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THE MILLENNIUM! GP 1619 Compiled 6/83
--Part 11 of the "Book of the Future!"
(Compiled by Apollos from the writings of Father David.)
1. THE WORLD TODAY IS SUCH A MESS & THERE ARE SUCH MESSERS RUNNING IT! In fact, in all the 6,000 years that man has been trying, he has never been able to save himself. Man's plans have never succeeded & never will!
2. ANY SYSTEM, WHETHER IT BE CAPITALIST, SOCIALIST, COMMUNIST, DEMOCRACY OR DICTATORSHIP, WHATEVER IT IS, IS GOING TO BE A FLAT FAILURE WITHOUT GOD!--And although man's final one-World government which is soon to arise under the Antichrist will purportedly be the greatest, most powerful, most ideal government he's ever had, man's ultimate creation, it will turn out to be the most horrible, hellish, heinous government of Satan himself, Hell on Earth, the worst government the World has ever known!
3. MAN'S MOST IDEAL GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO FALL FLAT ON ITS FACE!--BUT THEN GOD IS GOING TO STEP IN & REALLY STRAIGHTEN THINGS OUT! For only the direct & forceful intervention of God Himself through the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to mete out His violent Wrath upon the wrong-doers, to save His Own children from His enemies, & to set up His Own Kingdom of totally righteous & authoritarian rule here on Earth, will ever bring a reign of true perfection, with peace & justice for all!
4. AS YOU RECALL FROM OUR LAST CHAPTER, immediately after Jesus' return & our Rapture & Resurrection to be with Him, the Church, His born-again children, will join the Lord in that wonderful Wedding Supper of the Lamb in Heaven, while the wicked will be suffering the Wrath of God on Earth, where they will finally gather together under their Satanic, Devil-possessed, Antichrist leader to actually attempt to war against Jesus Christ Himself & His resurrected Heavenly forces in the horrific Battle of Armageddon!
5. IN THIS FINAL GREAT BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON, THE FORCES OF GOD GAIN A GLORIOUS VICTORY OVER THE FORCES OF SATAN & DESTROY HIM, or at least defeat him, & his Antichrist Devil-man & his False Prophet & his whole kingdom! Then we, the Saints of God, along with our King Jesus Christ, will take over this World as it now is--this present World--& we will organise it & rule it & run it the way it should have been run if man had yielded to God!
6. THE BIBLE SAYS THAT THIS AMAZING PERIOD WILL LAST FOR ONE THOUSAND YEARS & therefore it is known to Bible Prophecy students as the Millennium, which is Latin for a thousand years. The Scriptures are just full of descriptions of this beautiful Millennial period, & in fact, more is said about it than about the First Coming of Christ!--It says more about the Second Coming of Christ & His rule & reign on the Earth as its King, its Messiah, than it does even about the First Coming!
7. --BECAUSE THIS IS THE PURPOSE OF IT ALL! This is the marvellous Happy Ending of it all! Therefore God's Word gives us a very literal, exact description of what it's going to be like under the marvellous rule & personal visible reign of Christ here on Earth, &, as you'll see, it's going to be absolutely wonderful! PTL!
ARMAGEDDON SURVIVORS!
8. WE LEARNED IN OUR LAST CHAPTER THAT WHEN JESUS RETURNS TO EARTH FOR THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON, THERE'S GOING TO BE A GREAT SLAUGHTER & A GREAT DESTRUCTION, ACCORDING TO GOD'S WORD.--Nevertheless some are going to live through it!--There will be survivors! And during the Millennium, it is these survivors whom we are going to rule & reign over & teach & train, to show how the World should have been run & to be an example to the Universe of what kind of government man could have had if he had only obeyed the Lord.
9. HIS WORD SAYS, "BLESSED & HOLY IS HE THAT HATH PART IN THE FIRST RESURRECTION (The Rapture): On such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God & of Christ, & shall reign with Him a thousand years." (Rev.20:6.) Jesus also promised to His faithful ones, "He that overcometh, & keepeth My works unto the End, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron." (Rev.2:26,27.)
10. SO WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE THAT HIS WORD SAYS WILL FORM WHOLE NATIONS DURING THE MILLENNIUM, over whom we, the saved born-again Saints of God, are going to rule with a rod of iron?--Well, it's obvious that many of the unsaved are going to survive the Wrath of God & the Battle of Armageddon & live on into the Millennium! Granted, either they must be pretty tough or they must live a pretty charmed life or the Lord must be extra merciful to them to allow them to live through all that!
11. PERHAPS AT ARMAGEDDON THE LORD & WE ARE GOING TO SLAUGHTER THE VERY WORST ONES, the absolutely irreparable ones, the reprobates, the totally unchangeable ones, the worst ones of all, those who really worshipped the Devil & the Antichrist & did all those horrible things!--Perhaps they'll all be slaughtered during that horrible warfare!
12. THEN WE'RE GOING TO GIVE THE REST OF THEM, THOSE WHO DESERVE IT & ARE WORTHY, ANOTHER CHANCE. The Lord will set up His Kingdom here on Earth for a thousand years to try to salvage what He can & who He can & give them another chance, or perhaps their first chance, to see the actual Kingdom of God & hear His voice & His laws & His rules & His Words & repent!--To believe & receive & repent & accept Him as their King!
"THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE IN EARTH, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!" (Mt.6:10.)
13. IT WAS IN REVELATION, CHAPTER 19, THAT WE READ JOHN'S MAGNIFICENT, MARVELLOUS DESCRIPTION OF JESUS CHRIST'S COMING WITH THE HOSTS OF HEAVEN to defeat & destroy the Antichrist & his fiendish forces at the awesome Battle of Armageddon. So following the chronological order of events, in Revelation 20 we're given an amazing glimpse into the Millennium period:
14. "AND I SAW AN ANGEL COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, HAVING THE KEY OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT & A GREAT CHAIN IN HIS HAND. And he laid hold on the Dragon, that old Serpent, which is the Devil, & Satan, & bound him a thousand years, & cast him into the Bottomless Pit, & shut him up, & set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: & after that he must be loosed a little season." (Rev.20:1-3.)
15. THE DEVIL WILL BE BOUND & CAST AS A PRISONER INTO THE BOTTOMLESS PIT FOR A THOUSAND YEARS, with nobody left to run his business! We'll be rid of him, thank God! For a thousand years he will no longer bother us & no longer lead his legions & his demons across the face of the Earth to plague the World & its citizens! And it is during this thousand years, while the Devil is in prison in the heart of the Earth, in the Bottomless Pit, that the Saints, including all the new arrivals who resisted the Antichrist & rejected the Mark of the Beast, choosing rather to give their lives than to deny Christ, will live & reign with Christ for a thousand years:
16. "AND I SAW THRONES, & THEY SAT UPON THEM, & JUDGEMENT WAS GIVEN UNTO THEM: & I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, & for the Word of God, & which had not worshipped the Beast, neither his Image, neither had received his Mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; & they lived & reigned with Christ a thousand years. They shall be priests of God & of Christ, & shall reign with Him a thousand years. But the rest of the dead (the unsaved) lived not again until the thousand years were finished." (Rev.20:4-6.)
17. DURING THE MILLENNIUM, JESUS IS GOING TO REIGN & RULE IN PERSON USING US AS HIS INSTRUMENTS! So our work--& I hope you won't be too disappointed--will not be over with the resurrection & the Rapture! We're still going to be busy, ruling & reigning with Jesus!--It's all very literal!
18. BUT MANY PEOPLE GET ALL THEORETICAL & THEY GET HAZY IDEAS, DREAMY IDEAS ABOUT ALL OF THIS, that after Jesus returns we're all going to be way off somewhere in some place called Heaven or something. Well, Heaven is not going to be way off somewhere, it's going to be right here on Earth, a Heaven-on-Earth during the Millennium! We're going to rule & reign with Christ right here on Earth over the unsaved nations & the unsaved people who are left, who were not destroyed by the judgements God heaps upon the Antichrist kingdom.
