The Resurrection, Judgment, and New Earth

I want to note just a few things today about the wondrous glory of the millennial reign of Christ and the saints on earth which will begin with his second coming from heaven and the "first resurrection," or "resurrection of the just" at his coming (Rev. 19:11-21; Rev. 20:1-6; Jn. 5:29; Lk. 14:14). The millennial reign is not to be confused with the "new earth," which will be established after the thousand years, and after the great white throne judgement that follows the millennial reign (Rev. 20:7-15; Rev. 21:1-5). Nevertheless, the millennial reign will be the most glorious time in the history of this world, and here are a few things to look forward to if you are "purifying [your] heart even as he is pure" (I Jn. 3:2,3). "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11:6-9). I don't know about you, but that all sounds REALLY GOOD to me! Wolves being friends with lambs, and leopards having nothing but love for little goats? I can handle that kind of peace in the world. And lions being companions of calves? Wow! I love it! And imagine a very small child playing casually with a venemous serpent in its hole. That sounds like some serious harmony in the earth if you ask me. To top all of that off, even a little child can lead any of these present day predators around the way I would walk my dog. Jesus being in this world, and having total authority, and he and his faithful saints doing all of the governing in the earth; is going to make the biggest difference for good that this world has ever witnessed. Here's another result of that divine government ruling the world: "And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Isa. 2:4). If that doesn't tell you something about the nature of God, and how opposed to God this world presently is, then I don't know what to say for you. War is the embodiment of all evil done in the earth, and Jesus will flatly END IT!

What we are actually going to see in the millennial reign is a worldwide scale of what we ourselves have presently been called to be and to live in Christ. Our calling is to be 'one' with God and his Son by means of being baptized with the holy Ghost INTO Christ; which is also to say into the Father, as they are 'in' one another as well (Jn. 17:21-23; I Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:27; II Cor. 3:17; Jn. 14:26). The scripture says, "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit [with the Lord]" (I Cor. 6:17). If we are truly "one spirit" with the Lord then we are going to live according to the nature of God, which is comprised of the things that we have read about that will have dominion over the earth during the millennium. Love, peace, goodwill, and harmony among men and even among beasts; all being the result of this world being under the sovereign rule of Jesus and those who have been made like him (Rom. 8:29). If we expect to be in the number of those who are going to rule with Christ, then we must NOW learn the reality of loving our enemies, doing good to those who hate us, blessing those who persecute us, and praying for those who despitefully use us (Mat. 5:44). I might add that we must learn to do these things purely from our hearts as a natural reaction, and not by restraint with begrudging. If we hope to partake of the glory of the millennial reign of Christ on earth, we must learn NOW to "follow after peace with all men, and holiness," knowing that the result of not doing so is, "without which NO MAN shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14). The apostles understood that these are the things that we must become in order to be in the first resurrection and the resulting millennial reign with Jesus, as Paul stated plainly: "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on [divine love], which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful" (Col. 3:12-15). If we aren't able to love and forgive one another wholly with our hearts, and be at peace among brethren, how do we expect to be a functioning part of a government that is wholly comprised of that kind of nature? The entire world will be subject to the atmosphere of God's holy love and peace in that day, and those who will reign with Christ THEN are going to fully project that spiritual atmosphere in their lives NOW. It's going to be a wondrous time my friend, so let's make it a wondrous time now in our lives, as well as in the lives of those around us. It is our calling, and he has given us the love, and power, and holiness of his holy Spirit to get the job done (Acts 1:4,5,8; Rom. 1:4; Rom. 5:5). Amen.