The Kingdom of God Part 2
March 2, 2011
Isaiah 60:1-22; 61:1-11; 65:17-25; 66:7-24
I. The Nations Come 60:1-22
II. The Year of the Lord 61: 1-11
III. New Heavens and New Earth 65:17-25; 66:7-24
" Gary Smalley and John Trent, who are both Christian Counselors and best selling authors, invite us to imagine the worst football team in the nation. Their athletic director has scheduled them against the defending national champions. The game is played, of course, on the champions' home field. All the athletic director expects, is to get a sizable paycheck, that will meet this year's athletic budget, for his small school. The team hustles onto the field to a smattering of applause, and a large number of boos from the home fans. Then, thunderous cheers announce the arrival of the national champions. And the visiting players realize, all of a sudden, why their opponents are champions. They are huge, fast, strong, and they play with confidence. In light of this, the visitors feel their own confidence level sink, to their knees.
Suddenly, the entire visitors' squad looks up and sees a vision. It is more real than anything they have ever witnessed before. They see themselves-----exhausted, sweat-streaked, dirty, bruised, and bandaged. Yet they are cheering wildly. How could this be? Then they see the scoreboard: 4th Quarter; Home Champions:13; Visitors:14; Time: 00.00
The vision disappears. Back to reality. A stadium full of fans, fanatically yelling for their opponents. A team with twice as many players, all of them much bigger and stronger facing them. But now, they are a different team. They have changed inside. Encouragement and wild elation flow through their minds and emotions. Now they can play with energy and confidence. They absorb the hits as they run to the ball, gang tackle, block with bone-jarring tenacity and sacrifice everything they have, for this one moment in history. They have seen a picture of what could be. They were ready to make it happen.
Tell the same vision to the home team and their fans, and you get an entirely different reaction-----laughter, scorn, disbelief, ridicule. A little vision could not make the difference. Their big boys would run over the small school kids, with ease.
Or would they?
Each person needs a vision of the end-----the final goal-----of life. That kind of vision will basically determine how we live each day. Isaiah gave Israel a major vision, of what God wanted-----a people who lived out their lives with trust, obedience, hope, righteousness, and justice. Most of Israel, though, just saw the reality, of a Jerusalem, which was far from its glory days-----a Jerusalem, without fortifications, without a true army, without hope, against the powerful nations of the world. But Isaiah saw, a glorious God, who wanted to share His glory, with Israel, and also, with any other nation, who would believe -----
and he has revealed that vision to all of us. Do we live in expectation of a new heaven and a new earth or do we expect life to go on, forever, just like it is today? The vision and expectation that we have, will determine the way that we will live our earthly lives, as well as our eternal ones.
I. The Nations Come 60:1-22
Last week, we talked a lot about the spiritual kingdom of God, that He has already begun in the hearts of every believers. This week's lesson, is much more about the physical kingdom, which God Has promised will be established some day, first in the Millennial Rein of 1000 years and 2nd, in the place we call Heaven.
Isaiah begins the 60th chapter of his book with the words "Arise, shine,for your light has come." This is more than a simple command to obey, because it carries with it, the power to obey. Jerusalem wouldn't be able to rise up by herself because her sins are so great------but God, in His power, will inject, into His words, the ability for her to succeed. It will be a pronouncement of spiritual and physical healing, on their nation. And like so many other passages in Isaiah, it is actually, a future command, which God will give to Israel, in the end times.
Darkness will be worldwide. When God calls them to arise-------the earth will have passed through the darkest period in its history. For 7 long years, death, destruction and evil, of all kinds, will have dominated the earth. Mankind's wickedness will have been unstoppable and the earthquakes and tsunamis and tidal waves and fires and hurricanes and devastating plagues and every other conceivable, natural disaster, will have been so violent, that the earth won't be anything, but a quivering shadow of its former self. The world's population will have diminished drastically, and war will threaten to destroy whomever is left. But at the very darkest moment, Jesus will come back and His glory will beam, out of Jerusalem.
(Before the days of street lights, it is said that Benjamin Franklin decided to show the people of Philadelphia, the need for lights, on dark streets. He purchased a lantern and hung it on a long bracket, extending from the front of His home. Each evening at dusk, he lighted the wick, and the lantern's light, though feeble, permeated the immediate area.
After a very short time, neighbors saw the advantage of the light, as passersby were able to avoid potholes and other obstacles, in the roadway. Soon they also placed lanterns in front of their own homes. The idea grew, and soon more and more city streets benefitted from the glow of lights, as Philadelphia experienced a new day.)
Light is needed to dispel darkness-------so after the darkness of the Tribulation, the light that comes on Israel, will attract the Gentile nations. Multitudes of people will flock to Jerusalem and will bring their wealth to bless Israel and to glorify the Lord. In the Millennial kingdom, nations that once antagonized and persecuted the Jews, will submit and serve them, with great respect and honor. And if there happens to be, any nations that refuse to recognize God's blessing, on His Remnant; they will be judged and eventually, totally destroyed. Benefits from every nation will pour into Israel and her people will recognize, that only the Lord could have caused that to happen, because no other power could have changed the hearts of millions of people and encouraged them to give so lavishly, to a nation that they had traditionally, despised and hated for centuries.
The Lord has such wondrous blessing, in store for His unified kingdom. The Church will be there, to help the Lord rule and reign, and Israel, will no longer be forsaken or hated or put to the side. She will enjoy all the blessings of God. The riches that she will have lost, during the Tribulation, will be replaced, a with greater value attached to them. Violence and ruin and upheaval will be replaced with salvation and praise. There will be no need, for the inferior light of the moon or the sun or the stars, because the glory of Jesus' presence, will illuminate the city, with a beautiful, brilliant radiance, which will be everlasting. God will upgrade everything from good to better and from better to best. Everything will be excellent. Justice and peace and righteousness will be the ruling forces----and they will be unchallenged. And the atmosphere of the kingdom, will be characterized by one, long continuous celebration. In the Millennial Kingdom people will live for a very long time, like they did in the days of Noah, 100 years will be just a drop in the bucket------and then, in the eternal kingdom of the new heavens and the new earth, people will live forever.
The Year of the Lord 61:1-11
There is a wonderful linking of Jesus' first and second coming, to the earth, in chapter 6, because it gives a description of His earthly ministry.The opening verses are famous, because they're from the passage, that was chosen, by Jesus, when He preached His first time, in Nazareth, when He came out of the wilderness, to start His earthly ministry. In the synagogue, Jesus stood up and read, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the poor; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering sight to the blind; to set at liberty those that are bound. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." And then He stopped reading, and handed the scroll back to the attendant, and with all the eyes of His listeners, focused on Him----- He said, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
No one really understood what He meant, because they weren't expecting their Messiah to come in the way that Jesus had come. But, we understand and the words in chapter 61, are still being fulfilled in our hearing. Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, in the hearts and lives of believers, is preaching the Gospel message, to anyone who will hear it. And He will keep on preaching it, as long as "His season of favor" lasts. And, none of us, know how long that will be------thats why we can't waste, even a single day, without telling somebody about Jesus.
But that day in Nazareth, Jesus omitted the last part of that verse, he didn't read the part that says, "and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn". Because the time for His vengeance, had not come yet, it still hasn't. John 3:17 says "God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him." Jesus didn't come, the first time, to proclaim or exact God's vengeance, on sin-sick people--------He came to offer them comfort and freedom, by paying the bill for their sin, Himself. Jesus fulfills all the prophecies and promises of God, he just doesn't do it all at the same time. At His 1st Coming, He brought in "the year of the Lord's favor", which is symbolized, in the scripture, by the Year of Jubilee, when all captives were set free and all debt was forgiven.
And at His 2nd coming, He will bring in "the Day of God's Vengeance", which is when, the door of grace, will shut forever-------and people will go to their eternal homes-either heaven or hell. There's a gap in between the two Comings, and we are living, right now, in that interval.
It's like, Isaiah was looking into the future and he could see 2 mountain peaks, far away, one behind the other. But he couldn't see how much distance there was between the 2. Jesus didn't come to judge or condemn the first time, He came to love people into the kingdom. At the end of the age, God's anger will fall on those who will persist in wickedness and those who will deny Him as their Savior------but that time is not now. His earthly ministry was one of grace and mercy. He came to offer forgiveness and new life. We are still living in that age---and as the vessels, of the Lord's presence here, and as His obedient servants, it is our responsibility to love people, into the kingdom of God, not to judge them there---we should have compassion on the lost, not animosity and judgmentalness and holier-than- thou attitudes, toward them…
("The story is told, about George Frederick Handel, who was siting alone one day, in the darkness of discouragement. Accolades, from his concert audience, had been replaced by jeers. Earlier that day, his orchestra had been thrown out, after their rehearsal! London appeared to have no room for him and his music.
Then a friend arrived at Handel's door with a manuscript for an oratorio, and He asked Handel to write the music, for it. Handel was ready to refuse, until he noticed the title----"Messiah"-----As he began to read the manuscript, love for the Lord, so overwhelmed Handel, that He fell to his knees, begging for God's help with the music. All else was forgotten, as Handel worked for 3 weeks, with hardly any break. The beautiful masterpiece "Messiah" was the result. When it was first sung in Dublin, Handel, who just weeks earlier had felt like a failure--------received a standing ovation.")
Israel will go through great darkness, but when Jesus comes, the darkness will be forgotten, and a new day, will dawn.
The mourning, that Isaiah talks about Jesus comforting, in this passage, was not for loved ones who had died, which is how we typically think of mourning. It was for Judah's national sin. And, just like there is, in every culture------- there are some of their people, who will be saddened, by the nation's disobedience and they will mourn over it. And Isaiah could look far into the future, even though he probably didn't understand it----- and could see, that Israel would continue, even to the present day, denying Jesus' identity----------and that in the Tribulation days, there would come a time, when the whole remnant of the nation, would finally recognize Him, for who He is, and their mourning would be inconsolable.
And that will be the day, when Jesus will come the second time, and will exchange their beauty for ashes; their joy for mourning and their praise for sorrow. And everybody who will witness their release from mourning, will refer to them, as "oaks of righteousness" planted by the Lord. The Lord's blessing shall be so obvious that everyone will know that a miracle of God has taken place.
A brand new life will replace their old one. During the Millennium, the nation of Israel, will rebuild and repair and restore places, that have been devastated for generations. Tribulation-saved Gentiles, will join in the work of the kingdom, in willing submission, to the Jewish priests and ministers. Jerusalem will ring with the sound of joy from the believing Remnant, who will praise God for everything, He's done. The restored Jerusalem, will be a real place, and we will really live there. And what Isaiah says will come to pass, will happen, because the Lord Jesus, is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords; and He is the ruler of our hearts and our lives, and He, one day, will rule the world.
The last two verses of this chapter, seem to form a very beautiful testimony that could belong to any one of us-----and should belong, to each of us-------"I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me in garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels. For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes things that are sown in it, to spring forth, so the Lord God, will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations."
Jesus will cleanse the nation of Israel, and clothe them with His righteousness and grace, just like He has already done for us. His grace and righteousness cover the wearer, just like garments do, that are worn by couples, on their wedding day.The bride and her bridegroom choose, the very best, that they can afford, for their wedding. So does God and His wealth, is beyond comprehension. His grace, already, is the motive for our rejoicing and thanksgiving----- and in that future day, it will finally be the motive for the rejoicing and thanksgiving of Israel too.
III. New Heavens, New Earth 65:17-25; 66:7-24
Revelation 20 and 21, outline the sequence of events that will happen when Jesus comes back again, which have to happen, before the new Heavens and the new earth will be created------
1.)The Millennium---the 1000 year reign of the Lord will begin immediately after the Lord's return to earth(Rev. 20:4-6)
2.)At the end of the Millennium(Rev. 20:7), Satan will be released from the pit and will rally an innumerable number of people for his army(Rev. 20:8-10).
3.)Jesus will put down the rebellion and the Great White Throne Judgment will take place(Rev. 20:11-15).
4.)That will be the final event before the new heavens and the new earth are created(Rev. 21:1).
5.)This new creation will usher in eternity.
And then, Chapter 65, of Isaiah, contains a beautiful description, of the new heavens and the new earth.
The inhabitants of the new heavens and the new earth will rejoice forever, because they are going to live forever. In the same way, the city where they will live, will be eternal. The earth and the city will be a new creation from the hand of God.The present earth will have passed away and will have been replaced with the new perfect earth. (Hebrews 1:10-12 says, "You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of Your hands; They will perish, but You remain; and they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will fold them up, and they will be changed. But you are the same, and Your years will not fail." Within the city there will be perpetual rejoicing, forever. The sound of weeping will never again be heard----and the Lord will rejoice with His people. The people, in this new world, will be able to live in total security----they will never be invaded and they will never be captured or plundered. They will enjoy their lands and buildings perpetually, and will live in peace; confident, that they will be there, forever, to enjoy the fruit of their labors.
It is the nature of the wolf to kill the lamb. It is the nature of the lion to eat meat. Its the nature of the snake to strike and kill its prey. But all of this will be completely, turned upside down. The 'law of the jungle' will no longer operate----- and the diets of animals, will be radically changed to accommodate it. The end result will be total peace, on every level. There will be no more killing, no more bloodshed, and no more fear. Birds and animals will feed without danger, and a marvelous tranquility will engulf the whole realm of nature. Every living thing, will be under the shepherd's control, and will dwell in perfect peace together. Prayer will be an integral part of this new place, and our faithful God, will respond instantly, to His people's prayers, before we even have a chance to verbalize them. The life that we have always longed for, the life that has always been, just beyond our reach-----that life, is what God is preparing for us. This will all happen through the power of God, and the power of God, is beyond our comprehension.
The place that God is preparing for us, will be more, than we even know, that we can have. C.S. Lewis, came to this conclusion, "If I find in myself, a desire, which no experience in the world, can satisfy, the most probable explanation is, that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably, earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing…..I must make it, the main object of life, to press on to that other country, and to help others do the same."
In the end, there will only be one commandment, which God's servants will have to obey forever and ever--- and the instructions for this, are given in Isaiah 65:18, which says, "Be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create." And for those who refuse to rejoice in what God creates, Jeremy Taylor, the 17th century, Anglican Bishop, summed it up like this-----"God threatens terrible things, if we will not be happy. How could it be otherwise? Hell will be full of eternal souls, who don't want God, and have gotten their way------and Heaven, will be full of eternal souls, who long for God, and they, will get all that they want----God, Himself, in infinite, joyful measure."
And as new, as it will be, the setting for our lasting joy, will be somewhat similar, but still, so different, from where we live now----------where we live now is so inadequate, compared to where we will live then----- but it won't be alien to us at all, though, because this world is a faded shadow of that one------we will recognize it and we will know, in our hearts, that we are finally home-------
In chapter 66, Isaiah turned his eyes far into the future and saw another miracle that only God could perform--------a birth without labor and a delivery without pain. This mother is Jerusalem and she is birthing a nation. There are 2 views about who this nation is: 1.) the church after Jesus was resurrected, since Jesus did come from the bloodline of Israel and because the earliest Christians were all Jews. and 2.) the more widely accepted, main view, is that the child hasn't been born yet, and that that child will be, the Remnant of Israel, which will be saved as a nation, when Jesus comes back again. This will be a true nation and it will be born without effort from Israel, by the will of the Lord. The disbelieving nation of 2000 years, will become the believing nation, in an instant!
Israel became a recognized government on May 14, 1948. She had to fight a war to achieve that status and she has to continue to fight wars to keep that status. But there is coming a day, when God will establish her, once and for all, as a political and as a spiritual nation. God will purify her and she will believe in the the Lord Jesus, as her Messiah and Israel will, for the first time,experience perfect joy, perfect peace and perfect satisfaction. God will care for her and comfort her like a mother comforts a child. She will be gathered from all the far places,where she has been scattered and she will be restored as a family-----the children of Israel will become the evangelizing missionaries, to the Gentile nations, who are present, during the Tribulation, and they will be brought to Jerusalem, by air, by road, by rail and by sea-------and they will be an offering of praise to the Lord----------The Redeemed Remnant, will live through the Millennium-------- and they will be brought into the new Heavens and the new earth, along with the saved, from every nation and from every generation-----
and there will be no doubt, in that day, that the ungodly, will receive, their judgment.
Hazel Felleman's
"Heaven"
Think of-----standing on shore, and finding it Heaven!
taking hold of a hand and finding it God's hand.
breathing a new air,and finding it celestial air.
feeling invigorated, and finding it immortality.
passing from storm to tempest, into an unknown calm.
waking up and finding out that I'm in Heaven; I'm finally home.
"When I Get Where I'm Going"
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