CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM

 

The coming ‘day’ will be a day of great reversals.  "Our God shall come and shall not keep silence."  The great powers will be humbled and Israel, now despised, will be exalted.  The mighty cities of the world will be levelled to the dust, and Jerusalem will become "the, joy of the whole earth."  Clearly the [Millennial] Kingdom will have two sides, the earthly and the heavenly, running their course contemporaneously, like the overhead and low level lines of the same railway system, but Christ will be King of them both.

 

Those who [are resurrected from the dead, and rapt from amongst the living, will] partake of the heavenly calling [and] will enjoy heavenly glory, but flesh and blood will not partake of it.  The earthly saints - [i.e., those who will be born and converted during the kingdom age] - will come into the earthly inheritance promised to Abraham and his seed,* and in this, as we have seen, flesh and blood can take part.  It is this latter aspect, of things that we have chiefly here before us.  Necessarily a very brief statement must suffice, otherwise the whole prophetic word must pass in review.

[* Better to have said, ‘Abraham’s seed’ instead of ‘Abraham and his seed’ because Abraham will be resurrected from the dead, and must therefore enjoy ‘heavenly glory’ as well as his promised earthly inheritance in the land of Canaan during the Millennium. Gen. 15: 5, 7; 17: 8; Jas. 2: 21, 22. cf. Matt. 5: 20; 7: 21; Luke 20: 36.]

 

1. The first characteristic of the world to come will be

The Presence of the King.

 

That our Lord will be once more in this scene in person may seem strange, but it is certain.  Men try and evade the plain meaning of words, or postpone indefinitely their fulfilment, but the words of the heavenly messengers could not be more precise. "This same Jesus ... shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven."

 

He went personally, visibly, suddenly.  He will return personally, visibly, suddenly.  His feet left the Mount of Olives when He ascended to heaven. His feet will stand on that self-same Mount when He returns.  This will be not, as some teach, at the end of man's millennium, when the world will have become such a paradise without Him as to constrain Him to return, but before the millennium when all nations shall mourn because of His return.  "Every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him" (Rev. 1: 7).  His personal presence is needed and it is assured.  "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him." (Ezek. 21: 27).  His glory will then be manifested, He will come to reign.  Not that He will of necessity be continuously on the earth.  He will reign over as well as on it.* But communication will once more be established between heaven and earth.  The true Jacob's ladder will be set up and "the angels of God will be seen ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."  He will be the centre.  His glory, His mighty deeds, His divine wisdom will fill the earth.  His dominion will stretch from sea to sea.  To Him all kings shall bow and gifts.  All nations shall serve Him and daily shall He be praised.

 

[* Here is a truth seldom heard today.  All "accounted worthy" to be given authority to reign at that time will be "like the angels". That is, able to rule in both heavenly and earthly spheres of the coming Kingdom: Luke 20: 36.]

 

The Sphere of Rewards.

 

All the saints will share in it, but not all will have the same place, rank, reward or responsibility.* Some will be nearer the person of the King.  Some will have a larger sphere.  The difference between the parables of the talents and the pounds may be that, in the first (Matt. 25) it is a question of gift and ability.  These vary with the individual, but all men, saved and unsaved alike, have gifts for which they will be held responsible.  A Balaam, a Judas, a Caiaphas may have gifts as well as a Peter, a John, or a Paul.  In the parable of the pounds, it is a question of what only children of God have, the power to serve Him which grace confers.  In this sense we are exhorted "not to receive the grace of God in vain."  The man who hid his pound lost his pound.  The man who hid his talent lost his soul.**  Some will have ten cities, others five according to faithfulness.  The rewards will have been allotted "at the resurrection of the just" before the judgment seat of Christ, but will be enjoyed in the Kingdom.  The first resurrection will extend over a period.  Christ, "the first fruits," the saints who rose immediately after Him form, I judge, a first part of it, then also those who will awake from sleep when He comes and rise to meet Him in the air, and, lastly, the martyred saints of the last great tribulation. (Rev. 20).  "This is the first resurrection," as if the apostle would say, "Up to this is the first resurrection." Then all will pass in review: Mary's ointment, Doreas' garments, Epaphras' prayers, Paul's testimony, and all other life and service for the Lord.  The apostles will have a special reward, they will sit on twelve thrones, judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel (Matt. 19: 28).  Some will have so run so as to obtain the incorruptible crown.  To those who faithfully endure, will be assigned a crown of life; to those who love His appearing a crown of righteousness.  A crown of glory awaits faithful pastors of the flock of Christ (1 Pet. 5: 4), a crown of rejoicing, those who have won souls for Christ (1 Thess. 2: 19).

