Two Roads Two Destinies 14 Ireland st.chapel — Worth Ellis

The Thousand-Year Reign and the First Resurrection

Revelation 20, verse 1,. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, who was a devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and set him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more till a thousand years had been fulfilled.

And after that he must be loose for a little season. And I saw crones, and they that 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 who had not worshipped the beast, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands.

They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection, whom such the second death hath no power.

They shall be priests with God and with Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall be brought to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, frogs and magogs, who gathered in the devil to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

The Great Tribulation and the Coming of Christ

And they went up from the breadth of the earth, from the compass of the camp of the saints about, and to the lost city, and five came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. In the eleven o 'clock hour this morning, we were considering the subject here in our talk of the Great Tribulation, and we learned that shortly after the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, who he shall himself be seen from heaven when he shall be the voice of the archangel and the prophet God at this time the dead in Christ shall rise first, we were alive in the dream that his believers shall be called up together with converted in this house to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Shortly following this event, the Great Tribulation period commences. It won't come this time, but will last approximately seven years. This is to be a time when once more God will intervene in the affairs of the human family, and again demonstrate a principle we noticed in Romans 1 .18 this morning.

We learn in our Bible that the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness, and the fact that God for some 2 ,000 years has not intervened in the affairs of man is an indication of the fact that we are living in a period which the Bible refers to as the grace of God.

This is not a day of judgment in which we are living, but a day of salvation. The value we saw this morning of the sacrifice of Christ is so great that it has enabled God, in view of the righteous character of his, to hold back his judgment for 2 ,000 years.

The tremendous value of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus in vindicating the righteousness and the holiness of God, and providing a salvation that so perfectly satisfies the judgment of God against us, that that death and resurrection of Christ have held in judgment now, or in abeyance, I should say, for 2 ,000 years of judgment of God against sin.

But there is going to be, and that's our subject this morning, another visible display of the divine displeasure of God against sin, and in whom God shall punish this world during that period of time in the Bible known as the time of goodness, or the great tribulation.

Now, immediately following the great tribulation, and this is this year, we must say, and ushered in at the rapture, this time of good tribulation shall be climaxed by the revelation of Jesus Christ, which is to be distinguished from the rapture, in that this is a secret coming through the air at this time the Lord's people go to be with him, and at the revelation, climaxing the tribulation period, the Lord Jesus returns to the earth.

At this time, his people shall come with him, his feet shall stand upon the mount of others, and at this time, also, shall be gathered before him all the nations of the earth. First and last is, he institutes a reign which, in the word of God, is known as the Kingdom.

The Kingdom of David and the Millennium

For, I must imply, comes as a reference to this time in the Old Testament, always referred to as the Kingdom, referring to a time when the Lord Jesus himself shall look on it, sit upon the throne of David in the city of Jerusalem.

I read across the set in chapter 13 and verse 1, that a king shall reign and righteousness. This is going to be the great society that foolish, guided men have sought to bring about. The Lord Jesus is going to bring it about, and he himself institutes his reign of righteousness, a reign of peace.

Now, the substance of the Millennium is related here in our subject for tonight. Now, we pointed a few times when we spoke on the subject of the rapture that this word is not found in the Bible. The rapture this year, again, is that time when the people of God shall be called to be with the Lord forever in the air.

The Millennium is not found in the Bible, either, as regards this specific title. This word, Millennium, is a theological term that comes from two words from the Latin language. The word mill, meaning a thousand, and innum, or annum, ranium.

So, it's not mentioned by the name of Millennium, but we'll note it in the passage we read tonight in chapter 20 that the thousand years of time is mentioned six different times in this passage. Where we have read, prophesied, multiplied, hundreds of times in the Old Testament, it is called the king.

So, tonight we want to look into the word of God and see if the doctrine of a millennial reign, thousand years reign of peace, is substantiated by a corrected teaching of the word of God. This is very important because there are people who are called amillennialists who do not believe that there's going to be a little kingdom.

As a matter of fact, there are some who believe that we certainly are living in the Millennium. A lady taught me that one time, and she said that we are living in a Millennium now, and in a mix of theology.

