By Amir Tsarfati
Why don't we start with a prayer? Father, we thank You so much that
You do not want anyone to perish, but not only that You don't want anyone
to perish, You also want us to be informed and grounded in Your word so we
will not be easily deceived.
One of the ways for us to be deceived is if we are not in the truth.
Deception and truth are the opposite. So, Father, we ask that You will sanctify us by Your truth; Your Word is truth. We thank You for that, in Jesus's name, amen, amen.
So the topic of our message right now today is -- can you see what we have there -- the Millennial Kingdom. And I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the Millennial Kingdom is wonderful! The bad news is that we're not there yet.
You really want to tell me that some of you think this is the Millennial
Kingdom right now? If that's the Millennial Kingdom, I'm super disappointed. I'm gonna tell you folks -- first of all, we're gonna ask ourselves what is the Millennial Kingdom? It's a very, very controversial thing. And then we're gonna look into the rest of it.
So what is the Millennial Kingdom? Let's look at Revelation Chapter
20, which is the portion that speaks of that in the New Testament, Verses 1- 6; again. It's the New Testament portion that speaks of the Millennial Kingdom. And John is writing, “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan,
and bound him for a thousand years.”
So the term “thousand,” “Millennium,” “thousand,” “mīlle” is a
thousand, in Latin. The term “Millennium” is already referring to the time that Satan will spend in the bottomless pit.
And then he says, “And he cast him into the bottomless pit and he
shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no
more till the thousand years were finished.”
So there is going to be a point at the end of the tribulation, Satan is roaring. Satan is doing what he knows how to do. He's deceiving the nations. Where God is going to throw him into a bottomless pit, and He will shut him up -- “Shut up, Satan” -- and He will seal him all the way that he cannot, the Bible says, “That he will no more deceive the nations until the
thousand years are finished.” This is the key.
I want you to remember. You cannot take the Bible only in parts and leave the other outside. There is a word that says, “Until.” That means there is a time frame where the world will be free of satanic presence, but that time frame is limited. For how long? A thousand years. Now watch this. “But after these things, he “Must be” -- the word “must” here is the
key to my whole message. I want you to understand, so remember that, a circle that in your Bible. He “must be” released for a little while. See? God is going to test the world. After a whole thousand years of no satanic presence, He's releasing him. He must be released for a short time. Now watch this: “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and
judgment was committed to them, and then I saw the souls of those who
had been beheaded for their witness of Jesus and for the Word of God, who
had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on
their foreheads or their hands.
And they lived and reigned with Christ,” a what? “Thousand years!”
Again, the term “Millennium,” in the Latin, “mīlle,” a thousand. So thousand years is the time that Satan will be in the bottomless pit, and in parallel to that, it’s the time that the Saints will reign with Christ. Where? Here, on earth. Watch this. “But the rest of the dead did not live until the thousand
years were finished.” Wow!
So watch this. God is setting a time period where He's gonna free the
world from satanic presence. There is, and we're gonna talk about it in the future, in a few sentences, what it’s gonna look like. It's amazing!
I'm gonna tell you what the Millennial Kingdom is gonna look like!
You're gonna understand why we're certainly not there right now! But I
want you to understand no more satanic presence, for 1,000 years. Satan
must be released for a short time at the very end, and at the very end, after
all of that, only then all the people who ever lived throughout history, who
died already, are going to resurrect.
The Bible says, “The rest of the people of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.” Okay, what is the first resurrection? I promise that I'm going to show you. There is the order of the resurrection. There is the first resurrection, and there is the second resurrection. The first resurrection is all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus and those who belong to Jesus. You've got the -- on the third day, Jesus resurrected. He was the first person. The Bible says, “He's the firstfruits from those who were fell asleep.” Then before the tribulation, the Church is going to resurrect. “The
dead in Christ will rise first, and we that are alive and remain will be with them,” remember?