 

[* The writer, like multitudes of Bible Teachers today, believes ‘all the saints’ will have a ‘share in it.’  In other words, all the saints will have an inheritance in the Kingdom!  The Holy Spirit teaches the contrary.  God’s warnings of a possible loss of the millennial inheritance, are addressed to His saints, Matt. 5: 20; 7: 21; Luke 20: 35; Eph. 5: 5, 6; Gal. 5: 19-21; Revelation chapters 2. & 3; 11: 18; 20: 6. etc.  The writer has ignored the warnings, applied them to the unregenerate or misinterpreted them!

"Ye YOURSELVES do wrong, and defraud, and that [to] your brethren.  Or know ye not that WRONG-DOERS” - the same word without the article – “shall NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD?  And such were some of you; but ye WERE washed, but ye WERE sanctified, but ye WERE justified” (1 Cor. 6: 11).  “Return not”, says the Spirit, as a “sow to her wallowing (Panton).  We must not forget that God’s saints are rewarded for their disobedience as well as their obedience.  God cannot be mocked, nor can He ignore evil behaviour, and reward all of His redeemed people the same way!  Some will be ‘accounted worthy’ to inherit the kingdom, others will not.  Those at Corinth ‘CALLED SAINTS" (1 Cor. 1: 2) were "washed", "sanctified" and "justified at the time of their conversion, but in later life, at the time of Paul’s epistle, they had fallen into sin and disobedience. “Here then is the threatened justice of God against such.  If his saints sin (wilfully), they shall not go unpunished,” (Govett).  Furthermore, it is "The Kingdom Of God" which the unrepentant, and persistent offenders will not inherit, not the heavenly sphere of that Kingdom, as Brother Hoste and many others erroneously teach.

** “The man who hid his talent lost his soul  What can we say about this?  What is the “salvation of souls” (1 Pet. 1: 9)?  Will that servant who hid his talent be eternally lost?  No.  He will not, but he will not have attained unto that future salvation, which Peter says “will be REVEALED IN THE LAST TIME”; and which he described as “the goal of your faith,” (verses 5, 9), at the time “when Jesus Christ is REVEALED” (verse 13).  Surely this future ‘salvation’ has to do with both resurrection and translation into the coming kingdom of Messiah; when the “gates of Hades will not overcome” the souls of the dead (at that time, [Luke 14: 14; Heb. 11: 35b]); and the ‘watchful’ and ‘left’ living will be translated into heaven, before and after the Great Tribulation. Matt. 16: 18; Luke 21: 36; 1 Thess. 4: 17.] 

 

3. THE KINGDOM WILL BE

A Time of Universal Peace and Prosperity.

 

The promise of Isaiah will at length be fulfilled.  "They will beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Isa. 2: 4).  But this will not be as the result of Hague conferences or Arbitration treaties, but by the coming of Him "who maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth."  But He will "make desolations" first.  War from heaven will alone end war on earth.  Before swords become ploughshares, ploughshares will have become swords. (See Joel 3: 10).  The guiltiest battle ever fought will be waged when Christ returns.  Man will have set himself to measure swords with God.  It will be the strangest battle too, for the first act in it will be the summary judgment of the two great rebel leaders, and the last the total annihilation of their great world hosts. Then the groaning creation shall enter into rest. [Rom. 8: 19, 21.]  "The wolf shall lie down with the lamb ... and the lion shall eat straw like the ox."  Humanity will be relieved of its two most crushing burdens, sacerdotal religions and standing armies, and the wasted energies of men will be turned into other channels.  The desert and neglected places of the earth, the dark wastes of Africa, the un-ploughed prairie lands of America, the vast virgin plains of Asia and Australia will be turned to profit. "The wilderness shall be glad and the desert shall blossom as the rose."  No doubt this will apply in a special sense to the great desert lands between the Jordan and the Euphrates which are destined to form part of Emmanuel's land, a great triangle nearly as large as India, south of Calcutta and Bombay, but all lands will share in the blessing (Gen. 15: 18; Dent. 11: 24).  "He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. ... His name shall endure for ever all nations shall call Him blessed."

 

4. THE KINGDOM WILL BE

A Reign of Righteousness.

