Peace on Earth – At Last! - Part B

He describes in one verse an ever-expanding dynastic rule over the world.

Let me explain that. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. No end. This is eternal. This keeps going.

It's not four years, he didn't do a good job, you're out. Eight years, you know, a new one. No, it's perpetual. It's eternal.

It is forever and it will keep on expanding. Today on Connect with Skip Hyten, Pastor Skip brings you the conclusion of his powerful message, Peace on Earth at Last. But first, we want to tell you about a resource that will help the children in your life know and love God's Word and follow His truth. Attention moms, dads, and anyone who's looking to help children understand the message of the Bible. This month, we're offering the book Soaring Through the Bible for Kids.

God's Word can be a challenge to read and understand, even for adults. And this kid-friendly version of Pastor Skip Hyten's popular book, The Bible from 30,000 Feet, gives young children and tweens a panoramic overview of all 66 books of the Bible, helping them see the context and significance of each. Soaring Through the Bible is a travel guide from Genesis through Revelation for kids. Each chapter provides a flight plan for exploring a portion of the Bible, along with a brief synopsis that shows what the chapters are about and language kids can understand. Creatively designed with kids in mind, Soaring Through the Bible also features fun illustrations and fascinating facts to keep young minds and hearts engaged and interested. Soaring Through the Bible for Kids will prepare a child for takeoff on a lifelong journey of learning and loving God's Word. We will send you a copy of this unique book, along with a booklet for you by Skip titled Why Truth Matters. Simply make a donation to support and expand this radio program with a gift of $50 or more.

Call 1-800-922-1888 or order online at connectwithskip.com. Now we're in Isaiah 9 as we listen to Skip's teaching today. Let's just pause to notice this. Jesus is given the title Everlasting Father. Don't don't misunderstand that or mistake that. He's not saying you are God the Father because he's not God the Father. He's God the Son, different from God the Father. And the reason I'm bringing that up is because there was in history a false belief, a heresy known as modalism, also known as monarchianism, also known as sibilianism.

It goes under a lot of different titles. It's the idea that quite unlike what we believe, we believe there's one God and three persons. We call that the triune God or the trinity. That's what the Bible teaches. Three persons, one God. Modalism taught one person, one God.

There's only one person. And sometimes he shows up as God the Father. Sometimes he shows up as God the Son. Sometimes he shows up as God the Holy Spirit.

Same person just sort of puts on a different hat here and there. That's not what the Bible teaches. And when it says Jesus is Everlasting Father, it's not saying he is God the Father. No, he's separate from God the Father.

It is so different from God the Father. It is speaking of his reign. He's gonna reign rule like a father would.

Not like a despot, not like a dictator, not like an elected official. He is gonna reign with a paternal reign, a fatherly reign, a caring and compassionate reign. And this is one of the great reasons there will be peace on earth is because of the character of this ruler. His counsel is wonderful. His strength is impeccable. His rule is paternal, like a father. So his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father.

The fourth really speaks to what we're dealing with here and really the reason for this series. He will be called the Prince of Peace. You see, in Messiah's kingdom, there will be no conflict.

It will be a rule and reign, a kingdom of peace. Now let me take you back to Bethlehem when the child was born. When the child was born in Bethlehem, outside of Bethlehem where there were shepherds, an angel showed up and had something to say to the shepherds, right?

Some people think he maybe got carried away a little bit. The angel said, glory to God in the highest and on earth. What's the next word? Tell me. Peace. And on earth, peace. Then what? Good will toward men.

Okay. It's a great saying. Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth. Good will toward men.

Really? Because you said that 2000 years ago, Mr. Angel, and just haven't seen that. Have not seen peace on earth, have not seen much good will toward men in 2000 years. So maybe you're reading the cue card wrong. Maybe that's what you're supposed to say at the second coming, but hadn't happened yet.

We're still waiting for that to happen. So maybe when the angel said, peace on earth, good will toward men, he is thinking, eschatologically, he's thinking, here's the child he's born, but eventually he's going to bring peace on earth, good will toward men. Well, that would work, but I don't think that's what he meant there. Because a better translation is this, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to people on whom God's favor rests.

Completely different meaning. Or a better translation, even glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to people with whom God is well pleased. So if you think about it, the prince of peace, let's just sort of sum up all that we have learned in the last several weeks, because we talked about this early on. What Jesus did is he gave us a little bit of a lesson. What Jesus did is, and going to do three things. He brought peace with God, number one, he brought the peace of God, number two, and eventually he's going to bring peace from God. So as soon as you give your life to Jesus Christ, the war is over, you have peace with God.

There's nothing in between you and heaven any longer. Romans chapter five, verse one, therefore being by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's number one.

That's first and foremost. Whether you feel like it or not, you have peace with God. After that comes the peace of God. That's where you feel it.

That's where it's personal. That's Philippians four, be anxious for nothing. In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds. You have peace with God, followed by the peace of God, the ah feeling, but eventually there's this, peace from God. That's where our prayers are answered. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Peace, the peace of heaven comes to earth and the whole world experiences peace. Okay, now I wish we had time to go through all the prophecies and Isaiah would take a year or so.

So let's just go to one other one. Go back to chapter two, because we mentioned this at the very beginning of the study with the United Nations thing. Isaiah chapter two, this is where he sort of first introduces the idea of a coming messianic kingdom. This is what got all the Jews, scribes and Pharisees amped when Jesus showed up because they thought this is it, this is it. Isaiah chapter two, let's begin in verse two. Now it shall come to pass in the latter days. So a very specific time period is mentioned that the mountain of the Lord's house, that's the temple mount, shall be established on the top of the mountains. It's very, very specific wording. And shall be exalted above the hills and all the nations shall flow to it.

Nations plural indicates the world. Many people shall come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, we will walk in his paths, for out of Zion, that's Jerusalem and Judea, out of Zion will go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people. That's his second coming. He comes back to the earth, Revelation 19, puts an end to the tribulation, puts an end to the war. Then it says they, this is the kingdom age now, they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. It's a great prophecy. By the way, it's repeated also in Micah chapter four. Okay, it's the messianic kingdom. But get this, I'm going to say, I'm going to describe, again, I wish I had time to go through it all, but we don't, we're ending the series. So, this is a description of the messianic kingdom after the earthquake. I'm just letting that sink in because you're going, after what earthquake?

Glad you asked. Remember when Jesus ascended into heaven? He was on the Mount of Olives. Remember, he floated up and the disciples really went like, wow, that was awesome. He just like, he's gone. And they're looking up and the angel, there's an angel showed up and go, what do you men from Galilee do in looking up? Don't you know the same Jesus who left will come back exactly as you saw him leave? Well, how did he leave? Well, he came from heaven.

He came from earth to heaven and he left from the Mount of Olives and he's coming back to the Mount of Olives. We know that because Zechariah, the prophet in the Old Testament, chapter 14 said that the Messiah will come and put his foot on the Mount of Olives and when he does, the Mount of Olives will what? What will it do? It will split. It will split. It'll cleave in two. Incidentally, there happens to be a fault line in Jerusalem running directly under the Mount of Olives.

True story. Waiting for a very particular footprint. So when Jesus comes back, he's going to come back to the Mount of Olives.

He's going to touch down. It says it's going to split in two and Zechariah said it's going to be raised up. It's going to be elevated because of that seismic activity. If you want more detail on that, not now, but look later on at Ezekiel chapters 40 through 48. You have nine chapters. They give you details of the topographical and geographical changes that will occur in Jerusalem. It'll even give you the exact measurements of the temple that will be built during the kingdom age. All greatly detailed in those chapters. So we have Messiah's rule.

It's a geocentric rule. He will rule the world from Jerusalem. By the way, you know what Jerusalem means? The City of Peace.