She said the tribulation follows the Millennium, and I said to her, I said, if this is Millennium in which we're living now, God help us in the tribulations on the law. So, now let us look through the word of God and see what the Bible has to say about the doctrine of the Millennium.

Daniel's Image and the Four Gentile Kingdoms

I hope you turn with me to the prophecy of Daniel, chapter 2, because here in the second chapter of the prophecy of Daniel, and also as you shall see in chapter 7, you have the foundation of all the prophetic scriptures regarding a coming great kingdom, that coming great age of peace.

You know, it is hard for you and for me to realize this, and to really grasp the fact that for 1 ,000 years, peace shall reign upon this earth, there'll be no more wars, there'll be no more rumors of war, and this earth is going to revert back to its evident condition before sin first rears its head in God's creation.

It's hard for us to grasp this truth because of the society and the age in which we live. What I want us to do now is to look simply in the word of God and find, first of all, the prophecy and then trace it from this point right on through to its establishment, and then look at something of the character of this kingdom from the Old Testament that will give us an insight into just what kind of a world we will have for those 1 ,000 years.

When you come to Daniel chapter 3, Leviticus 19 was on the horns of a dilemma. He had had a vision or a dream, and it's difficult when you have a dream and don't know what it means. But, when you have a dream, and not only you do not know what the dream means, but you forgot what the dream was all about, that is indeed a problem.

So, calling all the sheep sayers and others, you could find nobody to interpret his dream, and then it was brought to the attention that there was a man named David, a Daniel, who was an interpreter of dreams.

Daniel was one of the chosen young people of Israel who was carried away on the Nebuchadnezzar in the Babylonian captivity. Now, Daniel interprets the dream for the king, and he talks in verse 39 of chapter 2.

Now, he's standing before the king, and he says after the old king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed what should come to pass hereafter. Now, here is the subject of debate. It's the thing that should come to pass hereafter.

I must say right here that the scope of the vision reaches from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, you shall see shortly, in the thirty-eighth verse until the coming of Christ in Judgment under the fingers of Snakestone in the thirty-fourth verse, which we shall look at just shortly.

Apparently, this period of time from Nebuchadnezzar's reign over the kingdom of Babylon until Christ comes back in Judgment, and then becomes the amount of all this. In that period of time, the Lord Jesus speaks of in Luke chapter 31 and verse 24 as the times of the Gentiles.

Times of the Gentiles being that period in the history of the human race when Gentile power holds sway over this earth, and so the subject of the vision is what's going to happen following that period of time from Nebuchadnezzar's reign until the coming of Christ in Judgment.

Now, look in verse 31, "...thou, O king, saw it, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and it formed thereupon a parable. The image's head was a fine bow, his breast and his arms were silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet torn of iron and carved straight.

Thou saw it, and you kept on looking till a stone was cut out with our hands which smote the image upon his feet that would of iron and clay break into pieces. Then was the iron and clay, the brass, the silver and the gold broken to pieces together and became like the shaft of the summer threshing floor.

We carried them away, but no place was found for them, and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole lot.". Now, the vision that God gave to Nebuchadnezzar concerning the things that should come to pass hereafter is going to turn into the form of this image composed of four distinctly different parts.

It is perfectly obvious in this section, as you should see also in the seventh chapter, that this image that Nebuchadnezzar saw was symbolic of four successive Gentile world powers. Now, you need only to look in the thirty-eighth verse to see that Nebuchadnezzar was the head of this image, and, "...whosoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the clouds of the heavens, hath he that is God given unto thy hand, and made thee rule over them all.

Thou art this hand of God.". So, you see, we are told right here that this tremendous image that he saw, whose head was of God, was representative, first of all, of himself and of his kingdom. And then, it says,.

"...and with these shall arise another kingdom, and fewer it will be, and then another third kingdom of God, which shall bear you over all the earth, and the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron.". Now, here we learn that God unfolds prophetically through a vision for a heathen king, and threatened by his servant Daniel, four successive Gentile world powers that were going to control the end of this earth, leading right on until the coming of the Lord Jesus as mighty stone in verse 34.

