Chapter 11: Nations – Millennial Destiny
This will most likely be a very short chapter. I did not see it fit to put this topic in with either of my first two chapters on nations. The question that I want to raise is, “What happens to the nations in the millennial reign of Christ?” When Jesus returns, He rules and reigns for 1000 years.{cclxxv} During that time, there are a few things mentioned about nations. Now, because I don’t have the full picture painted yet, a lot of these passages are going to be left open. However, I think that the point will be made and will be clear.
To start, I think that maybe I should retouch on something that I passed earlier. The nations will be judged. What are they judged over? They are judged on the account of how they treat Israel. I used Joel as an example. I’ll put down the whole passage here: “In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land. They cast lots for my people and traded boys for prostitutes; they sold girls for wine that they might drink.”{cclxxvi}
Notice that God holds the nations accountable for their use or abuse toward Israel at the end of the age. For a nation or people to abuse Israel is for that people to abuse God Himself. Just as God stopped Saul on the road to Damascus and asked him, “Why are you persecuting me?” God will also ask the nations, “Why did you abuse the least of these my brethren?” To despise His brethren is to despise Him. Though the nations don’t realize it, and secular men see no connection, the principalities and powers know it far too well. When we’re messing with Israel, we are essentially coming against God. God has placed His name upon that people, and they are to be the blessing of all nations. Yet, if we reject that blessing and make it a curse, then we are rejecting the very God from which the blessing comes.
Obadiah 15 says, “The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.” Notice again that this is not a verse directed at individuals, but instead directed at nations. The treatment that a nation will receive during the Millennial Kingdom will be the exact treatment that they hand out to Israel. Micah 4:3 says, “He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” The millennial hope of nations is world peace. Christ will not only rule over Israel, but over all nations, for we just read, “He will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.”
Revelation 11:18 reads, “The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for the judging of the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great – and for destroying all those who destroy the earth.” Notice once again the attitude that is given: “destroying all those who destroy the earth”. Those that cause terror will receive terror. Those that cause devastation will be devastated. Those that destroy the earth will be destroyed. “As you have done, it will be done to you.” The judgment of the nations is the first aspect. It is the birth canal.
After the nations have been judged, those remaining will then live in a very specific way. For example, it mentions in Micah 4:2 (we looked at verse three) that the nations will go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. They will learn of God’s ways, and any time that someone desires to learn of the ways of God, it is so that they might perform them. The nations will go up to Jerusalem to honor the Feast of Tabernacles, as it is written in Zechariah 14:16. They will live in peace, not taking up sword against one another anymore. For that kind of peace, there must be unity. Unity is not something we can trivialize. It is not enough to say that because they aren’t fighting that they are at peace. It cannot be said that there is unity simply because they all agree with one another.
Peace and unity go hand-in-hand. They both represent a disposition of heart. In order for there to be peace, there cannot be any selfish ambition. In order for there to be unity, the nation or individual must be servant to those around him. Just as Christ Jesus prayed for His Body that each individual person would “be one as He and the Father are one,”{cclxxvii} so too is the desire and prayer that the nations would be one. Though they are many members, they are all of one blood. They all stem from one man: Noah. The nations will learn to live at peace with one another, which include being servant to one another.
There must continue to be nations after the judgment, which is after the overthrow of the Antichrist and his kingdom, because it is written that nations will come up to Jerusalem. Daniel 7:11-12 says, “Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.)” Remember that the horn mentioned in Daniel 7 is the Antichrist. This horn is cast into the lake of fire, but the beasts that were mentioned in Daniel 7:1-7 continue to exist. It is logical, then, to conclude that there is some sort of purpose for the nations during the Millennial Age.
Principalities and Powers Defeated
We read in Revelation 20:1-5, “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or in their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the head did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.”
Lets compare this to Isaiah 24:21-22: “In that day the Lord will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days.” Do you see the similarity? There is a conquering of the principalities and powers. Those demonic forces over the nations that manipulate and influence will be defeated. They will be locked away in the Abyss for 1000 years. At the end of the 1000 years, Satan will be loosed once again. Those same nations that have enjoyed freedom for 1000 years will now have the possibility to be deceived. Those that do not follow Satan in his regime against Jerusalem the final time will endure in the New Heaven and New Earth.{cclxxviii}
There are mentioned a people on thrones in Revelation 20:4. These are they that did not take the mark of the beast and did not worship his image. Those that are beheaded by the beast are given a place to rule. We know it is not limited to they who were beheaded, because Daniel was promised a throne.{cclxxix} So, this is not exclusively for they who are beheaded. They who oppose the antichrist system – Babylon – inherit this ruling and reigning with Christ in the first resurrection. Anyone who is willing to live in comfort and security, though they may still be technically saved, will not have place in the Millennial Kingdom.