 

"A king shall reign in righteousness."  This could not possibly have been had an impenitent Israel crowned Him King.  The same blood that bought redemption, purchased the inheritance.  The Lord will reign by undisputed right.  The passages quoted above show that the idea that millennial blessing will be almost limited to Israel, while the rest of the nations lie in a chronic state of seething rebellion is an entire exaggeration.  But if men do rebel they will find the rod that rules them a rod of iron.  To-day men's sins are not imputed in the sense of being summarily dealt with, but then a universal "Habeas Corpus Act " will be in force.  "I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord" (Psa. 101).  The opening scenes of the Kingdom will be of judgment - of the Twelve Tribes and of the living nations of the Roman earth and Christendom generally, whose armies will have been slain by the Lord at His return, but during the progress of the millennial reign, immediate judgment, when called for, will at once be meted out.  Open evil will no longer be tolerated.  The Lord will rule in the midst of His enemies.  His rule will be a blessing to the righteous, a scourge to the wicked.  Wrongs will be righted, abuses abolished, every transgression and disobedience "will receive at once a just recompense of reward."

 

5. THE KINGDOM WILL BE MARKED BY

The Absence of Satan.

 

As soon as the Man of Sin and Anti-Christ have been consigned to the lake of fire, and their hosts slain, Satan will be cast into the bottomless pit [‘the Abyss,’ see (Rev. 9: 1)] for a thousand years, "that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled" (Rev. 20: 3).  That there should be no doubt of the identity of this awful person, he is called here by his four names, "the dragon," the first person of the Great Triad of evil; "that old serpent," the original seducer of the race; "the devil," the accuser of the brethren; and "Satan," the great adversary of God and man.  Doubtless in the name Satan is here included his angels, demons and evil spirits, for they could not be allowed liberty while he is bound.  All will be shut up with him, and the world delivered for a thousand years from every Satanic influence (Isa. 2: 21-23).  The bottomless pit, or abyss, must not be confounded with Gehenna.  From this last there is no exit possible.  From the abyss there is (see Rev. 11: 7, and Rev. 20: 7).  Accordingly, at the end of the Millennium, Satan will be let loose for a season, to prove that a thousand years in prison will not change him, nor a thousand years of Kingdom glory convert man.  Except Israel, and the saved from among the nations of Christendom (Matt. 25), all will have a sinful nature, and will certainly have to experience temptations from within, but all Satanic excitement from without will be suppressed.  To live in a powder magazine cannot be pleasant at the best of times, how much less when under an enemy's fire?  How great the relief were this to be silenced; so too the relief will be immense when the great enemy will be no longer able to harass mankind.  When, however, the final test comes, and Satan is set free to deceive the nations, vast numbers, "as the sand of the sea shore for multitude," will flock to his standard, proving, as has already been said, that man apart from the grace of God is incorrigible.  A deluge of fire from heaven will destroy them, and the devil will be cast into the lake of fire where the beast and the false prophet are, and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever (Rev. 22).

 

6. THE KINGDOM WILL BE CHARACTERISED BY

The Universal Knowledge of God.

 

When the sun is shining in its strength it needs neither wit nor grace to see it.  When Christ shall appear in glory, "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11: 9), or, as Habakkuk has it "with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord."  This can never be true before the Lord comes, nor will it even then imply universal conversion.  Not all will be savingly converted, as we have just seen.  As for Israel, all who survive the last great tribulation will be convicted and converted by the coming of Christ (Zech. 11). "And so all Israel shall be saved" (Romans 11: 26).

 

Of course, this only refers to those who will be alive when the "Deliverer shall come out of Sion and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob."  These will experience the blessing of the new covenant to be made with them after these days.  "I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people.  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more" (Jer. 31: 33).  I have quoted here in full to show that this is no promise of universal blessing to the nations of the world, much less of universal salvation in the eternal state, as has been perversely put forth, but only of national blessing to Israel, with whom alone the covenant is made, and of whom alone it is said, "Thy people shall be all righteous." (Isa. 60: 21).  And they will continue so, for they will receive a blessing unknown before in any dispensation, not only cleansing from their sins but "a new heart;"  God will 'take away the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,' and Jehovah adds, "I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments and do them."  Thus they will be sustained by divine power in the path of obedience and holiness, both they and their children; for it is written, "All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children" (Isa. 51: 13).  Besides this, "The inhabitant (i.e., of Jerusalem) shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity" (Isa. 33: 21), "neither can they [the resurrected] die any more for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection" (Luke 20: 36).  This not only applies to those who will be raised, but to those who will "be counted worthy to obtain that world [‘age’]," i.e., the Millennial Kingdom.  This also applies to those of the nations who are acquitted and blessed at the judgment of nations.  They are "the blessed of the Father," and so will "enter the Kingdom," or go "into life eternal" (Matt. 25: 46).  They too, no doubt, will have a physical and spiritual constitution suitable to their new condition, and will be sustained in holiness and blessing throughout the Millennium.  Who then will be those who will join in the post-millennium rebellion?  Whence will they come?  I believe they will belong to other and outside nations who will not be on trial at the Judgment of the nations, just referred to (Matt. 25).  I think, for various reasons, that those present there will be, "all the nations" of Christendom, but not all the nations of the globe.  How could such countries as Tibet, Patagonia, the Sudan be judged according to their treatment of Israelities, in the absence of such among them?  No doubt the whole world will have sorely felt the Apocalyptic judgments, but the direct effects of the final catastrophies will fall on the countries of Christendom, and, when these latter are once and for all dealt with, it would seem that large portions of the nations of the earth will be allowed to continue.  Otherwise, how understand such an expression as "As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time" (Daniel 7: 12), for this follows immediately on the destruction of the fourth empire?  How else explain the fact noted in Isaiah 19: 24, that nations will exist as such in these latter times?  "In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land," or the statement in the last chapter of Isaiah, already referred to that one of the privileges of Israel in the Millennium will be the carrying of the news of the glory of God to Tarshish, Pul and Lud, "and to the isles afar off that have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles" (Isa. 66: 19).  In the previous verse we read, "I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory."  Who are these nations that will not have seen His glory?  Who are those kings of Tarshish, and of the isles, who will bring presents, those kings of Sheba and Zeba that shall offer gifts? (Psalm 72: 10).  Who are those families of the earth who are threatened with judgment if they do not come up to Jerusalem to the feast of Tabernacles?  Who are the heathen whom the Lord will rule with a rod of iron?  Who else but the spared nations of Asia, Africa, and the isles of the sea, who will not be held responsible as the nations of Christendom will, for positive rejection of the grace of God, and for determined rebellion against His Holy One?  No doubt untold millions of these nations will be saved through the testimony of Israel, but the mass will remain unregenerate, and they will be ready to join Satan in his last desperate onslaught on the saints and the Beloved City.  The inhabitants of the millennial earth may thus be divided into three classes.  The saved of Israel; the spared of those nations of Christendom who came against Jerusalem (Zech. 14: 16); and the surviving outside nations, called in Zechariah 14: 17, "the families of the earth."  The first two classes, as we have seen, will all be saved.  The third class may again be subdivided, from a spiritual point of view, into three divisions:- Those who turn to the Lord and are savingly converted; those who are openly rebellious and are summarily dealt with during the course of the millennial reign; and, perhaps the largest class of all, those who "yield feigned obedience" (Psa. 66: 3, margin), and who will only be manifested in their true character when Satan is loosed.

 

7. THE KINGDOM WILL BE DISTINGUISHED BY

The Hegemony of Israel.

 

Amid the clashing rivalries of the Great Powers, the idea of hegemony, or world leadership, though usually unexpressed, occupies no small place in the thoughts of men.  The question will be settled in an unexpected way.  The coming King will "turn the world upside down."  Israel, now scattered and downtrodden, will be head, the proud nations of the earth will be tail (Dent. 28:13).  The old order will give place to the new.  Israel will be the masters and "strangers shall stand and feed their flocks and be their vinedressers" (see Isa. 61: 5). "The nations and the Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted" (Isa. 60: 12).

 

Israel in the Land.

 

Before the Kingdom is set up, yea, even before the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord come, Israel will have been restored in part to their own land, as we see from the prophecy of Joel.  They will be at first in a general condition of backsliding from Jehovah, but the menace of the northern army (Gog and Magog, of Ezekiel 38: 2), and a call from God, will bring them to repentance.  A great revival will take place.  God will intervene in power to destroy the Northern army, and grant a period of unexampled material prosperity, 'restoring to them the years that the cankerworm hath eaten.'  But a greater blessing than this awaits them.  A great outpouring of the Holy Spirit, compared to which the experiences of Pentecost will be but as the droppings, will be shed forth on the Lord's servants in view of a world wide testimony, and all this before the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord (Joel 2).  This solemn day will be immediately preceded by the gathering together of the nations of the Roman empire against Jerusalem (Joel 3), which will be delivered, in its last extremity, by the Personal advent of Jehovah.  Him the spared remnant will recognise as the Man of Calvary and their Messiah.  Full acknowledgment of their guilt (Zech. 11) will lead to full cleansing (Zech. 12), and full restoration to Jehovah (Isa. 12).  Though unfaithful to Him in the past, and as a woman divorced, Israel will be married to Him again.  "The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the Mighty God" (Isa. 10: 21). "They shall serve the Lord their God, and David their King whom I will raise up unto them" (Jer. 30, 9), and "out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry" (Jer. 30: 19).  To them the Lord shall say, "Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever" (Isa. 60: 21).

