Part
15 of 15
Israel
to Bless the Nations on Earth
During
His earthly ministry, Jesus of Nazareth looked ahead to His soon coming
cross, and then also the culmination of “the
ages to come,” saying; “Now
the judgment of this world is coming on [sentence is now being passed
on this world]. Now the ruler (evil mastermind) of
this world shall be cast out (expelled) (John 12:31 (AMP).
Jesus’ death and resurrection was in fact the death knell of the Devil’s
rule on earth, yet its actualization is not yet actualized.
At
Pentecost, Peter quoted the words below taken from Psalm 110:1. He assures
Israel
that the Lord Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father for a
time, “until His foes”
are placed under His feet. Acts
2:34-35 For
David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The
LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 35 UNTIL
I MAKE THY FOES THY FOOTSTOOL.
At
the start of the final 3 ½ year “Great
Tribulation,” the Devil and his fallen angels will be cast out of the
2nd heaven to the earth, wreaking havoc. Revelation
12:7-8 And
there was war in heaven: Michael
and his angels fought against the dragon; and the
dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; NEITHER
WAS THEIR PLACE (Topos, location) FOUND ANY MORE IN HEAVEN. Revelation
13:4 says prophetically; Satan is
the “dragon, which gave power unto
the beast” (Rev 13:4), which is the Anti-Christ. This
sets the sage for the terrible judgments to come upon rebellious mankind,
and then upon “the
Devil and his angels.”
As we’ve read, Jesus is “seated
(only) UNTIL
God makes (His) enemies (His) footstool” (Acts 2:35 above). He
is not unseated to return to
earth before then. So the question is: When does God make Jesus’
enemies His footstool and literally reign upon earth in the Kingdom? Is it
before the Tribulation, mid-tribulation, after the Tribulation, or some
other time? His enemies are not made His “footstool”
until after the 7-year Tribulation, not before.
That day when
the Lord’s enemies will become the Lord’s “footstool”
is when all rebellion has been literally put down, both in
heaven and on earth. This
comes at His “appearing” (1Peter
1:7), when “every eye will see
Him” (Rev 1:7), at the end of the 7-year “Tribulation.”
After
the Tribulation, with the Lord’s 2nd coming to
earth, Satan will be bound in chains in the “bottomless
pit” (Rev 20:1) for the duration of the 1,000-yr reign of Christ. At
the end of the Millennium Satan will be loosed from the “pit”
for a “short season” (Rev
20:3); to test and instigate a final rebellion among some of those who
survived the Tribulation and those will have been born during the
Millennium. After that rebellion is quickly dealt with Satan will be cast
into “the lake of fire” (Rev.
20:7-10). He will then join the Beast (Anti-Christ) and False Prophet
who will have already been there for 1,000 years (Rev 19:20). Thus, the evil
trinity on earth will have been completely dealt with.
Matthew
25:41 Then
shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed,
into EVERLASTING FIRE, PREPARED FOR
THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS:
Rev.
20:10 And
THE DEVIL THAT DECEIVED THEM WAS
CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE, WHERE THE BEAST AND THE FALSE
PROPHET ARE, and shall be
tormented day and night for ever and ever.
After
the Millennium, the new (actually “remade”) earth will come to be with
the eternal kingdom of heaven, and the New Jerusalem from Heaven.
The
faithful believers and overcomers of
Israel
are promised authority in “the
kingdom” on earth. What
will the believers of
Israel
actually do on the new earth in the kingdom?
Jesus
speaks to this prophetically in parable, saying the “faithful”
will have “authority” and “power
over” “cities”
on the earth as they are to be apportioned.
Even those who have been “faithful
in a very little” will participate.
Luke 19:17b …
because thou hast been FAITHFUL
IN A VERY LITTLE, have
thou AUTHORITY OVER
TEN CITIES. … 19
And he said likewise to him (was did even less with what he was
given), Be thou also OVER
FIVE CITIES.
To those who were
overcomers “unto the end” in
the terrible Tribulation; they will have “power
over the nations.”
Revelation
2:26 And he
that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto
the end, to him will I give POWER
OVER THE NATIONS:
This
is as God promised to Abraham concerning his believing seed.
