The Millennial Reign of the Messiah

Preface This author will normally not write much on a subject unless he is value adding and enlarging upon it, providing new and unique information and insights, or filling in gaps in a subject, doctrine. You will find that this book fulfills each of these criteria. This book concerns the 1,000-year reign referred to in Revelation 20:1-6 and many other Scriptures. We need to make this topic come alive and relevant for our times. To make it interesting and engaging. To explore deeply God’s Word; to examine and teach all that is possible on the subject instead of a limited approach to this essential doctrine. As such before you is the book The Millennial Reign of the Messiah, the basis of which is a table that incorporates most Scriptures on this period and assembles them into categories such as the new temple, the economy and role of Israel and so forth (refer to chapter seven). By breaking down the Millennium into its component parts, we will have a better understanding of it and the reader may find that aspects of it may differ from one’s expectations. Prepare for a few surprises. Integrating a number of previous articles and studies into a single document was difficult due to the nature and content of each, but this extensive work has helped me to produce a single volume with the most comprehensive study I am able to produce. Finally, I would like to thank all those that provided encouragement in getting this task completed and the various discussions with friends around the subject of the Millennium that have occurred over time. All this has provided motivation and energy to complete the book.   Introduction The aim of this book is to present the most thorough presentation possible of the future Kingdom of God on earth (sometimes termed World Tomorrow throughout), to explore it in detail and to uncover every Scripture one is able to. The purpose is to present a complete picture and understanding of the Messiah’s reign as possible, thereby directing worship and glory to Him. To enable this to be accomplished in this book, I need to restrain its length and to do this, what could be lengthy and tedious explanations of this or that aspect of the Kingdom, I have incorporated a number of tables, charts and Bible studies to this end. This may be a bit unusual, but the aim is to get the message across to the reader without burdening them with a tome that they may not read from cover to cover. In writing this book, I found that my research and previous writings naturally fell into four areas which in turn became the overall structure for this book: • The Early Years of the Kingdom on Earth • The Messiah and His Glorious Kingdom • The Religious System Established • The Nations in the World Tomorrow In fact, my hope is that due to the set-out of the book, the reader can read and study parts of it that initially interests them and come back and read the rest at his or her leisure. In such a case, I would recommend studying the following tables in the first instance to gain an overview for this wonderful 1,000-reign: • The Sequence of Events During the Millennium (table 2 refers) • Analysing the Kingdom on Earth (table 9 refers) From the above one could be forgiven in thinking that this is more of a study manual and guide to this doctrine. After all it is designed to make you think, cross-reference and look deeply into this critical doctrine. The Wonderful World Tomorrow has been a central theme to the message of the Churches of God and other groups. It is an essential aspect of God’s Plan and covered in regard to national salvation in Part Four, The Nations in the World Tomorrow. It is the time that the Messiah returns to this planet to rescue humanity and to establish His reign on earth. In other words, it is the essence of the true Gospel message – the Good News of God’s Kingdom established upon the earth. Yet outside of the Church of God there are many others that have written books and articles on the subject or made contributions to commentaries discussing or mentioning the subject. These include many conservative scholars and commentators, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Sunday Adventists and Christadelphians. Some Protestant scholars who hold similar views on His reign include: John Nelson Darby, John Walvoord, Charles Ryrie, Norman Geisler, Chuck Missler, Walter Martin, Rousas Rushdoony, Greg Bahnsen, Gary North, John Bright, Herman Ridderbos, George Beasley-Murray and Gregory Beale. They understood much about the Millennium, but not necessarily all the details. In other aspects they have insights that we should take note of. Given the comprehensive nature of this work, it is unavoidable that there might be details of the Millennium the reader might not be aware of and even shocked about - it will not be a period that is a bed of roses and yet it will be immeasurably better that man’s world under the influence of Satan and his minions. It is now up to the reader to find out more about God’s future Kingdom on earth – beginning by reading this book and looking up the many Scriptures quoted to support explanations throughout and to continue exploring this essential subject. NB: this book presupposes that the reader has some knowledge of the modern identity of the Israelitish peoples, given Israel’s role during the Millennium. In short, the northwest Europeans (Anglo-Saxons, Kelts and Nordics) descend from the sons of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel.