One of our elders, Tom Midthun, preached this message on January 12, 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Audio Transcript
Good morning. Could we pray, please?
Heavenly Father, we thank You for this church. We thank You for all who attend to come here and worship You. We thank You for the Holy Spirit. We ask that He will give us understanding as we study Your Word and give us wisdom in application. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
So when Pastor knew he was going to be gone, he asked me if I’d cover the last few verses of Joel. And then, as a kind of add-on, he said, “And then talk about the millennial kingdom.” So it took me a little bit to catch on, but what he had done was ask me to cover a thousand-year period of prophecy in 30 minutes. So buckle up.
First of all, when people talk about the millennial kingdom, what do they mean? It’s a thousand-year reign of Christ on earth in Jerusalem that starts after the second coming. So that’s what people mean when they talk about it. I would just, as a lead-in, mention that we’ll find that all of Israel’s covenants—the Abrahamic covenant, the Davidic covenant, the Lamb covenant, and the New Covenant—will be totally fulfilled during these 1000 years.
So let’s start with Joel. Remember last time Pastor was talking about the final battle, the end of the tribulation, Armageddon, cosmic signs, and the second coming. Joel, in the first part of chapter three, discusses all of that, and then he makes a sudden veer to another topic. So we’ll just start with verse 16:
“The Lord roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth tremble. But the Lord is a refuge for His people and a stronghold to the sons of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will pass through it no more. And in that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah will flow with water. And a spring will go out from the house of the Lord to water the valley of Shittim. Egypt will become a waste, and Edom will become a desolate wilderness because of the violence done to the sons of Judah, in whose land they have shed innocent blood. But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem for all generations. And I will avenge their blood, which I have not avenged. For the Lord dwells in Zion.”
So what does Joel tell us about this time period? He starts out talking about being a refuge for the sons of Israel. If we look at Revelation 12, it talks about God sheltering and protecting the nation of Israel in the wilderness for the last three and a half years of the tribulation period. The fact that that happens will be one of the factors in finally opening the eyes of the nation of Israel, where they’ll recognize that Jesus Christ is their Messiah and was their Messiah and lead them to call out for Him.
Joel then goes on to stress that the Messiah will be dwelling in Jerusalem, and Jerusalem will be holy because He’s there. He makes the comment that strangers will pass through it no more. For the last 2,500 years, Israel and that area have been really dominated by Gentile powers. In the millennium, that will no longer be the case. He goes on to talk about the mountains dripping with sweet wine, indicating that prosperity will be wonderful during this time period. Nature will be changed; rather than being seasonal, water will flow in the streams and brooks year-round. A spring will go out from the house of the Lord. The house of the Lord in context is the Temple. So we know there’s going to be a millennial temple, and we’ll come back to this one.
Those that persecuted Israel, an oppressor, will be punished during that time period. Again, Joel stresses that Judah and Jerusalem will continue to exist for all generations, and again, that the Lord will dwell in Zion.
So what about this verse? “A spring will go out from the house of the Lord.” Is that allegorical? Is that a metaphor? Is it literal? Fortunately, we have a couple of other prophets who touch on this topic. Ezekiel spends chapters 40-48 going into minute, mind-numbing detail on what the millennial temple will look like. But in chapter 47, he talks about this living water:
“Then he brought me back to the door of the house. And behold, water was flowing from under the threshold, the threshold of the house toward the east. For the house faced east. And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from south of the altar.”
So Ezekiel also confirms that there’s going to be a stream of water coming out of the millennial temple and going to the east. He gives more detail in verse 8:
“And he said to me, ‘These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down to the Arabah. Then they go down toward the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh.'”
Now, the sea east of Jerusalem is the Dead Sea. As you know, I’m sure, nothing grows in the Dead Sea. It’s about 30% salt. So what Ezekiel is saying is when this happens, not only will water flow into the Dead Sea, but it will make it fresh water. He later goes on to say that it’s going to be teeming with fish. He’ll bring that whole area alive, where the people of that time will be able to fish on the western shore of the Dead Sea, which is where En Gedi is.
Zechariah also comments on this:
“And in that day, living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the Eastern Sea, which is the Dead Sea, and the other half toward the Western Sea, which is the Mediterranean. It will be in summer as well as in winter.”
So Joel is speaking a literal fact. There will be a temple. The temple will have a stream of water that will bring the Dead Sea alive, and the other half will flow into the Mediterranean.
When I was trying to come up with some way of categorizing this for a short time, I just blundered across—perhaps not blundered, but was guided to a presentation by Pastor Mark Henry, who has a ministry in the Twin Cities. As he explained where he got the information, he said that, “Well, when I was 17, I went to this conference, and Charles Ryrie had a presentation on this topic.” So I shamelessly am going to use that as a guideline for what we’re going to talk about today.
What kind of characteristics does the Bible say will happen during this millennial period?
Number one: Jesus. Victory and inauguration will start it. Revelation 19: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on it is called Faithful and True. And in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems. And He has a name written on Him, which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. And He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written: King of kings and Lord of lords.”
