(I will try to explain the actual existence of the millennial kingdom through the Bible in terms of when, where, who, what, and how.)
1. Why is the millennial kingdom established on Earth?
‘… Others were tortured, not acquitting themselves of deliverance, so that they might obtain a better resurrection. Others were tempted by mockings and scourgings, moreover, by bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain by the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented; of whom the world was not worthy. We wandered in deserts and mountains, in caves and holes in the ground (Hebrews 11:35-38).’
Why did the Lord establish the millennial kingdom on this earth?
First, it was for the saints of the Old Testament and the New Testament who sacrificed their lives in this world while suffering persecution because of their faith. They were mocked, scourged, stoned, sawed to death, and forced to live in poverty and hiding in mountains, holes in the ground, hoping for a better resurrection. Even now, some saints in North Korea are living in the Yodok concentration camp, living a life worse than that of animals. If the saints of the early church were persecuted and had to give up their lands and homes and live in hiding in the catacombs of Rome, they should have lived in hiding in the limestone caves of the Cappadocia region. Even now, hundreds of millions of saints on earth are being persecuted and killed, and during the seven-year tribulation, because they do not receive the mark of the beast on their forehead or right hand, they will not be able to buy or sell things, and they will not be able to find a job, so they will starve to death or be captured and suffer all kinds of hardships and be killed.
In Mark 10:29-30, the Lord said to the saints who will be persecuted and martyred, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.’ He said that those who will be persecuted and persecuted for the Lord and the gospel will receive a hundredfold on this earth. These martyrs were starving, naked, robbed, living in hiding, and suffering all kinds of humiliation and abuse while living on this earth because of the Lord and the gospel, so when Jesus Christ comes to this earth and establishes the millennial kingdom, He will let them reign as kings with the Lord over those who killed, persecuted, and oppressed them in the flesh.
Second, it is for the people of Israel. The people of Israel are the people who brought the Messiah into this world. For that reason, they were persecuted greatly by Satan. The purpose of Jesus coming to this world was to shed blood and die to wipe away the sins of mankind and to bear the sins of mankind. Therefore, the Jews are the people who are destined to kill Jesus. They were persecuted greatly by mankind for killing Jesus. In Isaiah 6:8-10, ‘I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am; send me.’ Then the Lord said, ‘Go and tell this people, ‘You will indeed hear but will not understand; you will indeed see but will not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears dull, and their eyes closed, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn and be healed.’’
In Isaiah 6:8-10, Isaiah made it so that the Israelites would not recognize the Messiah who would come to save mankind even though they saw him with their eyes (they had been waiting for the Messiah so long), and did not understand even though they heard the words of the Messiah. No matter how much Jesus shouted to them that he was the Messiah, that he was the Son of God, they tried to kill him for blasphemy, saying, ‘How can you, a mere man, be the Son of God?’ Therefore, the high priests, scribes, and Pharisees ended up killing Jesus. If the Jews had not killed Jesus, some nation would have had to kill Jesus who came to this world to die. Because they were responsible for that mission, the Israelites suffered greatly from Satan and humans.
They were annihilated by the Romans, Hitler, all the nations of Europe, and the people of Esther’s time. Since Jerusalem fell to the Roman general Titus in AD 70, they became a nation that wandered around the world for 2,000 years. They suffered greatly without a country or nation. God established the millennial kingdom to compensate these Israelites. He compensated them because they were the nation that brought the Messiah into this world and carried out God’s work of redeeming mankind by killing Jesus.
2. How does the present world change into the millennial kingdom?
The land of the kingdom is the land and the people of the kingdom are the people, so how does the millennial kingdom come to be on earth? It is because the ruler changes. The sovereign of a country is the king. When the ruler changes, the country changes. God allowed Satan to reign as king for a short time, but Jesus Christ came as king and took over His kingdom as the master, so the old king Satan was bound and put in prison, and Christ became king.
It is easy to think of it this way. If we look at the history of our country Korea, the Wang clan was the king of the country called Goryeo. When Goryeo was destroyed by Lee Seong-gye, Lee Seong-gye took over the land and people of Goryeo, and Lee became king, and a new country called Joseon was created. Likewise, the king of the world, the devil, was bound and put in prison, and the new king, Christ, established the millennial kingdom.
3. When will the millennial kingdom come?
It will be after the end of the final war of mankind, the war of Armageddon. If we talk about aliens, the origin of aliens is our Bible. In Revelation 19:11 and 14, aliens come down to Earth. A rider on a white horse and a heavenly army following him, dressed in white and clean linen, are riding on white horses and rushing toward Earth. Who is the one riding the white horse and the army that is attacking this earth? As described in verse 16, the one riding the white horse is Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords.
And the army riding the white horse and wearing white linen shows that the identity of this army is the saints who have been resurrected and raptured. Because in Revelation 19:8, “It was given to her to be clothed in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints,” the army wearing white linen is the saints who have been resurrected and raptured. Among the resurrected saints who are raptured when the Lord returns, only the saints who were martyred for their faith through the New and Old Testaments will come to earth with Jesus. This is to compensate them for the persecution and sorrow they have endured in this world because of the Lord. It is to make them together with Jesus and to rule as kings and reign over their enemies who persecuted and killed them.
Meanwhile, on Earth, not only the armies of the East who crossed the Euphrates River as stated in Revelation 16:12, but also the kings of the whole world gathered together in the Megiddo Desert to fight against the aliens who invade Earth.
Therefore, if we add up the number of troops gathered from the West to protect Earth and the number of the armies from the East, the number will be enormous. A sharp sword comes out of our Lord’s mouth toward this earthly army and kills all those who participated in the war of Armageddon on Earth (Revelation 19:21). And the war of Armageddon ends with the Antichrist, the highest leader of the earthly army, being captured and the false prophet being captured. In Revelation 19:19, it says, “Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the one sitting on the horse and against his army. The beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had worked miracles before him, by which he had deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire and brimstone.”
The war had no choice but to end when the greatest leaders of the war were captured and thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone. And in Revelation 20:1-3, the dragon, the old serpent, the devil, and Satan, is bound with a great chain and thrown into the abyss for a thousand years.
“And I sent an angel down from heaven, holding the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that old serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations any more until the thousand years were over. After that, he must be released for a short time.”
When Satan was confined in the abyss, Christ, who was originally the master of this earth, recaptured and took over this earth, and the millennial kingdom begins.
