God’s New World Order: The Millennium

So, just what is the Millennium, and why is it needed? We will have sharper minds, stronger bodies, clearer purpose, and unabated joy, and we will serve the Lord for a thousand years on this earth as it is, reigning and ruling with Him.

Can you imagine a reign of righteousness with all godly people in every single position, having not had to be elected there but appointed there by King Jesus? Welcome to Understanding the Times Radio with Jan Markell, Radio for the Remnant, brought to you by Olive Tree Ministries. Our media team is taking some time off, so we thought we would share a pertinent message recently given by Dr. David Jeremiah on the Millennium. Just what is this thousand years of life on earth that follows the second coming of Jesus Christ?

Who occupies the Millennium, and what will believers do during this extended time? Here is today's programming. And welcome to the program.

So glad you can join me this week. Say I'm just taking a little diversion from the interview format today and presenting a message that I love given recently by Dr. David Jeremiah on the Millennium. I was prompted to do it in part because of an email, and I'm going to read the email here.

It's from Jackie, and she's in Pennsylvania, and she's given me permission to read it. She says, I have been attending a Reformed Baptist church for 17 years. I ran across your program two years ago and was completely drawn to it. I've been a Christian for 40 years. I loved reading through the Book of Revelation. I asked our pastor if he would please preach through the book, and he did.

But I had no idea what all millennialists believed. I was in shock when he started hitting chapter four, and everything became symbolic. And after that, she says, I left my church for five weeks because I was so distraught. Another paragraph, she says, I couldn't understand how he literally changed the words on the page and said, this doesn't mean this, but it means this. I thought, this is almost heresy.

Jackie continues, I quietly left after going up through chapter 14. I couldn't believe the people sitting in my church were just believing what he said. I love my church family, and so many in the church say that we can agree to disagree on eschatology, and I say, why?

And I still ask that. And then she concludes, the Bible is the Bible. After going to many churches in our area, I realized spiritual starvation is everywhere. Churches I visited didn't even know there was a stand on eschatology.

They didn't have one. So I'm writing to tell you at the moment that I heard you, my heartfelt headpiece, with everything you say and talk about. But I cannot understand how teaching can be so solid. And she indicated that all the other areas of teaching in her church were totally solid, but then be so off on eschatology. And then she concludes, and it must be this belief in amillennialism. And then I heard Dr. David Jeremiah give this wonderful message on the literal interpretation of a coming millennium, which the Bible talks about and says it's literal. It says a thousand years, a number of times, and I thought I would play that short message for this program. Now, because it's a short message, I'm going to come back at the end of Dr. Jeremiah's message, and I'll have some closing thoughts and comments to wrap up this week's program.

But for now, Dr. David Jeremiah presenting his wonderful message on the coming literal 1,000 year millennial reign of Jesus Christ here on the earth. Almost everyone knows the lyrics to Isaac Watts' famous hymn, Joy to the World. But few people realize that it is really a miscast hymn. It's not a Christmas hymn really at all, even though it's in the top three of the favorite Christmas hymns of all time.

Listen to the words and see if you understand what I mean. Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her King.

Did we receive the King when Jesus was born at Bethlehem? Let every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature sing. Joy to the world, the Savior reigns. Let men their songs employ, while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains repeat the sounding joy. No more let sin and sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessing flow, for as the curse is found. Has that happened?

Did it happen? He rules the world with truth and grace. I don't think so, not yet, and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and the wonders of his love. Only during the millennium, which comes after the second advent of Christ, will the words of joy to the world really be fulfilled.

Only during that time, we'll be able to sing these words with real meaning in our heart. Now, in your Bibles, there is a place to which you should turn, which is the central passage for this discussion, and it's the 20th chapter of the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20 introduces the glorious reign of Christ on this earth, which is known as the millennium. Now, let's take the mystery out of the term millennium. It is a Latin word, which is made up of two words, the words mille, which mean a thousand, and the word annum, which means years.

Mille, annum, a thousand years. So the word millennium means a thousand years. And the text of Revelation chapter 20 is the only place in the Bible where that actual word appears, and it appears in the text six different times.

If you look down in your Bibles, you will notice in verse 2, it says, he laid hold of the dragon that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, for a millennium. Verse 3, verse 3, and the nations no more were deceived for a thousand years, a millennium. Verse 4, and they lived and reign with Christ a thousand years, a millennium. Verse 5, and the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years was finished.

