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The Good News of a World Set Free “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” (Isaiah 11:9). When Jesus Christ returns, “the kingdoms of this world [will] become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” (Revelation 11:15). Satan’s world, built on a foundation of lies and deception, will come crashing down, replaced by the Kingdom of truth and light. To grasp the magnitude of the transformation that will take place at the coming and implementing of the Kingdom of God, we need to understand the magnitude of Satan’s centuries-long deception. It is difficult even to begin to see how great, how pervasive, that deception has been when we have been a part of it since our birth. After all, a deceived person doesn’t know he is being deceived. To him the deception is what appears normal—it’s the truth that seems odd! We need to grasp the fact that Satan has constantly deceived and manipulated mankind on every conceivable level. The prophecies of the book of Revelation only begin to scratch the surface of what must take place for the Kingdom of God to be established. One message that comes through loud and clear is that Christ will have to tear virtually everything down and start over. It will be the only way to root out the last vestiges of Satan’s system. Tearing down and starting over When you read through the book of Revelation you learn that it isn’t only the obvious areas of deception—such as Satan’s end-time political and religious systems—that must be rooted out and destroyed. At Christ’s return everything will come crashing down, to be swept away. He will start over afresh. Everything that Satan had a hand in building—governments, political systems, economic systems, educational systems, entertainment, media and information systems, every form of society and civilization that we have invented and established over the course of man’s history—must be replaced with something far superior. Why? Because everything in this present world has been built on a wrong foundation. It is all founded on Satan’s deceptions and outright lies. It has been built on his values—constructed to his specifications, you might say. Virtually without exception this world’s systems have all been constructed with no guidance or direction from God. This is not God’s world. It is not His society. It is not His civilization. It is not built on His values, laws or way of life. Satan has deceived the world for centuries and organized it according to his values rather than God’s. Satan’s deception is an active, continuing process. At every turn he has taken mankind farther and farther away from God and His instructions for us. Each generation has built on layer after layer of previously established deception. Just as Satan deceived the whole world in the past, he is deceiving it now and will continue to delude it until God puts him away at Christ’s return. Then everything he has built must be completely crushed and swept away. It is not pleasant to contemplate, but much of the horrendous destruction and devastation poured out on earth as described in the book of Revelation is God’s judgment on mankind and civilization. As we noted earlier, Satan will embark on a frenzy of destruction as the end of his rule draws near and he wages a desperate war to thwart the returning Jesus Christ. But what is left of Satan’s empire will be annihilated by Jesus as He assumes the role of King of Kings. Just as a new building cannot successfully be built on the rotting foundation of a destroyed structure, God must raze the remnants of Satan’s edifice before He can build a new foundation. A new kind of government At Jesus’ return those who have been God’s faithful followers over the centuries—who have successfully resisted Satan’s deceit and rebellion—will be resurrected to immortality (1 Corinthians 15:5054; 1 Thessalonians 4:16). God’s Word says of these people: “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6). Christ, as we have seen, will return to reign on earth (Zechariah 14:4, 9). Revelation 5:10 says of those resurrected to be with Christ, “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth” (NIV). God has in mind an awesome purpose for His faithful servants. They are not destined for a life of idleness and ease in heaven for eternity. God has called and is training them for a great responsibility—to reign with Christ as rulers and priests to build a perfect, just and godly civilization on earth! Christ’s kingdom, the Kingdom of God, will be a literal kingdom ruling over the earth. Daniel 7:27, referring to the establishment of this kingdom, tells us that “the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him” (NIV). Verse 14 tells us even more clearly that this will be a literal, worldruling government. Daniel describes God the Father giving Jesus the Messiah authority and responsibility over the earth: “. . . To Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.” The governmental systems of mankind for centuries have proven their inherent inability to solve our many problems. Now they will be replaced by a ruler and form of government that can at last solve those problems. Jesus Christ will personally rule the peoples of the earth. This central truth is at the heart of the gospel—the good news— that Jesus taught. The focus of His message is the announcement of a coming world government (Luke 21:31) that will not be administered by blinded people who have been duped by Satan. It will be not be ruled by selfishly motivated humans but by Jesus Christ Himself (verse 27). Building a God-centered civilization The Hebrew prophets give us dozens of prophecies throughout the Old Testament about this exciting time. One that perhaps best describes the differences between the world tomorrow and today’s world is found in Isaiah 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.” Today’s world is full of hurting and destruction. It is blinded to the knowledge of God we so desperately need. Once Satan is removed, along with his attitude of vanity, jealousy, greed, selfishness and hostility, humanity can begin to learn and then experience peace. Satan will no longer be around to blind the world and enshroud it in spiritual darkness. The world will at last experience freedom from Satan’s spiritual enslavement (John 8:32). People will at last learn godly values and the right way to live—the way to prevent and remove pain and misery. The prophet Micah describes this time of unprecedented peace: “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. “He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid . . .” (Micah 4:1-4). With Satan-induced blindness removed, men, women, boys and girls everywhere will at last begin to recognize the blessings that come from following God’s