We will now consider one of the promises God made to Abram.
Genesis 12:3 “And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you”.
It is a promise that has been fulfilled, is being fulfilled and will be fulfilled in and by Jesus, the eternal Son of God. The shedding of innocent and substitutionary blood began in the Garden of Eden and has always pointed to the precious blood of Jesus, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Please look it up:
Matthew 1:1 “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”
David was Israel’s great and godly king. Now let us read the words of the angel, when he spoke with Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Luke 1:29-35 “Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
But the angel said to her ‘Do not be afraid , Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; His kingdom will never end!”
‘How will this be?’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin’ ?
The angel answered ‘the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, so the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. “
Where did David have his throne? Was it In Heaven? Or was it on earth, in Jerusalem? Where will the Lord Jesus sit on David’s throne? Will that be in Heaven? Or will it be on earth, in Jerusalem? Today we read all the predictions made by the angel to Mary. And we know that many of them have been fulfilled. Those that were not fulfilled also will be. It is certain that the Lord God will give His Son the throne of his father David! God swore an oath when He gave that promise to David and He does not break His oath and promise.
Psalm 132:11-14 “The Lord swore an oath to David, a sure oath that He will NOT REVOKE! One of your descendants I will place on your throne. If your sons keep My covenant and the statutes I teach them, then their sons will sit on your throne forever and ever. For the Lord has chosen Zion, He has desired it for His dwelling. This is My resting place, for ever and ever.”
Only one of David’s descendants kept God’s covenant and statutes; only one of them has the right to the throne of David. It will be Jesus, the son of David, the son of Mary, the Son of God.
There is a Scripture that, one year after another, is on the mind of many:
Isaiah 9:6,7 “For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given. And the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom. Establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will establish this!”
Today Israel does not know about the zeal of the Lord Almighty. She has chosen her own time to return to the land and must now continue her difficult battles with difficult people. Israel does not have an attitude of God’s righteousness and justice. And judgment will follow. But many Scriptures repeatedly mention the important word -‘forever’. They assure us that the truth mentioned is still to become reality, because it will be ‘forever’.
In our days, when mighty nations become exasperated and international power conferences are powerless to stop the turmoil and bloodshed in the Middle East, the people of God may rejoice. Their Lord and Master will bring all of it to an end.
Isaiah 11:4,5 “ With righteousness He will judge the needy, with justice He will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth; with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be His belt and faithfulness will he the sash around His waist.”
Jeremiah was called to underwrite Isaiah:
Jeremiah 23:5,6 “The days are coming declares the Lord when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King Who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In His days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the Name by which He will be called: ’The Lord our righteousness’.
There will be no turmoil and bloodshed. No quibbling over land-rights. The Divine King will reign on earth in His own right. All warmongering will be banned. Causes of pollution will be stopped before they can start. It must and will end in the brightest glory for His holy Name..
The Lord Jesus, on the throne of David, will show up the foolishness of human hearts that rejected Him and His loving grace. Yes, there still will be poor and needy people. But under His reign there will not be any oppression or wilful harm. Sinful human hearts will have to submit to His rule of righteousness. That will guarantee food and shelter for all.
The Bible tells us that our Lord will reign with an iron Sceptre. It will be so because some will still want to be unruly (Psalm 2:9, Revelation 19:15). A sceptre over nature as well over the nations.
Isaiah 11:4-9 “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra and the young child put his hand into a viper’s nest. They will neither harm or destroy on My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea,”
When God is in control there will be nothing out of control. He will have nature like He first created it. Like it was, before Sin entered the world.
One question was: “Do you think that the Lord’s reign on earth will change the animals’ digestive workings?’ Good question! It generated more questions. ‘What do you think it was like when God first created the animal-world? Does God have the wisdom and power to restore according to His plan and desire?’ Didn’t Isaiah answer all those questions?
