The Millennial Kingdom

Transcript

GR 1568
05/16/10
The Millennial Kingdom
Revelation 20:7-9
Gil Rugh

What a great God we serve, what a great salvation we have. What a privilege to live day by day in fellowship with Him and what a joy it is to know that the best is yet to come. And that's what we're looking at in our study of the book of Revelation. We've come to chapter 20 and the return of Jesus Christ to earth to establish a kingdom. This was promised and prophesied by the Old Testament prophets, it was anticipated from the time of the announcement of His birth.

Turn to Luke 1 in your Bibles. We're going to get to Revelation 20 but I want to look at a couple of passages with you. Luke 1:26-7: “Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.” And part of the angel's message, pick up with verses 30-33: “And the angel said to her, ‘do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His Father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end.’” Clear declaration that this is the One promised, this is the fulfillment of the covenant promised to David which we know as the Davidic Covenant. The Messiah will come from the family of David and put an end to the enemies of God's people Israel and establish a kingdom on this earth that will have no end.

Luke 1:67-75: “And his father Zecharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied saying, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited us, and accomplished redemption for His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David His servant, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old. Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show mercy toward our fathers and to remember His holy covenant. The oath which He swore to Abraham our father to grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.’” That's the promise, a coming kingdom.

Obviously at His first coming Jesus did not destroy all the enemies of Israel; rather He was crucified at the instigation of His own people, the Jews, and at the hands of the Roman authorities, particularly Pontius Pilate. But the plan has not changed, the prophecies cannot be altered.

Back up to Matthew 24. At the end of Matthew we are very near the end of Christ's earthly ministry and His crucifixion. And you have the Olivette Discourse given on the Mount of Olives, which we have referred to a number of times in our study of the book of Revelation. But you'll note what Jesus promises His followers in verses 29-30: “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.” So even though His earthly ministry has not resulted in the salvation of the nation Israel, has not concluded with His being enthroned as the Messiah, the King ruling over all the earth, the plan has not changed. Jesus reassures His disciples it will be as the prophets have prophesied. Christ states that He will come again and when He comes again it will be with power and great glory.

Come over to Acts 1. The crucifixion has occurred, Jesus has spent forty days ministering to His disciples off and on, instructing them and teaching them from the Old Testament scriptures. But nothing has changed regarding the prophecies and promises regarding a coming kingdom. Verse 3: “To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.” And what is their question? Verse 6: “And so when they had come together; they were asking Him saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’” Christ had three years of earthly ministry, rejection, crucifixion, resurrection and then forty more days of ministry with His disciples regarding the kingdom. Nothing has changed in their understanding of the kingdom. He must establish a kingdom on this earth and rule and reign. They don't understand the time framework so theirs is a natural question. Is the time now for the kingdom? We understand from the explanations and teaching You have given us following the crucifixion that You had to suffer and die. Peter will preach a great sermon in Acts 2 on that subject. But Lord, is it now that the kingdom can be established?

I say this because you understand additional revelation clarifies and expands what God has revealed earlier. But it does not change or alter it. And that's what Jesus presented, and so what is His answer? Men, you don't understand, there won't be any earthly kingdom after all; it's just in your hearts. No, He didn't say you don't understand about the kingdom, He said you don't need to know when the kingdom will be established. That's what He says in verse 7. That's not necessary information for you. You'll have to be about My work in the power of the Spirit and My Father will determine the appropriate time for the establishment of the kingdom.

So when we come over to Revelation 19 we have the return of Christ to earth. So we have come through the church age, 2000 years approximately since the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ and the establishing of the church in Acts 2. Still there is no kingdom. We have seven years left in the prophetic program of God with Israel according to Daniel 9. Seventy sevens have been determined for the Jewish people, 490 years. The first 69 week of years, 483 years, came to conclusion shortly before Christ was crucified. There is a seven-year period yet to come.

If you have your chart on the resurrections, we'll say more about the resurrections themselves, but this lays it out. You can see the cross, that's where the crucifixion is, that period of time between the cross and what we call the first stage in the air, the rapture of the church, that's the church age. Then we have the seven-year period broken into two 3½ -year segments. The Tribulation is concluded by the Second Coming of Christ to earth. And that is what is happening in Revelation 19. Christ returns to earth, the armies of the world were destroyed; we have the judgment of the living Jews, the judgment of living Gentiles. All unbelievers have been executed.

