The Millennium, Part 1

Transcript

GR 435
2/7/1982
The Millennium Part 1
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

In our consideration of what the Bible says about future things, we have moved through that period called the seven-year tribulation. In the overall order where of events, the rapture of the church occurs next/ all true believers are bodily removed from the earth. Then a period of seven years of tribulation upon the earth, climaxed by the personal return of Jesus Christ to earth to set up His kingdom. In our last study together, we looked at the events surrounding the Battle of Armageddon where the armies of the world have moved together into Palestine to do battle with one another; but they have really been gathered there by God for the final conflict before the setting up of the Kingdom of Christ and Jesus Christ Himself appears and the armies of the world turn to confront Him to do battle with Him. Revelation 19 says they are slain by the sword which comes out of His mouth. So you have the armies of the West, the armies of the East, the armies of the North and South, all moving in on Palestine to do battle with one another, to challenge the rule and reign of antichrist. And as they gather there the sign of the appearing of the Son of Man appears in the heavens and they join forces to do battle against Jesus Christ. They are destroyed at His coming and now things are prepared for the setting up of the earthly kingdom.

But before the kingdom is actually established there are several events that transpire. So as we prepare to look into the Millennium, we have to begin with those things which will happen following the second coming but before the setting up of the kingdom itself. There is a period of time there and we’ll have some judgments meted out, resurrections take place, and then the establishing of the kingdom. The kingdom we're talking about is the thousand year earthly reign of Christ We call it the millennium. The word millennium does not appear in the Bible, it’s a Latin word. It means a thousand years. But the term a thousand years appears repeatedly in Revelation Chapter 20 which we read for our Scripture reading. That, if you turn if you don't have Revelation 20, you might turn there quickly just to establish the time period and then we want to look at some related passages. At the end of verse 2 in Revelation 20 Satan is bound for a thousand years. In verse 3, he's thrown into the abyss, sealed it over him that he should not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed. Down at the end of verse 4, "They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." Verse 5: "The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed." The end of verse 6: "They will reign with Him for a thousand years." The beginning of verse 7: "And when the thousand years are completed." Now it seems rather clear in reading those verses that God is talking about a thousand years. Now, I'm aware that many do not accept the fact that Christ will rule on earth for a thousand years, and they make this expression "a thousand years" an indefinite period of time. "A day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." That's true but that doesn't mean that a day doesn't mean a day and a year doesn't mean a year. Within God's framework of operation, He's not bounded as we are by time. But none the less He expresses Himself clearly. When the Old Testament tells us that our days are three score years and ten and perhaps four score years with some added suffering and problems, I don't say, "Well, a day with the Lord is as a thousand years, so instead of living 70 years, I'll live 70 times a thousand; because a year you know with God is as a thousand and a day and on and on;" It would make no sense. I take it we take it just as it said in Revelation chapter 20 that we're talking about a thousand year period. Now we'll talk more about the breadth and extent of that kingdom as we pursue the study this morning and again this evening.

Before you move into the kingdom, you have to deal with judgment. Because there are those who are excluded from the kingdom of God on earth. And that judgment begins immediately with the second coming of Christ. Where the armies of the world are slain by Jesus Christ. Executed by Him which guarantees they are not going in to the earthly kingdom, the millennium. So all these in the armies gathered at Armageddon are executed by Jesus Christ. All the unbelievers assembled there to do battle with Him are executed. Thus, they will not be part of the earthly kingdom.

In verse 20 of Revelation 19: "And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh," So here are two individuals who were not killed. The antichrist who has been ruling the world as Satan's false messiah and the false prophet. That individual who has been directing the worship of the world to the antichrist. They are taken alive and cast alive into hell. The first two human beings placed into hell—the antichrist and the false prophet. Cast alive into hell—they are not executed but they are bodily sentenced to hell. And then the rest suffer, the rest of those in the armies and so on are killed with the sword. Referring here to physical death on their behalf they suffer physical death. So the first in the judgments. The antichrist and false prophet cast into hell. The armies of the world destroyed—killed.

Now, there are multitudes of people who are not executed in this conflict because they were not part of the armies. They must be judged. You see when you go in to the earthly kingdom of Christ, no unbelievers can go into that kingdom. So Christ is going to set up a rule over the whole earth and the first thing that He must do before He establishes His reign, is remove every single unbeliever from the face of the earth. So judgment is set and first is Israel. Turn back to Ezekiel, Chapter 20. Ezekiel chapter 20. And we'll begin with about verse 33. Ezekiel, along about the middle of your Bible. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel. Verse 33, Ezekiel 20-:'As I live," Declares the Lord God, "surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I shall be king over you. And I shall bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out. And I shall bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I shall enter into judgment with you face to face." So what happens, Christ has returned, now all the Jews who have been scattered throughout the world are now gathered for judgment before Jesus Christ?

Verse 36; "As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you,’ declares the Lord," Remember what happened? The wilderness at Kadesh-barnea where the people were not willing to go into the land because of the report of the spies? God entered into judgment with them for forty years removing all of the unbelieving. They were not permitted to go into the land. So now, "Just as I entered into judgment with you then, I enter into judgment with you now. Because none of you unbelieving are going to be permitted to come into the kingdom,"

Verse 37: "I will make you pass under the rod, and I shall bring you into the bond of the covenant;" Verse 38: "I shall purge from you the rebels and those who transgress against Me; I shall bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord."
So they are not permitted to enter the land of Israel, They are not permitted to be part of the kingdom,

Turn over the Matthew, Chapter 25. You have two parables. First the parable of the virgins and then the parable of the talents. And these parables have suffered many things at the hands of various teachers. I take it they are in the context of what has been talked about in Matthew 24, the second coming of Christ to earth and the events preceding and following the second coming of Christ to earth. You note chapter 25 opens up, "Then the kingdom of heaven will be compared to". The then connecting it to what He has been talking about. He has talked in Matthew 24 about that seven year tribulation, About the Son of Man coming to earth. Then He has talked about judgment at the conclusion of that chapter. Now here are two parables picturing and dealing with the judgment following the second coming to earth of Jesus Christ. Matthew 24 and 23 have nothing to do with the rapture of the church. Matthew 24 and 25 are dealing with the second coming of Christ to earth. So in Matthew 25 what is being dealt with are judgments on the people who are alive on earth at the second coming of Christ, The parable of the ten virgins, "The kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were foolish, five prudent. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, the prudent took oil in their flasks along with their lamps. Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. At midnight there was a shout, 'Behold, the bridegroom Come out to meet him,' Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the prudent, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the prudent answered saying, 'No there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.' While they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. And later the other virgins also came, saying, 'Lord, lord, open up for us.' But he answered and said, 'Truly I say to you, I do not know you,' Be on the alert then for you do not know the day nor the hour." Verse JL3 gives the key on both of the parables. Verse—the first one on the virgins and on the talents. Be on the alert. Now that is what is being taught in both the virgins and the talent, For the parable of the ten virgins, we're dealing with Israel and you have pictured with the five without oil, those in Israel who are not prepared for the coming of the messiah. The five with oil picture those who are prepared and ready and waiting for the messiah. The bridegroom has delayed his coming, humanly speaking, so that some have grown weary of waiting for him. How many in Israel today are looking expectantly for the return of their messiah? Now there will be many more by the time the tribulation draws to a conclusion. Because one of the prime purposes of the seven year tribulation is to turn Israel back to God. To draw them as a nation to Jesus
Christ, their messiah. So at the end of that seven years there will be many in Israel who are looking with expectancy for the return of Christ, They will have come to believe in Him as their Savior and Messiah during those seven years. We noted something of the 144 thousand, twelve thousand from each tribe, in the Book of Revelation, How many in addition to them, we’re not told. So there will be a significant number. That’s what the parable of the virgins depicts.

Those who are prepared in verse 10 go into the wedding feast and the door is shut. Now you note they are not the bridegroom. It’s not the church that’s being pictured here, You and I, the church, are the bride of Christ. They are not the bride. They are the virgins. They are the friends of the bridegroom, as John the Baptist identified himself. Now, what has happened is we were raptured seven years earlier. The marriage has occurred in heaven. Now we return with Christ for the wedding feast. And at the wedding feast in the oriental pattern, that's when all the friends of the bridegroom are invited to partake. And going in to the millennium, the millennium is the wedding feast. So we the bride, the church, return with the bridegroom and all of those who are ready, friends of the bridegroom, go into the wedding feast. The rest are closed out, The door is shut. In other words they cannot be part of the kingdom.

We have a little tract in our tape library that you would be interested in if you haven't read it. It will give you the pattern of the oriental wedding which is significant in understanding what is going on here. So the procedure would be intelligible very clearly to the Jews.

