A New Venture

We started to discus the Millennium, the exciting future thousand year reign of Christ on earth.  It is a wonderful study to see how the Old and New Testaments complement each other, even when it comes to the Millennium.  

The thousand year reign of Christ deserves proper investigation by believers.  There is a dearth of information on the Internet and many books that deal with the subject.   We have concluded our discussion of the Millennium and trust the Holy Spirit to lead those who are interested, into further study of this wonderful subject.

The Holy Spirit has laid Psalm 71:18 on our hearts, 

‘Even when I am old and grey, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.’  Psalm 71:18

We are 75.   About 45 years ago the Lord called me out of darkness.  I think He told the Holy Spirit to please help my wife.  We had been married for five years then.  She was a believer and she remained faithful to the Lord while I had no clue about God and His Kingdom.  The clashes were unavoidable because there were two ‘different’ people in one house.  One was a believer and one was not.  

God has been good to us.  Because of various reasons our marriage was a bit under strain when God called me.  (Note ‘a bit’ is an understatement).   Yet with God also in me, our marriage changed for the better.  God willing we will celebrate our 51st wedding anniversary in July.  She is still the best gift God could have given me.  

Because of the way I grew up, I distrusted all authority.  It took me a long time to get used to God and His Book.  There were few facts in the Bible that I did not question.  Today, there are no facts I question.  God answered all my queries.  With His help we both stand strong in the faith.  

In those days I was a tottering, shivering ‘saint.’  When any prominent atheist criticised God and the Bible I started to shiver.  There was no way I could reply to their criticisms.  Today not even the most aggressive ardent ‘qualified’ atheist can cause me to miss a beat.  It is all because of God’s faithfulness, through the Holy Spirit, to me specifically.   

God gave us four children.  How they survived under me remains a mystery.  Yet today they all know the Lord and along with their spouses, trust Him.  We have eleven grandchildren.  God taught us through the years, through many a crisis, but now the time has come to systematically pen it down in a book. 

Our plan is to stop blogging for a time.  Thank you to our loyal readers.  We appreciate you.  From time to time we want to publish excerpts from the proposed book for comments and suggestions from you.  Blessings to all.  

Does God promise and not fulfil?

Numbers 23:19 tells us, 

‘God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak, and not act? Does He promise and not fulfil?’  

The quote is interesting.  The Word of God says God keeps His word, His promises.   Does that hold true in real life?   What about God’s promise to Abraham – the land of Canaan (present day Israel) would belong to Abraham’s descendants?  See Genesis 15:18-21; Joshua 1:4

The land God promised to Abraham’s descendants was larger than what the Jews today describe as Israel.  The Jews have been robbed of their land by various means.  So did God change His mind or fail to fulfil His promise?  

No!  A holy God cannot promise and not deliver.  That would be completely antithetical with God’s character.  Can God fulfil His promise to Abraham on the new heaven and earth?  No!  The present old earth will be destroyed by fire and renewed.  With no sea it will be one universal kingdom without borders that fills the whole earth.    

The last book of Scripture, Revelation, reveals the thousand year reign of Christ.  That is when Christ will return and rule the whole (old) earth from Jerusalem.  The borders of Israel will be as God promised to Abraham.  So the Millennium is an essential ‘component’ of God’s plan.  It explains how God will fulfil His promises to Abraham and others.  It also explains a very interesting verse in Psalm 2.  More about that will follow. 

The message of the Millennium

Revelation 20 mentions the 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth.  It is called the Millennium.  We might easily miss it, since it (apparently) comprises only seven verses. 

John wrote,   

‘And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain.  He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, and bound him for a thousand years.  He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him to keep him from deceiving the nations any more until the thousand years were ended.’  Revelation 20:1-3

  The devil is a mighty ‘warrior’ against God.  Yet an ordinary angel comes down from heaven with a key and a chain.  It is an amazing scene where the ‘mighty’ devil is seized and thrown into a dungeon (Abyss) so he cannot deceive the nations for that thousand years. 

During the millennium Jesus will reign in Jerusalem.  The world will be very different. There will be peace, harmony and fruitfulness.  For example, 

‘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.’  Isaiah 11:6

Personally we thought that Jesus’ thousand year reign was just something ‘small.’  So  the following quote from a book shocked us out of our socks, 

‘A larger portion of prophetic Scripture is devoted to the subject of the Millennium, developing its character and conditions, than any other one subject [in the Bible].’  ¹ 

We want to look more closely at this theme.  Especially since it is Easter and we remember that it is because of the Victory of Jesus on the Cross that He got the right to rule from His beloved Father.  

Reference

1. J Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come, Zondervan Publishing House, 1964, p 476