19. EVERYDAY, MILLIONS OF CHRISTIANS ALL OVER THE WORLD PRAY, "THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!" But I'm sure most of them don't really appreciate the tremendousness of that statement in the Lord's Prayer & how literally it is going to come true & be fulfilled! It's actually going to be like Heaven, Heaven on Earth, with God's Will being done & His Kingdom come--on Earth as it is in Heaven! And we will be His officers, enforcing His Will as we rule & reign over the Earth with Him!
20. BUT MOST OF THE CHURCH PEOPLE DON'T SEEM TO REALISE HOW REAL THE MILLENNIUM IS GOING TO BE! They've got that imaginary picture of just floating around aimlessly on a cloud playing a harp or something! They don't realise how real & practical & down-to-Earth it will all be!
21. THE PROPHET DANIEL DESCRIBED THE TAKEOVER OF THIS WORLD'S GOVERNMENTS BY CHRIST'S MILLENNIAL KINGDOM in his famous vision in Daniel, Chapter 2. He saw a great image, which represented History's various great World Empires, being destroyed by "a Stone which smote the image upon his feet", smashing it to pieces which are blown away like the chaff!--"And the Stone that smote the image became a Great Mountain (Kingdom), & filled the whole Earth!" (Dan.2:34,35.)
22. "FOR IN THE DAYS OF THESE KINGS"--the ten toes of the image, the ten final government leaders who fully cooperate with & yield to the Antichrist (See Rev.17:12-14.)--"shall the God of Heaven set up a Kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: & the Kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces & consume all these kingdoms, & it shall stand for ever!" (Dan.2:44.)
23. ONE OF THESE DAYS VERY SOON, THE KING IS GOING TO COME BACK TO CLAIM HIS KINGDOM!--The Kingdom of the Most High shall come & shall destroy all the anti-Christ kingdoms of the World! Jesus is going to come & destroy'm all! And He's going to restore the World under us & we're going to rule & reign over it with Him!
24. GOD WILL THEN SWEEP AWAY ALL THIS WORLD'S KINGDOMS, BUT NOT ALL THE PEOPLE!--Many of them will still be here, but we'll be ruling over them.--"And there was given Him dominion, & glory, & a Kingdom, that all people, nations, & languages, should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, & His Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. But the saints of the Most High shall take the Kingdom, & possess the Kingdom for ever, even for ever & ever!" (Dan.7:14,18.)
25. WHETHER MAN LIKES IT OR NOT, GOD IS GOING TO BE SUPREME & JESUS WILL REIGN FROM SHORE TO SHORE & we will rule & reign with Him with that rod of iron! Then wicked man will be forced to do what's right & forced to obey for a thousand years!--"And judgement was given to the saints of the Most High; & the time came that the saints possessed the Kingdom. And the Kingdom & dominion, & the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, & all dominions shall serve & obey Him!" (Dan.7:22,27.)
26. RIGHT NOW THE UNGODLY & ANTICHRIST POWERS OF THIS WORLD TREAT US AS ALIENS, & banish us & exile us & even drive some of us from our own countries, forcing us to be refugees & fugitives from their injustice. But then, under the supreme reign of Christ Himself, the pitiful little bands of persecuted Christians & believers & children of God are going to inherit the Earth & the Kingdom of God on Earth & run & govern it by love & the power of God!
27. WE WILL NO LONGER BE THE POOR, PERSECUTED, HOUNDED FEW OF THE POOR LITTLE BEDEVILED SECTS OR CULTS or whatever they want to call us!--We will then number in the millions & the billions, & we are going to rule the Earth with Jesus Christ over our God-damned enemies who have tormented us & persecuted us & hounded us from country to country throughout the Earth, until the very end of the Great Tribulation when they virtually drive us clear off the Earth & we're all Raptured up to be with Jesus!
28. SO DON'T WORRY, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A COUNTRY TO CALL OUR OWN ONE OF THESE DAYS, THANK THE LORD! In fact, it'll all be our country then!--Because our country will be a World-wide, Earth-wide, Kingdom of God on Earth! All the countries are going to be ours in that day when Jesus comes!--And our former enemies & persecutors will be our guests! They will be the men without a country, because it will be our country!--And they'd better behave, too, or they'll not only be without a country, but without an Earth!
29. NO LONGER WILL REIGN THE CRUEL, SELFISH, DOG-EAT-DOG PHILOSOPHY WHICH GIVES THE WORLD TO THE STRONGEST & THE MIGHTIEST, in which might is right, as it is run today by rebellious, disobedient & perverted man!--But it will be given to those who really have the right to govern because of what today's reprobate man considers weaknesses: Love & meekness & forgiveness & faith in God & His Word!
30. THESE WEAKEST & MEEKEST WILL BECOME THE MOST POWERFUL INFLUENCES ON EARTH, the most powerful people, who will rule the World with both love & a "rod of iron" of loving force to compel the nations to submit to the laws of God & to recognise His authority & to obey His rules of life, love, health & happiness for a reign of "peace on Earth toward men of good will".
31. THEN & ONLY THEN, UNDER THE SUPREME & POWERFUL RULE & REIGN OF CHRIST & GOD'S CHILDREN, WILL ALL WARS FINALLY CEASE & the World at last be governed fairly & well with true justice, liberty, peace, plenty & happiness for all! Hallelujah!
32. "AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE LAST DAYS, THAT THE MOUNTAIN (KINGDOM) OF THE LORD'S HOUSE SHALL BE ESTABLISHED IN THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAINS, & shall be exalted above the hills; & all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go & say, Come ye, & let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob; & He will teach us of His ways, & we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, & the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem!" (Is.2:2,3.)
33. JESUS CHRIST IS GOING TO SET UP HIS THRONE IN JERUSALEM & make it His Millennial capital!--Not Menachim Begin's, not the Antichrist's, not the Devil's--but God's! And from there He will rule & reign over the Earth, & we shall rule & reign with Him!
34. "AND HE SHALL JUDGE AMONG THE NATIONS, & SHALL REBUKE MANY PEOPLE: & THEY SHALL BEAT THEIR SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES, & THEIR SPEARS INTO PRUNINGHOOKS: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more!" (Is.2:4.)--Complete disarmament at last! That will be the World's first real genuine disarmament, beating their weapons into instruments of peace!--Hallelujah!
35. AT LAST THERE WILL BE PEACE ON EARTH WHICH SHALL NEVER END UNDER THE REIGN OF JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD & PRINCE OF PEACE HIMSELF! Today's wicked & vengeful men of war will be stopped at last as God "destroys them that destroy the Earth"! (Rev.11:18.)--Those who brought war & conflict to the Earth! Only then shall the men of peace & the God of peace & the Prince of Peace rule & reign & bring final "peace on Earth"! (Lk.2:14.)
36. THEN "ALL THE ENDS OF THE WORLD SHALL REMEMBER & TURN UNTO THE LORD: & all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the Kingdom is the Lord's: & He is the Governor among the nations. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the Earth; He breaketh the bow, & cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire!" (Ps.22:27,28; 46:9.) He's going to stop all this war business, He's going to break the arrows & the swords & the shields & the bows, etc. All those chariots & planes & tanks & missiles & bombs & all that are going to be burned up, thank God!
37. JESUS TOLD HIS DISCIPLES, "THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU" (Lk.17:21), & this is true for all of us who know & love the Lord--we already have Heaven on Earth in our hearts! But the problem is, there is still Hell all around us! But in that day He's going to wipe away all this Hell on Earth, & He's going to set up His Kingdom of peace & righteousness & fairness & justice & goodness & mercy & love! And that's going to literally be Heaven on Earth!--His Kingdom won't only be within us, it will be all around us! PTL!
38. "THE LORD MOST HIGH IS A GREAT KING OVER ALL THE EARTH."--In the Millennium!--"He shall subdue the people under us, & the nations under our feet! For God is the King of all the Earth: sing ye praises with understanding! God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of His Holiness." (Ps.47:2,3,7,8.)
39. "THE MOUNTAINS SHALL BRING PEACE TO THE PEOPLE, & THE LITTLE HILLS, BY RIGHTEOUSNESS. He shall judge the poor of the people, He shall save the children of the needy, & shall break in pieces the oppressor." (Ps.72:3,4.)--The World is going to see a righteous Judge at last, a righteous King, a righteous Ruler, Who will have a righteous government!--No more corruption, vice, crime, payola, bribery or crooked judges & crooked politicians, but a righteous government & righteous, just justice for all!
40. "HE SHALL COME DOWN LIKE RAIN UPON THE MOWN GRASS: AS SHOWERS THAT WATER THE EARTH. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, & from the river unto the ends of the Earth." (Ps.72:6,8.)--The Kingdom of Christ on Earth is going to completely cover the whole World! "For the Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, & the sceptre of the rulers. The whole Earth is at rest, & is quiet; they break forth into singing"! (Is.14:5,7.)
41. THERE'LL BE NO MORE BIG POWERS & OPPRESSED POOR!--Only the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, Heaven on Earth, fairness & justice for all & eternal happiness forever!--"Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him: all nations shall serve Him. And blessed be His glorious Name for ever: & let the whole Earth be filled with His glory; Amen, & Amen!" (Ps.72:11,19.)
LIFE ON EARTH DURING THE MILLENNIUM!
42. THE REIGN OF JESUS CHRIST DURING THE MILLENNIUM IS GOING TO BE A MIXTURE OF HEAVEN ON THE EARTH THAT NOW IS, & OVER THE UNSAVED WHO NOW ARE, or who will be at that time. It will be a reign of Jesus Christ & His children over what is left of this World & its unsaved populations. We, the born-again, saved, resurrected saints will be in our new supernatural bodies, but the rest of the World, those who have been spared & blessed enough to survive into the Millennium, are going to still be in their old natural bodies. Therefore life is sort of going to go on as usual in a lot of ways for them!
43. THE MILLENNIUM WILL BE ALMOST LIKE AN EXTENSION OF THIS AGE NOW, because the World & its people will still be living in time. But to us who are resurrected & raptured at the Coming of Christ, time shall be no more! (Rev.10:6.)--We will not be bound by time any longer! But those who still remain on the Earth, having survived the horrors of the Wrath of God upon the wicked, will still be bound by time.
44. THE EARTH WILL STILL BE LIVING IN TIME.--The unregenerate, unsaved people who survive the holocaust of God's Wrath, first of all the Antichrist's wrath & then Armageddon & Christ's Wrath--who by some miracle manage to survive it, who are blessed by being allowed to survive it--will still be bound by time & space here on Earth just as we were before we left with Jesus.
45. BUT FOR US, TIME SHALL BE NO MORE!--AND IN SOME WAYS, SPACE WILL BE NO MORE! In other words, we will not be bound by time or space! We will be able to just wish ourselves anywhere & we will be there with the speed of thought!--And of course we'll only wish to do God's Will & we will be messengers of His Will.
46. BUT THE NORMAL, NATURAL PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE THE SAME THEN AS THEY ARE NOW!--Human beings still in their mortal bodies whom God's blessed by allowing them to live through the horrors that preceded.--And they're going to feel blessed, too, when they realise that they managed to be Millennial survivors! But they will live almost exactly like they are living now: They'll still have to go out fishing, they'll still have to raise food, they'll still have to make clothes, they'll still have to live in a normal natural World--in fact, the same World they're living in now!
47. THE NATURAL MEN ARE GOING TO BE JUST WHAT THEY ARE NOW, ONLY THEY WILL BE UNDER OUR GOVERNMENT. So for them, things are going to be exactly like they are today, except for one big difference: We'll be the top dogs, the officers, the supreme rulers! We'll be in charge, Jesus & His Kingdom will be the government, & we'll be His governors, His officers, His leaders, His rulers of the World! "We shall be kings & priests unto God," He says (Rev.1:6), & we will rule the Earth!
48. SO IN SOME WAYS, THE MILLENNIUM WILL BE ALMOST LIKE A REPEAT, LIKE A MOVIE YOU'VE SEEN BEFORE, BUT THERE WILL BE QUITE A FEW BIG DIFFERENCES!--Mainly, that we're going to be running the World instead of them, & we're going to have a lot of supernatural help & advantages! We'll have supernatural bodies & wisdom & skill & power & protection & we'll change a lot of things for the better!--PTL!
POST-ARMAGEDDON CLEAN-UP CAMPAIGN!
49. IN ORDER FOR THE LORD & US TO ESTABLISH A NICE, BEAUTIFUL, GOOD, CLEAN HEAVEN ON EARTH, WE'LL FIRST HAVE TO CLEAN UP THE HELL ON EARTH THAT THE ANTICHRIST & HIS DEMON-POSSESSED PEOPLE LEFT BEHIND!--And the horrible slaughter left behind by God's Own judgements & our Battle of Armageddon against them! So there will certainly be some cleaning up to do! In Israel alone, it's going to take seven months just to bury all the dead, & seven years to clear away all the wreckage of the instruments of war, to clear away & burn the weapons & vehicles of war, etc.!--Seven years to clean up the rubble, debris & wreckage left behind by the terrible Battle of Armageddon! (Ez.39:9,14.)
50. SO THAT WILL BE OUR FIRST JOB DURING THE FIRST SEVEN YEARS OF THE MILLENNIUM: DIRECTING THE WORLDLINGS & THE SURVIVORS IN THIS BIG CLEAN-UP OPERATION! It sounds like it will be a pretty big assignment & a tough job, & I'm sure it will be!--But with supernatural bodies & supernatural power & the wisdom of God & the Lord's direction, organisation & Heavenly government, I'm sure it won't be too difficult for us!
51. IT'LL BE A WONDER THAT THE LORD & US WILL EVER BE ABLE TO STRAIGHTEN THINGS OUT!--But we will, according to His Word! PTL! "And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, & they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. And ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, & in their glory shall ye boast yourselves." (Isa.61:4-6.)
BACK TO THE GARDEN!
52. ANOTHER MAJOR CHANGE THAT WILL OCCUR DURING THE MILLENNIUM IS THAT THE CURSE WILL BE PARTIALLY LIFTED, which will mean a lot of different & better conditions, thank the Lord! The Earth will be like it was during the days of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden! The curse & the results of the curse will be removed & things will be partially restored to pre-curse conditions.
53. THE EARTH WILL BLOSSOM LIKE A ROSE & ALL GOD'S CREATION WILL BE IN PERFECT PEACE & BEAUTIFUL HARMONY & AT PEACE WITH ONE OTHER.--No more of man's cruelty toward man, no more of man's inhumanity to man, but all will be peace & beauty, like the Garden of Eden restored!--Heaven on Earth once again as it was in the Beginning, but even better, because we'll have Jesus! PTL!
54. "FOR IN THE WILDERNESS SHALL WATERS BREAK OUT, & STREAMS IN THE DESERT. And the parched ground shall become a pool, & the thirsty land springs of water. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the Garden of Eden; & the waste & desolate & ruined cities are become fenced, & are inhabited." (Is.35:6,7; Ez.36:34,35.)
55. "LET THE HEAVENS REJOICE, & LET THE EARTH BE GLAD; LET THE SEA ROAR, & THE FULNESS THEREOF!" (Ps.96:11.)--Are the Heavens rejoicing & is the Earth glad today? Paul tells us that the whole Earth is groaning today, not rejoicing!--"The whole creation groaneth & travaileth in pain, waiting to be delivered"! (Rom.8:22,23.) The whole Creation, in a sense, is under the curse of sin & the Devil & his demons & his pests & vipers & thorns & thistles & sin & sickness etc. But in the Millennium, it will be partially delivered & greatly restored!
56. "LET THE FIELD BE JOYFUL, & ALL THAT IS THEREIN: THEN SHALL ALL THE TREES OF THE WOOD REJOICE!" (Ps.96:12.) Nowadays, whenever you hear the wind blowing through the trees, does it sound like the trees are rejoicing?--It's more of a moaning, sighing sound, sometimes almost enough to give you the willies! You never hear it sounding happy, do you? Well, I don't know how the Lord's going to do it, but when He comes & takes over the World, the trees are going to be glad & rejoice!--They will actually sound happy!