There it is again. Verse 6, over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a millennium, a thousand years. Mille, annum, a thousand years. Verse 7, now when the thousand years had expired, Satan will be released from his prison. The millennium is a period of one thousand years that is going to take place in the future, and it is a very important subject for us to discuss.

Now, I need to tell you that there is no more subject in all of Bible prophecy that is more controversial than this one. There are, first of all, three perspectives on the millennium. Roman numeral one, three perspectives on the millennium. Church history has seen the rise of three competing views. Now, it may not seem important to you what a person might think about the thousand years, but it is very important because what a person thinks about that thousand-year period gives away their understanding as to how the Bible should be interpreted, and we're going to see that in a few moments. First of all, there are some people who refer to themselves as post-millennialists.

Now, I'm not trying to get theological with you today, and I haven't gone back to review my seminary notes, but you need to understand these terms so you will see what I'm talking about. Post-millennialism, let me tell you what that means. That means that a certain group of people believe that Jesus Christ will not come back to this earth until after the thousand years of kingdom living have happened, and here's how they interpret it. This was invented by a Unitarian minister by the name of Daniel Whitby in the mid-17th century, and it teaches that the church, we, the church, will bring about the millennium through the preaching of the gospel. According to his view, as more and more people across the globe are converted, the world will gradually be conquered for Christ.

God's justice will prevail across the earth, and Jesus will at last return to a utopian world to take up the throne that was won him by his church. Now, I need to tell you, that view flourished until World War I. At the end of World War I, people began to doubt whether this had any credibility or not. You know World War I, the motto was, make the world safe for democracy? Well, post-millennialism started to falter a little bit because it became apparent to everyone that the world wasn't getting better and better. Justice wasn't prevailing more and more, and when World War II came, the world war that was to end all world wars, post-millennialism primarily died, and it ceases to be a major player on the stage, though it has had a somewhat recent revival under some very strange circumstances. Post-millennialism, which says the world's going to get better and better and better until ultimately it's so good that it's a fit place for Jesus to come back to. Aren't you glad that isn't true?

Because the signs aren't so good, are they? Jesus may never get back the way we're going if we believe that. And then there's another view, which is sometimes referred to as ah-millennialism.

I want to hear you all say that. Ah-millennialism. Now, whenever you put the word ah in front of a word, it negates the value of the word, so ah-millennialism means no millennium. And there are some people that take all the passages in the Bible that speak about the millennium and they say those are all symbolic. Instead, the church inherits the millennial blessings that were given to Israel. In other words, the events that are in Revelation chapter 20 are happening right now.

The church is reigning with Christ over the earth. We are in the millennium according to ah-millennialism. Oh my goodness, I hope not.

Don't you hope not? If this is the millennium, what in the world do we have to look forward to? I hope the millennium is a whole lot better than what we have right now. And of course, anyone who really studies the scripture and takes it literally would understand immediately that the prophecies of peace and prosperity and purity and all of those things are not being fulfilled today.

The exact opposite is being fulfilled. And the problem with ah-millennialism is the only way you can make it work is to spiritualize and symbolize all of the Old Testament scriptures. Once you start doing that and you get away from a literal interpretation of the Bible, then there is no control on anything. And whatever you want the Bible to say, it will say. If you join me late, I am playing a message given by Dr. David Jeremiah recently on the coming millennium, the literal 1000 years where Jesus Christ rules from Jerusalem.

Plan that this weekend on the program. And then there is the third view, which is the view that I believe is the accurate one. And that is what we call premillennialism. Premillennialism is the oldest of the three views and it believes and teaches that Jesus Christ will physically return to this earth. He will defeat his enemies and there will be a battle that is fought at the end.

And he will then set up his kingdom on this earth and he will reign upon the earth for 1000 years. Now, I want to give you a little visual so you see how this works. Draw a straight line on your paper, all right?

Just a straight line. Now, start over here on the left-hand side of the line and put a little parenthesis, about that wide. In the middle of the parenthesis, just put the letters OT, Old Testament.

That's where it begins. Next to the parenthesis where you have OT, put a cross. Just put a picture of a cross. That's a reference to the life of Christ, to his death, his burial, and his resurrection. Next to the cross, put another parenthesis and write the word church in it. Just put the word church in it. Now, you've got OT, the cross, and the church. After you get to the end of the church parenthesis, I want you to put an arrow going straight up and one coming straight down, meeting in the middle, because what happens at the end of the church age is we have the rapture.