4. The millennial kingdom is the kingdom of the Messiah Christ
I wonder what kind of king the king of the millennial kingdom will be and how he will rule the kingdom.
First, the king will establish and promulgate the laws of the millennial kingdom. The millennial kingdom is a country ruled by a king. It is not a democratic or communist country, but a monarchy. There are many references in the Bible to the people of the millennial kingdom establishing and promulgating laws.
In Isaiah 33:22, it says, “For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us.”
In Isaiah 2:3, it says, “Many peoples will go and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
In Micah 4:2, it says, “Many foreigners will go and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
In Isaiah 53:4, “Listen to me, my people; listen to me, my nation; for the law will go out from me; I will establish my righteousness as a light for the nations. My righteousness is near, my salvation has gone out; my arm will judge the nations; the islands will wait for me, and on my arm they will trust.”
These verses are quoted in Luke 24:47 and John 4:22. In these verses, we see the joyful appearance of the people of the millennial kingdom, gathering from all nations to Jerusalem to receive the teachings of the King with joy. They show the truly happy and joyful appearance of the people.
Second, the King of the Millennial Kingdom is one who rules with justice and righteousness.
Jeremiah 23:5-6, ‘This is what the Lord says: Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise up unto David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign with wisdom, and shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell securely: and this is his name by which he shall be called, The LORD Our Righteousness.’
Isaiah 32:1-8 says, ‘Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice. And he shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as streams of water in a dry land, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. The eyes of those who see shall not be dimmed, and the ears of those who hear shall incline their ears. The heart of the hasty shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the slow shall speak plainly. The fool shall no longer be called honourable, nor the simpleton honourable, for the fool speaks foolishly, and iniquity is conceived in his heart, and he dealeth deceitfully, and his words are perverse, and he speaketh perversely against the LORD. The heart of the wicked is emptied, and the thirsty are deprived of drink. The vessel of the wicked is evil, and he plans wickedly, and with lies he destroys the poor; even though the poor speak righteously, so he does. But the noble plans noble things, and he will always stand on noble things.’
The king and the politicians will rule with justice, so that the people will escape the storm and the torrential rain, and life will be like a stream in a dry land, and the foolish and the foolish will no longer be called noble.
In Isaiah 9:1-6, ‘There will be no more darkness for those who were oppressed. In the past the Lord despised the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter days he will glorify the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; on those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. You have increased the nation and increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at harvest, as with the joy of dividing the spoil; for you have broken the yoke of their burden, the rod of their shoulder, and the rod of their oppressor, as in the day of Midian. The gods of the soldiers fighting in confusion and their blood-stained garments will be consumed like charcoal in the fire, for a child is born to us, a son is given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’
The people of Africa and other regions of this land have lived miserable lives due to inter-tribal wars, sacrifices due to colonial policies, slave trade, and famine, and there are still many such regions today. In the millennial kingdom, these suffering and dark regions will see great light and prosper, and they will be glorified with the joy of harvest and the joy of sharing the spoils.
Third, the king of the millennial kingdom is said to be the king of peace. Isaiah 9:6-7
In human history, there have been many attempts by heroes and great men to conquer the entire world and put it in their hands. Genghis Khan did it, and Napoleon did it. They conquered and ruled over the people of surrounding countries due to their lust for power. However, it was only a very small part of the earth. However, in Revelation 13-16, the Antichrist briefly formed a single world nation with the power of Satan. They did this to rule and exploit those under their power, not to provide a peaceful and satisfying life for all the people. However, our Messiah will rule over all the people of the earth with justice and make them live in peace, happiness, and joy.
‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time forth and for ever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.’
The history of the earth is a history of war. There has never been a time when there was no war. But the King of Peace has eliminated war from this land and given peace to the people. In Micah 2:3-4, it says, “He will judge between the nations and will decide for the strong foreigners from afar. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, nor will they learn war anymore. They will sit, everyone under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord Almighty has spoken.”
In Isaiah 2:4, it says, “He will judge between the nations and will decide for many people. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, nor will they learn war anymore.”
5. The capital of the Millennial Kingdom is Jerusalem
Jerusalem means a city of peace, but when we look at the Old and New Testaments or the current city of Jerusalem, it seems difficult to imagine a time of peace. However, this Jerusalem symbolizes the city of eternal peace as the capital of the millennial kingdom to come, and it is also the place where God’s throne will be and the headquarters of the universe when we enter the eternal world of the new heaven and the new earth. Therefore, it was named Jerusalem from the beginning.
Isaiah 33:20 says, “Look at Zion, the city of our feasts; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will never be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken.”
Joel 3:16-17 says, “The Lord will roar from Zion, He will utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and the earth will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the children of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy; no foreigner will pass through it any more. In that day the mountains will drip sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk, and all the streams of Judah will flow with water, and a fountain will flow from the house of the LORD and flow into the Valley of Siddim.”
Zechariah 8:3-8 Also, ‘Thus says the LORD: I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the Holy Mountain.’ Thus says the LORD of hosts: Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with his staff in his hand because of age. The streets of the city will be filled with young men and young women playing in them. Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘It will be strange in the eyes of the remnant of the people in those days, but will it be strange in mine eyes?’ declares the LORD of hosts. Thus says the LORD Almighty: “Behold, I will save my people from the land of the rising sun and the land of the setting sun, and I will bring them and settle them in the midst of Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.”
“On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will split in its middle from east to west, and there will be a very large valley, half of which will move toward the north and half of which will move toward the south. The valley of the mountains will reach to Asher. You will flee to the valley of the mountains, as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. And the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with you.” (Zechariah 14:4-5)
“When he had said these things, he was taken up before their eyes, and a cloud took him out of their sight. As he was going up, the disciples were looking up into the sky, and two men in white robes stood beside them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’ Then the disciples returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away’ (Acts 1:9-12).
In Acts 1:12, Jesus ascended into heaven in the presence of 500 disciples on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, where he ascended, and said, ‘I will come back in the same way you have seen me go.’ Also, in the Old Testament, Zechariah 14:4, 5, it is said that Jesus Christ will come down to the Mount of Olives with all the holy people after fighting the Battle of Armageddon and dealing with the enemies. Then, a great earthquake occurred on the Mount of Olives, splitting it into two halves, and a great valley was formed, with half of the Mount of Olives moving northward and half moving southward. And it is said that the holy ones who came down to earth with the Lord will gather in that great valley.