Daniel's Four Beasts and the Ten-Kingdom Federation

It is interesting to notice, when you look at chapter 7, that God again gives us this vision, but it's under a different symbol. Whereas he gave it to Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 1, in chapter 2, and interpreted by Daniel, in the seventh chapter of the prophecy, God gives the vision directly to Daniel, and instead of a beast composed of four parts representative of four Gentile world powers, he gives it to him in the form of four different beasts.

Now, if you'll notice, it doesn't take much careful scrutiny to see that each of the four beasts is the exact counterpart of the four kingdoms mentioned in the second chapter. Now, in the first year in chapter 7, the best year of the king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream.

In visions he had from the bed when he dreamed of the dream, he told the son of the mother. Daniel said, he said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds of the heavens flowed upon the great sea, and the four great beasts came up on the sea, different one from another.

The first was like a lion, there's five, and behold another beast, the second like to a bear, the sixth like this, and behold another like a leopard. After this, I saw in the next vision, in verse 7, and behold the fourth beast, dreadful, and terrible, and strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth.

It was bowed, and great teeth, and he stamped the residue with the feet of it, and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and the fourth beast had ten horns. Ten horns. Now, it's perfectly clear from this passage, and from the passage in the second chapter, remember that the mighty sword, in verse 34, smote the enemies upon its feet, and upon the feet there were ten toes, and upon the head of the fourth beast there were ten horns, and it is very easy to see that these are representative of a federation of ten kingdoms.

Progressively unfolding, a rain of ten-tiled supremacy over the world, from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar right on through the age of Israel, and then until Jesus Christ himself comes back and smites the enemies upon its feet.

You can notice, we read, that then the stone cut out with our hands fell from heaven, smote the enemies upon the feet, and crushed them until it became like the cast of the summer's threshing floor. This is symbolic of the presence of a power and the unfolding of a federation of ten kingdoms.

Now, the word tells us this, if you'll notice, in verses 23 and 24 of chapter 7. Thus he said, "'The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth, which shall be different from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth until it is found dead to the taste.

And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise.'. And so, you see the same vision in the second chapter in the form of an image that's given to Daniel directly in the form of four beasts, the four kings having ten hands, a ten horns, and the four parts of the image having ten toes.

Did you notice that it said the legs and the feet of this image in chapter two were part of iron and part of clay? It speaks of that without the legs, with the display of unity, without any real union.

And, in chapter two, iron and clay were not mixed together. That's perfectly obvious. So, in the days, you see, my friends, just prior to the coming of Christ, notice how the scholars infer that this is what we saw this morning in the Great Tribulation Period.

Because, you see, the Antichrist will gain the date of the covenant with Israel at the commencement of the Tribulation, and then he is going to hold absolute sway over commerce, and over politics, and over religion, and everything else.

Israel's Restoration and the Coming Kingdom

Now, this is resulting as God is getting together all of the Gentile powers, all the powers of the law, all the anti-Semitic powers, all those who are opposed to the faith of God, and just toward the end of the Great Tribulation, when the forces of evil and Antichrist have converged on Jerusalem to destroy the sacred gifts that first the people then shall feel the shine of the Son of Man in heaven.

The law himself shall be cleaned, and he is coming, and he's going to rescue Israel from apparent, absolute annihilation, going to deliver the nation of Israel, restore them to their place, and fulfill the covenant that he promised to David, and to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

It is the coming of Christ that is to bring this to pass. You see, nowhere in the word of God are we told to usher in the kingdom through the preaching of the gospel. Nowhere does the word even suggest or intimate that by evangelization of the world that the millennial reign of Christ will be ushered in.

The coming of a king is that which starts the kingdom itself. Now, listen, notice in verses 13 and 14 of chapter 7,. "'I saw in the night busy, and a whole one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, came to the ancient of days, and they brought him here before him, and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.'". But, back to the moment of chapter 2, here we have again a prophecy of this kingdom that's to be established.

Now, we have seen already, as symbolized under the fourth beast with ten horns, and under the image with ten toes upon his feet, this speaks of a federation of ten, ten five powers that shall be holding sway over the world at the close of the great tribulation period.

