The
Spiritual Life in the Millennium. Revelation 20:1 - 6, Isaiah 11:9
Leviticus 23:15-18 NASB “You
shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath,
from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be
seven complete sabbaths.
[16] You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a
new grain offering to the LORD. [17] You shall bring in from your
dwelling places two {loaves} of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths
{of an} {ephah;} they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first
fruits to the LORD. [18] Along with the bread you shall
present seven one year old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd
and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the LORD, with their
grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing
aroma to the LORD.”
The Feast of Weeks is one
of the three major pilgrimage feasts, according to Deuteronomy 16:16, and the
picture is of two loaves coming, the firstfruits [Israel
as the firstfruits to God] is also used in the New
Testament to the church and also a term which refers to the resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ rose from the dead three days after the
crucifixion and then forty days later He ascended into heaven. He told the
disciples to wait there in Jerusalem
for the coming of the Holy Spirit. They waited there for the next days and then
on Pentecost the Holy Spirit came. That is referred to in the New Testament as
the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In the church age the baptism of the Holy
Spirit refers to the fact that God has taken Jews and Gentiles and brought them
together as one in the body of Christ. The usual interpretation of the two
loaves is that one represents Jews and one represents Gentiles and then they
are brought together as one. This is fulfilled on the day of Pentecost with the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. That doesn’t wipe out ethnic identity but it
indicates that in the church there is not something specific related to
ethnicity, especially of being Jewish as in the Old Testament where only a male
Jew could go into the tabernacle and later the temple in order to worship. In
the church age in the body of Christ every believer has immediate access to
God.
This is going to change
again in the future. After the Tribulation is over when we get into the Millennial period then again the emphasis goes back to Israel, and Israel’s worship becomes the central focal point for
worldwide worship. We have seen that Israel would have a future kingdom that would be ruled by a
descendant of David according to the covenant that God made with David in 2
Samuel 7. Focusing on the nature of the Millennial
kingdom we have seen that all nations will come to Israel in order to worship, and this is seen specifically in
Isaiah chapter two, where there will be a future temple in Jerusalem. During the church age there is an emphasis on what
God is doing through the church—all those who have put their faith in Jesus
Christ as their savior. After the Rapture of the church and the Tribulation
there is a return focus as God fulfills the prophecies He made to Israel to establish a kingdom that is ruled by “David the
prince.”
There are three key people
to keep in mind when we are looking at the Millennial
government. There is the Messiah who is the overall ruler, the King of kings
and Lord of lords. Then under Him is the resurrected David the prince who also
rules over Israel. Then as we will see in Ezekiel 40-48 there is a
human prince who is a descendant of David who is a human ruler born during the
period of the Millennial kingdom and he is a ruler
over Jerusalem. The temple is rebuilt as the center of the nation.
The first part of Ezekiel
37 is really a picture of God bringing the nation Israel back together. It depicts how God is going to restore
the Jews to the land of Israel
that He has given them. We get God’s interpretation of the vision that He gave
to Ezekiel: Ezekiel 37:11 NASB “Then He said to me, ‘Son
of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our
hope has perished. We are completely cut off.’” This is depicting a time in the
future when Israel will completely despair of any future or hope. [12]
“Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I
will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.’” So there is a promise of God of a national
restoration and a resurrection of Jewish saints to reestablish them in the land of Israel. [13] “Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I
have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. [14] I will put My Spirit within you and you will
come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I,
the LORD, have spoken and done it,’ declares the LORD.” This passage refers to a
corporate or national regeneration as od
is going to give a special dispensation or manifestation of the Holy Spirit to
the nation Israel. This is what is foundational in the New covenant. The New covenant focuses on the role of the
Holy Spirit in the life of the nation.
Bringing them into their
own land is partly what we are seeing today. It is not an ultimate fulfillment
in terms of a regenerate nation, which does not occur until the end of the
Tribulation. Ezekiel 37:22 NASB “and I will make them one nation in
the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of
them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two
kingdoms. [23] “They will no
longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or
with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their
dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will
be My people, and I will be their God.”
