So the title of this session is Clarifying Kingdom Confusion. I'm gonna try to cover the thousand year kingdom in 45 minutes. Paul the Apostle in the book of Romans chapter 11 and verse 15 writes, for if there, Israels, Rejection is the reconciliation of the world. What will their acceptance be but life from the dead? And Paul here is kind of using this argument from the lesser to the greater. And basically he says God took a tragedy, a miscarriage of justice. And that's really what the Gospels record through the death of Christ. It was just a terrible miscarriage of justice. The nation of Israel broke, when you study it out legally, almost every single rule on their books to rush Jesus through the judicial system, get him declared guilty as fast as they could, to get him handed over to the Romans, to get him executed. And so what happened to Jesus 2,000 years ago, who should have been embraced by his own nation as king, was a miscarriage of justice in the sense that the only crown he received was the crown of thorns. Out of mockery to him, not to glorify him. And yet, God took a tragedy and turned it into a triumph. because God used that transaction to pay the sin debt of the world. And because that miscarriage of justice took place, we are now, as believers in Jesus, have right standing before God. So God is sort of an expert at taking lemons and turning them into lemonade. And Paul says God did all of this through Israel's rejection of their king, nationally. And if God did that work through Israel's rejection of their king, Paul says, what do you think this world is gonna be like when Israel accepts her king, which prophetically she's destined to do? It will be like life from the dead. And what he's talking about is how the kingdom of God is gonna break forth instantaneously all over planet Earth once Israel is in faith. So the whole kingdom program rides upon Israel, the covenanted nation. Dr. Toussaint, who I was privileged to have as a professor for many classes at Dallas Seminary, would phrase it this way. He would say, you know, the whole world in the church age could get saved, and yet If all of the Gentiles get saved and tiny Israel remains in unbelief, the kingdom of God cannot come to the earth. Conversely, the whole world could reject Jesus, all the Gentiles, but if tiny Israel comes to faith nationally, then the kingdom of God can come forth. And prophetically, we know that's gonna happen one day in the events of the tribulation period the time of Jacob's distress, where she will go through unparalleled distress nationally. And yet, Jeremiah 30 verse 7, she will be saved from it, or out of it. And once that happens, here comes the kingdom of God. By the way, when you understand that, you understand why Satan hates the Jews, right? In his darkened thinking, if he can eradicate every Jew from planet Earth, there'll be no nation of Israel left to embrace the king. The kingdom will never come, in Satan's darkened mind. and Satan will remain perpetual ruler of this world. And once you understand that it helps you understand the angelic conflict why there is a concerted effort to eradicate the Jewish people and the Jewish nation. And you don't have to look hard for evidence of that plan all you have to do is turn on the news The Jews are attacked over and over again, and if they respond in any way, suddenly they've transformed David into Goliath, and Israel is the bad guy. It's all a satanic plot to eradicate the Jewish nation, and it relates to a verse just like this in Romans 11 verse 15. And yet, from prophetic scripture, we know that Israel will convert one day, nationally, and the kingdom will come. And the only reason we know that is because of the pages of prophetic scripture. Peter, in 2 Peter 1, verse 19, writes, so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you would do well to pay attention to, as a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your heart." He talks here, Peter, about how the prophetic word is made more sure. Made more sure than what? Well, all you do is back up in the chapter around verse 17, I think it is, and Peter is talking about eyewitness testimony. to the transfiguration. We were eyewitnesses to the transfigured Christ, Matthew 17. In a court of law, the most powerful evidence you can introduce is eyewitness testimony. There's almost no substitute for an eyewitness that sees something happen. And Peter says the prophetic word is more sure even than eyewitness testimony. which is the most powerful evidence you can introduce. So the prophetic word functions as a lamp shining in a dark place. Psalm 119 verse 105 talks about how his word is a lamp unto our feet. Would you say this world is in a dark place? It's in an extremely dark place. And the only thing that really keeps me sane in this dark world that we're living in is the prophetic scriptures shining like a lamp in a dark place. And Peter says you would do well to pay attention to that. Because that's your hope in a hopeless age. Israel will come into the fold. The kingdom will come to the earth. And there's a better world coming. Amen. So when this kingdom arrives on planet Earth, what exactly is it gonna look like? Cuz there's a lot of evangelicals that are trying to build the kingdom now. And my question for them is, how's that working for you? Doesn't look like the church is gaining victory over the world. The church is gaining victory over the culture. It doesn't look to me like the world is being Christianized. In fact, I was with a bunch of Christians coming out of church not long ago, and we were trying to figure out where we were gonna go to eat after the service. I know that's an important topic. And there was a group of us, and we couldn't even agree on what restaurant we were gonna go to. And I'm thinking to myself, these people and myself who can't even agree on a restaurant, we're supposed to bring the kingdom to the earth? You gotta be crazy. The truth of the matter is God never called the church to bring the kingdom to the earth. What he called us to do is reach and teach and make citizens of the coming kingdom. That's our calling. So I'm not a kingdom builder. I'm not going to go to conferences entitled kingdom builders because I'm not building anything. What I'm trying to do is fulfill the great commission so that it doesn't become the great omission. And Satan would love to confuse us on this. He's been trying to confuse us ever since Augustine and earlier that somehow our function is to change the structures of society and bring God's kingdom to the earth. I'm all for political engagement and involvement but the truth of the matter is at the end of the day we're not going to win that