return, he's going to reward faithful servants, he's going to say, and I will put him over all my possessions, there's going to be more responsibility. Given your faithfulness today results in more responsibility in the 1000 years, more responsibility in the eternal state. Here's a verse we need to tie in with this first Corinthians, chapter six, two through three. Paul is addressing. In Corinth, who had a host of problems. One of the problems is that the wealthy people were taking the poor people to court, knowing that the poor people couldn't afford the bribes, and it was effectively oppressing and Christians were doing it to non Christians. And Paul is saying this is absurd. Listen to his logic. In First Corinthians, 62, through three. Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? Don't you know what's coming? If you're a saint, you're going to be enlisted to judge the world, and if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Can't you guys figure this out? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more than matters pertaining to this life? You you're going to get a throne somewhere in the world. Obviously, it's going to be in Spokane. I don't know where it's going to be. You're going to get a throne somewhere, and you're going to need to make decisions at the highest levels. So you need to be appropriately discerning. Now,
  
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  how do you do that? I could think of three ways. First, if, if you don't bow to Jesus as your Lord and Savior, now you're not even going to be in the millennial kingdom. You'll be in a prison called Hell, awaiting for the final resurrection and the final sentencing and being thrown in the lake of fire. And so Peter preached the gospel to the Gentiles, talking about the coming judgment of Christ, saying, Now is the time you can be forgiven, you can be saved. That judgment day is coming. Come to him, and I would plead for you, this is the time of calling. This is the time of gathering. This is the time of building up where Jesus, the Merciful, is offering you forgiveness. Trust Him. Trust him. He's good, he's righteous. He saves second refuse to settle for your own petty kingdoms. Refuse to settle for your own petty kingdom. Jesus described it this way, if anyone would come after me, anyone would be my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow after me. That taking up his cross is not an earning credit with Jesus. That is a recognition that one of your greatest difficulties is acting like the life that you live with the people that you live. It is all about your world and your kingdom, and you're putting that to death every day, instead of serving Christ and His Kingdom, Christ and His pleasure, Peter asked Jesus one day this question, see, we have left everything and followed you. I mean, we have done that. We've put our kingdoms to death. We've followed we've left everything behind. What then will we have? Jesus said to them, Truly, I say to you, in the New World, When the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life in saying no repudiating your petty kingdom here dying to yourself. I mean, it is the heart of every sibling, marital, church, national conflict, who gets to run my kingdom? You
  
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  Jesus says, By living this way, always looking for Christ's kingdom, you will be rewarded. Third, make holiness and love, perpetual suit pursuits. Make holiness and love. You're going to meet a holy God one day at His return. You're going to meet a Holy Christ one day at His return. And you want to be dressed and ready, so to speak, you want to be in the appropriate clothing His righteousness. You want to be following him and serving Him.
  
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  First. John three two, says, He who loves this appearing will purify himself as he Christ is pure. Now, let's make it really practical. As you purify yourself, you look to Him, you are given the opportunity to understand his word and now to use his word in. The lives of other people. That's called Making disciples. It's called biblical counseling. It's called being a dad or a mom, where you're giving the truths of God's word to your kids, to counselees, to nonbelievers, helping them understand the gospel. Trust Christ. I was thinking of who at Faith Bible Church is most ready for a throne in the 1000 year reign. It's our biblical counselors. They do conflict resolution all the time. Brian Sayers is most ready for a throne in heaven right now? Yeah, I'm ready for my throne. Give me my throne. Is Maui your place? Is that where you want to have your throne? Yeah, but as you're equipped to settle disputes with your kids as you're equipped to settle your own disputes as couples, as you're equipped to settle disputes between adult siblings, as you're equipped to settle problems at a work level by pursuing holiness godliness and not demanding your own kingdom. You're prepared for this place in the kingdom. It's profound reality. Be courageous. The invasion is coming. The hard stuff that's upon you right now is not the end. Stay courageous, keep going. Second order, your life, you've got a Master who could return at any time, and you want to present him a faithful life. Third, worship the eternal King. Worship the eternal King. Revelation, 21 and 22 I just want to highlight a couple of things. There's a new heaven and a new earth. There is the this current creation is going to get purified, remade, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and a holy city will come down from heaven. You can see how glorious it will be in some ways that can only describe it by negation. There will be no more seas to separate nations, no more death, no more crying, no more mourning. There will be no need for sun or moon. There won't be a temple, because God will be immediately present like there's all these no mores. There's no more sinner, no more sin. 21 822, three, all wickedness will be gone, but I want you to notice especially 22 verse five, night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. They will reign forever and ever. Genesis has its ultimate restoration better than ever, because we have the glory of the lamb within it. He will reign. There are two pictures that come out of it. One is a theological statement. Verse six, and here's where we get to the heart of this worship. 21 describes 21 three says that God will dwell with them and they will be his people. God himself will be with them as their God, and He will wipe away every tear. This is the promise that was given to Abraham. I will be your God, and you will be my people. This is it fulfilled with all of God's people. And what it means is that God will be the faithful, caregiving, loving, ruling God. They will be a worshiping and serving people. And after that statement, it says this, Behold, I am making all things new. Verse six, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. See, here is Jesus, who is the first and the last, and every letter in between, the All in all, the one who has all time moving ahead according to His plan, and here's what it says,
  
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  to the thirsty, I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. I. He's talking about how we apply this right now. What do we do that fuels this faithfulness we drink from the Gospel of the Grace of Christ, from the Alpha and the Omega. We come to him. This is a quote out of Isaiah. 55 come to the gracious promises of God. As you come and worship and you bow before King Jesus, you also drink deep in the satisfaction from his glory and grace. This is how you endure to the end. Whenever I read this, whatever sadness, tragedy, difficulty, horror in the world, I can take a breath, I can take a drink and say it's coming to an end, and it will give way to a glorious future, worshiping this eternal King. This was where all of it's going anyway, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father, drawing near to the Alpha and the Omega, who is gracious and loving, who is just and righteous who has a plan, not only to bless but a plan also to exact vengeance and establish justice and peace. He is the one you need promise of. Isaiah, 4031, another picture of that future. Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Come to him in trust and worship.
  
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  Let's pray, Father, thank you for what you have given us this, this glimpse of of that future day, ultimately, in a new Jerusalem, in a new heavens and a new earth, where the kings will bring their glory in offering tribute, and we will reign. Help us be faithful in this time to call through the gospel to equip the saints Christ's name. Amen.

Dan Jarms

Dr. Dan Jarms is teaching pastor and team leader at Faith Bible Church in Spokane Washington, as well as associate dean at The Master's Seminary in Spokane. He has been married for over 30 years to Linda, and has three adult children. He earned his B.A. in English at the Master’s College, B.Ed. at Eastern Washington University, M.Div and D.Min in Expository Preaching at The Master’s Seminary. His other interests include NCAA basketball, woodworking, and art.

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