The
promise of the restoration.
Ezekiel 37:24 NASB “My servant David will be king over them…” Some
people think this is a reference to the Messiah as the son of David, but David
is mentioned too many times in different passages as David the prince or the
ruler over the people, so this is the resurrected David ruling over Israel under the Lord Jesus Christ. “… and they will all
have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances
and keep My statutes and observe them. [25] They will live on the land that I
gave to Jacob My servant [Abrahamic covenant], in
which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and
their sons’ sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever.”
This has never happened in history. [26] “I will make a covenant of peace with
them [New covenant]; it will be an everlasting covenant with them…” This is an
everlasting covenant in contrast to the Mosaic covenant which was temporary. “… And I will place them and multiply them,
and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever.”
That is a reference to a future temple. [27] “My dwelling place also will be
with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My
people.” That is yet future. In these verses the ocus
is on that future covenant that occurs at the second coming of Christ when He
establishes the kingdom, and then He will also establish His sanctuary, the
third temple (The first was Solomon’s, the second was started by Zerubbabel and finally finished in 516 BC) There will
be another temple built during the Tribulation period, Revelation 11:1, 2 which
will be an apostate temple. [28] “And the nations will know that I am the LORD who
sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in
their midst forever.”
The next two chapters in
Ezekiel describe an invasion that occurs in Israel and takes place some time in the future. Some put it
before the Tribulation, some put it in the first half of the Tribulation, and
some put it early in the second half as a prelude to the campaign of
Armageddon. Following this invasion there is the restoration of the nation to
the land.
Jerusalem is the location of the future temple that is
described in Ezekiel 40-48. Jerusalem
is at the very heart of the whole history of Israel from the time that David conquered it. In fact, we
can go back to Genesis 14 where the five kings invaded the Middle East under Chedorlaomer and Abraham gave tithes
to Melchizedek king of Salem (the old name for Jerusalem).
In Daniel 9:25 we are told that it is the decree to go back to Jerusalem after the exile to rebuild the cities begins the
countdown for that time period that is decreed for Israel (490 years or Daniel’s seventy weeks). The last week
of that period gets separated out. There is the prophecy that at the end of the
49 weeks (483 years) the Messiah will be cut off, and that fits the time period
when Jesus appeared as the Messiah and was crucified. Then there is a time gap
between the 69th week and the 70th week, and that is the intervening
age in which we are living now. The 70th week relates to the future
time of the Tribulation. But during this time Jerusalem is the focal point, it is the national heart of Israel and the focal point of numerous prophecies. Joel 2:32;
3:1-3 is the focus on what happens at the very end of the Tribulation period
when Israel calls upon the Messiah to deliver them. What is being
focused on here is that there is a future for Jerusalem, and we have to understand this, especially today
with all of the arguments that are going on in relationship to Jerusalem. Joel 3:1 is the same restoration that Ezekiel talks
about in chapters 37 and 39.
Joel 3:17 NASB “Then you will know that I am the LORD your God,
Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, And strangers [Gentile
powers] will pass through it no more.” This occurs in the Messianic kingdom.
[20] “But Judah will be inhabited forever And Jerusalem for all
generations.”
Zechariah 8:3 NASB
“Thus says the LORD, ‘I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem…” That is the dwelling of God in the future Messianic
temple, Ezekiel 40-48. “… Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts
{will be called} the Holy Mountain. [8] and I will bring them
{back} and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God
in truth and righteousness.’” There are many more verses that emphasize God’s
promise to bring Israel back to the land, restoring them to the land in the future. But it is
not all peaceful, Prior to that establishment of the temple God warns in Zechariah 12:2, “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around;
and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. [3] It will come about in that day that
I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it
will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered
against it.” This pictures that future assault on Jerusalem and all of the things that are going on now simply
foreshadow that. It is not until the Messiah comes and restores the Jews to the
land completely and establishes His kingdom that we see a unified Jerusalem at peace.