End Times - Week 23Thursday Evening Bible Study Series: the End Times – Bible prophecy about future events and periods Teaching Summary for Week 23 The Kingdom and the Covenants
Part 6. The future Messianic Kingdom in Old Testament prophecy The Old Testament prophets wrote extensively about the future Messianic Kingdom. In fact, the future Kingdom is referred to by nearly every Old Testament prophet. Just about everything we know about the Millennial Kingdom itself we learn from the Old Testament, and especially the writings of the Old Testament prophets. The prophetic material in the New Testament deals primarily with the events leading up to the Millennial Kingdom and what comes after the Kingdom (ie, the eternal state). We now turn our attention to the facts about the Kingdom that the Old Testament prophets describe. I am relying on the following resources for this material: Resources:
The Government in the future prophesied Kingdom This is a subject that receives extensive treatment in the writings of the prophets.
The Form and Nature of the government:
The Organization of the Millennial Kingdom This subject demands close attention and careful treatment. Certain details will be filled in when we get to the New Testament. The Messianic Kingdom will be administered through an absolute monarchy with a definite chain of command and lines of authority. The absolute monarch will be the Person of Jesus the Messiah. He will delegate authority through His chain of command.
Isa 55:3-4 3 " Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies shown to David. 4 "Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, A leader and commander for the peoples.
Jer 30:8-9 8 'It shall come about on that day,' declares the Lord of hosts, 'that I will break his yoke from off their neck and will tear off their bonds; and strangers will no longer make them their slaves. 9 'But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
Eze 34:23-24 23 "Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd. 24 "And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them; I the Lord have spoken.
Eze 37:24-28
Eze 45:21-22 21 "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. 22 "On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering.
Eze 46:1-3 1'Thus says the Lord God, "The gate of the inner court facing east shall be shut the six working days; but it shall be opened on the sabbath day and opened on the day of the new moon. 2 "The prince shall enter by way of the porch of the gate from outside and stand by the post of the gate. Then the priests shall provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate and then go out; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.
Eze 46:16-18
Hos 3:4-5
The debate centers on whether the “prince” and “David” in these passages refer in type to our Lord Jesus Christ, or literally to the historical David. Dwight Pentecost, in his book Things to Come (page 499), gives four reasons why it is best to conclude that these passages point to the historical David resurrected from the dead.
We begin with the prophet Daniel: Dan 7:17-18 17 'These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth. 18 'But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.' Dan 7:21-22 Dan 7:27
Daniel foresees that these Jewish saints will be resurrected in the end times, and there will be a noble group that will receive great honor and glory (“shine brightly”) . Dan 12:1-3 1 "Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. 2 " Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. 3 " Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. 4
Isaiah speaks of a group of princes who will rule during the Millennial Reign: Isa 32:1-2 1 Behold, a king will reign righteously And princes will rule justly. 2 Each will be like a refuge from the wind And a shelter from the storm, Like streams of water in a dry country, Like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land.
Ezekiel also makes reference to princes who are in positions of authority in the Millennium: Eze 45:7-8 7 "The prince shall have land on either side of the holy allotment and the property of the city, adjacent to the holy allotment and the property of the city, on the west side toward the west and on the east side toward the east, and in length comparable to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border. 8 "This shall be his land for a possession in Israel; so My princes shall no longer oppress My people, but they shall give the rest of the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes."
It is quite likely that Zerubbabel will be one of these princes: Hag 2:20-23
The signet ring represented delegated authority. It should be pointed out that Zerubbabel was also of the House of David. And in the New Testament the Lord Jesus Christ identifies other Jewish nobles – the twelve apostles - who will rule over the twelve tribes of Israel in the Messianic Kingdom (Mat 19:28). More on that later. There will be additional allocations of authority in the administration of the government as well. For example, the parable in Luke 19:12-28 indicates that authority will be appointed to individuals over 10 cities and 5 cities in the kingdom. It follows that these would be under the authority of the head of the tribe, who in turn will be responsible to David, who is responsible to the King Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Finally, Isaiah documents that another group of rulers in the Kingdom will be the judges and counselors: Isa 1:26-27 26 "Then I will restore your judges as at the first, And your counselors as at the beginning; After that you will be called the city of righteousness, A faithful city." 27 Zion will be redeemed with justice And her repentant ones with righteousness.
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