NOTE: All comments in brackets [ ] or in parentheses ( ) as well as highlighted text (bolded and/or in blue) are from the author of this study.
Bible quotations are in maroon.
The Worldwide Church of God in the days of Mr. Herbert W Armstrong taught that the reason for Christ’s 2nd Coming in power and glory was to establish the Kingdom of God on earth during the Millennium. It was also taught that the purpose for the existence of God’s Church through the ages was for the training of men who, once they become glorified spirit beings at the time of the first resurrection at Christ’s 2nd Coming, would assist Christ with the task of bringing conversion to the unconverted flesh-and-blood nations of the world and ruling over them.
Spirit beings would make themselves visible to men and take over the governments of this world and its educational system. Vast, worldwide re-education campaigns would be carried out to teach the nations the true values they should use to conduct their lives. God would pour out of His Spirit upon all flesh, Satan would be bound in chains, put in the bottomless pit and a seal placed on him so that he could deceive the nations no more. Under those conditions, it was considered that all but the most stubborn individuals would become converted and eager followers of God’s truth. The result would be a new world order where there would be peace, safety, prosperity and great joy in which all would share on a planet returned by God to a Garden of Eden like state.
In other words, it would be heaven on earth with a perfect government of glorified spirit beings headed up by Christ administering a perfect law over the converted nations of the world.
This is a wonderful, hope-filled and inspiring vision of life during the Millennium that everybody would certainly want to see come to pass.
However, as true Christians we are commanded to prove all things whether they are true or not using the Holy Bible as our criterion of truth. We believe what we believe because we have personally proven the truth of our beliefs against God’s Holy Bible not because some individual or organization we highly respect is saying it. Mr. Armstrong, like Paul the apostle, always told the Church that individual members were responsible for verifying the truth of what they were taught against the Scriptures and to not ever simply believe our teachers who are but fallible men. “Don’t believe me” Mr. Armstrong repeatedly warned the Church; “Believe your Bible and should I be shown not to be following the Bible, believe your Bible.” Mr. Armstrong realized that it was as much possible for him as any other truly converted Christian to make mistakes in understanding the Bible and that true Christians uncovering through their personal studies some of the mistakes he had unknowingly made and, correcting them using the appropriate Bible verses, is not something that was unexpected nor an act of rebellion against a true servant of God.
The Bible is clear that individual Christians are responsible for ensuring using the Scriptures that what is taught them or was taught them is the truth of God. (1Thes 5;21; 2Tim 2;15; 1Cor 11:1; Rev 2:2).
God in the last days in which we are living (we are almost at the very end of the 6th day of God’s plan for salvation)God’s speaks to us through the Holy Bible.
Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
God is no longer sending prophets to speak to His Church. He speaks to individual true Christians whether ordained (the ministry) or not by His Son who is God’s Spokesman and the Word which we have in writing. The Holy Bible is the word of God and the Word of God is Christ.
The Holy Bible is the sure word of God preserved through the ages for God’s Church. It is the one and only sure way for true Christians to know the truth and to protect themselves from false teachers.
True Christians through their spending quality time studying their Bible with an alert mind are to become able to prove all things for themselves. They are not to ever rely on men as their criterion of truth. This is a theme which has been elaborated upon in other studies posted on this Web site and I will not pursue it any further at this time.
Let’s spend some quality time examining together with an open mind, the different verses of the Bible used in support of the teaching that the Millennium is the time when God will establish His Kingdom on the earth.
It is a fascinating study that will require us to look at the origin of the nation of physical Israel, the purpose for which God chose Israel, the conversion and salvation process, the coming into being of a “spiritual” nation of Israel, and lastly, the existence of Israel during the Millennium as both a physical and a spiritual nation.
It all seems to be a bit complicated so let’s get going with reviewing the Bible verses that will lead us to clarify the foregoing topics.
Origin of Ancient Israel
You will recall that God became rather displeased with mankind that He had created and decided to have a new beginning by bringing about a great flood that would drown all air-breathing animals including mankind.
Gen 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Gen 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Gen 6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
God however, spared Noah and his family’s lives by having Noah build an ark for himself and his family and for the clean and unclean air-breathing animals of the earth.
Gen 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord; he and his family would not die in the great flood, because he walked with God.
Gen 6:9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
And Noah was a preacher of righteousness as revealed to us in the New Testament.
2Pe 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
Noah had 3 sons from which descended the nations of the world following the great flood.
Gen 7:13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
From the descendants of Shem was born Abrams. In Genesis 11 verse 10 and onward we are given the lineage of Shem up to the birth of Abram.
Gen 11:26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
In Genesis 12 we read of God instructing Abram to leave his country, his relatives and his father’s house and to go to an unspecified land that God will show him.
Gen 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
Why?
Gen 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
The descendants of Abram were to become a great nation.
Gen 17:4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
Gen 17:5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
Gen 17:6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
Gen 17:7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
And God is to establish His covenant between Him and Abraham’s descendants and it is to be everlasting i.e., eternal.
Let’s keep going to see who are Abraham’s descendants with whom God will establish an everlasting covenant.
Abraham and his wife Sarah were advanced in age and Sarah was well past her childbearing years but for God’s promise to Abraham to have descendants from who would come nations and kings it was necessary for Abraham to have at least one child.
Gen 18:11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
Gen 18:12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
Gen 18:14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
Just as God had said, Sarei whose name God changed to Sarah (Gen 17:15) bore Abraham a son, Isaac.
Gen 21:1 And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
Gen 21:2 For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
Gen 21:3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
Isaac married Rebekah and the story of how Rebekah came to be Isaac’s wife is recounted in Gen 24. In Genesis 25, we are given the generations of Isaac.
Gen 25:19 And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac:
Gen 25:20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
Gen 25:21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
Gen 25:22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
Gen 25:23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
In Gen 25:24 -26 we are told that Esau was the firstborn and thus would be the elder (older) brother and that Jacob was the younger brother being born after Esau. A small difference in time which in practice will make a huge difference because the elder was to serve the younger.
Gen 25:24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
Gen 25:25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.
Gen 25:26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
In Gen 25:27-28, we learn that Isaac loved Esau but that Rebekah loved Jacob and as we will see, this will change the course of history with the birthright promises which the firstborn is by tradition to inherit would be given to the second born. The promises made by God to Abraham and transmitted to Isaac would be given to Jacob instead of Esau.
Gen 25:27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.
Gen 25:28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.
In Genesis 25:29 to 34, we read of Esau selling his birthright to be the first inheritor from his father to Jacob for a bowl of pottage of lentilles.
Gen 25:29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:
Gen 25:30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
Gen 25:31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
Gen 25:32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
Gen 25:33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Gen 25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.
When came the time for Isaac to give the boys their inheritance, he called Esau, the firstborn or elder of his 2 sons.
Gen 27:1 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I.
Gen 27:2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death:
Gen 27:3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison;
Gen 27:4 And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.
But when Rebehak heard Isaac telling Esau that he was going to bless him i.e., give him his inheritance after having had his favorite meal of venison that he sent Esau out to hunt and prepare for him, she took the following actions.
Gen 27:5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.
Gen 27:6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,
Gen 27:7 Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death.
Gen 27:8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.
Gen 27:9 Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth:
Gen 27:10 And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death.
Gen 27:11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man:
Gen 27:12 My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.
Gen 27:13 And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.
Gen 27:14 And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved.
Gen 27:15 And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son:
Gen 27:16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck: [so that Jacob would be hairy like his brother Esau]
Gen 27:17 And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
And Jacob bearing the savory meat, wearing some of Esau’s clothes and having his neck and hands made hairy by the goat skins placed on them by his mother Rebekah, came to his father pretending to be Esau and asking for Jacob to bless him.
Gen 27:18 And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son?
Gen 27:19 And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.
Gen 27:20 And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought it to me.
Gen 27:21 And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.
Gen 27:22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
Gen 27:23 And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him.
Gen 27:24 And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am.
Gen 27:25 And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank.
Gen 27:26 And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son.
Gen 27:27 And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed:
Gen 27:28 Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:
Gen 27:29 Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.
Isaac then sends Jacob to the house of Bethuel his mother’s (Rebekah’s) father as he did not want Isaac to take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
Gen 28:1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
On his way to Padanaram as the sun was setting Jacob stopped and slept. He had a dream.
Gen 28:12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
Gen 28:13 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
Gen 28:14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Gen 28:15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
Jacob marries Leah and Rachel both daughters of Laban and the story of how this occurred can be found in chapter 29 of Genesis. In Genesis 32, we read of Jacob wrestling through the night with a man which turns out to have been God in human form (Gen 32:30). Neither prevailed over the other until morning and Jacob would not let him go until he got a blessing.
Gen 32:24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
Gen 32:25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
Gen 32:26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
Gen 32:27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
And in the following verse we have a significant development and that is God changing Jacob’s name to Israel.
Gen 32:28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
The descendants of Jacob would constitute Old Testament physical Israel as we will see as we continue on with this study.
Gen 32:29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
Gen 32:30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
Gen 32:31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.
And God appears to Jacob and again tells him that his name is no longer to be Jacob but Israel; that he is to inherit the land He had given Abraham and Isaac and; that a nation and a company of nation would arise from his descendants as well as kings.
Gen 35:9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him.
Gen 35:10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.
Gen 35:11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;
Gen 35:12 And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.
Gen 35:13 And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.
And in Gen 35:22-26 we are given the names of the 12 sons of Jacob.
Gen 35:22 And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:
Gen 35:23 The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun:
Gen 35:24 The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin:
Gen 35:25 And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali:
Gen 35:26 And the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padanaram.
In Gen 37 we learn that of Israel’s (Jacob) 12 sons, he loved Joseph more than the others. Joseph angered his brothers by telling them of a dream he had where Joseph ruled over them. They hated him because of his father’s greater love for him and after hearing that dream, they hated him even more. They sold him to a passing caravan who sold him in Egypt to Pothiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard. The story continues in Gen 39 where Joseph becomes the overseer of Potiphar’s house which is greatly prospering because of God’s blessings. Potiphar’s wife wanted to lie with Joseph but he refused and she told her husband that it was Joseph who had tried to lie with her. Joseph was put in prison. As events go on, eventually, Joseph interprets a dream the Pharaoh had and becomes the ruler of Egypt under Pharaoh.
Gen 41:39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:
Gen 41:40 Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
Gen 41:41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.
While in Egypt, Joseph had two sons.
Gen 41:50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him.
Gen 41:51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.
Gen 41:52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.
Eventually, Jacob (Israel) and Joseph are reunited and start a new life in Egypt where they dwell in the land of Goshen.
Gen 46:31 And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto his father’s house, I will go up, and shew Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and my father’s house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me;
Gen 46:32 And the men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.
Gen 46:33 And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation?
Gen 46:34 That ye shall say, Thy servants’ trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and also our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.
Then Jacob (Israel) being near unto death blesses Ephraim and Manasseh and the blessing they receive is a major turning point in the history of the nation of Israel which is of great interest to all of us.
Gen 48:1 And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
Gen 48:2 And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.
Gen 48:5 And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.
Gen 48:6 And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.
Israel adopts Joseph 2 sons and blesses them and their descendants shall be called Israel.
