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In this message we shall cover two further aspects of the kingdom: the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world and the millennial kingdom.
After the Lord Jesus comes back, He will judge all the nations, all the Gentiles who will be left after the Lord destroys those Gentiles who follow Antichrist at Armageddon. To those on His right hand, who are regarded as sheep, the Lord will say, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). This aspect of the kingdom was prepared not before the foundation of the world but from the foundation of the world.
After the judgment at Christ’s throne of glory, the sheep will be transferred into the millennium to be the people on the earth under the kingly ruling of Christ and the overcoming believers (Rev. 2:26-27; 12:5; 20:4-6) and under the priestly ministry of the saved Jews (Zech. 8:20-23). In this way, they will inherit the kingdom prepared by God for them from the foundation of the world.
In the millennium there will be three realms: the first will be the realm of the earth, where the blessing of God’s creation, as mentioned in Genesis 1:28-30, will take place; the second, the realm of the nation of Israel in Canaan, from the Nile to the Euphrates, in which the saved Jews will rule over the earth (Isa. 60:10-12; Zech. 14:16-18); and the third, the heavenly and spiritual realm (1 Cor. 15:50-52), where the overcoming believers will enjoy the kingdom reward (Matt. 5:20; 7:21). The kingdom that the sheep will enter will be the first realm. The blessing of the first realm in the millennium, the blessing of God’s creation, was prepared for the sheep from the foundation of the world, whereas the blessing in the third realm, the blessing of the heavenly and spiritual kingdom, was ordained for the believers before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:3-4).
During the persecution under Antichrist, for the care of the believers and the Jews — God’s chosen people who will be left on earth — an eternal gospel will be preached to the nations (Rev. 14:6-7), as illustrated by the parable of the net in Matthew 13:47-50. The Lord will then judge the nations not according to the law of Moses nor according to the gospel of Christ but according to the eternal gospel. This is a matter of God’s dispensation. Those who listen to that gospel and treat the suffering believers and Jews well will be blessed and reckoned as righteous (Matt. 25:46) to inherit the kingdom (v. 34), but those who do not will be cursed (v. 41) and will perish for eternity. The gospel of grace (Acts 20:24) brings eternal life into the believers (John 3:15-16) that they may live by God’s life, whereas the eternal gospel brings the sheep into eternal life (Matt. 25:46) that they may live in the sphere of God’s life.
In the kingdom of God as the sphere of God’s administration, there is the need for three kinds of people: the priests, the kings, and the people or the nations. The kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world is for the restored nations to dwell in to be the people in the millennial kingdom.
After the Lord Jesus deals with the believers, the Jews, and the nations, He will bring in the millennial kingdom. The word “millennium” means one thousand years. The kingdom of the Lord on earth will be for one thousand years. The millennium, then, refers to the time after Christ comes again as King to rule the world and before the new heaven and new earth. In the Old Testament there are many verses concerning the millennial kingdom (Psa. 2:6, 8-9; Isa. 2:2-5; 11:1-10; 65:20-25; 30:26; Zech. 8:20-23; Psa. 72:1-17; Isa. 4:2-6; 9:7; 12:1-5; 16:5; 32:1-2; 40:9-11; 61:4-9; Zech. 14:16-21). In the New Testament the millennium is referred to in Revelation 20:4 and 6, verses that speak of those who reign with Christ a thousand years.
Acts 3:21, another verse that refers to the millennium, says, “Whom heaven must indeed receive until the times of restoration of all things, of which God spoke through the mouth of His holy prophets from of old.” This restoration will affect not only man but also the entire creation — the heavens, the earth, the animals, and even the trees. Everything that was cursed through the fall of man will be restored. Isaiah 30:26 says, “Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days.” Today the sun and the moon are not normal because they have been cursed through the rebellion of Satan and the fall of man. As Genesis 3:17 and 18 indicate, the earth has been cursed because of man’s fall. Therefore, the earth today is not normal. But at the time of the restoration of all things, the earth will be restored to its original condition. Furthermore, the beast and the cattle will be restored to such an extent that “the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid” (Isa. 11:6). This will not be miraculous but rather will be normal and common.