Then in the middle of the tribulation, we know that two witnesses that are going to be killed will resurrect. And then after Jacob's trouble, we know after Israel is back, we know that all the Old Testament Saints are going to resurrect as well because they will be ushered into the Millennial Kingdom.
It's going to be awesome!
Guys, do you see King David right now? He's not here yet. Moses,
Elijah; they're not here. They will be there in the Millennial Kingdom. You must understand that.
And then you see at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom, all the tribulation martyrs. You see those who went through the tribulation, and throughout the tribulation, became believers, not that many, but they will also.
The Bible says, “They will resurrect and they will reign with Christ,
those who didn’t not receive the mark of the beast.” We just read about it.
So the common theme here is they're all godly, not because of who they
are, but because of who God is, and because they submitted their life to
God. They became believers, and you're talking about all of that is known
as the “first resurrection.”
So the resurrection is from the moment when Jesus resurrected to the moment the martyrs of the tribulation will be resurrected. This is the first resurrection. Then there is a thousand years gap, and at the end of that, there will be a second resurrection of all the unbelieving dead. That's what we just read.
Now, look at what the Bible says, “This is the first resurrection. Blessed
and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection, over such, the second
death has no power.” What is the second death?
Look, some of us are going to die. Some of the martyrs of the tribulation will die, of course. The Old Testament martyrs have died. The two witnesses will die. This is a death that we know that has no power anymore, and when they resurrect, that's the first death, first death of a person. The second death is the death after God judges the whole world and those, as Daniel says, “Some will go to have eternal life and some eternal
damnation.” That's it. It's final.
Not all men are saved; some will and some will not. Now God already knows. We don't. Because God knows all things, God knows things of the future, but we don't, and that is why we thank God we do not have a part in the second death, only one. “It is appointed upon man once to die and then comes the judgment.”
The question is: What did you do in your life until you died? Will you deserve the second death, or over you, the second death has no power?
Amazing!
So now we're going back to that, to the verses, to slide 4, you can
see, “Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of
God and of Christ, and they shall reign with Him a thousand years.” Millennium, again, appears here, and it talks about a time where we reign with Jesus. Physically Jesus will be on earth, and we physically will be on earth, and we physically will reign on earth with Him. It is very important that you know that. Now is the Millennial Kingdom in the Old Testament? I just read to you the New Testament thing, but is it in the Old Testament? Well, I want to tell you something. I might surprise you, but there are more verses in the Old Testament about the Millennial Kingdom than the New Testament. In fact, the Old Testament has more prophecies about the Millennial Kingdom than about the first coming of Jesus. You just need to understand Zechariah 14, Verses 16-20. At the end of that terrible war, the war that all of you call “Armageddon,” “And it shall come to pass, that everyone who is left of the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts and keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the
earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts,” --it's not the
King of Israel, David, it's the King, the Lord of Hosts. It's a term that only belongs to God.
And if you're not going there, “Even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt goes not up, come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness Unto The Lord; and the posts and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar.”
I told you regarding the first coming of Jesus; there are over 300
prophecies, but some of the ones are repetitious, which means if you really
take away all of those that repeat themselves, it’s about a hundred and nine
prophecies about the first coming of Jesus.
But there are way more than that relate to the second coming of the
Lord’s Millennial Reign, and all the first coming prophecies were literally
fulfilled, and there is no reason to assume that the fulfillment of the second
coming prophecies will be any different.
We need, therefore, to take the Old Testament seriously, and we need to study what it has to say prophetically about the end times. Now the political side of the Millennial Kingdom -- so you understand how we're not there yet.
First of all, the Bible says that, “The reign will be worldwide,” the reign of the Lord will be worldwide. There will be one King over all the earth. Is that what we have today? No.
Isaiah 2:2 and Isaiah 9:6-7, “Then it will be peaceful in nature.”
Hello? Do we have peaceful reign over all the earth right now? No, but
Isaiah 2:4 says, “That the world will be blessed with righteousness and
justice.” Huh? Is that what we have right now?