Gen 48:8 And Israel beheld Joseph’s sons, and said, Who are these?
Gen 48:9 And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.
Gen 48:14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.
Gen 48:16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
The descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh were to become Israel at the time when they become the multitude of nations and the single great nation. Ephraim would be the first to come to greatness but it would lose it. Manasseh would then become the single, greatest nation there ever was. These nations are prophetic Israel as separate and distinct from Old Testament physical Israel; something very important to keep in mind.
Gen 48:17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head.
Gen 48:18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
Gen 48:19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.
Gen 48:20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
Gen 48:21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.
The descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh were to become a multitude of nations (Ephraim) and Manasseh was also to be a great people like Ephraim but Ephraim would be greater and individually they would be Israel at the time of the fulfillment of the prophecies regarding each one of them.
In Gen 49 Jacob (Israel) blesses his sons and Joseph received the following one:
Gen 49:22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
Here ends the story of Jacob, Joseph and his brothers while Joseph ruled Egypt under Pharaoh.
Ancient Israel – Summary
The 12 children of Israel became the nation of Israel that existed until it went off into captivity and ceased to be a nation. However, the children of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) in addition to being part of ancient Israel, their descendants were to become a multitude of nations (prophetic Israel, Ephraim) and a single, great nation, (prophetic Israel, Manasseh) at a time far into the future of ancient Israel. Ancient Israel would lose its language, religion and customs after having been taken into captivity by pagan nations. You will recall that after the death of Solomon, Israel became a divided nation. Ten tribes got together and became the Northern Kingdom and 3 tribes became the Southern Kingdom. Overall there are 13 tribes because of the doubling of the tribe of Joseph which occurred when Israel adopted Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. The first to go into captivity were the 10 tribes of Israel followed some 100 years later by the three tribes of Benjamin, Levi and Judah collectively known as the Jews. The ancient nation of Israel would disappear from history and only part of it would remain known to the world, the Jews some of which after the 2nd World War, went back to Palestine in the Middle East. The descendants of ancient Israel (the 13 tribes of Israel) have yet to again come together to form a single nation visible to the world.
In the 1800s, the world saw the coming into being of the British Empire made up of many nations spread out across the world so that its empire could be said to be one on which the sun did not set. It ruled the seas and the world as a superpower until it started to lose its colonies and was eventually reduced to a small island nation which almost perished during the Second World War but for the intervention of a single, new nation arising out of 13 colonies who had become a world superpower, the United States of America.
The British Empire is the multitude of nations that Ephraim was to become followed by the rise of the United States, Manasseh as the single, great nation following Ephraim’s loss of its superpower status. Both the British Empire and the United States are the fulfillment of the promises made by God through Jacob (Israel) in blessing Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. They are prophetic Israel. (For additional, detailed information on this topic see the following book The United States and Britain in Prophecy available by clicking on the following hyperlink: http://hwa searchable library.org
Spiritual Israel
But there is still another Israel that came into existence but which this time is not a physical nation occupying a specific geographic location into which one becomes a member by being born into it. Let’s see what the Scriptures tell us about who is this spiritual nation of Israel.
With the First Coming of Christ, many significant changes occurred as to who is and is not an Israelite. Judah is used in the New Testament to represent the whole of Israel as but for some of the Jews that returned to Jerusalem from their captivity under the Persian Empire, the remainder of the nation of ancient Israel was lost to world history and the Bible does not make any direct mention of them in the New Testament.
Let’s see what the Bible tells us about when this new spiritual nation of Israel started.
Pentecost
On the day of the first Pentecost, the holy spirit being who is God’s spokesman and the Word (Please see the following study for more detail: Who or What is the Holy Spirit?) made contact with the disciples in the room where they had assembled. The detail of this event is found chapter 2 of the book of Acts which you can read as need be to refresh your memory. For the first time since the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and the cutting off of man from God, was contact initiated by God between specially chosen men personally trained by Christ to be the founding members of God’s New Testament Spirit-begotten Church.
Christ first had to die as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of mankind and be resurrected (glorified) before God could initiate contact with men chosen to perform tasks associated with the advancement of His master plan of salvation for mankind.
Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Joh 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
God would use men in the administration of His great master plan of salvation for mankind, not spirit beings. This is why He founded His Church which was never to die out (Matt 16:18) and to whom, through Christ, He gave a number of truths which constitute the sure fundamental truths (1Co 3:10) of God’s Church as they were given directly by Christ, God-in-the-flesh, to His disciples. The spirit of the God being who became Jesus-Christ would enter into those whom God the Father would call and who, at their calling, would repent and believe. (See the following studies on this site explaining the nature of what has been traditionally called, the Holy Spirit: Who or What is the Holy Spirit? And What is the Holy Spirit? Cliff Notes Version )
Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
The holy spirit beings that are God the Father and the Word would dwell with those called and chosen.
Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
Joh 14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
Joh 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and [He that dwells with you as a physical man] shall be in you. [As the holy spirit being called the Word and Spokesman.]
Joh 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
Christ as God’s Spokesman is the holy spirit being that was to come unto the disciples and which would teach them all things following the acceptance of their calling by God the Father.
14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
He, Christ was with His disciples in a flesh-and-blood body (Ph 2:5-8) and He would have to go back to His Father after His resurrection from the dead and glorification to fulfill His role as the holy spirit being who is God’s Word and Spokesman to God’s called and chosen ones.
As previously mentioned, God speaks to New Testament Christians through the holy spirit being who became Christ.
Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
New Testament Christians are living in the last days of God 7,000 year plan of salvation for mankind where in God’s plan of salvation for mankind a day in fulfillment is a 1,000 years. We are now near the end of the 6th day of God’s plan of salvation for mankind.
How do we know that God’s plan for the salvation of mankind is 7,000 years or 7 prophetic days?
2Pe 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The Millennium which occurs after 6,000 years of mankind’s existence is to last a thousand years as the name suggests and it will be followed by a 100 year period of time where the Last Great Day occurs. The Last Great Day ends with the Great White Throne Judgment followed by the Lake of Fire which consumes the wicked followed by the creation of a new heaven and a new earth and the coming down from heaven of the new Jerusalem.
From Adam to Christ there were 4,000 years which can be counted using the genealogies in the Bible and from Christ to our time, almost 2,000 years have gone by. We are approaching the 6,000 year point from the time of the creation of Adam and Eve and the world is about to enter into the 7th day. The years before the advent of Christ are referred to as BC which stands for “Before Christ” and the years starting with Christ are referred to as AD which stands for “Anno Domini” or “In the year of our Lord.”
Now, let’s continue with our examination of the Christian conversion process made possible since Pentecost.
What happens when a flesh-and-blood human being is called and chosen? The holy spirit beings called God the Father and the Word come and dwell with them; they make their abode with the called and chosen one. True Christians are the holy temple in which God the Father and Christ dwell. Below I quote some of the many Scriptures proving this.
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God [the spirit being God the Father and the spirit being the Word who became Christ are one; they, the 2 of them, are holy spirits and they are one)] dwelleth in you?
Joh 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
Joh 14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
What is the state of an individual who becomes converted following God’s calling?
Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that « circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
When a Gentile becomes converted he becomes a spiritual Jew and as such he becomes a part of God’s spiritual nation of Israel made up of all those called and chosen by God whether a Jew or a Gentile.
Modern day flesh-and-blood Jews as well as ancient Israel will also be given the opportunity to become members of God’s spiritual nation of Israel by accepting their calling when God will call them.
God’s nation is no longer a physical nation but a spiritual nation made up of all those called and chosen from all the nations of the world. They are the nation of those who have been called, chosen and are remaining faithful; they are striving to obey God in all things to the best of their abilities and, in other words, are God’s Church.
God’s Church ultimately will have members from all the nations of the world and God’s Kingdom will therefore be made up of truly converted individuals from all the nations of the world. I emphasize this aspect because it will prove of the greatest importance to us in correctly understanding Scriptures which seem to indicate that Jerusalem during the Millennium will be the world’s center of true religion and that the nations shall flow to Jerusalem to worship God.
A whole lot more to come on this; now pursuing with our analysis of who is spiritual Israel.
On the day of the first Pentecost, many of the converts were not Jews or Israelites; they were Gentiles who were greatly disliked by the Jews who refused to have contact with them. But now all of a sudden there comes the realization that God is also calling Gentiles unto salvation as made evident to Peter who was a Jew. The story is found in the book of Acts chapter 10 starting with verse 23.
Act 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
Act 10:35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
Act 10:44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
Act 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 10:46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,
Act 10:47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
Act 10:48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.
In modern times, we have some of the descendants of Old Testament Israel (Judah) living in Jerusalem and on part of the territory which was the land promised by God to ancient Israel. The Jews are part of Israel but they are not the totality of Israel. The 12 sons of Israel became the 12 tribes of Israel and the nation of Israel; the Jews are only 3 of the tribes of Israel i.e., Benjamin, Levi and Judah. They are an unconverted nation now as they were in Old Testament times.
At the same time, there is in existence since the day of Pentecost, the spiritual nation of Israel i.e., made up of individuals from the nations of the world whom God has called, who have followed their calling and who have become spiritual Jews or Israelites. They do not then leave the area where they are living to go to a specific geographical location to form a nation where all of God’s converted live. The converted remain in the geographical locations where they came to conversion which is not however to say they cannot move to other geographical locations if they choose to do so but there is no requirement for them to change location to become part of God’s spiritual nation or Church. There is no central church or country/part of a country to which all truly converted are to go.
The physical nation of Israel and the spiritual nation of Israel are in existence at the same time but not all physical Israelites (the Jews living in present-day Israel and those scattered in the nations of the world) are also spiritual Israelites; even, most physical Israelites are not spiritual Israelites.
The Future Conversion of Physical Israel
The conversion of the physical descendants of ancient Israel is yet future. It is described by Paul in Romans 11.
Rom 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
The time when the “fullness of the Gentiles” will occur i.e., the time when all of the Gentiles who died without ever having known God’s spiritual truth will be called is during the Last Great Day when the second resurrection occurs. It is also the time when the blindness of ancient Israel will be removed along with that of all the Gentiles who were never called when they rise up in the second resurrection.
Rom 11:26 And so all Israel shall be saved: [all will be offered salvation by being called but they will have to follow their calling and many will not (Matt 22:14)] as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
The Deliverer that will turn away ungodliness from Jacob is Christ who at His First Coming by His death on the stake, made it possible for Israel to be called as well as all of mankind. At His 2nd Coming, a New Covenant will be offered to the end-time remnant of the nations constituting end-time prophetic Israel (Ephraim and Manasseh) as well as with the descendants of Benjamin, Levi and Judah living in the Promised Land at that time; it will be the time of their calling. However, ancient Israel and their physical descendants throughout the ages will have remained uncalled and unconverted for the greatest part as have the Gentile nations. They will be called in the 2nd resurrection of the Last Great Day along with all those of the Gentile nations that were never called during the previous 7,000 years of God’s plan.
Rom 11:27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
Ungodliness will be turned away from end-time prophetic Israel at the making of the New Covenant and with ancient Israel and the Gentiles that were never called when they rise up in the Second Resurrection of the Last Great Day. They will all be called to repentance and belief, each in their own time order, and those who follow their calling will be chosen. Their sins will be forgiven and they will then become part of God’s New Covenant nation or God’s Church.