In verse 44 of chapter 2,. "'In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,' and that's plain, clear, simple English. "'In the days when these ten kings are wholly swayed over this earth at the close of the tribulation, at that time the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and this kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.'".

Now, here there's a definite prophecy that tells us that in a future day, as another, a federation of ten kingdoms is wholly swayed at the close of the tribulation, at that time God himself shall establish a kingdom upon this earth, and other kingdoms shall be no end.

You have this prophesied. Look, please, now in verse 34 of chapter 2,. "'As Daniel said, Nebuchadnezzar saw it. He took out a spoon and cut it with our hands and smote the image upon his feet that would of iron and clay and break them to pieces.

Then was it iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, the gold, broken to pieces together. It became like the shaft of the sun that throws them forward, and the wind carried them away. This means that there's a revelation of a crushing and a breaking of power and authority that no place was found in it.

Now, notice, "'And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.'". Now, in the Old Testament, the word mountain is symbolic of a kingdom, and there's a difference between a stone and a mountain, but I want you to notice sometimes, if you are studying this subject, you'll find that the Lord Jesus Christ is called a rock four times in the Bible, and he is called a stone 17 times, and three of the 17 times he's called a stone is found in the second chapter of the book of Daniel.

Here is the prophecy of the establishment of this kingdom, when that spoon cut out with our hands, falls from heaven, might enter our world and symbolize in the heat of this image, and crushes of power over the world, and then, notice, the stone becomes a mountain and fills the whole earth.

Jesus shall reign wherever the sun doth its successive journeys run. His kingdom reigns from shore to shore, for men shall rise and reign no more. Yes, there's a great day coming. It is a day of which we cannot possibly understand or conceive at this present time.

Zechariah, Luke, and the Promise of a Literal Kingdom

Now, I want you to notice in Zechariah chapter 9, and watch how this theme is developed, turn right over toward the end of the Old Testament to the ninth chapter of the book of Zechariah. You know, when it comes to eschatology, that's the great big tongue-in-word for the things that are going to take place at the end times, there is plenty of room for difference of opinion.

I can forgive a man for being a mid-tribulationist, and a mid-tribulationist, of course, if you don't know what a mid is, is a person who believes that Jesus Christ is coming in a church that is a tribulationist.

I can even forgive a man for being a post-tribulationist, that Jesus Christ is coming at the end of the tribulation to take his people out of the earth. That means the church is going through the tribulation.

But, I just cannot forgive a man. I don't even have him in the bad sense of the word, and I cannot understand a person who is an all-millennialist, who denies that there's to be a literal kingdom. I would hate to add this, but some of the best men in the world today, among the theologians, deny that there's to be a literal kingdom.

They spiritualize it. They spiritualize it. It's not an actual kingdom. But, if you look at the word of God and interpret the Bible in plain, common, everyday methods and means of interpretation according to all other English literature and everything else, you've got an awful lot of spiritualizing to do if you deny that there's to be a literal kingdom, at which time Jesus shall sit upon a literal throne in a literal city of Jerusalem, and shall exercise literal authority over the whole world for 1 ,000 years.

Now, we have seen prophesied very distinctly and clearly in the book of Daniel. Now, notice you have this prophecy concerning the coming of the king to establish kingdom in Zechariah 9, and in verse 9.

This verse says, and it says in verse 9,. This is that portion referred to in Matthew's gospel as the triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. Remember, they set him upon the back of a jacket that says,. Remember that?

It was a grand and a glorious turn. Of course, now, the rulers did not give him this royal reception. It was a common people out herding gladness. But, the prophecy in Daniel now is confirmed here in the promise of the coming of the king to establish his kingdom.

Now, take a look at Luke chapter 1, and we'll see when we come to the New Testament that this is confirmed to merit by the angel Gabriel. In the language, it becomes clearer and clearer, and I believe you have to do terrible harm to the word of God, reckoned us strictly through your own deception almost, to spiritualize this worrisome event.

Look in the first chapter of the gospel of Luke, and verse 30,. Now, notice chapter 22. The Lord Jesus, in this gospel, confirms this prophecy himself in language that is so simple and clear and plain.

In the 22nd chapter, here the disciples are having a little bit of strife among themselves as to who should be the great. For, potentially, they were paid with flesh back then just like we are now when we sought to serve the Lord, and they wanted to be great.

This reminds them that he that is chief among you shall be the servant of all. Now, notice in verse 29, the Lord says to these men who are aspiring to be great, he says, I have bought unto your kingdom, see, as my father hath appointed unto me.

Says the Lord Jesus to his disciples, I have bought your kingdom even as my father hath appointed unto me that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on the throne of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Do you not remember in Matthew chapter 19, verses 27 and 28, when Peter said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, we have left all in fall of you. What shall we have, therefore? Jesus said, Girlie, I say unto you, you that have left all and have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall come, ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

And here, the Lord says, this is my father's appointment unto me. His kingdom I also appoint unto you a kingdom as well. Again, I say I'm absolutely astounded at how anybody can sit so cynical of his kingdom and say there'll not be a little strain of a thousand years.

Revelation's Beasts and the Return of Christ

Now, in the third chapter of the Gospel of Luke, John the Baptizer, the four runner-pins announcing the coming king, and he is beheaded. In Luke chapter 23, the king is crucified, and the kingdom is postponed.

The postpone, my dear friends, but not done away with. Now, turn to the book of the Revelation, chapter 14, and look at the level of establishment of this kingdom. Now, remember we read a moment ago, over in the Prophecy of Daniel, about that beast, that four beasts, and about the ten horns?

Well, you should have noticed the striking similarity of this language in the book of the Revelation in the 13th chapter. Now, here I might say this. Now, the more I study the Word of God, and particularly the prophecy, I think that Daniel is the most important book in the entire Old Testament.

There can be no prophecy, or no understanding of the book of the Revelation without a knowledge of the book of Daniel. But, now in verse 1 of Revelation 13, he says, I stood upon the stand of the sea, and I saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads, and notice this beast has seven horns, or ten horns.

Now, I don't think it's accidental that this beast, the first beast that arises out of the sea, has ten horns. This is the Federation of Ten Kingdoms we saw a moment ago. The scholars of Gilead agree that this is the revival of the Roman Empire, which will again be revived out of the heaps and ruins, and shall be wholly swayed in connection with the Federation of Ten Kingdoms over the world at the close of the Great Tribulation.

Now, here we have this first beast rising up out of the sea, and we'll notice over in chapter 17, and in verse 13, we won't look at it now, but these ten kings have one mind, and they shall give their power and their strength unto this beast, and the antichrist.

In verse 11, I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke like a dragon. I have no problem, though, with these two beasts, I believe, but, very simply, the first beast is an empire with a great leader, a political power, and it's Gentiles.

The second beast is the antichrist, and he is a religious leader, and he must be a Jew, else his claim of being Israel's true messiah should not be accepted by the Jews. Remember, in John 5, verse 43, the Lord Jesus said to the Jews, I am son in my father's name, and you won't receive me.

Love is to come in his own name, and him you will receive. Now, it is logically impossible to even suspect that the Jewish nation would accept a Gentile leader as their messiah. He must be a Jew, and so the second beast here is the antichrist.

I think it is seen in this fact that he had two horns like a lamb. This is the second beast that spoke like a dragon, and, indeed, it is through time. Notice how the word of God distinctly refers to Satan on numerous occasions as a dragon.

So, here we have the beast, the false prophet, then we have the antichrist making their appearance, and from this section on you'll find the chaos and all the world turned upside down in the upheaval that is taking place during the last half of the great tribulation.

Now, look at the 19th chapter of the book of the revelation. Here you have the Lord Jesus Christ coming back from heaven upon a white horse. Notice the 15th verse of the 19th chapter. Here, my dear friends, is the lightning stone of Daniel 234 coming from heaven and striking his enemies upon the feet, breaking Gentile world power into wealth, rescuing Israel, restoring Israel to the land, rebuilding the tabernacle of David, and building up the walls whereof, and executing his reign.

