What does the word millennium means? It comes from the Latin and it simply means 1,000. You won't find this word in the Bible. You'll find the word "a
thousand." It is simply a 1000-year reign of Christ upon the earth. The setting up of this kingdom is going to be interesting. We have it predicted
in Revelation 20:4 as a literal kingdom: "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them
that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus; for the Word of God; and, who had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his
mark upon their foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ 1,000 years." There's where we get the 1,000 years.
There are certain things that are going to have to take place in order to set up the millennial kingdom. The background of this has been, of course,
that the tribulation period of seven years has been completed. All of the things that we have been previously looking at in our highlights of
prophecy series have taken place. Finally, the nations of the world have gathered on the battlefield of Armageddon for their final world war. Before
they can go to combat with one another, Jesus Christ appears in the heavens. They unite to fight against Him. He destroys them with the Word of His
mouth. Then Christ descend to this earth in His Second Advent, His second coming. His feet touch the Mount of Olives from whence he left so many
centuries previous. He is now back on the earth scene, and He proceeds through angelic beings to perform certain acts in order to prepare for the
establishment of His world government.
The Jews
He has to deal with the Jews. He must do something with the Jews. What Jews? The Jews who have survived the tribulation period. What will be the
nature of the Jews who have survived the tribulation? There will be two kinds. There will be believers, and there will be unbelievers. Not all of
the unbelievers will be killed when Christ returns, as a result of the battle at Armageddon. Some of the Jews who are unbelievers will survive, as
well as some who are believers. Ezekiel 20:34 now tells us what the Lord Jesus Christ will do with the Jewish peoples that have lived through the
tribulation: "I will bring you out from the peoples, and will gather you out of the countries in which you are scattered with a mighty hand with an
outstretched arm, and with fury poured out.
The first thing to notice is the time of the fulfillment of this prophecy. It is when God gathers Israel from where she is scattered among all the
nations of the earth. That has not yet taken place. It is in the process of taking place, but Israel has not been gathered from all the nations of
the world. So we're dealing here with something that is still future for the Jewish people. You may compare this with Matthew 24:30-31 and Matthew
25:6 which deal with the same gathering.
Ezekiel 20:35: "I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I enter into judgment with you face to face." God says, "I will
take you into the wilderness. I will take the Jewish people out into the desert, and there I will enter into judgment." He is going to judge? What is
he going to judge? He is going to identify which of the Jews are in the believer category, and in the unbeliever category. They're are going to have
a different experience whichever class they happen to fall in. So He takes the Jewish people out into the desert; He judges; and, He divides them
into believers and unbelievers.
Ezekiel 20:36 compares this judgment to what he once did for the Exodus generation when they refused to enter into Kadeshbarnea. He took them back
out into the wilderness and He made a declaration as to how long they would be there until so many of them died, those who were twenty years old and
up: "'And as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I enter into judgment with you, said the
Lord God."
Ezekiel 20:37: "And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant." "Pass under the rod" means to judge
who are believers and who are unbelievers. Who of these Jews have rejected the witness that was given in the tribulation period, and who have
accepted?
Then Ezekiel 20:38: "And I will purge out from among you the rebels and them that transgress against me. I will bring them forth out of the country
where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord." When He says, "I will purge out the
rebels" means that He will put to death this group, the unbelievers. So that takes care of the Jewish situation. They are led into the wilderness.
They are put under the rod of judgment. He identifies which are believers and which are not. These who are unbelievers will not enter into the land.
That is, they will not enter into the millennial kingdom. "They shall not enter into the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord." He
means that you--the unbelievers--will not enter into the millennial kingdom.
This same separation is described for us in Matthew where the Lord was
describing this to the Jewish people when he was here. Matthew 24:30: "Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Then shall all the
tribes of the earth mourn. They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His Angels with
a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other." This is describing the
gathering of the people of Israel into the desert where they will be judged. The unbelievers are put to death.