The veil that covers the nations, that film that I saw in a vision, will be taken away. That veil represents the pride of the nations – the arrogance to push their own agendas and refuse to even consider the need to seek the Lord that they might be found of Him. It is the Church’s mandate to wrestle those demonic powers that have placed that veil over the nations. We must wrestle them to overcome them and break off the veil that blinds both our nation and also Israel. God has given the call to Israel that they should inherit the nations.{cclxxx} That inheritance is acceded to when they are no longer bound by the same veil of pride that is over all nations.
It is the duty of the Church, as the remnant of Israel, to wrestle the principalities and powers over the nations. When the veil is lifted, Israel’s role as the mediators unto God can then be fulfilled. That is why Isaiah 25:7 says, “On this mountain he will destroy the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.” Precisely what mountain is being spoken of? It is Zion, of which the author of Hebrews tells the Church, “You have come unto Zion”.{cclxxxi} It is upon that mountain, Zion, that God has ordained the veil be broken off of the nations. That veil must first be broken off if the nations are to then come under the obedience and authority of Israel.
Israel is not yet at a place to take up that authority. They are not yet in a place of priesthood. As Hosea has said, “Like priest, like people.”{cclxxxii} Because Israel is still technically the priestly nation to the nations, all nations follow Israel’s example. In this, there are so many factors tied together that it is difficult to discern where the one begins and the other ends. It is difficult to say whether or not the nations would be living in subjection to God if Israel were to have embraced her messiah. There are still the principalities and powers that would be manipulating those nations.
The purposes of God have been fulfilled in that all these things come to a pinhead at the end of the age. When the Church can display the manifest wisdom of God to the principalities and powers,{cclxxxiii} through her end time purpose, she destroys the power of the kingdom of darkness.{cclxxxiv} Christ has made a public spectacle of them through the cross.{cclxxxv} It will be by bearing our own crosses on behalf of others that will not only dismantle them, but also defeat them.{cclxxxvi} Many times in the book of Revelation the topic about overcoming is presented. That overcoming is an overcoming of the spirit that pervades, and to overcome the spirit is to give liberty to the captive – even if the captive is an entire nation. It is by the word of our testimony and the blood of the Lamb, and not loving our lives even unto the death that defeats the principalities and powers.{cclxxxvii} Ezekiel prophecies, “Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.”{cclxxxviii}
This prophecy about Satan might have a literal outcome.{cclxxxix} This one that the nations bowed to will be cast down. He will be made a spectacle, not only in that he will be cast into the Abyss, but also in that the Antichrist and his army will be left outside of Jerusalem rotting.{ccxc} Later in Ezekiel 28, we come to the statement, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I gather the people of Israel from the nations where they have been scattered, I will show myself holy among them in the sight of the nations.”{ccxci} The result of Israel’s final return to the land is that the nations will recognize the truth and reality. They will see the Lord and understand their past events as not simply being their own agendas. They will see the reality of the principalities and powers manipulating them, and the truth of the phrase, “the God of Israel.”
It is from the Church engaging those powers in the time of Jacob’s Trouble that the mask is lifted. The nations will no longer have a veil of pride that will blind them to truth and reality. Instead, when Christ is revealed, Israel will behold him whom they have pierced and weep for him as one mourns for an only child.{ccxcii} The result of the veil being torn off the nations is both Israel’s redemption, and also the nations finally realizing that they have been made for a purpose, and that purpose is to bring the glory of God to the ends of the earth. The glory of God is more than a cute phrase. We must be jealous for it. We need to guard it and protect it. When God’s glory is simply the idea of a light shining, or some sort of “awe”, we have cheapened the very thing that causes the angels to amaze.
Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. “Let us break their chains,” they say, “and throw off their fetters.” Have you noticed the ignorance of these kings in Psalm 2? Let us break their chains and throw off their fetters… They do not realize that any chains the Lord might attach to us bring ultimate freedom and not oppression. God is free, and He leads His people into freedom. Any bondage, like the bondage of the Law, is freedom to those who believe. And we shouldn’t be surprised. It is both the kings and the rulers that rage. Maybe this is a subtle hint of the principalities and powers over those kings.
God responds by saying, “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill.”{ccxciii} When does this take place? This is at the end of the age. When Christ returns and sets up His literal rule from that literal place, it is said, “I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.”{ccxciv} Those same nations and kings that reel against God and His Anointed One are now being given as an inheritance. Something drastic has happened. Those “chains” are no longer being considered chains. Otherwise, the nations would continue to rebel. Yet, if any nation continues to rebel, the word is given that they will be cut off from the land of the living.{ccxcv} Thus, there must at least be some nations that do not think that submission to God is burden.