57. DID YOU KNOW THAT RIGHT NOW, ALL THE SOUNDS IN NATURE ARE IN A MINOR KEY & HAVE A LITTLE SAD NOTE TO THEM? Even the birds are grieving over what man has done! All nature, Paul says, is groaning & grieving over the sins of man. All of God's creation is groaning, & man's certainly doing some groaning too! Well, the day's coming when the field & the trees are going to rejoice!--"Before the Lord: for He cometh, for He cometh to judge the Earth: He shall judge the World with righteousness, & the people with His truth." (Ps.96:13.) Hallelujah!
58. AT LAST THE LORD IS GOING TO REDEEM THE EARTH & cause the beautiful Garden of Eden to blossom again as we rule & reign with Christ for a thousand years! The natural unsaved people who survived the Tribulation & Wrath-of-God periods will be so amazingly blessed to be able to live during this Millennial period at all, as the Earth will be relieved of the curse & the curses that have beset it, including the thorns & the thistles & the brier & all kinds of beasts & critters & creatures that are poisonous, even the poisonous flowers & grasses & so on. All these cursed things will be eliminated!
59. "THE WOLF ALSO SHALL DWELL WITH THE LAMB, & THE LEOPARD SHALL LIE DOWN WITH THE KID; & the calf & the young lion & the fatling together; & a little child shall lead them. And the cow & the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: & the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, & the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den." (Is.11:6-8.)
60. YOU NEVER HEAR ABOUT A WOLF LYING DOWN WITH A LAMB NOWADAYS, DO YOU?--Unless the lamb is inside the wolf! Or a leopard lying down with a kid, a little baby goat?--They usually lie down with the kid inside of them too! And the calf & the young lion & the fatling together?--Usually the lion is tearing'm apart & eating'm! Neither have you heard about a little child leading them all!
61. WELL, THERE WAS A DAY BEFORE THE FLOOD WHEN ANIMALS WERE THE PETS OF MAN & HE COULD TALK TO THEM & THEY COULD TALK TO HIM!--Man & the animals were at peace with each other. They didn't fight & they didn't kill & they didn't eat each other as they do today. Well, the day is coming again when there will be peace between man & the animals & you'll be able to call them by name & they'll come running like your dog or your cat, like pets, playfully. Even a little child will be able to play with them, think of that!
62. SO IT'S EVIDENT THAT A GREAT DEAL, IF NOT ALL, OF THE CURSE IS GOING TO BE REMOVED. The animals will go back to being herbivorous again & won't eat each other, much less us! Isn't that beautiful? Apparently man won't eat flesh then either, we'll all be herbivorous again! Both man & beast will return to vegetarianism during the Millennium, because apparently they won't need the extra strength of animal flesh to survive. The curse will have been at least partially removed & man will no longer be suffering the ill effects of whatever it was that shortened life after the Flood.
63. FROM CREATION UNTIL THE FLOOD, MAN WAS STRICTLY VEGETARIAN, because God said specifically at the time of Creation that He had given them every green thing, the herbs & plants & so on, to eat--just vegetables--no meat or flesh of any kind. (Gen.1:29,30.) But after the Flood, that pre-Flood cloud covering that enveloped the Earth disappeared & those deadly cosmic rays began to come through. Instead of living eight, nine hundred or a thousand years, all of a sudden their lifespans were greatly reduced, as they are today. And man's body apparently needed extra help to survive the ravages of both the judgements of God & the toll of sin, so God mercifully gave him meat to eat. (Gen.9:2,3.)
64. OF COURSE THE SCEPTICS ALWAYS MAKE FUN OF THESE SCRIPTURES about "the cow & the bear shall feed, & the lion shall eat straw like the ox." (Is.11:7.) They say, "They couldn't possibly do that, they're carnivorous beasts, that's impossible, blah blah, blah blah!" Well, nothing's impossible with the Lord! (Lk.1:37.) And I have such confidence in this Book, the Word of God & the Words of Jesus & every book & every Chapter & every verse in it--I have proven so many of them to be true & have found none of them to ever fail or to be false--that I believe it means exactly what it says & that's exactly what's gonna happen! Because if they're not going to eat each other or eat us anymore, what are they going to eat?--They're going to have to graze like the ox & the calf!
65. "THEY SHALL NOT HURT NOR DESTROY IN ALL MY HOLY MOUNTAIN (KINGDOM): FOR THE EARTH SHALL BE FULL OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD, AS THE WATERS COVER THE SEA!" (Is.11:9.) Since there's nothing that will hurt nor destroy, there will be no venomous insects or beasts or serpents or scorpions or any of those Devil's pests!--I think a lot of them will probably just be completely eliminated! But those that will still be here will become our pets!--Not pests! Even the once-deadly asps & vipers will almost be like toys for the children to play with!--No bite, no sting, no poison, no venom!
66. THERE WILL BE NO MORE THORNS OR THISTLES OR ANY OF THE SORT OF THING that came after the Fall of man when God said the ground would be cursed & produce thorns & briars etc., to keep fallen man busy & out of trouble. (Gen.3:17-19.) This, of course, will be a great blessing to the natural flesh-&-blood men of the Earth who are still going to till the land & build houses & marry & be given in marriage, etc. No doubt they will proclaim, "Mercy & truth are met together; righteousness & peace have kissed each other! Truth shall spring out of the Earth; & righteousness shall look down from Heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good; & our land shall yield her increase!" (Ps.85:10-12.)
67. WHAT A WONDERFUL PLACE TO LIVE!--The curse will be removed, all viciousness gone, & all killing & hurting stopped! That's why I know that there aren't going to be any more cars there, no automobiles: "For nothing shall hurt nor destroy in all His holy mountain!"--Cars are one of the greatest destroyers of mankind today & kill more people than anything else.
68. THE ONLY FORMS OF TRANSPORTATION THAT ARE GOING TO BE LEFT WILL BE THE GOD-GIVEN, GOD-CREATED, GOD-ORDAINED ONES--horses, camels, mules, wagons, etc.--which were good enough for the World for more than five thousand years before they ever heard of anything else! Most of the World lived in peace & plenty without all these God-damned, gasoline-powered, pollution-spouting, environment-hurting & life-destroying automobiles!
69. IN THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM OF JESUS CHRIST THERE WON'T BE ANY OF THESE STINKING AUTOMOBILES BELCHING FUMES ANYMORE, or any of these big smokey smoke-belching factories! So they won't have to worry about oil anymore! They're not going to have all of this modern destructive machinery & smoke & oil & nuclear power & whatnot! The World is going to go back to animal transportation & carriages & wagons etc.! They'll sure appreciate the animals then! Perhaps for transporting heavy loads of raw materials, foods, etc., they'll go back to sailing vessels, powered by God's Own good clean winds & currents!
70. THE WORLD'S GOING TO GO BACK TO THOSE BEAUTIFUL DAYS WITH ONLY THE BEAUTIFUL CREATION OF GOD AROUND THEM & the wonderful creatures of God to help them plow & power & transport what little they have to supply their meager needs, even as the poor of the World still do to this very day in the most remote parts of the Earth!
71. IN FACT, TODAY'S POORER, SO-CALLED "UNDER-DEVELOPED" NATIONS ARE GOING TO BE A LOT BETTER OFF! They're going to be the ones that will be ahead of things then, the Third World. They'll already have their beasts of burden & oxcarts & wagons, & even their sailboats! The Third World will hardly know that anything has even happened! Life is not going to change very much for them, except it's going to be better, because they won't be oppressed by the First & Second World anymore!--Everything's going to be much better! PTL!
72. THERE WILL ALSO PROBABLY BE MUCH LESS DISEASE, MUCH LESS SICKNESS, ETC., because in Isaiah it says that if someone dies when he's 100 years old, he'll be considered merely a child! "There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old." (Is.65:20.)