Now what happens to the believers? They go into the millennium. So every Jew who enters the millennium is going to be born again. All Jews who are
unbelievers at the end of the tribulation are put to death. Incidentally, Jesus spoke of this division among the Jewish people in a parable form in
Matthew 25:11-30, in the parables of the ten virgins and the talents. That Scripture applies to this same division--those prepared and those
unprepared.
Gentiles
The second group that Jesus must deal with when He returns are the gentiles. What's He going to do with them? In Matthew 25, here we have gentiles
who have survived the tribulation ordeal. In Matthew 25:31, here's what He's going to do with the gentiles: "When the Son of Man shall come in His
glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory." Now again we're interested in the time when this will be
fulfilled. Well, the time of this judgment is specified as the appearance of Jesus Christ in His glory, which is His Second Advent. This is when He
returns to the earth.
Jesus Christ is now seated in heaven. Revelation 3:21 says, "To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne
even as I also overcame and am sat down with My Father in His throne." Here is another evidence that the kingdom is not present now. We are not
bringing in the kingdom. The kingdom is something future. Jesus Christ is not sitting upon His throne. He is now seated at the right hand of God the
Father sharing His throne until the Father makes the universe His footstool. That's still coming. He is inviting those who believe in Him and trust
Him as Savior, and who become members of the body of Christ to someday share His throne.
What is his throne? Well, if you look in the book of Luke when the annunciation was made to His mother Mary concerning the supernatural birth that
she would experience, His throne was identified. Luke 1:32: "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 forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end."
The amillennialist is in a very difficult position here. The fundamentalist who is an amillennialist wants to believe in the virgin birth, and he
accepts that. But in this very same context, Luke 1:31 say, "And you shall conceive in your womb, and bring forth the Son, and shall call his name
Jesus." In the very next verse, it goes on to describe what He will
be like, and that He will rule from His Father David's throne. The amillennialist is pressed with the problem of interpretation here. He has to
figure out how he can be literal in verse 31, and then how he can spiritualize (symbolize) the language in verses 32 and 33. I've had the
amillennialists, without batting an eyelash, say, "Yes, He was born genuinely really truly of a virgin, but this kingdom over which he's going to
rule, that's the church. That's not an earthly kingdom."
The liberal comes along. He likes that kind of interpretation. He says. "Yeah, I like that
spiritualizing." And so he improves it. He not only spiritualizes verses 32 and 33, but he backs up to verse 31 and he says, "He wasn't really born
of a virgin. That's just symbolic talk." And the poor fundamentalist amillennialist is left with his mouth hung open and his teeth hanging out
because you can't argue that. His throne is the throne that He's yet to be seated upon.
1 Samuel 7:16 promised that David would always have a throne and a legitimate heir. The genealogies prove that when Jesus Christ was born, he was
the legitimate heir to David's throne. Joel 3:2 tells us that the gentiles will be taken out into the Valley of Jehoshaphat for this judgment. And
there are two kinds of gentiles. There are again believers and unbelievers. They're going to be separated according to those two categories. In
Matthew 25, we see how the Lord is going to do this. He has a basis upon making this decision. In Matthew 25:32, the Lord Jesus Christ has returned;
He has dealt with the Jews; He has brought them under the rod of his judgment out in the desert; He has separated the believing Jews from the
unbelieving Jews who survived the tribulation; He has put to death the unbelievers; and, He has sent the believing Jews as a nation into his
millennial kingdom. He now gathers in the Valley of Jehoshaphat the gentile nations, and they are believers and unbelievers. Now how is he going to
separate them?
Matthew 25:32: "And before Him shall be gathered all the nations, and He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from
the goats." The word "nations" may pose a problem to you. You may say, "Well how can God come in and say, 'OK, United States, you go into the
kingdom. Germany and Russia, you don't go into the kingdom.' How can you make a division like that?"