Think of Matthew 8:29. The demon-possessed man comes to Jesus and asks, “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” Who is asking the question? It is the demon(s) within him. Those demonic powers that possess this man are recognizing that Christ has come, and that He has the power and authority to condemn them. That condemnation has already been decreed. It only waits an appointed time. That appointed time is the age when the Church engages the powers in an ultimate way, thus breaking their power and strength over all nations. It is after that when the demons are cast into the pit and await their eternal fate.
Redemption of Nations
I used the verse in Deuteronomy 32 about how God established the boundaries of the nations in accordance to the sons of Israel. The purpose of nations is tied together with that. We find later in Deuteronomy 32 these words: “Rejoice, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants; he will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and people.”{ccxcvi} That atonement that is being spoken of is more than Christ. Though it is true that He is our propitiation, Israel will endure judgment because of her sins. Once God has poured out the full wrath upon Israel, He will then turn away His fury.
It would appear that when God turns away that furor from Israel, the nations are to rejoice. Once the wrath is finished upon Israel, it is then poured out upon Babylon. Something about the full wrath being poured out upon Israel brings blessing to the nations. That blessing is intrinsic to the call of Israel. Once Israel comes into her redemption, she will no longer be a curse, but instead be a blessing to the nations. Only a priest can truly bless. A phrase of, “Bless you brother,” does absolutely nothing. The priest can transact and impart blessing from heaven. It is at the redemption of Israel, with the coming of Jesus, that the nations rejoice because they are now going to finally receive their blessing for which they have been established.
That blessing is the same thing that we have received with our salvation. It comes with humility, as Psalm 9:20 reads, “let the nations know they are but men.” And again, “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.”{ccxcvii} The nations will be humbled. No longer will they be bound by their pride, but will receive meekness, and it is the meek that inherit the earth.{ccxcviii} The final statement regarding nations is not their pride. It is not a statement of how they rebel against the Lord, as at Babel. Instead, the final statement regarding nations is that “All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name”.{ccxcix}
“The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of God”.{ccc} Isaiah 52:15 says, “So will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.” Though many attribute this to Christ Jesus, I don’t believe that this has yet happened. The kings’ mouths have not been stopped. The nations have not been sprinkled. They are continuing in disobedience and disbelief. Yet the time will come, when they see Israel come out of her time of Trouble, and they see the Church within their midst take on the spiritual powers of darkness, that the nations will then understand that which they have not heard. They will see what they had not been told.
The result of that understanding and seeing will be life from the dead. They will then honor and glorify the Lord. They will magnify God, and bring praise into His courts. The sovereignty, power, and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints.{ccci} While the fact is that most of the nations today do not consider God, it will be in that day that “many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come, and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty. I myself am going.’ And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty and to entreat him”.{cccii}
While the call is given here and now that the nations should seek the Lord that they may be found of Him, it will come to pass in the millennium that all nations will seek the Lord and be found of Him. “My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun.”{ccciii} This is what they are called to. The millennial destiny of all nations is that “they will walk by [Zion’s] light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it”.{ccciv} Where many preachers seem to indicate that our purpose as human beings is to glorify the Lord, it seems like the Bible actually concludes that this is the chief end of nations.
God has called all nations to make His glory known to the ends of the earth. Each nation has a specific calling and purpose to fulfill. By walking according to the light of Zion, as they are taught when they come up to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty, the kings and the nations will bring the glory of God to the ends of the earth. All of creation will benefit from the blessing that the nations themselves will give. The children of God will at that time be brought unto glory, for which the creation currently moans and groans and waits for their revealing.{cccv} To be the son of God is not simply the statement of being adopted. It is not simply a statement of salvation. It is instead the statement of ruling and reigning – of being a co-heir with Christ, which we inherit only.
There are such glories in store for the Millennial Kingdom, many of which we cannot even begin to fathom here and now. The stark contrast between life as we know it now, and life as it will be revealed during the millennium is too extreme to compare. To then try and examine life in the Millennial Kingdom to the New Heaven and New Earth, it has an equal gap of dissimilarity. We can only ponder these things, and never come to full understanding on this side of eternity. I both apologize for the lack of information that can truly be expressed, but also rejoice that there really is so little revelation. It keeps us on the edge of our seat, in eager hope and expectation. May we all begin to search and be brought into an increasing jealousy for the glory of God, even manifest to all nations.