The Amazing Millennium from A to Z, Part 5 :: By Robert Asher Mandel

This is installment #5 in a series called “The Amazing Millennium, from A to Z.”

Seth, my fellow commentator, is a dear friend of mine. We wrote this book in 2016. It is available on Amazon Kindle, complete with beautiful pictures and a large appendix of additional resources at https://www.amazon.com/Marvelous-Millennium-Picture-Seekers-Truth-ebook/dp/B01M3VXDXP

O is for Overjoyed!

Psalm 98:4-9

“Shout to the Lord, all the earth; break out in praise and sing for joy! Sing your praise to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and melodious song, with trumpets and the sound of the ram’s horn. Make a joyful symphony before the Lord, the King! Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the earth and all living things join in. Let the rivers clap their hands in glee! Let the hills sing out their songs of joy before the Lord, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice, and the nations with fairness.”

Isaiah 35:10

“Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return. They will enter Jerusalem singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be filled with joy and gladness.”

Asher: How joyful will we be to know that we are loved, favored and protected by God’s own king?! How joyful will we be to know that we will live forever with perfect health, safety and prosperity?! How joyful will we be to know that we will live forever free of fears, faults and failures?! And who among us will be the most joyful of all? I believe that will be our bridegroom, King Jesus! Zephaniah 3:17 says: “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in his love, He will joy over thee with singing!”

Seth: Malachi 4:2 pictures Messiah as a rising sun with healing in the warmth of his wings. Those who fear the Lord God are described as baby calves released from the confines of their stalls. Can you picture that? All God’s children leaping with glee in the radiant green pastures of his Kingdom! The feeling of freedom will be overwhelming after a lifetime of being bogged down with our own sins and the curse of the earth.

P is for Peaceful!

 Isaiah 11:6

“In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all.”

Micah 4:3

“The Lord will mediate between peoples and will settle disputes between strong nations far away. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore.”

 Asher: In 1978, the WTC (World Trade Center) was dedicated to world peace. Just 24 years later, in 2002, some of its sad remains were used to build a steel-plated warship, the USS New York. Instead of turning our swords into plowshares, it was as though we were beating our plowshares into swords! So it has ever been when men try to make peace upon the earth without the help of God!

At the start of the Millennium, God will finally fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 2:4a,

“…and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks…”

Growing up in the synagogue, I sang this verse in a Hebrew song: “Lo yis-a goi el goi cherev, Lo yil-madu od mil-chamah!” – – “Nation will not take up sword against nation, neither will they train for war anymore.” I fully expect to be singing it again very soon as I see it fulfilled in the millennial days!

Seth: God will no longer let nations fight against each other. All the time people now spend building weapons and learning how to take over other nations will be spent feeding and educating people! The construction of weapons will be replaced by the teaching of God’s truths and purposes. People will dwell safely and in no fear of what might happen to them. Security and peace will be the normal state of things. Nobody will worry about people coming to hurt them or take away their land or their families. “Everyone will live in peace and prosperity, enjoying their own grapevines and fig trees, for there will be nothing to fear. The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has made this promise!” (Micah 4:4).

Q is for Quotable!

Isaiah 2:2, 3

“In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all—the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. People from many nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.’ For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem.”

Isaiah 55:8-11

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the LORD. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.”

Asher: The word of God in scripture has supernatural power to cleanse, counsel, calm and command! The word of God’s anointed king will be just the same! His people will proclaim the word of the king and bring peace; pray it and be healed; preach it and many will be led to an eternal salvation! During the Millennium, the words of the King will be studied, memorized, published and proclaimed. For 1m000 years, all peoples everywhere will be quoting the King to settle every difference, solve every problem, and salve every wound, for Psalm 107:20a says, “He sent out his word and healed them…”

Seth: In this present age, people’s hearts are darkened with the love of sin, and most refuse to receive the love of the truth. During Kingdom days, nearly everyone will crave the word of our Lord as we did when we first believed. As scripture tells us, we must drink the spiritual milk of the word in order to grow up in the faith. The word is wonderfully quotable and is recognized as a lifelong library of learning for many, even today. In the Millennial Kingdom, the vast majority will universally quote God’s perfect book of wisdom and love, the Bible.

R is for Romantic!

Isaiah 62:5

“Your children will commit themselves to you, O Jerusalem, just as a young man commits himself to his bride. Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.”

Revelation 19:6-9

“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints). Then the angel said to me, ‘Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’”

Asher: R for “Restored” would have been a much safer adjective, I know. After all, the Millennium is the restoration of our planet and our personhood in so many ways; it would have been an easy choice. But I believe that, of the hundreds of new and glorious realities of the Kingdom Age, the most wonderful of all will be the dynamic new intimacy which all believers will experience in our personal relationship with God through King Yeshua! Paul understood this well when he wrote these words to the church at Corinth:

“For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2).

This theme may sound a bit “fringe” to western church-goers today, but it is thoroughly biblical and beautifully presented in such works as  “Come Away My Beloved” by Frances J. Roberts or my personal favorite, “Lover of My Soul: Delighting in God’s Passionate Love” by Alan Wright. Either of these two books will change the way you think about God forever by helping you see how He has always thought about you! In the soon-coming days of His Kingdom, our loving Bridegroom will sweep us off our feet! Until then…

“Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself” (Revelation 19:7).

Seth: The Lord Jesus shows us a glimpse of what intimacy with him will be like by way of the most wonderful relationship we can enjoy in this life – the joy of a wedding! Jesus states that “he goes to prepare a place for us,” and when the time is right, God, the Father, will signal for the Son to call for his bride. This whole section of scripture (John 14:1-3) is an allegory drawn from the Jewish wedding customs of Jesus’ time.

The bridegroom would propose marriage to the one he chose and pay a price for her. Yeshua paid that price for us, his chosen ones, with his life’s blood! Then the bridegroom would wait for a response from His beloved, just as Yeshua has waited for 2,000 years for a response from all of those who have dwelt on the earth since His first visit here. Once the bride accepted, there was a long betrothal period (sometimes years) in which the two were not to see one another. The bride would set herself apart and be considered “taken.” She would beautify herself and adorn herself. She would even store up her treasures for the coming time. The betrothal was legally binding, so it could not be changed, much like our security in Christ!

The young man would then build onto his father’s family home to prepare a suitable dwelling place for his bride-to-be. When the father was satisfied that all was in completion, he gave His approval to bring the Bride home. Many scholars see a connection to the rapture here! The couple would then consummate the marriage during a seven-day honeymoon at the prepared place, just as we will be with the Lord for seven years in heaven while the Tribulation rages below.

Afterward, the Bridegroom and his Bride would emerge from their bridal chamber to celebrate with all the Father’s wedding guests. This is understood by many prophecy teachers to correspond to the “Marriage Supper of the Lamb,” which many believe takes place just after Christ’s Second Coming and inaugurates his Millennial Kingdom! The Lord has revealed so much to us about the climax of human history in this wedding allegory. For this reason, it is biblical and truly miraculous to think about the Lord Jesus as our ultimate romance!

The post The Amazing Millennium from A to Z, Part 5 :: By Robert Asher Mandel appeared first on Rapture Ready.