Well, the problem is the translation. The word
"nations" is the Greek word "ethna." The word "ethna" means gentile. That's a better translation. He is going to gather the gentiles. In the phrase
that you have here, you notice the word "them." He shall divide "them." Grammatically, "ethna" is in the neuter gender. The word for nations is in
the neuter gender. However, "them," which refers back to the word "ethna" should then also be neuter in the Greek. However, it is not. In the Greek,
it's masculine, and that's out of order. It doesn't match up to its antecedent. The "them," referring back to the nations, the gentiles, should be
the same gender as the neuter gentiles. The reason it isn't is because the Holy Spirit is indicating to us that this has to be an individual
judgment. This is to be one gentile at a time judged, not a whole nation as such.
Now the result will be that so many gentiles in each nation will be found to be believers, and they go into the millennial kingdom, and they go in
as a nation. So many Americans will be found to have survived the tribulation period as believers. They will go as the United States into the
kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. So many will have been found in Germany, and undoubtedly, a few perhaps in Russia. All over the world there will
be believers. These as gentiles will enter the millennial kingdom as a nation. Those who are believers are called sheep. Those who are not are
called goats.
Matthew 25:33 then tells us what he does. He separates saved from unsaved. He shall set the sheep on His right hand, which is the place of honor; but,
the goats on His left, which is the place of dishonor. The right hand is for those who are eligible to enter the millennium because they are believers.
The left hand is for those who are unbelievers. What is He going to do with the unbelieving gentiles? He's going to put them to death. Into the
millennium will go again only believers. So the Gentiles who enter the millennium are all believers. Thus far, you have all Jews in the millennium
who are believers, and you have all gentiles who are believers. So that you begin the 1,000-year reign of Christ on this earth with everyone born
again. Can you imagine a condition like that? There will not be one single unsaved person any place in the world, and the Son of God Himself in
charge.
This passage is interesting because it gives us the basis upon which Jesus Christ decides who is sheep and who is goats. This causes some
confusion with some people because, as they read it, they draw several wrong conclusions, among which is the idea that salvation is on the basis of
our works. This separation is made on the basis of works which evidence salvation. How is a gentile identified as a believer?
We are told he is
identified as a believer on the basis of his treatment of a third group of people whom the Bible calls "My brethren" in Matthew 25:40: "And the king
shall answer, and say to them, 'Verily I say to you, in as much as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it
unto me.'" Matthew 25:45: "Then shall he answer them, concerning these on his left hand, saying, 'Verily I say unto you, in as much as you did it
not unto one of the least of these, he did it not unto me.'" Did or did not what? What is the treatment? The treatment here is a group of people who
were in the millennium who were cared for; given sustenance; given clothing; and, provided with material needs. In Matthew 25:35, the Lords says to
those on the right, "For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked
and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came unto me."
For those on the left, He says in Matthew 25:42, "For I was hungry
and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you took me not in; naked, and you clothed me not; sick and in
prison, and you visited me not." The question comes, "Who are the brethren?" Here are a group of people. These Jews who are unbelievers are told that
they did not take care of the needs of the brethren. Therefore, by that act, they evidenced that they were unbelievers. Here is a group who did take
care of the group referred to as the brethren. They, by that act, indicated that they were believers. Well, "the brethren" refer to the 144,000
Jewish evangelists who are going to be raised up in the tribulation period. Revelation 7:4-8 describes that. As a result of their witness, many
people will be saved. Many people will be led to the Lord.
Remember that the tribulation begins with everybody lost--nobody born again. God in His
grace raises up believers through one means or another, particularly this group of 144,000 Jewish evangelists. They become the objects of intense
persecution by the antichrist (Revelation 13:7). Because the antichrist has world control, you remember that he puts an economic control upon all the
world, so that unless you have his mark on your forehead or in your right hand, you can't go to the store to buy anything; you can't earn any money
by working; and, you can't sell anything. Revelation 13:16: "And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and enslaved to receive a
mark in their right hand or in their foreheads." These people are in a bad way. All you have to do is look at them and you see they have no mark of
the antichrist. They don't have the ration card, so to speak. So how will they survive?
There's only one way they can survive, and that is that
believers, people who have received the gospel message and believe and come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, these people will hazard their own
lives to give them food; to give them clothing; to give them medicine; to come by to help them when they are under the imprisonment of the
authorities; and, so on. This is not a justification for salvation by works. Nor is it a justification that your church should get into a social
action program. This is not equated to salvation. It is simply the evidence that anybody who would do this must be born again. You would be hazarding
your own life.
These people themselves, who do this, are not viewing themselves in any creditable light. The Lord tells them about the basis upon which they are
going into the kingdom; that is, the basis upon which they have been placed in the believer group. Matthew 25:37: Then shall the righteous answer and
say, "Lord when did we see you be hungry and fed you, or thirsty and gave you drink? When did we see you be a stranger and took you in, or naked and
clothed you? Or when did we see you sick or in prison and came unto you? The king shall answer and say unto them, 'Verily I say unto you, in as much
as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren (the Jewish people), you have done it unto me (the Jewish believers of the tribulation
period, particularly the evangelists).'" In the same way, in Matthew 25:44, for those who rejected say, "How can you say this about us?" He said it
on the basis of how you treated My people. So the saved gentiles will enter the millennium, and the lost gentiles will be put to death.
So the millennium begins with saved Jews and saved gentiles only. This population will enter with natural bodies. There will be people in the
millennium, such as you and I, who are reigning and ruling with Christ, who will now have glorified bodies. We will now be free of the limitations
of our present physical structure. But there will be people who will go on living their normal lives on a much more magnificent scale than we live
today. Consequently, they will have children. People will be born. Everyone will begin regenerated. In time, there will be evidence of rebellion and
resistance against the rule and the authority of Jesus Christ. But when it starts, it's going to be ideal.
The Lord has to deal with another group, and that is Satan and the demons. Revelation 20:1 tells us, "I saw an angel come down from heaven having the
key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand." This is a shaft. It is the pit of the abyss, and the shaft that leads to the center of the
earth where Hades now resides. "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him 1,000 thousand years, and
cast him into the pit of the abyss, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till 1,000 years should be
fulfilled. And after that he must be loosed a little season." Along with Satan, the Scriptures indicate that the demons are also cast off the earth.
So with one magnificent blow, the earth is freed of all demonic and of all satanic influence. Everybody is born again. The Old Testament and the
tribulation saints are raised from the dead. They have resurrected bodies. The rest of the people have natural bodies.
Christ's Reign on the Earth
What's the nature of Christ reign going to be? There are several features that the Bible reveals to us concerning the nature of the reign of Jesus
Christ on the earth.
World-Wide
It will be over the entire earth. The whole earth will come under His control and directions. Zachariah 14:9 "And the Lord shall be king over all
the earth. In that day there should be one Lord and His name one." This is the position that Adam lost as ruler of the earth. Psalm 2:8 tells us
about the father's purpose of setting up His Son in this position of supreme ruler over all the earth. Psalm 2:8: "Ask of me and I shall give you the
nations for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth, for your possession. Daniel 2:35 indicates that the kingdom of heaven, which
replaces the final world kingdom of Daniel's image, is to be a universal kingdom. This stone out of the mountains, cut out without hands, strikes
that image at the feet; the image disintegrates; and, this stone fills the world, indicating that it's a world-wide kingdom. Daniel 7:14 also
indicates that the reign of Jesus Christ is to be a world-wide rule. The title of Jesus Christ is also an indication that He will rule over the
entire earth. Revelation 19:16, you remember, calls Him King of Kings and Lord of Lords, which means he is supreme in his authority. So number one is
that the reign of Jesus Christ will be over the entire earth. No nation will be omitted.
Absolute
Secondly, it will be absolute. He will be a beneficent dictator. The Scriptures indicate to us that He will destroy all who oppose Him. As the millennium
progresses, if anybody rises up in the millennium and opposes him, that person will be executed. If some young person, some teenager, or some young
adult rises up and openly resists the absolute authority of the King of Kings, that young person will be executed. Psalm 2:9: "You shall break them
with a rod of iron and shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Isaiah 11:4: "But with righteousness shall He judge the poor and reprove
with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips, He shall slay the wicked."