The millennium will be the last age in God’s old creation. In order to understand this properly, we need to realize that the universe is composed of three periods. The first period was the time before Adam, the pre-Adamic age. No one can tell how long that period of time was. The second period of the universe extends from Genesis 1:2 through the end of the coming millennium. Following this second period, there will be the third period of the universe — the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem — which will last for eternity.
The second period of the universe is the period of accomplishment, the time during which God accomplishes His eternal purpose. The period of accomplishment began with the creation of man. The second coming of the Lord Jesus will not end this period of accomplishment, because the old heaven and old earth will continue for another thousand years after the Lord’s coming back. Those one thousand years will be a continuation of the period of accomplishment. The Lord’s second coming will be even a further step in the accomplishment of God’s purpose. Therefore, God’s accomplishment of His purpose began with the creation of man and will be completed not at the time of the Lord’s second coming but at the end of the millennium.
The millennium will be the last and most crucial part of the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose. We need to stress this point strongly because throughout the centuries many Christian teachers have held the concept that when the Lord Jesus comes back everything will already be completed. According to this concept, the Lord’s coming back apparently means the end of the old universe and the beginning of the new heaven and the new earth, for a wonderful period of time, the millennium, will begin. But no matter how wonderful the millennium will be, during that time the old heaven and the old earth will remain in existence. At most, the millennium will be a time of restoration. The old heaven and old earth will be restored during the millennium, but they will not yet be changed from the old to the new. The changing of the old heaven and earth into the new heaven and earth will require another thousand years. Hence, the period of time from the creation of Adam until the second coming of Christ will issue in the restoration of the universe, but it will not result in the renewal of the universe. That will require another thousand years. After the last thousand years have passed, the entire universe will be changed from the old to the new. Then there will be the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem.
We should not hold on to the concept that at the time of Christ’s coming back everything will be all right. Not everything will be all right at that time. Although Satan will be bound, he will not be fully dealt with during the millennium. At the end of the millennium, he will be loosed from his prison, he will deceive the nations, and he will lead them in battle against the Lord (Rev. 20:7-9). At the end of the millennium, Satan will still work against God. Furthermore, the evil in human nature will not be completely dealt with during the millennium. Although all the nations will be subdued, at the end of that time Gog and Magog will rebel once again, proving that the element of rebellion in man will still be present. Third, death, the last enemy (1 Cor. 15:26), will not be cast into the lake of fire at the second coming of Christ but at the end of the millennium (Rev. 20:14). Thus, three evil things — Satan, the rebellious nature of man, and death — will still exist even at the end of the millennium. This indicates that the millennium will be the last age in God’s old creation, a time during which the Lord will work to eliminate these three evil things from God’s eternal universe.
The chart in message two hundred forty includes eternity in the past and eternity in the future. Between the two ends of eternity there are four circles indicating the dispensation before law, the dispensation of law, the dispensation of grace, and the dispensation of the kingdom. All these dispensations, including that of the millennium, belong not to God’s new creation but to His old creation. The old creation is used by God to prepare the three kinds of people He needs: the church overcomers to be the kings in the millennium, the saved Israelites to be the priests in the millennium, and the restored nations to be the people in the millennium. During the dispensation of the millennium, God will continue to perfect the believers who were not willing to cooperate with God’s sufficient grace to be perfected during the church age. Because they have died without being perfected, God will perfect them in the coming age of the millennium, an age that will still be in the old creation.
During the age of the millennium, God will also purify the restored nations. After they have been purified, they will be qualified to become God’s people, but not His sons, in the new earth. Therefore, the millennial age will still be used by God as an age of preparation. During this age He will perfect the saints who have not been perfected during the age of the church so that they may be qualified to enter into the New Jerusalem for God’s eternal kingdom. During the millennium, God will also purify the restored nations to be the people on the new earth.
Luke 19:12 and 15a indicate that the millennial kingdom will be the kingdom received by Christ from God the Father. It comprises the kingdom of Messiah, which is the expectation of many devoted Israelites from the Old Testament to the time when Christ will come back to restore the nation of Israel, and the kingdom of Christ (Eph. 5:5), which is the expectation of the seeking believers in the New Testament age. Hence, it will fulfill the desire of God, of the devoted Israelites, and of the believers in the coming age of one thousand years, which will be the last age of God’s old creation.
The millennial kingdom will have two sections — the heavenly section and the earthly section.
The heavenly section of the millennial kingdom will be the kingdom of the Father. Matthew 13:43 says, “Then the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” The kingdom of the Father, as the heavenly part of the millennium, will be the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens as a reward to the overcomers.
The heavenly section of the millennial kingdom will be composed of all the Old Testament and New Testament overcomers. This is indicated by the Lord’s word in Matthew 8:11. “I say to you that many shall come from the east and the west and shall recline at the table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of the heavens.” This refers to the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens. It will be in the manifestation of the kingdom that the overcoming Gentile believers will feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the other Old Testament overcomers. As the overcomers participate in the feast of the kingdom of the heavens, they will drink the cup of the new covenant anew with their Lord (Matt. 26:29).
The heavenly section of the millennial kingdom will actually be the New Jerusalem in the millennial age. In Revelation 3:12 the Lord says, “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall by no means go out anymore, and I will write upon him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which descends out of heaven from My God, and My new name.” Here we see that the overcomer will be made a pillar built into the temple of God. This promise will be fulfilled in the millennial kingdom as a reward to the overcomer. All the Old Testament and New Testament overcomers will be gathered together to be the New Jerusalem on a smaller scale in the millennium. As those who compose the heavenly section of the millennial kingdom, they will also compose the New Jerusalem in the coming age of the millennium.
The heavenly section of the millennial kingdom will be a reward to all the Old Testament and New Testament overcomers (Heb. 11:26, 39-40). Hebrews 11:26 tells us, for example, that Moses esteemed “the reproach of the Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked away to the reward.” Because he was willing to suffer the reproach of the Christ, Moses will receive the reward of the kingdom. This reward will be given to all the Old and New Testament overcomers, including Enoch, Abraham, David, and Paul. Whether or not we shall receive this reward depends on our enjoyment, experience, and expression of the processed and consummated Triune God. If we enjoy Christ, experience Christ, and express Christ, we shall be among the overcomers receiving the heavenly section of the millennial kingdom as a reward.
The heavenly section of the millennial kingdom will be the realm for Christ and the overcomers to reign over the nations and for the overcomers to be priests of God and of Christ for one thousand years. The overcoming believers will reign there with Christ. Revelation 20:4b says, “They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” Furthermore, the overcoming believers will rule over the nations. “He who overcomes, and he who keeps My works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will shepherd them with an iron rod, as vessels of pottery are broken in pieces, as I also have received from My Father” (Rev. 2:26-27). This is a reward to the overcomers of reigning with Christ over the nations in the millennial kingdom. The overcomers will also be priests of Christ and of God. Revelation 20:6b says that the overcomers “shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” The overcomers, therefore, will be priests to contact God and co-kings with Christ to reign over the nations in the millennium. As priests they will bring man in his need to God and minister God to man, and as kings they will bring God in His authority to man and represent God to shepherd man. Hence, the heavenly section of the millennial kingdom will be the realm for the exercise of this priesthood and kingship.
The earthly section of the millennial kingdom will be the restored kingdom of Israel — the kingdom of David (Acts 1:6; Mark 11:10). In the Old Testament the Lord promised the Jewish people that the Messiah, the anointed One, would come to inherit the throne of David and restore the Jewish nation, that is, the nation of Israel (Gen. 49:10; 2 Sam. 7:13, 16; Psa. 2:8-9; 72:1-20; 89:4; 110:2-3; Isa. 9:6-7; 11:1-5, 10; Jer. 23:5-6; 30:9; 33:14-17; Ezek. 21:27; 34:23-24; 37:24, 28; Dan. 2:35; 7:14; Hosea 3:5; Amos 9:11-12; Zech. 3:8; 6:12-13; 9:9-10). When the Lord Jesus came the first time, the Jews were expecting the Messiah to restore His kingdom (Luke 2:25; 3:15; 7:19; John 1:41; 7:27, 41). However, it will not be until the Lord’s coming back that He will restore the Messianic kingdom (Matt. 23:39). The kingdom which the Lord, the Messiah, will restore — the kingdom of Messiah or the kingdom of Israel to be restored in the future — will be the earthly part of the millennium, the tabernacle of David which the Lord will rebuild (Acts 15:16). The Lord will sit on the throne of David and reign over the house of Jacob (the Jewish people, Luke 1:32-33), ruling over the nations of the earth during the millennium (Psa. 2:8; 72:8; Dan. 7:14; 2:35).