Even in Manilla, you can say it's not happening. Every mayor is more corrupt than the one before. Corruption is there. Sin is there. “The Lord's throne will be established in Jerusalem, for He will occupy the throne of David.” Is it there? Is the Temple Mount even in the hands of the Jews? Are they having their temple standing there already? No.
“His government will be a theocratic one in which He will serve as
King, legislator, and judge,” according to Isaiah. Is that what we have
today? Today, everybody's bowing down to Supreme Court; they rule over
governments.
“The Redeemed will reign with the Lord as princes.” Are you ruling
already? No, not yet. And I'm not talking about now, the natural aspect.
I’m thinking about the political aspect of it. “Because the Lord will be
reigning from Jerusalem, the nation of Israel will be the prime nation in the
world.” It's not the case right now.
Everybody turn on CNN and see. They all talk about America most of the time. America today is the superpower in the world. It's the center of world happenings. Everything that happens there projects to the whole world. China is number two; Russia is number three.
Let's face it; Israel, with all that is amazing things that God is doing,
they are not yet the prime nation in the world. What about the spiritual state in the Millennial Kingdom?
The Bible says that “The glory and holiness of the Lord will be
manifested.” “Holiness will abound and the attitude of joy and praise will prevail,” and that's in Isaiah Chapter 40 and 52 and 66.
In Chapter 4, “The ransomed of the Lord will return, and come with joyful shouting to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads. There will be gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” I'm sorry, have you met the Jews lately? Sigh is our second name. Even our cows when they produce milk, “Oy vey.”
“A rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem will serve as the worship center of the
world.” Is that really what we have there? We don't have it yet. Isaiah 2,
Isaiah 56, Isaiah 60, “Incredibly, the Shekinah glory of God will hover over the city of Jerusalem like a canopy,” in Isaiah 4:5. It's not there yet.
“The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters
cover the sea.” Do we have it now? We have increased what? Knowledge.
But we have deception, corruption, sin abounds. That's what we have right
now.
What about nature? Okay, I dare you to go now to Africa, to the area of the jungles where the lions are, and just try to walk right by them. Hi, kitty, kitty, kitty. Do that.
The Bible says that “The Land of Israel will no longer be a place of desolation.” True. “Instead, ‘the fruit of the earth’ will be a pride of Israel.” “Water will break forth from the wilderness.”
Each started, but then it says that “The animal kingdom will be restored to its original perfection. Poisonous animals will cease to be poisonous, meat-eating animals will become herbivores.” You know, can you imagine lions will be vegetarian? You know people
ask me if I'm vegetarian, and I always tell them, “The steak that I eat is from a vegetarian cow.” Hello?
Ladies and gentlemen, “All members of the animal kingdom will live
together in perfect peace with each other and with Mankind.” Is that what we have right now? Try and walk in the jungles, try to go to a poisonous Cobra, you know, if you want to die, if you have a death wish. But in the Millennial Kingdom, if you read Isaiah, both in Chapter 11 and both in Chapter 65, and trust me, I read those verses before I put them in this
message, it's a perfect description of how God is going to restore things.
Remember, this is the time that Satan is not even here to deceive anyone. Remember, he's locked up right there in that bottomless pit for a thousand years, and Mankind can no longer say there is a satanic influence in this world.
So how come everybody’s so deceived about this Millennial Kingdom?
Don't you notice? Half of the pastors around the world believe that we're already there? I don’t know if you know that. There is a great deception both among Christians and Jews.
First of all, in the Jewish mindset, the Millennial Kingdom is the first coming of the Messiah. The Jews reject Jesus. Part of it is because they say, “I'm sorry, but we don't see the things that should be here when Messiah should reign.”
See, they missed His visitation. What is the visitation? He's only coming for the issue of sin. He only comes for a short time. He's not staying. They missed that one.
