{"id":19186,"date":"2017-02-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-08T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-006\/"},"modified":"2017-02-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-02-08T06:00:00","slug":"the-coming-kingdom-006","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-006\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coming Kingdom 006"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[68],"series_event":[470],"sermon_service_type":[474],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19186","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-isaiah","series_event-the-coming-kingdom","sermon_service_type-wednesday-evenings","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"The Coming Kingdom 006","sermon_date":"20170208","sermon_month":"2","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":4336,"sermon_slides":4335,"sermon_mp3":4339,"sermon_id":"2817195121","series_or_event":470,"service_type":[474],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":68,"chapter_and_verse":"2:1-4","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Coming Kingdom\n\n2-8-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Isaiah 2:1-4\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 6\n\nGood evening everybody.\u00a0 Let\u2019s open our Bibles to the book of Isaiah, chapter 2 and verse 1.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve been tracking with us or maybe this is your first time here we have been tracing the whole subject of the kingdom through the Bible, which involves several stops on the bus.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve gone through five stops already.\u00a0 Our first stop was the Garden of Eden, where we learned that the kingdom that God established was lost to the earth at that time. \u00a0God the Father wanted to rule through the first Adam who would rule creation for God and that kingdom disappeared when our forbearers listened to the animals, one animal in particular, a talking snake, and rebelled against God.\u00a0\u00a0 So the kingdom disappears from the earth at that point.\n\nSo sort of the goal of history is how that structure is going to be brought back to the earth.\u00a0 And of course one of these days in the millennial kingdom which we\u2019ll be studying tonight, God the Father is going to rule over the last Adam who\u2019s going to govern creation for God.\u00a0 So your whole kingdom program starts right there in Eden.\u00a0 And once the kingdom is lost we start to see promises developing in what\u2019s called the Abrahamic Covenant, where God is forming a special nation, the nation of Israel, and it\u2019s through that nation that we learn He\u2019s going to bring His kingdom program to the earth and it starts getting developed in the form of promises where God granted to the nation of Israel three blessings, land, seed and blessing.\u00a0 And they, at that time, were given ownership of those blessings.\n\nThe third stop on the bus is the Mosaic Covenant which takes us to the time of Moses where God now spells out a condition in the Mosaic Covenant through which Israel, if she meets the condition doesn\u2019t become the owner but becomes the possessor.\u00a0 And that Mosaic Covenant ultimately points towards Christ.\u00a0 So until the nation of Israel enthrones the king of God\u2019s choosing, which would be Christ, the kingdom will be in a state, not of cancelation but a state of postponement.\n\nAnd the fourth stop on the bus is the divided kingdom where we learned that because of the sin of Solomon, his polygamy and other things that he was doing God brought discipline and divided the nation of Israel into two parts, the ten northern tribes and the two southern tribes.\u00a0 Now of those two groups which is the more significant as far as the kingdom is concerned?\u00a0 The southern tribes because Judah is in the south and Genesis 49:10 tells us that the Messiah is going to come from the tribe of Judah.\u00a0 [Genesis 49:10, \u201cThe scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.\u201d]\u00a0 And we know from the covenant that God made with David that the Davidic kings reigned in the south, and so the north is dispersed by the Assyrians about 722 B.C. and God says keep your eye on the on the south.\u00a0 So the south wasn\u2019t dispersed, they were taken into deportation.\n\nAnd once the south was taken into deportation, that was our fifth stop on the bus, which began a period of time called the times of the Gentiles, which is a period of time when there is no king reigning on David\u2019s throne and Israel is going to be trampled down by various Gentile powers.\u00a0 And we noted the first Gentile power was Babylon, the last Gentile power will be Revived Rome under who? The antichrist.\u00a0 And only after that kingdom of the antichrist runs its course which is yet future from our point of view, from our time period, then the kingdom will come.\n\nSo the times of the Gentiles concept, and we saw it developed in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 reveals when the kingdom is going to come; after the final phase of Gentile dominion under the antichrist is deposed of by Jesus Christ at the Second Advent.\u00a0 So you put these concepts together and what you learn is that a kingdom is coming but it\u2019s in a state of postponement.\u00a0 Are you guys with me so far.\n\nNow this takes us to our sixth stop on the bus which is the Old Testament prophets.\u00a0 And we\u2019ll be focusing on the Old Testament prophets probably tonight and I think there\u2019s so much here it\u2019ll probably carry over into next week.\u00a0 And this is where the Old Testament prophets start to give a sketch, a portrait if you will, of what the coming kingdom will be like.\u00a0 The kingdom is in a state of postponement, not cancellation and so if we didn\u2019t have a portrait of what it would be like when the kingdom finally arrives we would lose hope.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why the book of 2 Peter, chapter 1 and verse 19, of the prophets, says this: \u201cSo we have the prophetic word made more sure\u201d now in context \u201cmade more sure\u201d than what?\u00a0 If you back up in the chapter you\u2019ll see that it\u2019s talking about Peter\u2019s eyewitness testimony to the Mount of Transfiguration when Christ appeared in His glorified state.\n\nNow what is the most powerful form of evidence you can introduce in a court of Law?\u00a0 Eyewitnesses.\u00a0 And what Peter says here is the words of the prophets are even more powerful than eyewitnesses.\u00a0 That\u2019s how sure Peter is about these prophets and prophecies.