XI. Theocracy Fully Established when Jesus Rules from Zion
Almost everything that has been written up to this point (with exception of the last chapter) has been foundation work. It is here that we have now reached the place to start building what the Kingdom of God is. In the last chapter we asked what the character of the Kingdom is, but here we are to examine the Kingdom itself. When we examine such a subject, we need to have the understanding that it has a double aspect: physical and spiritual. We tend to look more at the spiritual aspect in our modern Christendom, and have therefore robbed ourselves of the full meaning and intention of God.
As much as I am an advocate of the spiritual Kingdom, I find myself needing to fill the vacuum. We need to better understand the physical before we can even discern the spiritual. It is at this point that we have a lot of questions that are asked: what about the current state of Israel? What exactly is Israel’s purpose? What about we the Church? What exactly is taking place in the world when Jesus returns? What takes place during the millennial reign of Christ?
All of these questions are lacking for the exact reason that we have not even thought to ask them. We have been content to claim, “The Kingdom is within you,” and to that degree we have neglected the actual Kingdom of God. It isn’t a metaphor. This is a literal Kingdom, with a literal rule, from a literal land, over a literal people. Maybe I’m too optimistic when I say that I believe we should all have a similar character and mindset. What kingdom is it that we subscribe to?
What kingdom is it that we subscribe to when we choose our homes? How much land is sufficient? How large of a house is conducive to claiming that we are Kingdom oriented? What is the proper mentality to hold for occupation and self-life? When guests come, what is the proper way to house them and feed them? What I find is that even across the United States of America the answer to these questions are vastly different depending on where you live. Why? Are we not all within the same Kingdom? Does that Kingdom not have it’s own culture to teach us how to live?
What I would like to put forth is an introduction. I cannot begin to be exhaustive on such a subject as this. I’ll answer the questions above, and then we’ll go into some further subject matter about the Kingdom.
Nation state versus Redeemed Israel
There are various places that speak of world peace coming with the Messiah. In fact, this is one of the reasons that many Jewish people that know their Scriptures don’t believe in Jesus. There are several details that happen when Israel is brought back to their land. It is promised in Amos 9 (as well as other places) that they will never again be uprooted. Is it a proper use of Amos 9 to apply it to modern day Israel, or are we looking for something else?
Israel’s final redemption is upon the coming of Messiah. It says even back in Genesis 49:10 that “the scepter shall not depart from Judah,” and of that ruler out of Judah, “unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.” Isaiah 33:17 reads, “Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty (we might call that “resurrected form”); they shall behold the land that is very far off.” Ezekiel 34:23-24 also reads, “And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them and he shall be their Shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant, David, a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken it.”
This last verse brings about a good point. Not only does the Messiah come at their final return, but they shall also know the Lord their God. They shall be His people, and He shall be their God. As it is said in Isaiah 10:20, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more lean upon him who smote them (the Antichrist), but shall lean upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.” This passage in Isaiah speaks of an escape. What are they escaping from? Many of the prophecies concerning Israel’s final return is mentioned either right after torment, or it gives the sense of no more torment. This is because their final return is at the end of the Tribulation – after the time of Jacob’s Trouble.
Jeremiah 31:1 reads, “At that time, says the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.” At what time is the Lord referring to? “That time” is almost always a reference to the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is the return of Christ. It is the Day of Judgment upon the nations. We read of it in our New Testaments as “the day of Christ.” The day of Christ and the day of the Lord are synonyms. The only two references in the New Testament to the day of the Lord are both quoting Jesus when He spoke of His return in the clouds.
Isaiah 35:10 says, “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come unto Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” How is it that this can happen? It is only upon the basis of world peace. Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 both mention a time where the people will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. No nation will take up war any longer. When does this happen? It happens on “that day.”
“That day” is a literal day: the return of Jesus. It is on that day that the nation of Israel is reborn. As it says in Isaiah 66:8, and also mentioned by Zechariah in his 13th chapter that in a single day will Israel be born. Who has heard of such a thing? Can a nation be born in a day? And yet it has, and it will. The current state of Israel is indeed a fulfillment of prophecy, but not a fulfillment of promise. They were indeed born in a day, and they will be born again in a day.
The current state of Israel is the fulfillment of a prophecy given in Ezekiel 22:17-22: Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross; all they are bronze, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “Because you are all become dross, behold, therefore, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As they gather silver, and bronze, and iron, and lead, and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it, so will I gather you in my anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you. Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be melted in the midst of it, and you shall know that I, the Lord, have poured out my fury upon you.”
Along the same lines, we read from Isaiah 11:11, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people; who shall be left, fro Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar (which is Babylon), and from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.” Why would God need to recover His remnant a second time? He recovers them a second time because the current state of Israel is the first time. The current state of Israel will not remain. They will be sifted again through all nations – the return from which will mean the redemption of those nations and the coming of Jesus on the clouds of heaven.
