Millennium, The Third Estate
In the last podcast we talked about the four estates of man: The First Estate is our premortal life; our Second Estate is our mortal life; the Third Estate is our Millennial life; and the Fourth Estate is our Eternal Life with God.
The Kingdom of God established by Christ during his ministry is on earth and one of the charges to all Christians is to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ or his millennial reign. We are living in the last days, or the time before the millennium. We are experiencing the darkness just before the dawn.
In private conversation, Christ described the time immediately prior to his coming as recorded in Matthew 24:
3 ¶ And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:3-14)
This Podcast came about after watching the news last evening, the war in Ukraine, the deaths and violence in our streets, the calamity at our nation’s borders, the ambiguity of our leaders, and in my scripture reading this morning reading the words of Isaiah, coincidentally, about the Millennium. The contrast was so startling that I thought I would review the scriptures describing the last days.
Does any Christian doubt that we are living in the time described by the Savior. All one must do is to watch the news and every item on the list is mentioned regularly. And apparently just when we think it cannot be worse, it gets worse. The Savior continued
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. (Matthew 24:21-22)
And that is when things go from dark to darker.
29 ¶ Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: (Matthew 24:29)