The parable of the talents, and you're familiar with that. We won't take time to read the whole thing since it's rather long. Where the master is going away so he entrusts a certain amount to each of his servants. Five talents to one servant, and two talents to another, one talent to another. The master is gone a long time and in verse 19 he comes back to settle accounts. Two of the servants have doubled their master's possessions and they are accordingly awarded—rewarded. Verse 21: "His master said to him, ’Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master,'" So these first two servants both commended, And you note, they are in charge of many things. They will have to do with the responsibility entrusted in the millennium. There is one unfaithful slave who had hidden the master’s talent and he is called to account for it. In verse 26 and 27 he is asked why he did not invest it at the bank which perhaps gives some insight into the character of this man. He had hidden it in the ground. That way if the master never returned, there would be no accounting, it would be his. If it had been placed in the bank to bear interest, there would be a record of it and it would be part of the master's inheritance. So he's demonstrated to be a wicked, unfaithful slave and he is (verse 30) cast into outer darkness. "In that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Same picture I take it. Little different emphases. Here with the parable of the talents deals with the idea that they are to be faithfully serving their master until he comes. And that is a demonstration again of their faith in him. And the one slave who did not do anything with what had been given to him is demonstrated to be an unbeliever. He is not expecting the master to return, and is not looking for that.

They’re both dealing with Israel and the judgment of Israel. The unbelievers are closed out of the kingdom. They are cast into outer darkness. But those who are believing go into the wedding feast. They are given responsibility and authority by the master. So Israel is judged and all unbelieving are culled out of the nation. One passage you ought to take note of. Revelation chapter 11, Revelation 9, 10, and 11 Paul has been discussing the matter of the sovereignty of God. Particularly in dealing with His people, Israel, And in verse 25 of Romans chapter 11. "For I do not want you brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved." So, it is at the second coming of Christ, There is a national conversion, if I can use that expression. That does not mean every Jew on the face of the earth will be saved. We've just seen. There's going to be a judgment to cull out and sift out the unbelieving Jew. That there will be a great mass turning of the Jews to Christ as Messiah as the tribulation draws to a close and thus, this prophecy will be fulfilled. All Israel will be saved. When the fullness of the Gentiles has come it, God has completed His program with the nations, has resumed His program with Israel and it results in the national conversion. That the nation Israel will be a nation now that believes in Jesus Christ and is following Him as Messiah. Many unbelievers will have had to be judged and suffer execution, but many within the nation Israel will be saved and verses 26 and 27 go on to give you more of the time point. "The deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob." That's what we've been talking about. The deliverer comes, Jesus Christ the Messiah, and He removes ungodliness and all the ungodly as well are dealt with on this occasion.

All right, come back to Matthew 25. In preparation for the millennium. You have the antichrist and the false prophet cast into hell. You have the armies of the world assembled in Palestine destroyed. Then you have all the Jews throughout the world gathered before Christ in the wilderness at Palestine, the Valley of Jehoshaphat, Joel titles it. A little difficult to identify that place. Perhaps it's the new valley that will be caused by the touching down on the Mount of Olives by Jesus Christ. But at any rate, they are assembled in that vicinity for judgement. All unbelievers are culled out of the nation and executed—suffer physical death at this point.

Now, all the others, all the Gentiles are now gathered before Jesus Christ for their judgment to determine who among them will be going in to the kingdom. Because remember we saw in Revelation that there are many from every tribe, tongue, peoples and nation who come to believe in Jesus Christ in the millennium—in the tribulation. There are many who do not. So in Matthew 25, verse 31 you have the sheep and goat judgment. Verse 31: "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him." So the time period is clear. It’s when Christ comes in His glory and He sits on His throne. That’s the second coming to earth. Not talking about the rapture here. Talking about the second coming to earth. The throne is set up. Now all the nations are gathered before Him, "And He will separate them" in the middle of Verse 32, "from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." So you see what is happening. There is a separation taking place now among the Gentiles. And those who are believers are not invited to come and partake of the kingdom, it's been prepared for them from the foundation of the world, God's planned that all those who believe in Him would share in this kingdom. The reason, and there's been a lot of misunderstandings, so it's important that the context determine the meaning for it,