way. They will eagerly stream to Jerusalem, Christ’s capital city, to learn His way of life. Prophecies of Christ’s rule. In one of the Bible’s best-known (but least-understood) passages, the prophet Isaiah describes the kind of ruler Jesus will be: “. . . The government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever . . .” (Isaiah 9:6-7). In contrast to the injustice, incompetence and oppression that so often characterize governments today, “judgment and justice” will be hallmarks of Christ’s coming reign. A new, benign kind of epidemic will break out throughout the world, affecting marriages, families, communities and nations. It will be an epidemic of peace. As Isaiah prophesied, “there will be no end” to peace under Jesus Christ’s reign (verse 7). The Prince of Peace will bring calm and goodwill to a world that has never known lasting peace. Under Christ’s righteous rulership, mankind will at last learn God’s ways and experience a wonderful peace. Educational institutions will teach people how to live, not just how to make a living. Biblical principles for healthy and lasting relationships will be thoroughly explained. The multiple millions of people who have never known God’s laws or ways in a world blinded by Satan for thousands of years will at last have access to that wonderful, saving knowledge. (To learn more about the promised Kingdom of God, be sure to request your free copy of the booklet The Gospel of the Kingdom.) The millennial kingdom and beyond Christ will usher in a literal kingdom, the Kingdom of God, on earth. But this is not the end of the story. Notice Revelation 11:15: “Then the seventh angel sounded:And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’” Jesus Christ will reign over the nations in a literal kingdom for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:3-7). Yet we are also told that “He shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15). In other words, the 1,000-year reign (commonly called the Millennium, derived from the Latin words mille, meaning “thousand,” and annus, meaning “year”) is just the beginning of Jesus’ eternal reign in the Kingdom of God. Indeed, the reign that Christ will share with the resurrected saints during this time will take place for the very purpose of offering entry into the eternal Kingdom of God to all mankind. Millions of physical human beings alive at Christ’s return will live through the devastation of the prophesied end-time events into the Millennium, after which many more generations will be born and live. They will all be given an opportunity for eternal life, to be changed from their physical lives and bodies to spirit and to enter into the eternal Kingdom of God. When He taught about the Kingdom of God, Jesus made it clear that ultimately it is an eternal kingdom, not one that lasts only 1,000 years. In Matthew 19:16 we read of a wealthy young man who asked Jesus a fundamental question: “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” Jesus explained to him that he must keep God’s commandments and “be perfect” (verse 21). When it became clear that the young man was not willing to do all that would be required, Jesus went on to say in verse 24 that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Here, entry into the Kingdom of God is equated with eternal life. Yes, the millennial reign of Christ will open the door for millions of human beings to be saved and enter the eternal Kingdom of God. The Millennium, a time of unparalleled peace, happiness and prosperity, will be just a foretaste of the even greater eternal Kingdom. Unknown to most people, God established a series of festivals picturing how He will eventually reconcile humanity to Himself. In the process represented by the festivals, we learn why God allows Satan to exist until Jesus Christ’s return to earth to establish the Kingdom of God. (To learn more about these days of worship, be sure to request your free booklet God’s Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind.) Satan’s final role But the Bible reveals that Satan plays one final role after Christ’s return and the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Earlier we read that Satan will be bound “so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished” (Revelation 20:3). But, then, “after these things he must be released for a little while” (same verse). During the Millennium many will be born who will not be exposed to Satan’s influence. God’s way will be the only way they will have ever known. Yet the Scriptures reveal that God tests people to see if their obedience is from the heart (Deuteronomy 8:2; Revelation 2:10). One way He does this is to allow them to choose between good and evil (Deuteronomy 30:19). The book of Revelation describes one such way this will happen at the end of the Millennium. Notice how it will occur: “When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them” (Revelation 20:7-9, NIV). God does not reveal whether this is the only test He will give during the Millennium to separate those who sincerely want to obey and follow Him from those who don’t. But it will certainly be the final and most significant test. It will be a vital part of the judgment process, to determine once and for all where any root of the devil’s attitudes and thinking remain on earth. Here, at the end of the Millennium, those who have chosen to follow Satan will be gathered together at once and destroyed. No longer will humans have the opportunity to choose satanic, evil ways. Then comes the time for Satan’s permanent constraint: “And the Devil who deceived them was cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet were. And he will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (verse 10, MKJV). He will never again be allowed to deceive anyone. Transformed heaven and earth In the end there will be only God and those who have chosen His way rather than Satan’s. In the book of Revelation John describes another incredible sequence of events after the 1,000-year reign of Christ: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Revelation 21:1, NIV). In this new world “the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (verse 3, NIV). Satan’s rule as “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4, KJV) will be but a vanishing memory. Revelation 21:4 tells us what the world will be like when Satan’s influence is no more: “[God] will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (NIV). Is there really a devil? Yes. Absolutely. But God assures us the time is coming when Satan and his works—the physical suffering, misery, mental anguish and mourning he brings—will be no more. May you have the wisdom, strength and love for truth to resist his deception and be there to see that day!
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