Rom 11:28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: [most of the Jews rejected Christ’s message brought to them by Paul and this resulted in Paul turning to the Gentiles (see Act 13:46 below) who were then offered the salvation refused by the Jews] but as touching the election, [those few Jews that believed Paul] they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. [because of the promised made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob]
Act 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
Rom 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
God will not change His mind and not honor His commitment toward ancient Israel and the whole world for that matter; all will be given an opportunity to be saved.
Rom 11:30 For as ye [Gentiles] in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy [by Paul bringing them the gospel message he originally sought to give to the Jews who refused it] through their [because of the Jew’s] unbelief:
The Gentiles prior to their conversion did not believe God in the same way ancient Israel did not believe God. God turned to the Gentiles and made it possible for them to believe because the Jews refused to do so. Paul at first preached to the Jews but turned to the Gentiles when they rejected God’s teachings to them through Paul and persecuted him. (See Act 13:46 above)
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also [the Jews to which Paul had been initially sent and who constituted the nation of Israel in his days] now not believed, that through your mercy [the Roman congregations of God’s Church were converted Gentiles] they [unconverted Israelites] also may obtain mercy. [In the future, during the Last Great Day, when they will be called and God’s Church which will then still be in existence and predominantly be made up of Gentiles (the Jews rejected Christ) will minister to them when they rise up in the 2nd resurrection of the Last Great Day.]
The Gentiles did not believe God until salvation was opened up to them i.e., until God had mercy on them and the day will come when God will also have mercy on Israel i.e., in the 2nd resurrection, ancient Israel will be called and offered salvation as the Gentiles were.
Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all [Gentiles, ancient Israel and the remnant of ancient Israel as represented here by the Jews] in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.[Each in their own time order; to the Gentiles first, then to ancient Israel. The first called to salvation, Israel shall be last to receive it in the resurrection of the Last Great Day and the last called to salvation, the Gentiles, are the first to receive it.]
All of mankind was cut off from God and the salvation available from Him when Adam and Eve sinned including His own chosen nation, Israel so that He could have mercy on all of them (Israel and the Gentiles) by extending salvation to all of them at the appointed time: first to the Gentiles then to Israel.
Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Paul marvels at the way God has chosen to ultimately give all of mankind a chance for salvation.
Rom 11:34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
The nations of Israel
In the Bible, we then have the unconverted nation of ancient Israel; we have prophetic Israel (unconverted) which is made up of the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh as a result of the promises made to Jacob; we have the unconverted physical nation of Israel that will exist during the Millennium (not all of Israel will enter into the New Covenant); and we have the spiritual nation of Israel which began on the day of Pentecost and is made up of individuals from the nations of the world who have been called, chosen and are remaining faithful. Spiritual Israel is God’s holy nation that will become part of God’s Holy mountain (a mountain is a symbol for a nation in the Bible) or God’s Holy Zion at the time of the Great White Throne Judgment when the saved (the sheep) are divided from the goat (the damned) immediately before the coming of the Lake of Fire.
You will recall that the first thing Christ does after His 2nd Coming is to gather prophetic Israel (Ephraim and Manasseh) which was scattered as captives among the Gentile nations and bring the surviving remnant back to the original promised land where they are resettled together with the Jews now living in Jerusalem and the surrounding territories. This will be time when the lost 10 tribes of Israel will be reunited with the 3 tribes of Benjamin, Levi and Judah (collectively known as the Jews now living in Jerusalem and the surrounding territories). Ancient Israel will then for the first time since it became a divided kingdom (the northern and the southern kingdoms) following the death of Solomon, be back together as one nation in the original Promised Land.
But, prophetic Israel, the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh will also be joined to them when Christ at His 2nd Coming proceeds to gather Israel from the nations where God had scattered them. All of Israel will be back in the original Promised Land.
God says the following about Israel in the end-time:
Jer 29:14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
Eze 11:17 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
Eze 20:34 And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.
And, regarding Judah presently living in Palestine, He says the following:
Zec 14:1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
Zec 14:2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
At the time when this happens, there is only Judah living in Jerusalem who are some of the Jews who survived the Holocaust that occurred during the 2nd World War and their descendants.
The remnant of prophetic Israel (Ephraim and Manasseh) will be restored to the Promised Land and there Christ will begin a 3 ½ year ministry (Daniel 9:27) with them and with the remnant or residue of the people of Judah (Zech 14:1-2). At the end of Christ’s 3 1/2 year ministry, Israel now complete (the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms are back together in the Promised Land for the first time since Israel, after the death of Solomon, divided into a Southern and a Northern kingdom), will have to decide whether or not to enter into the New Covenant.
All those of Israel who have survived their end-time captivity among the Gentiles and all of Judah will be called but do they all follow their calling and become converted?
Will all of Israel enter into the New Covenant following Christ’s 3 ½ year ministry to them?
On Being Called and Chosen
What does Christ have to say regarding what men do with their calling?
Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
Christ clearly and plainly tells us in a verse needing no interpretation that is the few of the many called that are chosen i.e., they are chosen by God because they follow their calling; they do not turn away from it and choose to remain in the world.
And, what about those that are chosen; do the Scriptures say once chosen, always chosen?
Christ plainly tells us that of the few that are chosen and entering into God’s Church, it is the few that go in by the strait and narrow gate and maintain their salvation and it is the many that take the broad way that leads to perdition.
Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Do we have any examples that this is what converted people do? In 2nd Timothy we read of Paul telling Timothy to preach to the Church as much as he can because the time will come when they, truly converted members of God’s Church, will not endure sound doctrine.
2Ti 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they [truly converted Christians] will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
They, truly converted Christians, (the Bible does not speak to the world and Timothy was not preaching to the world and this was not written solely for and about First Century Christians) will become eager to have teachers that will make them comfortable in their own lusts and reassure them that their salvation is assured; that they are good people and not to be worried, they will all certainly be saved.
Have we personally experienced this happening in our lifetime?
Yes we have, when Mr. Armstrong died. A few years after his death, the ministers announced to their congregations that they were not policemen. The message was heard loud and clear and the very next Sabbath women came to service wearing make-up and short dresses, cohabitating couples came out for all to see and keeping the Sabbath became a personal option. The Church as a whole rejoiced in its new-found freedom from no longer being under the law; everyone was so happy to no longer feel guilty about those things they knew to be contrary to God’s law but which they kept on practicing in their private lives when away from the ministers.
But there were a very few who found these developments deeply troubling and who were either disfellowshipped or quietly left on their own refusing to remain with a group calling itself Church of God but who no longer taught obedience to the commandments of God.
The true Church continued uninterrupted as it always has through the small number of true believers who refused to go along with the new, false teachings of a church which had departed from the truth of God it once preached.
Mal 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
Mal 3:17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
This is why Christ referred to His Church as being the “little flock.”
Luk 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
It would still be a large group of people but in comparison to the whole of humanity that will have existed during God’s 7,000 year plan of salvation for mankind, the saved will be a little flock. The Bible and, Christ who specifically is God the Father’s spokesman, clearly and plainly tells us that salvation will not be a thing of the many but of the few and this by the own knowingly and freely taken decisions of those called. The Bible does not teach that in the end, all will be saved except a few stubborn individuals. (Matt 22:14; Matt 7:13-14).
Israel during the Millennium
Let’s keep on examining how Israel will exist during the Millennium and the Last Great Day
When the Millennium starts, we will have prophetic (Ephraim and Manasseh) and ancient Israel (the physical descendants of the 10 lost tribes and the Jews (Levi, Benjamin and Judah) reunited as a single nation. God will call them all (Dan 9:27) at the time of the confirmation of the New Covenant and only a relatively small number of them will enter into the New Covenant if we will believe Christ’s own words on how many follow and remain faithful to their calling.
Those that do not follow their calling i.e., they choose to remain in the world, will be the unconverted and physical nation of Israel that will live in the originally promised land during the Millennium. It will greatly prosper as God will rebuild them as at the first i.e., as in the days of Solomon when Israel reached the peak of its power and wealth (Jer 33:7) even though it will be an unconverted nation during the Millennium. God does it because He has promised it not because of their being obedient to Him (Ez 36:22)..
Eze 36:22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.
Read Ez 36:22 onward to get a full understanding of what God is saying here.
Those of end-time Israel who follow their calling at the time of the making of the New Covenant become God’s holy nation and kingdom of priests (Ex 19:6) which was the mission for which God had originally chosen ancient Israel. Ancient Israel was never able to fulfill the mission God had given them as the Old Covenant did not include God and the Word dwelling in them opening their minds to understand spiritual truth. But by having God’s holiness in them after having entered into the New Covenant, they become God’s holy nation and kingdom of priests; they become the beginning of God’s Church and spiritual nation of Israel which will exist throughout the Millennium and the Last Great Day fulfilling the same mission that God’s Church has always had. The reason why God has a church is for teaching new converts the foundational truths (1Co 3:10) personally given the First Century Church by Christ as individuals from the nations of the world are called and some of them follow their calling and enter God’s Church.
Eph 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Eph 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Pastors and teachers are to minister to new converts and existing members of God’s Church with the goal of bringing them to a level of spiritual maturity such that there are no longer babes-in-Christ and children in the faith who can be shaken and troubled by false doctrines coming from the mouth of cunning and crafty men seeking to get a following for themselves.
Eph 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
God’s Church has as its overall mission to have each and every Christian no longer be children in the faith but become spiritually mature adults who can rightly divide (read and correctly understand) the word of God, (2Ti 2:15) the Holy Bible as they study it and God reveals to them truths not part of the foundational truths of God’s Church. See the following study for a detailed explanation of this topic: The Ministry and God’s Truth
Why are Christians to become spiritual adults whose criterion of truth is the Bible and not men, not even the ordained ministers of the Church?
God through Paul gives the Church a very strong warning that there will be false prophets coming into the Church and that some will arise right from within the ministry of the Church.
Act 20:29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
Peter gives out a similar warning to God’s Church in the following verses.
2Pe 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2Pe 2:2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
2Pe 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
And many of God’s people will follow them.
Why will they follow them?
They have not become spiritually mature Christians able to prove things out for themselves with their Bible which is the sure word of God and their only means of protecting themselves from being misled by men; they have remained children in the faith.
This is why the main purpose of the Church is the same as it is for the parents of children and that is to bring them to a level of maturity where they no longer need them and can provide for themselves. The Church is made up of men who cannot ever be fully trusted which is why individual members must become self-sufficient in their ability to use the Bible to prove out all thing for themselves so as not to become the victims of false teachers coming into the Church or arising out of the ministry itself.
God’s Church exists to teach newcomers to the faith the truths given by Christ to His disciples. These truths are the foundational truths of God’s Church (1 Cor 3:10) which once mastered will allow individual believers to prove all things (1 Thes 5:21) for themselves whether they be true or not using the Bible, the Word of God, not books written by men about the Bible. It is their only sure protection from being drawn away from the truth they have by false teachers seeking a following for themselves from which they can make a living.