This is the second coming. This is when judgment reigns on earth, which will be followed by the setting up of the millennium. But clearly, this is not the Christ that we visualize from His first coming—the suffering servant who came to give a way for us to be saved. He’s coming as a warrior king. He’s coming in judgment to rule and judge those who have rejected Him and enemies of God. As we think of this, again, He’s going to appear very different than we see Him in the Gospels. If you want to get a fairly good idea of the way Christ probably actually looks now, read Revelation 1.
Number two: There’ll be judgment of the war criminals again. Revelation 19: “And I saw the beast, who’s the Antichrist, and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he 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, which burns with brimstone, and the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse.”
While the Second Coming will be a spectacular and a glorious event, the famous battle of Armageddon may not be much of a battle. There’ll be no Hollywood blockbuster movies made of it. It sounds like Christ returns, summarily tosses the Antichrist and the false prophet into the lake of fire, and simply speaks, and these vast armies that have come against Him are destroyed.
Number three: Not only will He have military authority, He’s going to have spiritual authority. This is indicated in Revelation 20: “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him so that he would not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed. After these things, he must be released for a short time.”
A characteristic of the millennial kingdom is there’s not going to be spiritual warfare. It doesn’t say anything about the demons and fallen angels, but almost certainly they also will be tossed into the abyss for this thousand years, so there won’t be temptations. Unfortunately, the humans who are in this time period will still have their sin nature, so it’ll be different, but not perfect.
Number four: Who are the citizens who will go into this kingdom? In Matthew, he describes it in Matthew 25, starting in verse 31: “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”
This is a sheep and goat judgment. It occurs just after the Second Coming to determine which humans go into the millennial kingdom and which don’t. In verse 34, then the King will say to those on His right, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” And on the other hand, in verse 41, then He will also say to those on His left, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.”
There will be probably a fairly large group of people who survive the Tribulation and are believers. Those people who would be the sheep will be entered into the millennial kingdom. The unbelievers will not.
So if they’re going to be the citizens, who’s going to govern? Clearly, Christ is King over the world. So who governs under Christ? We can look at Revelation 20: “Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God. And those who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand, and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”
This refers to the tribulation saints—those who come to saving faith during the tribulation. Things are going to be so horrific then that most of those will be killed by the beast or the beast system. But it says here, after Christ returns, they came to life. They will be resurrected into glorified bodies, and they will reign with Him during the millennial kingdom.
Now there’s another group that’s kind of interesting. In Matthew 19, Peter, being Peter, said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You. What then will there be for us?” And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that you who have followed Me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
So the apostles have a higher calling, so to speak. They are in the church age, so they will have been resurrected in the Rapture. But after the Second Coming, they obviously are going to rule under Christ, and their responsibility will be the nation of Israel or the twelve tribes of Israel.
So what about the Old Testament saints? We can look at Daniel 12: “As for me, I heard but could not understand. So I said, ‘My Lord, what will be the outcome of these events?’ and the angel later answers him. But as for you, Daniel, go your way to the end. Then you will enter your rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.”
Well, the end of the age is going to be the second coming. The allotted portion isn’t specified, but that’s probably reward and also ruling and reigning with Christ during the millennium. So the Old Testament saints, like the tribulation saints, will be resurrected to glorified bodies after the second coming.
So we’re all a little like Peter. You know, we’re nice folks; we’re in the church age. What happens? How do we come out in all of this? Revelation talks about that. This is the part of Revelation that’s written to the seven churches, so it’s during the church age and representative for the church age. So Christ speaks: “He who overcomes, I will grant him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
So church age saints will also rule and reign with Him in this kingdom. All of the saints of all the ages—the Old Testament, tribulation saints, church age saints—all will rule under Christ in their glorified bodies.
So do take note of the thrones here, though. As you all know, when Christ ascended, He ascended to sit on the right hand of God the Father. This verse indicates that He’s sitting on His Father’s throne at the present time. When He talks about doing something in the future, that “I will grant,” it’s going to be His throne, which is the Davidic throne in Jerusalem during the millennial kingdom.
Alright, number five: What will faith be like in the millennium? Zechariah talks about that: “Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them.”
So fairly immediate judgment for disobedience. At least part of faith in the millennium will be that the mortals who have gone into those who are left and are believers who go into the millennial kingdom will need to make a pilgrimage every year to Jerusalem to worship the Messiah on His throne.
Number six: What about peace during that time? Isaiah 2: “And He will judge between the nations and will render decisions for many peoples, and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war.”
So there will be absolute peace during that thousand years. When we pray, as the Psalmist tells us to, for the peace of Jerusalem, we have to realize we’re really praying for the Second Coming and the millennial kingdom. Jerusalem will really not have any permanent or real peace until the King of Peace, the Prince of Peace, is ruling from Jerusalem.
Okay, number seven: What about economics? As you remember, when we read Joel, he talked about very great prosperity for the kingdom during that time period. Amos says almost the same thing: “Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when the ploughman will overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes, him who sows seed, when the mountains will drip sweet wine and all the hills will be dissolved.”
So what Amos is saying is that agricultural production will be so great that you’ll still be harvesting the last crop when it’s time to plant the next crop. Again, prosperity, as Joel said, will be fantastic.
What about health? Isaiah 65: “I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people. And there will no longer be heard in her the voice of weeping and the sound of crying. No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his days. For the youth will die at the age of 100, and the one who does not reach the age of 100 will be thought accursed.”
There’ll be a great increase in health. They will not need any of the sordid health plans we have today. Longevity will markedly increase, apparently into the hundreds of years. Perhaps it will be similar to the way it was prior to the Flood.
Now, not only humankind will be affected by this, but the animal kingdom will also be affected. Isaiah 11: “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together. And a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze; their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as waters cover the sea.”
So first off, the animal kingdom will go back to being vegetarian. If you look in Genesis 1, that’s the way the animal kingdom was created prior to the fall. Also note that there are different ages of children here. As we said, mortal believers will go into the millennial kingdom. They will marry and they’ll have children. With health and long lives, it’s almost certain there’ll be a huge population explosion during this time period. The earth will be restored almost back to Edenic levels at that time.
What about law and order? Isaiah 9: “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on His shoulders, and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace on the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.”
This is typical of a lot of prophecy where they don’t give us a steady sequence. They’ll give some prophecy here, and then it’ll jump a thousand years or a period of time, and they’ll give another fact. It’s sometimes hard to pick out where things fit in these familiar verses. It starts with the first coming, Christ’s birth, and in the same sentence it jumps to His government, to the millennial kingdom. It doesn’t talk about the Tribulation; it doesn’t talk about the second coming, but both facts are true. It’s just that they’re separated, and you have to kind of try to pick that out.
Finally, as we’ve seen, Jesus is going to be governing from Jerusalem. Zechariah 8 has a couple of verses that address this: “So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days, ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'”
As we said earlier, all of these covenants that were promised to the Jewish people are going to be fulfilled during this millennial period. But also, the Jews finally are going to fulfill what they were called to be. They were called to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation way back in the Old Testament. They finally will become that.
Also, in the same chapter, Zechariah 8:3 says, “Thus says the Lord, I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.”
As I suspect you know, Jerusalem has never been called a city of truth. It’s never deserved to be called a city of truth. But during this millennial kingdom with Christ on the throne, it finally will.
So with all of this general outline for the millennial kingdom and what we’ve learned, how are we to respond today?
Number one: We should live a godly life. Second Peter: “Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless.” My only comment here is, if we have any hope of living a godly life, we really need to live our life in the power of the Spirit. We cannot do that on our own. Whenever we try, we’re going to fall short.
Number two: We’re to be watchful. Titus 2: “Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus.” For the church age, the blessed hope is the Rapture. I’ve heard a number of speakers give the line that they really have no problems, no trials that wouldn’t be fixed by the Rapture. So I think that’s a true statement.
Number three: We’re to keep doing Christ’s work. Now, this is a parable, but it’s easy to see who’s represented by which character. He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then return. And he called ten of his slaves and gave them ten minas and said to them, ‘Do business with this until I come back.'”
Believers in the church age are frequently called slaves or bond servants in the New Testament. The minas certainly represent the gospel. We’re to share that, to work with that. But also, I think it refers to the spiritual gifts that every believer has—whether you can teach, whether you can serve, whether you can edify other members of the church. There are all sorts of ways that we can serve each other. I think that also is being stressed that we’re to use those things until His return.
Number four: We’re to do evangelism. Acts 16 refers to the Philippian jailer. This is Paul and his friends say to the jailer, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.” For most of my life, I just couldn’t accept that. It was just too easy. You know, I really needed to do something. There must be something I could do better or I could help along. But there isn’t. It’s a gift. The Bible stresses topics or ideas, repeats them when it views them as important. There are over 160 verses in the Bible saying the same thing: faith alone in Christ alone, faith plus nothing. God’s done everything.
Number five: We’re to disciple each other. Matthew 28: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
So we’re to grow in maturity, grow in understanding. We’re to study the Word and build each other up. When I’ve heard this verse used, it’s usually in the idea of evangelism: “Go and take the Gospel out and save people.” And that’s what it means. But it’s more than that. That’s the first step. But we’re to disciple each other into a mature faith. I think this church really offers a good number of things. There are the small groups, the institute that pastors initiated. There are a lot of elective classes, men’s ministry, women’s ministry. There are lots of ways where we can disciple each other. So I think that also is an important thing for us now.
Finally, always, Second Timothy: “We need to hang tough.” Timothy writes, or Paul writes to Timothy, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things; endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
Those of us who are Christians in the United States have really lived in a bubble. We’re not particularly persecuted at this point in time. That may be coming, but other Christians throughout the world have been persecuted very heavily. I’ve heard from a number of places that in the 20th century, there were more Christians martyred than in the previous 19 centuries combined. So hanging tough is not always an easy thing, but something we need to keep in mind.
So could we pray?
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the Holy Spirit. We thank You for Your Word. We ask that we could recognize Your sovereignty, that even when things are falling apart, we can recognize that You are in control, You are merciful, and You are always faithful. In Jesus’ name, Amen.