The Reign of Christ Part 1

Welcome to this edition of Back to Basics with Pastor Brian Broterson.

Every time in history the church is sought to exercise political power or gain authority

over people's lives or whatever it's turned out to be an absolute disaster and understandably

because we're all still sinners.

But that will not be the case in the Kingdom Age because we will be forever freed from

the sinful condition and now glorified.

Today on Back to Basics Pastor Brian continues his study in the book of Revelation.

Join us as Pastor Brian begins his teaching on Revelation chapter 20 verses 4 through 6

in a message titled The Rain of Christ.

Now is Pastor Brian.

And I saw thrones and they that sat on them and judgment was committed to them.

And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for

the Word of God who had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received his

mark on their foreheads or in their hands.

And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.

This is the first resurrection.

Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection over such the second death

has no power.

But they shall be priest of God and Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years.

So as some of you will remember, we've come in our study of Revelation to the place where

the Lord has returned.

We saw the return of the king and we saw that upon the return of Jesus, of course there

was the judgment against the forces that would gather against him, the beast in the false

prophet who led everyone astray.

They've been judged.

They've been cast into the lake of fire.

The devil who is the inspiration behind the whole thing.

He's been bound and cast into a prison for a thousand years.

And now we come to the setting up of the kingdom.

And that's what we want to talk about today.

The history of the world has been, among other things, a demonstration of man's inability

to govern himself.

And of one failed attempt after another to usher in an ideal society.

If you study history, that's really what it is.

And coming from a place where we just walked through so much history, it's amazing to

look back over all of the centuries and to think of these great kingdoms, these great

empires that once existed, that have been reduced to just a pile of stones today.

And to see the cycle just being repeated over and over and over again, of man attempting

to set up the ideal society, but it just is never realized.

It can't be realized because of the sinful condition of man.

But it will happen when Jesus comes again.

And so when he comes, he will set up that long, awaited kingdom.

And that's what Revelation 20 tells us about.

It's about the setting up of the kingdom, the reigning with Christ over the world.

Now it's interesting though here in Revelation 20, although it is the kingdom, the long awaited

kingdom that has been established here, Revelation 20 doesn't give us any specific detail about

it.

It just sort of, you know, kind of skims over it, just says that they show live and ring

with him.

They ring with him a thousand years, but it doesn't tell us any of the specifics.

And the reason for that, I think, is because the prophets have already given us all of

those details.

So in order to understand what the kingdom is going to look like, at least in its first

phase, we have to go back to the Old Testament prophets, and even to the words of Jesus

himself, because it's there that we get the detailed picture.

So we're going to be doing that today.

We're going to look at a lot of scripture today.

Today is really going to be kind of a Bible study in the true sense where we're just going

to go through and look at numerous passages.

But what we want to break it down into is, first of all, what is going to happen immediately

after the Lord returns and deals with the instigators of the conflict that takes place

there, the battle for Jerusalem, and then we want to look at how the kingdom begins to

be established and what that is going to entail.

And then finally, we want to look at the application for us today, because it's important to

remember that although the kingdom is coming in the future, it has already come in one

sense, and we don't want to overlook that.

So we'll look at that as our final point today.

But what is the first thing that happens once Jesus comes and deals with the opposing

forces that are coming against Jerusalem and ultimately coming against him?

Well the first thing that's going to happen is there will be a judgment of the nations.

And Jesus himself told us about this in Matthew 25.

So what I would encourage you to do rather than turn to the passages you can if you'd like,

but maybe just jot down the scripture references and you can read them over later.

But Matthew 25 verses 31 through 34, then verses 45 and 46, Jesus tells us about this judgment

of the nations.

Now remember, there are going to be people that live through, they survive this tribulation

period.

And as we pointed out, the final conflict, although it will be definitely what you would categorize

as a world war, there will be many parts of the globe that people will be in a sense

out of harm's way and will survive.

They'll live through that horrific time.

And for those nations that survive, Jesus tells us that there is a judgment for them that

will come.

And so we read in Matthew 25, when the Son of man comes in his glory and all the holy angels

with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory, all the nations will be gathered

before him, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep

from the goat.

So you see the picture, all of the nations are gathered before the Lord.

And now he is going to separate them.

And he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left, then the king will

say to those on his right hand, come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared

for you from the foundation of the world.

Then he will also say to those on the left hand, depart from me, you cursed into the everlasting

fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

So this is where things begin.

The kingdom is going to begin to be established, and now it all starts with a separation

of the sheep, the believers from the goats, the unbelievers that survive the tribulation.

And now from that point, we get into the specific details of what this reign is going to entail.

Now what we're talking about here, you might have heard the term before the millennium.

Well, millennium means 1,000.

And we're talking here about the thousand year reign of Christ.

Now we need to be clear that the reign of Christ is eternal.

When Jesus comes back, he will establish his kingdom.

It's an everlasting kingdom, it's an eternal kingdom.

It's not a temporary kingdom of a thousand years, but there is an aspect of it that is

specifically a thousand years.