battle either. But the battle we can win is what God called us to do, which is to reach and teach and win citizens of the coming kingdom. So, you start to see this very clearly when you start to understand when the kingdom comes, what's it gonna be like? And obviously, the circumstances of our world pale in comparison to this coming kingdom. The Old Testament prophets fill out a beautiful mosaic, a beautiful portrait, a beautiful picture of the coming kingdom. In fact, there's so much information in the prophets concerning the kingdom, it would probably take someone a thousand years to explain it all, which obviously I can't do. But I wanna give you 14 highlights of what this kingdom is gonna be like one day. And once you see it for what it is, it will save you from the deception of thinking that somehow we as the church are bringing these circumstances to the world. So the first characteristic of 14, number one, is when the kingdom comes, it will be established by God. Daniel chapter two and verse 44 says, in the days of those kings, now that's the 10 kingdom confederacy of the antichrist. In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. Daniel saw it in Daniel chapter two, Nebuchadnezzar saw it, both saw the same vision, Daniel chapter two of this stone, cut without human hands, striking the feet of the statue. Now the feet would represent ten toes, the ten king confederation of the Antichrist, what many today are calling the New World Order, which will have its day in the sun. But the good news is it only lasts for 42 months. The kingdom that Jesus brings will last first for 1,000 years and then forever. That's what that stone cut without human hands represents. It strikes the feet of the statue at the end of the tribulation period relative to Israel's conversion. And then Daniel saw the pieces of the statue all over the threshing room floor because the whole statue crumbles. The statue representing the kingdoms of man. head of gold Babylon, chest and arms of silver Medo-Persia, belly and thighs of bronze Greece, two iron legs, ancient Rome. Probably speaking of the eastern and western divisions of the ancient Roman Empire. And then yet future, and we're sort of living between the ankles and the feet. There's an unknown gap there. And that's where you put the church age, in between the ankles and the feet. But eventually, the feet of iron and clay come on the scene, and it will subdue the whole earth, Daniel 7 verse 23. And just in a moment, Jesus will destroy it. Revelation 18, I think it's verse 10, verse 8 and verse 10, says the Antichrist will meet his defeat in a day. And then the text goes on, it says in an hour. He's been working so hard to bring in this one world government, this new world order, and yet Christ is gonna destroy it instantaneously. That shows me very clearly that we're not in the kingdom today. Because everybody that's trying to build the kingdom talks about this gradual conquest of evil. There's nothing gradual about this. This is cataclysmic, it's instantaneous, And once it breaks forth upon the earth, which will happen immediately, then you'll be in the New World Order. And that's the only New World Order I'm interested in belonging to, quite frankly, the Empire of Jesus Christ. I was at a prophecy conference recently and I told the folks in charge I was gonna talk on the New World Order. And everybody was real excited about all the conspiracy theories and things I was gonna talk about. And I said, no, no, not that New World Order. I'm talking about the real New World Order that's coming. And I think they were a little disappointed at first, but once they saw what I was actually talking about, it created hope. So we are not pessimilennialists, amen? I mean, we're not sitting around just pessimistic about everything because we know a better day is coming. It's just a matter of time. This is why we don't get caught up in, builders. We're not building anything. Jesus is going to do that one day. And when God brings His Kingdom upon the earth instantaneously it's not like we're going to have to stay up until 3 o'clock in the morning watching election results or You know, who's going to win? Did they steal votes? You know, all this kind of stuff. What do the opinion polls say? You know, none of that matters. It's Christ's kingdom. He's bringing it. And once it comes, you can't vote it out. It's there for a thousand years. The second characteristic of the coming kingdom is it will last forever. Daniel chapter seven and verse 27 says, his kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom. Now, you might be saying, well, wait a minute, I thought you believed Jesus is coming back in his second advent at the end of the seven year tribulation period, and the kingdom is gonna last a thousand years. Why do you say it's gonna last forever? Well, I say that because a thousand years is like the front porch of a house. The thousand years is just a transitionary time period. But once you move through the front porch, you move then into the house, and the house is Revelation 21 and 22, the eternal state, which will last forever. And there's an awful lot of people that frankly would rather just skip the thousand years. But I'm going to explain to you in this presentation why you can't skip the thousand years. There are countless prophecies that only fit the thousand year time period. They don't fit today. They don't fit the last two chapters of the Bible. And so the thousand year kingdom this intermediate time period in between the second advent of Jesus and the eternal state is a very valuable time period prophetically. In fact, in Revelation 20, verses one through 10, it mentions the 1,000 year kingdom. The Greek is kilia, meaning 1,000. It mentions the 1,000 year kingdom six times. And people in these kind of doctoral classes sit around and discuss, well, what does 1,000 years really mean? And I would raise my hand in class and I say, I think 1,000 years means 1,000 years. So you came all the way to this prophecy conference to get that cutting edge information. A thousand years means what it says. It says a thousand years. And so it's a time period that cannot be bypassed. The third characteristic of this coming kingdom is it will represent the direct rule of Jesus Christ on planet Earth. Now, Here is what was established in the Garden of Eden. God the Father, and you'll see all of this in Genesis 1, 26 through 28. God the Father ruled over our forebears. It says both of them, male and female. By the way, no extra charge for this, but I only see two genders there, okay? Male and female, man and woman. He's ruling over Adam and Eve, male and female, and they together are governing creation for God. Now, there's a case to be made even prior to the fall that the man in the relationship has the place of headship. However, that doesn't mean that the two of them are not functioning under the delegated authority of Jesus together, governing creation for God. Now there's a fancy name for this. I went to seminary to learn all these fancy names, so I have to use them on somebody. I paid a lot of tuition money to learn these fancy names. And no one else will listen to me. Not even my wife, she won't listen to me. So you guys are stuck with a fancy name. It's called the Office of Theocratic Administrator. It's somebody, and what that means is somebody who governs for God. So God governed the last Adam, excuse me, the first Adam, along with his wife, Eve, and the two of them governed creation for God. That is the original design of God. However, you know from Genesis 3, that our forebears stopped governing creation for God and started listening to creation, who was giving them counter instructions to God. One particular aspect of the creation that they started listening to, particularly Eve, was a talking snake. So they elevated earth life Boy, I'm glad this never happens today, over a relationship with God. And instead of governing creation for God, which was their job as a theocratic administrator, they're listening to creation and rebelling against God. And the moment that happened is the moment this office disappears from planet Earth. We don't have this office today. So, the goal of history is how this office comes back to planet Earth. And the only place it fits exactly is during the thousand years. Because this structure has to come back to this planet. Waiting for the eternal state for this structure to come back will be too late because that won't be this earth. That will be a new heavens and new earth. So God has to reclaim authority over this planet or else he's a perpetual loser of history, which we know can't happen. So the thousand-year kingdom is a big deal then. That's when this structure returns. God the Father will rule over, not the first Adam this time, but the last Adam. And thank you for not saying second Adam, because if there's a second one, there could be a third one, right? The Bible says last, last Adam, that's Jesus Christ. God the Father rules over the God man, the last Adam, Jesus Christ, who will govern creation for God for a thousand years. And only when that mission is accomplished will God the Father be in a position of taking this world and dissolving it by fire. 2 Peter 3, verse 10, and replacing it with a new heavens and a new earth. This earth cannot go out of existence until this structure returns. That's why the millennial kingdom is such a important concept. By the way, people say, well, Andy, do you believe in global warming? Yes, I do. It's in 2 Peter 3, 10, this earth is going to be destroyed by fire. There's where you put your global warming. Well, Andy, do you believe in the Big Bang Theory? Yes, I do. It's just the big bangs at the end. Evolutionists got it all mixed up. They've got theirs at the beginning. So God the Father is gonna rule over the last Adam along with his wife. Now, who would that be? That's us. That's the church. That's why as a Christian, you're destined for authority. You're destined to rule and reign alongside Christ's delegated authority. the same way Eve was reigning and ruling alongside the first Adam in creation. And so the millennial kingdom is when this office of theocratic administrator is restored to the earth. And what a time period that's gonna be. It says in Zechariah chapter nine and verse 10, his dominion will be from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth. Now that can't be talking about the eternal state because John in the eternal state says, I saw no more sea. This is talking about an empire that goes from sea to sea. So this is talking about this earth before it's dissolved and replaced by a new earth. This structure will return to planet earth. And it has to be that way or else God loses, which can't happen. The fourth characteristic of this coming millennial kingdom is it will be earthly. Zechariah chapter 14 and verse nine says, the Lord will be king over all the earth. And this is where the Augustinian Spiritualizing method of interpretation has destroyed this concept in the mind of most Christians. We don't think of an earthly realm and an earthly reign. We think it's up celestial. It's in Never Neverland somewhere. You know it's up in the clouds somewhere. And the Bible says no it's earthly. It will be just as physical and just as earthly as was Adam and Eve in Eden. governing not just the garden, but governing the planet for God. We're talking about a physical, literal, earthly reality. The fifth characteristic of the millennial kingdom is it will be a time period when the land promises given to the nation of Israel will be fully fulfilled and realized. Now God in Genesis 15 verses 18 through 21 made a promise to the nation of Israel. It says in Genesis chapter 15 and verse 18, on that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram. I can't emphasize to you the importance of that word covenant. It's the Hebrew word berith. And what it basically means, if I can put it in a modern day vernacular, it's like a legal contract. God made a legal contract with the nation of Israel. And the moment it was specified in contractual form is the moment we understand it has to be taken literally, because that's the nature of a contract. That's why so many attorneys, lawyers like myself love dispensational theology because we are trained legally in the reality of contract law. You cannot determine breach of a contract unless you take the terms literally. I mean, look at your mortgage agreement. Could you say to your bank, well, you know, I just take the numbers allegorically. You take him your way, I take him my way. I mean, that's not the nature of a contract. And notice what it says here. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram. This is a one-way contract coming from God to Abram. The nation of Israel is the only nation on planet Earth that has a contract with God. It's not Israel promising to do things for God. It's God promising to do things for the nation of Israel. Now, you take the United States of America, for example. Don't we have a contract with God? Well, you could argue we do in the Mayflower Compact. That's the beginning, 1620, the first governing principle in the United States where our forebears got together and said this country exists for the propagation of the gospel. and they made certain promises to God, but the Mayflower Compact is us making promises to God. I'm not sure if we've done such a great job as a nation keeping our promises. That's all the United States has, is a contract from us to God. Do you see how different it is with Israel? She has a contract from God to Israel. And the way these contracts were entered into in the ancient world is they killed animals. You see it all in Genesis 15. Severed animal parts, they put them in two parallel rows. And the parties to the contract would pass through the animal pieces, meaning if we don't do what we're supposed to do under the contract, then let us be torn asunder like these animals. That's what it meant. And you know the story. God took Abram and did what with him? put him to sleep just like he put Adam to sleep in Eden and brought the woman from his side. So God took Abram and he put him to sleep and this is so significant because God himself as represented by the oven and the torch passed through the animal pieces. And what God is saying there is if I don't do exactly what I said I would do, under the terms of the contract, then let me be torn asunder as these animals have been torn asunder. This is why you cannot dismiss Israel from your thinking in your end times belief system. Because of this powerful chapter, Genesis 15. Dwight Pentecost used to call this, Genesis 15, the most important chapter of the Bible. He would always ask us, what's the most important chapter of the Bible? I thought it would be like John 3.16, something like that. John 3.16 is a big deal, but it doesn't explain the whole Bible. Genesis 15 explains the Bible. And God is a God who keeps his word. And thank God, God is a God that keeps his word, because if he's gonna keep his promises to Israel, that means he's gonna keep his promises to me. That's why I never got too involved in the movement called Promise Keepers. Remember all that? I'm not that great at keeping my promises anyway. But God is really good at keeping his. See, God's character is on the line here. And if he's gonna vitiate this covenant, then you might as well take John 3 16, Romans 8, and just throw it out of the Bible, because it's not worth the paper it's written on. But this structure tells you that God means what He says and says what He means, and so everything He says to us as members of the Church, you can take it right to the bank. Because history is gonna vindicate exactly what God said He would do. Genesis 15, verses 18 through 20, on that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying to your descendants, I have given this land from the river of Egypt as far as the great river Euphrates, the Kenite, the Kenizite, the Kadmonite, the Hittite, the Perizite, the Electric Light, the Out of Sight, the Termite, sorry, making sure you're awake, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite, and the Out of Sight. In other words, these are real people groups that God says the land that they're in right now is the land, Abram, you're gonna own one day. And it's a track of real estate, and this map probably isn't even the best. It should be wider. It's gonna go all the way from the Nile to the Euphrates. From modern day Egypt to modern day Iraq. And you have to have a time in history in which this happens. And it doesn't fit the eternal state, because that's a new earth. And there's not even any rivers or sea in the eternal state. It's only gonna fit this earth, or the millennial kingdom. And in the fulfillment of these land promises, Ezekiel 47, it's very specific in terms of the amount of land each tribe is gonna possess. The sixth characteristic of the millennial kingdom is it will be a time period when Israel will be preeminent again. Jot down Deuteronomy 28, verse 13. where God says, once you're in the faith again, I'll make you the head and not the tail. Isaiah 2, 2 and 3 says, now it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills and the nations will stream to it. and many peoples will come and say, come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us concerning his ways, and that we may walk in his paths. For the law will go forth from Washington, D.C. Whoops, didn't say that, sorry. I had my American glasses on there. Let's try this again. For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. That's the destiny of planet Earth. Jerusalem is going to be elevated physically and metaphorically to a place of preeminence above the other nations. Isaiah chapter 49 verse 22 and 23 says, Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, verse 23, they will bow down to you, Israel, with their faces to the earth and lick the dust of your feet. Now I've been in church for a long time. I've never heard that preached on. I would love for a preacher to preach on that. Zechariah chapter eight, verse 23 says, in those days, 10 men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew. saying let us go with you for we have heard that God is with you. In fact Satan who's going to be bound during this time period. By the way in your prayer life don't waste time binding Satan. OK. I hear believers binding Satan all the time and I'm wondering if he got bound how did he get out so fast because he's causing a lot of trouble. Don't waste your time with that. Do what the New Testament tells you to do. Put on the full armor of God. We're on defense largely not offense and the binding of Satan God's going to take care of that at the beginning of the millennial kingdom. He's going to be put in solitary confinement for a thousand years. But then he's going to be let loose. And once he's let loose, Revelation 20 verse nine says, he immediately attacks the beloved city. Now what city could that be? That's Jerusalem. Zion is called the beloved city constantly. Beloved mountain, beloved city, Jerusalem, all the way through the Old Testament. Robert Thomas says at the end of the millennium, that city will be Satan's prime objective with his rebel army. because Israel will be leader again among the nations. When Satan is let out of the abyss, first thing he does is he attacks the city of Jerusalem. Why does he do that? Because he knows that's where the headquarters is. That's where the nerve center of the millennial kingdom is. It's the city of Jerusalem. And the way it's gonna work is there are gonna be people that survive the tribulation period that happen to be believers. and they're going to pass through what's called the sheep and goat judgment. That's described at the end of Matthew chapter 25. And they're going to go into the kingdom as sheep in mortal non glorified bodies. They will reproduce and their children will have children and their children will have children and the world will be repopulated again just like it was after the flood by the way. through Noah and