In addition, Zechariah 14:8 says that living water will flow out of Jerusalem, half of which will flow eastward into the Jordan River, and the other half will flow westward into the Mediterranean Sea. Verse 9 shows that Jesus Christ will become the king of the world in the millennial kingdom and will rule from the city of Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives on the east side of Jerusalem split open to form a great valley, and Jerusalem in front of it will be lifted up higher (Zechariah 14:10) and will look splendid. In this way, the life of the millennial kingdom begins, and it shows the life of the millennial kingdom.
‘The remnant of the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year by year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. On any of the peoples of the earth who do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain. If the house of Egypt does not go up, there will be no rain. The Lord will strike them with the plague that he will strike the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles’ (Zechariah 14:16-19).
The Israelites have seven major festivals that they celebrate each year: Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of First Fruits, Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles is to thank God for allowing the Israelites to safely complete their 40-year journey in the wilderness and enter the land of Canaan, and to remember the time when their ancestors lived in tents while passing through the wilderness. Also, the Feast of Tabernacles is also called the Feast of Ingathering. This is a festival to give thanks to God for allowing us to farm for a year, harvest, and store grain in the warehouse. This symbolized the millennial kingdom spiritually. However, in reality, the Feast of Tabernacles will be held during the millennial kingdom. This is an article about the Feast of Tabernacles of the millennial kingdom.
In ‘This is the punishment of the Egyptians and the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.’, the Feast of Tabernacles will be the greatest festival observed worldwide in the millennial kingdom. During this festival, representatives from each tribe on earth must be selected and sent to Jerusalem to worship Jesus Christ, the King of kings, but it shows that there will be tribes that do not do so. The Lord, the King of kings, will punish those tribes by not sending rain, showing that there will be a famine in that region. The millennial kingdom is not heaven. It is a transitional period between this world and heaven. Although Satan and evil spirits are gone from this earth, sinful nature still remains in people. And among those who have come in the flesh in the millennium, there are those who blaspheme, curse, and curse God (Revelation 16:9, 21). It shows that there will be those who oppose the millennial rule of Christ, just like the people in Zechariah 14:16-19. And later, after the thousand years, when Satan is released from the abyss and deceives the world, these very people will join Satan’s plot and cause the Gog and Magog war.
6. Who will enter the millennial kingdom? (Revelation 20:5)
First, Christ will enter first. He is the Lord and King of the millennial kingdom. He is the ruler and sovereign.
Second, those who will enter the millennial kingdom are the martyrs among the Old and New Testament saints who participated in the first resurrection.
Revelation 20:4 says, “The souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands, came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” When we look at this verse, it refers to the martyrs among the resurrected saints who were martyred for their faith in Jehovah God in the New and Old Testament eras and the saints who were martyred for not receiving the mark on their foreheads or hands during the seven-year tribulation. These saints are referring to the heavenly armies that followed the Lord on a white horse, wearing white linen and following Christ on a white horse in Revelation 19:11-14.
Thirdly, they will be the Israelites.
The current statistical number of Messianic Jews is said to be 750,000 in the United States and 30,000 in Israel. There will be more Messianic Jews in the future. They will be raptured when the Lord descends, and those who survive at that time will be transformed into resurrected bodies and raptured to participate in the wedding feast. And the current number of Israelites remaining on earth is 13 million. In addition to the raptured saints, those who survived the 7-year tribulation and the war of Armageddon will enter the millennial kingdom in their flesh.
Fourthly, those who enter the millennial kingdom are those who live on earth and are not influenced by world politics or the world economy at all, and who have not yet fully heard the gospel. Or, they are those who have heard the gospel but did not believe in Jesus. Those who live in the remote areas of the Amazon River, the remote areas of Africa, and the tropical forests of Asia, and who are completely unaffected by politics and economics on Earth, will enter the Millennium with sinful nature in their bodies.
Fifth, those who are affected by world politics and economics but survived the first three and a half years and the last three and a half years of the seven-year tribulation, and those who bowed down to the 666 mark or the idol of the Antichrist, will not believe in Jesus and receive the cleansing of their sins, and will enter the Millennium with sinful nature in their bodies.
Sixth, those who openly blasphemed, cursed, and rebelled against God during the last three and a half years of the seven great plagues. These are the people in Revelation 16:8-11 and Revelation 16:21.
‘The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire. People were scorched by the intense heat, and they blasphemed the name of God, who had power over these plagues. They did not repent or give him glory. The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was darkened. People gnawed their tongues because of the pain, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their boils. They did not repent of their deeds.’ Revelation 16:8-11)
‘Then a great hail, about the weight of a talent, came down from heaven on people, and they blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for the plague was so severe.’ (Revelation 16:21)
Let’s look at Revelation 20. Verses 7-9 say that when the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for battle. The number of them is as the sand of the sea. “And they spread abroad over the face of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and consumed them.”
Who are these people who are besieging the camp of the saints and the beloved city?
They are not the resurrected saints. Because it says that they are besieging the camp of the saints. The saints are immortal spirits because they were resurrected. And they do not oppose Christ. However, when we see that fire came down from heaven and consumed them, it means that they will die.
They are also not angels. They are not evil angels, devils, or demons, and especially not good angels. So who are they? They are opposing Christ and the saints. They are burned by the fire coming down from heaven and dying. When we see that they are still being deceived by the devil, fighting, and even dying, it shows the behavior of humans today. They are humans who entered the millennium with their bodies.
How can we say that they are humans who entered the millennium with their bodies? There is evidence in the Bible.
First, if we think rationally, many people will still be alive on Earth after the Armageddon War. All those who participated in the Armageddon War died. Their number will be enormous. Let’s say 400 million. Let’s say they all died in the Armageddon War. If the current population is 8.1 billion (in 2024), the Earth’s population will decrease tremendously during the 7-year tribulation. Chapter 8 of Revelation specifically talks about the loss of life during the seven trumpet plagues.
It says that in the first trumpet plague, a third of the earth will be burned. It doesn’t directly mention the loss of life, but if people live on the land and a third of the earth is burned and burned, wouldn’t there be no human damage? In the second trumpet plague, it says that a third of the sea will turn into blood, meaning that a third of the sea will be polluted. It says that a third of the creatures in the sea will die. It is a disaster that directly affects humanity. Humans eat creatures from the sea, but if they are polluted and die, wouldn’t people die? It says that a third of the ships will be destroyed. The third trumpet plague is said to have polluted one third of the rivers. Here too, there is severe human casualties. The rivers are people’s drinking water. When the drinking water is polluted, they cannot help but die. It is said that one third of the rivers, which are the source of drinking water on Earth, were polluted, and many people died (Revelation 8:10).