Israel
is destined to reign over, rule, and
also bless all the nations of the earth. They will co-reign with
Christ by His authority vested in them and by the indwelling life of the “Spirit
of Christ” during both the Millennium and also in the subsequent
eternal kingdom on the new earth. Revelation
5:10 And hast made us (
Israel
) unto our God KINGS AND PRIESTS:
and WE SHALL REIGN ON THE EARTH.
Here
above, the terms “nation” and
“priest” and the promises of
reigning on earth apply only to the nation
Israel
. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, never refers to the
“body of Christ” as a “nation,”
nor are its members referred to as “priest,”
nor are they promised an inheritance “on
earth.” These promises belong to
Israel
. Christians should not try to pilfer these promises – these promises of
authority on earth won’t work for Christians today. Recall that Jesus of
Nazareth’s ministry on earth
was only unto “the
lost sheep of the house
Israel
” (Matt 15:24). The ministry Jesus gave “the
twelve” was confined only to “the
lost sheep of the house
Israel
” (see John 10:5-6),
saying; “go not into the way
of the Gentiles.” The entire Book of Revelation is written unto
and concerning
Israel
only. It is
the fulfillment of the many prophesies spoken to
Israel
and recorded in the OT and in the Gospels.
The
“body of Christ” will have
already been raptured to heaven when these things we read of in Revelation
occur. There are no such prophecies concerning “the
mystery” of “the body of
Christ,” which itself “had
been kept secret since
the world began” (Rom 16:25). Paul writes and delivers only
what he received of celestial
Christ for “the body of Christ”
(Gal 1:11-12, Eph 3:1-2). Paul writes concerning that time when the
members of the “body of Christ”
will co-rule with Christ in
heaven; judging the
whole universe (the cosmos). Paul writes concerning the body of
Christ;
1
Corinthians 6:2 Do ye not
know that the saints (members
of the body of Christ) SHALL
JUDGE THE WORLD (Gk., cosmos, meaning, THE UNIVERSE)?
The cosmos is defined as; “1)
The orderly, harmonious whole,” and 2)
The universe seen as the
well-ordered whole. While believing
Israel
co-rules with Christ on earth, “the
body of Christ” will over-rule over the whole universe.
Certainly,
“the twelve apostles” and
“twelve tribes” of Revelation 21 pertain
to Nation
Israel
on earth. Paul, being designated as “the
Apostle to the Gentiles,” is not of “the
twelve.”
Rev.
21:14 And
the wall of the city (New Jerusalem) had twelve foundations, and in them the
names of the twelve apostles
of the Lamb.
Rev.
21:12 And had a wall great and high, and
had twelve gates, and at the
gates twelve angels, and names
written thereon, which are the
names of the TWELVE TRIBES
OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL:
God’s
promise and special dealing with
Israel
began with Abraham, as their earthly “father.” The first recorded
promise made to Abraham reads,
“Get
thee (Abraham)
out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto
a land
that I will show thee: and I
WILL MAKE OF THEE A GREAT (large
in number) NATION,
and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and THOU
SHALT BE A BLESSING:
and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and IN
THEE (ABRAHAM) SHALL
ALL FAMILIES OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED.” (Gen. 12:1-3)
Abraham’s
posterity was to become “a great
nation,” meaning a large family or “seed”
that would be God’s channel of “blessing
to ALL the families of
the earth.” In Galatians 3:8 the Apostle Paul writes concerning
Abraham using the word “nations”
(KJV) instead of “families.”
Actually, there is little or no difference in the meaning of the words “families”
and “nations,” as viewed by
Abraham, because the “nations” of his day were large families or tribal
groups.
In Genesis 12:7
the Lord spoke to Abraham adding, “UNTO
THY SEED will I give THIS LAND.” In Gen 12:13-15, we read
God’s promise to Abraham, “Lift
up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward,
and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the
land which thou seest, TO
THEE WILL I GIVE IT, and TO THY SEED FOREVER.” 2
Samuel 7:10 I
will appoint
A PLACE
for My people
Israel
and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own
place and be disturbed no more.