Israel’s purpose
When we’re talking about Israel’s purpose, we’re talking about an eternal purpose. It has been established from the beginning that there would be a people that will defeat the darkness so that the Kingdom of Light might be all to remain. These people that will overcome the darkness and cast it out of the cosmos are the people that bear the name of God. As Adam was a son of God (Luke 3:38), so too are the sons of Israel sons of God (Deuteronomy 14:1).
It takes a son to be able to defeat the darkness in this ultimate way. Christ Jesus has disarmed them, but He did not defeat them totally. That is still up to another son – Israel – to perform. Who is Israel? Israel is the people of God: any and every Jew or Gentile that has been grafted or re-grafted into that Hebraic root. We are people of the eternal purpose, and more fully, people of the eternal covenant. The eternal covenant is not something to toy with. It is the very blood of Jesus.
The eternal covenant stretches back to the beginning in that Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundations of the world. Anyone who comes into adoption of God the Father through the blood of Jesus Christ is now and eternally of that everlasting covenant. The covenant has its first expression in Genesis 3:15. It then gains more detail as we progress through Genesis. It is spoken of again and again: in Genesis 9:25-27, 12:2-3, 15:1-21, 22:18, 25:23, 26:4, 28:14, 35:11, and 48:19. God establishes this covenant directly with the children of Israel at Mount Sinai in Deuteronomy.
The eternal covenant is what we would refer to as “the new covenant.” This is the same covenant that has ever and always been, however it has been rejected and another was sought. The old covenant does not necessarily describe the Torah (5 books of Moses), but instead the agreement between Israel and God when they rejected to speak to Him directly at Mount Sinai. Now God has done away with such a covenant that would place a man between God and us, and has sent His Son as a man to be our mediator. No longer do we look for a man-mediator, but look to Jesus as our mediator.
When Israel, the currently unbelieving, will come into that covenant, then they will begin to fulfill their ultimate purpose. It is that ultimate purpose that we will begin to describe as we continue. They will be the center of all nations, as it is written in Ezekiel 5:5. They are promised in Deuteronomy 28:1 and 13 that they will be set on high above all nations of the earth, and they shall be the head and not the tail.
We’ve already examined that this people is God’s nation among the nations. When they shall come into that calling, they shall be the priestly nation to the nations (Exodus 19:6). We read of this in Isaiah 51:4: “Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation; for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my justice to rest for a light of the peoples.” It is that new covenant that proceeds from Him, and it is when Israel is restored as the priestly nation to the nations that all peoples will see its light.
Restoration
At the return of Christ, we know that He defeats the Antichrist. I’m not going to get into these details for the sake of not over exhausting the reader. Many times in the Old Testament, the return of Christ is called the “establishment of the branch.” This “branch” sprouts from the root of Jesse, David’s father (Isaiah 53:2). Moses called this branch a “prophet like unto me,” Deuteronomy 18:15. Isaiah prophesied of this man (child) being born, and the government of God shall be upon His shoulders (Isaiah 9:6-7).
Zechariah 12:9-13:1 reads, “And it will come to pass, in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon, in the Valley of Megiddon (or, Armageddon). And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.”
When they shall see Him whom they have pierced, Jesus, then they shall all together weep for Him as one weeps for their only son. This is the redemption of Israel. It happens nothing short of the return of Jesus. One might ask why we even need to suffer on their behalf if it does not result in their conversion… The reason for our cross experience is because Isaiah 25:7 tells us there is a veil that blinds the nations. That veil is over Israel just as much as it is over all nations. Though the veil has been torn, they have not entered in. There still remains a veil that needs to be broken off by a people who have entered in.
It is when that veil is rent off from Israel nationally that they are then able to receive the Lord Jesus as their Messiah. They will no longer harden their hearts, but now weep in both sorrow and ecstasy for Him and His coming. They will weep in repentance, because they have killed Him and all the prophets with Him. This is their testimony as a people: rejection of God that eventually culminated into killing God. They have always been stiff-necked and heard of heart. But on that day, when that veil that deceives and blinds them is taken away, they shall see all things as they in fact are. This is why we wrestle against the principalities and powers. They are the deceivers and the ones who have kept that veil there for so long.
Israel’s full redemption comes when that veil is taken away, and they see Him whom they have pierced and weep for Him. That first act of repentance is enough to cause them to then go and tear down all of the false idols that they have set up. “By this, therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged: and this is all the fruit to take away his sin, when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, so that the idols and images shall not stand up,” Isaiah 27:9. When they will destroy their idols – especially that dragon statue set up at the Temple in Revelation 13:14 – then their redemption has fully come.