In the trumpet plague, many people were reduced by the anti-Christ government’s policy of reducing the Earth’s population. In Revelation 8:15, the sixth trumpet plague is said to have been prepared by angels who were to kill one third of the people. Here, one third of the people are 2.7 billion out of the current 8.1 billion people on Earth. If we include the 400 million who died in the Battle of Armageddon, the number is 3.1 billion, and the conclusion is that 5 billion still exist on Earth. Where did they go before the millennium begins? They are still living on Earth. Of course, this excludes the saints who believed in Jesus and were saved. Wouldn’t at least 1 billion still be alive?
And there is a Bible verse that clearly shows evidence that people are still alive on earth even after the seven-year tribulation is completely over. It is the description of the seventh bowl plague in Revelation 16:17-21. The seventh bowl plague is the last of the seven trumpets and the seven bowl plagues. All objects and buildings on earth are completely destroyed by the earthquake, noise, thunder, lightning, and hail that occurred in the seventh bowl plague. All cities, cultures, and civilizations that humans have built on earth since the first civilization and culture, the city civilization, created by Cain, are completely destroyed. There will be an unspeakable loss of life as a great earthquake occurs all over the earth and a large hailstone weighing a talent (24 kg of gold) follows, raining down all over the world. However, the Bible shows that there are people who survived on earth even after this final plague, the seventh bowl plague, is over. In Revelation 16:17-21, “The seventh bowl was poured out into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, ‘It is done!’ There were flashes of lightning and voices and thunderings, and a great earthquake, such as had not occurred since men were on the earth, so great and so mighty. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. The great city Babylon came to God in remembrance, to receive the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. Every island fled away, and no mountain was found. A great hail, about the weight of a talent, came down from heaven on men, and they blasphemed God because of the plague, for the plague was so great.” This shows that people still exist after the seventh bowl plague. So where will these people go? After the seventh bowl plague, Jesus will return to earth with the saints, win the war of Armageddon, and establish the millennial kingdom. Let’s look at the Old Testament to find out about people who entered the millennial kingdom in the flesh.
Let’s look at two passages in the Old Testament Book of Isaiah that describe the millennial kingdom, showing the life of the millennial kingdom. Let’s look at Isaiah 11:6-9 and Isaiah 65:20-25. First, let’s look at Isaiah 11:6-9. The scene here doesn’t seem to be the current state of the earth. It’s because it’s such a peaceful and ideal place. There’s no war or evil. It’s truly paradise. But it doesn’t seem to be heaven either. We see that the shadow of death still hangs over this place. Isn’t heaven a place where you can’t smell death? The word death can’t exist. Let’s look at Isaiah 65:20-25. Here, it says that people will live long, but it doesn’t say that they won’t die. It doesn’t say that they will live forever. And here and there, we see the word death and the shadow of death hanging over us. We can see that Isaiah 65:20-25 doesn’t describe life in heaven. It shows the life of those who enter the millennium in the flesh. If they live long enough, they can live a thousand years. Those who are born in the year when the millennium begins can live a thousand years.
In Isaiah 65:20, “There will no longer be an infant who lives a short life, or an old man who does not live out his days. For the one who dies a hundred years old will be a child, and the one who does not live a hundred years old will be cursed.” In “The one who dies a hundred years old will be a child”, it is a word expressing that people will live long in the millennial kingdom. If you live long enough, you can live a thousand years, but at that time, “The one who dies a hundred years old will be a child” means that you may die at the same age as a child compared to a thousand years.
Also, “The one who does not live a hundred years old will be cursed” means that when you can live a thousand years, if you do not live a hundred years, you must have committed some heinous crime and been sentenced to death, or you may die from being struck by lightning after doing something bad. Isn’t it a curse to die before you are a hundred years old? In any case, we can see the smell of death and the curse of death here as well. It is certain that people generally live long. However, no matter how long you live, you cannot live more than a thousand years. Because after a thousand years, the devil will be released and deceive the world, causing war, and fire will come down from heaven to destroy them due to the Gog and Magog wars.
However, how can the environment of the millennium be so peaceful? It is because Christ will rule. And the deceiver, Satan, has been confined in the abyss. Although they have flesh and sinful nature, they are not deceived by the deceiver, Satan, so they are not given the opportunity to reveal their sinful nature. Since there is an abundance of food and there are no diseases or environmental difficulties, there are few opportunities to reveal their sinful nature. The climate is optimal, and since the heavens and the earth have been renovated, the air and water are good, which is why they live long lives.
Above all, it is because Satan does not exist during that period. This land was cursed because of Adam’s sin, but that curse has been lifted (Romans 8:22,23), so agricultural products will be abundant. There are many passages in the Bible that say that there will be rivers and springs of water in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 says, “I will give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen ones,” and Isaiah 35:6 says, “… .. waters will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the scorching desert will become a pool.”
Streams will flow in the desert, the desert will become a pool, and springs of water will gush forth in the desert. Will not flowers bloom there? That is why we can sing, “Springs will flow in the desert, flowers will bloom in the desert and give off fragrance.” Wolves will play with lambs, lions will eat grass like oxen, and children will not be bitten when they put their hands in the dens of vipers (Isaiah 11:6-9). It is like the Garden of Eden before Satan invaded.
7. Why is the Millennium Kingdom established on this Earth?
Because the Earth is so important in God’s eyes. And we can see that the Earth is an important planet in the universe. In Genesis 1, we can see that the Earth was the center of creation. The sun and the moon were also arranged for the Earth, and we see that their purpose of creation was to be made for the Earth. Because if we just think about the fact that Jesus Christ, the Creator God, came to this earth and shed His precious blood, we can see how important the Earth is. It is also the place where His children who have been redeemed by His blood live. It is the place where the headquarters of the universe will be when we enter the new heaven and new earth, the eternal kingdom of heaven. It is the place where God’s throne will be (Revelation 21:1,2).
8. The Status and Life of the Israelites in the Millennial Kingdom
1. Here I am going to talk a little longer. The phrase “in the beginning” appears twice in the Old and New Testaments. Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” and John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word.” These beginnings here are different times. The beginning in John 1:1 is further back than Genesis 1:1.
In the beginning of John’s Gospel, there was the Trinity, and God made one important decision. It was a plan to choose the sons of God and live together forever.
