Looking to the not-t00-distant future we find this scenario: the resurrection of God’s saints has taken place.  Jesus has established the Kingdom of God on earth and ended the worst period of time in man’s history (the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord–the Book of Revelation manifested).  It is now time to transform the earth and its inhabitants.  The saints get busy for there is much to do.  This transformation will be a labor of love as God creates a paradise for those who have obeyed Him during their human lives.

The Scriptures tell us that during the millennium Jesus Christ will turn the earth into a global paradise.  He will begin the process with the descendants of the children of the Patriarch Jacob (Israel).  Just as He had planned to use Israel as His light to lead the Gentiles to Himself, He will now use them as His example for the rest of mankind during the Millennium.  This time, with Jesus Christ having total control of the earth and its inhabitants, His plan will succeed.  Israelites will serve as His standard by which He will rebuild and bless all of the nations of mankind.  This Biblical Truth is a bitter pill to swallow for the billions of people, including myself, who were taught that God had permanently divorced Israel hundreds of years earlier and had replaced them with Gentiles who would create the Catholic/Protestant church system which would win the world for Him.  This universally-believed “truth” is called “Replacement Theology”–the belief that Gentiles replaced Israel as God’s Chosen People.  God did in fact divorce the 12 tribes of Israel as the Scriptures plainly state.  However, in the fine print He made it clear that He would one day call them back to Himself and would place them in the land He had promised their forefather Abraham.  Let us now examine God’s Holy Scriptures for proof of this and much more.  The upcoming postings will reveal what will take place on earth over the 1000 years following the first resurrection.  Beginning with this posting, we will search the Scriptures in order to determine the characteristics of the earth and its peoples during the Millennium.  We will also define who will be involved in the second and third resurrections and when they will take place.  Lastly, we will look into the post-millennial future of God’s saints.

An indication as to the future activities of the children of Israel (Jacob) during the thousand year reign of Christ and His saints over the present earth is found in Isaiah 27:6: “He (God) will cause them that come from Jacob (Israelites) to take root.  Israel will blossom and bud (embrace their God) and fill the face of the world with fruit” (of the Spirit–Gal. 5:22/ Phil. 1:11).  In Ezekiel 36:8-12 God speaks of the land of Israel–the Promised Land–to which He will return His chosen people once they have suffered for their sins and have embraced Him as their Lord.  The Holy Land will yield its fruit in abundance for His people Israel.  He will multiply them on the land, its cities will be inhabited by His people and life will be better than ever before.  In Zechariah 8:7,8 the Lord says: “Behold, I will save (rescue from slavery) those (held captive) in the east and the west.  And I will bring them (from world-wide captivity), and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem and they will be My people and I will be their God in truth (His) and in (their) righteousness.  Having received forgiveness of their sins, they will be permanently justified (righteous).  Today the children of Israel, believing themselves to be Gentiles, occupy the so-called “Christian nations” of the world, the United States and Britain being the dual leaders.  During the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord they will have been defeated, most of their inhabitants killed and the remainder taken into slavery because of their apostasy.  God will punish modern Israel EXACTLY AS HE  PUNISHED THEIR ANCESTORS, and for the same reason.  They will become commodities to be bought, sold and traded.  The Ezekiel 36 and Zechariah 8 statements refer to Israel’s release from that slavery following Christ’s return to earth.  While in slavery they will have realized their sins, repented of them and turned to God in full surrender and humiliation, just as His saints had done during the final era of this world.

In Amos 9:13-15 God promises to release Israel from captivity and bring her back to the Holy Land where He will rebuild the cities and cause the land to produce a continuous abundance of crops.  Planters will have to wait for reapers to finish before they can do their work.  There will be food and drink aplenty.  God will “plant them (Israelites) upon the land He had promised them.  They will not be taken from their land again.”  In Ezekiel 36:33-35 God promises to bring Israel back to restored, clean and beautiful cities.  The land will be free of impurities.  It will be “as the Garden of Eden.”

In Zechariah 8:3 and Jeremiah 3:17,18 God declares that, following the restoration of the Holy Land, the Lord Himself will return to Zion (the Promised Land) and dwell there.  Jerusalem, being its capital, is also called “Zion.”  The “city of peace” will also be called the “city of truth” and “the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain” when the House of Israel has returned from their captivity to the inheritance which God had promised their fathers–Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Jerusalem will then be the capital of the earth–the world headquarters of God’s government by which He will rule the whole of existing humanity.  Remember that millions of people will survive the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord and will be living all over the earth when Christ returns.  God’s people will live in Jerusalem.  The city will serve as an example to the rest of the world as He tells us in Isaiah 62:1,2,7.  God’s presence in Jerusalem will make the city a place of righteousness and glory enjoyed by His saints who live there.  The city and its inhabitants will serve as the standard of holiness for the Gentiles to see and praise, and to where they will make an annual pilgrimage.

The descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (along with those Gentiles who have become spiritual Israelites by obeying God) will live in peace throughout the Millennium as the Gentiles learn from them the ways of the Lord.  As a result of Christ’s leadership and the work of His saints, all nations will be blessed and become submissive to the Lord Jesus (Isa. 2:1-3).  Romans 6:16 tells us that, because the Gentiles will learn to obey Christ during the Millennium, they will become His subjects and servants, just as His resurrected saints had been during their human lives.  Galatians 3:29 tells us that a goodly number of Gentiles, having submitted to the Lord during the Millennium, will become “Abraham’s (spiritual) children” and will thereby become “heirs of the promise” God made to Israel.  Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 spell out those promises in the first dozen or so verses.  Recall that Israel has always welcomed Gentiles who agree to worship and obey their (Israel’s) God by obeying His “one Law” which governs all of His people (Exo. 12:38,49).  He later gave them that Law from atop Mt. Sinai and wrote it in stone with His finger.  With Christ ruling the nations during the Millennium, many will come to obey Him and therefore receive all of the blessings God promised to His chosen people.  L.J.