So, as we have been examining, during the Millennium there will exist, at the same time, a converted nation of Israel (God’s Church) and a non-converted, physical nation of Israel living on the territory of the originally Promised Land. All Israel will have been called at the beginning of the Millennium but not all will have entered into the New Covenant.
Knowing and understanding this is of the greatest importance to us as it will allow us to correctly understand several end-time prophecies which seem to indicate that at Christ’s 2nd Coming, God will establish His Kingdom over the physical, flesh-and-blood nations of the world and that the establishment of God’s kingdom over flesh-and- blood men was the Gospel message brought to the world by Christ at His First Coming.
So, let’s be clear.
The part of Israel that was called (they will all be called) but which does not follow their calling will be the unconverted nation of Israel (them and their physical descendants who do not follow their calling or who turn away from it) that will exist throughout the Millennium. It will be as in the days of ancient Israel where the Levitical priesthood lived among the people and it will be as today where God’s Church lives among the end-time nations making up prophetic Israel (Ephraim and Manasseh) and among the unconverted nations of the Gentiles.
Joh 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:15 I pray not that thou [heavenly Father] shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
God’s Church will remain in the world (in which the many will not be converted) during the Millennium and the Last Great Day but not be of the world as Christ was not of the world. They will be striving to conduct their lives as perfectly as they can in accordance with God’s law as they follow Christ who obeyed God perfectly while remaining in the world.
The Restitution of all Things
At the start of the Millennium, God’s Church will be made up of those Israelites (the remnant of prophetic Israel and of Judah) that entered into the New Covenant after Christ’s 3 ½ year Ministry to them (Dan 9:27). The Second Coming of Christ is the time of restitution of all things to God’s people, Israel.
Act 3:19 Repent ye [men of Israel; Christ is speaking to them not the world] therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; [the times of refreshing of Israel is the time of the 3 1/2 year ministry of Christ to Israel ending with the making of the New Covenant with those that follow their calling and are chosen.]
Act 3:20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
Christ who had ascended into heaven at the end of His ministry to Israel will be sent a second time by God the Father to Israel (not to the world or for the world) and this for a very special purpose directly related to the administration of God’s plan of salvation for mankind.
Act 3:21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
Christ at His 2nd Coming is not coming to or for the world (He did not come to the world the first time but to Israel and only for them (Mat 15:24)); His Second Coming will be to the remnant of Israel for the purpose of restoring to them “all things.” The “all things” that are to be restored to Israel are the foundational truth (1Co 3:10) of God’s Church Christ had given to His disciples at His First Coming.
Why will the restitution of “all things” to Israel be necessary?
Because at Christ’s 2nd Coming, God’s saints or His Church who had the foundational truth given by Christ to the Ephesian Era Church and restored to God’s Philadelphia Era Church by God’s promised end-time Elijah, will no longer be on the earth. They will have become glorified spirit beings and the Bride of Christ. It will be necessary to restore those same truths to those that will become the foundation of God’s Church that will exist during the Millennium and the Last Great Day.
God sends Christ back to Israel some 2,000 years after His ascension to His Father for the specific purpose of ensuring the continuance of His Church which will be made up of truly converted men whom God will use to minister to newcomers to the truth during the Millennium and the Last Great Day.
God will not be using First Resurrection saints, nor Christ to rule over the nations of the world during the Millennium and the Last Great Day, Christ nor the resurrected saints will conduct worldwide reeducation campaigns of the masses in the true values of life, take over the governments of this world or force men to be happy and become converted.
God’s Holy Spirit only ever leads (Rom 8:14) and those called have to knowingly, self-willingly and freely make the decision to follow the lead of God’s Spirit. God’s government over men is by men freely assenting or agreeing to have God rule over them after being given to know the truth. It is by their freely and unforced choice to live their lives to the best of their ability according to God’s truth.
Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
The foundational truth of God’s Church given to the first century apostles was lost because of the 1260 years of persecution that came upon the Church. This is why Christ told His disciples that there would be a need for one to come in the power and spirit of Elijah to restore those same truth to God’s Church before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the Lord.
Mal 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
Mat 17:10 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
Mat 17:11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
With the glorification of God’s Church at the time of Christ’s 2nd Coming the foundational truths of God’s Church will again be lost.
This is why it will be necessary for Christ to spend 3 ½ years with the remnant of Israel returned from its end-time captivity and resettled in the Promised Land to restore to them the foundational truths of God’s Church.
This is the time of the calling of Israel. At the end of Christ’s 3 ½ year ministry, Israel will be offered to enter into the New Covenant and those who do, become God’s holy nation and kingdom of priests (Ex 19:6) or, in other words, God’s Church.
God’s Church was never to die out as long as there would be flesh-and-blood human beings living on the earth (Mat 16:18). It will exist throughout the Millennium and the Last Great Day until the time of the Great White Throne Judgment. It will continue after the Great Tribulation through those of end-time Israel who enter into the New Covenant.
The restoration or restitution by Christ at His 2nd Coming of the foundational truths given the First Century Church to the remnant of end-time Israel returned from its captivity among the Gentiles is the means used by God to keep His Church alive; so says your Bible.
Now, let’s continue by looking at verses from the book Acts which confirm Christ’s ministry to Israel returned from captivity in the end time.
Act 3:22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, [Christ is of the tribe of Judah] like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.
Christ at His 2nd Coming to Israel is that prophet that God will send to Israel and this time they will be given the ability to understand (they will hear Him in all things) i.e., the spiritual truth He will teach them, as God’s Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh.
Act 3:23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
All of Israel will be called and all those that refuse to follow their calling (those that will not hear that prophet; they refuse to submit to the truth given them) will be destroyed from among the people i.e., they will not become part of God’s spiritual nation of Israel but continue to live as unconverted Israelites in the Promised Land. They will have lost their salvation and ultimately die in the Lake of Fire; this is how they are destroyed from among the people i.e., God’s spiritual nation which is God’s people since the day of Pentecost.
A newly-converted spiritual nation of Israel becomes God’s Church and as time goes by, it will come to include others from the nations of the world as they follow their calling and are chosen. However, they will not travel to Israel to live with other members of God’s Church that will be there; they will remain in their own countries and nations in which they were called and live out their lives there in the same way true Christians have done since the foundation of God’s Church. God’s Church is not a physical nation occupying a specific geographical area where all who become converted must live and it is not a physical organization to which all must belong. The Church, those called and chosen wherever they may be, is to remain in the world while not being a part of it.
Joh 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
God’s church is first and foremost a spiritual organism to which all the called and chosen of the nations of the world belong wherever they might be in the world. God’s Church during the Millennium and the Last Great Day will continue to exist scattered all over the world physically speaking but be fully united in their understanding of God’s truth as given them by God’s Spirit. Salvation is an individual and highly personalized process between God and those being called; it is not a group process; nations as whole are not saved, individuals are saved from within nations.
God’s Church as a spiritual organism will exist among the unconverted of the nations of the world and also, among the unconverted nation of the remnant of prophetic Israel returned from its end-time captivity and reunited with Judah in the originally Promised Land.
As a spiritual organism, God’s Church is invisible to the world and conversion is a process that occurs in the mind of the person called and chosen wherever that person may live in the world. One does not have to go to or live in a given country (Israel) or city (Jerusalem) to become and remain converted.
The Conversion Process after Christ’s 2nd Coming
Christ makes clear to us that many are called and few are chosen and of the few that are chosen, few remain faithful. This is why God’s Church has always been small and for the greatest part of its existence, and as a spiritual organism, unknown to the world. The conversion of individuals (not nations as conversion is a personal and individual process) will occur in the mind of those called by the action of God’s Spirit; not because the Church is a large, visible, prominent, well known and highly respected physical organization around the world to which people will flock being convinced that it has the truth of God that seemingly everyone has been seeking and could not find. There will not be,and there cannot be, any mass conversion of the nations. Conversion is an individual and highly-personal process between God and the called out ones.
God’s Church which is God’s Kingdom in embryo, is made up of Spirit-begotten men (conceived of God’s Spirit but not yet born), and is being built by God Himself through His Spirit. God’s truth is spiritual and remains totally inaccessible to men until they are called. Salvation requires knowledge of the truth which is only made possible by God’s Spirit.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are his [God’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
And in 1Co:3 we read:
1Co 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
1Co 3:7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
1Co 3:8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
1Co 3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. [It is God doing the building.]
The conversion process is personal and individual and is by God’s Spirit; it has not been nor will it be as a result of vast re-education campaigns of the masses headed up by God’s Church to teach the nations the true values by which they should live. Remember God’s truth is spiritual and cannot be known by the unconverted but that God calls them and opens their minds to understand spiritual truth. He then works with them on an individual and highly personalized basis (we have all been called in different ways as we all have different life experiences) giving them knowledge tailored to their specific situations and gradually bringing then to the point where they have to make the decision to either continue in the world or to come out of the world and commit to obeying God as best they can. All will be individually called and all will have to individually decide to follow or not their calling. There will be no great headquarter Church in Israel leading worldwide public education campaigns to teach the masses the true values by which they should conduct their lives and to which the true believers will travel to worship God.
Why not?
Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
The true worship of God does not require one to travel to a specific geographical location to assemble with a specific group of people. God the Father and Christ dwell in all true believers; they are the temple of God and they worship God by believing and living the truth that they have been given to understand by God. Jerusalem in the days of the apostle was not a center of worship where all true believers congregated to worship God. God is worshiped on an individual basis in spirit and in truth by the obedience of those called and chosen wherever they might be in the world and whether alone or in small groups. God’s Church was not a physical organization in the days of the apostles, it is not now, and it will not be during the Millennium and the Last Great Day.
God says He does not change (Heb 13:8) and nor does the administration of His plan of salvation for mankind; it will continue to be by His spirit working in men on an individual and personal basis. (John 4:23-24)
But, some will say, what about the Laodicean Church where there is a massive conversion that occurs all at once of an uncountable multitude?
The Laodiceans, like past true Christians, will not have gone through a spontaneous conversion process triggered by extraordinary events in the world? Events no matter how extraordinary or frightening are not knowledge of God’s spiritual truth. If one is to come to conversion, one has to first know what to convert to which requires first having been given knowledge of what God expects. A period of teaching and learning is required before conversion can occur.
The Laodiceans will have been called by God and will have been given knowledge of God’s spiritual truth sufficient for them to make a decision as occurred with all those that have ever come to conversion. A period of teaching is required prior to being able to make the decision to obey God or not. Conversion means to change from what we are to God’s ways and in order to be able to do so we need to know what are God’s ways before being able to make a decision between God’s way and our ways.
Christ resurrected the rotting and stinking dead body of Lazarus and there were no conversions among those who witnessed the event. They were amazed and thought that Jesus somehow had great powers but the resurrection of Lazarus did not provide them with any spiritual knowledge or understanding of God’s truth.
People are not converted by events no matter how spectacular or scary but, you guessed it, by God’s Spirit as events are not knowledge of God’s truth. At the time of the heavenly signs which precede the conversion of the Laodicean Church, men will not be eagerly seeking to become converted; rather, they will be asking for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them to hide them.