After that, God created angels (Job 38:7). Then, in Genesis 1:1, God creates the heavens and the earth. The heavens and the earth refer to the universe (heavens) and the earth. Many people misunderstand Genesis. What I mean is that they confuse Genesis 1:1 with Genesis 1:2-31. Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2-31 are completely different stories. They are also completely different times. God created the universe completely in Genesis 1:1. He finished creating the universe. The earth is included in that universe. And Genesis 1:2-31 is about the earth. Genesis 1:1-3, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.’
In these verses, verse 1 is about the creation of the universe, and verse 2 and onward are about the earth. And it is clear that there is a large gap in time between verses 1 and 2. We do not know if it is a hundred or a thousand years, but there is clearly a gap in time, and something must have happened on the earth during that time. This is because God’s creation is perfect. However, it is said that the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was deep. When God creates, he makes it perfect all at once, but this happened on the earth, and he implemented Genesis 1:2-31 to correct this. God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden on Earth and gave them the mission to cultivate and rule over the Earth and its plants and animals. And he told them not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because if they did, they would surely die.
However, Adam and Eve were not the only ones in the Garden of Eden. Satan was watching them. Oh! Strange. Why did God allow Satan to be in the Garden of Eden? After a long time in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. and as a result, humans became slaves to sin, slaves to Satan. Adam, Eve, and Satan stood before God, and in Genesis 3:15, God said that he would send the offspring of the woman, the original gospel, to this world to free humans from the shackles of sin.
Here, let us briefly look into why Satan was lurking in the Garden of Eden. This is an event that occurred during the long period of time in Genesis 1:1. God created the universe in Genesis 1:1, created the earth in it, and created the Garden of Eden in it. And He appointed the Guardian Cherub to guard and manage the Garden of Eden for a time. The Bible repeatedly refers to it as the covering cherub (Ezekiel 28:14, 16). The covering cherub is called the Guardian Cherub in English. It is the cherub that protects, guards, watches over, and manages. What does it protect and manage? It was the Garden of Eden.
Ezekiel 28:13-17, ‘You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: ruby, topaz, and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper. The timbrels and the harps were prepared for you in the day you were created. You are the anointed cherub who guards; I have set you; you walked up and down on the holy mountain of God among the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, until iniquity was found in you. By the multitude of your trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. Therefore I cast you out as profane from the mountain of God, O guarding cherub; I destroyed you from among the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor… … … … … .’
According to Ezekiel 28:13, the original Garden of Eden that God created was adorned with various precious stones. And the cherub angels were entrusted with the temporary care, guard, and management of this Garden of Eden. In other words, they were temporarily entrusted with the care and guard of the Garden of Eden until the coming of the Master of the Garden of Eden. However, this cherub was called the anointed cherub. It was the leader among the angels. Its power was great. It walked among the stones of fire and was beautiful and glorious, full of wisdom. In Job 38:7, the angels were called the sons of God. It is also mentioned in Job 1:6, 2:1, Genesis 6:2, 4, and Psalm 89:6. Before the true sons of God were born in heaven, the angels were called sons of God. This guarding cherub realized that he is not the owner of the Garden of Eden, but that he was guarding it for someone else. And he realized that the owner was the human being who would be born in the future. So he rebelled in heaven. Therefore, the Garden of Eden and the earth were covered with chaos and darkness (Genesis 1:2), and the guarding cherub was driven out of God’s holy mountain (Ezekiel 28:16), and after a time, God adorned the earth again as He had planned, re-established the Garden of Eden in it, and created Adam and Eve. However, God did not immediately judge the rebel Satan and his angels in the lake of fire, but decided to use Satan to select His true sons, whom He had in mind from eternity ago, and to fulfill His will to live with them in eternity. Selecting the sons of God means that while Satan was the king of the earth, among humans who had become slaves to sin, He chose those who overcame Satan’s persecution, and death and believed in the Savior Jesus Christ until the end and were victorious. and He made them the true children of God. God reserved the execution of Satan and allowed him to wander around the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:1).
In Genesis 12, God prepared to send the offspring of the woman (Jesus Christ) to this earth. and chose Abraham to come in Him to this earth. The descendants of Abraham, the Israelites, were born, and God made a covenant with them. He said that He would make Israel priests to all nations, but they did not act according to God’s will. After much thought, God decided to use their stubbornness and disobedience as they were.
The result is in Isaiah 6. In heaven, the Triune God decides to make a major announcement that He will use Israel for the work of redemption of mankind. This is a tremendous and awesome revelation to Israel and mankind. When God speaks to the prophets, it is mainly the Son of God Jehovah who speak, and this revelation is a great, amazing, and tremendous announcement made jointly by the Triune God. There are three verses in the Bible where the Triune God appears as “us.” The first verse is Genesis 1:26 when the Triune God created man. The second is Genesis 11:7 when They(Triune) said to confuse the language of mankind when they were building the Tower of Babel. The third is Isaiah 6:8. This matter seems to be that important. So God(Triune) calls Isaiah to His presence and asks, “Whom shall we send for us?” Isaiah volunteers to do the work, saying, “Here am I, send me.”
The task is described in Isaiah 6:9-13. ‘And the LORD said, Go, and say to this people, Hear, and do not understand; See, and do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, and make their ears dull, and close their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn and be healed.’ And I said, ‘How long, Lord?’ And the LORD answered, ‘Until the cities lie desolate without inhabitant, and the houses without people, and the land lies desolate, and the LORD removes people far away, and many desolate places are in the midst of the land. Even though a tenth remains, this also will be desolate. As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed is the stump in the land.’’
First, the verses to emphasize here are verses 9 and 10. ‘9 Then the Lord said, ‘Go and tell this people, ‘You will hear but will not understand, and you will see but will not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull and their ears dull and their eyes closed, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn and be healed.’’
What this means is that He is going to send Israel people the Messiah you have been waiting for. but He is going to make their hearts dull and their ears dull and your eyes closed so that they will not see the Messiah. They will see Him and hear His words but will not understand. In this way, they will not believe in and accept Jesus as the Messiah, and they will eventually kill the Messiah. Finally, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, came to this world as prophesied in Bethlehem of Judea through Mary, the descendant of the woman in Genesis 3:15.