It has never lived up to its name. One day it will. One day the Prince of Peace will sit in the City of Peace and rule rule not just Israel, but the world from Jerusalem. Jerusalem will just be HQ for him. And according to Isaiah chapter two, all the weapons of war will be turned into farm equipment.

It'll become ranch tools. Military conflicts will cease. Military forces will be abolished. So that is, in a nutshell, his royal character. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Let's end with verse seven. And this takes us to the third reason why this dominion will result in everlasting peace, and that is the kind of kingdom that he brings, a righteous kingdom. You'll notice in verse seven, it says, of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. Upon the throne of David, and this is a very, very specific covenant, upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice, from that time forth or forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this. He describes in one verse an ever-expanding dynastic rule over the world.

Let me explain that. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. No end. This is eternal. This keeps going.

It's not four years, you didn't do a good job, you're out. Eight years, you know, a new one. No, it's perpetual. It's eternal.

It is forever, and it will keep on expanding. In other words, it gets better and better and better, more peaceful, more pure. Now, the question you should be asking is how can anything that is perfect improve? I mean, if you've got the Prince of Peace, God himself ruling and reigning from Jerusalem, that's pretty perfect. How can it get any better than that? How can a peaceful reign get more peaceful? Well, I've read commentators say, well, this is one of the mysteries of the kingdom age. I'll push that aside.

Just think of it in practical terms. The further that humanity gets away from the conflicts of the past, especially the tribulation period, every day is just going to seem better and more peaceful and purer and deeper than before. And that peace is going to expand into more hearts because people will be born during the millennial kingdom, and they'll come to know about Jesus, and they'll come to receive him as their Lord during that time even, and the peace will be broadened.

Keep something else in mind. Jesus will have come to the earth. Satan is bound, according to Revelation, for 1,000 years. So you have an earth with no devil.

You got no demons. You have no rebellion that is tolerated, for Jesus will rule with the rod of iron, the Bible says. Also, after 1,000 years of this earth, he'll destroy this earth, and heaven, and make a new heaven, new earth, new city of Jerusalem. So it's just going to get better and better and better as time goes on. Now, having said that, with the devil gone, what kind of a world is it going to be? Well, it's going to dramatically alter lots of things.

Let me give you a quick rundown. Number one, not only will there be peace on earth, goodwill toward men, the animal kingdom will be tamed. You know, if you want to see animals today, you go to where? Go to a zoo. But you have to see them on the other side of the enclosure, either through plexiglass or through a big metal post, because you're not going to get into the enclosure and just like hug the bear. You're not going to be like the woman in Berlin who jumped over the enclosure of a polar bear during feeding time, and she became lunch. Literally, the bear went after her. She survived, but barely. And I'm sorry, that was a bad idea. I didn't even intend for that to happen, but it's kind of a cool dad joke, right?

Barely. But the animal kingdom will be tamed. According to Isaiah chapter 11, it tells us the wolf and the lamb will live together. The leopard and the goat will be at peace.

A child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes and pull it out unharmed. So the animal kingdom will be tamed. Number two, the environment on the earth will be lush. There will be a new global ecological system, probably like before the flood. It'll have a whole new hydrological system. Listen to Isaiah chapter 35, even the wilderness will rejoice in those days. The desert, listen up Rio Rancho residents, the desert will blossom with flowers. Deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon. Springs will gush forth in the wilderness and streams will water the desert. That means Albuquerque and Phoenix and Las Vegas and Barstow are going to look like the English countryside. So think about that.

You may want to buy now and get prepared because the rates are good now, but they'll skyrocket perhaps during that time. So animal kingdom is tamed, environment will be tamed, environment will be lush. Something else, human longevity, human longevity. Isaiah chapter 65 says, never again will there be an infant who will live a few days or an old man that will not live out his years. He who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth.

Oh, I'm so sorry. Your relative died. He was only a hundred. Only a hundred. You say that to me, he made it to a hundred. Now before the flood, according to the Bible, there were long lifespans.

