Monthly Study - The Kingdom of Heaven

[0:00] I want to thank you all for joining with us this morning. Appreciate your presence. And we are going to do something in an effort to try a little bit and make up for our last session.

[0:12] I was embarrassed to realize that I'd run way over on my time. Didn't have any Q&A or anything. So I do recall telling you, in an effort to try and make it up to you a little bit at least, I was going to open this morning with Q&A.

[0:27] So you're more than welcome to ask any questions that you may have, something that you need elaboration on. Or it doesn't have to be a question.

[0:37] It may be an observation in connection with what we've been looking at regarding eschatology, which of course is just a fancy name for things to come or prophecy.

[0:50] And we are going to be looking at some very pertinent things that will impact every one of us here eventually. So before we go any further, I'd like to know if anybody has anything specific that they'd like to bring up, any questions to ask or suggestions or anything, feel free.

[1:14] Anyone? Anyone? Okay. Yes, Steve. I haven't gotten back to the spot.

[1:26] But in Matthew 24, when Christ is talking to the disciples and saying that, you know, they ask what will the, I forget what they ask.

[1:38] But anyway, he was explaining what the end times will be. Jews at least. And then, then he says, this generation will not pass away until all these things come to pass.

[1:49] Well, obviously it wasn't the generation of people that, the disciples that he was speaking to. So do we know exactly which generation he's talking about?

[2:02] It will be the generation that is, the generation that is in place at the time the things that he describes here begins happening, which indicates that they are going to be of a shortened version, a shortened duration.

[2:18] And that means, I think, that they will be within, and I don't know if they will be within the seven-year period that he's talking about, or if it will be transpiring during the second half of that, which is the three and a half year or 42 months.

[2:34] That, I don't know, can be determined right now. There is a definite cleavage in that 70th week of Daniel that lasts seven years. And the first three and a half years are going to be, well, they're going to be chaotic.

[2:51] They're going to be, by the way, one of the principal things that is inundating our nation and the globe as we speak is a new kind of chaotic substance that is taking place all over the country.

[3:11] And it just makes you wonder, in light of the chaos that we're seeing, what is it going to be like during the time that Christ is speaking of? It is getting to the place now where it is getting harder and harder to believe anything.

[3:31] And we've never been here before quite like this. I mean, there's always been some of that, but it just seems to be intensifying as time goes on, that the upheaval just continues and the roiling is getting greater all the time.

[3:46] And Christ is talking about a time similar to that. Now, that doesn't mean that we're really close to what he's saying here, but it doesn't mean that we aren't either. So, we just don't know.

[3:56] But, I wish I had a more definitive answer for you than that, but that's probably the best that we can do right now. Any other comments or questions? Feel free. I will not consider it a distraction.

[4:09] I will consider it an addition. So, you feel free. I just wanted to make a comment. It just really seems like, Russia and China getting together is just a real sign of...

[4:24] It is. Well... And even calling the new world order. Yeah. That may be very significant. I don't know if you recall... Well, yeah, all of us are here. All of us here are old enough to remember.

[4:38] A number of years ago, China and Russia were buddy-buddy. They were in bed together. Remember? They were the best friends. And there was some cleavage that took place.

[4:49] I'm not real sure what the differences were in connection with the regimes that were at hand, but they just kind of drifted apart. Neither of them stopped being what they were, which, of course, is thoroughly committed to the communist philosophy.

[5:02] But they did not have the kind of camaraderie between them that they had for a number of years. And that just separation... And all the world really kind of breathed a sigh of relief because they were not so together.

[5:16] And yet, geographically, they're, you know... So... And now, what has happened is whatever the rift or the occasion may have been that caused them to drift apart, it apparently has been healed.

[5:32] And now, they are on the same team together. Which really does not bode well for the rest of the world. And then, given what's going on in Taiwan and the noise that the Iranians are making regarding their nuclear capabilities, folks, things could be shaping up for a showdown quicker than we know.

