Godmindfamily, Chapter 14

Chapter 14: The Millennial Kingdom of God

The only state that will be governed justly and effectively is the Kingdom of God, ruled directly by Jesus, who is free of sin, impossible to corrupt, selfless, and acts in the interest of his people. The Prince of Israel will also rule, since ‘prince’ is a translation from the Hebrew word nasi, which means ruler, and he also sits on the Davidic throne. The government will be administered by Jesus’ saints, who will have immortal glory bodies like his, and like him, they will be beyond the power of sin and death, while the main populace will be saved spiritually, yet remain in mortal bodies and die, after living lives that would be considered exceptionally long in this era. The immortality and power of the ruling class will certainly ensure there is an ability to see long term projects through to fruition, and there will be no succession crisis as in mortal hereditary monarchies, because Jesus is immortal and has no successor. The only way to have a completely incorruptible elite is to give them incorruptible bodies. God’s kingdom will be, as the name suggests, a theocratic monarchy, like the Davidic monarchy of antiquity, only vastly superior because ruled by God, not man.

Under the rule of King Jesus, there is a unity and clarity of vision and direction in policymaking, legislation and judicial interpretation. The knowledge of God and the truth will be openly taught and widespread in the millennial kingdom, to the extent that the rebuilt Jerusalem’s unofficial moniker will be ‘the city of truth’ (Ezekiel 48:35).

In God’s Kingdom, God establishes his position as father of all, using his absolute power benevolently, without being corrupted by it because of his divine nature. The goal of God’s millennial kingdom is to use the public revelation of God’s knowledge to save and sanctify as many as possible before Judgement Day. There are many people who are or were basically decent yet were not saved in a depraved era due to their inherent conformity, but will be, under the optimal conditions for salvation in God’s Kingdom. When God is the worldly authority, conformity is actually an advantage for the first time in history since the fall.

SFP’s are especially powerful when they are adopted by authority figures such as the king, because these figures are in positions of power and they are generally respected, thus increasing the chances that SFP’s will exert an impact on the society as a whole. Ideally, the leader will understand the power of SFP’s and generate positive ones to benefit the whole society. This is what will occur in God’s kingdom, under the leadership of King Jesus, who is also perfectly capable of making prophecies that are fulfilled regardless of whether they are believed or not.

In the millennial kingdom Jesus will be physically present in the temple near Jeursalem and it will be possible for people to go and see him in his shining glory body. So there will be no doubt that Jesus is the Son of God or that God exists in the kingdom. The demonstration of Jesus’ divinity, and his power, during the wrath of God associated with his Second Coming, combined with universal disarmament, including of nuclear weapons, will be the deterrent force that keeps the nations in line. Imagine if after the end of World War Two, the USA had invaded and conquered the USSR, instead of allowing them to develop the Atomic bomb and allowing the world to settle into the bipolar Cold War? You would have had a unipolar world with a monopoly on force. That is what we will see after the Second Coming, when the only WMD or weapon of any kind will be God’s wrath.

The ten commandments will be the lynchpin of the millennial kingdom’s legal system, for the entire world.Here is a reproduction from Exodus 20:2–17:‘“I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

"You shall have no other gods before me.

"You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

"You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.

"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.

"You shall not murder.

"You shall not commit adultery.

"You shall not steal.

"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."’Jesus’ two commandments are perfect as religious instruction, however they require elaboration for implementation in the law code of an earthly kingdom. The 10 commandments were Yahweh’s foundational legal principles for Israel, until the Israelites sinned by worshipping the golden calf (Exodus 32), and incurred the punishment of being bound to the full 613 laws of the Mosaic Covenant.

While the children of Israel and the Levites in the Promised Land will be subject to a modified Mosaic Covenant involving temple rituals and offerings, so that Israel will make atonement for breaking their covenant by keeping the covenant, as outlined in Ezekiel, and some of the surrounding nations (including Egypt) who marched against Jerusalem will have to attend Jewish feast days as a punishment (Zechariah 14:16–17), the rest of the world will have greater legal autonomy, but must still legislate the ten commandments as the cornerstone of their legal systems.

The millennial kingdom has Jesus as king, the prince presenting numerous offerings and sacrifices to Jesus (Ezekiel 45) and having control of his own allotment. We know from Revelation (7;20:4) that there will be the 144,000 elect and other raptured saints will lead some of the other nations of the world and help to administer God’s kingdom and the first ‘thrones’ (Revelation 20:4) judgement as a priesthood of kings (Revelation 1:6; 5:10), demonstrating the blurring of the sacerdotal and the governmental in the millennial regime. There will be no high wall between church and state in God’s kingdom, which is a theocratic monarchy.

When Joshua conquered the land of Canaan, he divided it according to God’s will among the 12 princes who headed the 12 tribes of Israel (Joshua 13). The 12 princes of the 12 tribes were each responsible for dividing the land among the people within their own allotments and for maintaining order in their respective allotments (Joshua 4:2–4). The princes were the judges of the people in their allotments and took responsibility for making their allotments inhabitable for the people of their tribe. The princes also had to work together to solve common problems (Joshua 4). Now, if the princes of the 12 tribes in Joshua’s day were handed significant autonomy by Joshua, and Joshua, who had the same name as Jesus (Yehsua), was typological of Jesus, then the nations subject to God’s kingdom in the Promised Land may have some degree of autonomy to govern their own affairs.

‘My princes shall no more oppress my people, but they shall give the land to the House of Israel according to their tribes.’ (Ezekiel 45:7). This makes it plain that the 12 princes of the 12 tribes will rule well in the kingdom and will be unlike the corrupt rulers of the former age.

In God’s kingdom, ‘the law will go out’ from the holy mountain, Zion (Isaiah 2:3). This is typological of Yahweh’s lawgiving appearance on Sinai (Exodus 19;24) so yes, there will be laws made by Jesus and his saints in the kingdom.

War (Or rather, peace) In the Millennium

All the weapons in the world will be gathered by the angels and burned down to be turned into farming equipment. That is why it is written of this time: ‘Turn your swords into ploughshares’ (Isaiah 2:4). Then there is Ezekiel 38’s destruction of weapons for seven years. There will also be no militaries or military training in the millennium (Isaiah 2:4). Peace is to be kept by the deterrent effect of God’s wrath, demonstrated during the tribulation, in the same way peace was kept between superpowers after the USA demonstrated the A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

It is only at the end of the thousand years, when Satan is released one last time and the Gog and Magog nations will be stirred up by him to war to march on ‘the camp of the saints and the beloved city’ (Revelation 20:9) – Jerusalem. Ezekiel 38 describes the invasion of Israel by ‘Gog, prince of Rosh, Tubal and Meshech’ (Ezekiel 38:3). The armies come against an Israel that has been brought out of the peoples to ‘dwell securely’ (Ezekiel 38:8), and the current state of Israel cannot be described as dwelling securely. In the peace of the millennial kingdom it is a land of ‘unwalled villages’ (Isaiah 38:10). Israel today is not a land of unwalled villages, further indicating that the Gog conflict is to occur at the end of the millennium. In Revelation 20:8–9 Gog and his armies are defeated by fire from heaven. Ezekiel 38 may also in places refer to an earlier war, because afterwards, the weapons are melted down for seven years (Ezekiel 39:9) and the bodies are buried for seven months (Ezekiel 39:7), whereas in Revelation 20, Gog’s defeat appears to be swiftly followed by the Last Judgement.

Crime (Or its Absence) In The Millenium

Isaiah (11:9) wrote that nobody will ‘hurt or destroy’ in the holy mountain, a 50 square mile plateau on which Yahweh Shammah (the rebuilt Jerusalem), the temple, and the Levites’ portion will rest (Ezekiel 48; 48:35). This indicates that the Zion plateau on which Jesus will live, shall be free of murder and maiming, but there will still be legitimate religious animal sacrifice. It also hints that Jerusalem and the Promised Land will have a low or non-existent crime rate. Zechariah clarifies that the attitude towards false prophets will be starkly negative in the kingdom, doubtless due to the glut of false prophets they will endure during the tribulation (Zechariah 13:3–4; Matthew 24:11). This means that there will still be false prophets in the millennial kingdom, but they won’t convince a significant number of people, as indicated by the prediction that the false prophet’s parents will ‘stab him’ (Zechariah 13:3). This indicates there will likely be some other crimes. One would assume the crime rate will nonetheless be much lower than in this era, due to the paradisaical nature of the millennium and the mental binding of the deceiver for the duration of the thousand years in Revelation 20. The fact the false prophets’ parents stab him to death, indicates that though the crime rate is low, punishments will nonetheless be strict. One of the main reasons the millennial kingdom will be a paradise is that all the Antichrist’s followers and many sinners were weeded out before hand, either by being denied access to the Promised Land, or being executed at the first thrones judgement (Revelation 20). This is what is meant by Jesus throwing out the bad fish and keeping the good fish (Matthew 13:47–50), and removing the tares from his wheat crop (Matthew 13:30).

Religion and Education in the Millennium

The visible appearance of Jesus in the world is necessary to prevent atheism and agnosticism, and to settle all religious disputes. Nobody will be able to argue that Jesus is not divine, when you can go and see him in his radiant glory body in Jerusalem, and everyone witnessed his Second Coming and wrath.

The fourth Temple will be built by Jesus in three days (John 2:19). Jesus will live in the temple and reign in it as a king. His son, the prince, will not be permitted to sit on the king’s throne, because he is subordinate to King Jesus. The prince will make offerings and sacrifices to Jesus (Ezekiel 45) and the Jewish festal calendar will be observed by the Jews of the Promised Land and the surrounding nations who marched against Jerusalem (Ezekiel 24:2). So we have a combination of a modified Mosaic Covenant, which Moses prophesied his people would finally obey after the final regathering to the land (Deuteronomy 30), with the new covenant of Jesus’ blood (Luke 22:20), which provides forgiveness of sins and salvation to all who drink it. The Gentile nations outside the region will be free of the Mosaic requirements but Christianity everywhere will look very different in the kingdom, with the emphasis on developing a personal relationship with God through detailed and clear exegesis of the Bible.

The Third Testament is to chronicle the fulfilment of the Second Advent prophecies as the New Testament had charted the fulfilment of the First Advent prophecies. The Third Testament will also explain the old and the new as the new had explained the old. The extended Bible will be the foundation of education in the kingdom age, and there will be a heavy emphasis on exegesis and reading comprehension, which, as it turns out, are two of the most important skills a person can possess.

In the millennial kingdom, the Church will be universalised. There will be no more doctrinal differences because Jesus will be on earth to set the record straight. Ezekiel establishes that the religion will be centred on the new temple on Mount Zion, a flat, raised plateau of around 50 square miles (Ezekiel 48:8–20). There will be resumed animal sacrifices (Ezekiel 40–48) and Jesus will live in the temple. Because of Zadok’s loyalty to God, his descendants will serve as high ranking priests (Ezekiel 44). The descendants of the disloyal Levites will also serve in the temple. The temple ordinances in Ezekiel are not totally consistent with Mosaic Law. For example, in Ezekiel’s temple, there are steps to the altar (Ezekiel 43), which was not the case in the old covenant, and Levites are not to marry anyone but virgins or widows of other priests (Ezekiel 44:22), whereas before only the high priest was to marry a virgin (Leviticus 21). These mosaic adjacent laws will not apply outside of the Promised Land and the areas that marched against Jerusalem, which we know will have to observe the Feast of Booths (Zechariah 14:17), because if Egypt fails to attend the feast, they will be punished with drought. This demonstrates how God keeps order in the kingdom (Zechariah 14:18–19). The priorities of the New Church will be to explain the truths of the Bible, to heal the sick and prepare the flock for the coming judgement.

After salvation and healing, education in the millennium will focus on the development of practical vocational skills. Children in the kingdom will not be born saved, so they must be educated for salvation. The mysteries of God and the Bible will be plainly explained ‘the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.’ (Isaiah 11:9). The millennium is to be an era of widespread farming and fishing, so agriculture will be a vital component of the school curriculum, with a focus on practical experience – the best way to learn any job.

Technology in the Millennial Kingdom

There are two options for the future of technology in the kingdom age. Technology will either go back to ancient levels or persist at 21^st century levels, but will be put to better use, with limitations placed upon the more harmful technologies. The latter option, called option B, is the most likely. With option B, there will be universal disarmament, from nuclear warheads to daggers, all weapons will be gathered to be burned. Also, invasive technologies like nanomachines, robots and AI will probably be banned, too, or subject to strict regulation, since they will be used by the Antichrist in his ‘mark of the beast’ and the ‘image of the beast’ (Revelation 13) will be an armed robot. Universal bans and regulation of certain harmful technologies will be enforceable in the kingdom age because of Jesus’ omniscience, and because he will have a monopoly on force. Whereas in our era, if for example the US banned AI because it is harmful and leads to mass unemployment and social destabilisation, then they would lose out to China and Russia, creating heightened national security threats. Likewise, America launched the Manhattan Project in World War Two because the Germans were also trying to develop an atom bomb, and the rationale was, ‘better we have it than they do’. Jesus is about human development via the indwelling spirit, not via inserting technology into ourselves. The technologies that remain will be put to better use because people will be more ethical under God’s direct leadership and the deceiver will be bound. For example, instead of being used to inspire fear, disease, entertainment and titillation, the internet would be used primarily to spread helpful information. The danger with the concept of an AI intelligence explosion and of AI going rogue and taking over or destroying the world is that there is a risk that the very idea could become a self-fulfilling prophecy that may be averted through understanding what is going on.

The Media in the Millennium

Given the importance of information in shaping beliefs, health, and society, the media will play a critical role in spreading the good news of Jesus Christ in the millennium, specifically, the knowledge of God, and the divine perspective on current affairs. The noted power of the media to create nocebo effects in society means that the media will be accurate, careful and beneficial in the millennium. Conformity will finally be harnessed for good ends: when it is socially sanctioned and encouraged to be saved, and do good deeds, most people will act accordingly.

Healthcare in the Millennial Kingdom

People in the millennium can typically expect to live much longer on average (Isaiah 65:20–22), due to the healings and the superior constitution of the human body in an era when God is directly ruling on earth, and the deceiver and his anxiety are bound.

In the kingdom, those who die at 100 years old will be considered children (Isaiah 65:20). The idea that these verses refer to conditions in the New Jerusalem on the new earth is invalidated by John’s observation that death will perish in the lake of fire after the millennium (Revelation 20:14); following that, there will be no more death, yet the people in Isaiah 65:22 are clearly mortal, because they still die. Normally in the millennium, people will live as long as trees (Isaiah 65:22). Olive trees typically live for about 500 years, whereas the date palm and the Aleppo pine usually persist for 100–150 years.

In a world reduced to a fraction of the pre-tribulation population by the catastrophes of the tribulation, nature will obviously make a comeback. Not that we’re looking forward to all the death, but a lower population means less demand for the same supply of resources, leading to lower prices.

When society started to drift from Christianity during and after the First World War, the bottom slowly fell out of western civilization, and that is why many people are miserable now, morals have decayed, the work ethic has gone to pot (it was partly rooted in Protestantism), relatively few people keep their promises, mental disease rates have risen, and many people live meaningless, unsatisfying lives of quiet desperation. The old virtues of hard work, efficiency, discipline and moral decency were all rooted in Christian faith. Without that faith, the virtues recede. It is not possible to be good without God (John 15:5). Terrible human ideologies are distortions of God’s true religion, trying to substitute for it, and failing in different ways.

Immigration in the Millennial Kingdom

There will be a new tongue of God,[i] a worldwide language to undo the curse of Babel (Genesis 11:7–9) and foster cohesion and communication among all the peoples of the earth.

The only lasting remedy for antisemitism is God’s kingdom in the Promised Land, which will be a safe home for the Jews, or at any rate, those Jews who have taken God’s spirit and did not worship the Antichrist beforehand. In Deuteronomy 4:25–32, God prophesied via Moses that Israel would be scattered and oppressed – until the final regathering to the land. The first part of this prophecy has definitely come to pass, several times, most notably during the Babylonian captivity and following the Roman-Jewish Wars. God’s promises and prophesies pertaining to Israel do still pertain to the nation of Israel, or rather a faithful remnant of that nation, even though the Promised Land can also be inherited by Gentiles through the drinking of Jesus’ blood (Galatians 3:29).

Scripture contains many verses about this final regathering. ‘When you are in oppression, and all these things have come on you, in the latter days you shall return to Yahweh your God, and listen to his voice. For Yahweh your God is a merciful God. He will not fail you, neither destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them.’ (Deuteronomy 4:30–32). ‘If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there Yahweh your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back. (Deuteronomy 30:1–4). Isaiah 66 also features the regathering of the Jewish diaspora. And Jesus spoke of his chosen ones being gathered from the four winds of the sky when the Son of Man comes on the clouds (Matthew 24:31).

In the Messianic kingdom, Jews will be highly respected and sought out (Zechariah 8:23): ‘ten men out of all the languages of the nations will take hold of the skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, “we will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’ Zechariah prophesied that two thirds of the people in the land will be ‘cut off and die, but the third will be left in it.’ (Zechariah 13:8). The third is the remnant that will survive the tribulation. This third part is to be tested ‘like gold is tested’ and refined in the fire of suffering and tribulation, until ‘They will call on my name and I will hear them.’ (Zechariah 13:9).’ The name of God they will call upon is Jesus, and it is in swift response to that prayer from the Israeli remnant that Jesus will return. In other words, ‘it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he will be saved out of it’ (Jeremiah 30:7), in fulfilment of God’s covenant promises.

But God’s Kingdom, as the name suggests, is God’s kingdom, not humanity’s. It is not to be confused with the current state of Israel, which is prophesied to be conquered and subjugated by the Antichrist; there is no other way he would be able to remove the regular burnt offering from the temple in Jerusalem, call himself God in there (2 Thessalonians 2:4) and leave it desolate (Daniel 9:25).

Although the present state of Israel was not founded to fulfil the religious dream of Zion, but to provide a safe haven for Jews fleeing antisemitism, its troubled history and prophesied fate is further demonstration that only God can bring lasting peace to the region. Moreover, the ‘little horn’ (a symbol for the Antichrist (Daniel 7; 8)) is prophesied in Daniel 9, 11 and 8 to conquer the ‘glorious land’ (Daniel 11:41) and make war on the saints (Daniel 7:25). That is why the woman with twelve stars above her head (representing the 12 tribes of Israel) flees to the wilderness (Revelation 12; Matthew 24:16) – her land has been taken over. For more on this subject, revisit The Promised Land chapter.

The Promised Land and the Protectorate Nations

The Promised Land, as outlined in Genesis and Ezekiel, is the core metropole of God’s Kingdom. The metropole is the central territory in an empire that rules over the provinces or protectorates. The gates of the new city will be open day and night to receive ‘the wealth of nations’ (Isaiah 60:11). The tribute given to Jesus by the nations in prophecy demonstrates that they are effectively protectorates of Jesus’ kingdom. However, the fact that they are still referred to as nations, and even at the end of the thousand years, ‘the glory of the nations’ (Revelation 21:26) is led into the New Jerusalem, demonstrates that the nations will be preserved in some form, subject to Christ’s authority.

The Kingdom Economy

Adults admitted to the Promised Land are saved spiritually. There will be vastly more charity, and less need for state welfare, which will probably be generous (in Isaiah 55:1, God promises free wine, milk, bread and water to all who want it). Because Jesus will regenerate the land itself, the soil will be more fertile, and there will be agricultural abundance. ‘He will give the rain for your seed, with which you will sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground will be rich and plentiful.’ (Isaiah 30:23). ‘The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose’ (Isaiah 35:1–2). ‘It will happen in that day, that the mountains will drop down sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters, and a fountain will come forth from the house of Yahweh, and will water the valley of Shittim.’ (Joel 3:18). Irenaeus related a tradition from John the Apostle, who said Jesus told him that in the millennium, a grain of wheat will produce ten thousand ears, and every ear, ten thousand grains.[ii] He also described that each vine will have ten thousand branches, each branch ten thousand twigs, each twig ten thousand shoots, and that every pressed grape will produce 25 metretes (roughly 3.28 litres) of wine.[iii] A river will flow from Jesus’ throne in the temple (Ezekiel 47:1), and the land will be more verdant than it is at present. These factors combined mean that hunger and thirst won’t be a serious problem in the kingdom, at least within the Promised Land metropole.

Even beyond the metropole, the direct rule of God on earth, the dissemination of knowledge and the binding of the deceiver will mean vastly improved psychological and material conditions. The abundance of the crops means there will be greater surplus for private charitable giving, and the abundance of charity means that there will be less need for state administered taxation. It is probable that there will be plenty of large scale reconstruction and building projects in the kingdom. An example is the reconstruction of the Marian Way, the old Roman highway linking Syria, Israel and Egypt in a shared economic zone (Isaiah 19:23–24).

[i] Zephaniah 3:9: ‘For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on Yahweh’s name, to serve him shoulder to shoulder’.

[ii] Saint Irenaeus. Against Heresies.

[iii] Ibid.

[i] Zephaniah 3:9: ‘For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on Yahweh’s name, to serve him shoulder to shoulder’.

[ii] Saint Irenaeus. Against Heresies.

[iii] Ibid.

 Read the next chapter: https://www.robertensor.com/post/godmindfamily-chapter-15