73. LIFE IS OBVIOUSLY AGAIN GOING TO BE LENGTHENED TO GREAT LONGEVITY, as it was before the Flood, when men lived to be nearly a thousand years of age! If somebody died at the age of 100 you would have thought, "Poor fellow, just a babe!" And that's what it means in that Scripture, "for the child shall die an hundred years old."--In other words, anybody dying at 100 will be considered just a child!
74. THE PEOPLE OVER WHOM WE RULE WILL STILL BE LIVING IN THEIR NATURAL PHYSICAL BODIES & WILL STILL BE HAVING CHILDREN, STILL DYING & SO ON. But because the curse will be removed & things will be so natural & it will be such a slower pace, they're going to live like they did before the Flood.--Everybody will live like Methuselah!--For a thousand years! (Gen.5:27.) So the people who enter the Millennium alive are going to look like they're almost the same age at the end of the thousand years! They just won't seem to grow old anymore, or very little.--How wonderful!
WHY THE MILLENNIUM?!
75. IT APPEARS THAT THE MILLENNIUM COULD BE AN ADDITIONAL PERIOD OF GRACE FOR THOSE WHO DIDN'T HAVE A CHANCE TO REALLY HEAR THE GOSPEL or really know the Lord during this life, perhaps even because of our own failure & the failure of the Church to reach the whole World with the Gospel, or at least to reach everybody we should have.--Particularly lots of children & young people who never had a chance & never knew any better, maybe lots of natives in the deepest jungles who never heard, or in the wildest wilderness--to give them a chance to hear & see & know the Lord!
76. BUT DURING THE MILLENNIUM, EVERYONE WILL BE REACHED!--"FOR THE EARTH SHALL BE FILLED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GLORY OF THE LORD, AS THE WATERS COVER THE SEA." (Hab.2:14.) How do the waters cover the seas?--Completely! So the World will be completely covered with the knowledge of the Lord & the righteous Kingdom of Jesus Christ! Hallelujah!
77. SO IT SOUNDS LIKE THIS THOUSAND YEARS OF THE MILLENNIAL RULE & REIGN OF JESUS CHRIST ON EARTH WILL BE ANOTHER TESTING TIME FOR THOSE WORLDLINGS WHO REMAIN, the unsaved who survived the horrors that have gone before whom God has blessed with another chance, or perhaps their first chance. They may have never really heard the Gospel before, they may have never really felt the Love of Jesus before or known God's Will or His ways before! So it will be a time of learning His laws & His ways & His Love.
78. IT'S OBVIOUS FROM THE BIBLE'S DESCRIPTION OF THE MILLENNIUM THAT THE SURVIVORS FROM THE AGE OF MAN WILL BE GIVEN ANOTHER CHANCE TO OBEY through the personal rule & reign of Christ & His Children & the universal knowledge of the Lord & His Love. In fact, I think that's what the whole Millennium is all about, to give these people such a chance, otherwise there would be no point to it! If it's as some of the churches teach, just to give us a chance to wreak vengeance on our enemies & be mean to all the people who were mean to us, what good would that be?
79. IF IT'S JUST TO SHOW HOW THE WORLD SHOULD HAVE BEEN RUN & just to demonstrate what man will be like under us & the angels & Jesus personally & just to kind of show-off, what purpose would there be to that?--Unless it's going to save souls or make some people better in some way or improve things somehow.
80. DURING THE MILLENNIUM, HIS WORD SAYS THAT "HE WILL DESTROY IN THIS MOUNTAIN (KINGDOM) THE FACE OF THE COVERING CAST OVER ALL PEOPLE, & the vail that is spread over all nations." (Is.25:7.)--What vail?--The vail of misunderstanding, the vail of unbelief, the vail of non-comprehension of spiritual things.
81. IN THE FACE OF THE VISIBLE RULE & REIGN OF CHRIST ON EARTH, His personal appearance to man, His Second Coming in mighty power & glory, His wiping out of the Antichrist & his kingdom & the imprisonment of Satan, & His obvious visible rule & reign of firm love with a rod of iron, forcing people to be good whether they like it or not, I think some are going to believe & receive who perhaps never heard before! And maybe there will be some who might even have heard, but didn't understand or couldn't believe until they saw something.
82. AFTER ALL, THAT'S PRETTY STRONG, POWERFUL PERSUASION!--To see the Coming of the Lord & His taking over the reins of this Earth to rule & reign--that's pretty strong persuasion & enough to convince almost anybody to believe & receive! So I think the Millennium will be the time when God gives what I would call not a second chance, but a first chance to a lot of people who didn't have a chance before, because the church failed & even we failed to give'm all the Gospel!
83. "FOR IN THAT DAY SHALL THE DEAF HEAR THE WORDS OF THE BOOK, & THE EYES OF THE BLIND SHALL SEE OUT OF OBSCURITY, & out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, & the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness, & princes shall rule in judgement. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, & all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it!" (Is.29:18,19;32:1;40:5.)
84. EVERYONE ON EARTH WILL SEE HIS GLORIOUS POWER & KINGDOM, & EVERYBODY WILL BELIEVE THEN!--He even says, "And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, & 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." (Jer.31:34.)
85. THERE WON'T BE ANY UNBELIEVERS THEN, BUT I'M AFRAID THERE WILL STILL BE SOME UNRECEIVERS who won't yield & won't obey & will still be stubborn & disobedient & rebellious & iniquitous & wicked at heart & defiant--still! It's obvious from the Scriptures that there will be many who will receive it & obey & will be blessed of the Lord!--And others who will still rebel.
86. SO IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE THE MILLENNIUM IS GOING TO BE ANOTHER TESTING TIME OR TRYING TIME, A PROVING GROUND. We, the saints, who heard the Gospel & voluntarily received the Lord, will be running things under the direct supervision of the Lord. And all of the people who survived the Tribulation, the Wrath of God & the Battle of Armageddon, we're going to govern & rule over & judge & organise & teach them!
87. WE WON'T HAVE TO SAY "KNOW THE LORD!" BECAUSE EVERYBODY WILL BE ABLE TO SEE HIM & THEY'LL ALL KNOW HE'S THERE! But they'll need to know a lot of other things, & we're actually going to be doing a lot of what we're doing right now! Our main job now, as Jesus put it, is "Feed My Sheep!" (Jn.21:15-17.)--They'll all "know the Lord" & will actually see that He & His Kingdom are real, but they may not know Him as well or as personally as we do, because we already knew Him in this life & learned to know Him well & communicate with Him & love Him & live with Him & serve Him throughout this life.
88. SO I THINK IT WILL BE PART OF OUR JOB TO RE-EDUCATE THEM & TRAIN THEM IN THE WAYS OF THE LORD! They're going to be just as human as you & I are right now.--They won't be any more supernatural in their intelligence or in their mental capacities or their learning capacities or the ways they have to learn than we are in this present age.
89. AND THE SCRIPTURES DEFINITELY CONFIRM THAT THE MILLENNIUM IS GOING TO BE A PERIOD OF LEARNING FOR THEM: "Many nations shall come, & say, Come, & let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, & to the house of the God of Jacob; & He will teach us of His ways, & we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, & the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Micah 4:2.) How will He teach them His ways & give them His Word?--The same way He's trying to teach & feed them now!--Through us, His children, His "kings & priests"! (Rev.1:6.)
90. SO FRANKLY, I THINK WE'RE GOING TO BE DOING JUST WHAT WE'RE DOING NOW: Teaching & educating people in the ways of the Lord! In fact, when I think of the job we'll have to do in the Millennium, it is almost beyond comprehension!--We're not only going to be teaching & educating & ruling & reigning over them, but because it's the World's last chance to repent & confess & try to get things straightened out & make things right, we're going to have to try to make everybody be honest & make everybody confess & get everybody to make things right--right all wrongs & confess all faults. So we are going to be very busy! PTL!
"HE SHALL RULE THE NATIONS WITH A ROD OF IRON!" (Rev.19:15.)