Chapter 20 opened up with Satan being bound and placed in an abyss, the hold of demonic beings, as we noted. We are told he is placed there for a thousand years. And we noted between verse 2 and verse 7 six times John refers to a thousand-year period. This is the only time in the entire Bible we are told about this thousand-year period. It is a literal thousand-year period. It is part of the eternal kingdom but now we find out something. There will be a thousand-year segment as the kingdom has begun. And that's what we're talking about. During that time Satan will be bound, he will not be free to go about the earth. Verse 3: “and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him so that he should not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed...” So you have a thousand years without any satanic or demonic influence in the world. And Christ will be ruling and reigning on His throne. We saw that in connection with the judgment of the nations in Matthew 25, beginning in verse 31.

Then verse 4: “And I saw thrones and they sat on them and judgment was given to them…” I take it the church will be enthroned, and remember we looked at I Corinthians 6. You ought to be able to judge the smallest matters of disagreements among believers; you're going to judge angels. We will be enthroned, sitting on thrones, having authority with Christ over angels and men in the kingdom. Then there is a resurrection here, those who had suffered and died for their testimony for Christ during that seven-year period. Revelation 20:4 “…I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus, and because of the word of God and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead, and upon their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” This is the resurrection of tribulation saints. Now we're going to talk about the resurrection of others. It is tribulation saints focused on in verse 4 because that's what the book of Revelation has been about. From chapter 6 down to this point we have been dealing with that seven-year period, the 70th week of Daniel. So it's natural the focal point of the resurrection he talks about here has to do with the resurrection of those who died during that seven-year period. So those who died during that seven-year period, they went into the seven years as unbelievers. But by God's grace there was salvation and toward the end a great number in Israel turned to Christ as their Messiah and experienced salvation.

Verses 5-6: “The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. 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 for a thousand years.” The important thing about the first resurrection is that it includes all believers. Every believer who will ever be resurrected is resurrected in the first resurrection. The only people left to be resurrected are unbelievers. And that won't happen for a thousand years.

Come back to I Corinthians 15 and you can look at your chart as well. It comes basically from the material in the great resurrection chapter, the overall picture. And it gives you an overall view, just like we're talking about. Paul is establishing the necessity of the bodily resurrection of Christ from the dead. Verses 13-14: “But if there is no resurrection of the dead not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith is also vain.”

Verse 20: “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.” So we have on your chart at the far left at the top, Christ the first fruits because He is called the first fruits of those who are asleep. His resurrection is the guarantee of our resurrection. Believers will be resurrected because Christ was resurrected. He's the first fruits, the guarantee of a coming resurrection. Verses 21-2: “For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.” And we just came through Romans 5 and talked about this very analogy, comparison.

Verse 23: “But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming.” So at the top of your chart you have after that those who are Christ's at His coming. And we have two stages of His coming. The first stage He comes in the air and you have that at the end of I Corinthians 15 and also in I Thessalonians 4. There He is coming for the church so those who have become believers from Acts 2, fifty days after the resurrection of Christ, down until that event. That's the rapture of the church, the harpadzo, the Greek word, the catching away of the church, the catching up to meet Christ in the air. Christ does not come to earth on that occasion; He comes in the air and calls us to meet Him.

Look at verses 51-2: “Behold I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall all be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.” So the dead in Christ, members of the church who have died, will be raised in glorified bodies. They, as persons have been with Christ, now their bodies are raised and glorified, they move back in. The instant following, faster than you can blink your eye, those who are alive will be caught up to meet Christ and in that instant we will be transformed, glorified. We meet Christ in the air. That's the first stage.

Come back to verses 23-24. Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming. The second stage is where we are in Revelation 20:4. Here we also have Old Testament saints resurrected when Christ returns to earth. Israel has to be resurrected, the kingdom is for them. This would include Old Testament saints, the prophets who prophesied this kingdom, David who was assured that his son would sit on the throne permanently forever. They will be resurrected with glorified bodies.

Jump back to Daniel 12. We've been in Daniel many times as we've moved through Revelation. Verses 1-2: “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And 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. 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.” Those not resurrected at that time, when they are resurrected it will be to everlasting contempt, destruction at the end of the thousand years. Verse 3: “And those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” And further details on that which we have also referred to. So that's where believing Israel is resurrected.