They are waiting for the second coming as if it's a First. They're waiting for the Millennial Kingdom as if this is the reign of Christ. So up until now, Messiah has not come yet. So in their mind, the enemy deceived them to say, reject Jesus. Obviously, He never really provided the world that you hope for when Messiah comes.
So the Jewish mindset -- what we call the “second coming,” they call
the “first coming.” What we call the “Millennial Kingdom,” they call “Israel's
Messianic period.” So the enemy blinded them from understanding what the Millennial Kingdom is all about.
And what about the church? I don't know if you know that most of the
people that call themselves “Christians” today, and most of the churches
that call themselves “Bible-teaching churches” today are Amillennial.
Amillennial mean they don't believe in the Millennial viewpoint. The
amillennial viewpoint of end time Bible prophecy is the majority view within
the Church today and held by both the Catholic Church and most mainline
Protestant denominations. The enemy did a great job of deceiving them.
Amillennialists are those who believe that Jesus is currently reigning
over the world from Heaven through the Church and they, therefore believe
that we are already in the name Millennium right now -- that it began at the
Cross and will continue until the second coming. Ha!
First of all, 2,000 years already passed, with all due respect, so it's way beyond one thousand. And all the characteristics of the Millennial Kingdom obviously don't fit anything in this world today. Now, who is going to reign? Is it King David or King Jesus?
Because I want to tell you something. Ezekiel 34 says, “I will establish one Shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, My servant David. He shall feed them and be their Shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David, a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.”
Then in Jeremiah 30, Verse 9, “But they shall serve the Lord their God,
and David their King, whom I will raise up for them.”
So there's a lot of confusion amongst mostly Jews but many Christians as of who is the King in the Millennial Kingdom, Jesus or David. And I want to correct it very much, so remember in the order of the resurrection, the Old Testament Saints, amongst them David, are going to resurrect at the end of Jacob’s trouble, ushering the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom.
The Jewish people sometimes referred to the Messiah as “David” because it was known that the Messiah would come from David's lineage.
The New Testament often refers to Jesus as the “Son of David.” Remember, in Matthew 15 and in Mark 10, there are other reasons, besides being the Son of David, that the Messiah is referred to as “David.”
King David in the Old Testament was a man after God's own heart,
Acts 13. What about Jesus? He was an unlikely King of God's own choosing, and the Spirit of God was upon Him, as in 1st Samuel 16. David, then is a type of Christ; type is a person who foreshadows someone else.
Another example, by the way, of this is the kind of typology is Elijah, whose ministry foreshadowed that of John the Baptist to the extent that Malachi, or if you're Italian you call him “Malachi.” He called John “Elijah,” Malachi 4:5. We see Luke 1:17, Mark 9, and all of that. Folks make no mistake, David will be resurrected at the beginning of the Millennium along with all the other Old Testament Saints, and David will be one of those who reign with Jesus in the Kingdom, not the only one. However, all believers will rule the nations and judge the world. The Apostle Peter called the Christians “a chosen race, a royal priesthood,” that's 1st Peter, Chapter 2, Verse 9, “a holy nation.” In Revelation 3:21, Jesus says about the believer who conquers, “I will grant him to sit with me on My throne.”
In some sense, then, Christians will share authority with Christ, as far as rulers, that's what Ephesians 2:6 says. There's some Biblical evidence, by the way, is in the Parable of the Ten Minas.
Bible says that individuals will be given more or less authority in the
Kingdom according to how they handle the responsibilities God had given
them now in this age. This is why it's so important to study the
Millennial Kingdom today.
Jesus is the King of Kings. Humanly speaking, Jesus is from the
Davidic dynasty; but in power, in glory, in righteousness, and in every other
way, He's rightly called the Greater David.
And, “The government will be on His shoulders,” Isaiah 9:6. That's the child that unto us is given. The Old and the New Testament revealed that the “Future King during the Millennium and all eternity is Jesus Christ and Him alone,” Jeremiah 23, Isaiah 9:7, Isaiah 33:22, Revelation 17, 1 Timothy 6:15.