Rev 6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
Rev 6:13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
Rev 6:14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Rev 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
The conversion process during the Millennium will continue in the very same way it has always occurred since the day of Pentecost. It will be by God’s Spirit; not by extraordinary and horrifying events or by God’s Church having become a large visible organization located in a specific city in a specific country with all nations suddenly becoming eager seekers of God’s truth and traveling in great haste to that city to get it.
And this brings us to the main and fascinating focal point of this study.
The Kingdom of God Ruling over Flesh-and-Blood Human Beings?
There are many Scriptures that seem to indicate that during the Millennium, people will gather in Jerusalem to worship the true God and will be eager to hear the truth. Others state that Christ will be King of king and Lord of lords during the Millennium and that God will rule over the nations with a rod of iron compelling men to be converted; forcing them to be happy. As a result of the world being finally ruled by God, there will be peace, great prosperity and joy brought about by a perfect government of spirit beings administering a perfect spiritual law over the nations and on a planet Earth that God will have restored to a Garden of Eden-like beauty.
Let’s start off by looking at some critical and unchanging spiritual principles that from Genesis to Revelation govern God’s administration of His plan of salvation for mankind.
- God created man a free moral agent (Deu 30:19) meaning that he cannot be made to believe something he has not chosen to believe so that he can be held fully responsible for the decisions that he makes. If there is a higher power (including Satan the devil) that can force him to believe something against his will then he cannot be held responsible for his actions as they are based on beliefs imposed on him and over which he has no control. It would also mean there is another being in the universe more powerful than God.
- God decreed that man must choose. (Deu 30:19) He must choose life or death; he cannot ignore the choice that will be given him; refusing to choose life is choosing death. There is no possible in-between state.
- A period of learning some of God’s truth is required before coming to the point where a decision can be made; this is the calling out phase of the salvation process. Until God’s truth is revealed to an individual, he is totally blind to it and he cannot make the decision to choose it or not as he doesn’t even know it exists. (Rom 8:7)
- Man must freely and self-willingly choose to obey God when God reveals Himself to him; it has to be his own decision taken without being forced to do so in any way by God. (Rom 8:14) He must choose to obey God because after having been given to know the truth, he has come to the conclusion that obeying God leads to a more abundant life now and to eternal life in the world to come. God will not force anyone to obey Him.
- Man must be a being of character to be saved i.e., he must willingly and freely without anything or anyone forcing him to do so, submit to God’s authority in his life and this, until the end of his life. This attitude of obedience in all things is recorded in the spirit in man that goes back to God at the time of death. It will be an unchanging part of the spirit character of the resurrected Christian as once a spirit being’s creation is complete, it cannot ever change. God will not grant immortality to anyone whose obedience is not assured.
- The freedom to choose in this life is what makes it possible for men to have individuality and personality and in the resurrection it will make it possible for them to be distinct and separate individuals from God the Father and Christ while being in perfect submission to them as Christ is to His Father. Without the freedom to choose men would be like robots controlled by their programming unable to generate an original thought on their own. They would all be like the animals created by God which God cannot use to reproduce Himself. God wants His Kingdom to be made up of beings like Him i.e., that have their own minds, individuality and personalities so as to be beings with whom God and Christ can have a fully shared level of existence. This is why man was created in the image of God i.e., with mind power which gives him the ability to think and make decisions like God does.
- The freedom to choose given man by God and the requirement for character are the reasons why God will not force anyone to come to conversion or to remain converted. Were it possible for God to reproduce Himself through forcing men to convert and stay converted, it would have been done a long time ago.
- It is impossible for the unconverted to obey God (Rom 8:7) and it is the many who do not follow their calling (Matt 22:14) and of the few who do, it is the few that remain unconverted.(Matt 7:13-14) if we will allow ourselves to believe the Bible.
- The unconverted who are the many now and who will also be the many during the Millennium and the Last Great Day are unteachable i.e., it is impossible for them to learn God’s spiritual truth which is offensive to them and to which they are hostile (Rom 8:7). It will not possible to teach God’s spiritual truth to the nations which to a large extent will be and remain unconverted during the Millennium and the Last Great Day, any more than it is possible to do so today.
- God only exceptionally uses power i.e., the exercise of force over mankind such as at the time of the Deluge, and the physical punishment that came over Pharaoh and ancient Israel. He will use force during the Day of the Lord and in the Great White Throne Judgment. But in all cases, where God uses force or power, it is never to compel men to become converted.
- Conversion is by God’s Spirit and not by the works of men; not even by the works of God’s Church.
- Many are called but few are chosen (Matt 22:14).
- Many are those who have been chosen who take the broad way that leads to destruction (Matt 7:13-14)
- The meaning of items 13 and 14 is that like in our days, though God will pour out His Holy Spirit upon all flesh during the Millennium and the Last Great Day, the majority of people will not become nor stay converted and God will not force them to become or stay converted.
- It will not be possible to run worldwide reeducation campaign to teach the nations the truth of God as during the Millennium to a great extent, the world will remain unconverted and unteachable even though all will have been called.
- And, conversion is an individual and personal process; individuals are converted, not groups or nations.
- The kingdom of God cannot be seen by flesh-and-blood men; they must first be born again as glorified spirit beings. (John 3:3; Luke 17:20).
- God’s Kingdom is wholly made up of glorified spirit beings. This is why Christ clearly said that flesh-and-blood men must be born again as glorified spirit beings to enter the Kingdom of God. In other words, God’s kingdom cannot be established over flesh-and-blood human beings (John 3:3). It is an entirely different level of existence completely inaccessible to flesh-and-blood human beings.
- There are 3 resurrections mentioned in the Bible; there are no other times when men are resurrected except when Christ resurrected people at His First Coming during His 3 ½ year ministry to Israel. People dying during the Millennium, saved and unsaved will be resurrected in the 3rd resurrection; the saved during the Millennium will not immediately become glorified spirit beings at the time of their death. Please see the following study for a detailed explanation of this topic: When are God’s Millennial Saints Resurrected and Will They Appear to the Unconverted?
- God’s plan of salvation for mankind is 7,000 years not 6,000 years; God will not establish His Kingdom over the nations of the earth during the 7th day of His plan of salvation for mankind i.e., during the Millennium.
- God says He does not change (Heb 13:8) and nor does His plan of salvation.
- Israel, flesh-and-blood human beings, is to become a converted nation that will be God’s holy nation and kingdom of priests. (Ex 19:6) This has not yet happened; when will it happen? (Jer 31:31)
- God founded His church which is to never die out as long as there are flesh-and-blood men on the earth (Mat 16:18) and men will continue to exist until the coming of the Lake of Fire at the end of the Last Great Day. Would God then resort to angel and spirit beings to continue His plan of salvation during the Millennium and the Last Great Day when He founded His Church and is maintaining it in existence until the time of the Great White Throne Judgment, specifically for the purpose of teaching newcomers to the faith? (Eph 4:11-12)
- An unconverted physical nation of Israel as well as unconverted nations will exist all through the Millennium and the Last Great Day. (Matt 22:14; 7:13-14)
- God’s spiritual nation of Israel or God’s Church will exist among the unconverted nation of Israel and among the unconverted nations of the world as it does today.
- God is “one” no matter how many separate and distinct individual beings become part of the God family. God the Father and Christ, two separate and distinct beings are one. One is in full submission to the other; this is how they are one. It is also how a man and woman become one in marriage. All future members of God’s Kingdom will be one in the very same way God and Christ are one. (1Co 12:12-27). See the following study for a full explanation of God’s oneness: What is the Kingdom of God?
- The Scriptures cannot be broken; what has been written will be accomplished. This also means that one Scripture cannot contradict another Scripture; otherwise, the Bible is not true. Our understanding of a given verse of the Bible cannot invalidate or contradict any other verses of the Bible. God’s Kingdom cannot at the same time be a kingdom where one must be born again as a spirit being to enter it and also be a kingdom that will exist on the earth among material, flesh-and-blood human beings following Christ’s Second Coming.
The Millennium – a few Pertinent Observations
We know from many Scriptures that during the Millennium God will have to restore the earth to a state where it can sustain life following the great, massive, planetary scale destruction that will have occurred during the Day of the Lord which is part of the time described by Christ as being the time of greatest trouble there ever was to that time or ever shall be. (Matt 24:21) You only need to read Rev 6 onward to understand the great extent to which the planet will have been destroyed. In Isaiah 11, we read of the things God will do to restore the planet to conditions making it possible for human, animal and plant life to again thrive on the earth following the end of the Great Tribulation.
Physically, the planet will be restored but what will happen at the spiritual level?
Will the nations massively convert with only a few stubborn individuals refusing to do so as a result of having been horrified by having witnessed and survived the events of the Day of the Lord?
Will God’s Church in Jerusalem become the religious focal point of the world with the nations rushing to Jerusalem to be instructed in God’s truth and to worship God? Is this how God’s Church has operated in the past? Is it how God’s Church now exists?
Will Christ having returned with great glory and power rule over the physical nations of the world with a rod of iron?
Will First Resurrection spirit beings take over the governments of this world and will the world become peaceful because of God’s perfect law being administered by a perfect government of spirit beings over flesh-and-blood nations that are largely converted?
Will the spiritual kingdom of God exist on the earth during the Millennium and rule over the physical nations of the world? (John 3)
How are the many Scriptures which seem to indicate that God will rule over mankind during the Millennium to be understood considering that the Scriptures cannot be broken i.e., one part of the Bible cannot invalidate or contradict another part of the Bible.
The Scriptures Cannot be Broken
Christ tells us that the Scriptures cannot be broken.
Joh 10:32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
Joh 10:33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
Joh 10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? (See Ps 82:1;6-7 below.)
Joh 10:35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
Joh 10:36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
Psa 82:1 A Psalm of Asaph. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
God judges among the gods which here is referring to flesh-and-blood men. The psalms are part of the Old Testament law which the Jews who were accusing Jesus of having blasphemed by calling Himself the Son of God said they believed. They therefore had no reason to accuse Christ of blaspheming since the Scriptures say all men are the children of the most High i.e., of God. (See Ps 82:6 below) and therefore, as sons of their father who is God, are also gods.
Ps 82:6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
Psa 82:7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
Of course, here God is speaking of Himself as the originator of all life and that men are gods in the sense their life is from God. They are not gods in the sense that they have eternal life or are sinless. God says He will judge them and that they will die; they are mortal human beings who one day will be judged by God.
This is an example of an incredible statement made by Christ which is absolutely true because the Scriptures say so and they cannot be broken.
This principle is of the greatest importance to the analysis we are going to make. God does not change (Heb 13:8) and the administration of His plan of salvation will not change after Christ’s 2nd Coming.
The Scriptures cannot be broken or contradict one another as we go from the Old Testament to the New Testament.
History and Prophecy
For any of us who have been attentively studying the Bible for some time, it has become evident that God often mixes history and prophecy in the verses of the Bible and that one must have an overall view of the big picture of the story of the Bible to be able to correctly distinguish when God is speaking historically from when He is speaking prophetically. It is also essential to know and understand the foundational truths of God’s Church which are from Christ Himself to the disciples and are therefore sure and unchanging.
It is not rare or unusual for a verse or a part of a verse to be about something historical and be immediately followed by a pronouncement which has to do with events yet to occur far into the future.
