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Bill Henry: This is going to be a beautiful time, guys and gals, for us. Isaiah 35, verses 2 and 3, and they shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God, strengthen the weak hands, make firm the feeble knees. Anybody have feeble knees here?

Isaiah 65:23, they will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune, for they are blessed by the Lord, and their children too will be blessed.

Guest (Male): Hello and welcome to Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry, coming your way from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington. In the book of Genesis, we read about the Garden of Eden, and some of us have wondered how great would that be to experience paradise on earth.

Well, if you're a Christian, that's in your future. You see, after Jesus returns, paradise will be restored on planet Earth for a thousand years. What's that going to be like? Well, we're going to find out today on Simple Faith, as Pastor Bill Henry continues our look at Revelation chapter 20. Today we'll be in verses 4 through 6, in a message titled "The Millennial Kingdom of Jesus."

Bill Henry: When you actually do a Bible study about the millennial kingdom of Jesus, it is so radical. Everybody got your socks on tight? Because they're going to get knocked off here today. They're going to get knocked off. I'm serious. If this doesn't get you excited, come talk to me. We've got to get you saved. I'm just telling you what, because this is what's coming.

These are hard days right now. What a blessing. Remember what we read in Thessalonians? Encourage one another with these words. Be encouraged because this is awesome stuff. So remember, as we come into the millennial kingdom, last week we studied that Satan will be bound, first of all, for a thousand years. So no Satan during this whole thousand years.

Now, I'm going to go through a lot of things. I know we're not going to cover all the things we could cover, but I'm also going to try to go fast. You might miss a lot. You can look at them online later, but I'm just going to throw a bunch of stuff at you. So I hope I don't overwhelm you. First of all, Jesus will be ruling from Jerusalem with a rod of iron.

So Jesus himself will come back as we studied a couple weeks ago. He will step down on the Mount of Olives. There'll be a huge earthquake. The earth will split. He will rule from Jerusalem. Zechariah 14:9 says, "And the Lord shall be king over the earth in that day shall be the Lord is one and his name." So again, he's going to rule the whole earth.

The first couple scriptures talk about Daniel 7:14, "And to him Jesus was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and tongues or languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and its kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." Now, we transfer to Jesus is going to rule, but he's going to be ruling from Jerusalem.

Joel 3:17, "Then you will know that I the Lord your God dwell in Zion, my holy hill. Jerusalem will be holy. Never again will foreigners invade her." Micah 4:2, "Many nations will come and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of God, the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.'"

The main road, we believe, is going to be—it's kind of interesting—into Jerusalem is going to be called the "Way of Holiness." So that'll make quite the road sign: The Way of Holiness. Isaiah 35:8, "And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way. Even if they are fools, they will not go astray."

And it's interesting because here, in coming to verse 9 here, we also see that it's a very safe road. Verse 9 says, "No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come upon it. They shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy upon their heads." This is you and me. Think about it. You're returning, coming to Zion singing, joy upon your head. "They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

Anybody excited for that? Ever notice when somebody's bummed, they go like that? Sometimes I'll be doing it, I didn't even realize it, and Cleo will go, "What's wrong? Why are you sighing like that?" I was like, "Oh, I was sighing? I didn't even realize it." Well, now let me tell you what's wrong.

Here's another thing: Jesus will rule and judge the people from Jerusalem there. Isaiah 9:7, "Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end." We put this on a lot of Christmas cards, but this will be the fulfillment of this. "Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."

Micah 4:3, "He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide." So again, he will judge many peoples. So he will be judging from Jerusalem there, but it's interesting, it almost sounds like he'll be dealing with more than national problems. Notice he'll settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.

Now, here's another thing. Again, I'm just switching from one topic to another. There will be no more war. Praise God. Micah 4:3-5, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." They're not even going to learn about war.

"But everyone shall sit under his vine, under his fig tree. No one shall make them afraid." No more security systems in your houses, guys and gals. "For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. For all people walk in the name of his God, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever." Oh, what a joyous time.

Ezekiel 34:23 and 24, "And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them, and he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord. I have spoken." So even here we see that most of your Bible commentators believe that David, King David, when he comes back as well, one of the Old Testament saints, he's actually going to be a prince under God, under Jesus, helping him to rule over the nations and judge over the nations.