I love the Bible because the Bible explains the Bible. Where is he gonna rule from? Jesus will return to this earth to reign from Jerusalem. This is why Jerusalem has to be back in the hands of the Jewish people. This is why they had to come back.
This is why the moving of the embassy by President Trump -- you may
not take it lightly but this – oh, you may take it too lightly -- but this is a
very prophetic thing, that the world's superpower recognizes Jerusalem as the place for the people of Israel. It is the step before they will build a temple. Zechariah 14, “Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day, His feet shall stand on Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a large valley; half of the mountain shall move towards the north and the other towards the south. And then you shall flee through My mountain valley, for the mountain valley shall reach to Azal.
Yes, you shall flee” -- and look what they say – “Thus the Lord my God
will come and all the saints with you.”
Jesus will return to Jerusalem and He will return with all of us.
I always tell people in the second coming of Jesus, you better not see His face but see his back, because He will come and consume His enemies with the breath of His mouth. But if you are his behind Him riding the horse, coming all the way down from heaven, you are with Him. As much as I want to see the face of Jesus -- I will see it when I come in the rapture -- but then He takes me, and I will be with Him, and when I
return, He leads, and I'm riding the horse behind Him. You don't want to see His face; you want to see His back during that time. Is there any indication, by the way, of Israel's salvation during the Millennial Kingdom? Of course!
Zechariah 12:10 says, “And I will pour on the house of David and on
the inhabitants Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; and then they
will look on Me whom they have pierced.”
When Jesus returns, Israel will be the ones that say, “Blessed is He
who comes in the name of the Lord!” Jesus said, “Jerusalem, you will not
see Me until you say, “Baruch Haba B'shem, Adonai.” You will have to invite me.
Hosea 5 says, “In their affliction, they will earnestly seek My face.” And that is after the tribulation that is meant for their salvation. They will earnestly seek Him, and they will cry, “Baruch Haba B'shem, Adonai.” “They will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for Him as one grieves for his firstborn.” They will understand that for the last 2000 years, they were wrong. He is our Messiah! It's the one whom we pierced! It’s the one whom we condemned. It's the one we thought that he's not our King; He's not our Messiah, is not our deliverer. He is the Messiah. He is the deliverer! He's the King of King, the Lord
of Lords. I wish we would have believed in Him, and we would have been spared from this whole tribulation. And you, before the tribulation starts, have the privilege to choose Him.
Jeremiah pictures the Millennium as the time when Israel and Judah will be united in peace, the city of Jerusalem will be called, “The Throne of the Lord.” Jesus, “the righteous Branch,” will “reign as the King act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land.” Because of His new role as King, the name of Jesus will be changed to Yahweh-Tsidkenu, which means “The Lord is our righteousness,” in Jeremiah 23:6. “David, in his glorified body, will serve also as King of Israel.”
The Bible said that “All the enemies of Israel will be destroyed,” Jeremiah 30.
“The city of Jerusalem and the Temple will be rebuilt,” Jeremiah 30:18, and the population will be multiplied.”
And “the morning of the Jewish people will be turned into joy.” “The Jewish people will repent of the rejection of the Messiah and they will enter into a new covenant with God,” and they will be, as it is written, “It will be written on their hearts.” Jeremiah 31, Verse 31 talks about the New Covenant, the New Testament that the Jewish people were promised. “The streets of Jerusalem will be filled with the voice of joy and the voice of gladness.”
Now, who are we going to rule over? It's nice to be rulers but you need to rule over someone. It's not only animals. Hello?
Remember, when Jesus comes back, He will judge the sheep and the goats, remember, and He will allow the Sheep to enter into His Kingdom, that thousand years Kingdom and they will multiply.
They still have their earthly bodies. We will have our glorified bodies because without that, we cannot even be raptured. Remember, you cannot be raptured unless you are changed, as 1st Corinthians, Chapter 15 says, “Behold, I tell you a mystery; not all of us are going to die, but all of us are going to change, in a minute, and with a twinkle of an eye, with the sound of
the trumpet.”