This can be quite confusing and lead to many erroneous understandings of what God is actually saying. This realization is of particular importance when it comes to understanding correctly many Bible verses where it would seem that God is saying that Christ and His resurrected saints will rule over the physical flesh-and-blood nations of the world during the Millennium by having spirit beings take over the government of this world and forcefully implementing His law on a worldwide basis to compel mankind to be happy and to finally have peace in the world.
As desirable as this might be, if this were to occur, it would mean that God’s plan of salvation during the Millennium would be very different in administration during the Millennium from what it has been since the Day of Pentecost and in the process many verses of the Bible would be contradicted and nullified making the Bible untrue as a whole.
Also, and this is of the greatest importance, at the very heart of God’s plan of salvation for mankind is the requirement that men be free to choose the truth when it is revealed to them and that they must voluntarily, without being forced to do so in any way, submit themselves to God’s rule in their lives until the end of their natural lives. If God could reproduce Himself through forcing men to obey Him, it would not have been necessary to have a 7,000 year plan. Adam and Eve could have been forced to make the right decision and that would all that would have been needed.
However, compelling or forcing obedience in men would result in them not having personality or individuality as their minds would be controlled by God and they would then not be beings through which God could reproduce Himself. They would be like all the other animals God created whose actions are controlled by instinct which are instructions placed in their brains by God which control their every action. God is not using any such animal to reproduce Himself as of all the animals only man was created after the God kind i.e., having mind power, the ability to think and free will, the ability and freedom to make decisions.
Animals can provide enjoyable companionship to men but men cannot relate to them in the same way they can to other human beings. A man on a deserted island full of animal life is still alone. This is why for God to grow His Kingdom, those that are to become part of it must fully share in the very nature of God so that God can fully relate to them.
Let’s examine one by one several of the verses that can lead one to believe that Christ will rule over the physical nations of the world after His 2nd Coming keeping in mind that the Bible to be true cannot contradict itself.
Administration of Salvation during the Millennium
Let’s review how God will proceed to bring salvation to those living during the Millennium and determine to what extent it will be done differently, or not, from the way God has been working out His plan of salvation since the creation of man. The first thing we need to establish is who will God use during the Millennium as His agents of salvation? We know that at Christ’s 2nd Coming there will be the resurrection of God’s saints to glorified spirit existence.
Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they [those saved in the First Resurrection; they become the Bride of Christ and rule with Christ a thousand years] sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
These are those who took part in the First Resurrection. They are all those who since the days of Adam and Eve were called, chosen and faithful. They become glorified spirit beings and the Bride of Christ at the time of Chris’s 2nd Coming. They are in the 3rd heaven with Christ and there they will reign (sit on thrones) with Christ 1,000 years.
Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. [Will rise up in the Last Great Day] This is the first resurrection.
All those who lived from the time of Adam and Eve to the time of the First Resurrection and who have died without ever having been called will rise up in the 2nd resurrection to flesh-and-blood existence of the Last Great Day.
But the question that needs to be answered is how will Christ and His Bride rule during the Millennium? And, the answer to our question can be found in determining who are those that God the Father and Christ now rule and how that rulership is exercised?
Your Bible teaches that God will only ever rule over those who self-willingly and freely choose (Deu 30:19) to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:14) when called and who endure in the truth until the end of their lives (Rev 17:14).
God has created man with free moral agency which means that nothing can force him to believe something against his will i.e., that he has not chosen to believe. This was done so that man would be free to choose between good and evil, life and death when God calls him and reveals His spiritual truth to him. And, after having chosen to live by God’s truth, man has to keep on freely choosing it against the temptation not to do so and in this way be a being of character i.e., someone who without being forced to do so in any way by God will strive to obey Him even when doing so frustrates the lusts of his flesh and of his mind (James 1:13-14).
Will God invalidate all these conditions and requirements during the Millennium and the Last Great Day effectively changing the administration of His plan of salvation for those who will then be alive (Heb 13:8) and nullify a great many Bible verses in the process? (John 10:35)
Who are those over whom God can rule and over whom He has been ruling since the creation of man and does He do it in person on the earth or as a spirit being in the 3rd heaven?
Why none other than those who have been called and who have freely chosen (were not forced) to submit themselves to God. And, collectively, those that are obeying God after having been called are God’s Church. God rules over them by His Spirit dwelling in their minds and by their willingly following the lead of God’s Spirit (Rom 8:14) not by God being a physical presence in their lives. This is how God has been ruling over His Church since its foundation on the Day of Pentecost.
During the Millennium and the Last Great Day, God will rule only over those who are called and chosen i.e., only over those who self-willingly submit to Him when called and keep on doing so for the rest of their lives. God will only rule over men by their free and willing assent to His rule over them; by their following the lead of God’s Spirit. He will not rule anyone by force. (Rom 8:14)
But, many will say, since all will be called during the Millennium doesn’t that mean they will all be converted?
Being called is not the same thing as becoming and staying converted.
Christ plainly and clearly tells us in Scriptures that require no interpretation (Matt 20:16; 22:14) that many are called but few are chosen and, of those chosen, that many take the broad way that leads to perdition (Mat 7:13). Being called is a first step toward conversion, it is not conversion. The next step that needs to be taken is for the called out one to commit to leaving behind his former life and to start living a new life of obedience to God. When that occurs the person is chosen i.e., accepted by God who applies the grace from Christ’s sacrifice to his sins and this until the end of that person’s physical life. Just being called is not enough, one must follow one’s calling and live a new life of obedience to God. Many are called but few are chosen as they refuse to change their lives and make the decision to continue in the world.
Knowing, understanding and accepting the clear message of the Bible that many are called but few are chosen, should make it evident that there cannot be nor will there be a mass conversion of the nations during the Millennium or during the Last Great Day no matter how much this realization may personally displease us. It also means that the peace, security and abundance that will exist during the Millennium will not be due to a converted humanity conducting their lives according to God’s truth.
God, Christ and the First Resurrection saints will rule over and only over the truly converted during the Millennium in the same way God has been ruling over His Church since its foundation, by the truly converted self-willingly following the lead of God’s Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit works invisibly in the minds of the converted or of the children of obedience in the same way but for an entirely different purpose, that Satan is the spirit that works invisibly in the minds of the children of disobedience. (Eph 2:2)
God’s government is not something that is imposed on someone by God, rather it is the result of someone knowingly, willfully and freely submitting to God when given to know God’s spiritual truth. And, this should make it clear to us that no man can claim to represent God’s government in the life of the truly converted and that failure to follow his dictates is a rejection of God’s government over them. Anyone doing so is a liar, the truth is not in him and he is not to be followed.
First Resurrection saints will be the Bride of Christ and part of God’s Kingdom. God and Christ are “one” and the Bride will be one with Christ and God the Father. In God’s plan of salvation, Christ is the Word and the Spokesman, and First Resurrection saints will rule with Christ by their perfect obedience to Christ and God the Father as Christ continues carrying out His Spokesman’s role in God’s plan of salvation. They will be part of God ruling over His called and chosen ones by His Spirit by their being part of the Godhead as Christ’s Bride.
Neither God’s resurrected saints nor Christ will directly and visibly rule over the unconverted flesh-and-blood human beings which will be the great majority of the world’s population during the Millennium and the Last Great Day. (Matt 20:16; 22:14; Matt 7:13)
Another Scripture used in support of the idea that God will rule over flesh-and-blood men during the Millennium is Rev 2:26-27.
Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
As we have just seen, God will not rule by force over anyone to bring about their conversion and we also know that the unconverted cannot be taught God’s truth which is spiritual. They are hostile to it and cannot be subject to God’s law (Rom 8:7).
It is true that during the Day of the Lord, God will exercise power over the unconverted but it will not be to convert them, it will be punishment.
All those that are converted will be part of God’s Kingdom after the First Resurrection and, being one with God, will fully participate in God’s rulership. They will not head or lead in the relatively few times when God will exercise power over the nations. God and the Word are in authority over all who become part of God’s Kingdom. They will exercise power over the nations by being one with God i.e., by being part of the Kingdom of God when the last 7 vial plagues are poured out to bring to completion the wrath of God. They will also exercise power over the nations at the time of the Great White Throne judgment as part of the Godhead when the goats, those not saved are separated from the sheep who are those that are saved before the coming of the Lake of Fire but in all cases they do not do so on their own initiative. They do so by being part of the Godhead which is one and where God is the highest in authority and Christ is the one through which God’s will is carried out.
They will not otherwise exercise power over the unconverted nations during the Millennium. The saved having power over the nations does not necessarily mean that there will be a continuous use of power over the nations as would occur if spirit beings were to rule the day-to-day lives of the people of the world which would mean they are all converted which we know is not what is going to happen but there are specific times where, at key points in the administration of God’s Plan of Salvation over mankind, as part of God’s Kingdom which is one body made up of many members, they will exercise power over the nations through being one with God.
Let’s review another Scripture.
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
God will not rule (exercise power) on a continuous basis over the unconverted nations of the world nor will First Resurrection saints who become one with God. The only time when God will rule over the nations and break them to shivers as the vessels of a potter is at the time of the Great White Throne Judgment which happens at the end of the Last Great Day when the 3rd resurrection occurs. At that time all those who from the time of Adam and Eve were called and either did not follow their calling or turned away from it after for a time having followed it, will be resurrected to flesh-and-blood existence. These individuals from all nations will then be ruled with a rod of iron i.e., an unchanging law will be applied equally to all; all those found lacking will be destroyed in the Lake of Fire. That is when the nations will be broken to shivers as the vessels of a potter hit with an iron rod. They will be judged by God, Christ and the First Resurrection saints where all are one with God and, in this manner, they, the God family will rule (exercise power; directly intervene) over the nations at the time when they are judged and sentenced to the Lake of Fire and the saved among the nations will receive eternal life in the Great White Throne Judgment which occurs at the end of the Last Great Day.
As we have seen, there can be no ongoing forcible rulership by Godly spirit beings over the unconverted (the many will not become converted during the Millennium or the Last Great Day) as they are hostile to God’s law and indeed, cannot be subject to it (Rom 8:7) as well as being blind to God’s spiritual truth. God will intervene when necessary in fulfillment of the prophecies recorded in the Bible and to further the accomplishment of His master plan of salvation for mankind which is what occurs at the time of the Great White Throne judgment when the unconverted are sentenced to the Lake of Fire. Flesh-and-blood human beings who become glorified spirit beings by a resurrection from the dead at the time of Christ’s 2nd Coming are one with God and therefore, full participant in the judgment of the nations.
Conversion cannot be by the forceful imposition of God’s law over men who refuse to obey God. Remember that men to be saved have to be beings of character which is the unforced commitment to obey God when called.
Let’s continue our analysis by looking at a prophecy contained in the book of Daniel.
Dan 2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
Rev 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
God says that in the days of the kings represented by the 10 toes of miry clay mixed with iron of the great statue seen in a dream by Nebuchadnezzar that He will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed and that it will break in pieces all the kingdoms represented by the 10 toes i.e., the kingdoms of men. The 10 toes represent the 7th and last restoration of the Holy Roman Empire which is to last but a short time (Rev 17:12). This empire will end with the devastation of Europe by the Russo-Chinese conglomerate (the Second Woe) and with the supernatural destruction by the returning Christ of the European and Russo-Chinese armies marching toward Jerusalem to attack it.
