After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”

“Yes, he does,” he replied.

When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own sons or from others?”

“From others,” Peter answered.

“Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.” (Matt. 17:24-27)

Who Are We, Really?
The Bible doesn’t give us very much detail about the Church in the New Jerusalem. Most of what we can read about the Kingdom Age (Millennium) is in the Old Testament and concerns Israel’s life on Earth during that time.  But the New Testament does contain two models of the Church.  One is the Bride of Christ and the other is the Royal Family.  Most of us are more familiar with the Bride model, probably because it’s more pertinent to our earthly relationships.

The other model, that of a Royal Family, is actually more relevant to our life in the Millennium.  For example, I think the phrase “rule and reign with Him” really describes the Royal Family model.    Although the Bible has more to say about the Royal Family than it does about the Bride, most of aren’t as familiar with what it says.  For this reason I want to focus on the Royal Family model in this study.

This idea has been running around in my mind since I did some additional research on Rev. 5:9-10 recently for my series on Rapture References.  There’s no question that verse 9 describes the church.  At issue is whether verse 10 should be read  as “Kings and Priests” or as “a kingdom and priests”. (I’ll compare the two versions for you later.) As the Mathew passage above shows, there’s a big difference between being part of a kingdom and being in the Royal Family.  And it’s not just about paying taxes. The life of the Royal Family is very different from that of other members of the kingdom.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:12-13)

The first time we were born we were merely part of the vast creation.  But when we were born again we received the authority to become members of God’s own family.  Paul said it like this.

“When we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir” (Gal.4:3-7).

 

Just so you would know he was serious about being one of God’s heirs, Paul said it again.

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ … (Romans 8:17).

Think about that for a minute.  Co-heirs with Christ. What does that mean? Remember, in the Temple Tax incident above Jesus didn’t say “The Son is exempt,”meaning Himself, but “The sons are exempt,” including us.

In Psalm 2:8 God said to Him, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.”

If Planet Earth is His inheritance and we’re co-heirs with Him, then everything that comes from it will accrue to our benefit.  Royal Families don’t have to worry about supporting themselves.  Their support comes from the proceeds of the kingdom.  Since the Earth is our inheritance, should we expect the people of Earth  to support us in the Millennium?  Let’s ask John.

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. (Rev. 21:22-26)

The splendor, glory and honor of Earth will be brought to us in the New Jerusalem. The very best the planet has to offer during a time when there’s no more curse to inhibit its production will be reserved for us.

It was always in God’s mind that His Church would become His Royal Family.For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:29)

Do You Work Here?
People often ask me, “What are we going to do in the Millennium?” or “What kind of work does God have in mind for us?” Here’s where Americans have to read our world history again.  Did royals ever work?  No.  They always pursued the finer things of life.  One of the reasons they’re called nobility is because their lives are devoted to more noble pursuits.  They get the best of everything and their every need is met in a luxurious way.  Because they’re fallen, sinful beings some of them have wasted their lives and disgraced themselves, but you and I will be divested of our sin nature.  We’ll be pure and perfected, and instead of acting in a manner that’s beneath us like some earthly nobles do, we’ll aspire to be our very best.  And the prototype for the very best is King Jesus, to whose likeness we will have been conformed.

As John wrote, Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)

Paul always encouraged us to see ourselves that way now, like royalty in training.  He wanted us to start living our destiny immediately by becoming worthy of our calling now. “Only let us live up to what we have already attained,” he said. (Phil. 3:16)

And Peter agreed.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)

Calling us a royal priesthood is the same as saying we’ll be Kings and Priests.

And that brings us full circle to the verse that started me thinking along these lines in the first place.  So what do we think?  Should it read,

You have made them to be a kingdom  and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5:10 NIV, etc.).

Or does this version seem to be more consistent with the other Scriptures we’ve looked at,

You have made us to be kings and priests to serve our God, and we will reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5:10 KJV, YLT)

Remember, the Greek word for King and Kingdom is the same, differing only by gender.  King is the masculine form, and according to Strong’s concordance it’s the one used in Rev. 5:10.  In 118 appearances in the New Testament it’s never translated Kingdom, which is the feminine form of the word and has a different Strong’s number.  So the verse is more grammatically and theologically correct when it’s translated Kings and Priests, which defines only the Church, rather than a kingdom and priests.  The Royal Family model gives us an another exciting glimpse into the nature of our eternal destiny.

