Millennium, The

May 24, 2003

DFO 1960 12/83

1. WHEN YOU PRAY THE LORD'S PRAYER, HAVE YOU EVER REALLY THOUGHT ABOUT THE PART‚ "THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN"? We who know & love the Lord already have Heaven in our hearts, thank God, but is there really much Heaven on Earth today?—No! There is mostly confusion & selfishness & unhappiness & war & fighting & Hell!

2. BUT ONE DAY SOON, THE LORD IS GOING TO WIPE AWAY ALL THE HELL ON EARTH & He's going to set up His Own Kingdom of peace & goodness & fairness & mercy & love! Then His Kingdom won't only be in our hearts, it will be all around us! God's Kingdom really is going to come in all of it's power & glory, right here on Earth!—And then it's going to be on Earth as it is in Heaven!

3. BUT BEFORE JESUS' WONDERFUL KINGDOM IS SET UP ON EARTH, THERE ARE SOME OTHER THINGS THAT HAVE TO HAPPEN: First, the evil Antichrist World leader & his kingdom of the Devil will come to power, & the last 3-1/2 years of his kingdom will be a time of trouble called the Great Tribulation, when the Antichrist & his forces will be fighting against God's children.—But we will still keep preaching the Gospel & doing mighty miracles of power & protection just like Heaven's Girl!

4. THEN JESUS WILL RETURN "IN THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN, WITH POWER & GREAT GLORY" (MT.24:30), TO RAPTURE & RESURRECT ALL OF HIS CHILDREN & we will all join Him for the wonderful Wedding Supper of the Lamb in Heaven‚ while the wicked anti-Christ people back on Earth will be getting the Wrath of God! They will finally gather together under their Devil-possessed Antichrist leader to try to fight against Jesus Christ Himself & His resurrected children, who will return to Earth to win the biggest war that ever happened: The Battle of Armageddon!

5. IN THIS GIGANTIC BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON, THE FORCES OF GOD WILL WIN A GLORIOUS VICTORY OVER THE FORCES OF THE DEVIL & his Antichrist Devil-man & his whole wicked kingdom! It is then‚ after this big battle‚ that we, the saints of God, along with our King, Jesus Christ, will take over this World & set up the Kingdom of God on Earth, to rule it & run it the way it should have been run if man had obeyed God!

6. THIS AMAZING PERIOD OF GOD'S KINGDOM ON EARTH IS CALLED THE "MILLENNIUM", which is an old Latin word meaning 1,000 years.—Which is exactly how long it will last—for 1‚000 years! The Bible says that during the Millennium, all those who were raised to meet Jesus at His Second Coming will be very blessed, because "they shall be priests of God & of Christ‚ & shall reign with Him a thousand years!" (Rev.20:6)

7. DURING THE ENTIRE 1,000 YEARS OF THE MILLENNIUM, THE DEVIL WILL BE TIED UP AS A PRISONER & THROWN INTO GOD'S PRISON, THE BOTTOMLESS PIT!—We'll be rid of him, thank God! For a thousand years he will no longer be able to bother us & no longer be able to lead the other evil spirits across the Earth to bother the World & its people! (See Rev.20:1-3.)

8. JESUS IS THEN GOING TO RULE & REIGN IN PERSON & WE WILL HELP HIM & RULE & REIGN WITH HIM! He will reign from shore to shore & we, His children‚ will no longer be the poor, persecuted few as we are today!—We will then number in the millions & the billions, & we are going to rule the Earth with Jesus Christ over our anti-Christ enemies who have troubled us & persecuted us & chased us from country to country throughout the Earth!

9. SO DON'T FEEL BAD ABOUT ALWAYS BEING A PILGRIM & A STRANGER HERE.—WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A COUNTRY TO CALL OUR OWN ONE OF THESE DAYS, THANK THE LORD! In fact, it will all be our country then!—Because our country will be a World-wide, Earth-wide‚ Kingdom of God on Earth! And instead of us being guests & strangers in the kingdoms of the System, the Systemites will be the strangers & guests in our Kingdom, the Kingdom of God!

10. UNDER THE MIGHTY & POWERFUL RULE & REIGN OF CHRIST & GOD'S CHILDREN, ALL WARS WILL FINALLY STOP & the World will be ruled fairly & well with true fairness, freedom, peace, plenty & happiness for all! The Bible says, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares‚ & their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more!" (Isa.2:4)

11. JUST THINK, THERE WILL BE NO MORE WAR!—No more weapons of the wicked or horrible fighting or bombing or killing like there is in man's world today! In that day, when Jesus is King & we are His policemen, there will be no more wars & they will beat their weapons of war into tools of peace! PTL!

12. DURING THE MILLENNIUM ALL OF US, THE SAVED CHILDREN OF GOD, WILL HAVE BEEN RESURRECTED IN OUR NEW, POWERFUL, SUPERNATURAL BODIES! But the rest of the World, those who were blessed enough to live through the Wrath of God & the Battle of Armageddon into the Millennium‚ are going to still be in their old natural bodies. So life is sort of going to go on as usual in a lot of ways for them! A lot of them will live almost like they are living now: They'll still have to grow food & make clothes & live in a normal natural World, the same World they're living in now!

13. BUT ONE BIG DIFFERENCE IS THAT THE CURSE WHICH CAME UPON MAN & ON THE EARTH BECAUSE OF MAN'S SINS WILL BE PARTLY LIFTED, so that a lot of things will be a whole lot better, thank the Lord! The Earth will be almost like it was during the days of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden before they sinned & God had to curse things to punish them & keep them busy & out of trouble.

14. BUT WE WHO LOVE JESUS NOW WILL BE LIKE SUPERMEN THEN, LIKE ANGELS OF GOD, with new miraculous bodies that will never get hurt or sick! But even the normal Earthly people that we will be ruling over, who will still be in their natural fleshly bodies, will have much less disease & sickness. It says that anyone who dies at 100 years old will be thought of as just a child! (See Isa.65:20.) People will again live to be hundreds & hundreds of years old, just like they did before the Flood, when some lived to be nearly a thousand years of age!

15. THE BIBLE SAYS THAT NOT ONLY MAN, BUT ALL OF CREATION WILL BE MADE FREE FROM MOST OF THE CURSE & EVERYTHING WILL BE MUCH BETTER THAN TODAY! It even says that "the wolf shall live with the lamb, & the leopard shall lie down with the baby goat; & the calf & the young lion will lie together also; & a little child shall lead them!—And the cow & the bear shall feed together; their young ones shall lie down together: & the lion shall eat grass like the ox. The nursing child shall play on the hole of the poisonous snake‚ & the toddler shall put his hand on the viper's den!" (Isa.11:6-8)

16. YOU NEVER HEAR ABOUT A WOLF LYING DOWN WITH A LAMB TODAY‚ DO YOU?—Unless the lamb is inside the wolf! Or a leopard lying down with a little baby goat?—They usually lie down with the goat inside of them too! And the calf & the lion together?—Usually the lion is tearing them apart & eating them! Neither have you heard about a little child leading them all!

17. BUT BEFORE THE FLOOD‚ ALL THE ANIMALS WERE THE FRIENDS OF MAN & HE COULD TALK TO THEM & THEY COULD TALK TO HIM!—Man & the animals were at peace with each other. They didn't fight & they didn't kill & they didn't eat each other like they do today. And the day is coming again when there will be peace between man & the animals & you'll be able to call them by name & they'll come playfully running to you like your pets, like a dog or a cat does now!

18. ALL THE ANIMALS WILL GO BACK TO EATING ONLY PLANTS & VEGETABLES & FRUIT AGAIN‚ & they won't hurt each other or us!—Isn't that beautiful? And man won't eat them for meat either! "For nothing shall hurt nor destroy in all My Holy Kingdom!" (Isa.11:9)

19. AND DO YOU KNOW HOW THE NORMAL EARTHLY PEOPLE WILL TRAVEL DURING THE MILLENNIUM?—On horses, camels, donkeys, wagons, & things like that! Because all that will be left is what God has created & given man to use, God's creations & man's good inventions, which were good enough for the World for almost six thousand years before they ever heard of anything else!

20. JUST THINK!—THERE WON'T BE ANY MORE STINKING CARS OR TRUCKS SPITTING OUT SMOKE & FUMES, or any big smokey stinky factories! They're not going to have any more of the bad machines & motors that destroy things with all their smoke & oil & pollution! The World is going to go back to animal transportation & carriages & wagons!—They'll sure be thankful for the animals then! Maybe for moving real heavy loads of food or wood or bricks they'll even use sailing boats, powered by God's Own good clean winds & breezes!

21. WHY DO YOU THINK THE LORD IS GOING TO HAVE THIS 1,000-YEAR RULE OF HIS KINGDOM ON EARTH OVER NORMAL‚ NATURAL MEN? Well, it seems that one reason might be to give a chance to those who never really got to hear the Gospel or know the Lord during this life.—Especially lots of children & young people who never had a chance, & also lots of natives in the deepest jungles & hard-to-reach places who never heard—to give them all a chance to hear & see & know the Lord! During the Millennium, everyone will be reached!—"For the Earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea!" (Hab.2:14) How do the waters cover the seas?—Completely!

22. IT WILL BE MUCH EASIER FOR PEOPLE TO BELIEVE & RECEIVE JESUS DURING THE MILLENNIUM, because they will be able to actually see Him & His mighty power & have proof that He is real! Instead of just believing in the Lord & accepting Him by faith as we do today, they will then be given the chance to believe by actually being able to see the Kingdom of God & Christ on Earth & His Saints in power & ruling the World. But, like "Doubting Thomas" in the Bible, they will not be as blessed as we who are now believing & receiving & obeying by faith alone, without seeing! (See Jn.20:29.)

23. BUT I THINK THE MILLENNIUM WILL BE THE TIME WHEN GOD GIVES A FIRST CHANCE TO A LOT OF PEOPLE who didn't have a chance before, because the church failed or maybe even we failed to give them all the Gospel! Everyone on Earth will see the Lord's glorious power & Kingdom, & everyone will believe then! The Bible says‚ "No longer shall every man teach his neighbour & his brother, saying; Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them." (Jer.31:34)

24. WE WON'T HAVE TO SAY "KNOW THE LORD" THEN!—BECAUSE EVERYBODY WILL BE ABLE TO SEE HIM & THEY'LL ALL KNOW HE'S THERE! But they'll need to know a lot of other things too, & we're going to be doing a lot of the same things then that we're doing right now, because they won't know Him as well as we do, because we already know Him in this life & are learning to love Him & live with Him & serve Him now. So I think it will be part of our job to teach them & train them in the ways of the Lord!

25. AND EVEN THOUGH THERE WON'T BE ANY UNBELIEVERS THEN, SAD TO SAY‚ THERE WILL STILL BE SOME UNRECEIVERS! Even though they will see the power of God & the people of God & the Kingdom of God & the Son of God personally ruling the Earth, there will still be some wicked people who won't like it!

26. IN FACT AT THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM, GOD IS GOING TO TEST ALL OF THE EARTHLY PEOPLE to see who has really received Him & who has rejected Him. He will let the Devil out of prison for just a short while, & all of the bad rebels on Earth will follow him again & try to fight against all of the good Earthly people who have received Jesus & His Kingdom!—But God will get so angry with them that He will just get rid of them all & burn up the whole surface of the Earth in a great big explosion called "The Battle of Gog & Magog"! But don't worry!—All of the good people who received Jesus will be saved & God will even save the Earth by creating a New Earth, which you can read all about in our "Here's Heaven" Komic!

27. BUT BECAUSE SOME OF THE PEOPLE DURING THE MILLENNIUM WILL STILL BE SO STUBBORN & SO REBELLIOUS OF HEART & MIND that even with the Devil gone, they're still going to disobey, the Bible says that we will have to rule over them with a rod of iron! It's going to be a forced rule‚ a strong iron rule over the wicked.—It will have to be, or else they would never obey!

28. THANK THE LORD, WE'LL HAVE GREAT SUPERNATURAL POWERS WHICH WILL MAKE OUR JOB OF RULING THEM EASIER, powers like maybe you've seen in some of the science fiction movies! We'll be able to just look at them or think or point our finger at them & they will be frozen, pushed back, stopped from doing evil! And they won't be able to touch us or do a thing to hurt us!

29. WE WILL BE LIKE THE ANGELS OF GOD which can appear or disappear whenever they want, fly from one place to another as fast as they can think it, or have such a rod of God's power that, if they need to, they can smite God's enemies by the millions with the lightning of God! So there will be no more crime, no more evil, no more riots & no more war!—Just total peace under the iron-rule government of the Lord in which you & I will be His supermen with superpowers!

30. THE KINGDOM OF JESUS CHRIST IN THE MILLENNIUM WILL BE A PERFECT KINGDOM, A PERFECT GOVERNMENT, WITH PERFECT RULERS—YOU!—You're going to run it! The Lord said that He would make you a ruler over many cities! You are really going to rule & reign with Him over all the Earth! Would you like to be a policeman?—Would you like to be a prince?—Would you like to be a judge? All kinds of jobs will need good workers for the Lord! Would you like to be a king? God's Word says that Jesus is the King of kings‚ so maybe you can be one of His kings! You can rule a city or a whole country or a whole continent, whatever you are able to handle, depending on the training you've already had & depending on your faithfulness & your obedience to the Lord while here & now!

31. JESUS SAID THAT "HE THAT WAS FAITHFUL IN JUST A FEW THINGS WOULD BE MADE RULER OVER MANY THINGS!" (Lk.16:10) He even said‚ "Because you have been faithful in a very little, I will make you ruler over ten cities!" (Lk.19:17,19)—We're going to rule real, down-to–Earth, Worldly cities, countries, nations & continents, & teach & train human, physical, down-to-Earth people just like you & I are now!

32. BUT IT SEEMS LIKE THE LORD HAS SO FEW CHRISTIANS WHO REALLY GIVE ALL THEIR LIVES TO HIM, FORSAKING ALL TO JESUS, REALLY LOVING HIM & ONLY WANTING TO DO WHAT HE WANTS, that I think He will probably have a little bit of a hard time finding enough people to fill all the jobs there! He's probably going to have to use a lot of those who have gone on before, all the millions of Christians from past times who will be there with us!

33. YOU KNOW, THERE ARE GOING TO BE ALL KINDS OF GRADES & CLASSES & LEVELS OF CHRISTIANS! I'm sure the great Prophets & Apostles & heroes of the Bible & of History, who were so faithful to the Lord in their lives on Earth‚ will be trusted with a lot of big jobs in the next life!—And just where each of us is going to be & just how much each of us will be trusted with will depend a lot upon how faithful we are to Him & the job He's given each of us to do here & now!

34. RIGHT NOW WE ARE IN TRAINING FOR THE DAYS WHEN WE WILL RULE THE EARTH!—But before we can do that, we must first learn to rule ourselves! So God is now having us sort of practice for what is going to be the real thing, & how well we do now is going to have a lot to do with how well we will do in the future.

35. SO REMEMBER, EVERYTHING YOU'RE BEING TAUGHT NOW & DOING NOW & THE DECISIONS YOU'RE MAKING NOW & THE LESSONS YOU'RE LEARNING NOW ARE ALL A PART OF YOUR SCHOOLING & YOUR TRAINING HERE & NOW SO YOU CAN BE GREATLY USED BY THE LORD THERE & THEN!—If not, a lot of it would be a big waste of time, except for what little we get done here, which isn't very much compared to what we will do then! So let's really try to learn our lessons today & learn to be faithful & obedient servants of the Lord now so He can trust & bless us with a place of blessing & usefulness to Him & others tomorrow, in the beautiful Kingdom of God on Earth during the Millennium!—When you & I will rule & reign with our King of kings, Jesus! Won't that be great?—PTL! See you There!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family