\u00a0 So he says, \u201cSo we have the prophetic word \u201cmade more sure\u201d\u00a0 to which you do well to pay attention\u201d to because of the certainty of the prophets Peter says you would do very well to pay attention to what they say because they function as \u201ca lamp shining in a dark place\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Now why is this world a \u201cdark place\u201d?\u00a0 It\u2019s a dark place because the kingdom is not here right now.\u00a0 So the prophets function as a light \u201cshining in a dark place\u201d because they start to paint a picture of what life will be like once the kingdom comes.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 until the day dawns and the morning star\u201d now the morning star, according to Revelation 22 is Jesus, \u201cuntil the morning star arises in your hearts.\u201d\n\nSo until the morning star and the return of Christ the world is in a dark place, the kingdom is not here, Satan is the god of this age but we don\u2019t\u2019 lose hope because the prophets are like \u201ca lamp shining in a dark place,\u201d that we would do well to pay attention to.\u00a0 So if you don\u2019t become a student of what the prophets reveal about the kingdom the only thing you\u2019re stuck with is the course of this present world, and isn\u2019t that kind of a depressing subject?\u00a0 And that\u2019s why everybody is all concerned about world events and I am too to a certain extent, but the fact of the matter is whoever gets elected and the next election cycle, you know, we can be hopeful about things or depressed about things I guess a little, but the fact of the matter is it doesn\u2019t alter your hope at all because your hope ultimately doesn\u2019t come from the course of this present world; it comes from the picture that the Old Testament prophets present of the coming kingdom.\n\nSo every world view out there has an eschatology, a study of the end, and as Christians we have one too and we have a very clear picture from God of His plan for this world, which gives us hope in a hopeless age, but you really don\u2019t have hope until you become a student of these prophets who are functioning like a light \u201cshining in a dark place.\u201d\u00a0 So Peter says we would do well to pay attention to these prophets.\n\nSo what I have is a list of fourteen characteristics of the kingdom, from the prophets, and before I even give you that list of fourteen I want to take you to three sections of Scripture, all in Isaiah, and if you were just to become a student of these three passages you would have a pretty good glimpse of what the kingdom is like and will be like.\u00a0 The first is Isaiah 2:1-4, which I had you turn to, four verses, it says:\n\n\u201cThe word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.\u00a0 [2] Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills;\u201d so one of the characteristics of the coming kingdom is the nation of Israel is going to be in a place of prominence over the rest of the world.\u00a0 Israel and Jerusalem is not just one of many nations but she\u2019s actually prominent in that time.\u00a0 And it goes on and it says, \u201cand all the nations will stream to it.\u00a0 [3] And many peoples will come and say, \u2018Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob;\u00a0 that He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths.\u2019\u00a0 For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the\u201d word of the LORD will go forth from Washington D.C\u2026. oh, I\u2019m sorry, it doesn\u2019t say that, \u201cthe word of LORD from Jerusalem.\u201d\u00a0 So it\u2019s picturing Jerusalem as the nerve center of the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 [4] \u201cAnd He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples;\u201d so what\u2019s happening in this future time period is completely righteous judgment, so there\u2019s no mistakes, there\u2019s no miscarriages of justice like we see today, \u201cand they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.\u00a0 Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war.\u201d\n\nSo it\u2019s talking about a period of time of world peace where nations spending\u2026 think of how much of our budget here in the United States is spent just on military, a military in this time won\u2019t even be needed because there won\u2019t be any wars during this time.\u00a0 So that\u2019s a tremendous picture, isn\u2019t it?\n\nTake a look a couple of chapters to the right, look at Isaiah 11:6-9, it says, \u201cAnd the wolf will dwell with the lamb,\u201d so that\u2019s talking about peace in the animal kingdom.\u00a0 Have you been to the zoo lately?\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice that wolf and lamb are in different cages, but not so in the millennium or the kingdom.\u00a0 It says, \u201cAnd the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them.\u00a0 [7] Also the cow and the bear will graze, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.\u201d\u00a0 So notice that it\u2019s a time period where animals aren\u2019t even carnivorous any more, they\u2019re herbivorous.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [8] \u201cThe nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand\u201d into the cobra\u2019s nest.\u00a0 Think about how startled\u00a0 you would be if your young child put their hand into the cobra\u2019s nest, but in this coming kingdom that won\u2019t even be an issue because the conflict between animals and mankind is called off.\u00a0 And it says, [9] \u201cThey will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,\u201d so notice it\u2019s a time of holiness, you have the righteous rule of Jesus present.\u00a0 And then it says, \u201cFor the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.\u201d\n\nSo think of a world where Christians aren\u2019t persecuted, you know a lot of our brothers and sisters in Christ are meeting under the cloak of darkness and secrecy for fear of government persecution.\u00a0 Even here in the United States look at how the Bible has been pushed out of the schools and public life.\u00a0 A judge in Alabama wants to post the Ten Commandments on his wall in the courthouse and all of a sudden that becomes a lawsuit, and all of these things where the Word of God is pushed out of everything.\u00a0 But in the kingdom the earth will be the opposite; the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.\u00a0 So that\u2019s quite a picture, isn\u2019t it, of the kingdom?\n\nAnd then go to the very end, second to last chapter of Isaiah and notice Isaiah 65:17-25, Isaiah continues to give us great depictions of the coming kingdom.