The Millennial Kingdom

The Bible says God has given us the Holy Spirit to give us a taste of the kingdom.

Now! Dr. Tony Evans says there's a reason the Lord wants us to catch a preview of the future. The whole point of God telling us prophecy is for us to live now in light of them. Celebrating 40 years of faithfulness, this is the alternative with Dr. Tony Evans. Author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative.

It's common practice for movies and TV series to show previews of coming attractions. And God has done the same for us in the Bible, giving us a taste of what's coming in the time between now and eternity. Well today, Dr. Evans talks about humankind's longing for a perfect world and what's kept us from living there so far. Let's join him in the book of Revelation as he begins. Something has interrupted the dream of utopia.

It's called sin. Whether it's your sin or somebody else's sin that affects you or even the environment that has been cursed by sin, sin has disrupted the possibility of utopia, paradise. However, there is coming a time when there will be utopia. And that time is coming in history before we ever get to eternity, and we call it the millennium. The millennial rule of Jesus Christ. Millennium means a thousand. So when you talk about the millennium, you're talking about a thousand year period of time.

Let's review. Jesus raptures the church. Seven years of tribulation. Jesus comes back to set up his millennial kingdom. And so today I want to talk to you about paradise. Not heaven.

We haven't gotten to heaven yet. I'm talking about history, the thousand year rule of Jesus Christ. There are two reasons why this will be paradise. One, as we'll say in a moment, Jesus will be ruling. From Jerusalem, the capital of the whole earth will be Jerusalem.

It's the conflict of the whole earth today. It will be the capital of the whole earth then. Jesus Christ, the Bible says, will rule with a rod of iron. In other words, there will be allowed to be no rebellion. You and I, based on our rewards, will be the people who he utilizes to make sure his rule is exactly as he wants it to be. And nobody will be able to override you because you will have a glorified body.

So you don't have to worry about rebellion against you because nobody can overcome you. So one reason is that Jesus will rule through the saints from the capital of the world, Jerusalem, when he returns. There is a second reason why this will be paradise. Satan will be bound so that he no longer is able to deceive the nations.

But leading into that is going to be a wedding. Look at chapter 19, verses 7 to 10. Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready.

It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, Write, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are true words of God. Then I fell at his feet to worship him.

But he said to me, Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and your brother who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So that's the wedding.

That's the party. That's the marriage supper of the Lamb, which is the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. Now, what will this kingdom look like? What will this earthly rule, before we get to the eternal rule, what will this look like? Now, there is so much in the Bible on this, so much in prophecy on this, we cannot possibly go over it all.

We'd be here all day because the Bible has a lot to say about the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. So let me just show you from the prophet Isaiah, or Isaiah, what some of the ingredients of this rule is. We'll look at three passages in Isaiah. We'll start with Isaiah chapter 2, verses 2 and 3.

We'll read from the beginning of the chapter. The word which Isaiah, the son of Amaz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now it will come about that in the last days, the mountain of the Lord, house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and 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 Lord, of 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. So, Jerusalem is going to be the center place.

It's called the mountain of the Lord, where God will send forth his law. So every nation on earth will function under God's rule. He will have one constitution, but not for the country. He will have a constitution for the whole earth. And the whole earth, no matter where you live on planet earth, will have to conform to God's law.

Our job, based on what rewards we've received, will be to oversee the implementation, actualization, and application of God's rule from Jerusalem, which he says will touch the whole world. So let's go to chapter 11 of Isaiah. Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse. That's Jesus.

Jesse was David's father. Jesus comes through that Davidic line, and a branch from the root will bear fruit. Let's go down to verse 4. But with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth. And he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

Also, righteousness will be the belt about his loins, and faithfulness the belt about his waist. And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, 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. 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, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea.

Now, you can't find that today. If a lion is laying down with a lamb, the lamb is in the stomach of the lion. The bear does not hang out with the cow. In other words, and the baby can't play with a cobra without getting bit. What he's saying is the rule of God during this kingdom will be so comprehensive it will be unlike anything you've ever saw because even animals will not be able to display their nature of sin. Not even animals, not snakes, not lions, not bears.

Why? Because it says the knowledge of God is going to rule all the creation. Notice what you saw in the passage.

A child. That's because in the natural, life is going on. People are still getting married. People are still having babies because we're not in heaven yet. We're not in eternity yet.

We're in the millennial kingdom on earth where human beings are still operating in their natural bodies. Look at one other passage, Isaiah 65. He says, beginning in verse 17, For behold, I create a new heaven, a new earth, and the form of things will not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing and her people for gladness. I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people.

