The Christ in Prophecy Journal

God’s Order of Events: The Millennial Kingdom

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What is the purpose of the Millennial Kingdom for Jesus and for the Jews?

On Monday, January 30, 2012, I was interviewed by host Brian Thomas of Blessings to Israel Ministries on his “God First” program. During the 45-minute interview we discussed the prophetic sequence of end time events, placing each event into its proper chronological order.

Blessings to Israel Ministries

6) The Millennial Kingdom

Brian Thomas: Often while growing up and I hear this myth even today, that when Jesus Christ comes back He is going to destroy the earth by burning it up and we will go off to Heaven with Him leaving the earth to cease to exist. Is that the case?

Nathan Jones: No, no, no. Gods got a plan. He’s not done with the Jews. He didn’t do all of the Tribulation just to get the remnant of the Jews saved and then go up to Heaven and that’s the end of that. God made certain promises to the Jewish people as a nation. They are especially set apart for a future blessing. Some Christians don’t like that idea, though, believing in Replacement Theology. But, the Lord made promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that their descendants would:

  1. possess the land from the Euphrates River to the Nile River
  2. have someone ruling on the Throne of David forever
  3. be a special priestly group of people.

To accomplish this, according to Revelation 20, Jesus has set apart a thousand years for what we call the Millennial Kingdom. The Latin word milla means “thousand,” so a millennia is a thousand years when Jesus sets up His kingdom to rule and reign on the earth from Jerusalem. This also fulfills the promises made to the Son of God that He will rule and reign over an earthly kingdom. The saved people who survived the Tribulation will live on into that thousand years, and the Jewish people in particular will be considered a special priestly group of people during that time.

Those of us who were raptured will be there on earth during the Millennial Kingdom living in our glorified bodies. We’ll be helping those who are living there in their earthly bodies. The Bible says that we will reign during that time as well. We’ll be administrators, officials, and teachers helping those those people over the thousand years.

The Millennial Kingdom is characterized by the curse being partially lifted. That’s when the wolf will lie down next to the lamb and the lamb will not fear the predator. The lion will eat straw like an ox, instead of meat. They won’t be carnivorous anymore, and I guess neither will we. Kids can play with poisonous snakes without fear of being bitten. In other words, the natural enmity between man and animal-kind will be no more.

The Millennial Kingdom will also be a time when all that decimation of the Tribulation will be erased by Jesus. He will rebuild the planet very quickly and it will be as garden like as it was in Eden.

The curse won’t totally be removed because people in their earthly bodies will still want to sin. They’re still going to want to act badly because that temptation is there, even if it won’t be Satan and the demons tempting the people anymore. Each person will be responsible for their own falling into sin. So, there will be sin during the Millennial Kingdom, but not nearly at the levels at which it is today.

During the Millennial Kingdom Jesus will rule and reign physically right here on earth. People can go up to Jesus and talk right to Him face-to-face. With Jesus present and quite visibly in charge, it will be the most peaceful time in the planet’s history.

Brian Thomas: That’s going to be a wonderful time!

There’s such a difference in looking at Jesus’ First Coming versus His Second Coming. At Jesus’ First Coming, He came as a suffering lamb. He didn’t receive glorification from the world. He was humiliated, ridiculed, mocked, you name it. But, when Jesus comes back the second time, the Bible says He will be as a conquering lion ready to rule the Millennial Kingdom.

Those symbols of Christ’s two comings tie directly to the name of your ministry, Lamb and Lion, do they not?

Nathan Jones: You caught onto what the ministry’s named after. That’s good! People get the order mixed up all the time. I know I did when I first heard it. I kept on calling it Lion and Lamb. The founder, Dr. David Reagan, jokes that over the years people have had some crazy names for our ministry like “Lame and Blind” and” Lemon and Lime.” People can remember our ministry’s name just like you said if they remember that Jesus first came as a suffering lamb to sacrifice Himself on our behalf, but when He returns He will return as the conquering lion. He will be the king over all the world. That explanation of the order of Christ’s comings helps people remember our ministry is named Lamb & Lion Ministries, and our website URL is lamblion.com.

Brian Thomas: Right. Now, during the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ it will be a theocracy. Jesus will reign supreme as the leader over the entire world. He’s going to have His government, the only world government. So, that means that any leader of any nation such as a President or Prime Minister will all have to answer to Jesus Christ concerning the rules and laws that He will make, correct?

Nathan Jones: Correct. There’s even a Millennial Kingdom example given concerning Syria and Egypt. During that time period there will be a feast each year and everyone will come into Jerusalem and celebrate that feast. The nations that start rebelling by refusing to go, God will hold the water back giving them a drought until they repent of their rebellion.

