121. Looking Forward to the Millennium

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Hymns: RHC 283 In Times Like This 228 Jesus Is Coming Again 480 Thou Wilt Him in Perfect Peace

Isaiah 62

1 For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. 2 And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. 3 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. 4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. 5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. 6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, 7 And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. 8 The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured: 9 But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. 10 Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. 11 Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. 12 And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.

Looking Forward to the Millennium

OUTLINE

  • His Kingdom Will Not Tarry (v1-7)
  • His Kingdom Come (v8-12)

INTRODUCTION

We saw the function of the Jews in the Millennium in Isaiah 61 – 6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.

The main function of priests in the Old Testament are the teachers of the law, the Bible teachers of Israel, not the prophet nor the king.

Deuteronomy 33:10 (KJV) They (the sons of Levi) shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar.

They will be teachers of the world in Christ’s kingdom and ministers of our God.

When God started the Theocracy of Israel, He said in Exodus 19:5-6 (KJV) Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

The Jews will be priests to the Gentiles, mediators to help them to God and it will be a full time job and with vast numbers of people upon earth ~ a trillion people on earth!

The sacrifices on behalf of the people and the people they will have to teach. The Millennia Temple will be greatly enlarged.

People in Israel will live to great ages, they would be healed of any diseases just like the time when Jesus walked the streets of Israel. He healed the lepers and the lame, the dumb and the deaf, there was no sick person after Jesus walked the length and breadth of the Israel in His 3 ½ years of ministry. It was a looking forward to the Millennium.

When the kingdom comes Jerusalem will flourish again, Jews, regenerated, healed, reinvigorated, natural bodies will rebuilt the ancient ruins with the strength that God endued them (Isaiah 61:4). Foreigners will be farmers and vinedressers to the Jews in Israel. 

Israel shall rejoice as the bride with the bridegroom. The wedding is the highest state that could be imagined, the first institution created. God glories in the bridegroom and the bride. He was the first solemnizer and wedding counsellor. 

It was used to symbolize the wonder of the kingdom to come.

Isaiah 61:10 (KJV) I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. 

Isaiah 61:11 (KJV) For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

Jesus is described as the beautiful plant out of the ground, God has an extension branch as a tree from heaven.

Isaiah 4:2 (KJV) In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.

Jesus came biographically from Adam who came from the earth. He is the ultimate fruit of the earth.

He is the God-Man (conceived of the virgin (humanity) called Emmanuel (Deity), a child born (humanity) and a son is given (Deity). Here is the fundamental Christology of the Book of Isaiah – Christ and His two nature.

The Jews reject the Christ that will come in the flesh!

1 Corinthians 12:3 (KJV) Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

The Deity of Christ cannot be known except by revelation.

  • His Kingdom Will Not Tarry (v1-7)

1 For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. 

The Lord will hasten to His kingdom – Isaiah 9:6-8 (KJV) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. 8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.

Psalm 102:13-16 (KJV) Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. 14 For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof. 15 So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. 16 When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory.

Israel will be established with regenerated Jews praising Jesus!

The church is exhorted to pray – Matthew 6:10 (KJV) Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones agrees when he said, “It gives us a consuming passion that the whole world might come to know God. It means a burning desire that the whole world may bow before God in adoration, in reverence, in praise and worship, in honour and thanksgiving.” 

This is the shortest petition in the Lord’s Prayer – three words in English and in the Greek just four words although this is by no means the least important. The fact that it is the second petition shows us its significance in the mind of God.

The word “kingdom” speaks of God’s dominion expressing His rule and reign. The verb “come” is the first word in the Greek sentence giving it emphasis and it is given in the form of a command. It is an imperative giving a sense of urgency to its fulfilment and yet alluding to an action that is not started. Therefore, “Come, thy kingdom” is the literal translation of the cry of God’s people through the church age. 

It shows forth the urgency of ushering in God’s kingdom on earth. Jesus has inaugurated His Kingship and Kingdom in His first coming but the consummation is the “Parousia.” This is the Greek word for the visible return of Christ to set up His literal kingdom on earth. 