But the people on earth -- when we come back, they're still having their earthly bodies. See, you can eat as many donuts as you want. They can't. Hello?
That enough is a reason to believe; that is enough -- is a reason to want to be taken. People throw millions of dollars on diets and wellness treatments and medical treatments. Receive Jesus, and your body is going to be changed!
But those that are going to be left here, when we come back, they are still on earth. They will repopulate the earth. After all the great tribulation, the earth will be repopulated.
And I know that because I'm gonna tell you in a few seconds what's gonna happen with those people. So can you imagine reigning thousand years, and you're gonna see so many people born and dead, and born and dead. You're gonna, at the end of the Millennial, you're gonna say, “Hey, I know your great-great-great-great-great- great-great-great-grandfather. He was nicer than you.
The people who survived the tribulation and their descendants are the
people we're going to reign over. Zechariah 14 says, “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 Lords in
Jerusalem.”
There will be people who were left. God will leave people, and they will multiply. And what is going to be the difference, by the way, between
the Jerusalem of today and the Jerusalem of the Millennial Kingdom -- it's the same city.
We're coming back to earthly Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is not yet there, but the Millennial Jerusalem still is going to be a little different. First of all, the Bible says there will be the River of Life that is coming.
Take a look at this. The River of Life. In Ezekiel 47, the first 12 verses are “Then he brought me back to the door of the Temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the Temple towards the east, for the front of the temple faced east; and the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar. And He brought me out by the way of the north gate and led me around on the outside” -- and when he's talking about the water and the water flows towards the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters into the sea, and wherever they reach the sea, its waters are healed, and it shall be that every living thing that moves wherever the river goes, everything will leave wherever the river
goes, the River of Life.
By the way, Zechariah Chapter 14, you can add it also, speaks of the
same river. He says that when Jesus comes back and His feet are in Mount of Olives and Mount of Olives split, then water comes out.
Half goes to the eastern sea and half goes to the western sea, and there will be a river in Jerusalem. Jerusalem has no river today. Jerusalem will have a river.
Now Jerusalem has no temple today, but the Bible says in Ezekiel, the
fifth Chapter, Ezekiel 40-45, speaking of the Fourth Temple -- wait a minute
– Fourth? Yes, the Third Temple is going to be built during the tribulation when we're out. Antichrist will reign from it, remember?
But when Jesus comes, everything is destroyed. There's an earthquake, and then there will be a fourth one. Now I have a question for you. Isn't a Millennium a long time? It's like, all right, I got the point.
Now, I want to tell you something. We're changed. Remember, our bodies change. Everything is changed. The Millennium will be Millennium for those who live here, but remember, the Bible says in 2 Peter 3:8-9, “Beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.” There is a great chance that for us, it will feel almost like one day, when in reality, for the people, it could be felt like a thousand years.
Now comes the point. What is the purpose of this Kingdom? Why would God want us to reign for a thousand years in this fallen world over these fallen people, where Satan is not even over for good, but only for that time?
Remember, Jesus said, and it’s about the first coming, “But God did
not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world,
through Him might be saved.”
Jesus came the first time to save the world, but the second coming, in
Acts 17, “He is appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom he has ordained.”
In Acts 17:31, “He will judge the world in righteousness.” Now if God is about to judge the whole world in righteousness, God wants to display His righteousness. Isaiah 11 and Isaiah 61, “The truth has been preached in His first coming and will be displayed in His second coming, yet what? The nations will still be ignorant.” Okay, you can tell me that you did not believe when Jesus first came. Well, you know He was poor, riding a donkey, weeping, crying; he died like a thief on a cross.
