The Millennium — Larry Steers

Psalm 72: The Messiah’s Kingdom

We'll turn to Psalm 72. 72nd Psalm. Psalm 72. And we'll read from verse 1. Psalm 72 and we're reading from the first verse. Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son.

He shall judge the people with righteousness and the poor with judgment. The mountain shall bring peace to the people and the little hills by righteousness. He shall judge the poor of the people. 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 the moon endure through all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish an abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.

He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the rivers on to the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and the isles shall bring presents.

The kings of Sheba and Sheba shall offer gifts. They all kings shall bow down before him. All nations shall serve him for he shall deliver the needy which when he crieth the poor also him that hath no helper.

He shall spare the poor and needy and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their souls from deceit and violence and preciousness shall their blood be in his sight. And he shall live and to him shall be given 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 or wheat grain 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 the whole earth be filled with his glory.

Amen and amen. The prayers of David are ended so that we're going to read. We know that God will add his blessing to the reading of his word. Now I'm going to go through the psalm very quickly. There'll be a lot that I will not touch and so we're just going to sort of touch the surface of this particular psalm but I would suggest you read it again and read it with this in view.

Psalm 72 as a Messianic Psalm

Number one this is a messianic psalm and then secondly it's a psalm that touches upon the reign of Christ and some of the statements that we have read in this psalm can only apply to the Lord Jesus Christ and as well as that this psalm touches on the blessings of the kingdom.

A touch of little on just a few of the blessings of the kingdom and the subject is so vast and to use the expression in scripture so glorious and that in a few minutes we can't exhaust just only touch a little of what is contained in the psalm and the kingdom and the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You'll notice that the title of the psalm is give the king thy judgments that is in the first verse but the just previous to that it says that it is a psalm for for uh for the king's son a psalm for Solomon it's a psalm for the king's son so we are told at the end of the psalm that it was written by David and so while in this particular psalm David's name is not inscribed at the beginning of the psalm his psalm name is inscribed at the end of the psalm so David is the writer of the psalm and he's writing for the king's son and of course the king's son is David.

When you come down to verse 20 it says the prayers of David are ended that doesn't mean that David ceased to pray but it means that in this psalm and this is important that this psalm reaches the height of David's prayers in other words David is soaring to the heavens when it comes to this psalm and so in that sense this is David's high experience and so you'll notice when you come to the psalm that this psalm is in the second book of the psalms and you'll realize you understand of course that there are five books of the psalms and so when I come to the second book of the psalms they start at psalm 42 end at psalm 72 and so this is the last psalm in the second book of the psalms.

And in the second book of the psalms there are four very precious messianic psalms. A messianic psalm is a psalm that exalts the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when you come for example to psalm 69 a messianic psalm of the cross and I'm sure that we have all read psalm 69.

I was meditating a little before the breaking of bread this morning on some of the statements in psalm 69 but you need to be careful because every detail of the psalm does not apply to Christ and so sometimes the writer of the psalm his experiences rise in the psalm.

And so there are statements in the psalm that don't apply to Christ. But there are many other statements in a messianic psalm that do apply to Christ. And so psalm 69 is a psalm of the cross. You come to psalm 68 and it's a psalm of the ascension.

The Ascension and the Victory of Christ

So if you go back to psalm 68 and just read verse 18 because these are well-known words psalm 68 and verse 18 thou hast ascended on high. Thou hast led captivity captive. Thou has received gifts for men.

And you realize immediately that when you read those words you're coming to Ephesians chapter 4. And so Paul quotes these words from this messianic psalm in Ephesians chapter 4. And so psalm 68 is a psalm of the ascension.

And so that is the emphasis in psalm 68. And those words that I have just read from psalm 68 are taken into Ephesians chapter 4. He has led captivity captive. Now I discussed this very briefly with one of the brethren here I don't remember who but that's not the emptying of some compartment of shale that doesn't appear in that psalm.

And so they the statement in the psalm goes back to a historical event. Now the apostle Paul would be well aware of many historical events or many occurrences in the Roman Empire and so the Roman general whoever he might be has gained a victory on the field of battle and now he is returning to the imperial city.

He's coming back to Rome and he's going to be honored. And so they honor the conquering general by a triumph that is a march a parade through the streets of the city of Rome and so he has all of his men with him his army behind him and along with them he has a number of captives.

And the captives are those who have been taken on the field of battle and they are not being led into liberty they are being led into captivity. And so those individuals who have been captured by the Roman general will end up as slaves some in the arena to fight the lions but it's captivity that they're being led into.

When Paul wrote the words he has led captivity captive he's occupied with the resurrection of Christ but leading a host of captives. And the host of captives are not the liberation of someone from Sheol but he's leading the powers of darkness into captivity.

He has gained the victory like the Roman general has. And now he is going to lead them into captivity and so the powers of darkness. And when we come to the millennial reign of Christ Satan himself that that victory will eventually be completed totally at the beginning of the millennial reign when all of his enemies are going to be led into captivity.

So captivity captive is the Lord leading his enemies into captivity. When you come to psalm 45 in this second book of the psalms you have the psalm of the judge and the second coming of the Lord in glory.

Now that's the three messianic psalms. And so here's for psalm 72. Psalm 72 is the psalm of the sovereign's reign. Now we have read some statements in this psalm that can only obviously apply fully to the reign of Christ.

Now I'm just going to touch a few of them. We won't touch very much here because of the restraints of time. I'm going to give you an outline of the psalm as we go. I won't give you that outline now and then come back to it.

Judgment at the Beginning of Christ’s Reign

So point number one is this in this psalm we are introduced to the judgment of the king and so you will notice that three times in the first few verses of the psalm. Verse one give the king thy judgments.

Verse two he shall judge the people. Verse four he shall judge the poor. And so we are reminded in this messianic psalm the psalm of the kingdom that the kingdom reign of the Lord Jesus Christ will commence with judgment.

There are two men of course in the psalm there's the writer of the psalm and who the psalm is written by or written to the writer of the psalm of course is David and David himself is a a picture. They could have put it that way or maybe the word type is better of the suffrage of Christ.

And so when you read some of the experiences in the life of David going down into the valley of Elah and he's coming up out of the valley to face the giant Goliath. If you look at that as a little picture of the cross and the the facing of of the giant is the Lord facing those who are his enemies at the cross.

And so you're sometimes saying these words oh wondrous hour when Jesus thou co-equal with the eternal God. And in that wondrous hour he faced the awful powers of darkness they were all arrayed against him on the cross.

And so there are experiences in the life of David that present the sufferings of Christ. When you come to Solomon Solomon basically had a peaceful reign on with the exception of the first few short years or months in the reign of Solomon.

And so Solomon's going to present the exaltation of Christ and the reign of Christ. And so David the sufferings Solomon the reign of Christ. And so Peter goes back to that again in first Peter chapter 1 and verse 11 when he speaks about the sufferings and the glory after these so the reign of Solomon will prefigure the millennial reign of Christ.

And so what happened at the beginning of the reign of Solomon. Well remember this then that David had told Solomon there were individuals that he would have to deal with in the early part of his reign that the very early part of his reign.

And so you'll remember that one of those individuals was Adonijah. Adonijah was one of David's sons but Adonijah was a rebel and he tried to usurp the throne. And so at the very commencement of the reign of Solomon he has to deal with Adonijah.

And then Solomon or Solomon has to deal with another individual by the name of Joab and Joab was no friend of David. And so at the beginning of Solomon's reign he has to deal in judgment with Joab. And then Solomon has to deal with another individual named Shimei who cursed David.

And so there are individuals that Solomon at the commencement of his reign must deal with at the commencement of the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ he will deal with certain individuals. He will deal with Satan and Satan will be consigned to the abyss for a thousand years now.

I don't know whether we can really grasp this that to live a life of faith now is perhaps a difficult thing because there is opposition and one of the oppositions that we face is Satan. But can you just imagine well maybe not imagine.

We'll just think for a moment of what it would be like to live on this earth when there is no Satan when Satan is consigned to the bottomless pit now I'm not going to take any more time on that because there are other individuals that the Lord will deal with at the commencement of his reign upon this earth.

And so it's going to be a reign that will be a reign of peace. Notice that that by the way is verses 1 to 7 so we're down to verse 8 to 11 of this psalm. And so verses 8 to 11 will present to the extent of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ and so on to the sun he saith.

Notice verse 8 of the psalm that he shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river on to the ends of the earth. There will be no prime minister of Canada and there will be no president of the United States during the millennial reign of Christ there will be one man and that one man will be the Lord Jesus Christ and he's going to have dominion.

And the expression from sea to sea from the river to the ends of the earth simply means that the whole earth this this whole world will come under the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is an interesting statement in Hebrews chapter 1.

Hebrews chapter 1 records the statement that he is anointed with gladness in the midst of his brethren. Now I know brethren that you might have a thought about the brethren but I would suggest that that the brethren in view in there in that verse is not us but those in view are the kings of Judah.

And amongst all of those kings some of them are good but here's a king that will rise a king that will be perfect in every sense whereas the kings of Judah failed and so he's going to be anointed with the oil of gladness in the midst of his brethren.

Other kings that have reigned before him that are really in his genealogy but he will soar above all of them and so the extent of his kingdom Israel will be special. God has stated that very clearly when he made that promise that we have noticed to Abraham that from the river of Egypt that's the Nile all across that country unto the Euphrates that runs through the land of Syria from that vast area will be Israel and they will have a special place in the heart of God.

We have noticed that a third of them that return are going to dwell in that land that is Israel and the capital of that land we're going to notice that in a moment will be Jerusalem. So the extent of the kingdom from verse 8 to 11 that's just a very quick survey of that verses 12 to 15 is the character of the kingdom.

Righteousness, Peace, and Provision in the Kingdom

It will be a rule of perfect righteousness. The Lord Jesus will have a rod of iron. A rod of iron will be on bending. They gave him a reed. A reed twists and turns and bends with every little breeze. And they're really mocking his rule.

And they were mocking his kingdom with a reed. That is very interesting thing that in his hand when the Roman soldier came with that reed now there's something you can't do. You cannot force me to hold something in my hand if I refuse to hold it.

You couldn't force anyone to hold something in their hand. They just simply open their hand and drop it. And that's what they anticipated. They expected that he would drop the reed. But what a wondrous thing.

The Lord opened his hand and he reached out and he accepted the reed. And he held the reed in his hand. That was a reed of mockery. They never expected that. And I would suggest that one of the reasons at least why they grabbed the reed from his hand was not so much to beat the crown of thorns into his brow.

That might happen. But they were angry. They were enraged that he had received the reed and so they grabbed it from his hand. They didn't want him to stand there willingly holding that reed and then they began to beat him.

But the reason for grabbing the reed was that he held it that he had accepted it. The reed is a bending thing. That's a reed of mockery. But he's going to have a rod of iron. That is that rod of iron will not bend.

That rod of iron will not twist will not turn. So that every rule of his kingdom will be carried out exactly equal in every case. Now you know that in the laws of our lands the law can be twisted and turned and deals can be made.

And someone gets 10 years in prison for something that they have done. And because somebody else gets a very intelligent lawyer he gets two years for almost the same thing. That's the twisting of the law.

But there will be no twisting. There will be no bending of the law. It will be a reign of perfect righteousness. It will be a reign of peace. When the lord jesus stood before pontius pilate there was nothing in order in pilate's court.

I have read a book i don't think you could get it now. It may not be in print. It's called the trial of christ. I know there are other books called the trial of christ but not this book. This book was written by a man named james mccrure.

James mccrure was a trained judge and he looked at the trial of christ as it is recorded in the bible. And then he he went through the history books and he looked at what is recorded about roman law. All of the laws of the roman empire and the laws that should have applied in pilot's court every one of them were violated.

And at the end of that book mccrure was a judge said if that case had appeared in my court i would have thrown it out at the very first instance. That's pilot's court. There was nothing legitimate. Roman law was violated and broken by a roman judge.

But when the lord jesus is reigning there will be nothing like that. He will be the righteous judge and everything will be carried out perfectly according to the laws and to the rules of his kingdom. And so he will have a kingdom that will stretch righteously a kingdom of peace from sea to sea.

Notice verses 12 to 15 again the character of the kingdom. If you were to turn to isaiah chapter 46 in verse 9 he make his wars to cease unto the ends of the earth. I made the statement that altogether likely there has not been very much time if any time in the history of this world when there hasn't been a war someplace.

But isaiah says he will make wars to cease. There will be no war in his kingdom in his reign. And then if you turn to isaiah chapter 2 again verse 4 they will beat their swords into pruning shears now characterize his kingdom.

No need for a sword. And so they will take the swords. And they will break the swords into sorry into plows and the spears into pruning shears. And so the plow is the plow the field and the the shear is to reap the harvest.

And in the millennial reign of christ those who are reaping the harvest will overtake those who are at the plow. Nobody will starve. Different than this world today. There will be no famines. There will be no one sitting at a table with nothing upon the table to eat there there will be no one lack food.

There will be an abundance during the millennial reign of christ. And in verse 15 there's a strange statement. It might seem kind of strange. It says in verse 15. Also shall a prayer also shall be made for him continually that is for the king that is he's going to be the subject of the prayers of the of those who are in his kingdom.