\u00a0 He says, \u201cFor behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;\u201d now I\u2019ll show you a little bit later that that\u2019s not a brand new earth, that\u2019s what we would call a renovated earth and I\u2019ll try to prove that a little bit later.\u00a0 \u201cAnd the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.\u00a0 [18]\u00a0 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem for<\/em> rejoicing\u201d so Jerusalem today, the way the prophet Zechariah describes it it\u2019s like a burdensome stone that causes the nations to reel.\u00a0 Even recently in Paris the gang of seventy two met to further divide the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem.\u00a0 But not so in the kingdom, Jerusalem will not be a target any longer; Jerusalem will be a place of rejoicing.\n\n\u201c\u2026And her people for<\/em> gladness.\u00a0 [19] I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; and there will no longer be heard in her the voice of weeping and the sound of crying.\u00a0 [20] \u201cNo longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few<\/em> days, or an old man who does not live out his days; for the youth will die at the age of one hundred and the one who does not reach the age of one hundred will be thought<\/em> accursed.\u201d\u00a0 You knowledge sometimes somebody dies at a very young age, a child, a teenager, something tragic happens and we say wow, isn\u2019t it tragic such a young life was snuffed out.\u00a0 And in the kingdom if someone dies when they reach a hundred everybody is going to be shocked, how sad that is that such a young man died at such a young age, at the age of one hundred.\n\nAnd it goes on and it says, [21] \u201cThey will build houses and inhabit them; <\/em>they will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit.\u00a0 [22] They will not build and another inhabit,\u201d so today you put in a lot of sweat to start a business or something and the government comes and assuming you even make a profit the government comes in with state, local and national taxes and all of a sudden 60% of everything you earn and all the effort you\u2019ve spent, suddenly that money is gone.\u00a0 And where does it go?\u00a0 It goes to somebody else that didn\u2019t earn it.\u00a0 So in the kingdom you\u2019re going to be able to reap the benefits of your own labor, whatever you produce is yours.\u00a0 And it says, \u201cthey will not plant and another eat; for as the lifetime of a tree,\u201d now think of a tree, how a tree survives multiple human generations, \u201cas the lifetime of a tree so will be<\/em> the days of My people, and My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands.\u00a0 [23] They will not labor in vain, or bear children<\/em> for calamity; for they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD, and their descendants with them.\n\n[24] It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer;\u201d see, a lot of times we struggle with God because we pray and we don\u2019t see immediate answers to our prayers but not so in the kingdom.\u00a0 You pray for something and immediately it materializes because of the righteous rule of Jesus is present and we\u2019re aligned with His righteousness.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 and while they are still speaking, I will hear. [25] \u2018The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent\u2019s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,\u2019 says the LORD.\u201d\n\nSo what do you think?\u00a0 Are you looking forward to this time period?\u00a0 Here\u2019s just the things I wrote down only from those three sections of Scripture in Isaiah.\u00a0 I call these kingdom conditions.\u00a0 Jerusalem is the center of the earth.\u00a0 It\u2019s a time of perfect justice, worldwide peace, peace in the animal kingdom, the universal knowledge of the Lord, the earth is renovated, there is a curtailment of the curse because the curse did bring death, and the average lifespan today is what?\u00a0\u00a0 70 years, 80 years, 90 if you\u2019re lucky.\u00a0 Well here obviously people are living a lot longer than that.\u00a0 There\u2019s going to be what I would call authentic\u2026 you\u00a0 know, people throw this word \u201csocial justice\u201d around today but in the kingdom there\u2019s authentic social justice because whatever you labor for you end up keeping.\u00a0 It\u2019s a time of tremendous prosperity on the earth and it\u2019s a time when our prayers are immediately answered.\u00a0 That\u2019s the light shining in a dark place that the prophets are holding out for us.\n\nSo notice Romans 11:12, notice what Paul says concerning the restoration of Israel.\u00a0 He says, \u201cNow if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles,\u201d now let me pause there for a second, we know the story from the Gospels that Jesus showed up and the nation of Israel rejected Him.\u00a0 And as the nation of Israel rejected Christ the kingdom did not come in the first century; the kingdom is now in a state of postponement, not cancellation.\u00a0 And we look at that and we say what a tragedy, but you all know that God can take lemons and turn them into what?\u00a0 Lemonade; that\u2019s God\u2019s specialty.\n\nSo He took the Jewish rejection of their own Messiah, where the Jews had all the evidence that could be mustered by God Himself that Jesus is their Messiah, He is the King of God\u2019s choosing, and they rushed Him through their judicial system, which was a mockery of justice, they broke every law they had in the Old Testament and in extra biblical\u2026 the Mishnah and those kinds of documents, they rushed Jesus through the court system to get Him dead.\u00a0 They turned Him over to the Romans and we look at that and we say what a tragic thing that was but God took lemons and turned them into lemonade because through that transaction what did God accomplish? \u00a0The sin debt of the world was paid for.\u00a0 So God took a tragic thing and actually used it to pay the sin debt of the world.\n\nAnd so Paul says if the Jewish rejection brought riches to the Gentiles\u2026 see, we\u2019re spiritually rich now, because of the death of Christ.\u00a0 If there wouldn\u2019t have been a death of Christ, had the nation of Israel not rejected Jesus, right?\u00a0 So if that failure resulted in riches to the Gentiles look at what he says, \u201chow much more will their fulfillment be!\u201d\u00a0 If God took their rejection of the Messiah and turned it into a triumph think of the greater triumph that\u2019s on the horizon once the nation of Israel complies with the condition and honors the King of God\u2019s choosing.\u00a0 And I think what Paul is referencing here is the coming kingdom.