Noah's three sons and what will be passed down through the blood chain so to speak the sin nature. And so by the time you get to the end of the millennial kingdom there's going to be a bunch of people that are unbelievers that are not going to like Jesus. even though they've been living in perfection for a thousand years. And they dare not say a word about it because Jesus is ruling this world at that time with a rod of iron. And they grudgingly outwardly comply with the dictates of Jesus. Some of them won't, Zechariah 14, 16 through 18, they won't want to go to Jerusalem to worship the king and there's going to be immediate instantaneous judgment where they'll receive no rain for their crops, etc. And Jesus who knows the hearts of all men will see this rebellion smoldering in their hearts and He'll let the Devil loose for one final round to expose the rebellion in the hearts of people. It's interesting at the end of the Tribulation period the Beast and the False Prophet are thrown into the Lake of Fire but the Devil is put in the Abyss. Why is that? Because God has one more purpose for Satan. Satan is God's devil. He uses Satan for his own purposes, as only God can. And Satan's final purpose is to be let out of solitary confinement, to expose the rebellion that Jesus on the throne of David knows is happening in these earth dwellers. And they lead one more hurrah against God. And fire immediately comes down from heaven, destroys these adversaries. The rebellion is put down very fast. And after that's over, we're now ready to move into the eternal state, where there'll be no more rebellion. The good news about this whole thing is you won't be involved in that rebellion. Because at that time, at the point of the rapture, you're gonna be in a glorified body without a sin nature. So you're not even going to have the desire to sin anymore. Won't that be nice? Do you guys ever sin in here? All of you are liars. That's a sin right now because you're not putting your hand up. We still sin as Christians because we have a sin nature. It's not a good thing. We don't have to but we still do. But the day is coming when you're in a new body without a sin nature in it at all and you won't even have a desire to sin. So you won't be involved in this rebellion because you'll be resurrected. But these people who are descendants of the mortals who repopulated the earth, who survived the tribulation period will still have a sin nature and it will be put down quickly by God. So Israel will be the head again and not the tail. Is that a prophecy happening today? Well that green area represents Islamic countries who by the way have charters where they covenant to themselves to drive Israel into the Mediterranean Sea. Keep in mind by the way that Israel is the little Satan. America is the great Satan. And I have to bring this up because I'm in a border state. We have no idea who's coming across that border. and let's not get too far into politics, or I may never get off this stage. This little red dot there, do you see it? It's so small. Wait, they taught me I had a little pencil here. This is a first time for me. It's right there. Do you see it? Wow. In fact, my circle's a little big there. Let's make it a little smaller. There we go. My wife would be so impressed because I'm like the technological idiot of the family. But that little red dot is Israel and the world community says, well if Israel just gave up a little more territory we'd have peace in the region. So obviously this is not a prophecy that's happening today. It's a prophecy that will fit though the thousand year kingdom. There is a Seventh characteristic of the Millennial Kingdom is a time period where there's going to be a brick and mortar functioning Millennial Temple, watch this now, with animal sacrifices. Ezekiel 40 through 46. There is a picture, the measurements are very specific. what the Millennial Temple is going to look like. Ezekiel spells it out in mind-numbing detail. By the way, did you guys start with the New Year a new Bible reading program? Where you read a certain number of chapters per week, per day, and you get through the Bible in a year. When you get to Ezekiel 40 through 46, do me a favor, send me an email, because I'll know what to do with that email. I'll start praying for you. Because that's a tough, I'll be honest, that's a tough section to get through. It's painful, the amount of detail that's given by the prophet Ezekiel of this millennial temple. But it's gonna be giant. Look how big it's gonna be compared to the tabernacle. Or the Solomonic temple. Or even Herod's temple. Now, of course, I'm from Texas, so I had to put a football field in there. Got a Texas audience. But this is a monster of a temple. And there's just too much detail to just sort of explain it away. By the way, you can't drag that into the eternal state. Because here's a chart that shows you the differences between the Millennial Kingdom and the Eternal State. In the Eternal State, John says, Revelation 21 verse 22, I saw no temple in it. So what do you do with this temple? People say, well, it's the church. Well, you have to rewrite the whole prophecy to make it the church, allegorize it away. Well, let's just throw it into the eternal state, because a lot of people, their presupposition is there is no thousand year kingdom. That's what some of the early, I'm sad to say, church fathers said. They said, away with this fable of a thousand years. So if you're gonna do away with the thousand year kingdom, you gotta take all these prophecies and say they're happening now, allegorization, or you have to jam them into the last two chapters of the Bible, they don't fit there either. The only place it fits is in this intermediate time period between the second advent of Christ, but before the eternal state even starts. Because there's animals being sacrificed in there. Now this is a big problem with people. I mean, how can there be animal sacrifices in the Millennial Temple when the book of Hebrews is so clear that Christ's death did away with animal sacrifices? And people, when they debate you on this, Even though we have hundreds, if not thousands of scriptures on the Millennial Kingdom, they'll go right to this prophecy here because they see it as the Achilles heel of our system. You can't take these literally or else you're stripping away at the finished work of Christ. You're stripping away at the, on the book of Hebrews. Well, let's think about this for a minute. The Millennial Kingdom is a time period when death, is almost a reality that most people don't even know about anymore. Isaiah 65 and verse 20 says, if a man dies at the age of 100, people will kind of sit around and say, what a shame, such a young man died. So the lifespans of people, even the mortals, is greatly elongated. Death, what is that? We don't remember it anymore. And if you forget death, you forget Jesus, who paid the penalty through his death to make this kingdom that we're living in at that time a reality. So in a world like that, you go into the Millennial Temple and you see animals being slaughtered. You see blood spraying everywhere. And you say to yourself, Lord, forgive me, forgive my heart. Death happened. Your death happened. And that's what made this kingdom a reality. It's sort of the shock to the system that Adam and Eve received when they tried to clothe themselves, you remember, following sin. And God says, no, you're not going to clothe yourself. I'm going to clothe you. And he did it with animal skins. And where did those animal skins come from? Well, obviously, an innocent animal was killed just like that. And Adam and Eve didn't even know what death was. And boom, an animal is dead. And God is explaining to them through that picture, through that reality, the cost that's going to be paid to make things right again. That's what these sacrifices are doing in the millennial kingdom. That's why they're necessary. They're not there looking forward. They're more memorial looking backward. It's the same reason we take communion together as a church, which Jesus told us to do. He commanded that we do it because the bread and the cup represent something. The sacrifice body and spilled blood of the Savior. And in an age of grace, that we're living in, thank God for it, we forget that someone had to pay the price. Jesus had to pay the price to make the church age possible. The animal sacrifices are that kind of reminder. So there's no need to rewrite the Bible and just try to explain away these animal sacrifices. There's an actual purpose for them. Jot down Acts 21 verse 26, don't have time to look at it. But Paul the Apostle, a man who spoke more about the finished and completed work of Jesus than any other human being that I know of, issued an animal sacrifice. Now he did it so that he would not be offensive to the Jews as he was evangelizing. But it shows me that you can have animal sacrifices, the concept in effect, without negating the finished work of Jesus. So there's gonna be this functioning brick and mortar millennial temple. Oh, and by the way, number eight, you're gonna have a resurrected David. Notice Jeremiah chapter 30 verse nine. But they shall serve the Lord their God and David, their king, whom I will raise up for them. Now, let me give you three other verses that talk about the resurrected David. Ezekiel 34 verse 23, I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will feed them. Ezekiel 37 verse 24, my servant David will be king over them. And Hosea 3 and verse 5, David their king mentions. And people say, oh, come on, you don't really believe David's going to be resurrected from the dead, do you? And have a functioning role in the Millennial Kingdom. We all know that's just talking about Jesus. And I agree, David is used as a type for Jesus many times in the Bible. But when David is used as a type for Jesus, there's always a phrase of some sort alerting you to that fact. It'll say, root of David, branch of David, son of David, seed of David. Those texts I just gave you don't say any of that. They just say David. So I believe that David, along with, and why can't it be this way? All the Old Testament saints and tribulation martyrs are gonna be resurrected at the beginning of the millennial kingdom, right? Isn't David one of those? And David will come back to life in a resurrected sense. And David, will then govern Israel. Jesus will govern the world. But David will govern the land of Israel under the delegated authority of Jesus Christ. In fact, David will be such a real person, you'll be able to go up and converse with him. Hey, what was that deal with Bathsheba that you did? What were you thinking, man? Come on. David said, well, let's look at your record. So all these people telling me we're in the kingdom, we're in the kingdom. Well, where's David? The ninth characteristic of the millennial kingdom, and I can't wait for this, it'll be a time of complete and total righteousness. Isaiah nine and verse six, this is this was on all your Christmas cards. For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us. Merry Christmas. Well, wait, there's more here. And the government will be upon his shoulders. Verse seven, there will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on forevermore. It's Jesus bringing in complete and total righteousness during the millennial age. Why is the millennial age going to be so righteous? Two reasons. Number one, the earth is going to be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. For the earth, Isaiah 11 verse 9, will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. See the word sea? You can't have an eternal state passage here. There's no sea in the eternal state, if I'm understanding my Bible correctly. The bodies of water still exist. And just as the waters cover the sea, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. I hope we realize that our country, the United States of America, was founded on biblical principles. The public school system, when you go back to Massachusetts, the old Satan Deluder Act, 1647, was set, the schools were set up to teach people to read, write, and grammar, not so that they could pick the best stocks and retire early. So they could read the Bible for themselves. Because we don't wanna go back to the dark ages. that particular act says when the scripture was inaccessible prior to the Protestant Reformation. Do you realize that prior to the Protestant Reformation the Bible was not accessible and it was literally chained to the various pulpits around Europe? This is why the Protestant Reformers emphasized literacy, learning, reading. This is why Luther spent, oh, I've actually been to the place where Luther did this translation work. I believe it was 11 months for the New Testament and 11 years for the Old Testament. Translating the Old Testament from Hebrew, translating the New Testament in Greek, not from the Latin Vulgate, which he didn't trust. because that's the Roman Catholic version, he said, from the original Greek and Hebrew into German, because he wanted everybody in his country to be able to read the scripture. Because if they can't read the scripture for themselves, we're gonna go back to the Dark Ages, where only the priests could interpret the scripture for you. When the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from Purgatory Springs pay up. Well, excuse me, Mr. Priest, I don't