The time spoken of in Dan 2:44 is a time when God will set up but not actually establish a kingdom that will never be destroyed i.e., the kingdom of God. When the last and 7th restoration of the Holy Roman Empire is destroyed, there is still to come a 1,000 year period of time when mankind will continue to exist followed by a 100 year long Last Great Day. God’s kingdom will be established only after the coming of the Lake of Fire and the end of mankind, not immediately after the destruction of the 7th and last restoration of the Holy Roman Empire.
At Christ’s return, following the destruction of the beast armies in the plains of Armageddon, the next step taken by Christ will be to gather Israel from the four corners of the earth where they had been scattered in captivity among the Gentile nations and to resettle them in the original Promised Land.
As part of God proceeding to set up a kingdom that will last forever (the Kingdom of God made up only of spirit beings that are immortal), Christ will spend 3 1/2 years confirming the covenant with Israel returned from its end-time captivity. At the end of His ministry, the New Covenant will be made with those those Israelites who accept their calling and become His holy nation and kingdom of priests. Then He will pour out of His Holy Spirit upon all flesh (Joel 2:28) as the great in-gathering begins of all those who during the Millennium upon being called, will follow their calling and remain faithful. This great in-gathering will continue on into the Last Great Day and bring to completion God’s plan of salvation for mankind.
Mankind will continue to exist throughout the Millennium and the Last Great Day and it is the many that will not become converted if we will believe what Christ Himself clearly tells us. God during the Millennium and the Last Great Day will not change the conditions for salvation nor how He has been administering His plan of salvation for mankind since the Day of Pentecost. Humanity is to continue as from the days of Adam and Eve i.e., men will continue to have free will and be required to choose God’s way when it is revealed to them by God’s Spirit. These conditions will prevail until the Great White Throne judgment when all human beings that are not saved are consumed in the Lake of Fire, the saved become glorified spirit beings bringing to a completion God’s Kingdom and God creates a new heaven and a new earth.
In the days of the 10 kings represented by the 10 toes of the feet of miry clay of the great statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar in a dream, which is the 7th and last resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire, God will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. The kingdom that will never be destroyed is God’s Kingdom but it does not come into being until after the coming of the Lake of Fire that consumes the wicked followed by God creating a new heaven and a new earth in which there are no more material, mortal, flesh-and-blood men. The elect became glorified spirit beings and the wicked became ashes under the feet of the saints. The New Jerusalem then comes down from heaven (Rev 21:2) and God comes down to the new earth with it and dwells with men.(the ones who became glorified spirit beings; there are no more flesh-and-blood men alive when the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven)
Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Rev 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
What can lead to confusion is that in Rev 21:3, it says that God will dwell with men but these are not flesh-and-blood men. At that point in God’s plan of salvation there are none left as previously explained. Also, in Rev 21:4 God say there shall be no more death, no more pain for these former things are passed away i.e., they were destroyed in the Lake of Fire along with the universe that then existed when God made all things new. The men who no longer die and have no more pain can only men who are glorified spirit beings in God’s Kingdom; they cannot be physical men subject to pain and dying.
This is the time when God’s kingdom is established but its setting up starts in the days of the last resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire which will last but a short time. After its destruction, God will begin the long period of ingathering during the Millennium and the Last Great Day that will bring His plan of salvation to a close at the time of the Great White Throne Judgment at the end of the Last Great Day. We know that after the destruction of the 7th resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire there still remains a 1,100 year time period to be fulfilled (the Millennium and the Last Great Day) where human beings are going to continue to exist. God’s kingdom only comes into being on the new earth (not the current one) at the end of God’s plan of salvation which occurs at the time of the Great White Throne Judgment.
Let’s go to another series of verse which seems to be saying Christ as Lord of lords and King of kings will rule over the unconverted of the world.
Rev 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
This is the last restoration of the Holy Roman Empire which is still in our future.
Rev 17:13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
Rev 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
As we have seen, God will not rule over the unconverted of the world including its unconverted kings and lords who are hostile to His law and cannot be subject to it (Rom 8:7). God’s Kingdom is composed of men who were called, chosen and faithful and who by a resurrection from the dead become glorified spirit beings. It does not include flesh-and-blood human beings who are unconverted and we have already established that during the Millennium, the great majority of mankind though called will remain unconverted.
So who are the kings and lords over which Christ will rule?
Christ will be Lord and King of the lords and kings that will be in God’s Kingdom. But wait, I do not mean to say that Christ will rule over human kings and lords become glorified spirit beings. In God’s Kingdom there will be many positions or offices of responsibility and authority. You will recall that Christ had told His disciples that there are many mansions or different positions at different levels of responsibility in God’s Kingdom. However, God will allocate these offices and positions to the saved based on their works of obedience in this life; the saved do not choose what office they will occupy and the office they will occupy is not based on the office they occupied in the world. It will be entirely God’s choice.
Joh 14:2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
In God’s Kingdom there will be kings and lords (different levels of authority established by God) and these are the ones that will be ruled by Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords. Christ will not rule over the kings and lords of this world as He will not be taking over the governments of this world at the time of His 2nd Coming rather He is coming back to Israel to confirm the New Covenant with them.
Let’s look at some more Scriptures.
In Zech 14:16 – 21 we read the following:
Zec 14:16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Zec 14:17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
Why would those that are left of the nations that came against Jerusalem attend the feast of tabernacles? Is it something that they will gladly do? And, how is it that if supposedly all are converted during the Millennium that God has to punish the nations to get them to come to the Feast of Tabernacles? And how about Gog and Magog attacking Jerusalem at the beginning of the Millennium; are they not all supposed to be converted as God pours out of His Holy Spirit upon all flesh?
Zec 14:18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Zec 14:19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Why is it that we attended the feast of tabernacles? Was it out of fear of punishment from God or was it because we were converted? As we know, people do not go to the feast of tabernacles to become converted; quite the opposite is true, people go to the feast of tabernacles because they are converted.
What would be the purpose of the unconverted being forced to attend the feast of tabernacles?
As an aside, please remember that God’s Church does not observe the Feast of Tabernacles but the Feast of Ingathering. Tabernacles was celebrated by the unconverted nation of Israel and was a reminder of God’s punishment on their forefathers who refused to enter the Promised Land and were made to wander in the desert for 40 years. Ancient Israel was a fully carnal nation that could not understand spiritual truth and the feast of tabernacles was not for the purpose of giving them spiritual truth. But, God’s spiritual nation of Israel celebrates the Feast of Ingathering which looks forward to the time when God will start His final gathering of all those who can be saved. The Feast of Tabernacles is not a step in God’s plan of salvation for mankind while the Feast of Ingathering is. This is fully explained in the following study available on this site which you can access by clicking on the following link: OT and NT Feast Celebration Differences
The carnal-minded nations of the world will be forced to attend the Feast of Tabernacles which for them will be as a yearly physical reminder of the fate of those who rose up against Israel to destroy it. God will not force their attendance to give them spiritual truth; they are not converted and spiritual truth is only knowable by the presence of God’s Spirit in men’s minds. This reminder will be the valley of Hamongog in which there is a place of graves where the armies of Gog and Magog that God supernaturally destroyed when they came against Israel will have been buried. Every year, representatives of the nation of the world will walk though the valley where the armies of Gog and Magog are buried and it will be a reminder for them to not engage in war against Israel or among themselves lest they suffer the same fate.
Israel after its return from captivity became prosperous and were living without any army or other visible means of defense and seemed an easy prey and this is why is was attacked by Gog and Magog.
Eze 39:11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.
Eze 39:12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
Eze 39:13 Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 39:21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
Eze 39:22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
The valley of graves of Hamongog will be the reason (Ez 39:21) why there will be no wars during the Millennium. The nations will fear to suffer the same fate as Gog and Magog should they engage in war i.e., sudden and complete destruction by a secret weapon which Israel seems to have and of which no one knows anything about. God forcing the unconverted nations of the world to attend the feast of tabernacles is not in an effort to bring them to conversion; God will not force anyone to convert (Rom 8:14) or to stay converted. (Heb 6:4-6) but it will serve the purpose of preventing wars during the Millennium. It will be a little bit like when nuclear bombs were used to put an end to the war with Japan. It established the superior power of the United States and there has not been another world war since.
Let’s look at more Scriptures which in this case will be the whole of chapter 14 of Zechariah.
Zec 14:1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy [Jerusalem’s] spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
Zec 14:2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
During the Day of the Lord one of the events that will occur is Jerusalem being attacked and half the city being taken into captivity with the other half remaining in Jerusalem. Once that has occurred, Christ takes on the nations that attacked Jerusalem.
Zec 14:3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
Zec 14:4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Christ’s 2nd Coming occurs; His feet stand on the Mount of Olives and it splits in two providing a way of escape for the citizen of Jerusalem as we read in the next verse.
Zec 14:5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. [Christ’s bride, the First Resurrection saints]
Zec 14:6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
Zec 14:7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
Zec 14:8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
Christ will start healing the earth which will have suffered great devastation during the Day of the Lord.
Zec 14:9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
Satan will have been deposed as ruler over the earth (Rev 20:1-3) and Christ will be its new ruler but it does not follow that Christ will visibly rule over the nations any more than God visibly rules over His Church or that Satan, a spirit being, ruled visibly over the earth during the time of his reign.
Zec 14:10 All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses.
Zec 14:11 And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
There will be changes occurring to the land at the time of Christ’s Second Coming that will render it more habitable.
Zec 14:12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. [Beast power armies that came up against Jerusalem and plundered it are supernaturally destroyed by Christ (Rev 14:20)]
Zec 14:13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; [the armies that fought against Jerusalem] and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
Zec 14:14 And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. [Judah will gather up the wealth of the armies destroyed by God.]
]Zec 14:15 And so shall be the plague (Zech 14:12) of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, [the tents of the armies that attacked Jerusalem] as this plague.
There will be a total destruction of the armed forces that took Jerusalem, ravished the women and took half the population into captivity at the time of Christ’s 2nd Coming.
Zec 14:16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Zec 14:17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
Zec 14:18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Zec 14:19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
That there will be no massive or lasting conversion of the nations during the Millennium is made evident by the fact that God will have to punish the nations for not wanting to attend the Feast of Tabernacles. Converted individuals freely and willingly attend God’s feasts and as has been explained in the following study OT and NT Feast Celebration Differences God’s NT spiritual nation of Israel keeps the Feast of Ingathering which is not the same as the Feast of Tabernacle though the two of them are celebrated on the same dates. The Feast of Tabernacles was for God’s physical and unconverted nation of Israel. It memorializes a historical event in the life of ancient Israel and it does not represent a step in God’s plan of salvation. I will not go on any longer but to highly recommend that you read the study mentioned above for a whole lot more and detailed information on this topic.
Now going back to Zechariah 14.
Zec 14:20 In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar.
Zec 14:21 Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.
These verses are talking about the house of the LORD or God’s Church and is referring to how those who become converted will act. There will be no more Canaanite i.e., unconverted individuals, in the house of the Lord of hosts as the Lord’s House is a spiritual organism in which only the truly converted can dwell.