Because Jerusalem will be the center of the whole earth. And there will be no longer be heard in her the voice of weeping or the sound of crying. No longer will there be an infant who lives but a few days or an old man who does not live out his days. For the youth will die at the age of 100, and the one who does not reach the age of 100 will be thought accursed. You must have done something wrong to die so early. So you see, it's a whole different world order.

How can folk live so long in their natural bodies? Because there's no sin. There is no allowed sin, no overt sin.

But notice what he says as he goes on here in chapter 65. He says in verse 21, they will build houses and inhabit them. They will also plant vineyards and eat from their fruit. They will not build and another inhabit.

Nobody's going to take your house from you. They will not plant and another eat. For as the lifetime of a tree, so will the days of my people be. My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain or bear children for calamity.

Because they're bearing children in natural bodies. For they are the offspring of those blessed by the Lord and their descendants. It will also come to pass that before they call I will answer, and while they are still speaking I will hear.

The wolf and the lamb will graze together, the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent's food. They will do no evil or harm in all my holy mountain, says the Lord. Utopia, paradise. It says folks who go to work won't hate their jobs. They will not labor in vain. In other words, you're going to be happy to go to work. That'll make you want to go to the millennium right now. You're just looking forward to tomorrow morning. You can't wait if you're living during this time.

And we're in glorified bodies, so everything about us is a party. Because God is going to fulfill the destiny of man. Psalm 2 talks about God was going to rule through man. Psalm 8 talks about God's going to rule through man. History cannot be completed until within history there is the rule of God through man.

Jesus Christ is glorified saint over mankind. That is the millennial kingdom. When Dr. Evans returns shortly, he'll tell us about what happens at the conclusion of the thousand-year millennial kingdom. Stay with us. As we turn the page on 2021, we're hopeful for the new year, even though there's still uncertainty about what's ahead. With so many reasons to be hopeless in our media-crazed society, you can help bring messages of hope and life with your year-end gift today. As our thanks, we'll send you a special resource called The Best of Tony Evans 2021. It's his 20 most popular sermons from this year on CD and MP3. Visit tonyevans.org for details on how to get yours. That's tonyevans.org. You know, one lasting hallmark of the ministry here at The Alternative is our commitment to offer resources that help listeners like you grow strong in faith, wisdom, and dedication to God's kingdom. To that end, we'd like to send you all 20 full-length messages from The Best of Tony Evans 2021 as a way of saying thanks when you make a contribution to help support Tony's work.

And for a limited time, we'll also include a special year-end bonus. It's your choice of one of three popular resources. You can get the details on those choices and make your selection at tonyevans.org. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or call 1-800-800-3222. I'll have that information for you again after part two of today's message.

Here's Dr. Evans. Ah, Revelation 20 verse 7. When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth. So history's not finished yet. After a thousand years, Satan, who's been chained and not allowed to deceive the nations, will be released. Now why, if there has been no evil allowed to express itself? Because while there will be no evil in the millennium allowed to express itself, there will be evil in the hearts. You may be saying, okay, I got this.

What does this matter to me? I hope everyone in here has some level of retirement program. I try to tell all of our kids, start saving in your 20s. If you put away $100 a month, by the time you're 65, you're over a million dollars. Now build up now for retirement then. Now, if you're 45 and you haven't started yet, you're behind the eight ball.

But then all hope is not lost. I had a lady come to me after the first service and she said, I'm 55, is all hope lost for me for the millennium? I said, it depends on how much you're putting away. Because see, if you put away enough, you can make up for some of the years you didn't do anything. So the further you are in life, the more you need to put away. So when your spiritual retirement plan kicks in and we stand before the Lord, we put enough away.

You don't want to be 65 and only make it to 66 before you starve to death. Because there was no looking toward the future. The whole point of God telling us prophecy is for us to live now in light of them. In light of the eternal future that we have. To make your decisions now in light of them. For the Bible says that everyone will stand before the Lord and you must give an account. You must give an account. You won't have a choice.

You don't get to say, I'm tired up. You will be forced into his presence to give an account for your appreciation of the free gift of salvation, which he will never take away. He'll never take away the free gift of salvation, but he will take away rewards.

And the Bible says the pain you will feel when he takes away your reward, he describes it as weeping and gnashing of teeth. That means profound regret that I had no time for the Lord. I had no interest in the Lord. I accepted him maybe when I was a child, but I didn't have anything to do with the Lord. You know, I went to church, but I never want anybody to Christ. In fact, I never even shared Christ, you know. I wasn't ashamed to talk about anything else, but I was ashamed to talk about him. I had very little, every now and then I did a little something, but my life was not lived for the Lord.

He was my savior, but I would not follow him as my Lord. That will be examined at the judgment seat of Christ. But here's some more good news. Let me give you some good news. The disciples said, teach us how to pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. And then he said, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. But he told them to pray that now.