For example, Methuselah lived, you remember this from Sunday school, he lived 969 years. I don't take that figuratively. I take that literally. And you can do whatever you want with that. But I, you know, it's funny because just in case you don't know yet, I take the Bible literally. Okay.

So it's just, if that's like a shock to you, I want you to get over the shock or somehow get through it. But a few years ago, there was a lady and a husband in church. I heard this cause somebody was sitting right behind him.

And as I was preaching, she turned to her husband with these big eyes and she goes, oh my goodness. He's taking the Bible literally. Duh. Yeah. Good.

I'm glad you latched onto that one. I take all of these things that Isaiah has to say, not figuratively, but literally. Now you can say, well, I don't take it literally. So then what does it mean? I mean, you can make it mean anything. It's talking about bunny rabbits. I mean, you could, you can literally impose anything you want once you remove a grammatical, historical, literal interpretation.

Back to this. Some scientists believe that before the flood, there was a vapor canopy around the earth that protected the earth from a harmful radiation that destroyed longevity. That when the flood came, it destroyed the vapor canopy. And that greatly reduced a man's longevity on the earth. So that's why immediately, even in the Bible, you have people living hundreds of years old. And then suddenly after the flood, they don't live that long. So much so that even Psalm 90 says the days of our lives are 70 years. If you make it to 80, they're filled with labor and sorrow. It seems that in the millennial kingdom of the future, the longevity of people on the earth will return to pre-flood levels.

And then let's just close this out. He says in verse seven, upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order and establish with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. God made a very specific promise to King David.

He said to David, 2 Samuel 7, your house and your kingdom will endure forever. Now I happen to be one who believes that forever doesn't mean four years or 10 years. It's not like modern slang, dude, that was like forever. Well, it was only actually five minutes. Yeah, but it seemed like forever.

No, forever is forever. And you might be thinking, yeah, you are reading this way too literally. You know, the whole lion and the lamb lying down together and the whole on the throne of David, like literally ruling from Jerusalem. You're taking that way too literally.

Really? Tell that to the angel who told Mary that she was pregnant with the baby that they were to call Jesus. Because the angel said to Mary these words, you will conceive in your womb and preach and preach, excuse me.

You will conceive in your womb, I don't know, Mary preached and bring forth a son and call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob, that is Israel, forever.

And of his kingdom, there will be no end. So we have then the Prince of Peace ruling from the city of peace over an earth that is filled with peace. And that's what the prophets of the Old Testament knew the world needed. We don't need a better philosophy of government.

We don't need a better system of legislation. We just need the right person with the right character at the right time. And there will be peace on earth and it will last. I want to close this series by asking you this question. We know the government of this world is going to be on Jesus' shoulders one day.

He'll rule it all. Is the government of your life on his shoulders now? Have you turned over your life to him now? You know, the Bible says every knee will bow, every tongue will confess.

But you don't have to wait till there's like that enforced peace. You can voluntarily say, you know what? I've been trying to carry my burden on my own shoulders for so long. I feel so weighed down.

I just can't manage any longer. The quicker you get to that point, the better your life will be. That wraps up Skip Heitzig's message and his series, Give Peace a Chance. Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskipp.com. Now here's Skip to tell you about a trip to the Holy Land coming up in 2024. This is Pastor Skip and we still have space on this trip that Lenya and I are hosting. We will be touring Israel from May 1st through May 12th. I hope that you'll join us firsthand to see some incredible sites like the Sea of Galilee.

I'm sure you've always wanted to see that. The Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the Garden Tomb, the place many people believe is where Jesus rose from the dead. The final deadline for registration is December 31st, so there's still time to take action and join Lenya and I for the trip of a lifetime.

Find full Israel information at connectwithskipp.com. Connect with Skip Heitzig exists to connect listeners like you to God's truth, strengthening your walk with Him, and bringing more people into His family. That's why we make these teachings available to you and so many others on air and online.

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Thank you. Tune in tomorrow for more encouraging truth from Scripture with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on His word. Make a connection, a connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.