Evil nations will not oppress them as they have done in the past,
Another aspect of the promise God made is
that the whole
land
of
Canaan
was to be Abraham’s and his children’s for an everlasting
possession in the promised kingdom “on
earth.” Daniel’s
prophetic interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream culminates
in the “never (to) be
destroyed kingdom”
of the God, which “will stand
(on earth) for ever.”
Dan.
2:44 And
in the days of these kings shall
THE GOD OF HEAVEN SET UP A
KINGDOM, which shall NEVER
BE DESTROYED: and THE
KINGDOM shall not be left to other people, but
it shall break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and IT
SHALL STAND FOR EVER.
In
a post-resurrection appearance to His Jewish disciples Jesus said, “…
all things must be fulfilled,
which were written in the law of Moses, and in
the prophets, and in the
psalms, concerning me (Jesus)” (Luke
24:44). Below
is one such prophetic word, written ~2,700 years ago. It can only refer to
the end of the ages, in the everlasting “kingdom
of heaven” on the
“new earth.” Statements
seen below can only be fulfilled literally in the everlasting kingdom on
earth.
“THE
LORD HATH CHOSEN
ZION
; he hath desired it
for HIS HABITATION.” (Psa. 132:13)
“And
many people (Non-Israelites) shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go
up to the mountain of the LORD
(Jerusalem), to the
house (Temple) of the God of Jacob; and HE
(THE LORD JESUS) WILL TEACH US OF HIS WAYS, and we
will walk in his paths: for out of ZION
shall go forth the law,
and the word of the LORD from
Jerusalem. 4 And HE
SHALL JUDGE AMONG THE NATIONS, and shall rebuke
many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruninghooks: NATION
SHALL NOT LIFT UP SWORD AGAINST NATION, NEITHER SHALL THEY LEARN WAR ANY
MORE. (Isa. 2:3-4)
Matt
25:31 (below) says the “Son of
Man” will come and “Sit
on the Throne of His Glory.”
Matthew
25:31 When
the SON OF MAN SHALL COME IN HIS
GLORY, and all the holy angels with him, then
shall HE SIT UPON THE THRONE OF HIS GLORY:
Isaiah
9:6 For
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and THE
GOVERNMENT SHALL BE UPON HIS
SHOULDER: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty
God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7
Of THE INCREASE OF HIS
GOVERNMENT and peace THERE
SHALL BE NO END, upon the throne of David, and upon
his kingdom, to order it, and to
ESTABLISH IT WITH JUDGMENT AND WITH JUSTICE from henceforth even for ever.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Daniel
7:13-14 I
saw in the night visions, and, behold, one
like THE SON OF MAN CAME WITH THE
CLOUDS OF HEAVEN, and came to the
Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14 And
there was given him DOMINION, and
glory, and A KINGDOM, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve
him: HIS DOMINION IS AN EVERLASTING
DOMINION, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that
which shall not be destroyed.
Thus,
God’s dominion on the earth
will be recovered by the returning Lord and carried out though the believers
of
Israel
. The earth will be co-ruled by the saved of
Israel
who, with Christ, shall “bless all
the families of the earth” with righteousness and justice “for
ever.”
In
closing; we’ve seen that Jesus Christ will be literally present
and indwelling His people in both
on earth and in heaven, simultaneously, in the “age
to come.”
- Today,
during this day of “the
dispensation of the grace of God,” Christ already dwells in the
members of “body of Christ.”
- As
we’ve seen by so many Scripture text, all the foreknown believers
Israel
will ultimately form a trust-bond with their Messiah and be born of “His
Spirit” at His 2nd appearing to earth. They will
inherit the eternal kingdom on the new earth.
Thus,
according to “the
mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure which
he hath purposed in himself: in THE
DISPENSATION OF THE FULNESS OF TIMES” God will “GATHER
TOGETHER IN ONE ALL THINGS IN CHRIST,
both which are IN HEAVEN,
and which are ON EARTH;
EVEN (that is) IN
HIM:
(see Ephesians 1:9-10)
It
is in “the
fullness of times” that the glory
and dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ will ultimately fill BOTH
DYNASHPERES … THE
HEAVENS AND …
THE EARTH.
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