This Is Your Life
For a good part of the Kingdom Age life on Earth will be a very pleasant, trouble free existence, especially in Israel.

“The days are coming,” declares the LORD,  “when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman  and the planter by the one treading grapes.  New wine will drip from the mountains  and flow from all the hills.  I will bring back my exiled people Israel;  they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;  they will make gardens and eat their fruit.(Amos 9:13-14)

“Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with cane in hand because of his age. The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.” (Zechariah 8:4-5)

Every man will sit under his own vine  and under his own fig tree,  and no one will make them afraid,  for the LORD Almighty has spoken. (Micah 4:4)

But life in the New Jerusalem will exceed this by such an order of magnitude that there’s no comparison.  I’m convinced that the reason the Bible doesn’t say much about what’s in store for us is because it defies description.  We simply could not believe it.

As it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” – but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. (1 Cor. 2:8-10).  We can only imagine.

The Ottoman Empire existed from 1299 until 1922.  It was in many respects the Islamic successor to the Eastern leg of the Roman Empire and like the Romans had its headquarters in Constantinople (Istanbul).  At the peak of its power, the Ottoman Empire extended from the Adriatic Sea in the west to the Caspian Sea in the east and from Austro-Hungary in the north to the southern tip of the Red Sea.   It was at the center of interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds for 6 centuries.  The Ottoman Empire was defeated in World War 1 after aligning with Germany.  Its dissolution at the end of the war led to the formation of 40 new countries in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa, many of them on land once claimed by the Romans.

Suleiman The MagnificentThe Empire’s greatest days occurred under the rule of Suleiman the Magnificent who reigned from 1520-1566. Only 25 years old when he came to power, Suleiman began his reign by performing many acts of kindness and mercy toward his people.  He freed hundreds of slaves, showered his officers with gifts, and built a school for slaves.  To the Ottomans he was known as The Lawgiver, having re-written  the non-Shariah portions of the law.  This was the law by which the Empire was governed for all of the remaining years of its existence. Because of the humanitarian nature of his laws he was also called  Suleiman the Just by his subjects.

Suleiman was a powerful conqueror for Islam.  His armies pushed the boundaries of the Empire nearly to Vienna and his powerful navies controlled the Mediterranean.  Because of the tribute he received Suleiman became one of the wealthiest men of all time.  He never wore the same clothes twice, he ate from solid gold plates with jewel encrusted utensils and had a harem of over 300 women.

The Ottomans were tolerant toward the Jews and welcomed thousands of them into the Empire after King Ferdinand expelled them from Spain in 1492. Suleiman’s father had wrested control of what is now Israel from Egypt in 1517 and Suleiman fell in love with Jerusalem, ordering its walls rebuilt in 1535.  It was the first successful rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls since the Romans destroyed the city in 70 AD and Suleiman’s walls can still be seen surrounding the Old City today.

(According to Nehemiah, the Persian King Artaxerxes Longimonus issued a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem in the spring of the 20th year of his reign (normal” Nehemiah 2:1). On our calendar it would have been March of 445BC. On the 483rd anniversary of this decree Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey on what we know as the first Palm Sunday, fulfilling the prophecy from Daniel 9:25 of the Lord’s 1st Coming as Israel’s Messiah.  Then in 68-70 AD the city was destroyed by the Romans.  After centuries of being rebuilt and then torn down by various conquering groups, the walls around Jerusalem were finally rebuilt for good by Suleiman beginning in 1535 AD, and during his reign the city enjoyed an exceptional period of peace and religious tolerance.

Based on my understanding of Matt. 24:34 and Psalm 90:10, Jesus should return in 2018, 70 years after the re-birth of Israel.  If so, it will also have been 483 years from the time Suleiman ordered Jerusalem’s walls rebuilt to the 2ndComing. If this is merely a coincidence, it is truly a remarkable one.)