And there will be a brief disruption, not even so much an interruption because it's

not like Christ is going to lose his power briefly.

He doesn't, but there will be a disruption at the end of the thousand years where Satan,

who is in prison, will be released once again.

He will deceive a multitude from the nations.

He will come up against the Holy City.

They will attempt an overthrow and they will be destroyed.

And then you have heaven and earth passing away and you have a whole new heaven and a whole

new earth being established.

But Jesus reigns from the moment that he comes back all the way through on end to eternity.

But what we're looking at here when we look at the millennium is we're looking at his

reign in the actual city of Jerusalem, sitting on the ancient throne of David and ruling over

the Jewish people, the house of Jacob.

That's what the millennium is going to look like, at least from the center of it.

It's going to include the whole world.

But the base for the kingdom will be in the city of Jerusalem.

And so millennium, as I said, means a thousand.

And in this 20th chapter, we're told six times that Jesus will reign and we will reign with

him for a thousand years.

Now there are those today in the church who deny that there is a thousand year reign

of Christ.

That's just an indefinite number.

It's not literal.

It shouldn't be taken literally.

And they are known theologically as a millennial, all millennial, however you want to pronounce

the A, which means they don't believe in a millennium.

They just believe that Jesus is going to come back and it's going to be an eternal reign

from that point on.

So it's true that there will be an eternal reign.

But there's this 1,000 year period that for whatever reason they don't really take seriously.

But I think it's important that we take it seriously because after all, it says it six

times that there is a thousand year reign.

But those who take the arm millennial position generally do not see that Israel has a future

in the sense that we believe that they do.

And that's why they can dismiss the thousand years as being symbolic rather than literal.

But if you go back and take the Old Testament promises to Israel seriously and the promise

of a king sitting upon the throne of David, this is where it takes place in the millennium

that thousand year reign of Christ.

So I want to just walk you through the details of the millennium.

First thing to note is that this is the place where we rule and reign with Christ.

The church has been given promises over and over again and here in the book of Revelation

as well that we will be reigning with Christ during that time.

Paul and writing to Timothy said this, he said it is a faithful saying that if we died

with him, we shall also live with him.

If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.

Many promises given to the church that we would reign with the Lord, that we would be involved

in the judgment or the administration of the affairs of the world.

The six first that we read here today, blessed and holy is you as part of the first resurrection

over such a second death has no power, but they shall be priest of God enough Christ and

shall reign with him a thousand years.

So for the millennium, the church, which of course is distinct from Israel and the situation

on the one hand is Israel that Jesus will reign over our people just like we are today.

We will be glorified at that time.

So we will no longer be the people that we are now.

We will be perfected, we will be glorified, we will be sinless, we will be like the angels,

we will be in a permanent, perfected state.

That is how the church will reign with Christ.

And it's important to remember that, that it's the perfected saints who will

administrative the kingdom.

It's important to remember that because only in the perfected state are we fit to

administrative the kingdom.

Every time in history the church is sought to exercise political power or gain authority

over people's lives or whatever, it's turned out to be an absolute disaster.

And understandably because we're all still sinners.

And we still have those propensities toward oppression and selfishness and all of that.

But that will not be the case in the kingdom age because we will be forever freed from

the sinful condition and now glorified, perfected.

And that is how the church will administrative the kingdom during that age.

So that's where the church is for the thousand years.

We are in that place of ruling and raining with Christ.

Now we shift the focus to Israel.

And it's here during this thousand years that the kingdom will be restored to Israel.

Jesus when he was about to ascend into heaven, Acts chapter one.

Maybe you remember the disciples asked him this question.

They said, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

So they understood that there was to be a restoration of the kingdom.

They understood that the promises to David were promises that were to go on forever.

They understood that the prophets had declared that there would be this righteous reign.

So they're asking the question, Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom at this time?

Jesus said it's not for you to know the times or the seasons,

which the Father has put it in His own authority.

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come up on you.

So the answer to the question was no.

I'm not going to restore the kingdom at this time.

He wasn't saying he wasn't going to restore it.

It just he wasn't going to restore it at that time.

And so the time for the restoration of the kingdom will be when the Lord returns.

When Jesus comes the second time.

And then Israel will inherit the land that God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

So all of those promises that God made will finally be realized.

They'd never had been realized before.

The furthest extent of Israel's authority fell short of the boundaries that God had originally

set for them.

Under David and Solomon, that's when the kingdom expanded its furthest.

You know, on this trip that I just returned from, we didn't only tour Israel,

but we crossed the border and we went over into Jordan.

And I was really amazed at how much biblical history there is in Jordan as well.

First of all, two and a half of the original 12 tribes of Israel settled in what is known as

Jordan today. And not only that, but later David's kingdom would have expanded and covered that

whole area of Ammon, of Moab, and Edom, which are all today parts of what we know as Jordan.

And so it will be during this millennium that Israel will inherit all of the promises that God

had originally made to them.