And, as Paul makes clear, the physical and ceremonial ordinances of Old Testament Israel did not take away sin including the animal sacrifices that had been commanded by God.
Heb 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
They were ritualistic, repetitive, laborious, physical tasks commanded by God for an unconverted nation for whom it was impossible to know and understand spiritual truth in an effort to teach them obedience.
Deu 14:23 And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always.
Ancient Israel was to keep a tithe of their corn, wine, oil, etc to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles at a place chosen by God which sometimes was so far that some of them had to convert the tithes of their corn, wine, firstlings of their herd, etc, into money so they could bring it with them to the site chosen by God (Deu 14:24). There were drink offerings, wave offerings, animal sacrifices, etc. commanded all throughout the year and during the annual holy days as well as compulsory attendance to the annual holy days.
God’s NT spiritual nation of Israel does not need to learn to fear (obey) God by performing physical rituals and ceremonies. They have knowingly and freely chosen to obey God when God called them; they have self-willingly committed themselves to obeying Him to the best of their abilities. And the NT spiritual nation of God is to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24) which OT Israel could not do not having God’s Spirit dwelling in their minds.
Going back to Zech 14:20-21, during the Millennium and even before that time i.e., since the day of Pentecost, there is no longer any need to offer physical sacrifices to God in physical/material vessels such as pots of different sizes that one would use to seethe in i.e., boil meat or other foods as a means of preparing food offerings to God in the days of ancient Israel (1 Sam 2:13).
In NT times, the sacrifice God wants is not food, drink or animals but someone who is of a broken and contrite heart i.e., someone who is no longer resisting Him and wants to obey Him.
Psa 51:15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
Psa 51:16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
Psa 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
During the Millennium following Christ’s 2nd Coming, those in the houses of the Lord of hosts are His elect who are obeying Him worshiping Him in spirit and in truth. This is why all the pots in the House of the Lord will be holiness unto the Lord. There will be no one in the House of the Lord offering offering sacrifices not commanded by God as occurred in the days of ancient Israel. There will be no actual physical pots in the House of the Lord of hosts which is God’s church which is a spiritual entity not a physical one. It is simply a figurative way of saying that in the house of the Lord of hosts we find only the converted who are obeying Him.
Now continuing our review of Scriptures, let’s look at Isa 11:9.
Isa 11:9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
When will the earth be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea?
During the Millennium?
The knowledge of God’s truth is to be found in those individuals who have been called and chosen. During the Millennium all will be called but not all will follow their calling and of those that do follow their calling, there will be many that will take the broad way that leads to perdition. There will continue to be many during the Millennium in whom there will not be the knowledge of the Lord. The time when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD can only be when God creates a new heaven and a new earth in which dwells righteousness i.e., the righteousness of God in each and every member of God’s Kingdom that will then be fully established.
2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Let’s look at some more Scriptures.
Isa 11:10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
Isa 11:11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
Isa 11:12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
The first time God recovered His people was when they came out of Egypt in a first exodus, the second time will be after Christ’s 2nd Coming when He will assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the world and bring them back to the original promised land in a second exodus.
Joe 3:16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
The 7 last plagues are poured out after Christ’s 2nd Coming when His feet shall stand on the mount of Olives (Zech14:4) and before the start of the Millennium. That is how the LORD roars out of Zion.
Joe 3:17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
The time when Jerusalem will be holy is when there will be God’s holiness in it and in those dwelling in Jerusalem and it will be the time when no strangers i.e., unconverted persons, pass through her anymore. All during the Millennium there will be unconverted individuals in Jerusalem and unconverted individuals passing through Jerusalem. End-time physical Israel, itself for the greatest part, will be unconverted. When the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven after God creates the new heaven and the new earth, Jerusalem will be holy and there will be no unconverted persons left on the earth and none will pass through Jerusalem anymore. This is not something that occurs during the Millennium.
Let’s look at another Scripture.
Zec 8:3 Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain.
This is something that will occur after the establishment of God’s Kingdom as the new Jerusalem will exist for all eternity and will be the place where God will dwell. It is not now that place nor will it be during the Millennium. The new Jerusalem in which God will dwell only comes down from heaven after the creation of the new heaven and of the new earth.
Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
The mountain of the Lord spoken of in Zec 8:3 is the nation of the Lord or God’s Church during the Millennium and it is holy because it has God’s holiness in it.
Now let’s examine Zep 3.
Zep 3:11 In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: [talking about those that follow their calling] for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain. [The converted will no longer think of themselves as knowing right and wrong better than God like before their conversion; they will submit to God.]
Zep 3:12 I will also leave in the midst of thee [unconverted Israel] an afflicted and poor people, [God’s Church] and they [the called, chosen and faithful or God’s Church] shall trust in the name of the LORD.
God’s Church is made up of the poor and afflicted people who trust in the name of the Lord. (Is 66:2)
Zep 3:13 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: [This can only be true of those called, chosen and faithful whose sins are always forgiven; they are the converted remnant of Israel who entered the New Covenant] for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid. [God’s Church during the Millennium will not be persecuted.]
This is talking about those of Israel that become converted becoming part of God’s holy mountain and how God will exclude all others. The converted is the remnant which will do no iniquity, speak lies or have a deceitful tongue and God will be their protector.
Conclusion
During the Millennium and the Last Great Day, contrary to what we have been taught, not everyone except a few will become converted as God pours out of His Spirit upon all flesh. God will not change the conditions for salvation. All will be called but few will be chosen and few of them will remain faithful to their calling. This means that there will be many that will not be converted and if not converted, unteachable. It will be impossible to teach them God’s truth which is spiritual knowledge only knowable by the presence of God’s Spirit in men’s minds.
What are some of the indications that during the Millennium not everyone will be converted?
During the Millennium, God will have to punish not individuals but nations that will not come up to the Feast of Tabernacles; they are not converted. Gog and Magog will attack Israel once it becomes established early on in the Millennium; they were not converted. At the end of the Millennium, Satan is released for a short time and there arises a multitude as great as the sand of the sea that converge on Israel to destroy it; they were not or did not remain converted during the Millennium; an uncountable multitude.
Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
If God’s Kingdom was set up on earth during the Millennium and the governments of this world were taken over by spirit beings administering a perfect law over the nations; and with Christ ruling with a rod of iron over the kings and the lords of the earth, would there be war during the Millennium? Would it be necessary for God to punish the nations that refuse to attend the Feast of Tabernacles? Would there be a vast, uncountable number of people rising up to destroy Israel shortly after the end of the Millennium?
How come the nations are not all converted as God pours out of His Spirit upon all flesh as was commonly believed would occur? We know why if we will believe Christ. (Matt 22:14; 7:13)
Can God’s Kingdom rule over the unconverted and is God’s Kingdom something that can be seen by men? In both cases, the answer is no. God’s Kingdom is wholly made up of spirit beings that are invisible to flesh-and-blood men and no flesh-and-blood man can be a part of it or enter it without first being born again by a resurrection from the dead to glorified spirit life. (John 3)
It is not possible for the Kingdom of God to exist on this present earth or to rule over flesh-and-blood men in whom there is no ability to forever or, even for most of the time, fully obey God as it will be possible for those saved when they become spirit beings who never change. The only time when God’s government will exist on the earth is after the Great White Throne Judgment and the coming of the Lake of Fire when God creates a new heaven and a new earth and the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven.
God’s kingdom is eternal and cannot be made up of men who are mortal, who are free to disobey Him; who often do so despite their best intentions and, who in great number can and do turn away from God never to return after having been called. God can only rule over men who freely, without being forced to do so, make the decision to follow the lead of His Spirit and keep on doing so all their lives. He does not force them to obey Him and many refuse to do so when being called and many refuse to keep on doing so after having accepted their calling. In God’s kingdom, all will be fully and forever in perfect submission to God as they are spirit beings who cannot ever change.
And of such beings and, only of such beings, who are immortal and whose obedience to God will forever be perfect is the kingdom of God made. It cannot be made of mortal, sinning men. Christ made it very clear to Nicodemus in the 3rd Chapter of the Book of John that flesh-and-blood, mortal human beings, cannot enter or see the Kingdom of God. Would they be able to become part of it as flesh-and-blood mortals during the Millennium?
God’s Kingdom cannot and will not be established on earth during the Millennium or during the Last Great Day which is a time where the sinner being a hundred will be accursed (Isa 65:20). In other words there will continue to be unrepentant sinners during and until the end of the Last Great Day as there were during the Millennium.
God’s Kingdom will only be established at the time of the creation of the new heaven and of the new earth and with the coming down to earth of the new Jerusalem. It will not be established on the current earth we inhabit and that will exist during the Millennium and the Last Great Day.
Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
The new heaven and the new earth are created after the Great White Throne Judgment and the Lake of Fire. There are then no longer any flesh-and-blood men alive on the earth, not the current one but the new one.
Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
The men spoken of here are not flesh-and-blood human beings; they are the elect who became glorified spirit beings; all the others perished in the Lake of Fire. The new Jerusalem arrives after the destruction of the wicked in the Lake of Fire. It only comes to earth after the creation of the new heaven and the new earth in which dwells righteousness as God cannot dwell with sin. There is no more sin and there are no more flesh-and-blood men.
Rev 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
These men are no longer human beings; they are glorified spirit beings in which dwells immortality (there is no more death); the pain and sorrow they once knew as flesh-and-blood human beings are passed away nor will there be any more pain. These things no longer exist in God’s new heaven and earth in which there are no flesh-and-blood human beings.
Rev 21:5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
The old things of the last 7,000 years are passed away, God makes all things new and this completes God’s plan of salvation for mankind, the establishment of his family, nation and kingdom and His work of reproducing Himself through the flesh-and-blood human beings He had created for that very purpose. And so it is that God can say: “…it is done….”
Rev 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
Those that inherit salvation are those who hungered and thirsted for the life giving truth of God and in God’s Kingdom they are given immortal life in that they drink freely of the fountain of the water of life.
The Kingdom of God which is wholly made up of spirit beings will not and cannot be established over flesh-and-blood human beings during the Millennium or during the Last Great Day. God’s Kingdom will come into being at the end of God’s plan of salvation for mankind after the Great White Throne Judgment and the creation of the new heaven and of the new earth.
Knowing and understanding this provides us with the context needed for us to correctly understand the many Scriptures which seem to state that God will rule over flesh-and-blood men during the Millennium through spirit beings taking over the governments of this world and administering God’s perfect law over it.
God’s Kingdom is not a kingdom that can nor will bear rule over the flesh-and-blood nations of the world. That is not the nature or the reason for its existence. God’s kingdom is of a completely different order of existence than is man and its rule can only be over those who freely and willingly submit to God’s authority when called. It is not a conquering kingdom that will use force to secure the obedience of men who refuse to be be part of it.
Hopefully, you too can understand the impossibility of God ruling by force over mankind; who are those who will be in God’s Kingdom, when it will be established, who are those over whom God can rule and that salvation is not and will not be a thing of the many but of the few that endure faithfully in the truth until the end of their physical lives now, during the Millennium and during the Last Great Day.
God's Spiritual Nation 