The Second Coming of Jesus Christ to establish His kingdom on earth is the consummation of hope not just for the saved, but also for humanity as a whole. The world cannot find any enduring solutions to all its problems - wars, famines, pollutions, natural disasters, racial and religious conflicts, poverty, terrorism - and the list goes on. No government or organisation can solve them -not even the superpowers or the United Nations!
Man has to come to the end of his tether before God will come to intervene in the affairs of man. The timeline for the six thousand years of man's rule is coming to an end. Christ will come to rule with His resurrected saints for the next one thousand years (Revelation 20:6) to restore all that has been lost to the great deceiver (Acts 3:21) - Satan. The whole of creation is groaning in pain awaiting the revelation of the sons of God to accomplish the great works yet ahead (Romans 8:18-23)! But take heart, as night follows day, this will surely come to pass as the sure Word of Prophecy says so (Rev 19:10e).
The prophet Isaiah refers to Christ the Messiah as the Prince of Peace -Isaiah 9:6 - and following on in verse 7, it reads 'Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice. From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.' Many sermons have had been preached from these few verses over the centuries but with so little understanding. God is saying through the good prophet that the time of universal world government will be the time when Christ will come (Second Coming) to govern the world as King on the throne of David (based in Jerusalem). That will be the time of peace the world had never known (Isaiah 59:8a).
The Bible records for us God's blueprint to accomplish universal peace that will endure. The seven biblical festivals and feasts are a typology of what is to come. It depicts what Christ and His resurrected saints (sons of God) will do to bring about universal peace and prosperity.
The first is the Passover (Exodus 12:11; Deuteronomy 16:1-2). In Old Testament days, the slaughter of a lamb signifies the future sacrificial death of Christ. In New Testament era, the sacrifice has already been accomplished by Christ's death on the cross, and hence the slaughter of an animal has become unnecessary. However, the meaning and significance is still relevant in this time and age. The celebration reminds us of the sacrifice of Christ to atone for the sins of mankind. In fact, Christ and His disciples kept this festival ( Mark 14:12-16) and the Lord Christ was crucified in the midst of the Passover celebration!
The second festival is the Days of Unleavened Bread. In 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, the Apostle Paul explains that we are to keep the feast not in the ritualistic way, but with the unleaven bread of sincerity and truth. This festival was celebrated following the Passover, signifying that once delivered from slavery and bondage to sin, they are to become slave of righteousness.
The third festival showing God's divine plan is the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1) when the New Testament church was born. In the Old Testament it was known as the Feasts of Weeks and the Day of the Firstfruits (Numbers 28:26). Christ calls out a small group of people as His church (Luke 12:32) who will be the salt and light of this world (Satan is god of this age, 2 Cor 4:4) -Matthew 5:13-14 - until He returns. This 'little flock' has been endowed with the power of His Holy Spirit for inner transformation in preparation for the tasks of great harvest during the millennial age. The Apostle James calls it a kind of firstfruits of His creatures (James 1:18). Many have been deceived thinking that they are called and chosen to be part of this group. The sad truth is that not all have truly repented and been transformed by the Spirit of God to be in this 'first harvest' (Matthew 7:20-23). Just like parents have their firstborn child, second born, third born and so on; there is a first harvest (firstfruits) in this age and subsequent harvests in the age to come.
The first three festivals are a typology of spring harvest. They laid the groundwork for the last four festivals which will serve to gather in the harvest of all humanity who will repent and accept the forgiveness of Christ's atoning work on the cross. All the last four festivals take place in the autumn harvest when crops harvest are gathered in and stored in the northern hemisphere. Such spiritual harvest is yet to take place in the future when Satan will be incarcerated and Christ will sit on the throne of David (currently occupied by Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain) with His Headquarters in Jerusalem! There will be no more wars as swords will be turned to plowshares (Isaiah 2:4), deceptions and spiritual blindness will be removed so all knees will bow down to worship Christ as King over all the earth (Zechariah 14:9; 14:16). Those who refused will find themselves on the wrong end of the stick (Zechariah 14:17-19).
Only the establishment of God's kingdom on earth will there be universal peace. Christ and the resurrected born again sons of God will rule with an iron fist in the initial stage until all rebellion that has its root planted by the great deceiver are pluck out of existence! For the God of Peace (Christ) and His kings (sons of God) will crush Satan (all those values and principles which had their source from the great deceiver) under their feet (Romans 16:20). A new economy that is based on solid principles of honest weights, savings and prudence rather than debts will be implemented worldwide. Man will be taught the truth about life's principles right from the pages of Scriptures. What a wonderful world that will be!
No comments:
Post a Comment