And it's interesting, a side note, Jesus will actually also punish those nations, those peoples who do not come and pay homage to him at Jerusalem. There's going to be a time we read in Zechariah 14 that God's going to require all the nations to come, send representatives, we would imagine.

Zechariah 14:16, "Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem"—and remember, there will come a time when all the nations of the earth will be against her—"shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and keep the Feast of Booths. And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them."

So if a nation doesn't come, doesn't send representatives and humbly recognize Jesus as God, recognize him as the Lord and King of the earth, there will be no rain on their nation for a time. Verse 18 continues, "And if the family of Egypt"—I think they're using Egypt as an example—"does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain, and there shall be the plague with which the Lord afflicts the nations that do not go up and keep the Feast of Booths."

So not only will there be no rain, there'll also be plagues upon these nations. Verse 19, "This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that go up or do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths." So again, we see kind of a glimpse into how the rod of iron is going to be employed and how he's going to rule, and we're going to help enforce that.

Now, another subject during this thousand-year reign: I love this, the earth will be renewed. It will be made like it was in the times of the Garden of Eden. And this will include another thing, another quick subject change, this will also include the animal kingdom. How many people here have dogs and cats or pets of any kind? Raise your hand. Yeah, most of us do.

I love dogs. I'm not really a cat person, but if they're a dog-cat, I kind of like them. But we all like animals. Some like snakes and things like that, but there's something in us that we have an affinity to animals. And I believe that this goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. If you remember that it was the Lord saw Adam and it wasn't good for him to be alone. And so what did he do? He brought all the animals from all over the earth and said, "I want you to name them." But we're told in Genesis 2:20, "But there was still no helper just right for him."

They were like he liked the animals kind of is what the vibe you get. But there wasn't, and then praise the Lord he made woman and he said, "Whoa, man, there's woman." But again, I think that most of us have an affinity towards animals. I mean, who doesn't want to go up to a big old grizzly bear or polar bear, just give it a big old hug? Or go up to a deer and give it a pet, or a tiger and roll and play with it? These days are coming.

I remember we have some close family members that for years, I'm talking 30, 40 years, they were vegetarians. And they were just kind of not feeling well. They went to their doctor and they said, "Dude, this being a vegetarian is killing you because you're not getting all the nutrients that you need. You need to start eating red meats." So now they have a steak every day with their other vegetable stuff.

But we're not created. All of a sudden God changed, after the flood, things changed. And I believe after that the plants didn't have the nutrients anymore that we needed. But that's all going to change as well in the millennial kingdom. No longer will animals fear mankind during the millennial reign of Christ. And I believe that this means that we will no longer be eating them as meat, just like it was in the Garden of Eden.

We're all going to have the fruit of the land to eat from. And the Lord, I believe, will put back the nutrients back into the vegetation of the world so that humans and animals, by the way, they're not going to be eating each other anymore. Now, again, part of the peace that Jesus, the shepherd leader, brings, again like we're talking about, is here to the animal kingdom.

Isaiah 11:6-7, and again this is going to back up what we've been talking about, "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb. The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together. And the little child shall lead them. The cow and bear shall graze. Their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox." What? Dude, check that out. I love that.

Later, in Isaiah, he repeats it again. Isaiah 65, verses 24 and 25, "Before they call, I will answer. While they yet are speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord." Again, there will be peace between humans and animals. Remember back in Isaiah, we just read at the end of chapter 6, a little child shall lead them. We're talking about leopards and lions and calves. A little child shall be able to lead them.

Joel 3:18, "And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and the stream beds of Judah shall flow with water, and a fountain will come forth from the house of the Lord and the water of the Valley of Shittim." Isaiah 30, verses 23 and 24, "And he will give rain for the seed which you will sow the ground, and bread and produce the ground which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pasture, and the oxen and the donkeys that work ground will eat seasoned fodder which has been winnowed with shovel and fork."

Isaiah 65, verse 25, "And the wolf and the lamb"—notice again we read this earlier—"will graze together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox." Now, another thing that's interesting to point out, again I'm just shifting subjects, the days and nights will be different during these thousand years.

Isaiah 30, verse 26 says, "Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the brokenness of his people and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow." As you read through and you study this, again I'm just taking that proverbial stone and hitting it across the water as we're coming towards the close, this is going to be a beautiful time, guys and gals, for us.