Everywhere through Scripture, the evidence is that the Lord Jesus Christ will form a government which is a theocracy, but which is an absolute rule
compared to a rod of iron authority.
Revelation 19:15: "And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword that with it He should smite the nations (the Gentiles),
and He shall rule them with a rod of iron, and He treads the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." Israel will be the leading
nation, but the authority of Jesus Christ will be absolute over all the Gentile nations of the world. He will have perfect righteousness and justice.
There will be no open rebellion permitted in this kingdom. Anybody who tries it, will be put to death. Isaiah 11:3: "And shall make him a quick
understanding in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears, but with
righteousness (absolute righteousness) shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. And He shall smite the earth with
the rod of His mouth. With the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the
girdle of His waist." No open rebellion will be tolerated. Where there is rebellion or injustice, it will be dealt with perfect fairness.
Again Psalm 2:10: "Be wise now, therefore, O you kings. Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling."
Here the leaders of the world are warned against the divine wrath. This is instant judgment. So what do you have on the earth? A perfect social
environment is then going to be produced on the earth. That's what Satan is trying to do now. However, Jesus Christ is going to be able to do it. Can
you imagine living in a world where you know that you are in perfect safety on the streets? That everything you own is absolutely safe?
You're not
going to have any of these goofy TV ads about some good boy stealing your car because you left the keys in it. You probably aren't even going to have
keys. You'll probably have some automation where you just get in your car and off you go. If anybody else gets into your car and tries to steal
it, immediately he has an angel sitting next to him pulling out his book and saying, "What's your name kid?" And boy if you don't think that's going
to be scary. I mean this is going to be absolute justice and absolute righteousness. Nobody is going to go to court, and kid the judge, and con him
out of how it really was. It is absolutely amazing what a person will do in a court of law in order to make himself appear innocent. They think they
can cover up how it really happened. This is fantastic to have omniscience of God on the scene as the judge and the court recorder analyzing and
recording everything that's there.
Children
Third, children are going to be born in the millennium. In order to anticipate your question, when Satan is released at the end of the 1,000 years, why there
are people who are going to rise up and join him, and there's going to be another great attempt to have a world war? Because many of the kids born to
these born again parents during the millennium will rebel against the Savior. You may say, "Well, how come they haven't been put to death?" Because
their rebellion is going to be internal. They're not going to outwardly resist. They will bear full allegiance and they will obey the laws, and
that's what will be required of them. But the moment that Satan is free, and they have someone to rally to, a vast number of the earth's population
born during the perfect environment of the millennium will rebel. This is why we had this dispensation. This is the last dispensation to prove, and
to demonstrate once and for all, that man in perfect environment can't operate without regeneration. He still blows it.
Jerusalem
A fourth thing about the reign of Christ is that Jerusalem is going to be the capital of the world. The world government will operate out of
Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3 and Isaiah 24:23).
Doctrine
A fifth point is that
the whole world will have a knowledge concerning the Lord. Jeremiah 31:33: "'But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days,' says the Lord. 'I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my
people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know Me, from the
least of them unto the greatest of them,' says the Lord, 'For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.' Thus says the
Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and other stars for a light by night, who divides the seas when its waves
roar. The Lord of Hosts is His name." The God who can control nature makes a promise. He says, "In this era of the millennium, you will never have to
go around and say, 'Listen, I want to tell you about the Lord. I want to tell you about the true God.'" That's because everybody is going to know.
This is another magnificent thing. How sick and tired we tend to become when we listen to the inanities and the ridiculous ignorance of people about
us concerning God and concerning the Bible. What will it be like to live in a world where everybody knows the truth concerning Him?
Agents
Number six,
the Lord will use agents. You will need some agents and helpers in the process of ruling over Israel. One of the most famous of these will be David.
