The prophets with one accord pointed to the first advent of Christ as the time when the Kingdom of God would be established. Jesus taught the same truth; "Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." (Mark 1:14-15) When Jesus came in His first advent, the time was "fulfilled"; the kingdom of God was "at hand." Need I remind the reader that anything that is "at hand" is not two thousand years away? Daniel had seen this: "Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet...then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the summer threshingfloors ... and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." (Dan. 2:34-35) This stone is the kingdom of God. Jesus said, "Upon this rock I will build my church." (Matt. 16:18) It began with the preaching of John the Baptist who declared, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matt. 3:2) Jesus said, "The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it." (Luke 16:16) It goes without saying that no one can "press into" something that does not exist.

True to the promise of Jesus Christ that the "gates of hell shall not prevail against it," we have seen earthly kingdoms rise and fall, but this spiritual kingdom stands unshaken upon the Rock of eternal truth. It has come down through martyrdom bathed in the blood of saints, pushed aside by selfish religious leaders, ignored by many in high places, but yet it stands as pure and noble in His robes of righteousness, as it did when first the Holy Spirit fell upon it in that great phenomena on the day of Pentecost.

Micah prophesied of the coming kingdom of God in these words, "But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be established above the hills; and people shall flow into it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more ... In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever." (Micah 4:1-7) This clear prophecy of the establishment of the Kingdom is often misplaced to be fulfilled after the return of Christ. This was to take place "in the last days." (See vs. 1) If we can locate the "last days," we can locate the exact time of its fulfillment. Turn to Hebrews 1:1-2, "God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." According to this writer, the "last days" were in existence in his time, and since this is true then surely they are in existence in our time too.

Let us look closer at this prophecy. The "mountain of the Lord," clearly applies to mount Zion. (See verse 7) The Hebrew believers had "come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem" (Heb. 12:22-23), which the writer denominates "the general assembly, and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven;" Jesus called His church in this dispensation "a city that is set on a hill." (Matt. 5:14) The "house of the God of Jacob" (Micah 4:2), is "the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." (1 Tim. 3:15) The flowing of many nations into it has been fulfilled since the day of Pentecost. During the days following Pentecost, multitudes believed the Gospel and joined the Church of God. (See Acts 2:41; 4:4; 18:8; 19:17-18)

In Old Testament times, the true God was known only to Israel, but now salvation is for "all people." (See Lk. 2:8-10; Matt. 28:19-20; Mk. 16:15-16; Rom. 9:24-26) The Gospel of Jesus Christ embraces and includes the Law as given from Sinai, but it includes much more than that; it now includes all the teachings of Jesus Christ and also His example, and "the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Jesus told his disciples that, "repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." (Luke 24:47) This began on the day of Pentecost, and it swept over the known world with remarkable speed, for Paul said in his day that the gospel "was preached to every creature which is under heaven." (Col. 1:23)

The Kingdom and the Church

Another point to study is that quotation we hear so often with the assurance that this must be in the future, and therefore is to be fulfilled in the 1000 years. It reads, "I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Luke 22:29-30)

We will remember that in Matthew sixteen, Christ had asked Peter, "But whom say ye that I am?" (vs. 15) Peter's response was satisfactory to Jesus and He replied to Peter, "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock (of God, supplied) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matt. 6:18-19) You will notice that the term "church" and the phrase "kingdom of heaven" are synonymous. Why was Peter given the "keys" to the kingdom or the keys to the church? Why, that he might "loose" and "bind" on earth, in pursuance of the power vested in him by Jesus Christ. What is meant by "binding" and "loosing"? He was to bind new obligations upon the believers or members of the Church as directed by Jesus Christ, and to loose them from other obligations that had previously been attached to them.

Human nature, being what it is, caused the other disciples to ask, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" (Matt. 18:1) As a result of this .... see verses 2-17, Jesus then conferred upon the others the very same power, "Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (vs. 18) Here, then, we find the same power and responsibility is conferred upon them all ... but Peter being granted that power first would become Chairman of that body ... and we do find that upon Peter rested many responsibilities the others were not called upon to perform.

The Millennium

In our study of the "millennium" itself, we find all the information relative to it contained in only one chapter of the entire Bible, and that is the twentieth chapter of the book of Revelation. Whatever our final conclusion is on this subject, it must of necessity be in perfect harmony with all the rest of the Bible. We must always be consistent. We must always expound the dark places of Scripture by the clear ones, and always interpret the single texts of Scripture with the whole Scripture.

It may surprise some to find for themselves that the teaching of the living righteous when Jesus comes and the resurrected saints at His coming will not be the ones who will reign a thousand years with Christ. There is no Scriptural proof at all for this teaching.

That the Bible teaches a reign of God's people on earth is not denied; but instead of it being in a future age, thank God, it is the present experience of all who are truly converted. We have shown that in this dispensation, God's people are in the kingdom of his dear Son and possess its elements in their hearts now: righteousness, joy, peace in the Holy Ghost. (Rom. 14:17) With Paul, Jesus left this record, "the kingdom of God is within you," or as some render it, "the reign of God is within you." Possessing the kingdom and reigning through the grace of God is the same experience. Paul said, "That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom. 5:21) Peter describes the believers as, "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood (kingly priesthood; that is, a priesthood of kings; supplied) an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (I Peter 2:9)

The very things many people are looking for and expecting in some fancied future age-to-come are being enjoyed by God's people at the present time. The writer of Revelation, in the first century, declared, "Jesus Christ .... the prince of the kings of the earth ... hath made us kings and priests unto God ... in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ." (Rev. 1:5-6,9) Jesus Christ was made "after the order of Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God," (7:1) therefore was both Priest and King. Jesus occupies the same positions, for the above text tells us that He was made, "after the order of Melchisedec." John, on Patmos, testifies that we are "kings and priests"; let no one deny his testimony for it would weaken all the rest of his writings. We are "kings" now, in a spiritual sense, for we can conquer Satan at his worst; our own desires and our appetites and our natures, through Jesus Christ the source of all our power. Paul wrote, "I keep under my body." (I Cor. 9:27) The "wise man" said, "He that ruleth his spirit (is better) than he that taketh a city." (Prov. 16:32)

We are also "priests" for we present ourselves before the throne of grace to obtain the merits of Calvary -- the shed blood. To the Romans, Paul wrote, "sin shall not have dominion over you." (Rom. 6:14) Yes, we reign over sin if our connections are truly with the power of God's strength. In another sense, we reign over all those who hear the Gospel by our preaching, for by rejecting the minister of Jesus Christ they have rejected Him. No teaching is clearer than this in the entire Bible.

It must be agreed by all who have studied the book of Revelation that it contains much that is symbolic; still, when it comes to "a thousand years," it is accepted as literal and a period of time definitely set at 354,000 days or 365,000 days depending on whether we use the Jewish calendar or our Gregorian calendar in our calculations. With many it is exactly 1000 years to the very day -- a position in itself that is of great uncertainty. We are told "that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2 Peter 3:8) Taking the term in its symbolic sense, we see that it refers to a period of time without exact limitations as to time. This period may be termed a season or day of the Lord. This is "the day of salvation" -- but it has lasted now some nineteen hundred years; therefore, the exact length of the Lord's seasons relating to the future is not given in the Word.

(Reprinted from Number 364, March 1994 issue of "The Testimony of Truth" with permission from "People of the Living God")

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