 

Israel Restored.

 

There will be beside a general gathering and restoration of the scattered flock of Israel.  The Lord will seek for His people as a shepherd, "and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day."  "It shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt ... And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (Isa. 11: 11-12).  "The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, yet will I gather others to Him, besides those that are gathered unto Him" (see Isa. 49.; 56: 8). Miraculous events will accompany their restoration, the tongue of the Egyptian sea will be dried up, and the river smitten in, or unto, the seven streams (Isa. 11: 15; Rev. 16: 12).  This drying up of the Euphrates is generally taken to mean the drying up of the Turkish empire.  Does, then, the destruction of the Egyptian sea mean the destruction of Egypt?  Surely it ought to, to be consistent.  But we know that blessing is reserved for Egypt (Isa. 19: 21-25).  Why not take "the sea" and "the river" to mean what they say and believe that they will be, at least temporarily in the case of the Euphrates, dried up to facilitate the return of Israel from the South and from the East?  Then will be fulfilled the words of the prophet, "The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sighing and sorrow shall flee away" (Isa. 35: 10).

 

Jerusalem Rebuilt.

 

Then will Jerusalem be rebuilt on a new and magnificent scale.  Jerusalem "shall be builded upon her own heap" (Jer. 30: 18). "The sons of the strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee" (Isa. 60: 10).  And Jerusalem shall have a new name, "'Jehovah-Shammah' the Lord is there." (Ezek. 48: 35). "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary" (Isa. 60: 13).  Not only will the city be rebuilt but the temple also, after the pattern shown to Ezekiel 2,500 years before (Ezek. chs. 40: 44).  And the land shall be divided to the Twelve Tribes on a new plan (Ezek. 48), Israel and Judah shall no longer be separated kingdoms but one people.  "I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in Mine hand. ... And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two Kingdoms any more at all" (Ezek. 37: 19-22).  "Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim" (Isa. 11, 13).  They shall be for ever delivered from the abomination of idolatry (Ezek. 37: 23).  And shall become indeed, and in truth according to the purpose of Jehovah "a Kingdom of priests" unto Him. (See Ex. 19: 6).  "Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord, men shall call you Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves" (Isa. 61: 6).  For then it will be, as we have already seen, that Jehovah will make with them His new covenant (Jer. 31: 31), an everlasting covenant (Jer. 32: 40), as enduring and constant as the Noachian covenant of the day and night (Jer. 33: 20).

 

Sacrifices Restored.

 

The sacrifices will be restored in a commemorative sense, not pointing forward like the sacrifices of old, as figures of that which was to come, but looking back, as the symbols of the Lord's Supper do*, to that which has been already perfectly done once and for all.  "Neither shall the priests and the Levites want a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually," and besides, Israel will be as we have seen God's witnesses to a renovated world (Isa. 66: 19).  Thus will Jerusalem become in very deed "The joy of the whole earth," the religious and political centre of all the nations.  "All nations shall flow unto it.  And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob ... for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."  The centre of all will be Him whose ,name shall be called "Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace " - Jehovah Jesus.  "They shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem" (Jer. 3: 17).  And if they will not come they will be judged without mercy (Zech. 14).  Thus will Israel at last be what God intended her to become, His channel of blessing to those of the nations who love her.  Such are accordingly called to rejoice in the blessing of His people.  "Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad ... that ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory ... ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees" (Isa. 66: 10-12).  "In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious." (Isa. 11: 10).  "All the ends of the world shall remember, and turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.

 

For the Kingdom is the Lord's;

 

and He is the Governor among the nations. ... A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.  They shall come, and shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that HE HATH DONE THIS."

 

[* The Lord’s Supper also looks forward to the time of the Millennium: “I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine UNTIL THAT DAY when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God,” (Mark 14: 25; 2 Pet. 3: 8).]

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