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
Turkey is the surviving remnant of the Ottoman Empire.  Following their defeat in WW1 the Empire was divided up by the victorious Western powers.  Mustafa Kemal Ataturk had been a high ranking Ottoman officer and led the effort to found the Republic of Turkey.  He set about to make it a secular nation in the style of western democracies.  While endorsing Islam, he limited it to the status of a religion instead of allowing it to be the political force it had been.  He saw to the suspension of the Ottoman Caliphate and Sultanate, clearing the way for the newly formed National Parliament to assume ultimate power.  Among the many changes he enforced were the institution of a new language and alphabet, the adoption of western style of dress and mandatory 2nd  names for men, and the granting of full political rights to women.

From that day to this, Turkey has been viewed as a western nation.  With membership in NATO and more than a dozen military and commercial treaties with Israel, Turkey has been an important western ally in the Middle East.  In fact, many students of prophecy have seen Turkey’s alignment with the west as a major obstacle to an early fulfillment of Ezekiel 38-39. It appears from a study of the modern equivalents to the Biblical names mentioned there that Turkey has to be among the Islamic forces invading Israel.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Lately there’s been a major shift in Turkish politics in what could be a dramatic step toward the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38.  After stalling for years, the EU has put Turkey’s application for membership on the back burner and as of now a majority of EU ministers oppose Turkey’s admission to the Union.

Perhaps as a result of this Turkey has begun to look to the East, and currentPrime Minister Erdogan is fast becoming a regional Muslim leader by criticizing Israel—particularly after the Gaza war.  His clout is spreading from the streets of Gaza to Beirut, Damascus, and Cairo—the traditional strongholds of Arab nationalism.
US President Obama understands Turkey’s strategic importance.  Before his presidency was 100 days old, He selected Turkey to host his first visit to a majority Muslim nation in an effort to keep them in the western fold.

The Turkish military has also been a powerful force in maintaining the country’s western leaning secular nature.  In the past it has unilaterally dissolved national governments for becoming too religious, and has outlawed several religiously oriented political parties.  But according to the Associated Press, Turkish police arrested 52 current and former military commanders last week for their part in “allegedly planning to blow up mosques in order to trigger a military takeover and overthrow the Islamic-oriented government” in 2003.  It appears the balance of power has shifted.

PM Erdogan is by far the country’s most popular political leader enjoying wide support among the Turkish people, due in part to his frequent criticism of Israel. Having played a major role in healing the rift between Saudi Arabia and Syria, and forming strategic alliances with Russia, Syria, and Iran, he’s  gaining regional popularity as well.  He single handedly brought Syria out of Arab isolation, helped facilitate the long delayed formation of the new Lebanese government, and has brokered trade agreements with Russia that exceeded $38 billion in 2008 and have a five year target of $100 billion annually.   Recently Erdogan offered to come to Iran’s assistance should there be any attempt to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities.

He’s become convinced that instead of relying on outside powers to bring peace to the Middle East the Ottoman Empire should be re-born to take the lead.  He’s recently been quoted as saying, “Turkey’s goal is to live in peace with all countries and restore the might of the Ottoman Empire.”

The Man With No Name (Yet)
If he can make that happen it would send students of prophecy scurrying back into their Bibles to see if the re-birth of the Ottoman Empire could become the fulfillment of the so-called revived Roman Empire.  There are already some who believe the 7th Kingdom of Rev. 18:10 is the Ottoman Empire, and point out that Constantinople is also a city on seven hills. If so, its loyalty to Islam would confirm the identity of the one world End Times religion, and could also support the idea of an Islamic anti-Christ, the one some call al-Mahdi. As details of Islamic eschatology become more widely known, prophecy students are discovering a striking similarity between descriptions of al-Mahdi and the anti-Christ. I’ve made mention of these in previous articles, how both come on the scene during a time of great turmoil on Earth, both come claiming a desire to restore peace, both have a seven year reign, both head a one world religion and one world government, both claim supernatural origins, and both reigns end in a battle between good and evil that brings Earth’s final judgment.  Could they be one and the same?  The legend surrounding al-Mahdi as being in occlusion (supernaturally hidden) since the 10th century could make him the 8th king who belongs to the seven, just like Rev. 18:11 says.

As you can see we might have an interesting circumstantial case here for a revived Ottoman Empire.  It’s not something to build doctrine on, but it certainly bears watching.  One nice thing about our times is we won’t have long to wait before we find out how these prophecies are fulfilled. You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah.