But as it is written, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. Now we have received . . . the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
I Cor. 2:9-11
I am a stranger in the earth.1
Have you ever felt that way? Most people have. For one reason or another, at one time or another. When you did, you probably thought you were alone in this feeling. That all the rich people, or the beautiful people, or the talented people -- they were having the good time. Or maybe even just the people down the block. They were living the 'good life.' You weren't. That's what mattered.
Maybe on closer examination, however, you learned that the rich and famous and powerful people of the world -- or even just the people down the block -- were having their own problems, too, and maybe not so different from your own. That first line in this chapter, for example, was written by a king, and kings are generally rich, famous and powerful.
At some time or another, everyone who ever lived must have felt like a stranger here. It can be a pretty 'strange' place, after all . . . strange as in terrible, heartbreaking, crushing. Maybe Friday night you go to a great party and Saturday morning you find out you have cancer. Maybe you lose a loved one in a terrible accident. Maybe you watch a child die. Maybe you lose your job. Maybe you stay unemployed for a long, long time. Maybe you get divorced. Maybe you lose some money. Maybe you lose all of it. Maybe you get mugged and a lot of people just stand around and watch. You could fill up ten volumes with these kinds of 'maybes.' And anybody could fill up at least one volume of their own with just these kinds of 'maybes' that actually happened to them or to their families.
Even for someone fortunately spared from these kinds of terrible, but commonplace tragedies, daily life provides plenty of stimulation for tension, anxiety, stress, and neuroses.
Fortunately, there seems to be, for most people, enough good things in life mixed in to make it worthwhile. Else we'd all probably kill ourselves.
But the world remains a pretty risky, difficult and 'strange' place.
Utopias past
That hasn't stopped men from dreaming about the 'perfect world', however. We probably started dreaming about the perfect world on our way out of the Garden of Eden, that real place that was here some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor.
Plato had his republic. Augustine, his city of God, and Marx, the classless society.
And there were quite a few other visionaries along the way.
Sir Thomas More had his 1516 book Utopia, and we've taken this term for ourselves as a synonym for 'the perfect world.' ('Utopia' is a pun on the Greek words for "no place" and "good place.") Utopia is an island discovered by shipwrecked sailors. Here adults work six hours a day for the common good. All children receive schooling. There is no money, no private wealth. All citizens are treated equally. They democratically elect their political and religious leaders. There is total religious freedom, but not for anyone who denies Providence and the immortality of the soul. Conceived from the puritannical perspective that was to help launch the Reformation, there are "no wine-taverns, no ale houses, no brothels, no opportunities for seduction, no secret meeting places. Everyone has his eye on you." The chief pleasures in this Utopia are good behavior and a clear conscience.
May not sound so bad to some, but Sir Francis Bacon had it a little different. In his 1627 New Atlantis, he discourses on the dawning of a new era for mankind. His perfect world in founded upon science and human achievement, not law, as with Plato and More. Science as the rightful complement to religion, not a substitute for it, by the way. Bacon borrows the sailors-coming-upon-an-island theme from More. His island is called Bensalem, "The Son of Peace."
The main building on this island is Solomon's House, a huge laboratory aimed at "the effecting of all things possible," and dedicated to the study of "the Works and Creatures of God." Scientific knowledge is the "gold" of this society, the real wealth, and it is not only the possession of the state, it is the possession of the elite that controls the state. Bacon writes about an elaborate system where "mystery men," "merchants of light" and other scientific types gather biological samples, undertake experiments and exchange research with other workers abroad.
The goal: to expand human knowledge and power, and to create a society that enjoys progress, comfort, and luxury. Take this science, apply it to the real world, and you get industry. Some secular visionaries like Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward, 1888, felt comfortable with industry. In his vision of the future, a citizen is educated, he joins the industrial army, and in time, he retires. "Each man is a member of a vast industrial partnership...as large as humanity," he wrote.
Some secular visionaries, however, were not comfortable with industry. Some nostalgically yearned for a return to the pre-industrial past. William Morris, for example. In News from Nowhere, 1890, he fantasized about getting rid of machines -- these were evil -- and returning to creative hand workmanship: "Thus at last and by slow degrees we got pleasure into our work . . . and then all was gained and we were happy."
For H.G. Wells, author of Things to Come, 1936, this must have seemed incredibly naive. For Wells, technology was where it was at, so to speak. Life was made meaningful only by man's quest for knowledge and power. In Wells' story set in the 21st century, engineers and mechanics team up to save the world from meaningless warfare. This "brotherhood of science" effects the "triumph of human invention and human will." Everyone shares equally in the work, everyone shares the abundance of the nation.
By the time we arrive in Aldous Huxley's 26th century Brave New World, (actually written in 1932 before Things to Come), we see that all men are happy and equal, but we can tell something is very wrong. They are so equal they are like Stepford wives (women in a town where men turned them into flesh and blood robots). They have no individuality whatsoever. This is accomplished through science.
In the brave new world, the principle of mass production is applied to human reproduction. One fertilized egg produces 96 identical twins. Some are alphas. These are the leaders. Some are gammas. These are the workers. Teaching tools include electroshock and dream hypnosis. Adults are controlled through pleasure: narcotics, casual sex, and pornographic-movie-like "feelies." The intellectual life of the brave new world consists of "Suggestions from the State."
George Orwell, 1984, foresaw many of the same sorts of problems, but earlier. Technology again becomes a tool of the repressive state, here named Big Brother. Big Brother is everywhere. Telescreens watch every word and movement. Thought police hunt down the most dangerous criminals of all -- those who stray in their thoughts. Rebels soon become "unpersons." Computers erase all records of their very existence.
Without a book as famous as 1984, or Brave New World, the late computer scientist Christopher Evans is not nearly as widely known. But his views are interesting in that they seem to be pretty clear-eyed about the (secular) future. He neither yearned romantically for a return to the past, nor was unduly phobic about technology. He thought, simply, machines will do our work for us. He expected people to be committed to sport and exercise, as well as cultural and artistic activities. For religion, he thought people would worship gods centered around the computer. But the aspiration, the Herculean struggle, the conquest of new worlds, new frontiers that Wells felt deeply and wrote about? All gone. "Twenty-first century homo sapiens," he speculated, "will immerse himself totally in TV, leaving the twin challenges of space and time to the computers."
TV.
Is that what it's all about, Alfie? TV?
Another utopia
It's an early morning in the capital. He's there for the feast of tabernacles for the first time. It's only 5 a.m., but he's excited and he can't sleep. He's one of only a few hundred representing his nation so he's there...right in the capital. Most of the rest of the world will have to watch it all on television.
He slips on his running shoes quietly in the living room of his suite so as not to disturb the rest of his family. He slips out of the room for a long jog to the sanctuary. That's about 11 and 1/2 miles from the north gate of the city. Then he'll ride the (hydrogen-powered) monorail back to the hotel.
It's cool out. Just the way he likes it.
(Bounce, bounce, bounce.) He's thinking . . .
There are a few people out, but it's still pretty quiet. That's good. Gives a fellow time to think. Lot to think about . . . .
That man there . . . . I've seen his picture before. That's . . . that's Daniel. He's going to speak today. I think I'll wave . . . .
"Good morning."
"Good morning to you!"
Boy, nice guy. Really down to earth.
(Bounce, bounce, bounce.)
I just love these stone buildings . . . and the gardens. The trees, the flowers, the smells. That's the best thing about jogging. You get to get out, see things, feel the seasons.
Not the only one out here this early . . . there's a guy walking his dog. That's a big dog. No. That's not a dog. That's a lion. Whoa. Can't get used to lions as pets . . . .
"Good morning."
"Hello, friend."
Can't really get used to running either. Oh, how I used to want to run . . . kid in a wheelchair . . . then healed in an instant.
It all happened so fast . . . the wars, and then . . . .
Newspaper guy is out . . . get a paper.
"Good morning to you!"
"Peace, shalom, to you, my son."
Always like to read the local newspaper when I travel . . . local color . . . Jerusalem Post . . . October 2,...Big headline . . . "Jesus opens Feast."
There he is, Jesus Christ. (Pride swells up.) Face-to-face. Boy I love that guy. Right here on earth -- God and man, man and God. They told me I'd see him face-to-face some day. It's not that I didn't believe. I did. Sort of. Well, not really. It just seemed, well, too far out. Too incredible.
This is all strange all right . . . strange . . . and wonderful.
(Bounce, bounce, bounce.) Miles go by.
There it is just ahead . . . the Sanctuary. Hmm ...just like the Lord said last night at the opening service, he hid the blueprints right in the Book. There it was and there it is.
Animal sacrifices . . . they didn't make sense to some people at first. Sure makes an impression on me now though . . . the cutting, the blood. Can't say I enjoy it, I don't think I'm supposed to . . . cuts me right to the heart. Right to the gut. And then when you see the Lord's wounds . . . then you know, you really know how he hurt, what he paid for all this.
Used to want to be like this movie star or that sports star . . . (laughs).
Now I want to be like him.
Service at 10 a.m. . . . Daniel to speak . . . .
Then back at 2 p.m. . . . the Lord will to speak to us again. . . televised to the whole world. The news media treat him like they used to treat the Pope . . . reverence and awe.
What should we do tonight? This place is really alive for the feast2 . . . too much to choose from . . . like New York used to be in the old world with Carnegie Hall, Fisher Hall, the Met, the New York City Opera ... all at the same time. Tonight, an all-Bach concert, Symphony Hall, Mendelssohn's Elijah in the King's Auditorium . . . . I think the paper said yesterday that Elijah was going to be there.
Then there's the film festival . . . films made by angels over the whole history of the old world . . . glad I was there, at least for awhile. Can explain it, really appreciate where I'm at now.
Restaurants . . . all the food, "the fat things",3 the wine on the lees, like out of the book of Isaiah . . . good I run . . . could really gain a lot just this week . . . .
And all the things for the kids . . . the youth symphony, the sports events in the stadium, soccer, football, fencing, swimming, like a little Olympics.
Maybe we'll just go to a cafe this afternoon . . . sit outside . . . eat a pastry. Drink a Turkish coffee . . . plan out this whole week. Yes . . . plan it all out. Sit under the trees. Take our time. Make a few new friends . . . . That feels better, take your time. Don't try to do it all at once. You can't. It's a good thing I've got forever to enjoy Jerusalem . . . it'll take forever to take it all in . . . .
The golden age
Every nation has some time in history they look back on as their golden age. For Israel, it was the time of David and Solomon. For the Greeks, it was the time of Alexander. Even nations that have not so often occupied center stage in world history, like Hungary, have their golden age heroes, like King Matyas of the Renaissance.
But the real golden age of man -- for all men, not just some who happened to have conquered others and wound up on top -- lies ahead.
It's called by many names. Its called by different titles in the Scriptures, most commonly, the kingdom of heaven,4 but also the kingdom of God,5 the kingdom of Christ,6 the regeneration,7 the times of restitution,8 the times of refreshing,9 the fullness of times,10 and the world to come.11
It will be right here on the earth, not up in heaven. " . . . the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord."12 "And the Lord shall be King over all the earth."13
It will be the golden age of man. This kingdom will be glorious, the golden age of man, the one we couldn't quite achieve by ourselves. Truly a remarkable time on the earth.14
People will be proud of the Lord. Today, some people worship the Pope. Others worship rock stars. Or Hollywood stars. Or superstar athletes. Worship means to be proud of, to admire, to want to be like. It's where your heart really is. It's absolutely involuntary. You can't make yourself worship, really worship, anything. You just have your strong emotions which themselves are involuntary.
In the future, people will worship Jesus Christ. Not because they are drugged as in the Brave New World, or because they're forced to, as in 1984, but because they want to. People will want to worship Jesus Christ because he embodies love itself. He will heal them of all their diseases and ailments, give them freely of his Spirit -- a Spirit of joy -- make them secure, and prosper them. Wouldn't you worship someone who made you permanently healthy, happy, and rich? So will everyone else.
There is no one at the present time who commands this sort of unmitigated acclaim. About the closest we come, at least in the western world, is the Pope. When his travels are described by the media on television or radio, the reporters generally speak in hushed, reverent tones. It befits his office. That's how people will talk about Jesus Christ. Sometimes hushed and reverent, sometimes excited and enthusiastic, sometimes somewhere in the middle, but always with genuine affection, love and respect. We will be proud of our king. Various flags and emblems and banners have the power to evoke this kind of pride, to stir the blood. In the kingdom, Jesus Christ will be a flag that all men proudly fly. He will be Jehovah-Nissi, or Jehovah-my-banner, what Moses named the altar he built after a victory in war against the Amalekites. "I am the Lord's," future Israelites will say, or "I am a Jew," and thus "tattoo" upon their hands the name of God or the honored name of Israel, figuratively, and perhaps even physically.15
The physical shape of the land of Israel is going to change. When Jesus Christ roars out of heaven to personally bring an end to world war Armageddon, he will land on the Mount of Olives. In response to having to bear the weight of an angry God, the mountain splits in two, towards east and west, leaving a great valley in the middle. This valley allows those who are caught in the fighting around Jerusalem to flee.16 Jesus Christ immediately comes to their aid.17
Jerusalem herself will be elevated, set on a high place as befits the new world capital. All the land of Israel from Geba (the old northern border of Judah) to Rimmon (the old southern border of Benjamin) will become one vast, rich and productive plain, but Jerusalem herself will be on an elevated site. And Jerusalem shall be inhabited, safe at last, never again to be cursed and destroyed.18
A great river of 'living waters' will flow out of the millennial sanctuary north of Jerusalem through this valley, east through the desert and the Jordan Valley to water the Dead Sea and west to the Mediterranean. Miraculously, it will transform the salty waters of the Dead Sea to make them fresh and pure. Everything touching the water of this river shall live. Fish will thrive in the Dead Sea. All different kinds of fish -- just like in the Mediterranean! Fishermen will take fish out of the Dead Sea. Perhaps at that time the Dead Sea will be renamed, or even better, left as the 'Dead Sea,' for the sake of irony. And all kinds of fruit trees will grow along the banks of this river. Indeed it is a miraculous river, because the leaves of the fruit trees along it never turn brown and fall off. They stay green. Furthermore, the trees produce a new crop of fruit each and every month!19
The splitting of the Mount of Olives into a great valley, the elevation of Jerusalem, and the creation of a river from out of the Temple in Jerusalem are probably the most notable physical miracles to take place in Israel. But many lesser changes will also take place.20
Rivers will gush forth from barren rock on the high plateaus.
And fountains will be created in the valleys.
In the deserts will be pools of water, and rivers fed by springs.
Trees will be planted on barren land: cedars, myrtle, olive trees, the cypress, fir and pine.
Israel was once a verdant, lush place -- before her invaders wantonly destroyed the land. It will be made rich, lush, verdant again -- by the hand of Messiah.
Finally, a main road will be constructed through Israel. It will be named "The Holy Highway." It will run right through Israel and connect Egypt to Iraq as well.21 This will be the main road to the capital22 for the millions of people who will come to Jerusalem at holy day seasons and throughout the year.23
Just about all of Israel and a good part of the world will have to be rebuilt. That highway is not the only new construction that's going to get underway at the start of the kingdom period. With 200,000,000 soldiers tramping through the valley of Megiddo, and spilling over into southern Israel, nearly all of Israel is going to have to be rebuilt.
(Hot stock tip: sell defense, buy construction companies.)
"Israel shall rebuild their ruined cities, and live in them again, and they shall plant vineyards and gardens and eat their crops and drink their wine."24
The first city to be rebuilt will be Jerusalem.
Jerusalem will be the new world capital -- the New York, Paris, London, Tokyo and Rome -- of the new world. Jerusalem will have the culture, the architecture, the prestige people crave. It will, first of all, be breathtakingly beautiful. Even more so than Paris, or Vienna, or San Francisco. It will probably be built largely of stone, for permanence. Jesus himself is referred to as stone.25 And so is his reign.26 And our works before him are compared to gold, silver, precious stones, or wood, hay, and stubble, as the case may be.27 And not just plain stone buildings -- not for this capital. But magnificent white stone structures with pillars, and ornaments and designs. As well as works of art. And then dramatically spotlit at night for artistic effect.
While the Bible does not go into detail about it, we can also envision that Jerusalem, as world capital, will have grand parks, beautiful boulevards, tree-lined streets, impeccable townhomes, backyard flower and vegetable gardens, fig trees and vineyards, sidewalk cafes, museums, restaurants. All the trappings of a beautiful world capital. And no bad neighborhoods to worry about. "May you be prosperous and happy as Judah is," people will say.28
And similarly, we can imagine that Jerusalem will be home to a thriving hotel and catering trade for all the guests from all over the world who will visit there.29
And like a world capital, it will be the seat of government. The law will emanate from Jerusalem30 just as the law of the United States comes from Washington, the law of West Germany from Bonn, the law of Canada from Ottawa, and so forth.
Jerusalem will be where the Temple will be located. (More on the Temple later.)
But most distinctively, it will be where God as King will live among people. As magnificent as many other cities of the world may claim to be, none but Jerusalem will be able to claim that incredible distinction. In fact, that will be a name of the city, Jehovah-Shammah, meaning Jehovah is There.31
That's what will put the crackle in the air.
In that day, when someone asks a traveler where he's going, and he says he's going to Jerusalem, he will receive in turn a knowing nod of appreciation. He's going to the capital city, where God himself lives. Rising above the plains of Jerusalem, glistening in the sun, built out of beautiful crafted white stone, impeccable, exciting, breathtaking. The city of the great King.32
Israel and Judah will be regathered and finally inherit the land. Jerusalem will be a 12 mile by 12 mile area that is itself part of a bigger area called the holy oblation. The holy oblation is 60 miles by 60 miles square. This area contains some 3,600 square miles all together. This is an area that is holy and separate to the Lord. The total oblation, all 3,600 square miles, is divided: 40 percent to the Temple and the priests, 40 percent for the Levites, and the remaining 20 percent for the city of Jerusalem itself.
Venture out still further, in any direction, and you'll find the descendents of the twelve tribes living in the land promised to Abraham! Not just the Jews of Judah, but the lost ten tribes of Israel as well, the tribes that did not return to the land after their exile to Assyria, as the Jews did after their 70 years in Babylon.33 Both the bound fishes of Pisces, Israel and Judah, are to return to the land this time. And to receive the whole area promised to Abraham, from the Nile to the Euphrates.34 The entire Saudi Arabian peninsula. Half the tribes to the north and half to the south. These are the ceremonial plots. So actually millennial Israel will be divided into four parts. The northern part will be divided into sections for the tribes of Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben and Judah.35 The southern part will be divided into sections for the tribes of Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, and Gad.36 In between the northern and southern sections is the holy oblation. And then the rest of the entire peninsula.
Here is a picture of how it all lays out:
The allotment of the land
The millennial sanctuary and oblation
Though this arrangement of tribes and territories would not fit into the topography of Israel today, it seems that the tumultous earthquakes and splitting of the Mount of Olives at the beginning of the kingdom will re-shape the land to fulfill both the promises to Abraham and the visions of Ezekiel. The one who made it can -- and will -- reshape it. But, says the Lord, when I bring you home again from your captivity and restore your fortunes, Jerusalem will be rebuilt upon her ruins; the palace will be reconstructed as it was before. The cities will be filled with joy and great thanksgiving, and I will multiply my people and make of them a great and honored nation. Their children shall prosper as in David's reign; their nations shall be established before me . . . . 37
The Lord will also put the nations in their own lands. They will continue to reproduce and carry on business-as-usual (almost). Matthew 25 talks about the nations of the world being separated into sheep and goats, the criterion being how they treated the 'brethren' of the Messiah, or literally speaking, the Jews during the great tribulation -- the hour of their great trouble, also called Jacob's trouble. The individuals in the nations who extended kindness are admitted to the kingdom. These will be people. Real flesh and blood, living, breathing, eating, and sleeping people. These individuals and their children born in the kingdom age will be real people, not spirit beings, so they'll need salvation. And they'll get salvation by free-choice trusting in the Lord, not by faith.38 The Lord will be on the earth. Everyone will see him, so no faith will be required. The church age, or the age of faith, ends when Jesus Christ returns to the earth, and every eye sees him.
Peace will break out all over. Americans don't appreciate the devastation of war like some people because, except for our own civil war, no wars have been fought on our own soil. But after the great tribulation, everyone will have a new appreciation of peace. The Messiah comes with a rod of iron for those who need it, to insure that there will be no more war.39 No more bloodshed, loss of limb, and life. No more veterans hospitals. (Nor homes for the retarded or nursing homes. All these individuals will be healed at the beginning of the new world.) In the kingdom age, military hardware really will be melted down and made into farm equipment, and fulfill prophecy. People will remark: That Massey-Ferguson combine over there had a past life as an Israeli F-15. That Ford tractor used to be a Russian tank.
Ford? Massey-Ferguson? Will they still be around? Most likely. These are the companies with the expertise to build the machinery the world will need to farm the deserts and harvest the crops. Who else is going to do it?
The U.S. government operates on a budget approaching $1 trillion dollars. More than $250 billion of that goes to defense. Imagine the boost in the economy if that defense budget wealth was instead re-invested in research and development of technology for American agriculture. Multiply that times the approximately 800 countries of the world, each re-investing their military budgets in basic, productive, wealth-producing industries like agriculture, mining, housing and the like.
With all this peace breaking out, can prosperity be far behind?
There will be one world language, as well as national dialects. With all the nations at peace, all peoples can then begin to understand one another. As a result, they begin to communicate. Individuals begin to appreciate foreign cultures. And begin to share the spirit of a new world brotherhood. "For I will turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent."40
The Lord will strike a new contract with Israel. Israel gets favored nation status. The day will have come in the kingdom age, when the Lord will make a new contract with the people of Israel and Judah. He says: "It won't be like the one I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt -- a contract they broke, forcing me to reject them. But this is the new contract I will make with them: I will inscribe my laws upon their hearts, so that they shall want to honor me, then they shall truly be my people and I will be their God. At that time it will no longer be necessary to admonish one another to know the Lord. For everyone, both great and small, shall really know me then, says the Lord, and I will forgive and forget their sins."41
Israel will be deeply moved when they see the Messiah, the actual holes in his wrists. They will be moved for him as for the loss of a first-born child. Israel will accept Jesus Christ in a deep and profound way when he returns.42
Israel, as the nation with the King, the world capital, the Temple, the holy oblation, gains unparalled prestige in the new world. This is where people will come to celebrate the holy days, to see the holy places, to see the King himself. The other nations will be just as rich, just as happy, just as healthy. But just as Paris is Paris, Vienna is Vienna, and New York is 'the big apple,' Israel will be Israel . . . someplace special where everyone will want to go. For the sake of his own reputation, Jehovah will redeem and restore Israel to the peculiar and special status he had originally intended for it to have.
People will keep different 'holidays,' or holy days.The Christian ordinances, as we know them, will be terminated. The Lord's Supper is to be observed, for example, "till He come."43 Similarly, the making and baptizing of disciples is for today, the age of grace.44 In the kingdom age, with all men under the new covenant, people won't say 'know the Lord,' for all men will see him face to face, and know him very well.45 The day of evangelism will be over.
Instead of celebrating Christmas and Easter, millennial people will celebrate the feasts of God, as outlined in Leviticus 23: the weekly sabbath, passover, days of unleavened bread, firstfruits, pentecost, feast of trumpets, day of atonement, and feast of tabernacles and the last great day. This will seem very new and revolutionary to many, but actually it will be the re-inauguration of the traditional way that God instructed his people to worship him.
You mean we'll keep the sabbath? Wasn't that 'done away' with the Old Testament?
Were the ten commandments done away?
It wasn't done away,46 and yes, all men will keep the sabbath. And the new moons as well. "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord."47
The sabbath was never 'done away.' It is forever.48 It is to be remembered.49
As strange as these days may seem to the early millennial people who will not have been familiar with them, it may seem stranger still to re-institute animal sacrifices at the temple, but that's what will take place.50
"Why have animal sacrifices?" one might wonder. "Didn't the sacrifice of Jesus Christ pay in full for sins once and for all?"
Absolutely.
As Paul wrote to the Hebrews, it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats really to ever take away sins.51 Only the blood of Jesus Christ could do that, and only our faith, our belief, our attitude toward that sacrifice brings us into a covenant with God.
So why have the sacrifices again?
Simply as a memorial. In ancient Israel they looked ahead to the sacrifice of Messiah; in new Israel, they will look back to the sacrifice of Messiah. In the day of grace that we are in right now, animal sacrifices would be out of place; in the kingdom age, with Jerusalem as world capital, and the re-institution of the holy days of God, they will be proper and appropriate and in place.
These sacrifices will be administered by the Zadok family of the Levite tribe.52
Seen from this perspective, the millenium will itself be a continuation of the old order for Israel, except for one very major difference: this time, they accept and worship Messiah.
This all sounds very Jewish, you might think: the temple, sacrifices, passover, firstfruits, unleavened bread, and so on.
Surely God doesn't really intend all people to keep these days?
In fact, that was his very plan, that all men would keep these days.53 Not just Israel. His plan for Israel was that they would be a 'kingdom of priests' for all nations, a pattern, an example, a type for the whole world. In the kingdom age, this will finally become a reality. Indeed, people from around the world will come on pilgrimages and pour into Jerusalem from many foreign cities to attend these celebrations. People will write their friends in other cities and say, "Let's go to Jerusalem to ask the Lord to bless us, and be merciful to us. I'm going! Please come with me. Let's go now!" Yes, many people, even strong nations, will come to the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem to ask for his blessing and help. In those days ten men from ten different nations will clutch at the coat sleeves of one Jew and say, 'Please be my friend, for I know that God is with you.'54
This process is already starting. Just as the re-gathering of Israel is taking place prior to the complete regathering in the millennium, so, too, are the holy days beginning to be recognized and celebrated by believers. Since its establishment in 1980, the International Christian Embassy has sponsored the International Christian Celebration During the Feast of Tabernacles. The next year, 3,000 Christians -- mostly Charismatics -- from 35 lands attended. Attendance increased in subsequent years with pilgrims from the United States, Canada, Holland, Denmark, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and India, to name a few of the nations represented. They hold services, study in workshops, and put on a colorful parade through Jerusalem. They manifestly demonstrate their support for the Jewish people. Put in the Biblical language, they comfort Zion.
Christians -- especially the Charismatics -- are discovering their roots, looking ahead to the time when Jesus Christ himself will be in Jerusalem for the feast of tabernacles.55
Some day, all men will look to that city and that feast to worship the Lord.
All men will see the Lord, and nearly all will be saved. Today, believers are the minority. In the kingdom age, with Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, on television, in the newspaper, on the radio, no faith will be required to believe he exists -- no more than it takes to believe that there really is a President of the United States who really lives in the White House. At that time many nations will be converted to the Lord, and they too will be his people. He will live among them all.56
The enemies of Christ are eliminated at the outset of the kingdom age,57 so we begin with a society in which all men are saved. But there is still a free will. We know this because when Satan is released toward the end of this age, he is able to appeal to some to staff his rebellion.58 But until that time, it is safe to assume that nearly every individual believes and obeys Jesus Christ, and hence is saved. Yes, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.59
They believe and obey him because he comforts the broken-hearted, liberates the captives, opens the eyes of the blind. He delivers the needy, the poor, the one who has no helper. He gives beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of heaviness.60
He is charismatic; people admire him. They want to please him.
People will be more than just saved, too; they will be filled up with the Holy Spirit. It's one thing to be saved. It's quite another to have power . . . what the Greeks called dunamis, inherent power. The English "dynamics," "dynamo," etc. are derived from "dunamis." To be filled with the Holy Spirit. All men will know this feeling in the kingdom age.
They will have what the Jews call "shalom, shalom" or "peace upon peace" -- a divine and heavenly joy that is independent of material circumstance, or achievement, or the many other things we measure "happiness" by in this world -- instead of the anxiety, strife, worry, tension, and disease that are commonplace in this world.
When the Spirit is poured down from heaven at this time, men will have quietness, and confidence.61 Men will want what's good.62 As hard as it is to believe now, people will actually glow in love for one another.63 64 Sort of like a big family gathering at a celebratory feast, and not just for one family, but for all humanity.
People just don't act this way of and by themselves. This will come about strictly because men will fill up on the Holy Spirit, and be really satisfied. With Jesus Christ as the new focus of world events, people's minds will be fixed on him, just as we now fix our attention on the various world leaders of today. And because men's minds will be fixed on the great King, he will keep them in perfect peace, not peace as the world gives peace, but a strange, and wonderful, and more real kind of peace.65 A peace that passes understanding.66 That's the gift that Jesus left his followers, and the gift that we can enjoy now.67 But in the next age of man, all men will receive it. All men will be brimming with the good, positive, energized feelings of the Holy Spirit. Good feelings.
Good feelings.
Let's stop here for one moment. Feeling good, feeling happy. Isn't that what everybody wants anyway? Isn't that what everyone's after? Everyone has his or her own way to try to get those good feelings . . . maybe through exercise, or est, or transcendental meditation, or sex, or alcohol, or drugs, or money, or fame, or status. Some of these things are good, some are extremely destructive. But isn't that what everybody's after?
Most assuredly, it is.
Dr. Robert Schuller calls it self-esteem. In his book, Self-Esteem: The New Reformation, he poses the essential question: "Why is this need for self-esteem so all consuming in individual behavior and so all-important? It is because we are made in the image of God! We were spiritually designed to enjoy the honor that befits a Prince of Heaven. We lost that position and privilege when our first parents divorced themselves from the Creator God."68
He goes on to quote Matthew Henry: "The immediate consequences of Adam and Eve's transgression: Shame and fear came into the world . . . they saw themselves disrobed of all their ornaments and ensigns of honor, degraded from their dignity, and disgraced in the highest degree, laid open to the contempt and reproach of heaven and earth and their own consciences."
Dr. Schuller concludes: "How human beings handle that hunger for glory explains all psychological problems, all spiritual sicknesses, and all human sin."
Jesus knew that we had to really, genuinely love ourselves before we could love anybody else. That's why he said that the second great commandment was to love others as we love ourselves.69
People aren't cold and bitter because they want to be. They're that way because they're crippled, hurting; because they're in real pain.
In the next age, people won't hurt. People won't crave glory, dignity, or just plain feeling good. In the next age, the Holy Spirit will flood the heart of every man and woman and child with good feelings. People will feast on those good feelings, and share them with others.
And though this section is not listed first or last, it is the very best gift of the kingdom age, better by far than all the other riches.
People will be really healthy; all diseases and deformities will be healed. Jesus won't stop with healing people of their psychological problems and leave their bodies freighted-down with sickness, disease and deformity. He will heal everyone. God never puts disease on a person; Satan does. God never kills a little child; Satan does. If we come into covenant relationship with him now, we can be healed and protected from Satan now. All men will experience this in the kingdom age.
All cancers, leukemias, multiple sclerosises, and other dread diseases will be healed, and no new ones will come upon anyone. "And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity."70
All physical disabilities and deformities will be instantly healed at the outset of the kingdom age, as well. "In that day, the deaf will hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the blind will see my plans."71 "And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf. The lame man will leap up like a deer, and those who could not speak will shout and sing!"72
There will be no more homes for the retarded, no nursing homes for the aged, no schools for the blind.
People bound up in psychiatric institutions -- the ones broken in heart and mind -- will be healed as well.73
No hurt, disease, wound or ailment will be untouched by the Holy Spirit.
Furthermore, the Holy Spirit will supernaturally protect human life.74
What will this mean?
Without disease, people will live a lot longer. A person who dies at the age of 100 will be considered like a 'child' in years.75 The Living Bible translates this verse to mean that only a sinner will die that young! And God's people will live as long as trees.76 Perhaps as long as the famous 2,000-plus-year-old olive trees in Gethsemane! If so, this would indicate that many will live all the way through the millennial age, right up into the great white throne judgment and past it into eternity.
The population will grow by leaps and bounds. "The cities will be filled with joy and great thanksgiving, and I will multiply my people and make of them a great and honored nation. Their children shall prosper as in David's reign; their nations shall be established before me."77 This will be equally true of all other nations as well.
The medical establishment, as we know it, will be out of business. We'll still need doctors, nurses and technicians, however, for routine work such as childbirth, setting broken bones, and the like. But the great scientific wars waged against cancer, leukemia, and the many, many other diseases will be over. No one will be able to find any employment as a researcher in these areas. There will be very few companies that manufacture medical supplies, wheelchairs, and the like. They'll have to rely on temporary injuries for their business, and there won't be a great deal of that.
Healthwise, and otherwise, people will live a pampered existence. Malachi describes it as being like a "calf in the stall" -- an agricultural figure for a pampered, brushed, combed and prized pet. The Living Bible puts it a little differently: " . . . the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture."78
Not health, as in absence of disease, but health as in robust, leaping, frisky, energized.
This kind of healing is available today, and it's happening today. You can see reports of it everyday on different Christian television programs. Jesus Christ made healing available to us now by volunteering to take our infirmities and our sicknesses with him to the cross.79 Supernaturally, he was afflicted with all manner of diseases. He was beaten so severely that he no longer looked like a man.80 Get this point and you'll understanding the doctrine of healing: he didn't have to do it. Whenever an animal was sacrificed, it was never beaten or tortured. It was always treated with the greatest respect. Jesus could have sacrificed his life quickly, painlessly. We would still have salvation. We would still have eternal life. We would still be justified before the Father.
But he chose to be beaten and crucified, suffering the pain of sickness and disease in our place. He paid for the iniquities leading to physical diseases, disabilities and death just as much as he paid for the ones leading to spiritual diseases (sin) and death.
Healing is a big subject. It deserves careful study and meditation. If you're sick, you may not necessarily receive healing ten minutes after first hearing about it, although you might and can. But maybe you need healing now, and need to know how it works, at least in brief. So here is a brief explanation. One is healed when one is forgiven of one's sins by God. Jesus almost always said: "Your sins are forgiven" when he was healing an individual. He also instructed us to forgive others when we are praying, so that our Father in heaven can forgive us. We do that by clearing out any roots of bitterness toward anyone. We repent of chronic sins. "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear."81 We take positive action toward others.82 Finally, we believe that Jesus Christ paid, in full, the price for disease, just as he did for salvation.83 "Body" and "blood." (Salvation and healing both come from the cross.) You step out in faith, claiming your healing, believing you have it even as you ask."84 Then, healing comes. Absolutely, incontrovertibly, guaranteed. Sometimes not as quickly as we would like. Sometimes over time, gradually. But it comes.
As I mentioned, you can hear reports of healing on television everyday. To many, it seems just too incredible. It doesn't seem true. But in the early days of the kingdom, it will be common. It will be an everyday thing, and everyone will believe it.
Nature itself will be healed; the curse on the earth will be lifted. Emotions will be healed by the Holy Spirit; bodies will be healed by the Holy Spirit. Even the earth itself will be healed.
Not too many people know it, but there's a curse on the earth right now. It happened that dreadful day God threw Adam and Eve out of the Garden for choosing Satan over him. He said: "Because you listened to your wife and ate the fruit when I told you not to, I have placed a curse upon the soil. All your life you will struggle to extract a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, and you shall eat its grasses. All your life you will sweat to master it, until your dying day."85
That pretty well says it. We all sweat to make a living. Really, from the lowliest worker to some of the highest ranking executives, it's a hard, sweaty game. Sometimes you make it, sometimes you don't. Sometimes the worker loses his job; sometimes the executive loses his whole company in bankruptcy. Part of the reason is that there's a curse on the earth.
This is not how God originally intended us to live. He wanted us to enjoy the Garden, manage it to produce its fruits and vegetables and produce for us. A sort of light labor that was more fun than sweat and struggle. But it would produce for us, not us for it.
And that's just how it's going to be again. The revered 18-hour day of puritannical, workaholic America is going to give way to a work day of say four or six or sometimes eight hours a day. The capital, the land, are going to produce richly for all men . . . in the same way that the capital for a millionaire produces dividends, interest, profit -- and allows him to live in whatever manner he chooses. He can still choose to work very hard if he likes, on those things he likes, or he can take it easy. That freedom is going to be widely available to men in the kingdom age because the curse on the earth is going to be lifted.
America is the richest country of the world. The foundation for that wealth is in the land, in American agriculture, and our natural resources. In the next age, all nations will have a flourishing agriculture, thus releasing other enterprise to develop the luxury goods and services that define wealth.
The sunlight will intensify, and intensify the photosynthetic process by which plants grow. The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sunlight brighter than seven days! So it will be when the Lord begins to heal his people and to cure the wounds he gave them.86 The sparkling, dazzling light will be so intense, in fact, that it will be necessary to shade the cities . . . and the Lord provides for this, too: "He will provide shade on all Jerusalem -- over every home and all its public grounds -- a canopy of smoke and cloud throughout the day, and clouds of fire at night, covering the Glorious Land, protecting it from daytime heat and from rains and storms."87
The other major part of the photosynthetic process is the uptake of water by the plants. God intensifies the rainfall, too.88 The parched ground will become a pool, with springs of water in the thirsty land. Where desert jackals lived, there will be reeds and rushes!89
There will be an abundance of livestock as well.90
More light, more rainfall -- this is what is going to make men rich.
And the world's hungry, having satisfied their appetites for bread, beef, fruits and vegetables, will turn their attention to cultivation of flower crops for sheer beauty and enjoyment.
Even the wilderness and desert will rejoice in those days; the desert will blossom with flowers. Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the Lebanon mountains, as lovely as Mount Carmel's pastures and Sharon's meadows; for the Lord will display his glory there, the excellency of our God.91
The earth will work for man, instead of man working for the earth.
Even the animals will be different. When man delegated his authority over this world to Satan, Satan made the animals vicious. They weren't that way in the Garden. Adam named them, lived among them, had no fear of them.
That's the way it's going to be again. Wolves, lions, snakes, spiders . . . no beast of any kind will hurt or destroy.92 God is going to make a treaty between man and the wild animals -- not to fear each other any more.
There will still be zoos, so that people can admire the different kinds of animals, but all the different animals will qualify for a place in the children's zoo, instead of just the lambs, and guinea pigs and rabbits. A lion will be as gentle as a lamb; a hippo like a guinea pig, and an ape as harmless as a rabbit. You'll be able to walk over to the amazing anteater, feed him some raisins, and get a warm nuzzle around the ankles in return. You won't have to worry about being bitten or clawed, and then facing rabies shots.
Some people will undoubtedly make pets of lions, tigers and bears, as well as stranger beasts such as anteaters, aardvarks and the like. At first, the early millennial people will react viscerally to the sight of such a formerly wild beast playing with a little two-year-old. But after several hundred years (or less), it will be as commonplace as our man and dog.
All the animals will qualify for the title "man's best friend." Every man will know and see his real Best Friend, though.
People will be absolutely secure, relaxed and peaceful; they will be able to 'sleep in the woods.' It will have by this time occurred to the campers, hikers and outdoorsmen that they will be safe from any animal attacks. This is absolutely correct. So secure, in fact, that they will be able to dwell safely in the wilderness, even to sleep in the woods, as the Lord says.93 They won't need that 'sixth sense' to protect them out there during the kingdom age; there won't be attacks from wild animals or spiders or scorpions to worry about and try to fend off.
This is really a broader figure for the peace that men will know in the kingdom age. That same remarkable, otherworldly peace will be in the cities as much as in the forests. Everyone will become very peaceful, or in the common parlance, very 'laid back.' So relaxed that they will be able to sleep in the woods. Camp safely in the wilderness. Or in the city, to sit safely under his own vine, his own fig tree.94 This is the seventh day of the earth, the sabbath, the rest. The earth -- stimulated by intensified sunlight and rainfall -- will produce food in great quantities. You won't have to worry about it. Computers and robotics will do a lot of the work. You won't have to worry about it. Things will be a lot easier, a lot more relaxed.
This peace comes only from the Lord. He will do it all. He will carry the lambs in his arms and gently lead the ewes with young.95 He will feed this remarkable peace to the spirits of the people that came out of great tribulation. He will heal their ripped-up nerves. They'll be able to sleep in the forest, sit under the fig tree, rest, relax, take it all in.
Just as we won't need huge teams of doctors, nurses, medical technologists, physical therapists, X-ray technicians, and the like, so too we won't need huge departments of police, FBI, CIA, private detectives and the like. There will be very, very little crime at all, and the crimes that are committed will be dealt with summarily.
If anyone leaves God's paths and goes astray, he will hear the voice of a glorified spirit being behind him saying, "No, this is the way, walk here."96 A few of those occurances will discourage -- and probably frighten pretty well -- the would-be criminal. People will not be afraid to go out at night. There will be no more 'bad neighborhoods.'
The Lord says: "And My People shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places."97
All men will be free. Americans take this for granted. We have a bill of rights. We can say anything. Do anything. Travel anywhere. Change jobs. Start a business. Sell a business. Go to church. Stay home from church. And do any of it anytime we want.
This is most certainly not true of much of the world. In some parts of the world, it is a crime just to own a Bible, while many American Christians own five or ten.
Jesus Christ came to set men free, really free, from sin, sickness, disease and want -- all the things that Satan wants man to have, and in abundance. Jesus espoused freedom. He said the truth would set men free.98 He was sent to announce liberty to the captives.99 Being a free Prince of Heaven, he loves freedom, hates slavery.
Quite simply, there will be no social, political or religious oppression in his kingdom. There will be no more slavery for any people. God will repay each prisoner two mercies for each woe he suffered.100 He'll heal each one of them.
The greatest slavery is that of being bound in ignorance by Satan, who goes around free on this earth like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.101 But at that time, the accounts will be settled by the Lord. Satan himself will be bound, and men will be free.
Everyone will be educated. The Holy Spirit has many means of expression. Several concern the intellect, or wisdom, understanding and knowledge.102 The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord in the time of his kingdom.103 Everyone will be taught by the Teacher,104 seeing him face to face, and their peace and prosperity will be great.105
The prosperity will be there because people will understand the laws of success. "Come," everyone will say, "let us go up the mountain of the Lord, to the Temple of the God of Israel; there he will teach us his laws, and we will obey them."
The laws of success, miracles, reciprocity, use, perseverance, among others.106
The laws of success:
Reciprocity. Give and it will be given to you.
Use. Use what you have. Make it increase.
Perseverance. Never give up. Overcome obstacles. Success will come.
Responsibility. To whom much is given, much is required.
Unity. Work together as one with family, company, city, state and nation. Success will be multiplied exponentially.
Greatness. Be a servant to become great.
Miracles. Forgive, intercede for others, declare, claim, believe, (and in this world, rout Satan with the Word of God when he comes to steal back your miracle.) Amazing things will happen.
Dominion. Reclaim the authority over the earth that God intended for man and that Satan stole.
Man has never had trouble getting head knowledge. He can compose remarkable symphonies. He can go to the moon. Create a hydrogen bomb. Build skyscrapers, submarines, aircraft carriers. He can develop high-yielding strains of wheat, corn and cotton. He can wage war against diseases like polio, and win.
That's never really been the problem.
The problem's been how to live.
Very few people really know how to do it. How to be successful as individuals. How to map out a life. This is the kind of information that's going to become available.
Everyone will be rich. Instead of just a few fertile places across the whole world, all the earth will be like Iowa.
Instead of devoting 50 percent or 60 percent of the workplace to agriculture, as in underdeveloped nations, put just 2 percent or 3 percent on the land, as in the U.S.A. Put everyone else to work making other goods and services, including luxuries.
Then, instead of taxing this productivity at 50 percent, 70 percent or higher, to build cruise missiles, MX missiles, aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, jet fighters and the like, tax at just 10 percent -- the ancient tithe of Israel -- to run the government. And then pour that money into productive investments such as public buildings, roads, parks, and universities.
Wipe out sickness, disease and disability.
What happens?
People get rich, very rich.
So rich, in fact, that the work week declines still further from our 35 or 40 hour week to, say, 20 or 25. Give people more time to spend with their families, more time to socialize, more time to sit under the vine and under the fig tree. More time to visit Jerusalem. More time to be creative, to love and serve others.
More time to enjoy their new lives as millionaires.
The economic form will clearly be free enterprise, private ownership, with each man sitting under his own vine, his own fig tree. Building his own house.
Everyone will be rightfully compensated for his or her contribution to the economy. One won't plant, and another eat.107
People will have just as much as they want. For those living in Jerusalem, if they want to have a garden, the land will be provided for it. "Outside the city, stretching east and west for three miles alongside the holy grounds, is garden area belonging to the city, for public use. It is open to anyone working in the city, no matter where he comes from in Israel."108 Those gardens will yield tremendous harvests, too. "The time will come when there will be such abundance of crops, that the harvest time will scarcely end before the farmers start again to sow another crop, and the terraces of grapes upon the hills of Israel will drip sweet wine!"109 Fresh produce year 'round. The Lord says he will satisfy his people with his bounty.110
The priests and ministers of our society don't go into that service for the money. In fact, many take a vow of poverty. But God won't forget them in the kingdom age either. They'll be just as rich as anyone else. "I will feast the priests with the abundance of offerings brought to them at the Temple."111
Everybody -- everybody -- will be rich!
And, importantly, the wealth will be permanent wealth. Not the kind of wealth that can be wiped out overnight in a stock market crash, a war, death. In this world, it's one thing to make a fortune, another to keep it. A man can spend a lot of time heaping up riches only for someone else to spend.112 But that won't be the case in the kingdom age. People will be rich, secure, generous and sharing.
The Lord will make a feast for all peoples . . . a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. That's what the government of the Lord will produce.113
That's what the kingdom age will be like. Rich, very rich.
People will socialize . . . have a good time together in the kingdom age. God is a 'people person.' He's a family man. He enjoys a good party. One of the first miracles that Jesus Christ performed was to renew the wine supply at the wedding in Cana.
In the kingdom, there will be many opportunities to socialize. At the holy days, for example, in Jerusalem and around the world. This will be a time of family reunion for the resurrected saints. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob -- grandfather, father and son -- will sit together and reminisce. Many others will sit with them, too.114
That's what made Paul excited. That's what 'made him tick.' "Dear brothers, after we left you and had been away from you but a very little while (though our hearts never left you), we tried hard to come back to see you once more. We wanted very much to come and I, Paul, tried again and again, but Satan stopped us. For what is it we live for, that gives us hope and joy and is our proud reward and crown? It is you! Yes, you will bring us much joy as we stand together before our Lord Jesus Christ when he comes back again. For you are our trophy and our joy."115
Jesus Christ looked forward to a reunion as well. In fact, after Jesus sealed the new covenant, he solemnly declared that he would never again taste the wine until the day he would drink it new in the kingdom.116
There will be all kinds of socializing, too.
For example, with greater wealth and leisure time, people will turn to the arts to find personal identity and expression. Chamber music societies will be created. They will flourish. The members will form close and permanent friendships.
Similarly, rather than watching professional sports on television, (which it probably will still be possible to do), many will themselves participate in athletics. Soccer, baseball, lacrosse, football, and rugby contests will be frequent. (Any injuries will be healed on the spot by resurrected saints.) So will recreational swimming, sailing, boating, mountain climbing, hiking . . . list goes on and on and on.
God made all different kinds of personalities: melancholies, cholerics, phlegmatics, and sanguines. Ectomorphs, endomorphs, and mesomorphs. Athletes and artists. Scholars and 'people-people.' Thinkers and doers. Readers and writers. Skiers and skaters. Builders and dreamers. And varigated combinations of every sort. They are all God's artistic creations. And everyone will be able to find free expression for their very own, particular kind of personality, in social settings as well as by themselves.
Resurrected saints will rule on the earth, and interact with the living people. They'll know them personally as friends, as well as rulers.
A big problem of the modern society is loneliness. No one will be lonely in the age to come. No one will be cast out. No one will be put down. Everyone will have just as busy a social life as he or she would like.
Everyone will be happy. Very few people in modern society are genuinely happy. The poor want to be rich. The rich want to be famous. The famous want to be happy. And on and on it goes.
Even fewer have joy -- which might be defined as being so happy that it bubbles up and out of you. Hardly anyone feels that good. (And anyone who does is viewed with suspicion by the rest.) Most people are just struggling to make a living, cope with their problems, have a good time once in a while.
But in the kingdom, people will have happiness and joy all the time. They will be flushed with the good feelings of the Holy Spirit. They will enjoy perfect, robust health. They will be free, educated, and rich. They will be secure, relaxed and full of peace. They will have as many friends and social activities as they care to undertake. They will be proud of the King, and his government. They will have purpose, meaning and direction in their lives. And they will have the time and energy to enjoy leisure activities. This is how Jesus Christ will fulfill the many, many prophecies on how he will comfort his people in the new age.117
In a word, it will be heavenly. Everyone will be happy, in fact, people will have double portions of happiness.118 "In that wonderful day you will say, "Thank the Lord! Praise his name! . . . for he has done wonderful things."119 Real, honest-to-goodness, wonderful things. And: "Let me tell you how happy God has made me! For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and draped about me the robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels."120
When someone becomes very, very happy, it overflows. They can't contain it. They have to let it out . . . by dancing, or singing, or shouting. That's how it will be in the next era. "The young girls will dance for joy, and men folk -- old and young -- will take their part in all the fun; for I will turn their mourning into joy and I will comfort them and make them rejoice."121
Even God himself -- Jesus Christ -- will sing for happiness!! "On that day the announcement to Jerusalem will be, "Cheer up, don't be afraid. For the Lord your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty Saviour. He will give you victory. He will rejoice over you in great gladness; he will love you and not accuse you. Is that a joyous choir I hear? No, it is the Lord himself exulting over you in happy song . . . ."122
The writer of Psalm 144 puts it this way:
"Here is my description of a truly happy land where Jehovah is God:
Sons vigorous and tall as growing plants.
Daughters of graceful beauty like the pillars of a palace wall.
Barns full to the brim with crops of every kind.
Sheep by the thousands out in our fields.
Oxen loaded down with produce.
No enemy attacking the walls, but peace everywhere.
No one complaining.
No crime in our streets.
Yes, happy are those whose God is Jehovah."
In Psalm 91, the Lord writes: "With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation." A salvation of good feelings, joy, wealth, freedom, education -- and everything else that anyone could ever want from the One who is able to do above all we ask.123 Adam Clarke, author of the famous and widely used Clarke's Commentary, says: "He shall discover infinite lengths, breadths, depths, and heights, in my salvation. He shall feel boundless desires, and shall discover that I have provided boundless gratifications for them. He shall dwell in my glory, and throughout eternity increase in his resemblance to and enjoyment of me. Thus shall it be done to the man whom the Lord delights to honor; and he delights to honor that man who places his love on him. In a word, he shall live a long life in this world, and an eternity of blessedness in the world to come."124
A time of fun and adventure. Of the five billion residents of the world, very few, comparatively speaking, have time for regular fun and adventure. But everyone will have time for it in the new world.
The number one spot to visit will be Jerusalem. But with a new international language, people will also travel to foreign lands -- for no other purpose than the fun, the adventure of it. To just enjoy and appreciate the Indian culture, the African culture, the Chinese culture, the Japanese culture. Just to spend time and get acquainted with and make friends with others in foreign lands. To enjoy millennial places that would correspond to the Fisherman's Wharf or Ghiradelli Square of San Francisco, Georgetown in Washington, D.C., Society Hill of Philadelphia, residential Old Town of Chicago . . . or the Rive Gauche of Paris, the Castle District of Budapest.
Go there just to have a good time. People will have the time, and they'll have the money. Take in the mansions and the museums and the quiet tree-lined streets. Spend an afternoon just enjoying an outdoor cafe, and not feeling guilty about it either. Any everyone you meet will have praise in his heart and on his lips for the Lord. Everyone will be a friend.
For some, this might seem a little tame. They might need a little more action. That's no problem. For them, there will be safaris, or mountains to climb, or businesses to build.
It's not going to end. Once you do achieve a bit of happiness in this world, it's hard to keep it with Satan trying to destroy each of us. You get a job -- then can lose it. You make a little money in the stock market -- and then the market takes a dive. You get romantically attached to someone -- and then it's over. Even with only a modicum of bad things happening to you, you still have to get old. And then the lights go out, or so it seems.
Not so in the kingdom age. The best part is that it never ends -- instead, it just keeps getting better and better. Everything that characterizes the millennial age also characterizes the eternal age. People will receive shower upon shower of blessing.125
Israel will prosper forever.126 (And so will the other nations.) God will plant Israel on the land and not pull them up again.127 He will put his Temple among them forever, and God will live among Israel forever,128 even into the new heaven and the new earth described in the last two chapters of the Bible: "Look high in the skies and watch the earth beneath, for the skies shall disappear like smoke, the earth shall wear out like a garment, and the people of the earth shall die like flies. But my salvation lasts forever; my righteous rule will never die nor end. Listen to me, you who know the right from wrong and cherish my laws in your hearts: don't be afraid of people's scorn or their slanderous talk. For the moth shall destroy them like garments; the worm shall eat them like wool; but my justice and mercy shall last forever, and my salvation from generation to generation."129 God's covenant with his people is an eternal, everlasting, covenant. "His ever-expanding, peaceful government will never end."130
His kingdom will never end.
FOOTNOTES
Chapter 11
FROM THE NEW WORLD
1. Psalm 119:19
2. Feast of tabernacles
3. Is.25:6
4. Matt. 6:10
5. Luke 19:11
6. Rev. 11:15
7. Matt. 19:28
8. Acts 3:18-24
9. Acts 3:19
10. Eph. 1:10
11. Heb. 2:5
12. Is. 11:9
13. Zech. 14:9, but also Ps. 2:8; Is. 42:4; Jer. 23:5; Dan. 2:35-44, 7:26; Luke 1:31-33
14. Is. 24:23; 4:2; 35:2; 40:5; 60:1-9
15. Is. 44:4,5 LB
16. Zech. 14:3-4
17. Zech. 14, Acts 1:11-12
18. Zech. 14:10, 11 LB
19. Ez. 47 LB; Ps. 46:4
20. Is. 41:18-20 LB
21. Is. 19:23
22. Is. 35:8 LB
23. Zech. 8:21
24. Amos 9:14 LB; also Is. 61
25. 1 Peter 2:4-8
26. Dan. 2
27. 1 Cor. 3:12
28. Zech. 8:13 LB
29. Zech. 8:20
30. Is. 2:3
31. Ez. 48:35
32. Psalm 48:2
33. Jer. 33:7-9
34. Gen. 15:18-21
35. Ez. 48:1-7
36. Ez. 48:23-27
37. Jer. 30:18-20
38. Heb. 11:1
39. Is. 2:4; 9:4-7; 11:6-9; 32:17,18; 33:5,6; 54:13; 55:12; 60:18; 65:25; 66:12; Ezek. 28:26; 34:25,28; 39:9; Hos. 2:18; Mic. 4:2-3; 5:5,10; Zech. 9:10; Ps. 46:9
40. Zeph. 3:9
41. Jer. 31:31-34
42. Zech. 12
43. 1 Cor. 11:26
44. Matt. 28:20
45. Jer. 31:34
46. Matt. 5:17
47. Is. 66:23
48. Ex. 31:12-17
49. Ex. 20
50. Ez. 43:18 - 46:24
51. Heb. 10:4 LB
52. Ez. 43:19
53. Is. 27:13
54. Zech. 8:20 - 23 LB
55. Zech. 14
56. Zech. 2:11 LB
57. Rev. 19:21
58. Rev. 20:8-9
59. Psalm 72:11 Yes, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.
60. Is. 61; Ps. 72:11
61. Is. 32:17 LB, also Is. 44:3
62. Is. 59:21 LB
63. Ez. 36:26,27
64. Ez. 11:19,20; 37:14; 39:29; Joel 2:28,29
65. Is. 26:3
66. Phil. 4:7
67. John 14:27
68. Robert H. Schuller, Self-Esteem, The New Reformation (Word Books Publisher, 1982), p. 16
69. Luke 10:27
70. Is. 33:24; Jer. 30:17; Ezek. 34:16
71. Is. 29:18 LB
72. Is. 35:5,6 LB; also Isa. 29:17-19; 61:1,2; Jer. 31:8; Mic. 4:6,7; Zeph. 3:19
73. Is. 61:1-3
74. Zech. 14:11
75. Is. 65:20
76. Is. 65:22 LB
77. Jer. 30:19-20
78. Mal. 4:2
79. Is. 53, Matt. 8
80. Is. 52
81. Is. 59:1, 2
82. Is. 58
83. 1 Peter 2:24
84. Mark 11:24
85. Gen. 3:17-19 LB
86. Is. 30:26
87. Is. 4:5 LB; also see Zech. 2:5
88. Is. 30:23
89. Is. 35:7 LB
90. Is. 30:24
91. Is. 35
92. Is. 65:25; also Is. 11:6-9; Hosea 2:18
93. Ez. 34:25
94. 1 Kings 4:25
95. Is. 40:11 LB
96. Is. 30:21 LB
97. Is. 32:18
98. John 8
99. Is. 61:1 LB
100. Is. 14:3; 42:6; 61:7; Zech. 9:11, 12
101. 1 Peter 5:8
102. Is. 11:2
103. Is. 11:9
104. Is. 30:20
105. Is. 54:13
106. Pat Robertson, The Secret Kingdom, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers).
107. Is. 65:21-25
108. Ez. 48:18-19 LB
109. Amos 9:13 LB
110. Jer. 31:14 LB
111. Jer. 31:14 LB
112. Psalm 39:6 LB
113. Is. 25:6
114. Matt. 8:11
115. 1 Thess. 2:19, 20 LB
116. Mark 14:25 LB
117. Is. 12:1-2; 29:22-23; 30:26; 40:1-2; 49:13; 51:3; 61:3-7; 66:13-14; Jer. 31:23-25; Zeph. 3:18-20; Zech. 9:11-12; Rev. 21:4
118. Is. 61:7
119. Is. 12:4, 5 LB
120. Is. 61:10 LB
121. Jer. 31:13 LB
122. Zeph. 3:16-18 LB; other verses include: Is. 9:3-4; 12:3-6; 14:7-8; 25:8-9; 30:29; 42:1, 10-12; 52:9; 60:15; 65:18-19; 66:10-14; Jer. 30:18-19; Zech. 8:18-19; 10:6-7
123. Eph. 3:20
124. Adam Clark, Clark's Commentary, The Old Testament, Vol. III. (Published by Abington, Nashville, Kentucky) p. 511.
125. Ez. 34:26
126. Joel 3:20
127. Amos 9:15
128. Ez. 37:26-28; 43:7-9
129. Is. 51:6-8
130. Dan. 7:13-14, 27; 9:24; Hos. 2:19-23; Ez. 16:60; 43:7-9; Jer. 32-40; 33:14-17, 20-21; Is. 9:6-7; 66:3, 13; 56:5; 60:19-20; 51:8; 2 Samuel 7:16, 28-29; Psalms 89:3-4, 34-37; 45:6; 72:5, 17; Luke 1:30-33; 1 Tim. 1:17; Rev. 11:15