What’s neat to consider is that we read about Syria today where their President al-Assad is slaughtering his own people. There’s a rebellion against his rulership. We know that Israel is going to have to deal with Syria prophetically so that Damascus will be destroyed. To think that the oldest city in the world will be destroyed. We also read about Egypt when in 2011 their people toppled their President Mubarak. Egypt is getting rid of their peace treaty with Israel and the Muslim Brotherhood is taking over. These two nations hate Israel with a burning passion. There’s a satanic rage that fuels their drive to hate Israel. And yet, we read that during the Millennial Kingdom which will initially be populated by only people who believe in Christ. Syria and Egypt are nations that will be reformed once again with believing people. Egypt will be a Christian nation once more. Syria will be a Christian nation once more. The whole world begins as a Christian nation. The old enemy nations of today will become the future friends of Israel.

Over the time of the millennia, children will be born to the people who entered into it from the Tribulation, and they too will have to make a decision for Christ or not. Over that thousand years we also discover that the life span of people will be considered very long. If a child dies at 100 they are considered just a babe. The enormous life spans people had before the Flood will return once again during the Millennial Kingdom. Those children will have their massively long life spans to choose God or not.

7) The Second Gog-Magog Battle

Nathan Jones: The next prophetic event happens at the end of the Tribulation when God releases Satan from the Abyss he’s been held captive in for the last thousand years.

Brian Thomas: When Jesus Christ comes back He will set up His Millennial Kingdom which will last for a thousand years. Just before the beginning of His Kingdom Satan was locked up in the bottomless pit by an angel and will be unable to influence the people on earth. The children who will be born during the thousand year earthly reign of Christ will have to make a decision concerning Christ, and many unfortunately will reject Him. The earth’s population will be great due to longer life spans among many other things, so there will be a lot who will refuse to accept Christ. At the end of the millennial reign, Satan will be released from the pit and come to earth to influence the inhabitants of the earth. Then what will happen?

Nathan Jones: Like you said, there will be a huge population on the planet of people still living in their fleshly bodies. They will still want to sin, but they don’t have a rallying point to rally around to declare their independence from God. It’s amazing to think that they’ll live in a paradise, they’ll have Jesus personally there loving them, and it’s the best the earth has been since the Garden of Eden, and yet so many of the people born in that era will still refuse to accept Jesus as Savior. They’ll still want to rebel against them. They’ll still want to do their own sinful things that hurt their bodies and hurt other people. Just amazing!

So that these rebellious people can have a rallying point in which to finally face judgment, God releases Satan from the Abyss. Satan immediately goes out across the planet and gathers the nations of peoples who want to rebel against God. Satan then leads a revolt at Jerusalem against Jesus, and just like what happened at Armageddon, with just a few words Jesus totally defeats those armies. They probably won’t even have weapons because it says during the Millennial Kingdom that people will have beaten their swords into plowshares and pruning hooks. In other words, there won’t be any weapons of war during that time. So, I don’t know what Satan plans on attacking with, maybe big sticks with nails in them, or something bizarre like that. I don’t know. But, we do know that Satan is going to attack one last time and Jesus puts him and his rebellious hordes down instantly. We can read all about the final rebellion in Revelation 20.

Isn’t it amazing that humanity can be so depraved that even in a utopia they will still wish to join Satan and fight against Jesus? They actually think they can overcome the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

This finally rebellion is called the Second Gog-Magog Battle because it has a number of similarities to the first one described in Ezekiel 38-39. The most glaring difference is that this attack is worldwide in scope and not just a few nations raging against Israel as Ezekiel describes.

Brian Thomas: Thank you for pointing that out, because so many are surprised to hear that there will be two Gog-Magog wars in the future — one prior to the Tribulation and one at the close of the Millennial Kingdom.

In the last part of this series on God’s order of events, Brian and I will discuss the final judgment — the Great White Throne Judgment — and on into eternity.

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Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

9 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • Rodney said '…Israel will not face off with Syria nor will the United States, Russia and Iran will fiercly defend Syrian territory!

    Rodney, please, share with us where you are getting your prize 'stuff' from?!?
    I have both friends & relatives in serious pain who could benefit from the medicinal 'effects' of a properly loaded bong.

    In light of all modern reportings from both Christian and Conservative sources, I cannot fathom where in the dark nether-regions you are extracting this stuff from, but contrary to the true predicted outcome of P83/I17, you sound very much like you have now included yerself in the self-same accusations as to these others that you rail against:

    "…As the false prophets in the days of Israel, they speak of…[blah, blah, blah]..!"


