STAND FIRM: Millennial Kingdom: Promises Left on Table (Part 2)
A couple of weeks ago, I shared that discovering the “promises still on the table” for Israel has helped me understand the why of the Millennial Kingdom, and I believe if we can come to understand that why, we can understand the 1,000-year kingdom better. As you likely recall, the Millennial Kingdom is the age to come and is explicitly explained in Revelation 20. When Jesus returns to earth with us, the resurrected and raptured saints, He will establish a kingdom on earth ruled from Jerusalem. Satan is bound in the abyss during this time. Along with us, the saints, who have immortal bodies, there are survivors from this age that continue on in finite bodies and have finite offspring. It’s a wild time. It isthe time expected by the first-century Jewish world Jesus came to in His first advent. They expected Him then to rise up and establish this Messianic Kingdom. It is during this 1,000-year period that Jesus being King of the Jews (and world) is more than just a plaque placed above Him on the cross.
It is in the Millennial Kingdom that the promises left on the table to Israel are fulfilled. I closed that previous article by stating, “There were multiple covenants at play in Israel. There is a New Covenant, and it does replace an old covenant, but there were at least three covenants centered on Israel. These three are the Abrahamic, Mosaic and Davidic Covenants. Two of these were unconditional and one conditional.”
The Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants are unconditional covenants meaning that the promise within them will come to pass regardless of what Israel does on their end. In these two covenants, the agreement between Israel and God doesn’t require Israel to do anything to receive the conditions of the promise. The Mosaic Covenant is different, it is conditional. For Israel to enjoy the promises of God, they are required to uphold their end of the covenant.
The first covenant with Israel to appear in Scripture and history is the Abrahamic Covenant. We see it mentioned first in Genesis 12 and then officially “cut” in Genesis 13. This covenant was made between Abraham and his descendants as the beneficiaries and God as the guarantor. In this covenant, Abraham and his descendants were promised the land. In Ezekiel 47-48, the prophet relayed the boundaries of this promised land and, to date, the Jewish people have never possessed that full amount of land. Therefore, there is a promise of an exact amount of land for Israel (and Gentile believers grafted in) left on the table. This promise could not be revoked because it was an unconditional covenant.
The second covenant to appear was the Mosaic Covenant. The “cutting” of this covenant happened on Mount Sinai during the Exodus, and it was reaffirmed on the edge of the Promised Land before Joshua took over leadership. Throughout the history of Israel, the prophets aimed at bringing the people back to their role in the covenant. Since this was a conditional covenant, both sides (Israel and God) had responsibilities. God promised that if Israel kept the law (Genesis-Deuteronomy), they would be blessed and could live in the Promised Land. But if Israel did not keep their conditions, they would face curses and be driven from the land. The role of the prophets was to call the people to come back and warn of the curses if they didn’t.
Ultimately, Israel didn’t hold their end of the deal. The evidence in Scripture is that they would never be able to fully keep the law, but fortunately, prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel foretold that a New Covenant would come, and this covenant would “write the law on their hearts” and “turn their hard hearts of stone.” In other words, this New Covenant would allow them to carry out the Law and therefore live in the land. This New Covenant would replace the Mosaic Law and turn it into an unconditional covenant. Through salvation, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and ultimately glorified bodies, Jews (and grafted in Gentiles) would be able to live in the Promised Land. This Promised Land will be the Millennial Kingdom, especially within the land dimensions given by Ezekiel. Ultimately, this Promised Land will be the New Heavens, New Edenic Earth and the New Jerusalem that follows the 1,000 years. So, even the conditional Mosaic Covenant and the superseding New Covenant are on the table and will be fulfilled through saved Jews and Gentiles living in the Millennial Kingdom.
The third covenant to appear is the Davidic Covenant. It really just added to the Abrahamic Covenant. In II Samuel 7, Nathan the prophet appeared before King David to give him instructions concerning the temple, during which Nathan shared that God is promising that there would be a descendant of David who would become king of Israel and reign forever. This was an unconditional promise between David and Israel on one side and God on the other. Israel wasn’t required to do anything. God guaranteed He would send a Promised King who would sit on the throne in Jerusalem and rule Israel eternally. An enemy would never take Israel down again. Like the promise of land, the promise of an eternal king in the line of David has never happened, but it will because God promised. So, the promise of land, the promise of the capability to live in the land, the promise of a king and the promise of an eternal kingdom ruled from Jerusalem are all on the table. For God to be true to His Word, they must come to pass. Their coming to pass is a big why for the Millennial Kingdom.
— Jake is the newest state missionary and would love to share about the work in Northwest Arkansas and encourage your church to stand firm. (standfirmministries.com)
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Jake McCandless
Jake McCandless authors a weekly column titled, Stand Firm and Live Epic, through which he seeks to encourage the modern church to not just survive, but thrive in current times. He also addresses many end-times topics.
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