Dear Readers,
This is installment #4 in a series called “The Amazing Millennium, from A to Z.”
Seth, my fellow commentator, is a dear friend of mine. We wrote this book in 2016. It is available on Amazon Kindle, complete with beautiful pictures and a large appendix of additional resources at https://www.amazon.com/Marvelous-Millennium-Picture-Seekers-Truth-ebook/dp/B01M3VXDXP
K is for Kindly
Psalm 72:12-14
“He will rescue the poor when they cry to him; he will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them. He feels pity for the weak and the needy, and he will rescue them. He will redeem them from oppression and violence, for their lives are precious to him.”
Isaiah 61:2,3a
“He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies. To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory.”
Asher: In the Millennial Kingdom, the Holy Spirit will fill the hearts of most of the people in the world. Since kindness is a fruit of the Spirit, we can conclude that our relationships with our brothers and sisters in the Lord will be remarkably kind. But the best example for kindness will come directly from the Lord of Love, the Messiah-King. His great mercy will instruct and inspire the decisions of all those He places into positions of government. Through the rule of His people, the Lord’s kindness will influence the entire world for 1,000 years!
Seth: Toward the end of this present time (the “church age”), God tells us that people will become more and more cold-hearted as wickedness increases everywhere. We can already see this happening today. Our grandparents tell us how dark the world has grown, even in the last 30 years! In the Millennial Kingdom, God’s Law will be loved, and people will again know right from wrong. The love we will all share for Christ will overflow to one another through great understanding and empathy for the suffering of others.
L is for Loving
Psalm 48:9-11; 14
“O God, we meditate on your unfailing love as we worship in your Temple. As your name deserves, O God, you will be praised to the ends of the earth. Your strong right hand is filled with victory. Let the people on Mount Zion rejoice. Let all the towns of Judah be glad because of your justice. For that is what God is like. He is our God forever and ever, and he will guide us until we die.”
Isaiah 49:15, 16a
“…Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you. See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands…”
Asher: The lyrics of an old hit tune say: “What the world needs now is love, sweet love…that’s the only thing that there’s just too little of!” King Yeshua will change all that forever! Not only will His Spirit move us all to love one another in astonishing new ways every day, but His love for his followers will be like the love that a bridegroom has for his bride. Many Bible teachers believe that the entire book of the Bible titled “Song of Songs” can be read as if it were a love letter from Yeshua to his beloved, eternal spouse…US! Read a few chapters sometime, and you will see that the Millennial reign will be one long romance!
“You have captured my heart, my treasure, my bride. You hold it hostage with one glance of your eyes, with a single jewel of your necklace. Your love delights me, my treasure, my bride. Your love is better than wine, your perfume more fragrant than spices” (Song of Songs 4:9-10).
Seth: In the book of Hosea, God uses real people in a real story to teach about His love for His bride…Israel and the Church! God instructs Hosea to marry a woman that he knows will be unfaithful. This mirrors God’s experience with his covenant people, Israel. In perhaps the greatest Old Testament display of love, God commands Hosea to go to the slave market and buy back his wife after she has sold herself into prostitution. This is a beautiful illustration of the amazing love and undeserved redemption that we can see in the cross of Christ.
The story continues in the New Testament with Jesus being pictured as a Bridegroom. We were all once stained with sin like scarlet, but those who have been washed in the blood of Christ can be presented to him as a perfect bride, radiant and glowing white! In his infinite love, Jesus has bought Jew and Gentile back from the slave market of worldliness and taken us to live with Him in holy matrimony. In the Millennium, He will be free to fully show His love to us, and we, His spotless Bride, will be able to fully return it! No wonder men and women across the globe who are born during millennial days will want to become part of this great redeeming love of the glorious King for His beautiful bride!
M is for Miraculous
Zechariah 14:8
“On that day life-giving waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half toward the Dead Sea and half toward the Mediterranean, flowing continuously in both summer and winter.”
Isaiah 35:5-7
“And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf. The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing for joy! Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the wasteland. The parched ground will become a pool, and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land. Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived.”
Asher: In the Kingdom Age, it is likely that miracles will be an everyday occurrence! Yeshua does supernatural things easily because he is a supernatural person! One of the greatest revelations the Jewish people of the Millennium will have is that the Messiah-King is not just a great man—he is a great God! Psalm 72:18 says, “Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.”
During his reign on the earth, the great king will show us miracles of restoration throughout the earth, miracles of healing for the sick, miracles of provision for the needy, and miracles of all sorts which men have never yet seen performed!
But there is one more aspect of the miraculous Millennium which must be declared:
The glorious saints of the Lord will be working many of those miracles themselves! Jesus told us something mysterious and amazing in John 14:12 when he said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
Seth: From the very early part of Jesus’ ministry to the Acts of the apostles after his death, the Spirit of God poured out miracles on humanity, and still does. It is interesting to note, though, that the miracles were limited, and Jesus showed personal restraint. On several occasions after miraculous healings, he even said, “tell no one of this.” I believe that Jesus limited His miracles because He used them mainly to create faith in the hearts of men. In the Kingdom Age, when “faith becomes sight,” the whole world will understand who Jesus is and what he teaches. There will be no doubt about Christ’s majesty and his authority over all life. I believe this will free up our Lord to perform as many miracles as he wants (which may be about one million a day!) and we will all be beneficiaries and witnesses of those miracles!
N is for New
Jeremiah 31:31-33
“The day is coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife, says the Lord. But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
Revelation 21:5
“And the one sitting on the throne said, ‘Look, I am making everything new!’ And then he said to me, ‘Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.’”
Asher: From orchids to orcas; redwoods to roses, the Lord of all creation loves to create! “Behold, he makes all things new!” The Millennial Age will feature a new man (2 Corinthians 5:17), singing a new song (Psalm 40:3), given a new and living way (Hebrews 10:20) to enjoy forever. Even at the close of the Millennium, God has promised to create “new heavens and a new earth!” (Isaiah 65:17). With God, nothing is EVER allowed to get old, not even our joy at spending eternity with Him!
Seth: One of the criticisms of believing in a literal, 1,000-year, earthly kingdom that occurs before the eternal heaven is that it’s just too “different” from anything we have ever known. How could “glorified” persons (the believers in Christ who have been made perfect and eternal) eat, drink and live beside men who will be born into sin (the children of Tribulation survivors) during the Kingdom years? Well, think of it this way…did not the perfect man, Jesus, come and live among sinners after his resurrection?
This will be an entirely new golden age of creation. It is hard to imagine, but it is thrilling to understand and believe!
- If you would like to comment, send me an email to: mandel_r@shaker.org