Christ’s return on the Mount of Olives will unleash a series of events that reverses the curse. He will reign for a thousand years over all the earth as well as into eternity. Pastor Lutzer anticipates the second advent of Christ through a song. What wonders we will behold in that day!
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Transcript: Welcome to "5 Minutes with Pastor Lutzer." I'm so glad that you joined us again today. We're speaking about prophecy and if you missed last time, I hope that you go back and listen because it is about the return of Jesus Christ to the Mount of Olives. And all believers will be with Him. What a spectacular event!
But today I need to emphasize that when Jesus Christ returns, it is to establish His kingdom. What do we mean when we say "Thy kingdom come?" And what is the kingdom going to be like? Well, of course, there are many people who dispute what this means but to share my heart with you I need to emphasize that when the angel spoke to Mary, think this through—the angel comes and says, "You're bearing a child. He shall be the Son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give onto Him the throne of His father, David, and He shall rule over the house of Jacob forever." Now if you were Mary how would you understand that? Wouldn't you understand that to mean that Jesus—that there is going to be a time when the child that you are bearing is going to actually rule from earth? Many of us believe that that's going to take place after the glorious return of Jesus Christ and in Revelation chapter 20, we have some details as to what is going to take place.
So, yes, the coming kingdom is going to be an earthly kingdom and we will rule with Christ. We will have glorified bodies. I know that it's very hard sometimes to follow all of these details but I'm after your heart, your understanding, and the anticipation that all of us should have of the return of Jesus Christ. Chapter 20—"I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit with a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it up and sealed it, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer." I love this passage. An unnamed angel coming with the authority of God. All that he needs is God's authority to say to Satan "Here's the bottomless pit. Here's where you go into this pit and I'm going to seal you in it." The power of God given to a nameless angel. What an experience of God's power.
Now we learned last time that the beast and the false prophet, they have been thrown into the lake of fire. At the end of this passage we discover that Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire. Eventually he is let out after a thousand years. By the way, that expression "a thousand years" occurs six times in the 20th chapter of the book of Revelation here. But then Jesus is going to rule. There will be a battle at the end of the thousand years because those who enter the kingdom are going to have children. Those children will undoubtedly often rebel and they'll be a final battle but that'll be taken care of quite quickly.
What is life going to be like in the Kingdom? Every Christmas I love to sing "Joy to the World." But I have to tell you that I always sing it with a smile on my face. And the reason is most people don't realize that the author of "Joy to the World" actually was not describing Jesus born in Bethlehem. He was describing the coming kingdom. And as I was thinking about this, I thought you know there's no better way for me to describe it than to read some of the stanzas of "Joy to the World." "
Joy to the world, the Savior reigns! Let men their songs employ, while fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains, repeat the sounding joy." Well that isn't exactly happening today is it? "No more let sin and sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground." Are you kidding? I was born on a farm and we had a lot of thorns and we had a lot of weeds. "He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found." During the period of the kingdom the curse is going to be lifted and then look at this verse. "He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness and wonders of His love."
Does that happen when you watch the news everyday, that He makes the nations prove the glories of His truth and grace? I don't think so. But that's the way it's going to be in the coming kingdom. The curse will be partially lifted. People will still die. The lamb and the lion shall lie down together. The animal kingdom is going to be tamed. Eventually this kingdom that lasts a thousand years is going to become a part of the eternal kingdom and then we shall live forever and ever in a place called the New Jerusalem.
I hope that you enjoy these episodes and be sure to subscribe and follow because next time I'm going to be giving you a description of the most chilling passage of scripture in all the Bible. It'll take your breath away. It might cause you fear but well it should, especially if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Savior. And then eventually, well, we are going to talk about the New Jerusalem and what a place it's going to be. We have so much to look forward to but as for today you just go with God.