see purgatory in the Bible. You don't have an ability to do that if you don't have a Bible. You can't read it. So the hierarchy would abuse the people financially. By the way, that's why when you go to Rome, and I've been there twice, been to Vatican City twice. Boy, what a place that is, filled with wealth, filled with beautiful paintings, gold, anything you could imagine is in there. And by the way, when you step outside the gates and literally walk down the steps, on the steps there's people begging. And yet they've amassed all of this wealth in Vatican City. Well, where did all this money come from? It came from ripping people off for over a thousand years. pay up to get Uncle Harry or whoever sprung out of purgatory. And you can do that kind of thing if the people don't have a Bible and can't check what's being said. So the schools in America were set up to teach the Bible. The old Satan deluder act 1647. And what we've done is we've thrown the Bible out of the school system. And let's just be completely honest folks we're having a difficult time right now keeping the Bible in the church. One of my professors, Dr. Ronald Allen, preached a sermon entitled, Keeping the Bible in the Bible Church. We're having a real hard time keeping the Bible in the Bible church movement. But imagine a time period where the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, totally and completely accessible. And a second reason for this righteousness is you better not step out of line because Jesus is going to be ruling with a rod of iron. Isaiah chapter 2 verse 3 and verse 4 it says he will judge between the nations and render decisions for many people. The youth of today are looking for their social justice. Let me tell you something. You're going to get your social justice in the thousand year kingdom. You're going to get complete and total perfect righteous decisions. Psalm 2 verse 8 he says I will surely give the nations to you as as your inheritance. You shall break them with a rod of iron. Psalm Isaiah 11 verse 4 and he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth. Number 10, the curse is going to be dramatically curtailed. Because right now we're living in a world that's in bondage. It's in a state of groaning and travail called original sin. Romans 8 verses 20 through 22. And think of a time period where that curse that's been put on our world is pulled back. That's what the millennial kingdom is going to be like. Isaiah 11 in verse 6 says, and wolf will dwell with the lamb. Have you been to the zoo lately? Wolf and lamb are in different cages. They're not dwelling together. It says, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The animals are going to go back to being herbivorous rather than carnivorous. because you can't have killing in the animal kingdom. Isaiah 11 and verse 8 says, the nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra and the weaned child will put his hand into the viper's nest. Peace between the animals and peace between the human race and the animal kingdom. Yeah, there goes Junior again in the backyard putting his hand into the cobra's nest. What's that five year old thinking? No big deal. Today that would be a big deal, right? No big deal then, because there's peace in the animal kingdom. Isaiah 65 verse 17, 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. Verse 22, for as the lifetime of a tree, which is transgenerational, so will be the days of my people. And my chosen ones will wear out the works of their hands. You build a house and you live so long that the house has problems before your body does. I mean, it doesn't work that way. People buy a house and they live there their whole lives today. But think of being in a house where the whole thing crumbles and you're still physically healthy. Well, I guess I gotta fix the house for the 15th time. My chosen ones will wear out the works of their hands." By the way, this is not the eternal state because some die. In the eternal state, Revelation 20 verse 4, there's no more what? No more death. Eleventh characteristic of the millennial kingdom is there's going to be worldwide peace. Isaiah chapter 2 and verse 4 says they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation and never again will they learn of war. Think of all the money that could be saved if you don't have to worry about war and bombs and armies and military warfare which consumes vast quantities of nation's budgets. All of those resources are channeled into productive things, because people don't even know what war is anymore. Isaiah 11, verse 9, they will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain. Isaiah 65, 25, they will do no evil or harm in my holy mountain. And it ought to be that way, because the Prince of Peace is ruling. The peace that Jesus offers for the human heart is now extended politically over the whole world. And here's what's really sad. Those verses that I just read, Isaiah 2 verse 4, they're inscribed on United Nations property in New York. The United Nations, by doing so, thinks they're gonna bring these conditions in. They've assumed a messianic complex. And I'm here to tell you that subsequent to the formation of the United Nations, there have been more wars, not fewer. They all came together in what's called the League of Nations after World War I, and how did that work out for them? Not so well, because we had World War II. Then after World War II, they said, okay, let's permanently fix this problem, and let's create the United Nations, and that hasn't worked out very well, because there have been more wars since the formation of the United Nations, not less. No, the United Nations is not gonna bring these conditions into existence. Jesus will, though. Number 12, the Millennial Kingdom is gonna be characterized by a time period of agricultural and economic prosperity. Isaiah 65, 21 and 22. They will build houses and inhabit them. They will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They will not build and another inhabit. Boy, that ruins communism right there. They will not plant and another eat, because socialism and communism says you work, I eat. True social justice is you gain the fruits of your own labor. You sweat it out, you get the fruit. They will not build and another eat, they will not plant and another eat, for as the lifetime of a tree, so shall be the days of my people. Amos 9, 13, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the plowman will overtake the reaper. and the treader of grapes, him who sows seeds. When the mountains will drip with sweet wine and the hills will be dissolved. You put a seed in the ground and there's so much crop that comes up, it overtakes the person