Why should God’s kingdom come? How will it come? 

Why? The people of God are not satisfied with the present state of affairs in the world today as the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Why? The earth has been under God’s curse since the fall of man. Recall this pivot event in human history that resulting in our current state of misery.

2 And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.

And only at the 2nd coming of Christ would the earth be restored to Edenic conditions again when Satan would be bound and Christ would rule from Jerusalem.

Since the fall of man, we see this world plagued by hatred and violence. It began in the first family when Cain killed his brother Abel and the trail of violence has never abated.

The British author, John Blanchard, recorded for our learning that out of the past 4000 years of human history there have been less than 300 years without a major war. “Peace”, as one pastor puts it well, “is merely that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stops to reload.”

In the last 500 years, Great Britain was involved in 78 major wars, France in 16, Spain in 64, Russia in 61, Austria in 52, Germany in 23, the United States in 13, China in 11 and Japan in 9. 

The 20th century was hailed by many as the beginning as a millennium of peace and prosperity, but this claim was nothing but an empty idealism. In World War 1 (1914-1918), believed by some to be “the war to end all wars”, 30 million people were killed. To avoid a repetition of this catastrophe, the League of Nations was founded in 1946, with the maintenance of international peace as its primary aim. By 1928, some 58 nations had signed its covenant of membership, yet eleven years later almost all of them were embroiled in World War II, which eventually cost 90 million lives. 

3 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. 

Israel shall be a crown of glory, a beautiful crown. 

4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. 

Hephzi-bah – My delight is in her. Beulah – My land be married.

Israel shall be joined to her LORD and the land blessed by the delightful union between God and His people.

5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. 

Hosea 1:9 (KJV) Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

Hosea 2:1 (KJV) Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ru-hamah.

Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi – that is, “My people, and to your sisters, Ruhamah,” i. e., “beloved or tenderly pitied.” The words form a climax of the love of God. First, the people scattered, unpitied, and disowned by God, is re-born of God; then it is declared to be in continued relation to God, “My people;” then to be the object of his yearning love. [Barnes]

Hosea 2:16 (KJV) And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.

Ishi – my husband. Baali – a false god’s name.

6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, 7 And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

The people of God are to pray for that day to come. 

And therefore, in the midst of the chaos and violence and anarchy in the world around us where human sin and woe abounds, this prayer “Thy Kingdom Come” brings to the believer’s heart a sense of calmness and a spiritual awareness that God is in control. He certainly has an appointed time to make right and restore a world gone amok.

How? It is ushering the Father’s eternal blessing upon the believers that causes us to pray that He will send us forth as His ambassadors in obedience to Jesus’ first commandment to the church, “… All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matt 28:18-20). 

How would God’s kingdom be ushered in? When will Christ return to establish His earthly rule upon earth? 

Jesus revealed to us in: 

Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

In this second petition, we pray that Satan’s kingdom may be destroyed, and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it, and kept in it, and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened.” (Shorter Catechism) 

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

This is a prayer for God to give us grace that the gospel may be lived out in our lives. That we do our part in hastening toward the coming kingdom by ushering the souls that God’s has ordained to be saved from the foundation of the world.

This world we live in is reaching a turning point, ripe for God’s judgment. The days of Sodom are before us again. Gay marriage has been legalized challenging God’s order of the marriage institution between a man and a woman in some countries. There will come a time when it is a civil offence for a pastor not to solemnize a gay marriage.

Therefore, the third “P” for “Preach” is coined to help us to crystalize the sense of this prayer. Asking the Holy Spirit to empower us with His strength to walk with God just like Noah did before the flood and just like Abraham did before fire and brimstone fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah.

The local church is pillar and ground of truth. Our work is to continue to hold fast to God’s Word and to hold forth His Word. This is the big picture in the future of human kind that God wants us to be very concerned about. 

  • His Kingdom Has Come (v8-12)

8 The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured: 

The day will come when Israel will be fully blessed of the LORD because they ar wholly following the LORD – Romans 11:8 (KJV) (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.          

To be continued…