Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: If Jesus Christ does not come back and establish his throne in Jerusalem for a thousand years, then the Jesus of the Gospels, the Jesus of prophecy, the Jesus of the Bible that we read about is not the one that we know of who's been born in Bethlehem.

David J: Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I'm David J, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's word, the Bible. Everything Pastor Jack Hibbs is doing has a home: jackhibbs.com. It's the place to catch the latest message, revisit a series, listen to the podcast, stream Real Life Network, or find resources that'll help you stay steady in God's word.

Whether you've got five minutes or an hour, start right there. The site keeps it easy to watch, listen, learn, and grow. Visit jackhibbs.com today and stay connected to what God is doing through this ministry. Visit jackhibbs.com. On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues now with his series called "The Life and Times of Jesus Christ" and a message titled "Christ and His Millennial Rule."

Now, this series is all about who Jesus really is, not the Jesus of popular opinion, but the Jesus of the Bible, God himself, who stepped into our world. And in this final message, we'll see the day when Jesus returns to rule and reign on this earth from Jerusalem. You see, one day the Lord himself is going to set up his kingdom right here where we live.

Every government, every ruler will bow to him. It's the answer to that prayer we've prayed so many times: "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that Jesus will reign in righteousness. He'll simply do the right thing every time. And the wonderful part is, when we follow God's word today, he blesses us so much that people around us start asking why.

Before we get into the message, I had a chance to sit down with Pastor Jack and talk about it with him. So, let's get into that. Pastor Jack, I gotta admit, this has been a great series, and I've really enjoyed every second of it. Can I throw something at you real quick? You close this whole series out saying the Billy Graham line, a student gives God five minutes to strike him dead, and Graham asks, "Do you think you can exhaust the patience of God in five minutes?" Where do you want to leave folks as this series wraps up?

Jack Hibbs: Well, I would love for you to exit this series thinking that you've learned biblical truth and you have also learned to wean yourself from the wisdom of man. So, it's the wisdom of man that says things like, "Well, if God is real and if God is God, I will give him five minutes to strike me dead." That is just incredibly ignorant because, as Billy Graham recites that beautifully, can you exhaust the patience of God in five minutes?

What an answer. And so, I would hope that we go away from this series with a greater appreciation for the word of God and for the nature of Jesus Christ and for the fact that salvation is through him and him alone, plus nothing else. Friends, listen, God doesn't need your morality. He doesn't need your money. He doesn't need your good deeds to help him save you and get you into heaven. That would be blasphemous if that's what you think. So the series has been designed in a way to hopefully reveal more of who Jesus truly is.

David J: Love it. To wrap up our series, let's get on with "Christ and His Millennial Rule."

Jack Hibbs: If you'll grab your Bible this morning, we come to our last study in this series, "The Life and Times of Jesus Christ." Grab your Bible, if you'll go to Isaiah this morning, chapter 56, verse 1. Isaiah 56, verse 1. While you're turning there, we have been going through a 16-week series, today being the last study of this series. Today we come to "Christ and His Millennial Kingdom."

In Isaiah chapter 56, verse 1, there Isaiah says the Lord speaks through him, saying, "Thus saith the Lord: Keep justice and do righteousness, for my salvation is about to come and my righteousness to be revealed." What does that verse mean? In fact, what does Isaiah in this chapter speak about? Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Zephaniah—many of the Old Testament prophets spoke in bulk about this time called the Millennium of God.

It's a time that speaks about Christ after having returned in bodily form. Listen, in bodily form to the earth in the second coming, not the Rapture. In the second coming, when Christ returns, it will take him 45 days, according to the book of Daniel chapter 12, verses 10, 11, and 12, to establish his throne from Jerusalem. Now, I don't know where some of you come from, some of your Christian or religious background, but depending upon what denomination you have come from, views this event in scripture as maybe something symbolic.

That is the ruling and reigning of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem bodily. Some denominations teach that it's simply a symbolic message. That's not true. In fact, listen very closely. If Jesus Christ does not come back and establish his throne in Jerusalem for a thousand years, then the Jesus of the Gospels, the Jesus of prophecy, the Jesus of the Bible that we read about is not the one that we know of who's been born in Bethlehem.

He is not the one who was crucified in Jerusalem. Jesus Christ, to complete his prophetic Messiahship, must sit upon the throne of David. That's in Jerusalem. Did you know right now in heaven he's sitting upon his Father's throne? He is not seated and he has not ever been seated upon the throne of David, which is an earthly reign that we call the millennial reign of Christ. It's a thousand years long, thus the word millennium, and it is God's government on earth.