\n\nAnd he goes in verse 15 and he says, For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?\u201d\u00a0 And all the way through Romans 11 he\u2019s talking about the future of\u00a0 the nation of Israel; he\u2019s just making a very simple point that the Jewish rejection of Christ was tragic but God brought something good out of it.\u00a0 And if God can bring something good out of a tragedy think what greater thing is coming once the nation of Israel is in the faith because that will result in the manifestation of the kingdom of God on the earth and the ultimate dethronement and deposing of Satan.\u00a0 And you don\u2019t have this understanding unless you pay attention to what the prophets have said, which functions as a light shining in a dark place.\u00a0\u00a0 [2 Peter 1:19, \u201cSo we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.\u201d]\n\nSo that\u2019s the introduction\u2026 you can see why this is probably going to lead into next week.\u00a0 But what I have here, I just want to give you fourteen conditions of what the kingdom is going to be like.\u00a0 We\u2019ve already read several of them in those three sections of Isaiah that we read just a moment ago but here I\u2019m kind of delineating things a little further and trying to give us a picture of the coming kingdom which is so well developed by these prophets and God specifically raised up these prophets for many reasons.\u00a0 One of their primary reasons was to give us a picture of the coming kingdom.\u00a0 So here we go; fourteen conditions.\u00a0 I\u2019ve taken all of these from the prophets and one of the tragedies of putting this study together is all the stuff I had to leave out so I can just give you a Readers Digest version because if you really want to get into what the prophets say about the kingdom that\u2019s an expansive, massive, massive study.\u00a0 So here\u2019s at least the Readers Digest version so you can get the flavor of it.\n\nThe first of the four conditions is that the coming kingdom is going to be established by God.\u00a0 Daniel 2:44 says, \u201cIn the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed.\u201d\u00a0 So this kingdom that\u2019s coming is not the work of man, it\u2019s not the work of some kind of political strategy; it\u2019s something that God physically sets up on planet earth.\n\nThe second characteristic of the coming kingdom from the prophets is that it\u2019s going to be eternal; it\u2019s going to last forever in other words.\u00a0 Daniel 7:27 says, \u201cHis kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [Daniel 7:27, \u201cThen the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.\u201d]\u00a0 Now you say well how can it be eternal when John tells us it will last a thousand years in Revelation\u00a0\u00a0 20.\u00a0 What you have to understand is the millennial kingdom is going to be followed by the eternal state, so the millennial kingdom is sort of like the front porch to a house; it does last a thousand years but once you pass it you move into the eternal state, the eternal state is called the \u201ceternal state\u201d because it lasts forever.\u00a0 So Revelation 20 is sort of the front door or the porch and Revelation 21 and 22 is the house that follows.\u00a0 So this kingdom will be eternal and this kingdom will last forever.\n\nNumber three, this kingdom will be exhibited by Christ\u2019s direct rule.\u00a0 Jesus Himself is going to be orchestrating the kingdom.\u00a0 Zechariah 9:9-10 says, \u201c\u2026Behold, your king is coming to you\u2026 mounted on a donkey,\u201d that was the first advent which the Jews rejected, but then Zechariah 9:10 goes into Christ\u2019s second advent and it says, \u201cHis dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.\u201d\n\n[Zechariah 9:9-10, \u201cRejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! \u00a0Shout in triumph,<\/em> O daughter of Jerusalem!\u00a0 Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.\u00a0 [10] I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; and the bow of war will be cut off.\u00a0 And He will speak peace to the nations; and His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.\u201d]\n\nSo what it\u2019s revealing is the worldwide rule of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Christ\u2019s direct rule over the earth.\u00a0 And what God is bringing back into existence is the structure that existed over the human race prior to the fall of man.\u00a0 God\u2019s original plan was to directly rule Adam and he was to govern creation on God\u2019s behalf.\u00a0 And we studied that, did we not, in Genesis 1:26-28 where Adam was given authority over the animal kingdom.\u00a0 He said subdue, rule and those kinds of things.\n\n[Genesis 1:26-28, \u201cThen God said, \u2018Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.\u2019 [27] God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. [28] God blessed them; and God said to them<\/u>, \u2018Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.\u201d\u2019]\n\nAnd that was lost in Eden and God is bringing this back in the thousand year reign of Christ where God is going to rule over not the first Adam but the last Adam, He\u2019s going to govern creation for God.\u00a0 That\u2019s the plan of human history.\u00a0 And God, in Genesis 1, \u201csaid to them,\u201d plural, Genesis 1:26, subdue, rule, in other words it was Adam and Eve together.\u00a0 So when Jesus is governing this earth for God the Father He\u2019s going to be with His Eve ruling and reigning and who do you think that Eve is?\u00a0 The church, which is the bride of Christ, then it will be the wife of Christ.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 So the millennial kingdom is the direct rule of Jesus Christ over the earth.\n\nA fourth characteristic of the coming kingdom is it\u2019s going to be earthly.\u00a0 A lot of people will take these promises and say well, that\u2019s just talking about Jesus and heaven and our enjoyment with Jesus in heaven and things like that.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not what the prophets say.\u00a0 It describes it as earthly in nature, just like Eden was earthly in nature.\u00a0 Zechariah 14:9 says, \u201cAnd the LORD will be\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cwill be king over all the earth; [in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.\u201d]\u00a0 So it\u2019s very clear that we\u2019re dealing here with what we would call an earthly kingdom.\u00a0 The earthly kingdom which will follow the earthly return of Jesus Christ to this planet starts getting described as early as the book of Job.\u00a0 What\u2019s the oldest book of the Bible?