89. The Greatness of the Kingdom

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Hymns: RHC 549 When We All Get to Heaven Maybe Today 30 When This Passing World Is Done

Isaiah 35

1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. 2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. 3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. 4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. 7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall begrass with reeds and rushes. 8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. 9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: 10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

The Greatness of the Kingdom

OUTLINE

  • Rejuvenated Earth and People (v1-7)
  • Highway Established to Jerusalem (v8-10)

INTRODUCTION

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation of our faith and the focus of our hope. He is our Creator, Redeemer and coming King.

A day is coming when our Lord will return to establish His kingdom on earth in answer to the prayer of the church – Thy Kingdom Come (Matthew 6:10)

Daniel 7:26-27 (KJV) But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy itunto the end. 27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Isaiah 34-35 is the climax of all that Isaiah had said from Isaiah 13 the judgment of Babylon through Isaiah 33, the coming of the kingdom.  

This will come after the day of the LORD’S vengeance in Isaiah 34 which is the period at the end of the 7-year Great Tribulation. It is the climax of Jewish Holocaust under the Antichrist system. 

Isaiah 34:8 For it is the day of the LORD’S vengeance and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.

The church is not featured because the church is raptured. The church has received her blessed hope.

The millennium[1] is the period of a thousand years during which Christ will reign on earth (Rev. 20:1-7). It is a period characterized by peace (Isaiah 2:3-5). Men and women will live to ripe old age like in the times before the global flood (Zech. 8:4). Jerusalem will be the capital of the world. Nations will come to Jerusalem to worship the King Jesus who will bear rule. Rain will be withheld, and plague will befall the nations that will not come to pay tribute (Zech. 14:16-19). Jerusalem will be a truly holy city (Zech. 14:20-21). The saints will rule with Christ for a thousand years (Rev. 20:6).

This is the period that begins at the end of the 7 years of Great Tribulation after the battle of Armageddon.

The Lord at His coming shall send a plague to smite all the people that fight against His people in Jerusalem (v 12). Secondly, there will be seen mutual annihilation of Israel’s enemies through a supernatural panic like the time of Gideon and the Midianites (v 13, Jud 7:22). The third weapon that God employs against the enemy is Judah, the strength divinely given to the remnant to spoil the nations of their great abundance of wealth (v 14). The plague will also consume all the common animals (v 15). There will be a holocaust of the heathen armies in Jerusalem as God judges them. The word “holocaust” is made up of two Greek words “holos” meaning “completely” and “kaustos” meaning “burnt” derived from the Hebrew word “shoah” connoting catastrophe, calamity, disaster and destruction. It is the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War Two, as part of a program of deliberate extermination planned and executed by the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi) regime in Germany led by Adolf Hitler. The Jews were at first shot. Later the introduction of gas chambers quickened the killing process. They were stripped of all their valuables, even their gold teeth were being plucked out. These atrocities were unspeakably wicked. 

The death suffered by those whose “flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet and eyes shall consume away in their holes and their tongues shall consume away in their mouth” is most atrocious. This plague came upon them because they would not submit to our Lord Jesus Christ. They might have thought that the might of all the nations was sufficient to fight the King of kings and Lord of lords. This is the ill-informed pride of a rebellious heart that caused their downfall. Have you been rebelling against God’s laws and there seems to be no sign of God’s judgment? Repent!

The belief in a literal earthly kingdom presided over by Christ Himself implies that Christ will return before the millennium begins and is thus termed premillennialism. This is the biblical view based on the literal method of interpreting the Bible.

This kingdom will be on earth, not in heaven (Ps 2:8; Isa 11:9). The Lord shall reign as King over all the earth (Zech 14:4, 9, 16; Ps 2:6; Ezek 37:24-25; Hos 3:4-5; Zeph 3:14-17). 

This kingdom shall be absolute (Dan 7:27) and He shall judge the world in righteousness (Isa 11:4-5). Then peace shall finally come to this war-scarred planet (Isa 2:3-4; Mic 4:3-4). 

Israel shall have a final, permanent return to its homeland (Amos 9:15; Isa 43:5-6; Jer. 30:3; Ezek. 37:21-22; 38:8). 

Messiah’s government shall centre in Jerusalem (Mic 4:1-2; Zech 2:10-12; 8:4-5) and no longer will violence be heard in the land (Isa 60:18). Israel shall rebuild its temple (Dan 9:27; 12:11; Ezek. 40-48) and be a redeemed people (Jer 31:33-34; Zech 12:10; 13:1, 6, 9). 

