Establishing the Kingdom

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This is Today With Derek Prince. The internationally recognized Bible teacher and author presents to you Keys To Successful Living.

Yesterday Derek Prince focused on several events following the return of Jesus; the rapture and judgment of Christians, and the overthrow of antichrist. Today he concludes his topic ‘At the End of Time,’ by finishing his outline of the events after Christ’s return which include the establishment of Jesus’ kingdom on earth, the final judgment on the nations and the coming of the new heaven and earth. Stay tuned at the end of today’s program for our address and this week’s special offer.

Derek Prince:

“So the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone. And the rest of their followers were killed with the sword which preceded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”

That’s God’s garbage collection system. It’s the birds. They’ll clean up everything. All they’ll leave is clean bones. You find in Ezekiel they’ll have a system of burying those bones, we won’t go into that. But all that is ahead.

Now, in the midst of all this Israel, the Jewish people who’ve been displaced from the center of history for nineteen centuries, are coming back into the center of history. I don’t know whether you’ve ever noticed, Israel today is a very small land. It’s smaller than Wales, smaller than the state of New Hampshire, has about four million Jews and about one million others. And yet, it’s almost in the news every day, even here in New Zealand. Ruth and I have noticed scarcely a day passes without a report from Israel. Do you know why? Because Israel is coming back into center stage for the climax of the age. That’s where they’ll be when the climax comes.

Now, Romans 11 contains a very important revelation. Romans chapter 11:25–26. These words are addressed by Paul to Christians from a Gentile background; that is, non-Jewish. How many of you know that most of you are Gentiles. I’m a Gentile, Warren is a Gentile. Ruth is a Jewess, see. But she’s in a minority. The people who are not Christians are pagans but the people who are not Jews are Gentiles. This is difficult for some people to apprehend. Paul is writing to Christians from a Gentile background and this is what he says. Romans 11:25:

“I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery [this secret that God has been keeping], lest you should be wise in your own opinion . . .
Don’t get conceited. Don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. What is the mystery? . . . that hardening in part has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.”

Notice it’s hardening in part. The whole Jewish people has never been totally hardened, there’s always been Jews in every generation who believed in Jesus. Sometimes they were a very small minority. But hardening in part has happened to Israel not forever but until. Until what? The full number of the Gentiles has come in. Until the church has done its job and proclaimed this gospel of the kingdom to all nations. And meanwhile the Lord has begun to gather in the Gentile harvest. I believe myself the greatest harvest the church has ever seen is still ahead of us. I believe millions of people are going to come into the kingdom of God. But bear in mind that’s preparatory to the restoration of Israel.

“And then Paul goes on to say in verse 26:
. . . so all Israel will be saved.”

Israel is the only nation of which the Bible predicts that all the nation will be saved. It doesn’t say all New Zealand, it doesn’t say all Britain, it doesn’t say all America, all Russia, but all Israel will be saved. On the other hand, you have to bear in mind that all Israel is not all the Israel that’s alive now for in Romans 9:27 Paul quotes Isaiah. He says:

“Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved.”

The remnant is the remnant God has foreknown and chosen for Himself. So it’s not all the Jewish people that are presently alive in the land of Israel but it’s the remnant that God will bring through great tribulation, testing and suffering to make them His.

Then will come Jesus judging the Gentile nations. This is pictured in Joel chapter 3:1–2. This is very, very important for us who are not Jewish to understand. Joel chapter 3:1–2

“For behold, in those days and at that time [God is speaking] when I bring back the captives [or exiles] of Judah and Jerusalem . . .”

In other words, in the days in which we are living when God is bringing back Jewish exiles from more than one hundred nations to their own land, God says:

“‘. . . I will also gather all nations [Gentile nations] and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat . . .’
And Jehoshaphat means in Hebrew ‘the Lord judges.’
‘. . . and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of my people, my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have also divided up my land . . .’”

That is something extremely important we need to understand. God is going to judge the nations on the basis of how they’ve treated the Jewish people. And particularly He’s going to judge them for one thing, they’ve divided up His land. What’s the modern political word for dividing up? Partition. That’s precisely what the nations have done and are busy trying to do right now. God is angry with them. We who love our nation need to be in urgent prayer that our nation will not be aligned against God’s purposes for Israel.

It doesn’t say there will be any Jews judged there. My personal opinion is because the Jews will have already passed through their own judgment, the great tribulation. Somebody said years ago something worth considering. ‘God blesses the Jews direct; He blesses the Gentiles through the Jews. God judges the Gentiles direct, He judges the Jews through the Gentiles.’ I think this has been worked out in history time and time again.

So, Israel will pass through their judgment in the great tribulation. They will have been judged but then the nations that persecuted them will be judged. In Matthew 25 Jesus says—I think I better read those words because it’s so clear that this is Joel 3 in the New Testament. Matthew 25, the last part of the chapter, verse 31:

“‘When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory . . .’”

This is the same scene as in Joel 3:1.

“‘. . . all the nations [the Gentiles] will be gathered before Him and He will separate them from one another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.’”

And if you’ve studied that chapter you’ll find the basis of the division is how they’ve treated the brothers of Jesus. So, the nations need to know. We need to keep our nation informed. We need to speak out and warn our nation, ‘You’re going to be judged by the way you have dealt with God’s people and God’s land Israel.’

Now, following that, Christ’s kingdom on earth will be established. Whenever you pray the Lord’s Prayer, which you probably do quite often, what you may not realize is you’re praying for the establishment of Christ’s kingdom on earth. The first petition is ‘thy kingdom come.’ That takes precedence over all other petitions. When you’re praying that you’re praying for the return of Jesus and the establishment of His kingdom on the earth, whether you know it or not. Now this is described in Isaiah chapter 24:19. You see how important it is to have a knowledge of biblical prophecy? Isaiah 24:19, this is, in a sense, the climax of the age. It’s reduplicated many times in Revelation. This is the picture:

“The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly, the earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall totter like a hut. Its transgression shall be heavy upon it and it will fall and not rise again.
That’s the earth, the planet on which we live.
It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones, and on the earth the kings of the earth.”

The Lord will deal with two kingdoms: Satan’s kingdom in the heavenlies and the kingdom of man on earth. He will punish all those who refuse His righteous government in the person of Jesus.

“They will be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit [or the prison] and will be shut up in the prison. After many days they will be punished.
Now I like this verse, this is the climax:
Then the moon will be disgraced and the sun ashamed, for the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders gloriously.”

The Lord’s kingdom will have been re-established in its capital which is Jerusalem. Why should the sun be ashamed and the moon disgraced? This is something that I believe I have the answer to. In Luke 9:26 is a description of the return of Jesus. Luke 9:26, Jesus said:

“‘For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him the Son of man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, in His Father’s glory and the glory of the holy angels.’”

Just think of that. Jesus is coming in His own glory, the glory of the Father and the glory of the holy angels. The brilliance of that glory is something that we cannot even begin to imagine and yet it will not hurt our eyes. But then the sun and the moon will have to take a back seat and say, ‘The light we offer is nothing compared with what comes with Jesus.’ That’s why they’ll be ashamed.

I’ve got to go quickly and I’ll just give you the references, I don’t have time to turn to them. The next thing that will happen is Jesus will establish His kingdom for one thousand years. A thousand years, the Bible says, is as a day. So, it’s one day in the Lord’s reckoning.

Then Satan will be released from his prison briefly and go out and stir up rebellion in the nations, which is his job. The Lord will intervene and bring final judgment on the nations and Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire together with the antichrist and the false prophet, who are already there. The present heaven and the present earth will pass away and a new heaven and a new earth will come forth. All the remaining dead will stand before the great white throne of God for judgment.

Announcer:

Today’s program concluded Derek Prince’s teaching ‘At the End of Time.’ Join us again next week when Derek will continue his series ‘Laying the Foundation’ with his next theme ‘Resurrection of the Dead.’ In these messages he will show us how Jesus’ resurrection was the basis for our own resurrection which will ultimately complete our salvation.

This week’s message is available on audiocassette No. RC4167, and also on video. Our special offer this week is Prayers and Proclamations, which gives us specific Scriptures which, when proclaimed through believing lips, release the power of God’s word in our lives for any situation. To receive your copy of ‘At the End of Time’ write today and include a contribution of $5.00 or more for audiocassette RC4167 or $14.95 for the video teaching. Include a gift of any amount for Prayers and Proclamations.

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