\u00a0 The book of Job, and in Job 19:25 it says this: \u201cAs for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the\u201d what? \u201con the earth.\u201d\n\nThe problem with Christendom, Christianity is we fell under the spell of Augustine, but he in the fourth century took all these promises and said you know, these are really heavenly in nature.\u00a0\u00a0 He was someone that was influenced by gnostic thought.\u00a0 Gnostics basically believe that the spiritual world was good and the physical world was bad.\u00a0 And that seeped into Christianity and that started to mess up a lot of doctrines; one of the doctrines that got messed up was the incarnation of Christ, that Jesus came in an actual body, and that\u2019s why you see statements in \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01 John about who is the antichrist but the one who denies that Jesus has come in the what? in the flesh.\u00a0\u00a0 [1 John 4:2-3] \u201cBy this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; [3] and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.\u201d\n\nAnd another doctrine this Gnostic thought destroyed seeping into Christianity as the doctrine of the earthly kingdom, so I\u2019ll be showing you in this series that the church, for 200 years, believed exactly the way I\u2019m talking, in an earthly kingdom.\u00a0 In fact, they made it a test of orthodoxy, if you didn\u2019t believe this you weren\u2019t even considered an orthodox Christian in the church for the first two centuries.\u00a0 And then Augustine came along, influenced by Gnosticism and he began to say things like all of this physical stuff is really carnal, and so they took all of these promises that God has given specifically to planet earth and they began to kind of celestialize them and make it sound like they were heavenly and they basically began to rewrite these prophecies.\n\nEven today many people have very limited knowledge of the church within Christendom about the coming earthly reign of Christ and they really don\u2019t understand that they are going to be ruling and reigning with Jesus Christ on the planet earth.\u00a0 Revelation 5, I was trying not to quote the book of Revelation because I wanted you to see that this earthly kingdom idea really starts in the Old Testament, but Revelation 5:10 says, \u201cYou have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign\u201d where? \u201cupon the earth.\u201d\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say anything about us being clouds, strumming harps, wearing white sheets or whatever, halos over our heads.\n\nThere is an earthly heavenly program, we\u2019re with Him for seven years in the Father\u2019s house, we\u2019ll try to explain that later in the series, but that\u2019s just limited; we\u2019re coming right back to the earth to rule and reign with Jesus Christ on planet earth.\u00a0 And very few Christians understand this and even in our songs what do we talk about all the time?\u00a0 Heaven.\u00a0 And the way we evangelize, do\u00a0 you want to die and go to heaven?\u00a0 We talk about heaven all the time.\u00a0 But the reality of the situation is the Scripture is placing a lot more emphasis on the earth and we\u2019ve lost sight of our earthly future, and so we learn here, with characteristic number 4 that according to Zechariah 14:9, \u201cAnd the LORD will be king over all the earth; [in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.\u201d]\u00a0 This is a terrestrial earthly kingdom.\n\nNow one of the things people like to do with these promises\u2026 you see how I\u2019ve got the tribulation period, the Second Coming, the thousand year kingdom, and the eternal state?\u00a0 One of the things people like to do is they like to take all of these earthly promises and transport them to the far right of the chart.\u00a0 And they like to say well, this is not talking about some kind of thousand year reign of Christ which precedes the eternal state, this is talking about the new heavens and the new earth.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is, and I\u2019ll be showing you this over and over again through this chart here as we progress, these prophecies are not talking about the eternal state.\u00a0 One of the reasons they could not be talking about the eternal state is because Zechariah 14:16-18 talks about people not wanting to go to Jerusalem to worship Christ.\n\nAnd what you have to understand is that the kingdom is repopulated by believing survivors of the great tribulation period.\u00a0 And the earth, after the great tribulation period will be quickly repopulated and what is\u00a0 passed down through the bloodline?\u00a0 The sin nature.\u00a0 And so the kingdom is a very interesting time, you can have the resurrected Jesus ruling and reigning with His church, us in resurrected bodies ruling and reigning but you\u2019ve got a group of people on the earth that need to be ruled over with a rod of iron because they will still possess a sin nature.\n\nThat\u2019s why Jesus has to rule with a rod of iron during this time period and that\u2019s why you get little hints of grumblings in people, they\u2019re not going to want to go to Jerusalem to worship but they don\u2019t dare express themselves, they don\u2019t destroy campuses and things like people do today when they have these tantrums.\u00a0 And so they just bottle up their resentment against Christ and you\u2019ll see that very clearly in Zechariah 14:16-18, it says, \u201cThen it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went up against Jerusalem will go up from\u00a0 year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.\u00a0 [17] And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them.\u201d\u00a0 Rain is r-a-i-n, not r-e-i-g-n.\u00a0 But God immediately judges any rebellion, they don\u2019t get moisture for their crops, and this is a manifestation of Jesus ruling and reigning, along with His church, with the rod of iron. It says, [18] \u201cIf the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the LORD smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths\u201d\n\nNow let me ask you a question; can that be describing the eternal state?\u00a0 It can\u2019t be describing the eternal state because there isn\u2019t any sin in the eternal state.\u00a0 Revelation 21:4 makes that very clear and a number of other passages.\u00a0 [Revelation 21:4, \u201cand He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.\u201d]\n\nSo a prophecy like that can only fit this unique time before the eternal state begins when you have two classes of people living on the earth, the resurrected Christ along with the resurrected church and I\u2019ll throw into the mix Old Testament resurrected saints and resurrected tribulation martyrs.