And they're going to pray continually for the king that is the world and the inhabitants of the world. Those who are enjoying the the bounty of his kingdom are going to be upon their knees praying for the king.

Different isn't it than it is today. Notice verses 16 to 17. Again where we have the blessings of the kingdom. Notice verse 16. There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains.

Now i'm not going to apologize for this but i just take the word of god as it is written. I have flown over the mountains. I have driven through the mountains. I've seen the snow on the top of the mountains.

But in the millennial reign of christ there'll be crops on the top of the mountain. That's what it says. I have to accept that just as it says corn wheat crops on the top of the mountains. When adam sinned something desperate happened.

Not only and we oftentimes preach this in the gospel. Not only did adam sin did he violate what god had told him. Remember what god said to adam that if adam obeyed god. And there was only one statement that god made that he was not to eat of the tree that was in the midst of the garden.

And god said to adam that to obey he would keep the garden. How would adam keep the garden by obeying god. And the moment that adam disobeyed he lost the garden. Now what happened to creation. Right at that moment.

Creation’s Subjection to Futility and Future Restoration

And so i'm taking you just for a second right to the moment that adam sinned i'm going to suggest to you i'm going to point out in a verse in just a moment that right at that moment of adam's sin creation never fell.

Not at that moment. Now you're going to turn with me then to romans chapter 8. Now that you're beginning to wonder what's that man saying. Romans chapter 8. And you will think very carefully about this verse.

Romans chapter 8 i will read verse 19 for the earnest expectation of the creature that word creature implies creation waiteth for the manifestation or the revealing of the sons of god. That is that the creation that we are in is waiting for a moment when the sons of god are going to be revealed now.

That implies that we will be coming back with christ to be revealed to be made known. And so notice the verse again for the earnest expectation of the creature waiters for the manifestation of the sons of god.

Now you'll give the next verse some thought for the creature itself. Now notice was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him. And so you must ask yourself the question who is him. And i would indicate that the hymn is not adam.

The hymn is god. And so notice the verse again for the creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him. And so it is him in that verse who has subjected creation to the fall. God subjected creation to the fall.

Why did he do that. That's what that verse is saying. That's a very clear statement. God subjected creation to the fall. Why did god do that. Because he couldn't have a fallen man in an unfallen creation.

I saw very quickly after adam's sin it was god himself who subjected creation to the fall because adam had sinned and adam could not be ahead in a creation where he had sinned and he couldn't be a sinful man in an unfallen creation.

So at that very moment or very shortly very quickly after that god himself subjected creation to the fall. And so it says in verse 20 that he made creation subject to to vanity. And so what. What does that mean.

Well i'm going to go home eventually and plant a garden. But i got to pull the weeds out of it. That's the fall. That's the creation that was subject to vanity. I notice where i'm staying that there's a bird feeder and the birds come to the bird feeder.

I have never heard a bird sing the way god intended. I have never heard the song of a bird the way that god intended that bird to sing. The bird lost its sweet song when creation was subject to vanity there is no animal that is living as god intended that animal to live.

That animal as well was subject to vanity. And so this creation that we are in is longing for the moment when the lord jesus is going to return and creation is going to be restored to what it was in the garden before adam's sin.

And so the garden of eden is what creation is going to be like when creation is restored the sons of god are going to be revealed. And creation today is waiting for and longing for that particular moment.

And so the bible tells us some strange remarkable things are going to happen. I'm not going to read the verse but i'm going to quote from the verse if you were to turn to the book of isaiah chapter 11 and verse 6 you read a a tremendous verse.

I was sitting in a house one day and beside me there was a little table and on the table there was a figurine. And i asked the brother in whose house i was staying where did you get that from. And then he tried to tell me where he bought it was not not interested where you bought it from that doesn't matter.

But where in the bible do you get that from. And he said well that's in the bible. He said no it's not in the bible. And so he said what was the figurine. Well the figurine had a lion and there was a lamb laying on the paws of the lion.

And i'm saying that's not in the bible. He said well yes it is in the bible. And so that went back and forth a little bit. And then he left the room. I know why he left the room. He left the room to get his concordance should have checked it maybe long before this.

And when he got the concordance he's in the other room. And eventually i heard him say well dear me because that's not in the bible the bible says nothing about the lion and the lamb. I know the hymn writer does but he's not right.

And what that man discovered was when he turned to isaiah chapter 11 and verse 6 that the wolf will dwell with the lamb. It is the wolf that is the enemy of the lamb. The wolf has a strange character about it.

If the wolf can get into a flock of sheep or some lambs it will simply grab them by the throat and will hang on until the lamb is dead. And it doesn't eat the animal. It will go for another animal just to kill.

That's the character of the wolf. But in the millennial reign of christ that's all going to be turned around. In the millennial reign of christ the wolf and the lamb will dwell together. And if you go down that verse the leper will lie down with the kid.

The leper is going to lose the character of violence that you would fear today if you're walking through the woods and you come face to face with a leper it's not going to have that violent character.

And then in isaiah chapter 53 it says the calf and the young lion now and the fatling they lie down together. And then we are told that the little child shall lead them. No fear no consequences of being attacked by one of those animals.

And so a little child will be able to lead them. The cow and the bear shall feed together where the bear wants the flesh but the cow will eat the grass. But now they're going to feed together. The lion is going to eat straw like the ox.

And so the lion is going to revert to the character that it had prior to the fall. It was not a meat eater. It was not a violent animal but he became that when adam sinned. And then the child shall play over the whole of the asp.

Even the asp is not going to have the character that it has today. And then we are told that the weaned child shall put their hand into the cockatrice's den. What's going to happen. Everything is going to revert to what it was before adam fell.

I said what does that mean. Well that sweet song of the bird is going to return. And that awful sounding sound of the crow. Or if you've ever heard a raven the crow and the raven will get their sound back again.

But everything is going to revert to what it was. And in psalm 72 and verse 16 a handful of corn on the top of the mountain there will be a great harvest. And you and i that just kind of kind of could i put it this way blows our mind to think that they're going to go up there and the rock up there is going to change the good soil in some way.

And they're going to plant grain on the top of the mountains. And they're going to harvest that grain in the millennial reign of the crank of the king. And so the blessings that will be israel's will spread around the world.

Worship, Jerusalem, and the Millennial Temple

Notice verses 18 to 20 they're going to worship the king. Psalm 72 and verse 18 bless it be the lord god the god of israel who only does wondrous things. And bless it be his glorious name forever. And let the whole earth be filled with his glory.

And one amen is not enough. And so says amen and amen wise men came to worship one that was born king of the jews. I would probably take that to be the first worship gathering recorded in the new testament when the wise men surround the lord jesus christ and then they present their gifts to him in the millennial reign of christ.

Now just take this over for a moment. There will be no religion. That is what we have around us today. And and and christendom so-called all kinds of confusion. I knocked on the door one day. And i told the woman that i was inviting her to a tent meeting.

And she said to me well look around this town. It was a little town. And then she told me how many church buildings were in the town. She said which one is right. I don't know how you'd answer that. But i took my bibles.

The ones in the bible is right. But in the millennial reign of christ there will be nothing like that. In his millennial reign there will only be one god. There will be no allah no other god no other idol.

There will be only one god. And that one god will be worshiped. And there will only be one place of worship just one. And that one place of worship will be jerusalem. And so the kings of the earth that are left upon this earth and the inhabitants of the earth will come up to jerusalem.

And they'll come up to jerusalem to worship. Jerusalem will be the center of worship. When the millennial reign of christ commences there'll be a heavenly jerusalem again. One man told me well i just can't take that like it's got to mean something else than a 1500 mile cube.

That's what the bible says. 1500 miles wide 1500 miles long 1500 miles high. Bible says take it just like it says that will be the heavenly jerusalem and the light of that city will radiate upon this earth.

When you say how is that going to be. Well all i can answer is when god created the earth he hung it on nothing. That's what the bible says. And that heavenly jerusalem will be over top of the of the earthly jerusalem.

And there will be a coming and going of movement between the heavenly and the earthly. And that will be the city of the king on earth. And there will be a coming and a going back and forth. They're in the same.

When the king reigns everything will be just exactly the way god intended it to be. However there's a little bit of a problem here. Every soul that enters the millennial reign of christ will be born again.

But those who are born in the millennial reign of christ will need to be saved. They're born with a fallen nature and so the gospel of the kingdom will be preached. And at the end of this beautiful millennial reign of christ poor lost man will rise in rebellion against the king.

And you can hardly you can hardly understand that one because after they have experienced such a time of blessing upon this earth at the end they will rebel against the king that seems to be part of human nature.

And so those who are born in the kingdom will rebel against him. Now there's one other issue here. There has to be a millennial temple. And i was saying this morning before the the meeting that i'm a little bit of a problem here with some things that you read some will say and i know that uh israel my glory probably takes this stand that that there is material that is being reserved for the building of the of the millennial temple.