God is going to let man's attempt at government expire. For me, sooner the better. I don't know who you are. Are you a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent or an apathetic? I don't know what you might be, but as a Christian, I may vote a certain direction. I'll pray first and look at the candidates or the issues. I'll pray and I'll vote because I'm almost, though it's a privilege, forced to vote for the lesser of the evils that are there present before me.

But I am a monarchist. I believe in a ruling, reigning king and his name is Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus Christ. And so we look to the Bible and what the Bible says about that. Of course, in your note-taking, jot it down if you would, and that is very important to us, the fact that the book of Colossians—this is the last time you're going to hear it for a while, you've heard it for 16 weeks, this same verse. You've got it memorized, you can even say it backwards, I bet you.

But Colossians chapter 2, verse 9 says, "For in Christ all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form." Now, that's true of Jesus's coming, it's true of his post-resurrection appearances, it's true now, and it will be true when he comes for the church in the Rapture, and it will be true when he comes at least some seven years later at the end of the tribulation period in the great Second Coming.

And it will ultimately be true as he sits in bodily form in Jerusalem upon the throne of David, as we'll see in scripture this morning. Very, very important. You might want to jot down a few things that someone may ask you when you tell them what you've learned today at church: that Jesus is coming to establish his kingdom on earth. You might want to ask the question, "Why?" Well, the first response to the question "Why is Jesus coming back to establish his kingdom?" is, quite frankly, very simple.

The fact is, number one, he's the owner-builder of this universe. And the owner-builder is coming back home to check it out. In fact, Jesus talked about this in Luke chapter 20, verse 9. Jesus said when he brought his disciples together, he told them the parable. And he said a certain man planted a vineyard and leased it to the vinedressers, and he went into a far country for a long time.

He went on to describe that the parable is about himself. He's the creator, let me use it this way, of this earth's vineyard, this earth, this universe. He has gone away and he's coming back to take it for himself. He is both the owner of it all and builder. The Bible says, as we've gone through in our previous studies, that he's the Creator. Well, the Creator is coming back. But why must he sit upon the throne of David?

Why is that important? Well, Jesus said that all scripture must be fulfilled. It is important to the Lord that he complete and fulfill all scripture. Jesus said himself, Matthew 5:18, "Assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle," that is of the Hebrew language, "shall by no means pass away till all the law is fulfilled." Jesus Christ will fulfill, as he has to date, the written word of God.

Matthew 1:1, this is another reason why Jesus Christ must come back to establish his earthly reign. Matthew 1:1, "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham," according to the flesh. This is true. Both Joseph, his stepfather, and Mary came through the bloodline to the throne. Both of them, Joseph and Mary, had rights to the throne of Israel, both legally and through their bloodlines. It had to be Joseph and Mary, but if you know your message well, you also know that according to the curse that was placed upon Jeconiah, whose bloodline flowed through Joseph, you know, of Joseph and Mary, none of Joseph's blood could have been in Jesus Christ, or else he would not have been allowed to take the throne of David.

Well, gee Jack, when did he take the throne of David? Well, that's my whole point. He hasn't taken the throne of David yet. He has to come back to take the throne of David, and that's in Jerusalem. Mary's lineage was not cursed. Joseph's was. But one operated through the legal right to the throne, the other through the DNA, literally, to the throne. Jesus is, in fact, the Savior of the world and legal heir to the throne that is to be established in Jerusalem.

And so Stephen, the great early martyr of the church, even spoke to the nation Israel. "It is this Jesus," he said, "that shall sit upon the throne, and that he is the Son of David." And that throne of David is in Jerusalem. Jesus said this about himself in Matthew chapter 25, beginning at verse 31. Jesus said, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit upon the throne of his glory, and all the nations will be gathered to him, and he will separate them as one separates the sheep from the goats."

And so we come now to the conclusion of our series, which is "Christ and His Millennial Rule." Let me run through this very quickly. Take notes if you can. If not, we'll keep going without you. Listen, God created all that there is, put Adam and Eve in the garden. Adam and Eve rebelled against God and decided to take things upon themselves. God, through his works, attempts to redeem Israel.

Israel is formed, is brought together as a nation under their care with Abraham, sold then because of rebellion into bondage into Egypt. Israel becomes a great nation, though under bondage in Egypt, led out by the lawgiver Moses, and then coming out with the lawgiver Moses, led into the Promised Land through Joshua. There's a period of the kings being established, governors, so to speak, over Israel.

And Israel then, in their rejection of the coming Messiah 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ, according to the prophets, if they rejected him, they would be dispersed throughout all the nations of the world. That happened. Israel became a byword, as the prophets foretold. But in the last days before God returns to the earth, he said he would bring Israel back into her own land. Once she's back into her own land, the Rapture of the church could happen at any moment, imminent regarding the Gentile bride of Christ, the church born 2,000 years ago on the day of Pentecost.

But while Israel is a nation, the Bible talks about a European dominant ruler arising out of Europe, talks about Israel signing a peace treaty, a peace agreement for seven years. And at the close of that seven-year period of time, when that treaty goes bad, by the way, halfway through, the three-and-a-half-year point, the conclusion of the great seven-year tribulation period is the Battle of Armageddon.

At the Battle of Armageddon, Jesus Christ in Revelation 19 descends out of heaven with an angelic host and with the bride of Christ, the church, arrayed in fine apparel, riding upon white horses. The Bible says that there Christ will come and he will speak a word, and the Antichrist and the false prophet will be judged and cast into judgment. And then it says Michael will be dispatched—this ought to be an exciting thing to see—Michael will be dispatched from heaven with a chain.

And he will bind Satan up for how long, everybody? A thousand years. He will be incarcerated for a thousand years. And Christ, according to Daniel chapter 12, will judge the nations at his coming for 45 days. At the conclusion of that time, Matthew chapter 25 is fulfilled, verse 31, where he separates the sheep from the goats.

The millennial kingdom begins. And the Bible says that all those nations who were kind and considerate to Israel, those who survive, will be brought into, or allowed, let me put it this way, allowed to live into the millennial kingdom. And they will begin to repopulate the earth and Christ will restore the earth in a very, very dramatic and dynamic way.

David J: You're listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. To learn more about this ministry or to catch up on some previous episodes, go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. And now, let's get back to today's message. Once again, here's Pastor Jack.

Jack Hibbs: Having said that, let's look to our first point this morning, and that is God's will will reign on earth. Remember when Jesus said to his disciples when they said, "Lord, teach us to pray"? Remember he gave them the model or the structure of what prayer should be patterned after? That's not the prayer. It is not a prayer that you're supposed to recite on a repetitive type way.

"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come..." That's not why he gave it. You're supposed to pray using that as a structure to your prayer life. Well, one of those utterances is: "Your will be done," what? "On earth as it is in heaven." God's will is not being exercised yet in fullness on earth, not yet. It will be when he comes, rules, and reigns. That's yet forthcoming. So we look to it this morning.

God's will shall reign on earth. How so? Number one, he will reign in righteousness. God will reign in righteousness. Genesis chapter 1, verse 27. You know the story. The Bible says there that God created man in his own image. And it says there that in the image God created man, both male and female he created them. And then God blessed them and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.

Listen, have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and everything that lives on the earth, everything that moves, have dominion over it." In Genesis 3:8, God, I believe, announces and shows us that he wants to have a personal relationship with us after having created Adam and Eve. It says there in Genesis 3:8 that Adam and Eve heard the sound of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

Can you imagine what that must have been like? We don't know anything more about that, that Adam and Eve were in the garden and they heard the sound of God walking in the garden at evening time. What was it like? It doesn't say. Did they communicate with each other? Yes. In fact, we know that God said, after Adam had fallen in sin, both him and Eve, God says, "Adam, where are you?"

And Adam simply responds back, "We're here." And immediately there goes, the famous dialogue that you've all heard about. God says, "What's the deal? Didn't I tell you not to eat of the fruit?" And Adam says, "It's this woman you gave me. It's all your fault, God. You gave me a faulty woman." A lot of men say that today. "It's not my fault, it's her fault. God, you gave me a faulty woman." That's wrong.

Adam was wrong then, and Adams are wrong today. And then God looks at Eve and says, "Eve, what's up? What'd you do?" She goes, "It's this snake. The snake did it. He deceived me, he tricked me." God turns and he talks to the snake. And you know the snake, he didn't have a leg to stand on. He had nothing to say. He was in deep trouble. But God has always intended a personal relationship with his creation.

And man quickly in the garden—we don't know the timeframe—but man quickly through Adam and Eve ruined or defaulted that relationship into sin. Now, when Jesus Christ comes back to the earth, he will rule the earth in righteousness. Why? Because there will be people living in that wonderful age, the Millennium, that wonderful time, having not been converted.

I don't know how this is even possible, but the scripture makes it clear: mortals will live into the kingdom age. They will have children, they will die, they will give birth, they will have life, they will work, they will live under the political reign of Jesus on the throne of David from Jerusalem. Man. Every government, every king, prime minister, and ruler will have to submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

If they don't, the Old Testament gives specific examples about what will become of that nation who does not seek to worship God. Isn't that interesting? There has to be a seven-year tribulation period, there has to be a 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ. And then read the Bible carefully: he's going to end this globe as we know it and bring in his eternal kingdom.

Before that can happen, God's will shall reign upon the earth in righteousness. The word righteousness is an interesting word. It means to do correctly or to do rightly. In Hebrews chapter 1, verse 8, it says, "Your throne, oh God, will last forever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom." The word righteousness here is the word to exercise absolute equity, both in character and in action.

You know, that's what our court system is supposed to do now. Of course, that's what's supposed to mark every true Christian, you know, that we walk in righteousness, that is doing the right thing. The simple way to remember the meaning of the word righteousness is to do the right thing. If you do the right thing, you are walking in righteousness. Do the right thing. Well, who picks and chooses what the right thing is?

God has already revealed that in the Bible. You do what the Bible says, you'll do fine and you'll be blessed so much that your friends are going to say, "Why are you blessed so much?" And they're going to want to hear. Righteousness. Micah chapter 4, verse 7 tells us that the Lord will reign from Mount Zion from there forever. Jesus Christ must reign from Jerusalem.

He must reign from Zion. Why so? There must be the fulfillment of Revelation—jot it down—chapter 5, verses 1 through 5. Jesus must fulfill this prophetic command. Revelation 5:1, "And I saw in the right hand of him who sat upon the throne a scroll written inside and on the backside, sealed with seven seals." Those of you who are in real estate, listen, because this is a title deed and escrow requirements.

Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?" And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, nor was anyone able to look upon it. So I wept much because of this. But one of the elders said to me, verse 5, "Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David," that is the progeny of David, "has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose the seven seals."

The scroll is the title deed of the earth that Adam gave to Satan the day that they rebelled. Jesus not only first bought you spiritually and redeemed you with his blood, but he will also ultimately redeem the earth for his own glory. He's going to, so to speak, take it back. And those seven seals are seven requirements that Christ will accomplish in the prophetic scene. He will rule and reign in righteousness. The second thing that we see this morning is that he will reign in justice. Wow. He will be the perfect judge.

The Millennium will not be heaven. The Millennium will be God's kingdom on earth. It's not heaven. Will there be sin during the Millennium? Yes, absolutely. There will be sin. There will be mortal people living during that time. You might say, "Well, forget them, what about me?" Well, you will be, well first off, I'm assuming, I'm assuming this morning if all of us are born-again Christians by the spirit of God, you and I will have already been changed, raptured out of this planet, taken up into heaven, and we would have already come back with Christ in the Second Coming for this time to have happened regarding the millennium establishment of his kingdom. And you could read Revelation chapters 19 on to the close for that. But the fact of the matter is, he will rule and reign in justice.

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio, and his message called "Christ and His Millennial Rule." Thank you so much for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called "The Life and Times of Jesus Christ." It's a series about the real Jesus of the Bible, God in the flesh, and why knowing him more deeply changes everything. And we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

Jack Hibbs: Well Father, as we come to the end of this week, we thank you for your faithfulness and all that you provided for us this last week now. And Father, as we look to the weekend that's ahead, we pray that we would give our time to you, dedicating our time to you in our leisure, in our fun, maybe some of us have got to work this weekend. Well Lord, whatever we do, we pray that we would do it all to your glory. And Father, just strengthen our families and bless us in whatever we endeavor. May we put you first. In Jesus' name. And all of God's people said, amen.

David J: Hey, thank you again so much for listening. And if you'd like to hear or see more of what we do here, you can always go to jackhibbs.com for all the latest on what's going on with this ministry. And please, if you're ever in the Southern California area, come see us at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. We'd love to see you there in person. It has been so good to be with you today, and I pray you find yourself in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. See you on the next episode. This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com, that's jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in his word. We'll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.