This whole thing doesn't resonate with what you think a King is going
to be. So maybe you missed Him in His first coming. Okay. But you want to tell me that after a thousand years, when He comes riding a horse, destroying His enemies with the breath of His mouth, He's establishing godly Kingdom on earth, there is no Satan around -- he is bound for a thousand years -- you would think that everyone automatically will believe.
Wouldn't you? Hello?
And you cannot say Satan made me do it. Satan -- he's not even there. He's locked down for a thousand years. He's gone. Stop blaming
him for everything.
Although Jesus spoke about His second coming, why is it so hard for
people to believe it? Listen, people don't believe Jesus is coming back. Most
Christians don't believe in a physical return of Jesus. I don't know if you know that.
You know why? Because Jesus will come riding a horse. It's a political leadership that He's about to take. Don't you politicize my faith. I'm not. Jesus is coming as a political leader. Oh, I prefer Him riding the donkey. Your choice. He’s coming back on a horse. I'm sorry, Jesus will come as a man of war that will consume His enemies.
Folks, we love Him as the one on the cross, who turned the other cheek, and who bleeds, and who forgives us. I mean, we want Him there on the cross or as a little baby. He is coming as a man of war. People have a hard time with that one. They don't want to see a political figure.
They don't want to see someone who is coming to fight His enemies. Jesus will come, no longer to save the world; that's His first coming, but to what? Judge the world. Oh, Jesus forgives; He loves. Jesus is coming to judge the world. The first coming is to save the world.
You have a chance right now, but I have news for you. He said that the second coming is not to save but to judge.
The two judgments of the Millennial Kingdom; there will be two. One is going to be the sheep and the goats when he ushers the Millennial Kingdom.
In Joel Chapter 3 and in Matthew 25, Jesus will come, and He will divide the population of the world between those, and, by the way, in both cases, it’s how they treated Israel. Interesting. That's why it's so important we have pastors and leadership that are teaching you to love, support, and pray for Israel.
The Bible says in Joel Chapter 3 the following thing in regarding that particular thing. It says, “For behold, in those days, and at that time, when I bring back the captives to Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will enter into judgment with them there on the account of My people, My heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations there, and also divided
up My land and cast lots on My people.”
He will judge all the nations on the account of His people, what they
did to His people, and Matthew -- when he says, “sheep and goats,” he says,
“If you did that to the least of My brethren, speaking of the Jewish people,
it's as if you did it unto Me.” Wow!
And then at the end of the Millennium, it's the Great White Throne of
Judgment. That's when He judges the whole world, two different judgments. One -- look at this chart -- go all the way. The first one, when he returns with us, it's the judgment of the sheep and the goats.
And then the second one, at the end of it, is going to be when He's judging the whole world, and the world that is not of Him is going down. He is bringing New Jerusalem for us from heaven.
Why is it so important for us today to study the events of such a far future such as the Millennial Kingdom? It's important because your decision today will affect your place and your role in the future. If you choose Him now, you reign with Him in the future. You deny Him now, He will deny you before the Father. It's very simple. That's why it's in the Bible.
Why do you think John had that Revelation, if it's not that important for you today? Why do you think all the Old Testament prophets had that Revelation if it's not that important?
There are no promotions in the Millennial Kingdom; either you reign or you're being reigned by someone. You're not promoted. If you want to be promoted to governor, or to be a priest, now your decision will make you priests, and will make you a judge, and will make you a king and ruler in the future. But not then. A subject can never reign.
You have to understand that. Follow Jesus today, and you will reign with Him tomorrow. Reject Jesus today, and you may not even see tomorrow.
2 Timothy 2:11 and 12; “This is faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him, and if we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.”
One of the questions I'm often asked is, “Can anyone accept Christ
during the Millennial Kingdom?” It's a legitimate question. Thousand years they see Jesus. These people were not born when Jesus came first. You cannot blame them for rejecting Christ. Here they are in the Millennial Kingdom. Can they -- and I am going to be fairly super careful in my answer right now -- and I will tell you this: all I can tell you is
based on what I read in the scriptures, salvation may be possible during the
Millennial because I never met one person that Jesus said, “Oh, you truly want to believe, but I'm not interested.”
No, he's not interested in those who faked, who did this in His name, and did that in His name; He never knew them because they never really truly believed in Him.
However -- it's a huge however -- you will not be there if you reject
Him now. In other words, don't count on coming to faith in the Millennial
Kingdom. Hello? You won't be there.
Those who will be born during the Millennial Kingdom might have the chance. But you? That's why the Bible says, “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power signs and lying wonders and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because if you did not receive the love of the truth now that you might be saved, you will be getting from God a strong delusion that you should believe the lie.
Do you understand? Now you need to accept Him.
The only description that we have of the world towards the end of the Kingdom is not that flattering.
You see, I didn't find all those verses that speak of if you're born in the Millennial Kingdom, you're saved then, everything is -- you know what I found? Revelation 20, Verses 7-10: Look what I found. “Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison” -- remember, he's there for a thousand years, and remember the Bible says, “That he must be released for a short while.”
And now comes a point at the end of the Millennial Kingdom. The Bible says, “Satan will be released from his prison” -- and what -- “He will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth” – whoa! Gog and Magog? Yes, there is another Gog and Magog. This is the ultimate Gog and Magog; the coming of those who are influenced by Satan against those who are chosen by God.
There was a picture of it in the coming Gog and Magog now with Ezekiel, but the ultimate Gog and Magog, is at the end of the Millennial Kingdom.
And guys, the Bible says, “That there He will gather them together to battle, whose number is like the sands of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the Saints and the beloved city.”
That means that the Saints, the believers, and the beloved city,
Jerusalem will be attacked from their four corners of the world by people who automatically, once Satan is released, will choose him!
After a thousand years that Satan was bound, a thousand years that Jesus physically reigns on earth, guess who they choose? Satan! “And they came down from Gog” -- the Bible says, “And they went up, and the fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophets are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever...”
So I'm telling you, folks, when my Bible tells me that the Lord Jesus will judge the world in righteousness, it's because the world is going to be so evil, and the Millennial Kingdom, as far I'm concerned, is God telling all of us, “Look guys, I'm giving you a thousand years; Satan is not in the neighborhood, I am reigning over all the earth, and guess what? You're still going to choose Satan. So when I judge you at the end, it is in righteousness.”
Do you understand what the Millennial Kingdom is all about? A display of God and His righteousness in preparation for His judgment. This is why I cannot tell you to wait for the Millennium to believe. Most likely, you will be deceived. This is why there is an urgency in the Bible.
In 2nd Corinthians 6, the latter part of Verse 2, “Behold, now is the
accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Not then!
And I beg all of you not to be deceived that the Millennial Kingdom is already here. I beg all of you to understand now is the day of salvation. If you will enter into the Millennial Kingdom, which is a very slim chance that you would, the chances that you will be deceived are even greater!
Choose Jesus; choose life, and reign with Him, and rule with Him, and
live with Him not only for the seven years in heaven and a thousand years
on earth, but also forever and ever in the New Jerusalem, Amen.
Father, we thank You so much that You, by Your wisdom and Your
mighty, mighty, mighty hand, You're going to judge the world in
righteousness.
And You give us the Millennial Kingdom to understand how desperately wicked the heart of man is and how he needs a new heart that can only come as he accepts Jesus and filled with the Spirit of God.
So today, Father, we ask that You will fill us once again with the urgency of the times and the seasons, not only to be holy and live a holy life but also to tell people about Jesus.
They are so going to be disappointed, and they’re so going to be deceived when the Antichrist is going to rule and reign because he can only give them fake peace, for a short time, and then comes the disappointment.
Father, I pray that so many will come to the knowledge of the truths so they will not be given to strong delusions.
We pray that You will use us today to share Your word and bring fruits to Your Kingdom. We thank You for Your Word, and for the Millennial Kingdom that is ahead of us. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen, amen.