The dead in Christ are raised and Christ comes back and we all who are Christians go to heaven. After that, put another parenthesis and write the word seven years in it. This is the tribulation. At the end of the tribulation, in that little parenthesis, put another arrow, this one coming straight down. That's the second advent when Jesus comes back to take up his reign on the earth. Then put a little bigger parenthesis and write the word a thousand years in it. That's the millennium, and after the millennium is the eternal state or what we call heaven.

Now, I don't have time to go over that again, so I hope you wrote that all down, but I want you to know what we're talking about here. We're talking about a period of time after the tribulation, when Jesus Christ comes back and he literally reigns on this earth. All the promises of the Old Testament concerning the kingdom are fulfilled in that period of time, and the redeemed Jews live in their homeland, and the millennium ends with the final rebellion, and the old earth is replaced by a transformed new heaven and new earth.

This is the view that is found in all of the writings of the early church fathers, and which is more widely believed by evangelicals than any other view on the millennium. So, we have three perspectives of the millennium. Now, I want to give you four purposes for the millennium. Why do we have to have a millennium?

Somebody says, what do we need this for? Just so we can have something to discuss in theology? No, it's very important that there be a period of time like this going forward, and I want to give you just a few reasons, and I'm going to go through some scripture, and I'm going to tell you I'm going to go through these scriptures fast, so if I go through them fast, you watch fast and listen fast and understand fast, all right? Here we go.

Ready? The first reason is to reward the people of God. There needs to be a millennial time to reward the people of God. There are scores of promises scattered throughout all of the Bible, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, guaranteeing God's people that they will receive rewards for faithful service. For instance, Isaiah 40 10 says, Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. The Son of Man will come in the glory of his father with his angels.

When's that going to happen? The second advent at the end of the tribulation period, just before the millennium, and he will reward each according to his works. Matthew 25 34, the king will say to those on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Colossians 3 24, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord. Revelation 22 12, and behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me to give everyone according to his work. The Bible teaches that when we serve the Lord here on this earth as Christians, we are going to be rewarded when we get to the kingdom with the opportunity to serve the Lord in a new and special way.

In the previous message, we talked about the crowns. Here we're reminded that part of our reward will be to reign and rule with Christ upon this earth, and each of us will have opportunities to serve the Lord based upon our faithfulness in serving him right now. First Thessalonians 3 13 says that the coming of the Lord will happen when he comes with all of his saints. When Jesus comes back at the end of the tribulation period, just before this millennial time, we who were raptured at the beginning, we're going to come back with him. We're going to come back to this earth, and we're going to reign upon this new earth that he's created with his righteousness, and Paul told the Corinthians that the saints are going to judge the world in 1 Corinthians 6 2. And in Revelation chapter 20 and verse 4 that we read a few moments ago, we read, and they lived and they reigned with him for a thousand years.

Who are they? The Christians, the saints who come back with him, literally men and women. There has to be a millennium so that we can live out our rewards during this thousand-year period of time. In the parable of the talents, Jesus taught that our role as servants and rulers will be based upon our faithfulness. Matthew 25 23, the Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things.

I will make you ruler over what? Many things enter into the joy of your Lord. In the millennium, we will be ruling the earth with Jesus as our king, and we will be serving the Lord not as a punishment but as a reward. The idea of service as a reward is foreign to a lot of people who don't like their work, who only put up with their work until it's time to retire. We think that faithful service should be rewarded with a long vacation, but God offers us an opportunity very different from work. More responsibilities is his reward. Increased opportunities is his reward.

Greater abilities and resources and wisdom and empowerment. We will have sharper minds, stronger bodies, clearer purpose, and unabated joy, and we will serve the Lord for a thousand years on this earth as it is, reigning and ruling with him. Can you imagine a reign of righteousness with all godly people in every single position, having not had to be elected there but appointed there by King Jesus? Whoa, would that be something?

Just imagine it. So in order for there to be a time for those rewards to be realized, there has to be a millennial period. That's when they're to be carried out. Number two, there must be a millennium to respond to the prophet's predictions. The prophets of the Old Testament predict such a time. The Old Testament Scriptures are absolutely, totally, ununderstandable if there is no such period as the kingdom, because most of the prophecies of the Old Testament, in fact, Dwight Pentecost, who is a tremendous scholar of prophecy said, there is more information about the millennium in the Bible than any other prophetic event in all of the Scripture. We push it off to the side. Nobody wants to talk about it.