So that's why you have on the second stage of the Second Coming, it is to the earth and that's when Old Testament saints are resurrected, that's when tribulation saints are resurrected. So the church has been resurrected and glorified at the beginning of that seven-year period in the first stage in the air, and then the rest of the saints are resurrected at the coming of Christ to earth.

You know this was truth that Old Testament saints knew about way back, seven generations from Adam. Come to the book of Jude. Verses 14-5: “And about these also Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied saying, ‘behold the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way and of all the harsh things…” And it is consistent with Old Testament prophets; they gave their future prophecy in the past tense. So you read here, “he prophesied saying, ‘the Lord came’” because they prophesied the future events in the past tense because when God said He was going to do something in the future it was as good as done, so you could write it as past tense. It's done, it will happen. Enoch prophesied seven generations from Adam. Still hasn't happened and he said it just like it was done because when God declares something it is as good as done. So this anticipated time permeated God's revelation.

All right come back to Revelation 20. So we have these resurrections then, and these together comprise the first resurrection. And you could include Christ in that because He is the first fruits of this coming resurrection. The first resurrection is the resurrection of believers. Its foundation is in the resurrection of Christ but it's after that.

I have to take you back to I Corinthians 15, I wanted to say something about the millennial kingdom and I want you to see it here. The first resurrection is a quality of resurrection, in other words it includes the resurrection of all believers. So the church, Old Testament saints, tribulation saints, they are all part of that. That's the first resurrection. So even though the church is seven years prior to the Old Testament saints and tribulation saints being resurrected, it's still part of the first resurrection. The only other resurrection will be the resurrection to condemnation. But in I Corinthians 15:23-5: “But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father when He has abolished all rule and authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” I mention that because you'll note on your chart we have the resurrection, then we have the thousand years. Christ will reign on the earth until He has put all enemies under His feet. You see that connection. So we're not told that's a thousand-year segment here, but there is an indication that something is going on. Christ comes and reigns on the earth and He reigns until He puts all things, all His enemies under His feet. That won't take place until the end of the thousand years, and that's where death will be abolished. Verse 28: “And when all things are subjected to Him then the Son Himself will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him so that God may be all in all.” We'll see this when we come into chapter 21 and into chapter 22, when we move into the eternal phase of the kingdom. So there is an indication that Christ is going to be reigning on earth but then there is going to be a break in that reign because He will finally have subdued all His enemies.

Revelation 20:6: “Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power…” And you see if you are not part of the first resurrection then you come under the condemnation involved in the second resurrection. But those who are part of the first resurrection will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. And that being priests denotes the intimacy that we have with God, the access we have with God. We have something of that today. We sometimes refer to ourselves as believer priests, we have our high priest, Jesus Christ, the high priest after the order of Melchizedek, and we have been made priests. But in the kingdom we will serve as priests, and that denotes our immediate open access and relationship with God one of intimacy. We'll see that as we move further into chapter 21 and particularly chapter 22.

What happens after the thousand years? Verse 7: “And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison…” He's been in the abyss, bound with a chain, sealed up and not free to go about in the world deceiving the nations. Now he is released and he comes out to deceive the nations. You note something here; Satan picks up right where he left off.

Back up to Revelation 12. In the middle of that 70th week of Daniel, that seven-year period, right in the middle we've divided into two 3½ -year segments. In the middle you remember in chapter 12 there is war in heaven between Michael and his angels and the devil and his angels. And we're told in verse 9 that the devil will be closed out of heaven, lose his access. “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world…”

But at the beginning of the thousand years he was bound, he couldn't go about and deceive the nations. Revelation 20:3: “and threw him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations any longer…” Then you come down to verse 7, when the thousand years are completed satan is released from that imprisonment and he'll come out to deceive the nations. A thousand years haven't made one change in him. I mean, bound in the abyss. You think he had a thousand years to think things over and that there is no future in this rebellion. But there is no change in his fallen character. As soon as he is released he is back to his old ways, deceiving the nations, getting them to follow him.

Now what has happened? You have your chart, when the rapture occurs, the first stage of the Second Coming; all believers who are part of the church from Acts 2 who have died are resurrected. All living believers on the earth are part of the church, the body of Christ; they will be bodily removed from the earth to meet Christ in the air. So when you begin that seven-year period, there is not a believer alive on the face of the earth. But by God's grace salvation occurs during this time, the two witnesses, the 144,000 and many are saved. By the time you come to the end of the tribulation the judgments are set up, the judgment of Jews (Ezekiel 20), the judgment of Gentiles (we looked at in Matthew 25:31). All unbelievers are executed. So you have a reverse. At the beginning of the 70th week, this seven-year period, there were no believers alive on the face of the earth. At the end of it as you go into the thousand years there are no unbelievers alive on the face of the earth. Only believers go into the kingdom.

Now remember in the sifting out when we look at the nations in Matthew 25, the sheep and the goats, the sheep were set aside. They were believers, believing Gentiles. Verse 34: “…inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” They go into the kingdom in their physical bodies along with Jews who have become believers and survived the tribulation. Jews and Gentiles who have become believers at the Second Coming of Christ to earth, they go into the kingdom in physical bodies. This is crucial. So as you start the thousand years there are only believers. But you know what? These who go into the thousand-year kingdom in their physical bodies have children and they still have a sin nature, they are still corrupted by sin, even though they are saved. Just like us, we have children; we pass on our sin nature. Conception passes on sin, “in sin did my mother conceive me.” We pass on that sin. That will happen. So in the thousand years there are multitudes of people born and they all have to turn and believe in Christ for salvation. Many will but many won't.

So we're going through the thousand years and it is a wonderful time. Let's go back to Isaiah 2. Verses 2-4: “Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and it will be raised above the hills and all the nations will stream to it and many peoples will 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 concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths. For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples and they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war.” There is no need for armaments. Christ is sovereign; there are no wars during this thousand years.

Go to Isaiah 11 and Christ is reigning, we read in the first five verses. Verses 6-7: “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze; their young will lie down together; and the lion will eat straw like the ox.” So they are not killing each other because they have become vegetarians, it has nothing to do with being a vegetarian today. Verses 8-9: “And the nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain…” In His kingdom, which is all of the earth, they will not hurt or destroy. Not men battling, not animals. There is perfect safety. Verse 9: “…For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” They won't even have to teach people about the Lord because everybody will know. That's full knowledge of the Lord round the world.

Come over to Isaiah 35, further description of this period of time. Verses 1-6: “The wilderness and the desert will be glad and the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; like the crocus. It will blossom profusely…they will see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, ‘Take courage, fear not. Behold your God will come with vengeance; the recompense of God will come, but He will save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the Arabah.” All the physical problems are taken care of; all the environmental problems are taken care of. The deserts are not deserts, they are beautiful gardens.

You read Isaiah 65; we won't take time to go there. You have the curse lifted from the creation; we're coming to this in Romans 8 in our study of Romans. The whole creation groans in anticipation of this time when the curse is lifted. So now you have a kingdom, you have a perfect king who is perfectly holy, perfectly righteous, ruling over the entire world. Satan has been removed; there is no demonic, satanic influence in the world. The environment is perfect and complete. Now you have babies being born and you don't have pain, you don't have death. We're going to have an explosion but you have plenty of room because you can live anywhere because you can move into the middle of the Sahara. It is lush and wonderful.

Come back to Revelation 20, we're in the kingdom. But you understand what it will be like when we're in the kingdom. I feel bad for people who think we are in the kingdom now. If they are believers they are in for a wonderful surprise. You have a thousand years. How many millions or billions of people will be born where there is no death, no pain, no suffering, no disease, nothing? And they've grown up in a perfect environment under a perfect ruler. They've known nothing but the beauty of the kingdom. And satan has not been there. But you know what? They are sinners at heart. Now there has been enforced obedience. We didn't read Isaiah 65 but it will say there anyone who dies that's only 100 years old will be thought to be cursed of God. Because they'll know it's a judgment of God because there will be no overt acts like murder and so on tolerated in the kingdom. There will be immediate judgment before it can be carried out. So anyone who drops dead at 100 they'll say; we know what they were. And their intentions were to carry out something, but the King knows the hearts and judges them before they could do it.

So there is enforced obedience. You know what happens in the heart of the unbeliever, even in a perfect environment under a perfect King? They don't like it. So Satan is loosed at the end of the thousand years and he will come out “to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth.” This means all over the earth, like we use the expression the four corners of the earth and we mean all the earth. Gog and Magog, those ancient enemies of God talked about in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Not the same battle there, but the same enemies. Verse 8: “…to gather them together for the war...” The war? We're in the kingdom; you don't need weapons of war. What has happened? Now those born in the millennium have a choice. There was only one King, one option, but now there is a window of opportunity to choose an alternative king, the devil.