\u00a0\u00a0 Daniel 12:2; Revelation 20:4-5, many passages describe it.\u00a0 [Daniel 12:2, \u201cMany of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 20:4-5, \u201cThen I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.\u00a0 [5] The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.\u201d]\n\nBut you have people who survive the tribulation period, who pastor the sheep and goat judgment.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find a description of this in Matthew 25:31-46.\u00a0 They are called sheep and they enter the kingdom, not in resurrected bodies but in mortal bodies and the kingdom starts with all believers.\u00a0 They have children, their children have children, their children have children and the sin nature just gets passed right on down through the genetics.\n\nSo the kingdom is this unique period of time where you\u2019ve got resurrected and un-resurrected people living together on the earth.\u00a0 And you say this sounds like a science fiction movie, this is really weird.\u00a0 But think about this for a minute; we have a precedent for this in Scripture.\u00a0 There is a forty day period in between Christ\u2019s resurrection and ascension, that\u2019s described in the book of Acts, and that period goes about forty days and he\u2019s instructing his disciples and do they not have a meal together during that time?\u00a0 And they\u2019re interacting, He\u2019s asking them questions, they\u2019re asking Him questions and there\u2019s dialogue going back and forth and they\u2019re even touching Christ.\u00a0 Remember Thomas touched Christ.\u00a0 So what I\u2019m saying is there is a precedent in Scripture for resurrected and non-resurrected people to be dwelling together and that\u2019s basically what the kingdom age is.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the only way to make sense of a passage like Zechariah 14 which talks about a rebellion that\u2019s smoldering in the hearts of people but it isn\u2019t expressed because of Jesus ruling with a rod of iron.\u00a0 Zechariah 14:16-18 doesn\u2019t fit the far right of the screen, the last two chapters of the Bible. It only fits the immediate one thousand year time period.\u00a0 So what is the coming kingdom going to be like?\u00a0 It\u2019s going to be earthly.\n\nThe fifth condition that the prophets describe is the kingdom is the time period when the land promises are going to be realized.\u00a0 Remember the plot of real estate that God promised to Abram, all the way back in Genesis 15, remember we studied that and the Abrahamic Covenant, a plot of real estate that goes from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates.\u00a0 \u00a0It\u2019s basically modern day Egypt to modern day Iraq.\u00a0 And remember Abraham, who was then named Abram, walked around the land, and we studied that, that he would possess, so it\u2019s got to be talking about soil on this planet.\u00a0 And when is this going to happen?\u00a0 It\u2019s going to be fulfilled in the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 So everything that God has promised in the covenants to the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is going to be fulfilled at this time.\n\nNow when you study Ezekiel 47:13-23 what you discover is very specific information is given concerning how that land is going to be divided amongst the twelve tribes.\u00a0\u00a0 So there\u2019s sort of a pictorial representation of what Ezekiel 47:13-23 is talking about. People say well, let\u2019s just make that the eternal state.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t fit the eternal state!\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because Ezekiel talks about tribal land; the eternal state is talking about tribal city gates.\u00a0 It talks in the eternal state about the New Jerusalem but it never says (to my knowledge) that the land is divided.\n\nWhat it says in Revelation 21:12 concerning the New Jerusalem, the eternal city, it says: \u201cIt had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.\u201d\u00a0 So in the eternal state each gate of the city is named after a tribe.\u00a0 That\u2019s not the way the millennium is described where they\u2019re actually given a specific plot of real estate.\u00a0\u00a0 So once again a prophecy like this does not fit the eternal state.\u00a0 The only place it logically fits is the thousand year kingdom that lead up to the eternal state.\n\nAnd continuing on here with our list, once these land promises are realized what is promised is that the land of Israel will never be divided again.\u00a0 No division of the land!\u00a0 Remember when the land of Israel was divided, after Solomon\u2019s reign; the ten northern tribes called Israel were divided from the two southern tribes that were then given the name Judah.\u00a0 And you read passages like Joel 3:2 and that\u2019s where you discover that the nations of the earth prior to the return of Christ are going to be obsessed with dividing the land of Israel.\u00a0 And this is exactly what we see today, isn\u2019t it?\n\nWhat are these international groups always saying?\u00a0 Israel has to give up more territory to guarantee peace, so they\u2019re always talking about dividing the city of Jerusalem, giving up the West Bank.\u00a0 They gave up the Gaza Strip back in 2005 and how well has that worked for them?\u00a0 They elected in Gaza Hamas, a terrorist organization, which uses that strip to build tunnels so they can go into the land of Israel and kidnap people.\u00a0 I was actually in Israel, my wife and I, when those youths were kidnapped coming home from school, those Jewish youths, and they used that area, and on this map it\u2019s called Philistia, what\u2019s called the Gaza Strip today, they use it to launch rockets into the land of Israel.\u00a0 And\u00a0 you see how well this two-state solution works.\u00a0 Now the world community says let\u2019s just try it on a bigger scale.\n\nSo you\u2019re not going to just give up Gaza, you\u2019re going to give up what they call the West Bank, which is really Judea and Samaria.\u00a0 So there\u2019s a perpetual desire to divide the land of Israel and Joel 3:2 indicates that that\u2019s what\u2019s going to bring God\u2019s wrath to the world in the tribulation period.\u00a0 He says they divided My land.\u00a0 [Joel 3:2, \u201cI will gather all the nations And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; And they have divided up My land.\u201d]\u00a0 So this is an obsession of the nations and it\u2019s a division that actually started after the time of Solomon as the land was divided between the northern and the southern kingdoms.\n\nBut guess what?