It's sort of controversial, so we avoid it. But the Bible says in the Old Testament that such a time is coming. Now, I don't have time to give you the myriad of verses that talk about it, but I'm going to give you a bunch of them, just one right after the other, rapid fire right on the screen, and you listen to what the Scripture says. Psalm 72 11, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him. Isaiah 9 7, once again, often referred to as a Christmas verse, but only part of it is a Christmas verse. The other part is a kingdom verse.

Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice. From that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the host of the Lord will perform this. Isaiah 60 21, also your people shall be righteous. They shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands that I may be glorified. Zechariah 9 10, I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem.

The battle bowl will be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations. His dominion shall be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. Luke 1 32 and 33, 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 forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. Without the kingdom, without the millennium, none of those could be fulfilled. Those prophecies all say there's coming a day when King Jesus is going to rule over this earth as it is now with his saints as co-regents with him, and it's going to be a rule of righteousness and peace that will last for 10 centuries for a millennium. Why does there need to be an earthly kingdom? Because Christ will come back and triumph on the very earth where he was seemingly defeated by his enemy, his rejection by the rulers of the world. Remember, he came unto his own and his own received him not.

He will come back to the very earth where he was rejected, and this time there will be no rejection, and it will be when he comes again to rule this world in righteousness, he will at last pick up his inheritance, and he will be the king everyone had hoped he would come to be when he came the first time. I'm coming back in just a couple of minutes, and we're going to continue with Dr. David Jeremiah. I took his message from an online presentation he gave recently because I just feel that understanding a literal millennium is so important, and I opened the program with an email from a follower of this ministry that attends an amillennial church, which would allegorize, make everything symbolic when it comes to Bible prophecy, and she stated how tremendously confused this made her when her pastor began through the book of Revelation, and everything was spiritualized and allegorized, so that's why I'm emphasizing this message this weekend and the importance of the literal understanding of the literal millennium.

More in a moment. We hope you'll stay in touch with us online through OliveTreeViews.org. That's OliveTreeViews.org. You can call us central time at 763-559-4444. That's 763-559-4444. Write us through the mail at Olive Tree Ministries and Jan Markell, Post Office, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. That's Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311.

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Consult with Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills, California, for all details. Don't unplug. Stay up to date with news and information that will make you a part of today's Watchmen on the Wall. Well, the Millennium is an overture of heaven, and it gives you just a little picture as you study it of what heaven will be like and where we will be now, not just on this earth, but on the new heaven and the new earth that we talked about last week.

And the same King Jesus will be in charge, and all sin and all death will be eliminated. We know you can't always be via radio, so just remember that our programming is posted to our website in both its audio and video format. Just go to OliveTreeViews.org. That's OliveTreeViews.org, and then to radio. The video version of our programming is also posted to Rumble, Light Source, YouTube, and his channel.

And our audio programming is now heard on almost 900 radio stations across America. Thank you for your support of this outreach. Remember that prayer support is just as vital as financial support. Now we return to Dr. David Jeremiah and Jan Markell to wrap up this message on the coming millennial reign of Jesus Christ on earth. On a return now to Dr. David Jeremiah, I appreciate his teaching on eschatology so very much.

Makes things crystal clear, and particularly as it concerns. You know what, every one of my listeners, if you are a believer, you're going to be experiencing the 1,000-year millennial reign of Jesus Christ on earth. When the lion lays down with the lamb, the animal kingdom is totally restored to perfect peace and harmony, as would be all of humanity, and that's ahead for every believer. So we're going to return now and let Dr. David Jeremiah wrap this up, but I will close this program with some comments of my own, because his message was actually quite brief, so I'm going to sum things up at the very end.

Here's Dr. David Jeremiah. Do you remember when Jesus came at Bethlehem, and he started out, and his disciples began to realize who he was in some fashion, they wanted to know, is the kingdom going to be now? They weren't really interested in Christ being the ruler of the world.

They wanted to get the Romans off their back. They wanted him to come and set up the kingdom, but Jesus said, not now, but someday, and it's in this period of time that that's going to happen. So there needs to be a millennium to reward the people of God and to respond to the prophets' predictions. Here's an interesting one that's just really simple, and that's to receive the answer to the disciples' prayer. Do you remember the disciples' prayer? Do you remember the disciples' prayer? Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Has that ever happened? Has his kingdom ever come and his will been done on this earth as it is in heaven?

Not yet, but it's going to. One day when Jesus returns, his kingdom will come and his will will be done on this earth, even it is now being done in heaven. When the disciples prayed that the kingdom would come, they were looking forward to this very time we're talking about this morning called the millennium. So the millennium is necessary to reward the people of God and to respond to the prophets' predictions and to receive the answer to the disciples' prayer. And finally, the kingdom is necessary, and I want you to listen carefully because then I want you to lose this. It is necessary to re-emphasize man's depravity and the necessity of Christ's death.

Let me show you what I mean. The Bible says that at the end of this 1,000-year period of time, when Jesus is running the whole world, and Satan, if you remember, he's bound for 1,000 years. Do you remember reading that in Revelation 20? Satan is bound for 1,000 years.

He's incapacitated. But if you read the text that says at the end of the millennium, he's going to be released, and there will be one final rebellion. You say, well, where's the ungodliness going to come from? Well, only godly people will go into the millennium, but guess what?

They're going to have kids. How many of you know righteousness is not inherited? How many of you know God doesn't have any grandchildren?

He only has children. So the kids born to the righteous people in the millennial, and some of them will become unrighteous, and at the end of the millennial period, in spite of all that has happened during the reign of Christ on this earth, in spite of all the righteousness that has been legislated, at the end of the millennial period, there will be a final rebellion against God. What does that say? It says that our problem is not our environment. Amen? Have you ever heard anybody ever tell you that the problem we have in our world is our environment? If we could just educate everybody and get everybody straightened out and change the environment, everybody would be better? Well, I want to tell you something. God put two people in a perfect garden, and they rebelled, and at the end of the world, he's going to run a world for a thousand years in peace and righteousness, and at the end, there'll be a rebellion there.

Why? Because the heart of man is evil, and it's not a problem of our environment. It's a problem of our nature that we inherited from Adam when he sinned against almighty God. So the millennium will prove once somebody will stand before God at the great white throne judgment and say, Lord God, I just didn't have the right environment. And the Lord's going to say, I gave you a thousand years of perfect peace and righteousness, and you still rebelled. Depart from me.

I never knew you. All right, we've had three perspectives on the millennium, four purposes of the millennium, and now we have to really move five profiles of the millennium. What's it going to really be like on this earth? And all I can do here is just tell you what the Scripture says. What will it be like? Can you imagine in your greatest fantasy what it would be like on this earth if all sin were removed, if all rebellion were removed, if all unrighteousness were removed from what you know of the earth as it is today? First of all, it'll be a time of great peace, a time of great peace.

That's the first profile. Did you know, this is kind of a joke to me, but when I see it, did you know that right across the street from the United Nations building, there is a statute, and on the statute are these words, they shall beat their swords into plowshares. The United Nations is supposed to make that happen, not, it's not going to happen through the United Nations. That will really only happen when Christ rules the earth, that which the world has longed for for so long will become a reality. Only then will the angel's message be fulfilled that he gave to the shepherds on that night outside of Bethlehem. Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.

All man-made implements of mechanized warfare will be eliminated. Even the natural kingdom will be at peace. Now, are you ready for a scriptural tour?

Here we go, hang on. Psalm 72, seven, in his days the righteous will flourish and abundance of peace until the moon is no more. Micah 4, 2, and 3, many nations shall come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the Lord of Jacob. He will teach us his ways and we will walk in his paths, and out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, he shall judge between many peoples and rebuke strong nations afar off, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Isaiah 11, six through nine, the wolf will also dwell with the lamb. This piece even extends to the animal kingdom. And the leopard will lay down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze. The young ones will lie down together, the lion will eat straw like an ox.

The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. It will be a time when war will be utterly unknown. Not a single armament plant will be operating. Not a soldier or sailor will be in uniform. No military camps will exist. Not one cent will be spent for armaments of war.

Not a single penny will be used for defense, much less for offensive warfare. Can you imagine such an age when all nations shall be at perfect peace, and all the resources of the earth will be made available for enjoyment, and all industry engaged in the manufacture of the articles of a peaceful luxury? That's the way it'll be. It'll be a peaceful time.

I know everybody says, is that possible? Not here, not now. Not until Jesus comes and sets up his rule on this earth. And then it'll be a time of prosperity. Everybody's into prosperity, at least that's what I've observed by watching television. Everybody's into prosperity.

Well, this will be a time of prosperity like you cannot imagine. Once again, listen to the Word of God. Ezekiel 34, 26, and 27. I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will cause showers to come down in their season, and there shall be showers of blessing. Then the trees of the field will yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. And they shall be safe in their land, and they shall know that I am the Lord when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from the hand of those who enslave them.

Ezekiel 36, again. I will call for the grain and multiply it and bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. The desolate land will be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by, so they will say. The land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden.

The Garden of Eden, Amos 9, 13. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper. In other words, the cycle of reproduction in terms of the harvest will be so short that while the guy's out there harvesting, the plowman will be right behind him planting.

It'll be just one internal and eternal production of food. And the treader of grapes, him who sows seed, the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with it. Zechariah 8, 12, the seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give its fruit, the ground shall give her increase, and the heaven shall give her dew. Isaiah 35, the wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose, and the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. The millennium will be a time of peace, a time of unbelievable prosperity, and then it'll be a time of purity. Sin will be kept in check, and disobedience will be dealt with. Christ's kingdom will be a holy kingdom.

Isaiah 11, 9, they shall not hurt nor destroy, and all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 25, 9, and it shall be said in that day, behold, this is our God. We have waited for him, and he will save us. This is the Lord.

We have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Isaiah 66, 23, and it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord. Zechariah 13, 2, it shall be in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land. They shall no longer be remembered, and I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land. It will be a time of peace. It will be a time of prosperity. It will be a time of purity. If you just join me, you are listening to Understanding the Times Radio, but this weekend I've taken a little break from the interview format to play what I believe is a vitally important message. Every believer listening to this program will experience the millennium, the 1,000 year rule of Jesus Christ on earth with perfect government out of Jerusalem, perfect government on this planet. The animal kingdom at peace for that matter, mankind at peace. We're going to conclude now with Dr. David Jeremiah, and then I'm going to wrap up the hour with just some closing comments because his message was actually quite short, so I'll wrap it up in just a few minutes.

Now here's one I like. It's going to be a time of prolonged life. You know, prolonged life. People are going to live longer. You know, if you study the Old Testament, and I have a chart in my Bible, maybe you have one in yours too, that shows how before the flood, people used to live to be really old, but when you get to the flood in Genesis chapter 6, something happens. 900 doesn't happen anymore.

It starts going down and down and down until you get to kind of where we are now. 130 was old then as it would be today. Many people believe that the flood changed the nature of the earth so that the canopy that protected us from the ultraviolet rays was contaminated, and so our ability to live long on the earth was destroyed. But in the millennium, the period of time that we're looking forward to in our message today, everything that happened before the flood in terms of the longevity of humanity will return. Let me just give you one verse that's amazing. Isaiah 65 20. No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days, for the child shall die 100 years old.

Now, just get that last phrase. When you are 100 years old, if you die, they will say he was a child. All of you who are working on 100 right now, doesn't that feel real good? Someday I'm gonna be called a child again, and I'll be 100 years old, and people will live to be 700, 800 years. Some of them will live a great portion of the millennial period under the reign of Christ, prolonged life. And finally, it will be a time of personal joy.

The millennium will be an exhilarating era of happiness and contentment and joy. It will be the answer to many of the anguished prayers of the Jews and many of the hearts hopes that are represented here today. Once again, just a multiplication of scriptures. Are you ready for this stream of Word of God coming to you from the Old Testament?

Listen to this. Isaiah 9-3, you have multiplied the nation and increased its joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. Isaiah 12-3, therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. Isaiah 14-7, the whole earth is at rest and quiet.

They break forth into singing. Isaiah 25-8 and 9, he will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all of their faces. The rebuke of his people and will take away from all the earth for the Lord has spoken. Isaiah 30-29, you shall have a song and in the night when a holy festival is kept and gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute to come into the mountain of the Lord to the mighty one of Israel. Isaiah 42-10 through 12, sing to the Lord a new song and his praise from the ends of the earth. You who go down to the sea and all that is in it, you coastlands and you inhabitants of them, let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice.

The villages of Keter inhabitants and the inhabitants of Silas sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains, let them give glory to the Lord and declare his praise to the coastlands. From several passages in the Old Testament, and these are just representative few, you get this impression that the millennial time is everything we have always heard it would be, even if we didn't know the Bible, a time of great joy and prosperity and purity and a time of peace and prolonged life and King Jesus will be reigning and ruling on the throne of David, which will be in the city of Jerusalem and out of Jerusalem will flow this wonderful reign of peace over all the world as we know it today. Can you imagine? Whoa, isn't it interesting to see what God has planned?

And listen to me now, here's the kicker in the whole deal. You're ready for this? This is just the prelude to heaven. This is the overture of heaven.

You know, when you go to a concert or to a big symphony, they play, the orchestra plays an overture at the beginning, and it has a little snippet of all the different songs that are in the program and you sit there and the orchestra has put this thing together and it gives you sort of a picture of what's to come. Well, the millennium is an overture of heaven and it gives you just a little picture as you study it of what heaven will be like and where we will be now, not just on this earth, but on the new heaven and the new earth that we talked about last week. And the same King Jesus will be in charge and all sin and all death will be eliminated. And everything that's true about the millennium will get kicked up another level and into the eternal state we go. Celebrating forever and ever with King Jesus. Amen, that's all right, isn't it?

All right. Now, it's interesting, isn't it, that Jesus came the first time to become our Savior and he's coming the second time to become our King. The coming of Christ to set up his kingdom will be so much different than the first time that he came. He entered the world the first time in swaddling clothes. He will reign the second time in majestic purple. He came the first time as a weary traveler. He will return the second time as the untiring God.

Once when he came, he had nowhere to lay his head. When he comes back, he will be revealed as the heir of the Lord. He will be revealed as the heir of all things. Once he was rejected by tiny Israel.

When he returns, he will be accepted by every single nation. Once he was a lowly Savior acquainted with grief, then he will be the mighty God anointed with the oil of gladness. Once he was smitten with a reed, then he will rule the nations with a rod of iron. Once wicked soldiers bowed the knee in mockery, then every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord. Once he received a crown of thorns, then he will receive a crown of gold. Once he delivered up his spirit in death, then he will be alive forevermore. Once he was laid in the tomb, then he will sit on a throne. King of kings, Lord of lords, that's Jesus, and that's the millennium.

And it's a fact that we will be impossible, that will be impossible for us to mistake if we read the Scripture. You remember the commercial? I think it was for some kind of an oil filter. And the guy got on the screen and he said, you can pay me now or you can pay me later.

And they showed the engine kind of coming unglued because he hadn't taken care to make sure the oil was clean. He said, you can pay me now or you can pay me later. Say that, pay me now or pay me later. Well, I want to tell you something.

Almighty God has put together a program just like that. Do you know what it says in Philippians chapter 2? Look up on the screen with me for just a moment. Philippians 2 10 and 11. This is what it says. Let's read it out loud together. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and those on earth and of those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

What does that say? It says one day in the kingdom and before the white throne judgment, the Bible says every single knee of every single person on this planet will bow their knee before God and say for the final time and without any hope of the future, you are Lord and you are king and you are worthy and you are who everybody said you were when I was going to church back at Shadow Mountain when I was on earth. You're exactly who they said you were but by that time it'll be too late. When you get to that place in the prophetic scheme of things, it's beyond hope. You cannot become a Christian. Your opportunity is over.

Now here is the pay me now or pay me later application. Jesus says one day everyone's going to bow. You have no choice as to whether or not you will bow before the Lord. You will either do it now voluntarily in obedience and in humble humility or one day you will bow before him and you will acknowledge that he is king. How much better it would be for all of us were it be true for us that we have said, Lord God, I believe who you are.

I believe your son Jesus is the savior of the world. I accept you as my savior. I bow before you as my Lord. I receive you into my heart. I bow my knee to you, Lord Jesus.

When you do it now, you will never have to be forced to do it later because it will be the most natural and normal thing that ever comes to your life to love and worship and adore him. So remember, we as believers come back with Jesus Christ at the second coming. We're coming back as glorified saints. We return with the Messiah to witness his triumph over evil, the evil world system over the antichrist, and we are going to rule with him in the messianic kingdom. One thing Dr. David Jeremiah didn't cover extensively at all, and that would be what will we be doing in the millennium?

And I think he didn't cover it because we really don't know. Now there are some verses, and I'll get a few of them in this winding things up here. During the millennium, Revelation 5 10 says that we will be kings and priests to our God, reigning on earth to do the will of the son and the father. We will have the mind of Christ, the heart of God, the discernment of the Holy Spirit. We will think, speak, and do all for the glory of God. Just some further thoughts here on what are we going to be doing during this 1,000 literal years? We're going to be in glorified bodies. There will be people coming into the millennium in natural bodies, but those of us in glorified bodies, we will possess power to ensure that the rule of Jesus Christ is carried out according to his divine decree and the rule of godless men will end. Isn't that encouraging? Because we see evil winning all the time.

In the end, they don't. We will be emissaries, holy representatives of the divine order and faithful servants of the King of Kings. To every faithful believer in this life, Jesus will say, Well done, good and faithful servant.

You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. That's what we're going to be doing. Ruling in the millennium, Matthew 25, 23.