The Church of the Lord Jesus may already sing the glory-song. United to, and one with her Head, one day the song will reverberate through the heavens:
Revelation 11:15-18 “And the seventh angel sounded his trumpet and there were loud voices in Heaven, which said:
‘The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.’
And the twenty four elders who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshipping God, saying: ‘We give thanks to You, Lord God Almighty, The One Who is and Who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. The Nations were angry . . . “.
From creation onward ‘the world’ has always been one of the provinces of the Kingdom of God. But temporarily, and by God’s permission, the prince of this world has been doing the ‘reigning’ (John 12:31 / 16:11). That prince has been defeated! On the Cross and by the open the grave of Jesus! And finally Jesus’ victory will become complete! With Him His Church in glory and through Him peace on earth.
During the reign of ‘the prince of this world’ the nations were happy. But once our Lord’s victory becomes confirmed, the nations ‘will be angry’. For one thousand years they must bow to the iron sceptre. For one thousand years they will see, in the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of our Lord and His Christ, the divine credentials, but . . . the nations will be angry.
Revelation 20 tells us about the 1000 years. It relates to the capture of Satan, the prince of this world. Its purpose will be ‘to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore, until the 1000 years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.’ (Revelation 20:3).
‘Until the thousand years are ended’ does not mean that our Lord will reign for a thousand years. Isaiah tells us that He will reign on David’s throne forever and ever.(Isaiah 9;6,7).
Oh, the marvellous mercy of a mighty God! One thousand years of His reign in righteousness. His Grace ruling with an iron sceptre. And sinful nations will still be angry.
Revelation 20:7-10 “When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of he earth - Gog and Magog -, to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city He loves. But fire came down from Heaven and devoured them.
And the Devil who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning suphur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night, forever and ever.
On Patmos the Apostle John confirmed an ages old prophecy. We find that in the Book of Zechariah. Zechariah 12: 1-9 “This is the word of the Lord - concerning Israel:-
The Lord, Who stretches out the heavens. The Lord Who lays the foundations of the earth and Who forms the spirit of man within him, He declares: ‘I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all surrounding nations reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a fire-pot in a woodpile. Like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain in tact in her place. The Lord will save the dwellings of Judah first so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the Lord going before them.
On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.”
Jerusalem, ‘the camp of God’s people, the city He loves’ so wrote John..
Why is Israel in the city and land today? Did God bring them in? Or was it the zeal of Zionism? With bloodshed and murder Israel must defend her position. Is the Lord God fighting for her? Or is Israel fighting for herself? Just like forefather Jacob.
When God brings Israel back into the land, it will be like this:
Isaiah 51:11 “The ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; Everlasting joy will crown their heads.”
Isaiah 49:22 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘See, I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up My banner to the peoples, they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.”
23 “ . . . THEN you will know that I am the Lord, those who hope in Me will not be disappointed.”
26 “ . . . Then ALL MANKIND will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel.”
For the remainder of His Church the Lord Jesus will come on the clouds. Not every eye will see Him and the nations will not mourn. The remainder of His Church has, in the Bible, the assured hope of a promise, which the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church :
1 Corinthians 15:51,52 “Listen, I tell you a mystery : ‘We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. Then the saying that is written will come true: DEATH has been swallowed up in VICTORY”
Now, for the Nations and Israel the Lord Jesus will stand on the Mount of Olives. In Him and with Him will be His Church, His body of which He is the Head (1 Corinthians 12:13,27 /Colossians 1:18).
That will be after ‘the Gospel of the Kingdom’ has been preached to ALL nations.
The nations then will mourn. For one thousand years, on the throne of David, Jesus will prove to them the validity of the Divine credentials. The rightful owner will claim His possession. And He, and in Him His church, will be joined by His elect, those who, through the great tribulation, stood firm to the end. For one thousand years the elect will reign with Him.
Revelation 20:4,5,6 “I (John) saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the Word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended). This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.”
They will be given authority to judge their perpetrators of pain and dealers in death.
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