So let me give you some news. God wants to give you some level of kingdom experience before he brings in his kingdom worldwide. He wants to give you a taste, a taste. You can't get all the kingdom because right now there's too much sin. There's too much sin in our lives, in our world. But he says, I want to give you a taste of the kingdom now. The Bible says that God has given us the Holy Spirit to give us a taste of the kingdom now.

But wait a minute. Everybody's been a taste test, right? You've tasted a piece of cake or you've tasted something. You know why they give you taste tests? So that you'll want more. See, they give you a taste. You go to the market and then you go to the grocery store and they got those little things that you can make a whole meal out of tasting. You stay there long enough, you can get a whole meal out of tasting.

Okay? So he gives you taste. They give you, he wants to give you kingdom tastings. So that you get every now and then a little taste of the kingdom that is to come so that you'll want to be as fully a part of it as possible so that you won't want to miss it. You say, well, I never tasted the kingdom.

Oh, wait a minute. There's only one way you don't get to take a taste test. And that is you're not living for the kingdom. Thy kingdom come. But how do I get that kingdom down here so I can taste it?

He tells you, thy will be done. You must live for the will of God in order to taste the kingdom of God. If you're not living for the will of God, God's not going to let you taste something that you have no interest in. Don't invite me over for a liver taste test. You invite me over for a liver taste test, I'm not coming because I don't like liver. I'm not interested in liver.

And because I'm not interested in liver, I'm not interested in the taste test of liver. God has children who are not interested in the kingdom, so they don't take kingdom taste tests because they're not interested in the will of God and wonder why they're not getting the benefits of the kingdom, at least on a taste level now. We're not convicted by our sin. We're not repentant of our sin. We're in pursuit of our sin.

We're not walking against it even though we fail sometimes. And because of that, because there's little interest in the will of God, we don't get taste tests from the kingdom of God, which He told us to pray for now. But there's some here who've had a taste.

We've got a few here. You didn't taste it. That's why the Bible says, Taste and see that the Lord is good. He ain't gonna give you all of it right now. But He'll put a little something, something on it, put a little sugar on it and let you go. Where they cooking this?

Where they baking this? It's all up in the kingdom. But He'll give you a taste now if you are committed to His will.

Oh, but I got to conclude with the rest of the story. Because in this world, and in this life, some of the tasting comes through the crucible of suffering. Now, I do not want to lie to you. Come to Oak Cliff and be blessed. Come get your blessing. Divine favor. God is good all the time, all the time. God is good. It's not that that's not true.

I'm just saying that's not the whole story. The Bible says all those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. It's not going to be all good all the time if you're a serious Christian.

You may get fired from your job because of your faith. There may be negative things that happen to you. And I don't want to stand here and lie to you that the taste of the kingdom only means good things all the time. That's the kingdom.

That's not now. Dr. Tony Evans will wrap up today's message with a final note of encouragement when he returns in just a moment. In the meantime, don't forget about that special offer I mentioned earlier. As our way of saying thanks for your contribution that helps us keep Tony's teaching on this station, we'll send you all 20 lessons in a special year-end audio compilation, The Best of Tony Evans 2021. And along with the audio collection, we'll also include your choice of one or more of these three additional resources. The popular Kingdom Men Rising devotional, Tony's children's book, Made by God, or his latest release, Kingdom Race Theology.

The choice is yours, but only if we hear from you before this special year-end offer runs out. Make the arrangements by calling our resource request line day or night at 1-800-800-3222. That's 1-800-800-3222. Or visit us online at tonyevans.org. God gives to us out of love, hoping we'll respond the same way, but that's not always how it works. Be sure to join us tomorrow as Dr. Evans talks about how we ought to relate with our God who provides.

Right now, though, he's back with this compelling and encouraging observation. Whenever you watch the Super Bowl and the winning team is on the field, there's a party. They're celebrating.

They're hugging. They're crying. They're rejoicing. They're grabbing their families.

But look real close. Some of them got bloody arms. Some of them got torn jerseys.

All of them got dirty jerseys. In other words, they didn't been through something. For three hours, they didn't been through something.

They didn't been through some pain. They've been hit. They've been tackled.

They've been blocked. They didn't been through. Yeah, there was some good stuff, but there may have been some fumbles, some dropped passes, and some offsides.

So they made some mistakes. They've been hurt along the way. But if you ask them at the end of the game, was it worth it, even though they had been through something, they will tell you, yeah, because I got a Super Bowl ring. I got a trophy. So you hang in there because God has got a ring for your finger. He's got a trophy for your commitment as you taste of the kingdom that is to come. The alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by the Urban Alternative and is celebrating 40 years of faithfulness thanks to the generous contributions of listeners like you.