The Coming and Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ: The Age to Come, or the Millenium, Part 2

 •  6 min. read  •  grade level: 8
 
To turn back now to Psalm 2, we find the gathering together of the kings and rulers of the earth against the Lord, and against His anointed; “Yet,” saith the Lord, “have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion.” Judgment, as we have seen in our last paper, falls upon the powers of this world. Christ takes the kingdom, and the remnant of Judah are delivered; for “it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off, and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried they shall call on My name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God” (Zech. 13:8-98And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. 9And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God. (Zechariah 13:8‑9)).
Following upon this we get the restoration of the ten tribes of Israel, now scattered and lost among the nations. The fullness of the Gentiles being come in, the Lord begins now to bless in a special way, according to His many promises, His earthly people Israel. “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Rom. 11:2929For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. (Romans 11:29)).
Many deny the truth of the restoration and blessing of God’s ancient people, and spiritualize and explain away the numerous scriptures which refer to it, applying them often to the present blessing of the church of God. Such would do well to ponder Romans 11:25-3625For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. 28As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. 29For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. 30For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 31Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 32For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. 33O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 34For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? 35Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 36For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. (Romans 11:25‑36). “I would not, brethren,” writes the apostle to God’s saints at Rome, “that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob”. For “thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel, for all that they have done, saith the Lord” (Jer. 31:3737Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:37)).
Again; “He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet; and they shall gather together His elect (Israel) from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:3131And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:31)).
Great numbers of Jews having returned to their land by the aid of a certain maritime power (Isa. 18), come into great tribulation; one-third who witness for Christ in this time of Jacob’s trouble (Zech. 13:99And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God. (Zechariah 13:9)). are saved out of it; others are martyred; the rest judged; then the ten tribes are gathered back (the rebellious being purged out) and united with the two, as one nation, under Christ.
Ezekiel, in Ezekiel 20:3434And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. (Ezekiel 20:34), speaks thus of this event: “And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face . ... And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against Me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.”
Jeremiah, in Jeremish 31:8-10, says: “Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither  ... . Hear the Word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.”
Isaiah 49:20-2320The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell. 21Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been? 22Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. 23And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. (Isaiah 49:20‑23) is a most touching description of the union of the tribes after the Redeemer has come out of Zion. “The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me; give place to me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been? Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up Mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up My standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers”.
I might cite many more scriptures; but these will suffice to show simply the fact of that which God will shortly do for His earthly people. The prophets speak so plainly in the above passages, that comment upon them is almost superfluous, as I do not aim at giving the reader much more than an outline sketch.
The Deliverer being come out of Zion, Israel saved, “they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jer. 31:3434And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:34)).
“Lift up your heads, eternal gates,
Transcendent dawn glows o’er ye!
At Salem’s door Messiah waits;
He is the King of glory.”
(Continued).