planting the seed. Whereas in life today, you put a seed in the ground and a crop comes up, if at all, much later. The whole economy of the world is different. Think of all of the economic problems that we have today. Inflation, I know no one's worried about that. Recession, depression, unemployment, underemployment, malnutrition, all of it's gone. because the world moves into complete and total prosperity. Number 13, getting close to wrapping up here, number 13, the topography of the world is gonna be changed. Just a few on this. There's gonna be abundant rainfall. Ezekiel chapter 34 verse 26, I will cause showers to come down in their season. They will be showers of blessing. There's gonna be water in the desert. There's gonna be water in places where it doesn't, we don't normally have water or moisture. And Texas, we sure like that promise. Water in the desert, Isaiah 35 verses six and seven. For waters will break forth in the wilderness. and streams in the Araba, and the scorched land will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water." Oh, and look at this. The Dead Sea is going to come to life. Why do we call the Dead Sea the Dead Sea? Because everything in the sea is dead. See? Cutting-edge stuff. You got to come to a conference like this to learn this stuff. It has to do with the high salt content in the Dead Sea, and it destroys fish life, animal life, plant life, which allows you to be buoyed up on the Dead Sea. There's my wife and myself. That's my Beauty and the Beast picture. And there we are floating on the Dead Sea. I'm not the smallest guy in the world. I was sure I'd be the first person to sink, but held me up just fine. It's kind of interesting that when you're floating there, you look at the shore and there are these lifeguards. And I'm wondering, what do these guys do? And you can't drown. So I have my retirement plan worked out. I've applied for a job as a lifeguard on the Dead Sea. And I sit in the sun all day, read the paper. It's going to be great. But what the Bible says, Ezekiel 47, is there's going to be a river that's going to flow out of the Millennial Temple. And it's going to go into the Dead Sea, Ezekiel 47, and the Dead Sea will come to life. And it will team with life again. Also, did you know that the sun is going to be seven times brighter than it is right now? That's in your Bible. Isaiah 30 verse 26 says, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter. So if you want to start a suntan lotion company, you'd probably be very prosperous in the millennial kingdom. By the way, that can't be the eternal state, can it? Because John in the eternal state says, I saw no sun. Revelation 21 verse 23, Revelation 22 verse 5. Because what illuminates the eternal state is the sun, S-O-N. So we won't need the sun, S-U-N. By the way, when you study the creation story, the creation days, you'll see that light comes into existence right at the beginning, let there be light. And the sun doesn't come into existence until day four. And people are all bent out of shape about that. How could there be light without the sun? As if poor God is dependent upon the sun to bring forth light. His very character is at 1 Timothy 6, 15, right in there, is clothed in unapproachable light. Light is no problem for God. God doesn't need the sun. And in fact, God allowed light to come into existence before the sun because he knew that people in the course of human history would worship the sun. Not the sun, S-O-N, the sun, S-U-N. And look at, we don't have time to look at it, but jot down Deuteronomy 14 verse 19. And every time humanity would worship the sun, God would say, check the record book. I brought light into existence before the sun ever existed. And the eternal state is gonna be just that way. And there's gonna be instantaneous healing. Any disease is immediately healed. Isaiah 35 5 and 6. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened. The ears of the deaf will be unstopped. The lame will leap like a deer. One of my favorite people in Christianity is Johnny Erickson Tata. You know her story. The accident that she sustained as a teenager put her in a confined her to a wheelchair. continues to have a worldwide ministry. When you listen to her talk, she says, no wheelchair, no worldwide ministry. This wheelchair is my pulpit. It's a totally different way of looking at suffering. And think of her just running, sprinting in the body that God intended for her to have. The lamb will leap like a deer the tongue of the moot will shout for joy for the waters will break forth in the wilderness and the streams in a rabba. Physical healing. The whole typography has changed. This last one is really fast. Immediate answers to prayer. Isaiah chapter 65 verse 24 says it will come to pass that before they call I will answer. And while they are speaking I will hear. You ask the Lord to answer a prayer request and you can't even get the words out of your mouth. And the answer comes. I mean how different that is going to be because we struggle don't we. with unanswered prayer. And James talks about how many times we ask amiss. We ask for things outside of his will. And God thankfully doesn't answer those prayer requests. But think of a time period where humanity is completely submitted to the will of God. They already know what the mind of God is because the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord and before they they even ask God answers. If we ask according to his will he hears us. First John chapter 5 and verse 14. So I am looking forward to this kingdom. Established by God, eternal, Christ-direct rule, earthly, land promises realized, Israel's preeminence, millennial temple, millennial David, righteousness, curse curtailed, peace, prosperity, topographical changes, and immediate answers to prayer. Sort of helps us to understand why Jesus taught us to pray, thy kingdom what? Thy kingdom come. That's what we're praying for, to come to the earth. By the way, that's not the Lord's Prayer. I hope it's not the Lord's Prayer, because he says, forgive us our sins. I don't think Jesus had any sin that needed forgiveness. If you want the Lord's Prayer, read John 17. If you want the disciples' prayer for us, read Matthew 6, thy kingdom come. And I'm excited. Great future in store for us. So hopefully this clears up a little of the confusion that's out there. Let's pray. Father, we're grateful for these tremendous promises. Thank you for the future that you have for us. Help us to interpret these rightly in these last days as we seek to teach the truth in grace in all areas. We'll be careful to give you all praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus' name. In God's people said.