Herod, instigated by Satan, tried to kill Jesus. And while Jesus was doing his ministry on this earth, the Jews constantly tried to kill him. The Jews here refer to those who had the power to kill Jesus. They were Herod, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the elders. When Jesus was doing His ministry, He kept quoting Isaiah 6:9-10. He said that Isaiah 6:9-10 was speaking to Him and to you (Matthew 13:14, 15; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; Acts 28:26, 27; Romans 11:8).
Matthew 13:14, 15, ‘In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘By hearing you will hear but will not understand; and seeing you will see but will not perceive. This people’s heart has become dull, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I heal them.’
These verses are mentioned three times in the four Gospels by Jesus and twice by the apostle Paul.
Jesus came to this world to die. He came to shed God’s blood to redeem mankind from sin. It was according to God’s law that there is no forgiveness of sin without shedding blood. So who should kill Jesus? If the Jews had not been deaf, had not closed their eyes, and had not been hardened, they would have accepted Jesus as the Messiah and not killed Him. As we read the four Gospels, we feel that the Jews plotted to kill Jesus at every moment. God planned for Jesus to die during Passover, but the Jews said that they should not kill him during the feast, for fear that it would cause a riot (Mark 14:1-2). these people must kill Jesus during Passover… .
Ah!, at this time Judas Iscariot appears. He says he will sell Jesus out. At that time, these Jews have a big idea. They will use Judas Iscariot to arrest Jesus early in the morning and instead of killing him themselves, they will have the Roman government punish him according to Roman law and pass the Jews’ discontent onto the Roman government. Pilate says three times that Jesus is not guilty of death, but the Jews threaten Pilate, saying that there is only one emperor, Caesar, and Jesus says he is the king of the Jews, and if you don’t kill Jesus, you are a traitor to Caesar. Pilate had no choice but to listen to them and sentenced Jesus to death.
Because the Jews killed Jesus, the Jewish nation was destroyed in AD 70 by the Roman general Titus, and the Jews were prohibited from living in Jerusalem. From then on, the Jews became a wandering people all over the world. Isaiah 6:11-12, “And I said, ‘How long, Lord?’ And the Lord answered, ‘Until the cities are desolate and without inhabitant, and the houses are without people, and the land is desolate and the LORD has removed people far away, and the desolate places are many in the midst of the land.’”
2. The wandering life of the Jews
The Jews lived scattered throughout Europe. They were greatly hated by the local people. The reason was that they had no country or land of their own and lived off of other peoples. The Jews were capable. Therefore, they displayed their extraordinary talents wherever they lived. In the case of Germany, it is said that in the early 19th century (1812), 17 out of the 32 top banks in Berlin, Germany, were owned by Jews, and 7 were owned by Jews who had converted to Christianity. Also, most of the members of the Berlin Orchestra were Jewish, and many of the professors at universities, lawyers, and doctors were Jewish.
In a story, a young German got a job at a large company, and all the people in high positions were Jewish. It is said that there was severe discrimination within the company. It was like a rolling stone dislodging a moss. But was it only Germany? The hearts of the peoples of all the countries of Europe were seething because of the Jews. At that time, the person who could cool their hearts appeared, and that person was Hitler. Hitler thought of the Jews as parasites on the human race, a plague on Europe, and the scum of humanity that had to be cleaned up. He believed that getting rid of the Jews would be a contribution to humanity. He made his people and subordinates believe the same.
3. History of Jewish Persecution and Its Reasons
There were three large-scale genocide attempts against the Jews in the Old Testament and human history. The first was in Exodus 1:8-22, when a different dynasty that did not know Joseph was established and slaughtered the Israelites. Their life was so miserable that when Moses appeared and told them to go out, they followed him without thinking about what to eat and how to get water in the desert. When life in the desert became difficult, they came to their senses and complained that it would have been better if they had stayed next to the old kiln in Egypt.
The second genocide attempt was in Esther 3:1-15. Haman the Agagite attempted to exterminate the Jews, but was foiled by Esther and Mordecai, and ended up dying themselves.
The third attempt was by Hitler. Six million Jews were killed at that time. If World War II had not ended in time, more Jews would have been killed. Hitler intended to kill all the Jews in Europe under his jurisdiction. Isaiah 6:12-13, ‘Until the Lord has removed the people far away, and the land is full of desolation. A tenth remains, and this too will be desolate. Just as the terebinth and oak trees leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump of the land.’
We see that God is behind these three policies to annihilate the Jewish people. God wants to lead the Israelites to their homeland. If Pharaoh had not persecuted them so viciously during the Exodus, the Israelites would not have left their homeland where they had lived for 400 years. Exodus 1:7 says, ‘The Israelites were fruitful and increased greatly and multiplied; they became very strong and filled the land.’ The land of Goshen, where they lived for a long time, was the land Joseph had chosen for his people. It was a land flowing with milk and honey, located in the lower reaches of the Nile River and the delta, so they were fruitful and prosperous. Why did they decide to move to an unknown land without knowing about it?
The second Book of Esther is about the liberation of the Jewish people by King Cyrus of Persia and the order to return to their homeland, but only about 50,000 people returned to their homeland. The Esther incident occurred before the second and third return after the first return from captivity. God wanted the Israelites to return to their homeland instead of staying in that land. This Esther incident must have been the impetus for the second and third returns. However, the number of people returning was too small even in the second and third attempts.
Due to the massacre by Hitler in the third attempt, the Jews lamented that they had no country of their own and thought that they had to return to their homeland by any means possible. In 1897, Theodore Hesel hosted the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. The theme was ‘Building a country for the Jewish people in the land of Palestine.’ However, there were many who opposed Zionism. First, most rabbis strongly opposed secular Zionism. The jealousy of the rabbis. The second was the opposition of secular Jews who had assimilated into European society. They called Zionism nothing more than an illusion. In particular, American reformist Jews shouted that America is our Zion.
On the other hand, strong anti-Semites strongly welcomed Zionism. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, the Sultan of Ottoman Turkey, and even the Soviet union Minister of the Interior who led the genocide of Russian Jews told Hesel, “We are very much looking forward to the birth of an independent Jewish state that can absorb the 7 million Jews in Russia.” The early enthusiastic supporters of the Zionist movement were poor Jews in Eastern Europe. Hesel died at the age of 44. There is a person behind the scenes who made Britain sympathize with Jewish Zionism. His name is Chaim Weizmann, the first president of Israel. He was an engineering student who graduated from the Berlin Polytechnic School, the most famous in Europe, and received a doctorate in chemistry from Switzerland.
