We continue studying the Millennium. I believe it was Dwight Pentecost that said that of all the subjects and all the themes in the Bible, the Kingdom Age has the most material in the Bible by far than any other subject. If that is true, then we could spend weeks and weeks on this subject. We are hitting only the highlights of the Kingdom Age that has been promised by our Lord in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Christ Himself came to present the Kingdom and to offer the Kingdom to His people. So, this is a big theme running throughout all the Bible. As we think about that a question that pops up sometimes is, Why the Kingdom Age? Why this thousand-year, first stage of eternal Kingdom? Why not simply go straight into the eternal Kingdom that will be depicted in Revelation 21-22 and move right on and just not worry too much about this thousand-year reign on the earth at this time? Why do this at all? That is a good question. I want to offer this time, three different reasons why it would appear, according to Scripture, that the Lord has decided to give us this thousand-year Kingdom on earth:
1. Answer to prayer. First, it is an answer to our prayers. I’m reading from Matthew 6:9, “Pray, then, in this way; ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” Ever since that time, the followers of Jesus Christ have been praying that prayer, the Lord’s Prayer. Many churches pray it every Sunday morning. Many Christians repeat it all the time. Many people, if they know a prayer at all, it would be the Lord’s Prayer. Whether it is with sincerity, or ignorance or with full heart, as people have prayed these words over the years, we have prayed for the Lord to bring His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. This is something Jesus has called us to do. So, we are praying for this time, this Kingdom Age and this is an answer to prayer. So, this is one reason.
2. Nature is freed from many residues of sin and corruption. Another reason, I believe, can be found in the book of Romans where we find and interesting passage in Romans 8:19 and on down. We find that one of the residues, we might say, of the curse, the fact that Adam and Eve sinned and God brought judgment upon them and on the earth because of their sins, one of the residues of that is that our created world, our nature, is under the curse and as wonderful as it can be at times and as beautiful as it is, we see the handiwork of God at the same time, we also see the pollution and corruption of sin that makes our creation sometimes a very unpleasant place to be. Nature itself doesn’t appreciate that. If we could give a metaphorical picture there, look at Romans 8:19, “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.” Creation is looking forward to this Kingdom Age as well. “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it,” so, nature is under the curse. It sure doesn’t want to be there, but it is. We continue reading, “in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” He is saying the world is under the curse of sin and as a result of that, it too groans in this metaphorical sense that he is using it in here. So, the Lord is going to set that free someday. Nature is going to be what God created it to be and the Kingdom Age is going to be, I believe, the first stage of that particular process. Where nature itself, as we see in the Old Testament, nature itself is freed from so many of the residues of sin and the corruption of sin . . .
