The Kingdom of Heaven
The kingdom of heaven is actually divided
into three parts. Currently when a forgiven person dies that person goes to
heaven and receives his new spiritual body. The second part of heaven will be
when Jesus and all His saints in heaven come down to rule and reign with Christ
on earth for a thousand years. The third part of heaven will be after the thousand year
reign of Christ and the Bible says there will be a new heaven and a new earth where Christ will reign forever.
I would like to pick up this study first examining
the current kingdom of heaven. The Bible
tells us that when Jesus ascended to heaven He was going to the Father.
John 14:12
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do
he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
The Bible says that the purpose of Jesus going to the Father
was to prepare a place for us and to receive us to Himself. Before Jesus died on the cross, when a righteous
person died, the Bible says that the righteous person went to paradise and
stayed there until Jesus was to free them and take them to heaven which
occurred in the three days after Jesus died on the cross.
John 14:3
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
John 14:2
In My Father’s house are many
mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
By these verses we know that the Father is in heaven with
Jesus preparing a place for us. I believe this is referring to our new
spiritual bodies “made in the heavens, not with hands”. We also know by reading
the scriptures that the saints who have died are currently in heaven. We also
know that Jesus is coming for His people known as the “rapture of the church.”
Once the rapture of God’s people takes place we will be in heaven with all the
saints for a period of seven years. After the seven year period expires God and
all the saints in heaven will descend upon the earth and rule and reign with
Jesus forever.
According to the Bible heaven will be on earth and Jesus
will rule and reign on the earth forever. The people who claim the world is
coming to an end are mistaken. The Bible never states that the world is coming
to an end in fact the Bible states that Jesus is to rule and reign on the earth
forever.
Psalm 145:13
Your
kingdom is a kingdom that will last forever. Your rule will continue for all time to
come. The Lord is faithful and will keep all of his promises. He is loving
toward everything he has made.
Revelation 1115
Then
the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have
become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”
We couldn’t have asked for a better leader
than Jesus. The world today is being ruled by short sighted, greedy, dishonest,
perverted and unloving politicians. The whole system is corrupt and we are left
without any hope for this present system.
It reminds me of what the religious leaders said to Pilot as Jesus stood
before them. They said “we will not have this man reign over us.” What a huge
mistake that was. If you turn your back on God, He will turn his back on you!
We have established that Jesus is going to
rule and reign on the earth forever. We also know that Jesus’ reign will be
divided into two segments. The first segment of his reign will last one
thousand years which is referred to as the millennium during which time we will
rule with Christ on the earth as kings and priests over the people who survived
the great tribulation. After the thousand years Christ will judge the
unrighteous dead after which time Christ will then cast Satin into the lake of
fire and death will finally be a thing of the past. The second portion of
Christ’s reign on earth will then last for eternity with a new heaven and a new
earth.
Revelation 20:4
[ The Saints Reign with Christ 1,000 Years ] And I saw
thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw
the souls of those who had been
beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years
Revelation 20:3
and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up,
and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years
were finished. But after these things he must be released for a
little while
What will we be doing during the thousand year reign of
Christ? The Bible says during the thousand year reign of Christ we will be
kings and priests ruling over the cities of the earth with Jesus.
Luke 19:17
And he said to him,
‘Well done, good servant;
because you were faithful in a
very little, have authority over ten cities
Revelation 5:10
And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.
Revelation 20:6
Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the
second death has no power, but they
shall be priests of God and of
Christ, and shall reign with Him
a thousand years.
Jesus says in the New Testament we will be
ruling over the cities of the earth. However I believe that it is not going to
be the way the cities are currently governed. We are going to give a new
meaning to the phrase “public servant”. Jesus’ disciples once asked Jesus how
to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
Luke 22:25-26
And He said to them, “The kings of the
Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them
are called ‘benefactors.’ But not so among you; on the contrary,
he who is greatest among you let him be as
the younger, and he who governs as he
who serves.
Mark: 9:35
And He sat down, called the twelve, and
said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”
We will be ruling the cities of the earth with compassion
and love. Serving man with super human powers and not dependent on the things
of the earth for our own needs. No longer will the earth be ruled by human
beings who only care about their own selfish needs without any regard for
anybody else. We will be in tune with God’s perfect will and ruling this earth
with foresight and perfect judgment.
Next I want to take a look at heaven on earth and try to get
as much of a picture of heaven as we can from the Bible Scriptures. Keep in
mind the first part of heaven we want to look at is heaven during the thousand
year reign of Christ which is referred to as the “millennium” after the
millennium the New Jerusalem which is a fifteen hundred mile cube will come
down from heaven and reside where Jerusalem currently sits.
Zechariah 14:17
And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to
Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain.