They are gathered from the nations to come back to Israel (Psalm 107:2-3). God shall set up a banner for the nations when He gathers them from the ends of the earth (Isaiah 11:12). According to Isaiah 49:22-23, even the kings and queens of the earth shall bring them back upon their shoulders! This re-gathering of Israel will be such a moment that all people in all countries in all lands shall behold it and shall know the Lord is God. This happens in a day.
It will be so glorious that there are even prophecies like Jeremiah 23:7-8 where it is said that they will no longer say, “The Lord who brought us up out of Egypt,” but will instead say “The Lord lives, who brought up and who led the seed of the House of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries to which they have been driven, that they shall dwell in their own land.” As our Lord Jesus said, and as it says in Psalm 37:11, “The meek shall inherit the earth.”
1000-year reign
During that 1000 years that Jesus reigns, He has specifically chosen to reign from Jerusalem and Zion. Zechariah 14:16 says that any nation that does not come to Jerusalem to partake in the Feast of Tabernacles will be cut off from the face of the earth. Psalm 50:2 says that out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines. Zechariah 8:23 reflects the same kind of heart that Psalm 65:1-3 shares, that peoples of all the earth shall clutch the skirt of a Jew saying, “We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” Psalm 102:21-22 also seems to reflect those passages in Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 that out of Zion shall the Law go forth, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.
God’s government is to be upon the hill of Zion, and His rule out of Jerusalem. That hill shall be higher than any other mountain in the entire world, but it isn’t that this hill will grow to be taller than Everest. Everest will bow down and be made low, while at the same time the mountain of the Lord is exalted. If God is this jealous over a piece of Land, it behooves us to ask why. It isn’t enough to simply expect that God chose because that is His prerogative. He chooses that which be like Him.
Israel shall be the priestly nation to the nations. What does that mean and what does it look like? I believe that just as Jacob came back to see the face of Esau, and said, “I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God,” (Genesis 33:10), so shall the people Israel say to all those that currently persecute her. Can you imagine what it would mean for Israel to embrace their enemies and weep over them?
I had the vision in mind of feet washing. Israel will go out to the nations as priests so that they might minister sacrifices unto God. That sacrifice is the sacrifice of a broken and contrite spirit. He desires mercy more than sacrifice. When that people will go to those nations, they will offer the sacrifice of love to be servants and embrace with many tears the very people that were their persecutors. In this, Israel will not have an inheritance like the nations have an inheritance – for the Lord is their inheritance.
We find in Deuteronomy 17:8-13 that the priests are the judges. Israel was to have a court system where the priest is the one who judges, and never some sort of “official,” or ruler. The priest is the ruler, and not a man who thinks himself to be worthy. This is also symbolic of the coming age when they shall be priests. They shall rule over all nations as that priestly nation. The reason is simple: a priest is only concerned with the things of God. For a priest to rule is for God to rule.
As it says in Psalm 18:43, “thou hast made me the head of the nations…” This is David speaking, but remember that God’s Kingdom is Davidic. A corporate David will at this time also be able to utter this verse – all the while following the true David: Jesus. They will be made the head of all nations, and, as the verse ends, a people whom I have not known shall serve me. This is the ultimate fulfillment of Noah’s prophecy in Genesis 9:26-27. The nations are enlarged, but they must come into the tent of Shem. That Shem people will be called Israel. We all need to be grafted into it, because Shem is the Hebrew word for name. We must all come into the tent of “The Name.” The Name is Jesus Christ, the only true Semite.
“Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord, thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He hath glorified thee,” Isaiah 55:5. “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples, but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the nations shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising,” Isaiah 60:1-3.
“Moreover, I shall make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the nations shall know that I, the Lord, do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore,” Ezekiel 37:26-28. It is when the nations see this phenomenon that they shall be redeemed.
But what is happening with the Church at this time? They are spiritual rulers. As it says in Isaiah 32:1, “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice.” Who are these princes? They are those who are counted worthy of the first resurrection. Those that are raised up from the dead to rule and reign with Christ during that 1000 years do so in the spiritual places. Satan is bound by chains and thrown into a pit (Revelation 20:1-2, Isaiah 24:21-22). In his place are other rulers established. Those that have been found worthy of such an honor are ruling and reigning with Christ in the heavenly places over the earth.
This is the fullness of the Gentiles. When the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, then all Israel shall be saved (Romans 11:25-26). That fullness is a number (according to the Greek word used). It goes back to the Hebrew phrase mentioned only one time in the Old Testament: Genesis 48:19 – Ephraim will be a multitude of nations (fullness of Gentiles). When the full number has come in, it is precisely at that point that the Lord returns. I believe that this fullness being expressed is a number to sit and rule and reign with Christ during the first resurrection (Millennial Kingdom). When a set amount has come to complete maturity, then it is decided that the end shall be upon us. Until that set amount reach maturity, we continue to drag out the time.