David will be a prince in authority over the Jewish people under the rule of the Lord Jesus. Ezekiel 37:24: "And David my servant shall be king over
them, and they all shall have one shepherd, and shall also walk in my ordinance and observe my statutes and do them. And they shall dwell in the land
that I have given unto Jacob my servant in which your fathers have dwelt. And they shall dwell in it, even they and their children, and their
children's children forever, and my servant David shall be their prince forever." The Jewish people will forever be ruled over by King David.
The Lord Jesus, in Matthew 19:28, told the apostles that they would rule over the twelve tribes of Israel, so they shall be princes in the millennial
kingdom. Jeremiah 30:21 and Isaiah 32:1 also tell that there will be other princes, princesses, and nobles who will be in government service. And,
of course, Revelation 5:10 tells us that you who compose the body of Christ will be sharing in His authority and in His reign with Him. Revelation
5:10: "And has made us unto our god a kingdom of priests, and we shall reign on the earth."
The Temple
A seventh theme concerning the reign of Jesus Christ is relative to the temple.
The temple shall be rebuilt and the animal sacrifices restored (Ezekiel 40-46). You may wonder why the animal sacrifices would be restored. For the
same reason we have the Lord's Supper. We remember it as a memorial that looks back to something that has taken place in the death of Christ. The
animal sacrifices and the ritual of the temple apparently will be in the same pattern, looking back to what the Savior has performed.
Peace
Number eight is that
there will be universal peace. This kingdom will be characterized by peace everywhere in the world for the whole 1,000 years. There will not be one
single open rebellion or war. Isaiah 2:4: "And He shall judge among the nations the gentiles, and shall rebuke many peoples, and they shall beat
their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any
more." This is the verse that you often hear quoted by our politicians who are describing the golden wonderful age that they are going to bring in
if only we elect them to office. They love to quote this verse. They're going to beat those swords into plowshares and pruning hooks, and then
they're going to beat them right back into swords again. The only thing they're promising you is a way to zap up the economy and figure out work for
people to do by changing the weapons back and forth because they're not going to get rid of the weapons. Unfortunately, in this nation we have taken
that course of getting rid of the weapons, and that's why we have the turmoil in Congress and on the national scene when we discover that we are now
solidly in number two militarily to Russia.
Spirituality
One more thing about this period is a new spirituality. There will be a new spirituality in the millennium. Joel 2:28: "It shall come to pass
afterward that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young
men shall see visions. And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit." He's talking about ecstatics. He's
talking about speaking in tongues. He's talking about miraculous works. He's speaking about the Holy Spirit joy such as characterized the believers
on the day of Pentecost. Once more believers will make predictions; they will prophesy; they will have dreams; and, they will see visions which they
will share of the glories and blessings and the revelations of God. This will include, you will notice, men and women. It will include young people
and older people. There will be a joy which is prevailing because of this spirituality.
Isaiah 61:3: "To appoint unto those who mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, and oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for
the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified." This refers to that
millennial period when a great joy will be generated by the spirituality that will exist in that day. Isaiah 12:3-4 is another reference to that
joy: "Therefore with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall you say. 'Praise the Lord.' Call upon his name.
Declare His doings among the people. Make mention that His name is exalted." People will run around saying. "Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!"
Now right
now you're wondering why we shy away from that today. We're going to get a little more deeply into the tongues movement in upcoming sessions, and into
the demon world. The difference is that there will be no religion in the millennium. With Satan gone and the demons gone, there is nobody cranking
out religion. There is nobody cranking out human good to appease God. Furthermore, the environment is now perfect because of the presence of Jesus
Christ. There is no religious distortion. There is a true perspective concerning faith. The Holy Spirit is free to work in an ecstatic way upon
people, and there is no depression which follows. The reason we know the ecstatics that we have today are false, in part, is because depression
follows ecstatics. You have a spiritual hangover. And you go back to the meeting to do what? To get another kick; to get another shot; and to get
another hypodermic needle full of ecstatics, and the dose has to get bigger and bigger.
Joel is an amazing prophecy. This is a description of a new
spirituality for the new age of the millennium in the perfect environment where the Lord is present.
Dr. John E. Danish, 1971