Verse 35-; "For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; Naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him saying 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed you, or thirsty, and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'" Misunderstanding and misinterpretation of this passage has been the foundation for a whole flood of social programs by churches and Christians. Tremendous waste of the Lord's money and resources because of not properly interpreting the Scripture. How many times have people appealed for money to send food and clothing to certain impoverished nations of the world and quoted from Matthew 25 as a foundation? And I have two different things here. I'm not saying that it's not nice to feed and clothe the poor. What I am saying is that it has nothing, but nothing, but nothing to do with Matthew 25. If you want to give money to feed the poor, to clothe the needy, that’s fine. Don’t try to base it on Matthew 25 is all I’m saying. Now the problem is we use Scripture because then we try to draw Christians to show them it’s their Christian responsibility to do it. It's the church's responsibility to do it. Matthew 25 has nothing to do with that. Otherwise we'd be saying that salvation is a result of works. What is He talking about? What is the context here? The tribulation has just been brought to a climax by the earthly return of Jesus Christ. Now, these Gentiles are rewarded because of good deeds they have done, verse 40, "To the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even to the least of them, you did it to Me." I take it who He is talking about, are His earthly people Israel. What has happened? The tribulation, particularly beginning in the middle remember, there's a tremendous program begun by Satan and carried out by the antichrist! Of attempting to annihilate every Jew on the face of the earth. During the last half of the tribulation, to even give a drink of water to a Jew will be to put your life on the line. So the point is clear. Only those who are truly believers in Jesus Christ will be willing to show any act of kindness at all to a Jew. So the very fact that they would do this indicates that they are truly believers in Jesus Christ. The hundred and forty-four thousand sealed by God, I take it they will be the object of these kinds of acts of kindness through the tribulation. As Gentiles who have believed in Christ, show them acts of kindness to care for them and so on. (Turn tape over), Demonstrating that they are truly believers. Then it will really cost something to give a glass of water to a Jew because if word gets out, you're immediately executed by the antichrist and we saw something of that previous days, World War II and so on for the Jews, but it will be much more during the tribulation. So that Christ says here, "Only true believers will show acts of kindness." So it doesn't have anything to do with me meeting the needs of the people today particularly. Matthew 25 is not talking about that. I can give a cup of cold water to my neighbor—nothing to it. He's out cutting the lawn, I can give him a cup of iced tea or glass of iced tea. That's not what Matthew 25 is talking about, I do that to a Jew in the tribulation, that's my life.

Verse 41: "Then He will say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels."
Note, they are going where Satan is going. Hell is their ultimate destination, "I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, you did not invite Me in; naked, you did not clothe Me; sick and in prison, you did not visit Me.' Then they themselves also will answer saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, in prison, did not care for You?' He will answer them, saying, ’Truly I say to you, to the extent you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me,' These will go away into eternal punishment, the righteous into eternal life."

Now again, we're not talking about salvation by works. Salvation is by the grace of God through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, Always has been, always will be.
But this true saving faith manifests itself in our conduct and our action. Faith without works is dead—the principle that James sets down. So these aren't saved because they do these good works, but because they are saved they will do these acts of kindness to the Jews in the tribulation. And so you have the Gentiles sifted out and only the believing Gentiles are left to go into the kingdom. Now, we're just about ready for the kingdom. So next time you hear somebody appealing for food or response on the basis of Matthew 25, put your checkbook away, They may be doing a good work, but they're on a wrong foundation, I think you're hard pressed to find any support in Scripture for the church to be involved in social programs. Matthew 25 being perhaps the key passage that's used.

All right, that's the living, but what about those who have died who were believers? What about all the Old Testament saints? What about all those who were martyred in the tribulation? Now we will have resurrection. Turn over to Revelation chapter 20. The judgments that we’ve been talking about only deal with those who were alive on earth when Christ came back. No wicked were raised to be judged. We'll talk about the resurrection of the wicked at a later time. No wicked have been raised— only the living at the second coming have experienced the judgments we've been talking about.

Revelation chapter 20, verse 4; "I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand/: and they came to life." Resurrection, Here, those who come to believe in Christ and were martyred during that seven year period. They are now raised and just as believers in Christ, the church, seven years earlier had experienced bodily resurrection^ so these too receive bodily resurrection. In all the questions we have like "beheaded". And, I wonder what they did with the head and putting the body back together. No problem for Christ. They are called back to life. "And they reigned with Him a thousand years." So we know that now the tribulation saints will be raised.

Old Testament saints are raised at this time. Come back—we're going to—keep your finger in Revelations 20 and come back to Daniel chapter 12, Look at Daniel chapter 12, Daniel is just after the Book of Ezekiel where we were a little bit ago. Daniel chapter 12. Remember chapter 11 ends with antichrist coming to his end? The rumors from the east in Daniel 11:44 troubled him; from the north disturbed him. He goes forth with great wrath. We tied that to Armageddon as the nations of the earth are gathered for battle there, Verse 1 of chapter 12 "Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise, There will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued." So Jesus Christ intervenes and there is salvation. Now note, "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.” So those raised at this time, are raised to everlasting life. The others who will be raised at a later time, will be raised to everlasting contempt, so the promise here to Israel that they will be raised to everlasting life at this point. Verse 3, "Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. So, Israel is raised at this time because the millennium has to do with God’s program with Israel in a special way. So now all Old Testament saints experience bodily resurrection that they might share in the glories of the earthly reign of Christ.

Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 19 prophesied concerning the resurrection of the nation Israel, now you come back to Revelation chapter 20. The end of verse 4-: "They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. So everyone who is saved is resurrected up to this point, is saved and is going to share in the glorious reign of Christ forever. That's the first resurrection. It is a quality of resurrection. It is a resurrection to life. It includes Jesus Christ who is the first fruits according to Revelation—-First Corinthians 15. It includes the church who was raptured at the beginning of the seven-years tribulation. It includes the tribulations saints. Those who were raised to life having been martyred during the seven year tribulation, It includes the Old Testament saints, All of those who believed in Jesus Christ throughout the Old Testament up until the beginning of the church in Acts chapter 2. Those four divisions are seen, They’re all a part of the first resurrection. So blessing is pronounced on the one who is part in verse 6: "Blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him a thousand years," Now, none of the wicked have experienced bodily resurrection yet, And verse 5 tells us they did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. So we’ll talk about the resurrection of the wicked at the end of the millennium. So there is not just a general resurrection where all men are resurrected and then some are sentenced to hell and some enter into the glories of heaven. The way some interpret Matthew 25 fails to do justice to what the Bible clearly says. It says there’s a thousand years separating this resurrection of the ones who are righteous and then the ones who are wicked. Those who have life and those who are going to be condemned to the second death. And you note, all of those who are part of the first resurrection are going to be priests of God and are going to reign with Christ during the thousand years. So the church will reign with Christ. The Old Testament saints will reign with Christ, the tribulation saints will reign with Christ. And the rest of the dead will be resurrected and judged at the end of the thousand year period,

O.K, Tonight when I pick up, I want to talk about some of the individuals who are going to rule and reign with Christ, We’ll talk about the character of the millennium, as a time of perfect righteousness. Some of the characteristics that will be true in the millennium when the curse is lifted from the earth so there is no more curse on the creation, the animal world, the plant world. Overt acts of sin will be judged. Interestingly, this is a rule in righteousness. This thousand year period will also be characterized as a rule of a rod of iron, Very stern and firm and intolerant rule by Jesus Christ which will be climaxed by a closing rebellion led by Satan and including all of those who are not believers at that point. Important to note at this point in time that there are no unbelievers left alive physically on the face of the earth. They’ve all been sentenced, all been sifted out, all suffered physical death. They will be in Hades awaiting their resurrection and final judgment. Only those who are believers in Jesus Christ are now alive to go in to the millennium. So we have two groups here. We'll see the importance of this in our study tonight, You have two groups going into the millennium. You have those who are physically alive. They came to trust Christ during the seven year tribulation. Remember at the beginning of the seven year tribulation there was not a true believer on the face of the earth, they had all been taken to glory. During the seven year tribulation, many come to trust Christ as Savior, Some of those who trust Him as Savior will survive the seven year tribulation. They will go in to the millennium in their physical bodies. Then there will be those who are resurrected back to life with glorified bodies. The church, Old Testament saints, and tribulation saints. We won't have natural physical bodies, but we will have resurrected glorified bodies. We will also be in the millennium. That raises some questions—you're going to have two kinds of people in the millennium, you’re going to have those who have glorified bodies, perfected, without the limitations of the physical dimension and you're going to have those in the millennium who have physical bodies. They're going to be having families, they’re going to be bearing children, and they’re going to be populating the earth. Those with the glorified body do not marry nor are they given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven. We'll talk a little bit about the division and how we function,

The foundation for it all is a person's relationship to Jesus Christ, Only ones who are going to go into the millennium are those who have come to trust Jesus Christ as Savior. The only ones who share with Him during His earthly rule are those who have come to believe that He is the Son of God who died to pay the penalty for their sins. All of earth's history moving towards this one ultimate climax--the coming of Jesus Christ to set up a kingdom over which He will rule and reign in righteousness. And a person's part in that kingdom or exclusion from that kingdom is determined by one factor only. Have they during their earthly physical life come to recognize and believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for their sins. Was raised because He had accomplished their salvation. Have you ever come to believe in that? Are you going to be a part of the kingdom we've been talking about? You going to be one of those that share in the glory of this time? You say, "Well, I hope so. Sure would like to," Well it's much more definite than that. Have you ever come to believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins? Come to trust Him alone as your Savior? Not Him and your good works. Not Him and your church. Not Him and your baptism. Him alone. If not, then God says clearly, "unless there is a change on your part, where you come to believe in Him before you experience physical death, then you will be excluded from this kingdom," The glorious message is, you can settle it right now, I know I’m going to be part of this kingdom. I don’t know when it's going to be set up— seven years, ten years, fifty years, hundred years—but I've made preparation by believing in Jesus Christ.

Let's pray together...