In verse 15, and out of his mouth spoke the sharp sword that, if it is to smite the nations, he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he credits the one test of the fiercest and last of all mighty gods.

May I repeat just once more this word from that wonderful hymn? Jesus shall reign where the sun doth its successive journey broad, his kingdom reach from shore to shore, the moon shall rise and reign no more.

He is going to reign. He is rejected today. He is a rejected king. He's going to a far country to receive himself a kingdom and to return. He is coming back in power and in great clouds of glory, and here he is going to put his enemies down under his feet.

The Character of the Millennial Kingdom

What a day it's going to be when it's the very darkest hour for the history of Israel, when he's coming into the air and back to the air to face his stand upon the Mount of Olives. And, there, he's going to enter the city of Jerusalem, and actual literal fulfillment of Zechariah 9 .9 is triumphantly entered into the city of Jerusalem, now enthroned in the temple of John the sheep of David, and he shall sit and reign for a thousand years.

Now, the character of the kingdom, we ought to remember, is given to us in the Old Testament. Now, we have a little Bible that says, turn to Isaiah chapter 2, and you'll see I quickly can turn these up.

I'm most likely going to beat you because I've got nine all tied down with paper clips, and they're the same. But, look in Isaiah chapter 2, and you'll notice the character of the kingdom. Now, when you speak of a thousand years reign of peace, a thousand years of perfect righteousness, you must never get the idea that there's not going to be any sin.

You must never get the idea there's not going to be any death in the millennial reign of Christ. Righteousness, indeed, are characteristics of a reign. It will not be a reign of perfect righteousness, but the character of the reign is one of righteousness.

The character of the reign is one of peace. Now, in the second chapter of Isaiah, we learn, first of all, that he shall reign in Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the last days that the kingdom, as the word mountain, of the Lord's house shall be established in the one translated as dance on top of the mountain, not in, but on the top of the mountain, and shall be exalted above the hills.

If a mountain is symbolic of a kingdom, then the hill is symbolic of these little insignificant kingdoms that are making so much noise in the world today. But, the mountain of the kingdom of God is going to be established on the top of all of these mountains, and all nations, let's just flow into it.

Many people say, darling, say, honey, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his path. So, out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

He shall judge among the nations, and shall reduce, that word means patience, and correct, and reprove many people. They shall beat their swords in the townshares, and their spears in the pruning hooks, and nations shall not lift up sword against nations, neither shall they learn war anymore.

It's hard to conceive of 1 ,000 years without a single battle on the earth, isn't it? This is so entirely contrary to human history. Look in chapter 11, and may I remind you again of something I've said over and over in these eight Sundays with you, that our knowledge comes not from man's reason, but from the revelation that God has given to us.

And, in the 11th chapter of Isaiah, we learn something that is absolutely marvelous, that apparently the beasts of that day are going to revert to their evident character, and the lions, who are carnivorous animals, one of the herbivorous.

I can never remember who it's her or her, but it's her. Herbivorous. Herbivorous simply means that they're going to feed upon vegetation. They're going to be vegetarians. Now, apparently before the judgment of God came, in the fall of Adam, they were at that time vegetarians.

The animals were. Apparently, only the present were going in their fall with all the creation through consuming meat. But, notice in verse 6 of chapter 11, the wolf, of course, shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopards shall lie down with the kid.

The only time the leopard and the kid lie down together now is when the kid's inside the leopard. The calf and the young lion and the cow shall leave them, and the cow and the bear shall feed their young ones.

They'll lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The sucking child shall tear on the hole of the ax, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the tuft of fresh gin. They shall not hurt nor destroy, nor hold to nothing, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the world doth cover the sea.

Remember that prophecy in the baptism? As Isaiah says, the Lord, the glory of the Lord, shall cover the earth as the world doth cover the face of the sea. But, because our time is fleeting away, I'll just give you some references, and you can make a memoir of them.

If we spend a lot of time here, then we won't get through by turning up these passages. So, chapter 6 says that the kingdom will be one of peace, with no more wars. It'll be one in which the animal maker, the successive maker of the beast shall regret what they've earned before the fall, and in Isaiah chapter 35, there shall be no more curse upon the earth.