    "…Nathan Jones and Sean Osborne…are evil men
    that capitalize off fables and the twisting and distortion of scripture…"

    Israel will indeed "face off with Syria" [according to prophecy!], AND Israel has made it ABUNDANTLY CLEAR for several yrs now, that they hold, not all of Syria, but Damascus alone RESPONSIBLE, the HQ of Hamas, Hizbulah, & other Muslim-brotherhoodies for starting Isaiah 17:1, and ending with Isaiah 17:14!!!

    BTW, Just a little reminder…Unless you have any real substance to your accusations… ..it has a way of coming back on you.

  • NoFog (Sean Osborne clone), Israel as well as the United States can only continue their rhetoric, they no longer have a strategic advantage in the region! The rhetoric will continue to rise leading up to the Gog/Magog battle when Damascus will also come to its ruin as a result of a great earthquake recorded in Ezekiel 38:19,20.

    So sorry the Bill Salus Psalm 83 scenario is not working for you and I could really care less concerning your personal opinion of me! I am simply laying out the truth as presented in the scriptures! Iran will remain intact as well as Syria at the time of the Gog/Magog invasion! The well circulated rumors of an imminent U.S. or Israel attack on Iran is nothing more than a fable!

    Israel knows full well that a strike on Iran will invite a Russian military response. The United States also knows that any misadventure on their behalf toward Syria or Iran will bring a Russian as well as Chinese military response while Iran will coordinate attacks on U.S. bases in the region! In the simplest of terms niether the U.S. or Israel is willing to risk starting a third world war so they can only continue spewing the rhetoric!

    The Gog/Magog participants are presently being dragged into the arena of the surrounding borders of Israel, Syria is the central point of their gathering if you have taken notice! It is unfortunate that so many are slumbering or in the dark here, grasping for straws and clinging to fables, the truth is visible, you just have to have the discernment to see it!

  • The military prowess of Israel and their former glory is no more, their enemies now have a clear strategic advantage! The 2006 Hezbollah conflict revealed the fading military capabilities of Israel as Merkava tanks were being eliminated as quickly as they were deployed! The only thing that saved Israel was air superiority, yet now Israeli airfields are the primary target of a coordinated Iranian-Syrian-Hezbollah-Hamas missile barrage!

    Though Israel has a capable naval force, Russian and Iranian naval vessels in the area will keep them in check also! Without air superiority any ground forces launched by Israel would come under immediate attack by Syrian and Iranian aircraft including attack helicopters. Israel is now more vulnerable to elimination than ever before, an enticing portrait for the evil thought proposed by Gog! In the end Israel will remain yet not for their sakes but for the sake of the Holy Name of God alone!

  • See Rodney, in just yer very 1st sentence alone, you have compacted multiple errors into it!

    1stly, wholly wifout foundation, you accuse me of being a "(Sean Osborne clone)"! Absolutely hilarious!!

    Dude, never met him, dated him, kissed him, don't even know if he even still has an active website!!

    I can only guess that you 'jumped' to yer erroneous contusion..? confusion..? Oh, Conclusion!! [yeah, that's it].., on the basis that I just… happened… to… quote… YOU & YOUR ACCUSATION against him…

    Hmmmm! That must bug you when yer stuff comes back to bite you!

    I only remember noting that when I 1st joined onto here a couple yrs ago, that he frequently shredded all yer baloney theories, AND ALSO pointed out why he booted [as in 'Banned'!] yer contentious, inflammatory-name-calling, accusations-of-heretical-deceivers, butt
    from his blogsite…

    But then again, that 1st sentence says it all, and is all typical of yer unique interpretive "style" of reading things into the context…

    And Oh Gee, and I hadn't even gotten past the 1st comma, to points 2 & 3!!
    …I rest fer a little while…
    😉

  • Alright, Gentlemen, since we can't know exactly how current events in the Middle East will play out, there's no need to be so adamant or persnickety with each other. I don't think we'll have too long to discover how this is all going to pan out.

  • Indeed Nathan, it will all be revealed very soon! I would however disagree regarding whether or not we can know exactly how current events will play out, for with confidence, I can say I do know and by late March you will also!

  • Dr. NoFog, if you had an independent theological viewpoint regarding Bible Prophecy then perhaps it would be worth engaging in a discussion with you, yet as we all can plainly see, you continue to follow the crowd!! Just be careful that next step is a long way down!!

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