Let me quote to you from Ezekiel, first of all, and then secondly from Zachariah.

And like I said, you might turn in your Bibles or you might just jot these down and look at

them later, Ezekiel 36 verses 24 through 28 reads like this, for I will take from among the nations.

I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries and bring you into your own

land, then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all

your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.

I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit

within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will keep my judgments and do them. Then you will

dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You shall be my people

and I will be your God. Now, we know that the Jewish people, of course, many of them anyway, are

in the land of Israel today and they are there undoubtedly by the providence of God.

God has providentially placed them there, but they are unclean. They have not yet been cleansed.

You know, much of the nation is atheistic and those who are not atheistic are just engaged in

legalistic, ritualistic religion. But the idea of any kind of a literal, you know, personal

loving relationship with God doesn't exist except among those who are believers in the Messiah,

which are a very small number. There's approximately 8 million people in Israel today and the

estimated numbers of believers in Jesus as the Messiah is about 20,000. 20,000, some double that and

say, oh, maybe you could push it to 40,000. But think about that. In a country full of millions of

people, that's a very small number. So we have to understand that Israel as it is today, although

they're there providentially by the plan and purpose of God, they're not there in the fullest

sense that they will be when the Lord comes back. They're there in unbelief and they're in sin

and they're there in uncleanness. But that will change. Zachariah 8 verses 3 through 8 says,

thus says the Lord, I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be

called the city of truth, which I can tell you is not the case today. The mountain of the Lord

of hosts, the holy mountain, thus says the Lord of hosts, old men and old women shall again sit in

the streets of Jerusalem, each one with his staff in his hand because of great age. The streets of

the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. Thus says the Lord of hosts,

if it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, will it also be marvelous

in my eyes? Says the Lord of hosts, thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I will save my people from

the land of the east and from the land of the west and I will bring them back and they shall dwell in

the midst of Jerusalem. They shall be my people. I will be their God in truth and in righteousness.

So this is what it's going to look like when the Lord comes back. You know, as I said, it shall be

called the city of truth that there's anything but that today. Wherever you go in the city today,

you find it's just infected with deceit and with lies and with false religion. As a matter of

fact, the UN has recently referred to the what is called the temple mount, the place where the

Jewish temple originally stood. The UN no longer refers to that as the temple mount but they refer

to it as the al-Aqsa mount and what they're saying is that they do not acknowledge any Jewish

presence in that place in ancient times. They're dating it back to the mosque in the late 600s and

they're now referring to it as, you know, one of the, the UN is referring to it as one of the

the ancient holy sites of Islam without any acknowledgement of Israel's previous existence there

at that place. So this is the kind of lying and deceit not to mention the false religion that's

there but also I look at the passage here in Zachariah where he speaks of the beautiful situation

of the streets being full of boys and girls and so forth and of course today we know that in many

of the places in the land that is, it's not really possible because it's not safe and even

as we walk the streets of Jerusalem you know you can't help but have the thought cross your mind that

you know somebody could come out with a suicide vest on and just blow themselves up here because

that happens. It happens all too often but it won't happen in the future because Christ will set up

his kingdom and so Israel inherits the land that was promised to them the throne of David is

established. You see God gave a promise to David that one of his descendants would sit upon the throne

and would rule over the house of Jacob and as a matter of fact that promise was communicated

to Mary by Gabriel in Luke chapter 2 that he would, or Luke chapter 1 that he would

sit upon the throne of David and rule over the house of Jacob forever and that's exactly what's

going to happen as Isaiah predicted for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given if you're

familiar with that passage perhaps Isaiah 9.6 but then it goes on to say in verse 7 of the increase

of his government and peace there will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to

order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever.

Sitting upon the throne of David Jeremiah said this Jeremiah chapter 23 verses 5

and 6 behold the days are coming says the Lord that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness

a king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth

in his days Judah will be saved Israel will dwell safely now this is his name by which

will be called the Lord our righteousness.

We'll continue tomorrow with more valuable insights from Pastor Brian as we study together

in the book of Revelation. Thank you for listening to Back to Basics with Pastor Brian

Broticin for more information about the Back to Basics radio program or the teaching of Pastor Brian

and are available resources please visit our website back to basics radio.com that's back to

basics radio.com or by calling our request line at 1 800 733 6443 that's 1 800 733 6443

and now once again here's Pastor Brian as we pointed out the word millennium means a thousand

and so six times here in this passage we are told about the thousand year reign of Christ

and this is the period of time when all of the wonderful promises that God gave to Israel

and really to humanity about a restoration of of the earth and a restoration of the relationship

between humans and animals and those things we read about in the prophetic passages of Isaiah for

example this is when all of that is going to be realized Jesus will sit on the throne and rule

and reign for a thousand years and that is what we are waiting for that is what we are longing for

but the good news is that he's ruling and reigning right now for all of those who put their trust in

so have you put your trust in Jesus if not now's the time

back to basics is the listener supported preaching and teaching ministry of Pastor Brian Broderson