91. IN SPITE OF ALL THAT VISIBLE EVIDENCE OF THE POWER OF GOD & the people of God & the Government of God & the Son of God, Jesus Christ Himself personally ruling the Earth in the flesh from His capital at Jerusalem, there will still be people who won't like it!--The really carnally-minded & evil-minded people will still rebel against the Lord!
92. SAD TO SAY, SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO SURVIVE INTO THIS WONDERFUL PERIOD OF THE MILLENNIUM WILL BE SO STUBBORN & SO REBELLIOUS OF HEART & MIND & so Satanically & diabolically conditioned that, even with the Devil & his demons gone, they're going to still be of the same evil mind just naturally--natural carnal evil men! Even without the help of Satan or his devils, they're still going to be mean & we're still going to have to deal with them!
93. EVEN THOUGH THE DEVIL & ALL HIS DEMONS WILL BE BOUND IN THE BOTTOMLESS PIT DURING THIS THOUSAND-YEAR PERIOD OF WHAT IS GOING TO BE LIKE HEAVEN-ON-EARTH, there will still be plenty of devils left behind in human form, human beings who are devils at heart & who still reject the King of kings & His Kingdom, who still resent our rule over them & their punishment & just deserts which we mete out to them, & who still rebel against our reign & power--sometimes whole nations which will rebel & refuse to obey the commandments of Christ & the dictates of His Kingdom & His officers.
94. THAT'S WHY WE'LL HAVE TO RULE WITH A ROD OF IRON! He said He will dash the nations & their power to pieces, into shivers like a piece of pottery! (Ps.2:8,9.) It's going to be an enforced rule, a strong iron dictatorship over the wicked. It will have to be, otherwise the wicked would never obey! So it's going to be a tough, hard, strong, forceful government!
95. "GOD IS LOVE" (1JN.4:8), & TODAY HE'S SHOWING HIS LOVE TO THE WORLD--His patience, His mercy, His longsuffering, His forgiveness! He's showing love to the World to try to get them to love Him! But the day is coming when, if all else fails & they reject His Love, He will rule them with a rod of iron & of force!--Not because His Love failed, for Love never fails! Jesus never fails, God never fails, & God is Love, so Love can't fail! (1Co.13:8.)
96. BUT THE CHRIST-REJECTING, LOVE-RESISTING WICKED OF THIS WORLD FAILED!--It's they who failed to receive His Love who cause the failure, their own failure!--The fall of the kingdoms of this Earth & the final collapse of their last great one-World Government, etc.!--Because they rejected the Love of God & the Love of Jesus Christ! So since they failed to appreciate His Love & to obey Him in love voluntarily, He is going to rule the World with a rod of iron, of force, & they are going to be compelled to serve & worship & obey Him whether they like it or not!--By force!--The force of the great God of Heaven & His Kingdom on Earth & His great World Dictator, Jesus Christ!
97. TALK ABOUT A DICTATORSHIP, talk about authoritarian rule, talk about totalitarianism!--The Earth has never seen & there will never be any totalitarianism as total as is going to be the Kingdom of God on Earth & the rule & reign of Jesus Christ over the World through us! That's going to be the most total, totalitarian government the World has ever known--absolute dictatorship!
98. THEY WILL ALL BE COMPELLED & FORCED TO OBEY WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT!--Absolutely no democracy, absolutely no freedom of man, of wicked man!--No more wicked democracies with wicked majorities voting for wicked governments & wicked rulers in a wicked World--but a completely total totalitarian dictatorship of the righteous with Jesus Christ as Dictator!
99. SO ALTHOUGH IN SOME WAYS LIFE IS GOING TO BE PRETTY NORMAL & not so greatly changed for the natural men of this World, there is going to be one very big difference!--There will still be free will & there will still be choice, but God will not let man have his wicked way! If they choose to go their own way & try to rebel--Bam!--God is going to swat them with a rod of iron!--Bam, whammy, zap!--Whatever you want to call it!--And they'll get it quick!
100. BECAUSE THE ONLY THING THE TRULY WICKED & REBELLIOUS EVER UNDERSTAND IS FORCE & VIOLENCE & THE ROD! And God is really going to lower His rod upon them! He's going to lower the boom on them, as they say, & He's going to punish them for their sins. And we, you & I, are going to be the instruments of His punishment, the officers of His Law who are going to carry out His judgements against those who have troubled & tribulated us! For He says clearly & plainly that we shall rule & reign with Him as He rules on the Earth with a rod of iron!
101. "HE THAT OVERCOMETH, & KEEPETH MY WORKS UNTO THE END, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of My Father." (Rev.2:26,27.)
102. WE'LL BE ENDUED WITH TREMENDOUS SUPERNATURAL POWERS TO RULE OVER THEM! We will be the power, we will have the force! And exactly what that rod of iron will be, God only knows! But there are instances in the Bible where people were made immobile, they were blinded, they were devoured by fire from Heaven & all kinds of things when God wanted to stop'm!--We'll have the kind of power that you see in some of these sci-fi movies, only we won't need any little ray-guns! We'll just look at them or think or point our finger at them or whatever we want to do! And they won't be able to touch us or do a thing!--We will be the power & the government in control!
103. WE WILL HAVE BODIES LIKE THE ANGELS OF GOD which can appear or disappear at will, travel with the speed of thought or have such a rod of God's power that they can destroy God's enemies by the millions if they so choose, with the lightning of God! There will be no more crime, no more vice, no more drugs, no more riots & no more war!--Just perfect peace, total perfect peace under the iron-rule dictatorship of the Lord in which you & I will be His supermen with superpower!--Absolute Law & Order, with redistribution & sharing of the wealth & lands, etc.--Not at the point of a gun, but at the point of a rod of iron!
104. SO THE MILLENNIUM WILL BE A PERIOD OF DEALING WITH SUCH PEOPLE & PUNISHING THEM & FORCING THEM TO OBEY--WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT!--Or destroying them if they absolutely flatly refuse & cause us too much trouble!--That's the dark, sad side of the picture. But the happy side is that many in that day, having seen, will believe & will bow & will yield & will obey & will receive with gladness the Kingdom of God on Earth, & will become its happy citizens & members & cooperate & help us to rebuild & to reconstruct & to clean up, rehabilitate & give the World its last chance for salvation.
105. IT'S OBVIOUS FROM THE SCRIPTURES THAT, DURING THAT TIME, SOME PEOPLE & NATIONS WILL SUBMIT & OBEY & YIELD to the Kingdom of God on Earth, & therefore will be blessed.--But others will rebel, & therefore will be punished! "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem"--survivors from the Battle of Armageddon--"shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, & to keep the feast of tabernacles." (Zech.14:16.)
106. "AND IT SHALL BE, THAT WHOSO WILL NOT COME UP OF ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH UNTO JERUSALEM TO WORSHIP THE KING, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain." (Zech.14:17.) This is going to be such a literal Kingdom on Earth & the wicked are still going to be so literally wicked that some of them are actually going to refuse to come up & worship, think of that! But if they don't obey & they don't do what they're supposed to do & they don't come up to pay homage to the King & the Kingdom of God, etc., He's going to withhold the rain from them & give them all kinds of diseases & plagues, just like He did the ancient Egyptians!--Any country that won't do what they're told to do is going to have nothing but trouble!
107. SO THERE WILL DEFINITELY STILL BE FREE WILL & CHOICE DURING THE MILLENNIUM. They won't have to submit & obey, they can rebel if they want to, but they'll be punished! And although the curse will be largely lifted & it's going to be a lot nicer World then--beautiful, wonderful, virtually Heaven-on-Earth in a way--there will still be some people there who don't belong in Heaven!--Therefore there will still be individual curses on individual people or nations who, even under those circumstances, will refuse to obey.
108. SO AGAIN, IT LOOKS LIKE THE MILLENNIUM WILL BE A TESTING TIME to give the survivors of Armageddon a chance to choose between the Kingdom of God & the sin already in the World since Adam & Eve!--That's the whole idea, to give'm a final test & chance! They're going to have a thousand years of another chance & mercy & goodness & peace on Earth & the very presence of Jesus Christ Himself!--Perfect government, plenty for all, peace on Earth!--A rule of Love as well as a rod of iron!--Love for those who obey, & the rod of iron for those who don't.--A thousand years to prove the Love & mercy & power of God!