The earthly section of the millennial kingdom will be the realm for the saved Jews to be God’s priests to teach the nations (Zech. 8:20-23). Zechariah 8:23 says, “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.” This verse indicates that during the millennium every Jew will be a priest. Among the ancient Jews, the priests were the minority among the people of God. The people received teaching and instruction concerning God from the priests. They taught the people how to worship and serve God. That was a picture of the future situation in the earthly section of the coming millennial kingdom. During the millennium the Gentiles will take the converted Jews as priests. Ten Gentiles will come to one Jew, asking him to teach them how to serve the Lord. Because they will hear that the Lord is with the Jews, they will come to learn how to serve the Lord. This means that, during the millennium, the Gentiles will be the nations and the converted Jews will be the priests, teaching them to worship God.
We have seen that in Matthew 25:34 the Lord reveals that the restored nations will inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. This kingdom will be the earthly section of the millennium.
The earthly section of the millennial kingdom will be the realm for the restored nations to be God’s people. The converted Israelites will be the priests leading the people to worship God. Around the Jews within the earthly section of the millennium will be the preserved, restored, and restituted nations. Therefore, in the earthly section of the millennial kingdom, the converted Jews will be the priests, and the nations who will be restituted, restored, and preserved will be the people. Creation will be restored, there will be no more war, and the earth will be full of peace. What a marvelous and glorious kingdom that will be!
At the end of the old creation, the kingdom will be delivered back to God the Father (1 Cor. 15:24-26). After the Lord has finished the work of purifying the restored nations and of perfecting all the believers during the dispensation of the millennium, He will return the kingdom which He received from the Father, to the Father. This will be the close of the old creation. Then the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem will come in. The restored and purified nations will be around the New Jerusalem as the people, and the New Jerusalem will be the eternal kingdom of God for God’s manifestation and for our eternal enjoyment and experience.
First Corinthians 15:24 says, “Then the end, whenever He delivers up the kingdom to God, even the Father; whenever He annuls all rule and all authority and power.” The Greek word translated “end” here actually means completion. This verse refers to the end of all the ages and dispensations of the old creation. The end will not occur at the completion of the church age but at the completion of the millennium. Then there will be eternity with the new heaven and the new earth.
In verse 24 the word “whenever” is significant. It points to the time when Christ annuls satanic authority, subdues all His enemies (v. 25), abolishes death (v. 26), and delivers up the kingdom to God the Father; that is, when all the negative things are done away with and the entire purpose of God is fulfilled, the old creation will come to its end.
At Christ’s coming back, He will bring the kingdom of God to earth. Then for a thousand years He will execute the kingdom. Then, at the end of the millennium, the Lord will deliver up the kingdom to God.
After accomplishing redemption, Christ went to receive the kingdom from the Father (Luke 19:12, 15). Before the millennium, He as the Son of Man will have received the kingdom from God, the Ancient of days, to rule all the nations for one thousand years (Dan. 7:13-14; Rev. 20:4, 6). At the end of the millennium, after the Lord has defeated Satan, the Devil, and his evil angels (as all rule, authority, and power) and even death and Hades, putting all enemies under His feet and casting all of them, including death and Hades, into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:7-10, 14), He will deliver the kingdom back to God the Father.
In 1 Corinthians 15:25 Paul says of Christ, “For He must reign until He puts all His enemies under His feet.” The longer Christ reigns, the more enemies are put under His feet. Eventually, at the end of the millennium, the last age of the old creation, every enemy will have been put under the feet of Christ. The word “until” indicates this and points to the end of the thousand years. That will be the time when every enemy has been put under Christ’s feet.
In verse 26 Paul goes on to say, “The last enemy that is being abolished is death.” Immediately after the fall of man, God began His work to abolish sin and death. This work has been progressing through the Old and New Testament ages and is still in progress today. When sin is done away with at the end of the old creation and when its source, Satan, is cast into the lake of fire, death will be abolished. It also will be cast into the lake of fire with Hades, its power, after the last and final judgment at the white throne (Rev. 20:11-15). When this last enemy has been abolished, Christ will deliver the kingdom back to God the Father.