The fact that the above verse states “on them there will be
no rain” tells us first of all that in heaven there will still be rain. We will
still have weather pretty much the same as we do now and secondly this verse
implies that the people who survived the tribulation will be dependent on rain
for their crops.
Isaiah 2:4
He shall judge between the nations, and
rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into
pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war anymore.
They shall beat their swords into
plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. That statement definitely
implies that many of the human beings during the millennium will be farmers. We
know that all human beings can’t be farmers because the New Testament says we
are to rule over the cities.
Neither shall they learn war anymore. If we could have just done this today think
of the billions of dollars yearly we could apply to everybody’s standard of
living. We could eliminate the middle class as well as the lower class of
people. Everybody would be wealthy living the way God originally intended. It’s has been said that if the world’s
wealth was divided equally among every inhabitant on the planet earth there
would be enough wealth for everybody on the planet to be wealthy. It has been
said that three percent of the population controls all the worlds’ wealth. God
gave man enough wealth on this earth for everyone to live a rich life but
because of a greedy few this planet currently suffers needlessly.
We can now take the information that we
have just learned and start a list titled “Heavenly Attributes” and we will
begin with the following attributes:
· Heaven will be on
earth
· We will reign with
Christ as kings and priests
· There will still be
rain in heaven
· No more wars
· No more military
· Farms and farmers
will play an important role in heaven
Isaiah 65:19-20
I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
And joy in My people;
The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her,
Nor the voice of crying.
“No more shall an infant from there live but a few
days,
Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days;
For the child shall die one hundred years old,
But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.
“I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy
in My people: This shows that Jesus
will reside in Jerusalem. I also know by reading Micah 4:1 that the Lord’s
house will be established on the mountain tops of Jerusalem above the hills and
many peoples of all nations will all flow to it. The elevation of the Mount of
Olives is 2,683 ft. I believe the elevation will be greatly increased when
Jesus returns and His feet touch down at the Mount of Olives.
The Mount of Olives has been used as
a Jewish cemetery for thousands of years entombing such greats as Zechariah and
Absalom. Currently there are over 150,000 Jews buried or entombed there. Many
Jews today want to be buried or entombed in the Mount of Olives because they
believe that man’s first resurrection will occur there when the Messiah touches
down.
Micah 4:1
[The LORD’s Reign in Zion] Now it
shall come to pass in the latter
days that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and
shall be exalted above the
hills; and peoples shall flow to it.
Zechariah 14:4
And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which
faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount
of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very
large valley; half of the
mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south.
The voice of weeping and crying
shall no longer be heard in her. The “her” is referring to Jerusalem currently
one of the most violent cities in the world today.
Verse 20 is saying a person who dies
at the age of one hundred will still be considered a “child” so it appears that
human beings will live throughout the millennium. “But the sinner being one
hundred years old shall be accursed.” This verse is telling us two things. The
first thing that catches my eye is sinners will still be living during the
millennium and the second is that death will still be present during the
millennium. Let’s take what we have just learn and add to our list of heavenly
attributes.
· Jesus will rule from Jerusalem
· Jerusalem and all cities will be at peace
· No more weeping or crying
· Sinners will still be living in the millennium
· The death penalty will be present for human beings who
commit crimes
· The life expectancy for people will greatly increase
Isaiah 65:21-23
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
They shall not plant and another eat;
For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people,
And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain,
Nor bring forth children for trouble;
For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord,
And their offspring with them.
“They
shall build houses and inhabit them.” Finally everyone on planet earth will
have a house to live in. No more homeless people, no more bank mortgages, no
more bad upside down loans that are sold to foreign countries. Everybody will
have a piece of property of their own and they will have a thousand years to
make it nice. I could never understand the reasoning behind the people who
scrape their way to the top and amass a huge fortune and then die in eighty or
so years just to leave their fortunes to a bunch of ungrateful children. When I was growing up I was told that “you
can’t take it with you when you go” so I said, If I can’t take it with me when
I go then I don’t want it! That’s like playing Monopoly knowing that it is all
fake money and when the game is finished you’ll have to give it all back. Why
do people cheat and kill to get their way only to give it all back in the end.
God isn’t concerned with who won the game as much as He is concerned with how
the game was played.
When
these wealthy people die and stand before God, God will say to them “I blessed
you with enormous wealth to help mankind, what did you do with all the wealth
that I entrusted to you?” and they will reply “I own one of the biggest
companies in the world, I bought three houses, I have two Rolls Royce’s, a Lear
jet, I traveled the world extensively and I still died with 30 billion
leftover. Do you think God will be impressed? What a waste! All the education
they had and all the planning for their future. How shortsighted! Now they have
no future! It obviously wasn’t a very good plan was it?
“They
shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.” This verse indicates that all the
people will be prosperous. This world’s current system will be a thing of the
past. No longer will the people have to fight over the crumbs that are left
over. Finally there will be enough of everything for everyone on the planet. No
longer will there be “the wealthy few” all men will have plenty.
“For
as the days of a tree are the days of my people,” I know redwood trees live for
thousands of years and I believe the people living in the millennium will live
throughout the whole 1000 years unless they commit a crime worthy of the death
penalty.
Psalm 2:9
You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.
Revelation 19:15
Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword,
that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He
Himself treads the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
Jesus
will rule the nations with a rod of iron which implies that judgment will be
swift. When a person commits a crime deserving of the death penalty he won’t
have to wait ten years for the trial to start costing the tax payers millions
of dollars. Criminals trying to lie won’t work get away with it because we as
kings and priests will already know the whole truth. Lawyers will be a thing of
the past. Justice and sentencing will be instantaneous.
“And
my elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in
vain.” No longer will man struggle to make ends meet. He will prosper by the
work of his hands. Today most of us work to make other people wealthy in the
millennium we will work to our own good.
“Nor
bring forth children for trouble: For they shall be descendants of the blessed
of the Lord, and their offspring with them.” This verse shows us that children
will be born throughout the millennium. Let’s go back and see what attributes
we can now add to our list.
· Everybody will own their own house and property
· All people will be prosperous and considered wealthy
· There will be a new world system
· Justice will be swift
· Children will be born during the millennium
· People will work to their own good
· People will enjoy the fruit of their labor
Isaiah 65:24
“It shall come to pass that before they
call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.
This verse proves that prayer is still
going to be the preferred mode of communication in the millennium. However it
appears the service will greatly improve. Instead of waiting for an answer we
will have the answer before we pray and while we are still in prayer. How’s
that for service! As it happens now when we pray the prayers with the answer of
“yes” we find out most of the time immediately, however when we have a request
with a response of “no” we will end up waiting for months and sometimes years
before we get smart enough to figure out that the answer was no.
Isaiah 65:25
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
The lion shall eat straw like the ox,
And dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,”
Says the Lord.
“The wolf and the lamb shall feed
together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox.” I think most people have heard
this verse. It does paint a beautiful picture of heaven. I believe heaven will
be inhabited by all vegetarians from the animals to the human beings. That
would be the only way that every person and every animal could peacefully
co-exist. This verse shows us that no longer will animals hunt other animals
for food.
“And dust shall be the serpent’s
food.” What can I say; it looks like the serpent drew the short straw again.
The curse of the serpent is alive and well in the kingdom of heaven. One thing
I did observed is the serpent’s food is now dust instead of rodents. It appears
that the snake is also going meatless, not by choice but because his fangs no
longer exist.
“They shall not hurt nor destroy in
all My holy mountain,” Says the LORD. To get a better idea of what Isaiah the
prophet is saying we need to look at the verses in Isaiah 11:6-9
Isaiah 11:6-9
“The
wolf also shall dwell with the
lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf
and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing
child shall play by the cobra’s
hole, and the weaned child shall
put his hand in the viper’s den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My
holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.
Currently there is segregation in the
animal kingdom. All animals prefer to stay with their own kind. You don’t see
lions living with zebras or elephants living with hippos. In heaven that will
all change. You will see mixtures and assortments of all different types of
animals mixing together, feeding together, migrating together and sleeping
together. In Isaiah 11:6 says “and a little child shall lead them”. If you are
like me you have probably heard this verse misquoted quite a few times. We can
now see that this verse is referring to a child leading various types of
animals all living in peace.
Let’s now take what we have learned from
the preceding verses and add them to our list of “heavenly attributes”
· Heaven will be on
earth
· We will rule and
reign with Christ as kings and priests for 1000 years
· There will still be
weather in heaven
· No more war
· No more military
· Farms and farmers
will play an important role in heaven
· Jesus will rule and
reign from Jerusalem
· Jerusalem and all
cities will be at peace
· No more weeping or
crying
· Sinners will still
be living in the millennium
· The death penalty
will exist for people who commit crimes
· People will live
much longer in the millennium
· Everybody will own
their own house and property
· All people will be
prosperous and wealthy
· Justice will be
swift
· Children will be
born during the millennium
· People will work to
their own good
· People will enjoy
the fruit of their labor
· We will still pray
in heaven
· Prayers will be
answered before we pray or during our prayers
· Animals will be
vegetarians
· Animals will mix
together with different types of animals
· Animals will no
longer be afraid of people
· Animals and people
will co-exist together
This concludes our study of the kingdom of
heaven. I hope by me listing everything in one place like this that it will
help you to have a more complete understanding of what heaven will be like.