\u00a0 In the millennial kingdom no more division of the land.\u00a0 Ezekiel 37:21-22 says, \u201cSay to them, \u2018Thus says the Lord GOD, \u201cBehold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; [22] 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.\u201d\n\nThe book of Jeremiah, chapter 30 and verse 3 predicts the exact same thing in the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 It says, \u201c\u2018For behold, days are coming,\u2019 declares the LORD, \u2018when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah.\u2019 Thus says the LORD says, \u2018I will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers and they shall possess it.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 He says I\u2019m going to restore the fortunes of Israel and Judah.\u00a0 That\u2019s the north and the south coming back together and living in harmony.\u00a0 And never again will the nations of the earth divide this land.\n\nSo the kingdom is the time period when all these land promises, expressed in the Abrahamic Covenant and also expressed through the prophets, indicating the land will never be divided again, it\u2019s the time when all of these land promises are going to be realized.\n\nA sixth condition of the millennial kingdom is a time period when Israel is preeminent. Israel, in the millennial kingdom, is not some side show off in the corner, but she is the preeminent nation.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the prophets predict.\u00a0 Isaiah 49:23 says, \u201cThey,\u201d that\u2019s the Gentiles, \u201cwill bow down to you with their faces to the earth and lick the dust of your feet;\u201d that\u2019s pretty powerful, isn\u2019t it.\n\nZechariah 8:23 says, \u201c\u2026'In those days ten men from all the nations\u201d Gentiles, \u201cwill grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, \u2018Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you for we have heard that God is with you.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 So there\u2019s a recognition once again that Israel has a very special role that she\u2019s playing in that time period and people are attracted to God and they know that Israel is God\u2019s special nation.\u00a0 So the nations of the earth, ten Gentiles are grabbing the garment of one Jew.\n\nWe\u2019ve already read Isaiah 2:3, \u201c\u2026For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from\u201d where?\u00a0 \u201cJerusalem.\u201d\u00a0 Not Brussels, not Washington D.C., not San Francisco, not any famous Gentile city but the nation of Israel is the nerve center of the millennial kingdom.\u00a0\u00a0 And this is why in the book of Revelation, when Satan is released from the abyss, John talks about it in Revelation 20:7-9 and he\u2019s given one last chance to wage war against God, and he summons the nations who had been living in perfection for a thousand years, and that sin nature has been kind of boiling but hasn\u2019t been allowed to express itself.\u00a0 Satan is released and people have one last shot to rebel against God and it says in Revelation 20:7-9 those involved in the rebellion are as \u201cthe sand of the seashore.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 20:7-9, \u201cWhen the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, [8] and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. [9] And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.\u201d]\n\nSo we\u2019re not talking about a minor rebellion here.\u00a0 And what do they surround?\u00a0 They surround which city?\u00a0 It says it very clearly, \u201cthe beloved city.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Now do a study of the beloved city in the Old Testament and what you\u2019ll discover is the beloved city is always a reference to which city?\u00a0 The city of Jerusalem.\u00a0 Now why are these rebels and Satan attacking the city?\u00a0 Because that\u2019s the headquarters.\u00a0 To take over you have to attack the headquarters; it\u2019s the nerve center, if you will.\n\nIsaiah 49:22-23 talks about this, Zechariah 8:23 talks about it, Isaiah 2:2-3 talks about it.\u00a0\u00a0 A passage I read earlier, Zechariah 14:16-18 talks about this, because they won\u2019t want to go worship Jesus on the Feast of Booths.\u00a0 And where is Jesus located at that time?\u00a0 The city of Jerusalem.\u00a0 That\u2019s why there\u2019s this smoldering rebellion in the hearts of people against the city of Jerusalem.\n\n[Isaiah 49:22-23, \u201cThus says the Lord GOD, \u2018Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations and set up My standard to the peoples; and they will bring your sons in their<\/em> bosom, and your daughters will be carried on their<\/em> shoulders.\u2019\u00a0 [23] \u2018Kings will be your guardians, and their princesses your nurses.\u00a0 \u00a0They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth and lick the dust of your feet; and you<\/em> will know that I am the LORD; those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Zechariah 8:23, \u201cThus says the LORD of hosts, In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, \u2018Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Zechariah 14:16-18, \u201cThen it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. \u00a0[17] And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. [18] If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall<\/em> on them; it will be the plague with which the LORD smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths\u201d]\n\nIsaiah 14:2 talks about the preeminence of Jerusalem and the Jewish people during this time.\u00a0 It says, \u201cThe peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the LORD as male servants and female servants; and they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 So all of these nations that have subjugated and bullied Israel, all of these centuries and millennia, in the millennial kingdom find themselves actually being ruled over by Israel, the very nation that they subjugated.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what these prophets seem to be predicting.\n\nAnd you have to watch theologians very carefully on this issue because what they\u2019ll play is this little game where they\u2019ll say well, I believe in a future for Israel, and people say okay, they believe in a future commitment to Israel and God\u2019s future plan and program being fulfilled through Israel so they\u2019re okay as a theologian.\u00a0 When people say I believe in \u201ca<\/u> future for Israel\u201d they are grossly. grossly, understating what the prophets predict.\u00a0 The prophets do not predict \u201ca\u201d future for Israel, they predict Israel is \u201cthe<\/u>\u201d future.