MILLENNIAL SALVATIONS?
109. IF THERE IS A CHOICE OFFERED AT THAT TIME, TO ME IT INDICATES THAT SOME PEOPLE WILL CHOOSE WHAT'S RIGHT when they are presented with a full knowledge of the Lord, the personal appearance of the Lord & His angelic, mighty, supernatural power, the proof of His existence & authority! After all, how much more evidence could anyone ask than what there will be during the Millennium, when man will be able to see the visible power of God through you & me, & the visible, personal embodiment of God in Jesus Christ as King of kings & Ruler of the Earth!
110. THEN, INSTEAD OF BELIEVING BEING SEEING--GOD'S MOTTO FOR HIS CHILDREN TODAY WHO "WALK BY FAITH & NOT BY SIGHT" (2Co.5:7)--SEEING WILL BE BELIEVING! They will be given the opportunity to believe by actually being able to see the Kingdom of God & Christ on Earth & His Saints in power & ruling the World, so that it should be much easier for them to believe & receive under those conditions. However, they will not be as honoured or blessed as those who are now believing & receiving & obeying by faith, without seeing.
111. JESUS SAID TO DOUBTING THOMAS, "THOMAS, BECAUSE THOU HAST SEEN ME, THOU HAST BELIEVED."--And I believe the Millennium is going to be designed, in a sense, for the "Doubting Thomases" whom God's going to give a chance to see & to believe. But He then said, "Blessed are they that have not seen, & yet have believed!" (Jn.20:29.) We are the more blessed category, who believe by faith even though we haven't seen!
112. SO IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE THAT'S WHAT IT'S GOING TO BE, A SORT OF DOUBTING THOMAS PROGRAM FOR ALL THE UNBELIEVERS WHO NEED TO BE CONVINCED & NEED TO BE SHOWN. God, in a sense, is going to do for the World in the Millennium what He did for Thomas! People today say, "Show me!" Well, He's gonna show'm! And those who were honest about it & really meant it--"Lord, if You'll only show me, I'll believe!"--will believe!
113. NO DOUBT, MANY AT THIS TIME WILL AT LAST SEE & UNDERSTAND & KNOW & BELIEVE & RECEIVE & OBEY & ENJOY THE LOVE OF GOD & the beauty of His Kingdom, the restored Garden of Eden on Earth in the beautiful Heavenly Paradise of the Millennium!--That's why it's going to be like Heaven on Earth, thank God, because the vast majority of the people will receive it & will yield to the Kingdom of God.
114. SO THIS PERIOD SEEMS TO BE NECESSARY, BY GOD'S OWN CREATION & DESIGN, TO GIVE SOME FOLKS THEIR FIRST CHANCE & OTHERS THEIR LAST CHANCE, to give everybody a chance before the final Judgement of God at the end of the Millennium, which we'll cover in detail in our next lesson. And I believe that some are going to be, you might say, good people, & some really bad people. Because He definitely indicates in the Scriptures that some will rebel & be cursed while others will obey & be blessed.
115. GOD'S GOING TO GIVE THEM ALL A CHANCE UNDER THE MOST IDEAL CONDITIONS TO BELIEVE & TO ACCEPT & TO RECEIVE & TO OBEY! And if they do believe when they see, then why shouldn't the Lord bless them somehow?--Maybe not with our kind of salvation, but at least with some kind of salvation, reclamation, reconciliation & reward in the next life, in the final fulfilment of it all, the New Heaven & New Earth, which Age the saved will all enter after the 1,000-year Millennial period is over & the great final White Throne Judgement has taken place!
116. SO THESE PEOPLE IN THE MILLENNIUM WHO DO BELIEVE & REPENT & RECEIVE, are they going to be saved like us?--Well, maybe so, maybe some. But even if they're not saved like us, at least they will be somehow improved & certainly have a better chance. He said, "Blessed are they that have not seen, & yet have believed." (Jn.20:29.) Well, in the Millennium they're going to see & believe. So they might not rate as A-Plus-Number-Ones like we who believe purely by faith today, because we were willing to believe without seeing.--But they will believe having seen, like Thomas. But the Lord didn't completely condemn him for it, in fact He let him see to help him believe!
117. SO I BELIEVE GOD'S GOING TO GIVE THEM A CHANCE, I REALLY BELIEVE IT! And although the Scripture's not too out in the open & clear about it, I think it certainly indicates that He's going to give them another chance--maybe not at the same reward or salvation, but in a sense, a second chance to at least better themselves & be better off than they would have been.
118. I USED TO THINK THAT THERE WAS NO PLACE WITHIN THE ETERNAL HOLY CITY FOR PEOPLE WHO GOT SAVED DURING THE MILLENNIUM, that surely they couldn't be in the same class as us & would have to be outside the City.--After all, we're saved now! But who knows?--If they never heard & they never really had a chance & they finally got saved when they did hear during the Millennium, why shouldn't they have as much right to the City as we?
119. SO MAYBE SOME PEOPLE WILL BE SAVED DURING THE MILLENNIUM & WILL BE ALLOWED INTO THE HOLY CITY TOO IF THEY BELIEVE IN & RECEIVE JESUS! Maybe they'll receive Him then as their personal Saviour & have faith in His blood & believe, even as we do today, because they will have seen! Maybe they're not going to be as blessed as us! Maybe they'll still get in, but maybe they'll be down in the basement somewhere or the lower levels. You are going to be more blessed, because you, though having not seen, believed!
HERE & NOW FOR THERE & THEN!
120. BELOVED, THE LORD WAS NOT KIDDING WHEN HE SAID THAT HE WOULD MAKE YOU RULER OVER MANY CITIES! You are going to literally rule & reign with Him over all the Earth! It will be a perfect Kingdom, a perfect government, with perfect officers--you! You're going to run it! You want to be a policeman?--You want to be a governor?--You want to be a judge? All kinds of jobs are wide open! You want to be a king? God's Word says that He's the King of kings, so you can be one of His kings! You can rule a city or a whole country or a whole continent, whatever you are capable of ruling, according to the training you've already had & according to your faithfulness & your loyalty to God while you were here!
121. JESUS SAID THAT HE THAT WAS FAITHFUL IN JUST A FEW THINGS WOULD BE MADE RULER OVER MANY THINGS! You want to run the World? Well, be faithful unto death & He'll give you a crown & you'll be one of His kings! The Bible says so! (Rev.2:10.) For "he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.--Because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities!"--Or, "be thou over five cities!" (Lk.16:10; 19:17,19.) We're going to rule literal, Earthly, down-to-Earth, Worldly cities & countries, nations & continents, & train human, physical, down-to-Earth people just like you & I are now!
122. WE WILL BE DISPERSED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, each of us ruling over a certain portion & people of the Earth, over the unsaved who were left behind during the Rapture. Some will rule over one city, some will rule over five cities, & some over ten cities!--It's all going to be very literal. You are literally going to rule over cities & countries & peoples.--Think of that! Wow!
123. NOW SOME CHRISTIANS WHO DIDN'T ACCOMPLISH VERY MUCH FOR THE LORD IN THIS LIFE & weren't faithful & never witnessed, maybe they'll only be a block warden in the next life--they may only have control of one block of a city or part of its Main Street or something. Because they weren't very responsible for their fellow man during this present age--they didn't show much concern about him, they didn't care whether he got saved or not, they didn't witness, they didn't preach the Gospel--God certainly is not going to give them much responsibility during the Millennium either!
124. BUT WHO KNOWS, MAYBE THE LORD WILL MERCIFULLY GIVE SOME CHRISTIANS A LITTLE OPPORTUNITY TO REDEEM THEMSELVES DURING THE MILLENNIUM FOR WHAT THEY FAILED TO DO DURING THIS AGE OF GRACE.--I hope so! Because there are going to be millions of Christians who are going to be awfully ashamed--& for whom you're going to feel an awful lot of contempt--who never did a damn thing to reach the heathen or preach the Gospel or save the lost or help others! So I hope they have another chance to do then what they failed to do here.--Otherwise some are going to be one Hell of a mess!
