Gtcotr/ws112013
1 Corinthians 13
9 Now our knowledge is
partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the
whole picture!
12 Now we see things
imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect
clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know
everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
The
Apostle Paul was the first to admit that he did not know everything concerning
the last days. I must echo that sentiment and attest to the fact that God has
not made the future completely clear to us at this point in time. We catch
dimly lit glimpses of things to come, we hear prophecies and gain revelation
but as of now we still see an imperfect picture as though we are looking
through a haze. Yet, the glimpses we catch are amazing and wonderful sights
which give us a framework for the days ahead. For example:
·
We
know Jesus has gone away to prepare a place for us in heaven.
·
We
know Jesus is coming in the clouds to receive us unto Himself, we don’t know
when …
·
We
know the Church is both the Body and the Bride of Christ and that there will
one day be a wedding in heaven to which all saints will be invited.
·
We
know there will be a tribulation period and a great tribulation period on the
earth.
·
We
know Jesus will return to earth with His armies to defeat the antichrist but we
don’t know how we will fight or what weapons we will use.
·
We
know Jesus will rule and reign on the earth for a thousand years.
·
We
know satan will be released after the millennial reign of Christ and will
deceive the nations but we don’t understand how anyone on earth could be
deceived at that point.
·
We
know God is going to completely destroy the earth and reestablish a new heaven
and a new earth but we don’t fully know what we will be doing or how we will be
living thereafter.
Suffice
it to say we know a whole lot but understand very little. However, what we do
understand is powerful. Let’s take another cloudy look into the dimly lit
future and describe the images which are reasonably visible from the many
descriptions of both the Old and New Testament writers concerning this 1000
year period called the Millennial Reign of Christ.
We
may note that one concern of the Jews in accepting Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah
is that there were taught to expect a Reigning Savior who, when He came, would
deliver and forever protect Israel from her enemies and rule the nations from
His throne in Jerusalem with a rod of iron.
This
conflicted with the persecution, death and seemingly defeat of Jesus on the
cross of Calvary. The picture of Jesus on the cross is not the picture of a
ruling and reigning King of the Jews. However, the prophets clearly established
that Messiah should first suffer and pay for the sins, sicknesses and pains of
the world and then return as a ruling King. This prophetic picture of the ruling
Messiah is a picture of Jesus during His Millennial Reign.
The
last time Jesus entered Jerusalem He was meek and mild, riding on the colt of a
donkey, humble and without defense. The next time He enters that city He will
be riding on a great white horse leading His armies of angels and saints and He
will conquer all who oppose Him.
At
the last trumpet the dead in Christ shall rise, (not all the dead but those who
are in Christ), and the saints who are alive on earth will be instantaneously
changed to be incorruptible. Then there will be some space of time whether 7
years, (to accommodate for the Pre-tribulation rapture theory) or 3 ½ years,
(corresponding to the Mid-tribulation rapture theory), or even just a few
seconds, (accounting for the Post-tribulation theory), a certain space of time
will pass.
The
reason we know this is because both groups, the dead in Christ and we which are
alive and remain, will be caught up into the air to meet the Lord. After some
period, if even milliseconds, Christ will then return with those saints and His
holy angels to earth, set His feet down on the Mt of Olives, gather the nations
and wage war against the antichrist and utterly defeat him.
The
devil and his angels will be bound for a thousand years.
At
that time Jesus will not return to sit on the heavenly throne with His Father
God but will rather go up to Jerusalem and will sit upon the Throne of David on
Mount Zion. Some believe this will be the time when Jesus will separate His
sheep from the goats before the throne of His glory as recorded in Matthew 25.
Others see this as a fulfillment of the prophecies in Psalms 2, Isaiah 2 and
Micah 4.
However
it happens, Jesus will sit on His throne in Jerusalem atop Mount Zion and from
there He will rule the nations for a thousand years.
Prayerfully
and studiously peering through the sometimes dimly lit clouds of prophecies, I
can see a city set on a hill where Jesus is King. It is Mount Zion lifted up
above the nations so that the Word and the Law are going forth from there
throughout the whole world, carried by the waters which flow from beneath the throne
of Christ. There are other thrones whereon sit the 12 Apostles of the Lamb and
many saints who sit to judge the 12 Tribes of Israel and those who live on the
earth.
Matthew 19:28 So Jesus said
to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man
sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
I
can see a “regeneration”, (Greek word paringhenesia), New Genesis, a New Birth,
a New Beginning, a Beginning Again = “Genesis Again” for the saints of God in
this Holy City where Jesus lives as the Tree of Life with the New Creation
Saints, His Bride in that city. Outside are those who have survived the tribulation
without accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Revelation 22
14 Blessed are those who do
His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may
enter through the gates into the city.
15 But outside are dogs and
sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves
and practices a lie.
Life
will be hard and harsh outside the city and the will of God. People will
continue to have opportunity to submit themselves to God and worship His Christ
who is King but many will refuse to obey the Lord.
Zechariah 14
16 And it shall come to pass
that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall
go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the
Feast of Tabernacles.
17 And it shall be that
whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship
the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain.
There
will be a great bubble of holiness and blessing over Judah and Jerusalem and
all who worship the King will be welcomed to dwell there. Let’s read about this
time from the Book of Revelation: (This will take place immediately after the
Tribulation)
Revelation 20
1 Then I saw an angel coming
down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his
hand.
2 He seized the dragon—that
old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand
years.
3 The angel threw him into
the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not deceive
the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. Afterward he must
be released for a little while.
4 Then I saw thrones, and the
people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge. And I saw the
souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and for
proclaiming the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his statue,
nor accepted his mark on their forehead or their hands. They all came to life
again, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
5 This is the first
resurrection. (The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the
thousand years had ended.)
6 Blessed and holy are those
who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power,
but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a
thousand years.
7 When the thousand years
come to an end, Satan will be let out of his prison.
8 He will go out to deceive
the nations …
Important Points
1.
Although we do not know everything, we understand some things, and
those things are powerful and precious.
2.
God has commanded His blessings on those who read and hear the
prophecies of this book.
3.
Satan will be defeated at the end of the Great Tribulation and will
be bound and cast into the bottomless pit.
4.
Jesus will set up His Kingdom on the earth and will reign from
Jerusalem for 1000 years.
5.
During this time all who have accepted Jesus as Messiah will rule
and reign as kings and priests on the
earth with Christ for 1000 years.
6.
Then Satan will be released for a short season and he will deceive
the nations once again and gather them to battle against King Jesus.
7.
God will finally put an end to all rebellion and destroy the earth
with a fervent heat … then will come the Great White Throne Judgment.
