Will God Bring Back the Miracles
In the Millennial Kingdom of Christ?
PART I
Will God Bring Back the Miracles
In the Millennial Kingdom of Christ?
JAN LILLEBY
Yes He will! But, Jesus will also bring much more than that. So to start this article by having a Biblical ‘Kick-Off’ – let’s read Isaiah 11…on the future millennial kingdom. Please have some patience, since this is a lot of material to go through. But it is very interesting!
Isaiah 11:1-16 American Standard Version
1 And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of Jehovah; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decides after the hearing of his ears;
4 but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins.
6 And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.
10 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, that standeth for an ensign of the peoples, unto him shall the nations seek; and his resting-place shall be glorious.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, that shall remain, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
12 And he will set up an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and they that vex Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
14 And they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines on the west; together shall they despoil the children of the east: they shall put forth their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.
15 And Jehovah will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his scorching wind will he wave his hand over the River, and will smite it into seven streams, and cause men to march over dry-shod.
16 And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people, that shall remain, from Assyria; like as there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
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I shall have to comment on each (groups of) the quoted verses, sixteen in total.
The Bible passage is not the only one which prophesies of the millennial reign of Jesus at His Second Advent. But let us go through Isaiah 11 first.
My article-heading is asking the question of whether the great miracles and wonders will come back.
The reason I did, is the fact that Heb. 6:4-6 speaks of the apostolic era as a time in which the believers experienced what we may very well call a foretaste, a test of the ‘dishes/meals’ served them…pointing to what they saw of miracles, signs, healings and wonders, quote:
‘For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.’
Heb. 6 is a serious set of verses, and works as a stern warning against leaving the faith in Christ, since they had already been given the power of the Holy Spirit and had seen the great miracles and signs which God let follow their preaching and teaching. If they fell away from this, it would be no way back. They would be lost forever and thus reprobate.
There was a certain level of high responsibility laid upon the apostolic assembly in Acts period, no doubt.
“The powers of the age to come” is not a pointing to the New Jerusalem, but to the millennial Kingdom and Jesus as their King of kings, Lord of lords.
VERSES 1-3:
These words are describing the King (Jesus) and His character and strength and ability as a ruler sent from God. He will possess a full anointing of Jehovah so He shall not judge by what His ears hear or His eyes see, but being led by the Spirit and thus making righteous verdicts when judging.
VERSES 4-5:
It says to whom Jesus will help and restitute by His righteousness and power, namely the poor and the meek. They will find favor with the Lord, but the evildoers shall have to taste His indignation and righteous wrath: He shall kill (execute) these criminals by speaking a word (of judgment). It says “smite the earth” – but this can mean two things – either it speaks of ‘the land’ Israel only, or it may be speaking of the entire world. Translators are in dispute over this.
VERSES 6-8:
These are displaying to us a substantial changing in the animal-world. God shall re-arrange and ‘dress’ or make tame dangerous beasts, even reptiles, so that these no longer will be a threat to humans like it is now. The verses does not speak of animals kept at Zoo! They are out in the woods and fields, but their angry and wild nature has been made tame and they can be mastered/handled even by kids! The snakes cannot bite anyone with its deadly venom, neither can a leopard or a lion cause danger to anyone…… These will no longer eat meat from prey, but grass – it says. We find that such dangers will no longer be found ‘in all My holy mountain’ (says the Lord) Verse 9 - and this can also be understood in two ways, - one is that it goes for ONLY Israel, the land (holy mountain may point to Zion and Jerusalem exclusively) – or the other, it may be like this for the entire world. Translators have disputes on this. I am voting for the first: It will be especially Israel which will have such magnificent changes with animal’s nature. It will not occur world wide, I am sure.
VERSES 9-10:
This also points to a special event found in Zechariah 8:23 of gentile peoples seeking to see the Lord, Jesus the King in Israel,
“Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”
This corresponds with verse 10, …unto Him shall the nations seek.
My personal opinion of these words are, that as the millennial Kingdom has been established, the world outside of Israel, the Gentile nations, will notice how God has put a special blessing upon Israel in the presence of Jesus on Zion. And so we find that they have been made aware of this fantastic new miraculous change in animal-nature…predators now acting as cattle more than scary cat beasts – they understand that Israel has been made a special nation again, like it was in olden times. And it seem obvious that it must be “Jews first, then Gentile” (Rom. 1:16). Israel has been taken back to its former glory as a nation for God, a ‘lighthouse’ shining its light on the world. It will become a ‘them’ and an ‘us’ – a distinction between Israel and all other nations on earth. I shall come back to this point of interest below, mostly pertaining to the fact that people will live a thousand years in that kingdom.
This means that it will be Israel possessing such extraordinary blessings – since the nations make notice of this new glory appearing. They want a piece of the ‘glory cake’. They will go to Jerusalem to hear the teachings of Jesus Christ.
