Why Future Events?-Part 10

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WHY FUTURE EVENTS? PART 10

After God through Christ crushes Satan by ridding the earth of him and his entire king­dom, the second thing that He must do to fulfill His purpose for history is this: He must restore His theocratic kingdom rule to this present earth. This present article will begin to examine that restoration.

The Purpose Of The Future Theocratic Kingdom

As noted in earlier articles, this earth began with God’s theocracy as its government (A theocracy is a form of government in which God’s rule is administered by a representative, and God appointed Adam to be His representative to administer His rule over this earthly province of His universal kingdom). But the theocracy was lost through the Satan-prompted defection of Adam from God. In light of this, if God does not restore His theocratic kingdom rule to this earth before its history comes to an end, then God will be defeated by Satan within the scope of this present earth’s history. Thus, the restoration of God’s theocratic kingdom as the government of this earth for its last age of history is absolutely essential for the fulfillment of God’s purpose for world history.

The Time Of The Future Theocratic Kingdom

The Scriptures reveal two things concerning the time of the future theocratic kingdom. First, Christ taught that He will sit upon His throne to rule the earth and introduce the righ­teous to the kingdom after the Tribulation and His Second Coming. In Matthew 24:21 He said, “then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Then He stated, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:29-30). Next, in Matthew 25:31-34 (which picks up chronologically where 24:30 ends), Christ asserted, “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Thus, Christ was teaching the following chronological order for the future: First, the Great Tribulation, then His Second Coming after the Tribulation, and then the future theocratic kingdom when He will sit upon His throne to rule the earth as King.

The Book of Revelation agrees with this teaching of Christ by presenting the same chronological order—the events of the Tribulation (Revelation 6-18), followed by the Sec­ond Coming of Christ (Revelation 19:11-21), and then the theocratic kingdom (Revelation 20:4-6). In Revelation 20:4 the Apostle John wrote, “I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands.” John was referring to saints of the Tribulation Period who will be martyred, be­cause of their faith in Jesus Christ and God’s Scriptures, refusal to worship the Antichrist and his image as God, and refusal to receive the external mark that would visibly identify them as worshipers of Antichrist.

After referring to the deaths of these Tribulation saints, John wrote, “and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” The expression “they lived” refers to their physical resurrection from the dead, and the context of that expression prompts the conclusion that the resurrection of dead Tribulation saints will take place in conjunction with the Second Coming of Christ after the Tribulation. The rest of John’s statement to the effect that the resurrected Tribulation saints “reigned with Christ a thousand years” indicates that the theocratic kingdom of God, when Christ as God’s representative will reign as King over the whole world together with His saints, will be established after His Second Coming.

The second thing that the Scriptures reveal concerning the time of the future theocratic kingdom is this: That kingdom will be present during the last age of this present earth’s history. That this is so is indicated by the following sequence: After that age ends, Satan will be released from his prison in the bottomless pit and will lead one final revolt against God’s rule, but God will quickly crush that revolt (Revelation 20:7-10). Then the present earth will pass away when a great white throne appears (Revelation 20:11; 21:1).

The Length Of The Future Theocratic Kingdom

Revelation 20:4-7 indicates that Christ and His saints will reign over this present earth for “a thousand years.” Thus, the future theocratic kingdom will last for one thousand years on this present earth. For this reason Bible scholars have called the last age of this earth’s history “the Millennium.” They developed that designation by combining two Latin words— mille, which means “a thousand”^[1] and annum, a form of annus, which means “year”.^[2]

It should be noted that, although the future theocratic kingdom will last for a thousand years on this present earth, it will continue forever on the future eternal earth (Isaiah 9:6-7; Daniel 2:44; 7:13-14, 27; Luke 1:32-33; Revelation 11:15; 21:1-22:5).

The next article will look at the citizens of the future theocratic kingdom.

For a study of the different millennial views that have been advocated during the history of the Church, including how and when they began and what they teach, order my book, There Really Is A Difference! (The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry—Tel. (800) 257-7843; Fax (856) 853-9565).

NOTES

1. ↑ D. A. Kidd, COLLINS LATIN GEM DICTIONARY, p. 204.
2. ↑ Ibid., p. 664.

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