The Kingdom Established - The Outcome Desired; The Eternity of the Kingdom - Part 1 — Mark Sweetnam

Now, before we read from the scriptures, I do want to take this opportunity to say, not as a matter of form, but very sincerely, thank you to the believers here in Mount Sterling for their invitation and their hospitality and their welcome.

I hope you won't think me presumptuous if I speak on behalf of all the visitors when we say that we've been very well looked after. We've been fed with food convenient for us and maybe some that was a little bit inconvenient too, but it has really been a joy to be here and a great joy to share with my brethren in these readings.

And very encouraging to see such a large number of young people here. And we don't want to pick on you and we don't want to certainly don't want to patronize you, but I hope that what we've been thinking about this weekend is something that you will take away and develop for yourselves.

We've only been able to sort of sketch the outlines of this great subject, but it is a great subject. And Bible study in some ways is a little bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle. And we take the different pieces and we put it together so that we can see the picture and understand the picture that God has for us.

Now, I don't really like doing jigsaw puzzles, but I do know that if you're doing a jigsaw puzzle, a good strategy is to start with the frame. And if you can get the frame fitted in, well, the other elements of the picture will make sense.

The Kingdom as the Framework of Scripture

And what we've been thinking about this weekend, this great subject of the kingdom that's taken us all the way from the very beginning of the Bible will take us this afternoon to the very end of the Bible.

It's kind of like the frame of scripture. And if you can get that clear in your mind, you'll find it an enormous assistance to understanding your Bible as a whole and to understanding how the different parts fit together.

Along with that, we've said much in the previous Bible readings about the subject of the covenants. They interrelate as we've seen very closely with the kingdom program. And I say again to younger brethren and sisters, it's well worth putting in the time just to get a grasp of the significance of the covenants that God has made with mankind.

And then, and we didn't have as much time as maybe we would have liked to talk about this, God's great dispensational program, which unfolds through the ages. These are big framework elements and you get those framework elements in place and you will reap the rewards of that for the rest of your life.

And I know I speak for these brethren here, far older some of them than I am, when I say to younger believers, you will never regret the minutes that you spend studying the word of God. And you will never, I know you think you are busy now, but you'll never have more time and you'll never have better abilities for studying the word of God than you will now.

So I trust that this weekend will have been a help and a blessing to you, for we badly need younger brethren and sisters who are reading, who are studying and who are living out the truth of God's word.

Scripture Readings on the Future Kingdom

So with that as a preamble, let's turn to the scriptures. Now, we've all been very anxious this weekend to tell you all what a difficult job we have. In fact, you nearly wonder why we bothered agreeing to take the Bible readings because we seem to have found it so burdensome.

So I'm not going to go over, I'm not going to go over all the ground that our brethren have covered. I do have a special problem though. And that's this, that where do you start to read? And where do you finish reading in the great subject of the millennium?

That's been very interesting and it kind of seemed to happen more frequently as we made our way through the three readings yesterday that again and again, brethren were saying, oh, Mark will be dealing with that in his reading.

And while that puts the pressure on a bit, it's important to notice that this is a coherent picture and we're drawing together this afternoon. I trust we will draw together strands that we've been looking at right from the beginning of these Bible readings.

But it does leave us with a little problem as to where to read. I mean, we could spend the rest of the time and maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea, just reading the scriptures relating to the future kingdom.

So I'm being very selective and the brethren will want to speak about other scriptures as we make our way through and that's absolutely fine. But I want to begin first of all, as the handout suggests, by reading just briefly in the epistle to the Ephesians.

Ephesians and chapter one. And we're not gonna say much about the context here really, but we do want to get the expression that we find here in verse number 10, but we'll read from verse seven. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he had purposed in himself.

This is the expression we want to think about, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together, he might head up in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven. And which are on earth, even in him.

Over with me please to Revelation and chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20. And we should perhaps read the verses at the end of chapter 19. I'm not going to do that for the sake of time. We will say a little bit about them, but we have this climactic war and verse number 20 of chapter 19, the beast was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and then that worshiped his image.

These both were cast alive into a lake burning with brimstone and the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled.

And after that, he might be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones and they 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 which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands.

And 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 hath part in the first resurrection.

On such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of 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 go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

And they went up on the breadth of the earth and compass the camp of the saints about and the beloved city and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.

And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them.". Back to Psalm 72. And we're gonna take the time to read the whole of this.

Beautiful Psalm. It is a Psalm, our authorize says a Psalm for Solomon. Likely that should be a Psalm of Solomon. That's the same word that's used of the Psalms of David. So a Psalm of Solomon. We've been thinking about him already this weekend.

"'Give the king thy judgment, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son. He shall judge thy people with righteousness and thy poor with judgment. The mountains shall bring peace to the people and the little hills by righteousness.

He shall judge the poor of the people and he shall save the children of the needy and shall break in pieces the oppressor. They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure throughout all generations.

He shall come down like rain upon the moon grass, as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river onto the ends of the earth.

They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him and his enemy shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him.

All nations shall serve him for he shall deliver the needy when he crieth. The poor also and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and the needy and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence and precious shall their blood be in his sight and he shall live and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba.

Prayer also shall be made for him continually and daily shall he be praised. There shall be a handful of corn in the earth. Upon the top of the mountains, the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.

His name shall endure forever. His name shall be continued as long as the sun and men shall be blessed in him. All nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God. The God of Israel who only doeth wondrous things.

And blessed be his glorious name forever. And let the whole earth be filled with his glory. And we can surely say amen and amen. And even David could think of nothing higher than this. To ask God for to request in prayer, not that he never prayed again, but this was the zenith of David's prayer life.

The prayers of David, the son of Jesse are ended. And one final reading, and I'm sorry that, and I'm not really sorry, but we are having a fairly extensive reading, but I think actually we're being reasonably minimalistic.

1 Corinthians 15, please for a final reading. Now, you will remember that at the beginning of this conference, the beginning of the Bible readings, one of the scriptures that our brother John read was Psalm 8.

And we saw that Psalm 8 takes us back to God's original design, what God intended for man, what God had established in Eden. And he mentioned to us, I think, that that Psalm is quoted on a number of occasions in the New Testament.

And it's quoted in Hebrews 2. We might want to think about that in our discussion. And it's quoted here in 1 Corinthians 15. Now, one of the things that we're going to see this afternoon is that God's first thoughts are his final thoughts.

And what he spoke about Adam in Psalm 8 is here spoken about the Lord Jesus Christ. And we'll read from verse 24. Then come at the end, well, maybe 23. Every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming.

Then, and that really is the idea of after that, come at the end. When he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him.

And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the son also himself be subject unto him, that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. And we know that God will bless to us the reading of his precious word.

And we look forward to his help in the opening and in the discussion. I want to keep my opening short because I'm interested to hear the help that our brethren have to offer. And we have a smaller crowd here.

And these older brethren are intimidating figures. I understand that, but I'm just a young fellow. So if you're sitting behind, if you're sitting over here to the sides, we'd like to hear from you. So do feel free to give us help if you can.

Christ’s Certain Return and the Literal Millennial Kingdom

I want to start by making a very emphatic statement, a series of emphatic statements. The first thing I want to say is this, that God's word makes it very clear that at any moment, Christ could return for his church.

The savior said, if I go away, I will come again and receive you unto myself. The precondition for his coming again was he's going away. That has taken place. And he could come again this afternoon. And I hope we believe it.

It'd be good if we lived as though we did. After the Lord Jesus Christ has come and taken the saved of this dispensation to be with himself, there follows a period of time, at least seven years, likely a bit longer than that.

But when that period of time has come to a close, we have the events that are recorded for us or that are prophesied for us, I should say, in Revelation chapter 19. And when those events, that judgment of the beast and the false prophet has taken place and Satan has been bound for a thousand years, listen, brethren and sisters, this is something we can be absolutely certain about and confident in.

Jesus Christ is coming back to earth and he's coming to reign, literally, and physically he will reign for a thousand years. As we have seen in these Bible readings, the covenants of God guarantee that.

And the character of God demands it because he has committed himself to this. And the word of God teaches it. And we're all, I think, pretty sure that the sun will rise tomorrow morning. It is just as sure, Jeremiah will tell us, chapter 31, just as sure that Christ will sit on the throne of his father, David, and that he will reign from the river onto the ends of the earth.

Now, I'm stressing that because there are many Christians who don't believe that. And if you read very widely, there'll be many books on your shelves that don't teach that. And if you are daring enough to venture into the shark-filled waters of the internet, you'll find plenty of teaching that denies the truth of a literal millennial kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That denial does disservice to our God. That denial distorts all of scripture. And I trust that we can just grasp the certainty and the reality of what we're thinking about. When we think about this future kingdom, the certainty of it, it is going to be established.

The Kingdom’s Effect on Christian Conduct

I'm gonna jump just for a minute to the end of my outline. And I hope we'll have time to get to this in the discussion, but just in case we do not, I want to stress again that what we've been thinking about this weekend, the truth concerning God's kingdom, while it is, I tell you, it's truth that can fitly occupy our minds, it's a fascinating subject.

We fill our minds with so many small and petty things, and many of them are legitimate. And we have to think about the day-to-day things of life. I tell you, it's great to fill your lungs with the breath of scripture and to open up your viewpoint.

And to occupy your mind with the great kingdom program. And I hope that has happened over this weekend. But I hope we have time to see, and I want to emphasize now that this truth that we've been thinking about is intended by God to affect our lives.

And affect our lives in quite a number of ways that I'm not going to go into now. But affect our lives in this, that we are to walk worthy of God who is calling us presently, continuously is calling us to his kingdom and glory.

The fact that we have a part in that coming kingdom places restraints, places requirements on your behavior and mine. The apostle Paul will tell us on a number of occasions about behavior that is not fitting, not in keeping with the kingdom.

And it shouldn't be seen in our lives. The fact that we are bound for that kingdom, the fact that we are in fact going to have a role, we're going to be involved in that kingdom. And in that kingdom reward for service here is going to be seen.

As I was trying to point out to the younger people last night from 2 Timothy chapter four, where Paul charges Timothy to do a difficult task and a solemn task. He says, I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and by his appearing and his kingdom, kingdom truth.

It motivates our sanctification. It motivates our service. And perhaps it will need to motivate to our suffering, the kingdom of God. Paul writes to the Thessalonians, for which ye suffer. And so we do want to see that this kingdom truth, it's not just for our minds, it's for our hearts.

I hope we've been encouraged. We have sung repeatedly, have we not? God is still on the throne. And we thank God that that's true. But it needs to affect our life. It needs to affect our walk. And we'll try to get to that before we get to the end of the Bible reading.

I'm gonna sit down just after I deal with the first point because I do want to work through the points on the handout. We have an enormous amount of material. And as has been the case in the previous Bible readings, we're gonna need to keep a kind of a helicopter view.

We're not really going to have time to dive down into the nitty gritty. And I know the brethren, I was very docile and I think reasonably helpful in the brethren's Bible readings. So I think it would be awfully inappropriate for them to be unkind to me now.

And you would all think very poorly of them if you saw them doing that, I know. So they'll be on their best behavior just like I've been for the past three Bible readings. We need to move through the material.

But just before I sit down, I want to go back to where we started, to this expression in Ephesians chapter one. There were a number, the brethren might want to tell us about them. There were a number of very interesting ways in which what we talk about as the millennium is described.

The millennium just talks about its extent. It's a thousand years. We'll need to think about that. A number of interesting expressions that really deal with its character. I think this one is very precious.

The dispensation of the fullness of times. Now that word fullness they tell us is a word that could be used, for example, in relation to a ship. Here's a ship and they're preparing to sail. And all the cargoes on board, and the hold is full of grain or whatever it might be.

The ship is full, but it hasn't received its fullness. And you would know that before that ship would sail, the order would be given, all hands to stations. And before it would pull away from the key, everybody would be in the right place.

The captain would be where he's supposed to be. And the man who holds the wheel would be where he's supposed to be. And there's first mates and second mates. And I'm not terribly good on nautical, but everybody would be in the right place.

We noticed in our brother John's Bible reading, we went way back to the Garden of Eden. And we saw that one of the things that is very clear in the account of creation is that our God is a God of order.

And all the way through creation, there is precision, there is order, there's arrangement, division and organization. And we saw that when Adam then is given God-like work to do, it is also a work of organization.

He's to name the animals, he's to dress, and he's to keep. And we saw that implicit built into this concept of kingdom is the idea of order. And we see that so clearly illustrated by its absence when we read through the Book of the Judges.

You move through the first two sections of that book and you get to those awful, awful chapters at the end and everything is disordered. And the writer will tell us on four times, like four great hammer blows just to drive the point home.

There was no king, there was no king, there was no king, there was no king in Israel, and every man did that was right in his own eyes. And you say, what's the root of all this disorder? There's no king, what's the solution?

That's what Judges is doing in the Canon of Scripture in large part. It's setting us up to long for a king so that all this disorder can be corrected. Now, I've described those chapters at the end of Judges as dreadful chapters.

They are dreadful, but I was struck again reading them recently, just how familiar they seem in relation to the day and age in which we live. And I don't have time to develop that. We live in a day of disorder, there's no king.

The Fullness of Times and the Restoration of Order

I hope our hearts throb with, we're longing for the return of Christ. We can almost hear his footfall on the threshold of the door. Our hearts are longing to be with him evermore. Praise God, he's coming for us.

But if our expectation stops short there, we're very short-sighted and we're very selfish. And I don't think we should be able to open a newspaper if we do open a newspaper without praying Maranatha even so come.

Because there's no king. And we live in a world that's marked by spiritual and moral disorder, political disorder. Everything is wrong. The times are out of joint, if you'll allow me a little bit of Shakespeare.

But there's a king coming. And when he comes, his reign will be the dispensation, the administration of the fullness of times. And everybody will be in their right place. Christ preeminent. And Israel, at his side, the church.

Israel, no longer the tale of the nations, but having her correct position at the head of the nations, as we have been reminded on a number of occasions, a priestly nation, mediating God to the nations round about.

And these wicked, evil nations that people of the world, all of them subdued. We read about them, didn't we? In Psalm 70, bringing their tribute into Jerusalem. And even creation. A creation that groans and that travels.

A creation that is subject to vanity because of the effects of sin. Brethren and sisters, it is going to be delivered into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. And all that's wrong is going to be put right in the glorious dispensation of the fullness of times.

We're gonna see that. I'll tell you something, we're going to be intimately involved in it. And how we long for the day when he will reign and one unto him will the gathering of the peoples be. Now I got a little bit carried away there.

I was gonna sit down. The brethren, if you want to come in in this first issue of the character, as I've called it, of the kingdom, maybe some of the other terms that are involved. We'll move. I would like us to be able to spend ample time on the conditions and the climax of the kingdom and say something on the effects of the kingdom.

So we'll have to move reasonably quickly. So Mark, we've had an expression in the book of Galatians, Galatians chapter four, where we read about the fullness of time, singular. Here in Ephesians chapter one, it's the dispensation of the fullness of times, plural.

And you used a very interesting expression there. Instead of using dispensation, you use the idea of administration. Now, isn't it true in a sense, like God could have once we come to the end of the tribulation period, we could have stepped right into the day of God.

God has chosen not to do that. Can you help us why there's gonna be this administration just at that point? Thanks, John. A number of very important reasons. First of all, all those covenants that we've heard about, if we moved from tribulation times into the eternal state, those covenants wouldn't be fulfilled.

So that needs to happen. But the other thing, and as we move through the dispensations, we see that in each dispensation, mankind is tested. That was true back in the Garden of Eden, down through the ages.

There is an ultimate test coming for mankind. Mankind has, even back in the Garden of Eden, when conditions were perfect, Satan was active. And mankind has always blamed the conditions for the failure of mankind and rebellion against God.

God is gonna have a thousand years of perfect rain, perfect felicity. These glorious conditions that we think about, and we're going to discover this. As we read in Revelation 20, Satan has to be released, because there's a final and a climactic test for mankind.

Had you anything further on that? No, no, appreciate. That's exactly what I had in mind. So this will be the final test. At this point, what was the obstacle in the garden will be removed. This is one of the stages of Satan's downfall.

The second stage of Satan's downfall, isn't that right? Satan will have three stages of his downfall. Revelation 12, he'll be cast out of heaven. Revelation 20, he'll be bound for a thousand years. And then we've got the last stage where he'll be cast into the lake of fire.

Very good, thank you.

The Day of the Lord and the Day of God

John mentioned an expression there that will come up again, no doubt, in the reading. And that is the day of God, right? Now, evidently, we live in the day of man. But in between, there is what is called the day of the Lord, which is initiated by the appearing of the man of sin, right, 2 Thessalonians chapter two.

So all the way through to the coming of the day of God, we have the day of the Lord inserted. So the tribulation period is included in the day of the Lord, right? But the majority of that period is the millennium.

So it's the intervention of the Lord on planet Earth that is in view. First of all, removing from his kingdom all things that offend, if you will, the tribulation period, all right, culminating in his manifestation at that point.

But he continues to intervene on planet Earth all the way through the thousand years, establishing his lordship on an ongoing basis until the final rebellion is put down and he hands everything back to God intact.

Now, as you know, Brother Mark, there is sometimes a difference of opinion in the thought of the fullness of times that he might gather together in one all things in Christ. Is it that thousand year period where the Lord holds sway in his rule, even though there will still be sin occasionally?

And where that occurs, it'll be put down by his lordship. And then there will be a final rebellion. So another view is that this is not actually complete until he hands the kingdom intact after all rebellion is put down back to God.

Yeah, I, well, William and I were listening to it, to a brother taking that view in a recording in the past day or two. I said, I'm glad he won't be in the Bible reading, but William has done his best to channel that.

The thing that would persuade me that it's the millennium that's in view here is the use of the word dispensation, this administration word. I think by the time we get into the day of God, we're not in dispensations anymore.

There's no longer any testing. That dispensational program has been brought to an end. But the administration of the Lord.

Will continue through until then.

Yes, yes, yes. So just allied with that, Brother Mark, is the fact that it's the dispensations of the fullness of times when he will head up all things in Christ. Isn't it true that you read 1 Corinthians 15, that the thing that separates the millennial kingdom, the day of the Lord from the day of God is that God will be all in all in the day of God.

The focus will not be Christ. It will be the triune God. That's right. And we'll need to think about that when we get to 1 Corinthians 15. So the next point that I want to think about, and this maybe we don't need to spend too long on because it will come out through the Bible reading.

The Regeneration and Contrast of the Millennial Kingdom

But this is another of the terms that are used of the kingdom. The Lord in Matthew chapter 19 speaks about it as the regeneration. And I think that just emphasizes for us the radical difference that there will be between conditions in the millennium and conditions that exist now.

Now, again, we don't want to... We haven't time to sort of engage in polemic all the way through. But there are believers, some of them my friends who tell us that we're already in the kingdom. The kingdom has been inaugurated.

They will tell us if we come to the next point, in the kingdom that the devil has been bound, that that has already happened. Well, that idea drastically short changes what the Bible tells us about the kingdom.

You have to massively water down. And there are many difficulties with exegetical difficulties with amillennialism. But actually, again, I think the biggest difficulty with amillennialism comes from the pages of the newspaper because it sure doesn't look like Satan is bound.

So maybe take those together, the contrast of the kingdom and controlling the kingdom. This is vitally important to the character of this reign. Satan is removed. He's taken out of circulation. He's bound, he's cast into the bottomless pit.

And this is one of the things that makes the millennial period different from any of the ages that have gone before.

So the word you used, amillennialism, that's the theology that has removed the millennium from the future, right? That's correct, yes. So those people believe that there's no future for Israel, right, those people also would believe that the kingdom is currently here in a spiritual form?

Yes. Is that correct? That's correct. All right, so I'm just looking for identifying marks of this false theology that we could notice if we were to be reading a book or listening to a speaker. So maybe some more would be good.

I mean, we talked yesterday.

About one of the big hallmarks of this. To make this all work, you have to spiritualize those promises that were given to Israel. And so it's not talking about a literal land and it's not talking about a literal temple in Ezekiel.

And you end up with increasingly imaginative allegorizations. One crucial hallmark, our brother, John, I think said, I can't remember how many Israels we had. I think he said, Israel is Israel is Israel is Israel when we read the Bible.

You try, if you find anyone trying to tell you that Israel refers to anything other than the nation, well, you know you're on dangerous ground. We interpret scripture, this is not, we haven't decided to believe in a millennium and we're therefore we have, we interpret scripture in a consistent literal way.

If you do that, you cannot avoid seeing a future for Israel. You cannot avoid seeing a millennium and you cannot avoid being pre-millennial as well.

Sure, but that view would also change the Christian's attitude toward his role in this current age, right? So that would be an involvement in politics, a movement to try and change the world through the preaching of the, or through political movements rather than just simply preaching the gospel in this age.

That was the problem or part of the problem in Corinth, wasn't it? They'd lost sight of that. And Paul said, already you're rich, already you're reigning. He says, we wish you did reign. He didn't say that you're never going to reign.