125. IN FACT, GOD HAS SO FEW CHRISTIANS WHO ARE REALLY DEDICATED & CONSECRATED & WHO REALLY LOVE HIM & ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE WAY HE WANTS THINGS, that I'm sure He will probably have a little difficulty picking out enough people to fill all the jobs there! He's probably going to have to draw a good deal on some of the past Christians, those who have gone on before. Don't forget, we won't be the only ones who get caught up in the Rapture, we're not the only ones going to Heaven!--There are millions of Christians from past generations who will be there with us!
126. WE'RE GOING TO HAVE THE HELP OF ALL THE SAINTS OF GOD WHO HAVE ALREADY GONE ON & WHO KNOW A LOT MORE ABOUT THINGS THAN WE DO! They will have had months, years, centuries, thousands of years in Heaven with the Lord!--Think how much they will have learned by that time! You think you're going to be the top dogs?--Don't kid yourselves! There are lots of our brethren who have already gone on who are going to know a lot more than you & I & will be able to tell us what to do!
127. AND AS WE BROUGHT OUT IN OUR LESSON ON THE MARRIAGE SUPPER & THE JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST, THERE ARE GOING TO BE ALL KINDS OF GRADES & CLASSES & LEVELS OF CHRISTIANS! I'm sure the great Patriarchs & Prophets & Apostles & heroes of the Bible & of History, who were so faithful to the Lord in this life, will be trusted with a lot of responsibility in the next life! And exactly where down the line each of us is going to be will depend largely upon how faithful we are to Him & the job He's given each of us to do here & now!
128. IN FACT, THIS IS THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF LIFE: TO PREPARE US FOR THE NEXT LIFE, when in the Millennium we are going to have to learn how to run the whole World! We are now in our training period in this life in preparation for ruling the World in the next! And if we don't pass the tests & complete the grades & learn the lessons He's trying to teach us in this life, we shall certainly be unfit to rule in the next & shall surely be the least of all in the coming Kingdom of God on Earth, raised to everlasting shame & contempt before all! (Dan.12:2.)
129. WE ARE NOW IN TRAINING FOR THE DAYS WHEN WE WILL RULE THE EARTH!--But before we can do that, we must first learn to rule ourselves. So God is now causing us, in a sense, to practice for what is going to be the real thing, & how we succeed in the present is largely going to determine how we succeed in the future.
130. THIS IS CONFIRMED IN THE WORD BY THE STORY JESUS TOLD ABOUT THE TALENTS. (See Mt.25:14-30.) Those who are now obeying the Lord, doing His Will, investing all their talents wisely for His glory & showing wisdom here & now on Earth, are going to be the future rulers of the Kingdom. Who else would God choose to rule His Kingdom but those men & women who have proven themselves worthy down through the ages, since the beginning?--The faithful servants of God today are going to share the rulership of the Kingdom with all the other greats of God of the past!
131. GOD'S GREATS OF THE FUTURE ARE GOING TO BE THE SAME AS HIS GREATS OF THE PAST! The truly great men & women of God--some unknown to us, perhaps, since History didn't recognise & record them all--are going to continue to be great in the future, including all of us today who are giving our all & doing our best for Jesus & others!--PTL! Are you?
132. BUT SOME PEOPLE HAVE STRANGE IDEAS ABOUT THE FUTURE WORLD: "Oh, I'm going to know everything then, speak any language, be able to do anything!" Some flippant Church people imagine that they're going to suddenly be catapulted into great positions of rulership & responsibility, even though they're doing nothing for Him now!--Well, I'm afraid that's not how it's going to be! God is going to take the talents that He's already given you & that you have already developed & used & profited by, He's going to take the knowledge you have already learned, He's going to take the experiences you have already been through, He's going to take the languages you already know, & use them!
133. YOUR KNOWLEDGE IS NOT JUST GOING TO BE HANDED TO YOU ON A SILVER PLATTER AFTER YOU DIE OR AFTER THE RESURRECTION! We're not going to suddenly receive some gift of absolute total omniscience so that we know everything like God--not even the angels have that! I believe we are going to carry our experiences with us from this life over into the next life!--In fact, I am convinced of it! I cannot just say I believe it!--I know it from the Bible & my experiences & others' afterdeath experiences & just common sense & logic!
134. GOD IS GOING TO USE THE EXPERIENCE, THE TALENTS, THE LANGUAGES THAT YOU NOW KNOW, AS WELL AS THE SUPERNATURAL DIVINE WISDOM & THE MIRACULOUS POWERS THAT HE WILL GIVE YOU. But in many ways you're still going to be very much like you are right now! And everything the Lord has ever taught you during this life & the things that you are learning now are going to come in very handy then.--Just like God had to send Jesus to become a man to understand us, He's going to raise up many generations of Christians who understand this World & its people to run & govern them the way they ought to be governed.
135. SO REMEMBER, EVERYTHING YOU'RE LEARNING NOW & DOING NOW & DECISIONS YOU'RE MAKING NOW & EXPERIENCES YOU'RE HAVING NOW ARE A PART OF YOUR SCHOOLING & TRAINING HERE & NOW TO BE USED THERE & THEN!--Otherwise it would be a total waste of time, except for what little we accomplish here, which isn't very much, comparatively speaking. So for God's sake, let's learn our lessons today & learn to be faithful, obedient, dedicated servants now, so He can trust & bless us with a place of usefulness to Him & others tomorrow! Amen? PTL!
A FINAL WORD!
136. WHAT A WONDERFUL, GREAT, ONE-THOUSAND-YEAR VICTORY WE HAVE TO LOOK FORWARD TO DURING THE MILLENNIUM, even over the wicked by our own personal rule! It's a beautiful prospect not far away, coming soon with the soon-coming of the Lord, as soon as the wicked have completely taken over the Earth under the Antichrist & are destroying it & trying to wipe out God's people, till their cup of iniquity is full. Then Jesus will come & rescue His Own, God will pour out His Wrath upon the wicked, & we will return with the Lord at the great Battle of Armageddon where we will mop things up & take over the World & establish His glorious Millennial Kingdom on Earth!--TYJ!
137. (PROPHECY:) "IN THAT GOLDEN AGE I SHALL RULE UPON THE EARTH IN PERSON WITH A ROD OF IRON & YE SHALL RULE WITH ME IN MIGHTY POWER! Then the lion shall lie down with the lamb & the bear shall eat grass like the ox & the child shall play on the hole of the asp & nothing shall hurt nor destroy in all My Holy Mountain!
138. "HOW RIGHTEOUS SHALL BE THAT WHICH SHALL COVER THE EARTH, & how shalt thou rule & reign with Me, in My throne, even as I have foretold it & given it unto the prophets of old, & also confirmed it now in the mouth of both Moses & David!" Hallelujah!
139. "BEHOLD, THE DAWN COMETH & THE SON OF RIGHTEOUSNESS ARISETH & THIS SHALL BE A NEW DAY, & His Love shall drop down like rain upon the land & there shall spring forth life! There shall be love & laughter & joy & peace for ever after!--Tomorrow!--When He makes the World free!"
140. "FOR THE DARKNESS SHALL TURN TO DAWNING,
And the dawning to noonday bright,
And Christ's great Kingdom shall come on Earth!
The Kingdom of Love & Light!"
141. ARE YOU READY FOR IT? Are you a member of Christ's Kingdom that shall never pass away? Are you one of God's Children through Jesus Christ His Son, the Great Revolutionary Who shall overthrow all Earthly powers & set up our Kingdom on Earth to establish a lasting World of peace & plenty for all?
142. ARE YOU A CITIZEN OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM ON EARTH NOW? Will you rule & reign with Him when He returns soon to rescue His Own?--If not, receive Him now as your personal Saviour! He'll give you peace of mind & satisfaction of heart & love & happiness here & now--& Heaven hereafter!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