The Kingdom is Within You
In Luke 17:21, Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of God is within you. What could He possibly mean here? If we are to believe that what we’ve been learning up until now is only taking place within us, then I think we have severely been mislead. It is the common teaching of many Charismatic leaders that this is precisely what the verse means. We take heaven with us. We bring the Kingdom wherever we go. The focus is completely self-oriented.
But if Jesus was not saying that it is inside of us and that we need to take it everywhere, then what was Jesus saying? We need to remember to always look at the context of what is being said. Jesus is asked about when the kingdom of God would come. His reply is that it doesn’t come by observance, nor do people say, “Here it is.” The Kingdom of God is within you (in your midst).
The point being made here is that the Kingdom is not something that we bring. Jesus saying that the Kingdom is within you (or in our midst) is making the statement to the Pharisees that He is the Messiah, and the Kingdom of God is established when He sits upon the throne of David in Zion. That is the whole point of the verse. And yet we take it to mean that we’re important.
To rule over Israel is to rule over the nations because Israel is the most obdurate of all nations. For God to rule over that same people that said, “We do not want this man to rule over us,” then God can rule over any and all nations. They have rejected Jesus for 2000 years. Part of that is the fault of the Church. We have not provided for them a sufficient reason for them to believe that He is Messiah. Even worse, we have persecuted them for much of that 2000 years – all the way down to the Nazi soldiers singing Christmas hymns and having their own version of “In God we trust” across their uniforms.
We find in Isaiah 2 as well as Micah 4 that the Law will go forth out of Zion, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem. When we say, “Thy Kingdom come,” this is what we are saying. So if the nations, which are being led by demonic deception, can destroy that people and that land, then they can thwart the plans of God. Everything is hinged upon this. That city and that hill outside of the city are the locus of His Kingdom.
By and large, the phrase “Kingdom of God” has been spiritualized, and therefore we have robbed ourselves of the very content necessary to progress toward the end time purposes. The Church is flabby, and all of our theological strings are quite loose. Even our “unity” is a loose unity. We are not so woven together as we would like to believe we are. And all of this would be fixed, the strings tightened, if we had just one perception: a coming Kingdom.
To have this view that we are headed toward a consummation, and that consummation has to do with the rule of God over creation, affects every other aspect of the faith. Our lives together, our view of the gifts of the Spirit, the role and function of the Spirit, understanding the character of God, what the offices (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher) look like and what their functions and rule facilitate; all of these things are properly understood under the context of theocracy.
Both the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus were saturated with teachings of the Kingdom of God being at hand. There isn’t anywhere a hint that the people questioned what that meant. There seems to be an understanding that was among the Jewish people of what it meant for God’s kingdom to be here and now. And we read in the words of Jesus that because He casts out devils, we know that the Kingdom of God is indeed at hand (Luke 11:20). There is some sort of conjunction between the overcoming of the spiritual powers of darkness and the Kingdom of God being at hand.
In that time, Jesus was establishing that the Kingdom had indeed come. But it does not mean that the Kingdom had yet fully come. Jesus displayed that the Kingdom had come in demonstrations of power and mastery over the powers of darkness. But there is an ultimate fulfillment of when the Kingdom comes and they are abolished. The Kingdom fully comes when Jesus sits upon the throne of David as the King of Israel, and the theocratic kingdom of God has been established over all nations.
In Isaiah chapter 24, it speaks in the last few verses about a time when the kings and rulers of this world will be tied up and thrown into a pit for an extended period of time. This is reiterated in Revelation 20. We discover that these kings and rulers that are tied up are not natural or political kings and rulers, but instead is Satan himself. The whole demonic presence is abolished. In their place, a new government is established.
This is the understanding of the spiritual kingdom. It is physical, yes, but it also has a spiritual aspect. The Kingdom of God being established means the devastation of the kingdom of darkness. If we are currently brought into that Kingdom, then we too ought to have the authority necessary to heal the sick, cast out demons, and work the manifest will of God. That requires that we know the manifest will of God.
We must have such a perception and understanding of this mystery that we can discern when someone is sick and when they are demonically possessed. We need to have maturity enough to know the difference between the powers of darkness and human forces. We ultimately do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but where is the dividing line between a man who is doing something because of demonic influence and a man doing something because of demonic possession? Where is the dividing line between human depravity and demonic manipulation? Those that are of the Kingdom of God are coming to an increased understanding of where the divide lies. Those that are not Kingdom oriented, but instead are self-oriented, will not even think to ask such a question. Demonic influence means demonic possession to such people, and they will never see the overcoming of the powers of darkness so long as they remain in that state.
Angelic Pronouncement
We find even in the proclamations of the angels at the beginning of the Gospel of Luke a message of a new government to be established. “And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end,” Luke 1:30-33.
We find this is a reflection of what was proclaimed through the prophet Isaiah: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the gove