Redeemed Israel shall then become a messenger of salvation to the Gentiles (Zech 2:11; 8:23; Mal 3:12), who shall believe and become part of the family of God (Isa 11:9-10; 42:6; 60:3). 

However, there will be certain geographical changes (Zech 14:4; Isa 11:15; Hag 2:6-7), with fertility restored to the land (Amos 9:13-14) and great changes to the animal kingdom (Isa 11:6-9). [Dictionary of Premillennial Theology, Mal Couch – General Editor]

  • Rejuvenated Earth and People (v1-7)

1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. 2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. 

At the return of Christ, the Holy Land will be transformed. The joyful flourishing of Christ’s kingdom is given here (v1-2).

It is not as His first advent in humiliation but in glory to save His own people Israel from her enemies and to establish His Millennial rule on earth. The nations of the earth will invade Jerusalem and humiliate God’s people Israel. The city of Jerusalem is like a crushing stone that brings severe injury to those who would attempt to remove it from its place. 

The history of the siege of Jerusalem can be traced to 925 B.C. by the Egyptian Pharaoh Shishaq and the Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem in 701 B.C. by Sennacherib. In 597 B.C. the siege was by Nebuchadrezzar II, which crushed a rebellion in the Kingdom of Judah and resulted in the deportation of King Jehoiachin to Babylon. Then in 587 B.C. by Nebuchadrezzar II, who fought Pharaoh Apries’s attempt to invade Judah. It ended in the destruction of the city and First Temple, and the exile of prominent citizens to Babylon. In A.D. 70, the Roman General Titus led a siege that resulted in the destruction of Herod’s Temple. In A.D. 614, Shahrbaraz (Sassanid general) captured the city from the Byzantines. In A.D. 637, Umar captured the city from the Byzantine Empire. In A.D. 1099, by the Crusaders, as part of the First Crusade. In A.D. 1187, by Saladin, resulted in the recapture of the city by the Muslims. In A.D. 1244, by the Khwarezmians, again resulting in the recaptured the city from the Christians, to whom it had been returned by treaty. The Battle of Jerusalem in 1917 involved the capture of the city in the Sinai and Palestine campaign of World War I by British and Commonwealth forces. Then in 1948, during the Arab-Israeli War, Israel now occupied Jerusalem. 

As a result of the great earthquake (v 5), great physical changes will transform the Holy Land. A new and living river shall flow from Jerusalem toward the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. They will be joined. The streams shall be perennial and not dry up even in summer. The Dead Sea shall come alive, filled with all kinds of fishes. It is possible to go fishing in the Dead Sea like the many who fish for St Peter’s fish in the Sea of Galilee today (v 8). Psalm 46:4 also shed further light: “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.” 

The land will be turned into a plain that will allow smooth traffic flow for the nations of the world to come to Jerusalem to worship the King of kings and Lord of lords. The day will be neither light nor darkness (Zech. 14:6). In the evening, there shall be light (Zech. 14:7). We cannot fully fathom this new lighting condition. The climate will also be transformed, there will be a supernatural canopy over the land protecting it from the storm and rain, Isaiah 4:5-6, “And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.” 

Most emphatically, “…the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one” (Zech. 14:9). Ponder this blessed truth – God physically dwelling in the midst of His people – “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.” On earth today, God has been denied and forgotten, His honour discarded and His commandments transgressed. Nations seek not His glory nor show forth His praise. May it not be so for us! 

3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. 4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you. 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. 7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

 The weak are encouraged by the virtues and privileges of the Gospel. There will be a physical and spiritual transformation. In the Millennium, diseases will be eliminated. There will be healing on earth because our Lord Jesus Christ, the Great Physician rules from Jerusalem over the earth.

And there will be healing and strength so men will live long lives.

Isaiah 65:14-25 (KJV) Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit. 15 And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name: 16 That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes. 17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. 20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them. 24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

  • Highway Established to Jerusalem (v8-10)

8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. 9 No lion shall be there, nor anyravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: 10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

There will be a way that leads to Jerusalem to meet with the LORD. The highway that is called “the way of holiness”. The LORD Himself will be the example par excellence ruling on earth. There will be peace on earth with no more violence. The ravenous nature of wild animals will be no more. The animals will be tamed. No more violence.

[1] From two Latin words “mille” and “annus” which means “a thousand years”, the Greek word “Xilia” is only used in Revelation 20:2-4, 6 in the Greek text.