\u00a0 Do you see the difference there?\u00a0 Israel is not just one of many nations in the millennial kingdom, that\u2019s what a lot of people are trying to pass off today but that\u2019s not what the prophets predict at all. It predicts that Israel is the head and not the tail; it predicts the preeminence and the prominence of Israel.\u00a0 Jesus is ruling and reigning over this earth from the city of Jerusalem.\n\nAnd let me see if I can squeeze in one more here, a seventh characteristic of the millennial or coming kingdom as revealed in the prophets is the millennial temple.\u00a0 There is a millennial temple described in Ezekiel 40-46, and it\u2019s described in such detail that it\u2019s impossible to say well that\u2019s just an allegory.\u00a0 It\u2019s described with more detail than Noah\u2019s ark itself.\u00a0 It\u2019s described with more detail than the temple Solomon built in history.\u00a0 So if you\u2019re going to play this game of well, it\u2019s not literal, then you have to de-literalize Noah\u2019s ark, you have to de-literalize the Solomonic temple.\u00a0 The level of detail in Ezekiel\u2019s prophecy of the coming temple is mindboggling; in fact, it\u2019s so mindboggling it becomes impossible to spiritualize it away or allegorize it away.\n\nHere\u2019s some pictures of the temple, its comparison to Herod\u2019s temple size wise.\u00a0 Look at how big this millennial temple will be in comparison to Herod\u2019s temple which you remember from John 2, where they said it took forty years to build this temple.\u00a0 [John 2:20, \u201cThe Jews then said, \u2018It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?\u201d\u2019]\u00a0\u00a0 So it was a very attractive temple by the time of Christ, that was rebuilt by the exiles that came back from Babylon.\u00a0 This would be temple two because the first temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, just prior to the deportation.\n\nSo the exiles come back, they rebuild the temple, Herod comes along later in biblical history and beautifies it, and this was the temple that the disciples were so impressed with.\u00a0 They were pointing out to Christ on the Mount of Olives, look at the beauty of the temple.\u00a0 And this was where Jesus in Matthew 24 says, I tell you the truth, not one stone will be left on another.\u00a0 [Matthew 24:1, \u201cAnd He said to them, \u201cDo you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.\u201d\u2019]\u00a0 This temple is going to be torn down, which it was by the Romans in A.D. 70.\n\nBut that picture there is the size of Herod\u2019s temple and look how big Ezekiel\u2019s temple is, there on the left, by way of comparison.\u00a0 Look how big Ezekiel\u2019s temple is compared to the tabernacle that Moses constructed.\u00a0 Look at how big Ezekiel\u2019s temple is compared to the majesty of Solomon\u2019s temple, that the Shekinah glory of God entered.\u00a0 And look at how big Ezekiel\u2019s temple is relative to a football field.\u00a0 We all watched the Super Bowl, think what that giant football field that we were all watching, look at how big Ezekiel\u2019s temple is by way of comparison.\u00a0 And this is the temple that the Shekinah glory of God returns to.\u00a0 Remember, the first temple built by Solomon that the Shekinah glory of God entered left just prior to the deportation.\u00a0 And last week I tried to make the case that that\u2019s when the theocratic kingdom left the earth.\u00a0 Do you recall that?\u00a0 And what Ezekiel predicts is there\u2019s coming a glorious millennial temple that the same Shekinah glory of God left from in the days of Nebuchadnezzar is actually going to return to, and that\u2019s the return of God\u2019s theocratic reign over the earth and that\u2019s a millennial passage.\n\nNow again, people play this little game well, let\u2019s just put Ezekiel\u2019s temple into the last two chapters of the Bible?\u00a0 Does it fit there?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t fit there because Ezekiel 45:22 says this: \u201cOn that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering.\u201d\u00a0 So there is something, it\u2019s described in Hebrews 9:13, of ceremonial cleansing that the priests are going to have to go through to take care of their duties in this millennial temple because the Shekinah glory of God will be present. [Hebrews 9:13, \u201cFor if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh,\u201d]\n\nNow let me ask you a question.\u00a0 Can Ezekiel 45;22 fit the eternal state?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t fit there at all, does it, because in the eternal state there\u2019s no sin.\u00a0 If that weren\u2019t enough, according to Revelation 21:22 of the eternal state, John says, \u201cI saw no\u201d what? \u201ctemple in it, [for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.]\u201d\n\nSo number 1, there\u2019s no sin in the eternal state, Revelation 21:4 says He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, there will no longer be any death, there will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain, for the first order of things have passed away.\u00a0 That\u2019s number 1.\u00a0 Number 2, there can\u2019t even be a temple in the eternal state because Revelation 21:22 says \u201cI saw no temple in it.\u201d\u00a0 So the only logical\u2026 unless you just want to wildly pretend that this prophecy isn\u2019t saying what it\u2019s saying, in which case you have to dismiss all of the in depth graphic depiction of that temple.\u00a0\u00a0 Unless you just want to allegorize it away the only place it logically fits is not in the eternal state\u2026 by the way, is this temple in existence today?\u00a0 There is no temple in Israel today.\u00a0 So if it\u2019s not being fulfilled today and it\u2019s not going to be fulfilled in the eternal state where are you going to put it?\u00a0 If you care about details you\u2019ve got to put it somewhere, right?\u00a0 The only logical place it fits is in that thousand year kingdom, that unique period of time where you have resurrected and non-resurrected people dwelling together.\n\nSo I hope you\u2019re sort of getting a picture of what this coming kingdom is like: established by God, eternal, Christ\u2019s direct rule, earthly, the land promises are realized at this time, Israel is going to be preeminent over the nations of the earth at this time and it will be a time period with a functioning millennial temple.\u00a0 And guess what?\u00a0 I only made it halfway through our list so we will look at the remaining seven descriptors of the coming kingdom from the prophets next week.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t