Isaiah 35, verses 2 and 3, "And they shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Strengthen the weak hands, make firm the feeble knees." Anybody have feeble knees here? Any old football injuries or other things? Isaiah 65:23, "They will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune, for they are blessed by the Lord, and their children too will be blessed."

Isaiah 29:19 and 20, "The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exalt in the Holy One of Israel. For the ruthless shall come to nothing." Anybody wait for that? "The scoffers will cease, and all who watch to do evil will be cut off." Praise God. By the way, no more diseases.

Isaiah 35:5 and 6, "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. And then the lame man shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert." And just as it was before the flood, by the way, people will live hundreds and hundreds of years again.

So during the millennial reign of Christ, we'll be in our eternal bodies if we're all believers here. But others that are born during this time, they will live hundreds of years. Isaiah 65:19 and 20, "I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people. The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her nor the voice of crying. No more shall an infant from there live but a few days nor an old man who has not fulfilled his old days, for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed."

Now, it's interesting, I'm going to read this out of a different version. It says in verse 20, "No longer will babies die when only a few days old. No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life. No longer will people be considered old at 100. Only the accursed will die that young." And Isaiah 65:22 says, "For my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will have their time to enjoy their hard-won gains."

Now, there's an interesting thing here back at the end of Isaiah 65:20. We're going to take a turn here just for a moment. If you remember what it says there at the end, it says only the accursed will die that young at 100 years old. Now, we're going to talk about something again as we're closing that you may have been thinking about, asking who's going to make it into the millennial kingdom.

Again, there are different views on who are going to make it in from the tribulation. Most of the commentators I read believe that all the unbelievers that were alive during the tribulation will be gone. And we'll talk about that in just a moment, what scripture they use for that. Those who received the mark of the beast most definitely will be gone.

Now, it's interesting, some believe the same, but they do believe that some unbelievers will make it through the tribulation. But again, they too—some say they'll enter the kingdom of God, the millennial kingdom, others say they will not. Now, the ones that say they will enter the millennial kingdom, the unbelievers, they don't really give any scriptures. But the ones who say they won't point to Matthew 25 when Jesus is talking about the last days.

And in verse 31, Jesus speaking said, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, and he will sit on the throne of his glory, all the nations will be gathered before him." So this would be, they say, at the beginning of the thousand-year reign of Christ that this will happen. So he will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right hand, "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

So those who are the Christians who made it through, didn't get beheaded, will come in. That's what they say this is talking about. And then on the left side, somebody said it was kind of interesting that it's on the left side with all the political stuff today. They say that Matthew 25:41, "Then he will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'"

So that's what a lot—most your commentators actually said that, that it will only be believers coming into the millennial kingdom. But there will be unbelievers, kids born into the millennial kingdom through that thousand years. And so there are others who say some commentators believe that when Jesus returns to the earth with his bride, that he will also bring those children that were taken up during the Rapture that did not come to the age of accountability. They will return and then when they get old enough that they can understand the gospel, that they'll have a choice to believe the gospel or not. Again, there's no scripture for that, so it's just an interesting thought.

But lastly, as we're finishing on this one subject, coming back to Isaiah 65:20, it says only the accursed will die that young. No longer will people be considered old at 100; only the accursed will die that young. In the New King James, it says, "But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed." Now, some commentators take this to mean that if you're growing up, if you're born into the thousand-year reign of Christ and you come to the age 100 years old and you have not repented of your sins and you're still accursed, that you will not live any longer, that you'll basically just drop dead.

Now, it's interesting because if you look a little deeper into this verse, Isaiah 65:20, the amplified says it this way. And it kind of tends to lean that way. It's interesting. "For the child shall die at a hundred years old, and the sinner who dies when only a hundred years old shall be thought only a child cut off because he is accursed."

So one thing we do know, very interesting scripture, but one thing we do know that at the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ, now imagine just the glimpse that we just got. How many think it's awesome? Raise your hand. Dude. Do you realize that in verse 8 here, in chapter 20, it says, "And will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea." Even those who grow up without war, learning what war was, within a perfect world, they will still rebel. And notice the numbers: as countless as the sand of the sea.

Guest (Male): This has been Simple Faith from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington. Today we brought you a message from Pastor Bill from his new series in the book of Revelation. If you'd like to hear today's message again or share it with someone, it's available at our website to either watch or listen, and you can actually download an audio MP3.

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