He became a professor of biochemistry at the University of Manchester, where he discovered his life’s mission to use the British Empire to realize a Jewish nation-state. An ardent Zionist, Weizmann attended the Second Zionist Congress from the beginning and served as Zionist chairman twice. He was a brilliant scientist, but he was also a skilled politician. His political skills and his research as a scientist resulted in the Balfour Declaration. He developed a technology to mass-produce acetone, a material for ammunition, from starch, and led the Allied forces to victory in World War I. This work helped convert such prominent figures in British politics as Winston Churchill, Arthur Balfour, and Lloyd George into strong supporters of Zionism.
The Balfour Declaration was largely a reward for Weizmann who had developed a technology to mass-produce acetone, at the request of Lloyd George, the British Secretary of War. On November 2, 1917, Balfour, then the British Foreign Secretary, sent a letter to Rothschild, the representative of the Jewish community in Britain. The letter stated, “The British Government supports the establishment of a national homeland for the Jews in Palestine and will do its utmost to achieve this goal.”
Meanwhile, World War II broke out and Hitler came to power, and the Jewish Holocaust movement began, and the Jews were dragged into death camps without any choice. Then, on May 14, 1948, the United Nations recognized Israel as an independent state. Hitler’s massacre of the Jews further fueled the passion of the Jews to establish a Jewish state. God is still leading the Israelites to their homeland. In the books of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Zechariah, God tells us that He will continue to lead the Israelites to their homeland and guide them along the way.
4. Formation of the State of Israel and Its Meaning
The people of Israel were scattered all over the world in AD 70, and were not formed as a nation until 1948. After about 2,000 years, they recovered their people, land, and sovereignty. If God were not with them and if they did not follow God’s word, could such a thing happen in the world? A nation did not live together in one land, but rather scattered to other countries for 2,000 years, and after 2,000 years, how could that nation not be absorbed and assimilated by the people of the surrounding countries, have its own language, and after 2,000 years, could the nation form a nation and recover its land?
The Jews lived in each country and formed their own neighborhood called a ghetto. This was because the people of that country did not want to live together with the Jewish people. According to Gerald Green’s Holocaust, there was a ghetto in Poland where hundreds of thousands of Jews lived. The ghetto was surrounded by a rampart and could be entered and exited through the ramparte gate. Within the rampart, the Jews married each other and lived in their own language. During Hitler’s time, Jews in the rampart were locked up in the rampart, given no food, and were taken to the gas plant where they would die. People in each European country did not marry Jews. Although there were special cases, Jews were subjected to all kinds of contempt, ridicule, persecution, and ostracism while living in a foreign country.
I immigrated to Toronto, Canada in 1975 and the thought that still lingers in my mind is that there was a sign in a park that said, “Dogs and Jews are not allowed in this park.” I don’t know if my memory is correct or where I got that information, but it is still in my memory. In this way, Jews were hated and despised by other peoples. Wasn’t it because they were ostracized that they were able to have their own faith, ethnicity, and language? If these minorities had been scattered across each country and were welcomed and respected, they would have been absorbed and assimilated by other peoples, and the nation itself would have disappeared. Wasn’t this also God’s strategy to gather the Israelites to their homeland?
5. God prophesied countless times in the Bible that He would gather the people of Israel, form a nation, and have them ruled by one king.
And He said that He would make them a nation of priests in the millennial kingdom. Another reason why God formed the millennial kingdom on this earth was to reward the people of Israel.
The people of Israel are the people who brought the Messiah into this world. Because of that, they suffered great persecution from Satan. The purpose of Jesus coming to this world was to wipe away the sins of mankind and to shed blood to die for the sins of mankind. Therefore, the Jews are the people who were destined to kill Jesus. They also suffered great persecution from humans because they killed Jesus.
If the Jews had not killed Jesus, some nation would have killed Jesus, who came to this world to die. Because they were responsible for that mission, the people of Israel suffered great hardship from Satan and humans. In Genesis 3:15, the offspring of the woman is said to be the enemy who will crush Satan’s head. How cursed must Israel have been for Satan to invite this enemy into the world? He tormented Israel with all his might. He was annihilated by the Romans, Hitler, all the people of Europe, and the people of Esther’s time. When Jerusalem fell to the Roman general Titus in 70 AD, they became a people who wandered around the world for 2,000 years. They suffered greatly without a country or people. God established the millennial kingdom to compensate these Israelites. By bringing the Messiah into this world and killing Jesus, God was able to accomplish His work of redemption of mankind.
If Abraham had become the ancestor of the Korean people, or the Americans, or the Chinese, or the Japanese, and the Messiah had come to the Korean people or them, what would you think if we Koreans had to kill the Messiah, and as a result, we had to be scattered all over the country and suffer the persecution that the Jews received from other peoples and Satan?
Zechariah 8:21-23, “20 This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Again, many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will come. 21 The inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, ‘Let us go quickly to seek the LORD Almighty and entreat the favor of the LORD.’ I will go,’ 22 and many peoples and mighty nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the LORD Almighty and entreat the favor of the LORD. 23 Thus says the LORD Almighty: ‘In those days, ten men from foreign nations, of different languages, will take hold of the skirt of a man of Judah, saying, ‘We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”
When has this happened in the history of Israel? It will happen in the Millennial Kingdom.
Isaiah 61:2-9, ‘2 To proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, 3 To appoint to those who mourn in Zion a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. 4 They will rebuild the long-desolated places, raise up the ancient ruins, and repair the waste cities, the desolation of many generations. 5 Strangers will stand and shepherd your flocks, and foreigners will be your farmers and vinedressers. 6 But you will be called priests of the LORD; they will call you the ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you will boast. 7 Instead of shame you will receive double reward, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your portion; they will receive double in their land, and everlasting joy. 8 For I, the LORD, love justice, I hate robbery by injustice; I will repay them faithfully and make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 Their offspring will be known among the nations, and their future among the peoples; and all who see them will acknowledge them, that they are the offspring of the LORD, whom he has blessed.”
Jesus quoted Luke 4:16-19 from Isaiah 61:1 and half of Isaiah 61:2 in the synagogue of his hometown of Nazareth. ‘He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom, and stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. And he opened the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’
He read only up to the ‘year of the Lord’s favor’ in Isaiah 61:2. The reason for this is probably because he only talked about the ministry the Lord did at His first coming and did not read about the things that would happen in the millennial kingdom.
In Isaiah 61:6, it says that Israel will be a priest to all nations in the millennial kingdom. “But you will be called priests of the LORD; they will call you the ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of the nations and boast in their glory.”
Ezekiel 37:21-28, “Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: ‘I will take the children of Israel from the countries where they have gone captive, gather them from every side, and bring them to their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will be king over them all. They will no longer be two nations or divided into two kingdoms. They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, their abominations, or with all their iniquities. I will save them from all the places where they have sinned, and I will cleanse them; and they will be my people, and I will be their God. My servant David will be their king, and they will all have one shepherd. They will observe my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them. They will live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where his fathers lived; they will live there, they and their children and their children’s children, forever. My servant David will be their king forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever. My dwelling will be with them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. My sanctuary will be with them forever, and the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel.’ In these verses, David is king of the Millennium, Jesus Christ. When reading these verses, it will be more meaningful if you think of them as happening during the millennial kingdom.
Isaiah 49:5-26, “But now this is what the Lord says: It is he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, who brings Jacob back to him; Israel is gathered to him. Therefore I am glorified in the sight of the LORD, and my God is my strength. 6 He said, “It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. I will give you as a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation to the ends of the earth.” 7 Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom people abhor, to a servant to rulers: “Kings will see and arise, and princes will bow down, for the LORD, the faithful, the Holy One of Israel, has chosen you.”
8 Thus says the LORD: “In an acceptable time I have answered you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. I will preserve you and give you as a covenant for the people, to establish the land and give them their desolate inheritance. 9 I will say to the captives, ‘Come out!’ To those in darkness I will reveal myself. They will feed in the ways, and their pasture will be on all the bare heights. 10 They will not hunger or thirst; neither will the heat nor the sun strike them, for He who has compassion on them will lead them and guide them to springs of water. 11 I will make all my mountains my way, and my highways will be raised. 12 Some will come from far away, some from the north and the west, some from the land of Sinim. 13 Sing, O heavens! Let the earth rejoice! Let the mountains break out into song! For the LORD has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.
14 But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me.” 15 Can a woman forget her nursing child and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. 16 I have graven you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. 17 Your children will run, they will tear you down; they will leave you to make you waste. 18 Lift up your eyes and look around you; they will all gather together and come to you. As I live, declares the LORD, you will surely wear all of them as an ornament and will gird them on like a bride. 19 For your desolate and desolate places and the land of your ruin will become too small for the people to live in, and those who devoured you will be far away. 20 Children who have been bereaved and begotten will say in your ears in time to come, ‘This place is too small for me; make room for me so that I can live here.’
21 Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who brought these up for me? I am bereaved, desolate, a captive and a wanderer. Who brought them up? I was left alone; from where did these come?’ 22 Thus says the Lord God: ‘I will lift up my hand to the nations and set up my standard for the peoples. They will carry your sons in their arms and your daughters on their shoulders. 23 Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the ground and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord. Those who wait for me will not be put to shame. 24 How can the prey of the mighty be restored? Or how can those taken captive by the victor be rescued? 25 Thus says the Lord: Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the fearful shall be delivered; for I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children. 26 I will make those who oppress you eat their own flesh, and I will make them drunk with their own blood, as with new wine; and all flesh will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.’
I hope that readers do not get confused about the position of the Israelites in the millennium. Those who currently believe in Jesus and are saved are those who have been resurrected and become spiritual beings at the time the millennium is established. They are on a different level from those who entered the millennium in their flesh. Before Jesus returns and before the millennium arrives, the Messianic Jews who believed in Jesus will also be resurrected and will rule with the Lord in the millennium in their spirits. They are Jews who live on a different level from the Israelites who entered the millennium in their flesh. We must enter the millennium in our spirits, not in our flesh. In the eternal perspective of John 1:1, Jesus Christ, our God, made us true sons of God, and we will live as sons of God forever in the eternal world.
Here, let us think about the salvation of Israel for a moment.
In Isaiah 6:9-10, it says that the people of Israel will come to God and hear with their ears, see with their eyes, understand with their hearts, and be saved. Does that mean that God will not allow Israel to be saved? The apostle Paul seriously addresses this issue.
In Romans 11:1, 2 (the first half), it says, “I ask then, Has God cast away his people? By no means! I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 For God has not cast away his people, whom he foreknew… ”
God did not cast away Israel. He left them alone for a short time in order to save the Gentiles. In Romans 11:11-13, it says, “I say then, did they stumble so that they fell? Certainly not! For through their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous. 12 For if their fall has been the riches of the world, and their failure the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!”
It says that through Israel’s fall the Gentiles were saved, and through Israel’s fall they brought riches to the Gentiles. In Romans 11:25-27, it says, “I do not want you, brethren, to be ignorant of this mystery, in your own estimation of wisdom, that a dullness has arisen in part in Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved.” As it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 and this will be my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”
In these verses, God will wait until the number of the Gentiles is complete.
At that time, Isaiah was so sad and surprised that he asked God, “How long will this continue?” God’s answer was verse 12. The period during which Israel did not recognize Jesus as their Messiah and rejected Him was until “the Lord removed the people far away, and many desolate places were left in the midst of the land.”
Therefore, the curse will be lifted when Israel’s territorial sovereignty is restored and the people return to their homeland (May 14, 1948). Therefore, now is the time for the Jews to accept Jesus as their Savior and Messiah, and it is the day of their salvation.
Isaiah 6:8-13. In these verses, God brought Isaiah before the heavenly throne to tell him important words about the future destiny of the Israelites. He prophesied that the Israelites would reject and not believe in the Messiah.
‘Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here I am; send me.’ 9 And the Lord said, ‘Go and tell this people, ‘You will indeed hear but will not understand; you will indeed see but will not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears dull, and their eyes closed, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn and be healed.’ 11 And I said, ‘How long, Lord?’ And the Lord answered, ‘Until the cities lie desolate without inhabitant, and the houses are without people, and the land lies desolate, 12 Until the Lord removes people far away, and many desolate places are in the midst of the land. 13 Even though a tenth remains, this too will be desolate; just as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump of the land.’’
I pondered this passage and had this thought. This is a story from my school days. During rush hour in Korea, buses are packed to capacity. The woman conductor fills the bus to the point where it almost bursts and the doors can’t be closed, then she closes the doors and says “All right,” and the bus driver started the bus. Here, the bus symbolizes salvation, the bus driver is God, the regular passengers are foreigners, and the woman bus conductor is the people of Israel who will be saved.
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