[5:56] So, we just have to continue to rely on the only one who is actually in charge. And that's all we can do. And that's all we're supposed to do.

[6:06] Any other thoughts or comments? I want to bring you up to date. I'm not going to spend too much time on the description of this, other than to say, and this is really very, very important.

[6:21] And I do want to emphasize it. The differences that exist within Christendom. And when I talk about Christendom, I am not simply speaking of those who are born-again Christians.

[6:36] I'm talking in a broad general term of everything that the world considers to be under the banner of what would be called Christendom.

[6:48] And that includes Roman Catholics and Protestants. Those two large bodies generally make up about 90% of what we would call Christendom.

[7:00] And the main thing that separates those bodies from one another is all about interpretation.

[7:12] It all relates to how you interpret the scriptures. And everybody knows what the Bible says. But what does it mean?

[7:25] That's an entirely different issue. And there are principles of interpretation that need to be implemented. And if they are not, you will reach various conclusions over here on the left.

[7:37] And if you implement them, you'll reach different conclusions over on the right. And that's exactly what we've got right here. With this article on the three views of the millennium, they are described as post-millennial, amillennial, and premillennial.

[7:55] And let me just briefly, well, let's just go over them, if we may. You follow along as we read. The first one is post-millennial. And all that means is that, first of all, the millennium, the word means a thousand.

[8:10] And before we take anything for granted, let's go to the only place where it's really mentioned. And that's in the last book of the Bible. So let's go there quickly, if we may, please, to Revelation chapter 20.

[8:25] Revelation chapter 20. It is also during this thousand-year period that Satan, the adversary, is going to be taken out of commission.

[8:41] He's going to be sidelined. We have no idea how a spirit being is going to be incarcerated because it's obvious that bars are not going to hold him like they would a human being in a jail or something like that.

[9:00] And we do not have any idea how or what his existence is going to be for a thousand years, but he's going to be alive and he's going to be out of commission. And Satan, you will recall, is a fallen angel.

[9:13] He is a spirit being who does not occupy a physical body such as we have. That puts him in an entirely different category and frankly, it's one that I can't understand. But I'm sure that the Lord does very much.

[9:25] So if you'll look at Revelation chapter 20, let's begin, if we may, with verse 1. John saw an angel coming down from heaven.

[9:37] John is looking into the future and these are the items that he is registering. Having the key of the abyss. The abyss is sometimes translated a bottomless pit.

[9:49] We don't know exactly where it is, but we do know that it's a physical thing. And he is having the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand.

[10:01] The chain, I take it, is physical. Well, how are you going to apply a physical chain to a non-physical being? I have no idea how this is going to work out, but I can promise you this, God is not puzzled by it.

[10:16] He laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, threw him into the abyss, shut it and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations any longer.

[10:36] Implication is, that's what he's been doing all along and has been rather successful at it, but now he is out of commission and will not be able to apply his wares any longer.

[10:47] That is, until the thousand years were completed, and after these things, he must be released for a short time.

[10:59] Now, I'm just going to plow ahead just here a little bit and tell you why he is going to be released. He's going to be released so that he will be able to recruit a huge number of people who have been born during the millennial reign of Christ, during this thousand-year reign of Christ, because there are going to be two kinds of people in the millennium.

[11:27] There are going to be those who have bodies just like ours. They function just like ours. They are thoroughly physical in every way. These will be people who entered the millennial reign of Christ who survived the seven-year tribulation period.

[11:47] It is at the end of that period that Christ is going to establish his kingdom. And during that seven-year period of tribulation, there are going to be a lot of people martyred, a lot of people executed, particularly Jews.

[12:03] And at the end of that time, there's going to be a number of people just like us who will have survived that time. They were not taken in the rapture because they were not believers then.

[12:16] They became believers during that seven-year period of tribulation, and they are alive and managed to keep body and soul together until the great tribulation period is over and Christ returns and the kingdom is established.

[12:32] Then those people with those bodies, like ours, are going to be in that kingdom period, and they will be living out their lifespan however long it lasts, probably like ours into the 70, 80, 90.

[12:47] I don't know what's going to happen then. But at the end of that time, during that time, they're all going to be multiplying. They're going to be marrying, having children, and by the end of a thousand years, while we will have been there in place for that whole thousand years, because we are going to be there in a glorified body.

[13:11] It's not going to be a body that will even be subject to death. You are going to be there, and you're going to live that entire thousand years in your glorified body.

[13:23] And at the end of that time, a new heaven and a new earth will be created, and the eternal state will begin, putting after the final rebellion is put down.

[13:38] Now, let me get back a little bit to our text here. Satan is released after he is bound for a thousand years, and he will go out on the earth to recruit huge numbers of people who have been born as a result of those people who were believers who entered the kingdom after the tribulation was over, and they have children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

[14:07] How many people are you going to have after these people have been multiplying for a thousand years? You're going to have a lot of people, because what we now know as death and disease and all of the negatives that affect us as humans will be out of commission then.

[14:26] They're going to be perfect conditions existing during the millennium, and if you want to know a more detailed description, that will be found in the content that was excerpted from the book by Dr. Pentecost on things to come.

[14:42] This all explains what the conditions of the millennial reign of Christ are going to be like. It will be heaven on earth. Christ will be ruling and reigning.

[14:54] We are going to be here living and functioning with Him. Have no idea what we're going to do, but I know this, and I can promise you this. You will not be bored. You will not be bored.

[15:06] It will be the most wonderful, rewarding kind of existence that you can imagine. So, at the end of that period of time, Satan is going to succeed in plying his wares just as he did before.

[15:20] He has not reformed one bit, and he is going to successfully recruit a huge number of people. They will stage a final revolt against the Lord who will have been ruling and reigning in righteousness from Jerusalem for that thousand years.

[15:43] And if anything else, what this is going to prove is the, what shall I say, the encourageability, the encourageability of a fallen human being to comply with God's standards, a refusal to do so.

[16:06] And that's what's going to activate these people, and Satan, of course, is going to stir it up, and then there will not be a battle. The text simply tells us that God will send fire from heaven, and it will simply consume them on the spot, just completely annihilate them.

[16:25] And we may be talking about a huge number of people. These will be the planet's final rebels, and they will meet their demise then and there.

[16:38] And following that, then the eternal state will be instituted. Let me just point this out, and we were talking about this in the men's class last week. The first two chapters of Genesis are all about the original creation.

[16:57] The last two chapters of the book of Revelation are all about the eternal state. So you've got the ultimate beginning and the ultimate conclusion of planet Earth.

[17:12] and what is between Genesis chapter 3 and Revelation chapter 20 is everything else, including where we are right now.

[17:28] Everything else. So you've got the beginning in Genesis, the end in Revelation, and we are among those in the middle of that. And what that is called is either the kingdom or the anticipation of the kingdom.

[17:48] When does the anticipation of the kingdom begin? Genesis 3. With the seed of the woman crushing the head of the serpent, and that is what is going to provide the basis for the beginning of the kingdom, and that, of course, will be at the instruction of the Messiah.

[18:06] So everything in between is kingdom related. And I make that point because I don't I don't have the facility to emphasize to you how important this thing called the kingdom really is.

[18:26] And I know it is a subject that is found in a number of places, particularly in the Gospels, and the Lord refers to it constantly. And you would be surprised that so many people look at the kingdom of heaven the way I did as a new believer years and years ago.

[18:42] And I just equated the kingdom of heaven. What's the kingdom of heaven? Well, that's where you go when you die. You know, that's where God lived. No, it isn't. He isn't talking about that at all. The kingdom of heaven is on earth.

[18:55] And the mere use of that word heaven is a little bit misleading because we tend to think heaven, up, up where Jesus went when he ascended.

[19:05] That's heaven. Well, that is heaven and that is the abode of God. But that is not the kingdom of heaven. When the Bible talks about the kingdom of heaven, it is talking about God's heavenly kingdom coming to and being established upon the earth.

[19:22] And it is found in that key passage that everybody has quoted that some churches say it every Sunday that thy will be done that the prayer is for thy kingdom come so that thy will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[19:48] Now, I know it is a stretch for you to believe this. But the majority view, the majority view, which means virtually all of the Catholics and most of the Protestants think this is it.

[20:10] This is the kingdom of heaven on earth right now. We are in it. But, it is spiritual. It isn't physical.

[20:23] It isn't literal. It is spiritual. And, Christ is ruling and reigning from His throne in heaven and His will is being done on earth through His emissary.

[20:48] Through His contact man here on earth. Through His vicar here on earth. That is the Pope.

[21:01] the Roman Catholic Pope is Christ on earth. And, the will of God is being done by the vicar here on earth.

[21:17] That is the majority point of view. Now, the time came when a number have difficulty with that. Among them was Wycliffe and Tyndale.

[21:31] And, the most famous one, of course, was Martin Luther. And, he rebelled against that concept and came to the position that the Pope is not the vicar.

[21:43] That he is an illegitimate person who is serving in the name. And, you all know the story of the Reformation and Martin Luther and so on.

[21:54] But, you've got to remember that out of Lutheranism, which he established, is going to be followed very shortly by the Church of England when King Henry VIII was kicked out of the Roman Catholic Church.

[22:10] Some say he kicked out and some say he pulled himself out, but whatever. And, when he left Rome, he started what would be called and still is called the Church of England.

[22:23] It's also called the Episcopal Church, same thing. and it's also called, there is another name for it, it slips my mind now. Pardon?

[22:33] Anglican? Yeah, the Anglican Church, the Anglican Church. They are all one and the same, they're just a different thing. And then out of them, out of them came not only the Lutherans that are among us today in Worldwide Federation, but also out of the Church of England eventually came John Wesley, who became the father of, and by the way, Wesley and his brother Charles, they were both Anglican clergymen, and they eventually started what would be known as the Methodist Church, and still is to this day, and it of course has several branches of different kinds of Methodists, like there are different kinds of Baptists, so, and all of these, whether Lutheran or Church of England, Anglican, whatever you want to call it, and the Methodists who came out of that group, and the Nazarenes who came out of that group, all of those, for the most part, not all of them entirely, but for the most part, they brought with them all of the doctrine from Rome or from

[23:43] Luther. Luther brought a lot of things from Rome with him when he started the Lutheran Church, including infant baptism and different things like that, but he left a lot behind, of course, and then when they broke from, when Henry VIII broke from the Church of Rome, he also brought a lot of things with him by way of Romish doctrine, and that has permeated to this very day.

[24:11] So that's just a brief history lesson, and I realize that that's very general, but in general, that's the way it is. So you can see what I'm saying when I tell you that this is the view of most of Christianity today, and we who are referred to as, I guess you would say independence, or Bible believing churches, or whatnot, whatever you want to call us, we occupy a very distinct minority among the whole, and that's something that you need to keep in mind.

[24:43] So if you're thinking about being among the comfortable majority, you can forget that, because we left that for a long time ago, we are in what is often referred to as the uncomfortable minority, and yet that's where we are, and why are we there?

[24:57] Well, we simply believe that that's the way that it really is, and that others have gone astray, and we do not claim to have all the truth, not by any manner of means, we just claim to have some of the truth, and some of the truth that we have has separated us from what we would call the parent group.

[25:20] So as you look at this sheet that explains all of the millennial things, these are all representative of a literal, physical, earthly kingdom of heaven come to earth, and these are descriptions of what it is going to be like, and I'm not going to reiterate them because they're right there in front of you, but as you go through the alphabet, you can see all of these have an Old Testament reference, and a promise that this is what the kingdom of heaven is going to be like when it is set up.

[25:59] Now, how do those who believe that this is the kingdom of heaven spiritually, how do they justify that position in light of what I've given you here and what Dr.

[26:17] Pentecost has put together? And their answer is simply, well, this is a rather crude kind of expectation of what the kingdom of heaven is going to be like, but what you need to understand is it was never intended to be physical, it's intended to be spiritual.

[26:42] Maybe it started out that way when Israel was to be the catalyst for it, but you see, what has happened is because of Israel's rejection of the Messiah and their unbelief, God has set Israel aside and out of the picture, and there will not be any literal fulfillments like he gave to them, but they will all be spiritual fulfillments transferred from Israel to the church, and we are that church, or a part thereof.

[27:18] So what it is that separates has everything to do with how you interpret the scriptures, and let me make this point too, because this needs clarified. Most of these groups, including Roman Catholics, Luther, et cetera, most of them interpret most of the Bible just like we do.

[27:42] They take it at face value. The verse, the scriptures mean exactly what they seem to mean. That's the meaning. They take it at face value.

[27:54] Except, except, when it deals with issues of prophecy, it's an entirely different thing.

[28:05] Then the interpretation is to be spiritually based, not literally based. And what that means, of course, once you depart from a literal meaning of a passage, you are at the mercy of the imagination and the creativity of the one who is reading it.

[28:28] Because you can make it almost anything you want it to be, but it can't be literal. Now, take a look at this, for instance. Let's just take a couple of minutes and look at this sheet.

[28:44] Let's just take item F. Item F. Justice. Conditions existing within the millennium. We'll just take this. The reason I'm picking on this is because of what's going in our culture right now.

[29:00] You are aware, are you not, that in our present world, justice is a scarce commodity?

[29:12] You know what I mean? Justice, another word for justice is rightness or righteousness. Well, when the millennium is established and Christ is ruling and reigning, item F, justice, there will be the administration of perfect justice to every individual.

[29:39] Well, where does it say that? It says that in Isaiah 9, 7 and 11, 5 and 32, 16 and 42, 1 through 4 and 65. That's where it says, now, I have a question for you.

[29:55] How do you spiritualize that? justice look like? You're at a loss.

[30:08] You can't even define it. How do you administer justice to someone spiritually? And this is just one example. I just picked this at random.

[30:19] There are several others that you could look at. there is no possibility of any definable answer when you talk about moving from the literal, actual, physical to the spiritual.

[30:35] It may sound good because everybody knows it's better to be spiritual than to be non-spiritual, but that's an entirely different issue. You see, what we're talking about here is a problem and a difficulty in the interpretation of scripture.

[30:51] And all of these groups interpret all of the rest of the Bible the same way we do except when it comes to prophecy. Because if you interpret that literally, do you know what that means?

[31:07] That means that Israel has to be Israel. You have no wiggle room. And I am confident that that is exactly what the Spirit of God intended when He gave us the Word.

[31:26] We have absolutely no reason to believe that God gave us the Word with the intent that. Now, when it comes to prophecy, you've got to switch it and change everything.

[31:37] You know what that's tantamount? That is changing horses in the middle of the stream. It is irrational, illogical, and unintended.

[31:47] Let me make this as clear as I can. God gave us His Word so that it may be understood because only when you understand it can you responsibly act upon it.

[32:06] There is no possibility of that occurring with the spiritual. You have absolutely nothing to work with. And what I am telling you is that the whole approach and conclusion of the vast majority of what is called Christendom is simply out to lunch.

[32:31] And that is not a pretty place for the majority of the body of Christ to be in. And when I say body of Christ, I am simply saying that there are a lot of people who hold this position, this spiritual thing that I'm talking about, who are true born-again believers.

[32:47] They have a personal relationship with Christ. Many of them, I don't have any idea how many, but I know many of them are Roman Catholic, and I know many of them are Episcopal, and many of them are Lutheran, and they are because what we're talking about now has no bearing on one's personal relationship to Christ, has no bearing upon your salvation.

[33:10] It doesn't mean those who believe in Christ and have all of their eschatology straight. They're the ones going, no, no, no, no. It is faith in Christ alone that saves, and let me put it this way, you can be wrong about everything else, but if you're wrong about Jesus Christ, who he is, why he came, what he did, and why it matters, if you're wrong about that, then you're in a world of hurt.

[33:32] So you can be wrong about a whole lot of things, but not that. And yet, what we are talking about is so key and so germane, and it is the very heartbeat of the whole prophetic plan of God.

[33:50] It's a shame that all of Christendom aren't together on that page, because I'm convinced we could have a lot more of an impact upon this world than with just this tiny minority of which we are a small part, as opposed to what's out there.

[34:06] So, this thousand-year reign of Christ, we're in, before I got distracted, I distracted myself. Anyway, verse four, I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, judgment was given to them.

[34:21] I saw the souls of those who'd been beheaded because of the test. These are all people who are, or who were, victims of the Antichrist, and they were executed for their faith.

[34:36] These were people who would not receive the mark of the beast. Many of them had their lives forfeited because of it. And I saw thrones, verse four, they that sat upon them, skipping on down if we may.

[34:49] You see, the thousand years that is mentioned repeatedly, it's in verse one, and the thousand years, the third time it's mentioned is in verse four, it's mentioned the fifth time in verse six, mentioned the sixth time in verse seven, and the question can well be asked, how many times does it have to be mentioned before people pick up on it?

[35:20] And we look at this and we say, well, the way we approach this and the way we approach scripture, a thousand years is a thousand years. It's ten centuries.

[35:32] Do you know what view they take? Well, in the first place, let me put it this way. When Constantine came to the throne and issued the edict of Constantine, I think it was in 313, and the edict of Constantine was simply that his entire realm was going to adopt Christianity as the official faith of the state.

[36:00] state. And there was the merging, the first merging of church and state. Previously, they were widely separated because Rome was ruling under the Caesars, etc., and the church was far removed from the state.

[36:18] But under Constantine, these things were united. and it is a matter of history, and it is recorded in many of the major history works, that then, in the fourth century, I think it was 313 or 315, when Constantine came to the throne and issued that edict, that many of the scholars of that day jumped on that, excluding, or rather, exclaiming, this is the beginning of the millennium.

[36:53] It is the merging of church and state. And what that meant was persecution is over, the animosity is over, and there has been a wedding between the church and the state, and the hostility is gone, and everything is wonderful.

[37:13] That sounds like the millennium. And many interpreted it to be that. But then they had a problem. After a thousand years had gone by, and it was in the 1300s, it didn't look much like the millennium.

[37:33] And what was taking place in the Roman Catholic Church at the time, with a lot of the Spanish Inquisition going on about that time under Ferdinand and Isabella and so on, and it looked like things were backsliding, and they didn't know how to accommodate that, because some of them were taking it literally, and here it's been a thousand years, and look at what we've got, and this isn't the kingdom of heaven.

[37:57] Ah! So then they came back to, guess what? The spiritual will bail you out every time. When you can't make the literal make sense, you just transfer it and say, well, it's spiritual, and it's not supposed to be literal.

[38:11] Then they had another problem with, as time went on and more and more time was consumed, there were more and more questions being raised about whether or not this was the millennium and so on and so forth.

[38:27] So all I'm saying, folks, is this. There isn't any way in the world that you can make these numbers work if you abandon the literal concept of interpretation.

[38:38] it has got to be that way. And when you do, everything makes perfect sense. And when you do, do you know what that requires? That requires Israel being taken off the shelf and put back in the mainstream again, and they become a major player once more, and they are the ones who are going to be under persecution primarily during the tribulation period as well as all the rest of and the literal just fits like a hand in a glove.

[39:06] the way God intended it in the beginning. So all of this has to do with the millennial reign that we're talking about, and here are these three views. The first one, if you look at this other sheet, post-millennium, as is indicated, Christ will come to establish his kingdom on earth after the thousand years millennium.

[39:30] And the thinking is, the earth will get better and better through the spread of the gospel, and Christ will come to claim his kingdom after one thousand years of peace has transpired.

[39:46] The saying that developed back then, and this became very popular in the 1800s, because it was in the 1800s that the world was launched into what can be called the Industrial Revolution, and inventions were coming along, that sped up progress and understanding and communication, and you've got the telephone, you've got the wireless, you've got all of these things coming into place, we're making all kinds of progress, and it's being wonderful, and the saying that was about was this, every day in every way we're getting better and better.

[40:24] Every day in every way we're getting better and better. Now, the Civil War kind of put the brakes on that a little bit, because that wasn't very rosy, and then when you come into the 20th century, we've got this nasty business of World War I, and post-millennialism was ill, very ill, and it was not measuring up, and more and more people started to abandon it.

[40:52] The whole concept was when the church succeeds in converting the world and making the world worthy of the return of Christ so that it can appropriately welcome him, then Jesus will come back.

[41:14] What we need to do is evangelize the world so that everyone will be converted and Christ can smile upon it with approval and come back to the earth.

[41:27] That's post- millennialism, and it was the number one position until World War I just about put the squelch on it, and now you can't hardly find a post-millennialist anywhere.

[41:41] There are still some writings around, of course, but nobody's taking that position seriously because as we look about us, it looks like, if anything, we're getting further and further away from the kingdom than we are getting close to it.

[41:55] So, that's the post-millennial position. The earth is not getting better and better. By the way, there are hymns in our hymnal that reflect the post-millennial.

[42:07] And one of the hymns is, why say you not a word about bringing back the king? Whose responsibility is it to bring back the king?

[42:18] George. It's mine. And how are we to do that? Through the missionary enterprise, we are to convert the whole world and then Christ will return.

[42:32] Once we make the planet fit for Jesus to come to, he will return. That's post-millennialism. And you don't hear much about it today.

[42:43] All-millennialism is the principal position that is held by the majority. And this is the group that insists on spiritualizing. There will be no future earthly thousand-year reign.

[42:59] And the word millennia simply means a thousand. The Greek A, that's the alpha prefix that goes before the word millennial, at the beginning of the word means no.

[43:10] It negates what comes after it. It means no millennium. There is no literal millennium at least. And their position is the millennium is now.

[43:22] We are in it. You are living in the millennium. It is taking place right now. Peace on earth exists in the church. Well, now, I'm not so sure even about that.

[43:36] But that's what the claim is. And Satan is now bound. He is now bound so that he cannot prevent the spread of the gospel.

[43:51] And again, you've got to swallow hard to get that down. The objection or support, Revelation 20 and verse 3, says that Satan goes to prison, that he should deceive the nations no more.

[44:09] And that means, and their interpretation of that, of course, is that that's why we are free to live in the millennium right now spiritually because Satan isn't affecting anything.

[44:23] He's already bound. He's out of commission. And again, that is quite a stretch. You know, you can ask the people who are administering our laws, ask the courts and ask the judges, ask the cop on the corner if he thinks we're in a period of peace and tranquility now.

[44:51] You see, folks, this all makes sense. In fact, it only makes sense when you take it literally as it was intended.

[45:04] God said what he meant and he meant what he said. And he's not speaking out of both sides of his mouth. This information was given for our understanding, not for our obfuscation.

[45:20] There is no deeper, darker, more secret, hidden meaning under that. That is nonsense. God said what he wanted us to know and put it on the surface out there in plain language so that it wouldn't be missed.

[45:34] But you know what? We still manage to miss it. Many of us do. And it just demonstrates, once again, my contention that the whole of humanity, the whole of humanity is intellectually, psychologically impaired.

[45:59] All of us were born that way. And the only thing that can bring you out of it is the new birth and the revelation of the truth of scripture.

[46:11] That's the only reason. If we are above the fray, that's the only reason why. Because our intellect was fallen with everybody else's.

[46:22] And when you have a fallen intellect, it means you cannot assess information and reach the right conclusion about a whole lot of things. One of them we're dealing with today is this sex thing.

[46:43] Is there anything that has come upon God's green earth that is more weird than believing that your sex is optional?

[46:58] That you do not have to be what you were born with physically? You can change your sex by your will?

[47:09] You can be transgender? That is a primary example of what I'm talking about regarding an impaired intellect.

[47:21] We see all kinds of really crazy conclusions being reached about all kinds of stuff. Really weird. And you wonder, where is this coming from?

[47:32] I'll tell you where it's coming from. It's coming from impaired intellects. So what makes ours any better than anybody else's? This.

[47:42] this is the only thing. It is the entrance of thy word gives light. And if you don't have the word, you don't have light.

[47:57] And that's where we are right now. We are living in a world in a culture of darkness spiritually. And you see all kinds of bizarre conclusions and positions taken.

[48:09] do you ever hear anything so weird as defund the police? Are you kidding me? Are you crazy?

[48:21] Yeah. Well, who could come up with that? If you've got an impaired intellect, you can come up with anything. And folks, that's what we're dealing with right now.

[48:31] And you know what it makes me think? It makes me think we're a lot closer to the end. than we know. How much crazier can it get?

[48:45] Well, it's going to be hard to top this thing, this sexual misogyny thing. It's going to be hard to top that. But you know what? They will. And the more bizarre it becomes, the more quickly you're going to see them developing.

[49:01] And the whole world, the whole world, not just the U.S. of A, the whole world is going to be reduced to a period of absolute chaos where you won't have any idea where you can turn to to get accurate information.

[49:18] It just won't be available. That's what we're coming to. And we're getting closer to it all the time. Well, these three views of the millennium, the last one, and our time is gone.

[49:30] Our position is that Christ is going to come personally and he will be the only reason there is going to be a millennium because he is going to deal with the Antichrist and with his forces there in Revelation 19 and 20 and he is going to establish that kingdom.

[49:47] And by the way, he is going to rule with a rod of iron. And what that implies is it will be a no nonsense rule. It will be one where justice will prevail upon the whole earth.

[50:01] And evil will be dealt with summarily. And so we've just had a brief look at some of the things that are coming and why they're coming and what's taking place. Any comments or questions?

[50:12] I want to terminate our time here. Anything? Anybody? Yes. I can figure is even though as we go into this thousand years, there's a remnant of believers, they're still human.

[50:26] Right. So you've still got the old Adam nature. That's right. We're going to have a thousand years of that not being tested because the Lord is going to put his foot on it. Yep. And everybody's going to have that coming.

[50:37] Yep. No experience of evil. A lot of, yeah, and a lot of it is going to be submerged. It's going to be under the radar and it won't be dealt with because it won't be public.

[50:47] But when the Antichrist comes on the scene with his recruiting program, these are going to say, ha ha ha, this is what we've been waiting for. And they're going to jump on board and that will be the end of that.

[51:00] So you've got to remember these two different things. You are going to be here. You are going to be here. If you die tomorrow and your spirit goes to be with the Lord and the body is buried, that's going to be, you're going to be a reuniting and you're going to be here during that thousand year reign of Christ.

[51:20] All of us are. And you're going to live throughout that time in a glorified body. it's going to be, well, it's going to be the earth the way it's supposed to be.

[51:32] And I can't imagine how that's going to function with Christ ruling and reign. And by the way, David's going to be here. You know that? David's going to be here.

[51:43] And he's going to be having his response. And the twelve apostles are going to be here. as Jesus said, you who have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man comes into his kingdom, you also shall sit upon twelve tribes, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

[52:01] It's going to be something. I'll tell you what it's going to be. It's going to be heaven on earth. It's going to be wonderful. And I can't wait. Thank you for your kind attention.

[52:13] We've just hurried through a lot of this. And the one I didn't spend much time on, of course, is pre-millennial and that's the very last one. But I don't think you need much indoctrination on that.

[52:24] Something tells me that you're on board with that already. So thank you for your time this morning. And thanks again to our excellent trio of cooks in the kitchen who did a wonderful job.