So the devil goes out to gather a force to try to depose Christ. And you know the amazing thing to me is the end of verse 8, “the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.” You can't count them. Think about this, these born in this kingdom, because there were no unbelievers that went into it, living in a perfect environment under a perfect king all their lives, when given the choice they immediately choose Satan as king. And are ready to follow him in an attempt to depose Christ and install Satan instead.

Verse 9: “And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.” There is a quick end. Why would God do it this way? Well I don't have all the answers to that, but there are indications. What do people think? The problem is the devil, the devil made me do it as the expression of an old comedian. The devil made me do it. And the devil does move us to sin, deceive us, and deludes the nations. He deceives the nations; he deceives the people of the world. People think it's their environment. If they get better education, if they are raised in better conditions, then they would become better people. You know what God is demonstrating through the kingdom, perhaps among other things, but one very clearly is that the problem is not the environment; the problem is nothing external, the problem is not the devil; the problem is the corruption of the human heart. Because you can have a human being, have him born into a perfect environment under a perfect king and live there. Some of these will be born; I take it, very soon after the beginning of the millennium and live there their whole lives. You know what? Given a choice I'd rather have the devil than Christ. What does it reveal? The problem is the human heart. The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. (Jeremiah 17:9) And the first thousand years will demonstrate that man is not a victim of his circumstances, his environment, not a victim even of the devil. He is what he is because of his own corruption and his own desires.

And what you have ultimately is the last enemy to be destroyed is death because fire comes down from heaven now and wipes out every unbeliever. Now we'll be ready for the last judgment of scripture and to move into the eternal phase of the kingdom. The kingdom started with the Second Coming of Christ to earth and the establishing of the kingdom, so we're in the kingdom. But there is a thousand-year marker where Christ will reign until He brings a final end to all opposition, to all sin. Then He turns over the kingdom to His father, perfected, sin removed. And there will be lesser acts of rebellion in the kingdom that are not punished by death. And we don't have time now but if we go back to the end of the book of Zechariah what does God say? It will be the punishment of the nations who won't come up to celebrate the feast at Jerusalem according to the instruction of the Lord. For example, the nation Egypt, He will withhold the rain.

So we're in the kingdom and yet there is this resistance and you have unbelievers in there seething underneath. Are they filled with gratitude for what God has done and the honor and privilege they have to live in the kingdom of Christ? No, as soon as they are given the opportunity to have an alternative king, their true character comes out. A reminder, we don't want to be deluded. The real issue is the sin of the human heart and unless that is dealt with nothing has been done. We can educate people, we can put them in a better environment, we can do all these things and that's fine, but it's not the ministry God has called us to because we come to bring the message that will change their hearts. I take it there will be people saved in the thousand years but you see the record here, a number “like the sand of the seashore,” a number that can't be counted, are up surrounding the city. From all over the world they have assembled here to dethrone Christ. Satan makes one final bid to thwart the plan of God and establish himself as king. How foolish.

We sit and look at it and say, can you be that foolish? But look at the people around you. Share the gospel with ten people this week and find out what their response is. What do we find? We find hearts that are hardened and settled in their opposition to God. Here is a beautiful story of God's love in providing a Savior. You'd think people would be falling on their faces everywhere crying out to God for mercy. God, be merciful to me a sinner. Thank You for Your Son who loved me and died for me. It's just not happening, is it? Why? The heart, the heart, the heart, and only God can change a heart. And He does that graciously when we place our faith in Him.

So for us we'll be in this kingdom, we'll be ruling and reigning. We will be established there with Christ on thrones as all these gather to try to dethrone Him at the end of the thousand years. How gracious God is to continue to offer His salvation.

Let's pray together. Thank you Lord for these days of grace, days of salvation. Lord, as we look at what You have told us about the future we are struck with the awfulness of sin, the stubbornness, the hardness of sin that even when Your Son reigns on this earth, even when the environment is so beautiful, the wars are over, yet man's heart persists in its opposition and its rebellion. How gracious and how patient You are in offering Your salvation to those who despise You, reject You. And yet in grace You have had Your Son die. We praise You for our salvation and Lord, may we take every opportunity to share this message of grace with others and how we look forward to the time when Christ will come in the air to call us to meet Him. And we live every day in anticipation and expectation of His coming to call us into the glory of Your presence. We praise You in Christ's name, amen.