Okay, let's go on. What are we going to be doing during this incredible time of peace on earth? The devil is bound. Glorified believers, that's us, will be the go-betweens, motivated by love, selflessly serving God and people. And we do not know exactly what kind of services we will provide. You can imagine the list will be long and include everything from teaching the Bible, answering questions, helping establish and direct people in all sorts of capacities, leadership capacity that we'll be in. And one of our first tasks will more than likely take place after Jesus steps onto the Mount of Olives after the tribulation. That's going to cause the mountain to split into Zechariah 14 verses three and four. And we will be there to witness this event. So the split will mark the fulfillment of this prophecy in the beginning of a new era for humanity. And the world will witness an army of glorified beings, both saints and angels, descending with the King of Kings.

Again, that's Revelation 19. So at this time, the enduring and battered world population will be in survival mode. Its political leaders will have been confused, its armies destroyed, and its religious elite left without any kind of a message of hope. So one of our first tasks in the millennium might involve helping survivors, those displaced from families, homes, and jobs during the tribulation.

Well, that's an interesting thing to speculate on. Resettling will begin anew. Some more thoughts on what on earth are we going to be doing during this time? The number of issues stemming from the failed, let's call it what it is, the failed New World Order that was once ruled by the Antichrist will be immeasurable and it will demand our involvement at every level.

The needs of all surviving humanity. You know what they're going to do? They're going to bow before the Lord Jesus in recognition of His authority, of His power, and of His deity. Won't that be a glorious day? And those who raged against the Lord of glory and fought His most holy purposes will intuitively know that for them, it did not end well. Revelation 20. So beyond the cleanup, we'll help set up the kingdom of God on earth.

Is that not an awesome thought? Setting up the kingdom of God on earth, that'll be part of our assignment. A holy rule that will usher in unimaginable peace and prosperity based on the two greatest commandments, love God and love people. I'm going back to those living on earth will enjoy the fulfilled promises of the messianic kingdom embodied in all of the unilateral covenants God made with Israel. It will be the final dispensation of history.

That's the millennium. And the Messiah's rule will provide peace, prosperity, and righteousness. Not only will there be no war, again, all species of animals will coexist harmoniously and humans will no longer be threatened by predatory or venomous creatures. The world will be restored to its pre-fall condition and mankind will enjoy longevity beyond what it experiences today. So I'm kind of wrapping things up because I asked the question, what are we going to be doing during this millennial reign?

If it's a literal thousand years, that's a long time to be doing something. The Lord Jesus will be the undisputed ruler having dealt severely with the ruler of this world. He will not allow evil to run rampant as it is today. The reign of Jesus Christ will be righteous. It'll be glorious. It'll be bountiful. It'll be gentle. It'll be kind. It will be caring. And it will be joyful and peaceful and it'll be everlasting. And harmony will rule the day. In the millennium, the woes of this present hour will one day become absolutely a fading memory of a bygone era. I think we could say that the millennium is a new beginning, exactly what we do.

It's hard to say. It's about today and the opportunity to prepare for tomorrow. It's about getting ready to take on future duties that they'll be varied.

They'll be long lasting. More importantly, the future will take care of itself when we focus on living in the moment, learning to abide in Jesus Christ and willing to serve in whatever capacity we are given. There is a measure of peace and rest knowing the future is in his hands and that we've received a personal invitation to go on this incredible journey. Let me just conclude here by saying that today every level of creation groans for the climax of earth's history and the peace, tranquility and righteousness associated with the Messiah's 1000 year reign. In our anticipation of a world where every system on the planet is under the Messiah's direct control is summarized in two words, mind boggling. And I say, bring it on.

I can't wait. And this 1000 years is followed by absolute perfection known as the new heavens and the new earth. In the meantime, all we can do is to look ahead and trust him, to look around and serve him, to look behind us and thank him and to always look up and expect him because he is coming soon, sooner than anyone can imagine. Indeed, Jesus Christ could return even yet today. I want to thank you for listening and we will talk to you again next week.

Since every believer will experience what the Bible calls the Millennium, we have presented this hour today to give the biblical basis for this 1000 year reign of Christ on earth. We hope you found it helpful and even hopeful. We welcome friendly feedback at OliveTreeViews.org. That's OliveTreeViews.org. Call us central time at 763-559-4444. That's 763-559-4444. You get our mail when you write to Jan Markell and Olive Tree Ministries, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. That's Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311.

All gifts are tax deductible. This church age is not as peaceful nor tranquil as the Millennium, so we have daily trials and much tribulation. Remember, God has not forgotten you. You are engraved on the palm of His hand and everything is falling into place.