AND IN THAT NARRATIVE: The world will most probably be seeing the very marvelous miracles and wonders of Jesus as He grants these desperate visitors healings and other kind of blessings. He will reward them graciously and generously in this wonderful manner. But it will have to be arranged in an orderly manner and they must be given allowance by the Lord to come forth before Him. They can in no way just come storming the premises craving for healing from cancer and other grave illnesses. The Lord is the One to decide how this will take place. Like my quote of Heb. 6:4-6 of the powers of the age to come…in the millennial reign of Jesus this word will ‘fit the bill’.
In this instance, such miracles/healings will not work as ‘signs’ anymore. That was in Acts only, because of the unbelief of Israel. God had to give signs through His apostles, so Israel could be brought to faith in Jesus. So, for instance we will not find the sign of tongues and such in the millennia. And the miracles will now be done in pure welfare for the Jews first, then Gentile. But as it was with Peter in Acts 5 and his judgment of the lying thieves Ananias and Sapphira, Jesus will execute certain criminal elements when judging in His courts.
Isaiah 12 – the shortest chapter in the Prophets – contains a loud shiny praise to the Lord, and I shall quote it, by verse 5 which points to these miracles and healings which shall be done by Jesus,
“Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done excellent things (gloriously); let this be made known to all the earth.” (Amp. Bible).
These excellent things will surely include the healing miracles, and not just the altering of the animal nature and beasts.
WE FIND CLEARLY THAT SALVATION IS STILL
WORKING FOR BELIEVERS IN THE MILLENNIA
It is not the end of salvation from the day that God takes His believers into the heavens.
In this world, even as the Great Tribulation is raging inside Israel in the end-times, salvation is still valid by faith in God. True, there will be no more ‘free Grace Gospel’ like as we now are experiencing. But nevertheless people in the world can still believe in God and be saved. But their salvation is not a call to come to heaven. It will be a call to believe on Jesus and God, as He will be seen present on earth during the millennia! Since they can see and hear Him whom they will believe on, Jesus, this cannot be compared with us now, as we are believing on Him without having seen Him. The conditions for salvation will change after the ascension of the Church: One will have to prove ones faith by works, just like they had to during Acts period. The epistle of James will again apply to all believers; especially as in James 2:17,
“So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead).” (Amp. Bible).
When the Church has finished its ministry in history, finding itself in heaven (Col. 3:1-4 we shall be appearing with Christ in glory), those who think that it will then be too late to be saved are wrong. God will save anyone who calls upon Him in sincerity. But the saved ones will remain on earth and shall have to line up their faith and lives according to what Jesus shall decide from His throne on Zion. Faith will then have to be proved by the believer’s works/actions. No less.
VERSES 11-14 of Isaiah 11:
These are explaining how Jesus shall gather all the Jews/Israelites from the dispersion, to come stay in the land as members of the new Kingdom. He shall have a vast operation doing so, and we find names of these people listed: From Assyria, Lower Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam in Persia, from Shinar in Babylonia, from Hamath in upper Syria, and from countries bordering on the Mediteranean Sea. (There will also come certain restricted actions upon Arabs and others, see verse 14).
What these verses are proving, is that it will be a genuine gathering of the Jews from many parts of the world, unlike the man-made artificial UN-1948 declaration. This time the nation of Israel will be declared by God and Christ, thus this will become the New Messianic Israel, and its citizens will all be Jesus-believers. Ungodly Jews are killed during the Great Tribulation; Zec. 13 tells of just one third saved Jewish souls – survivors of the tribulation. It correspond clearly with Deut. 28:62,
“And you (Israel) shall be left few in number, whereas you had been as the stars of the heavens for multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.”
VERSES 15-16:
Not only Israel shall have changes in the topography (Mt. Olives shall split into two, opening a new valley in this split) – but the Lord shall make a miraculous topographical intervention regarding the Nile Delta: It shall be made into seven streams, so that Jews wanting to go to Israel can go across it dry-shod. And thus Is. 11 is ended. Notice: This has clear ‘strings attached’ to the Exodus when Moses led them across the Red Sea. It will be to these Jews a clear reminder of that. They will again walk across waters, dry-shod.
THE MUCH MISUNDERSTOOD RESURRECTION CHAPTER OF
1 COR. 15 NEEDS AN EXPLANATION HERE
We are having the future millennial Kingdom in view here, and the soon return of Jesus to earth to rule it.
What is not so obvious to many Christians – and they are mostly ridden by grave misconceptions – is that the Bible passage of 1 Cor. 15:23-26; -50-55 has nothing to do with our heavenly calling according to Paul’s free Grace Gospel found in Ephesians/Colossians. This teaching on the resurrection and the millennia was a doctrine pertaining to the earthly Kingdom only, and not to the hope of the ‘One new Man’ up in heaven. Eph. 3:1-9 portrays the Church as coming from out of a Mystery, we were as such hidden in God since before He created the world says Paul. And this Mystery was not revealed before Paul sat in jail in Rome in 62-63 CE. The epistles to the Corinthians were written around 7-8 years prior to the Mystery epistles. That gives us around 54-55 CE. There exist a minor discussion on which year CE, as always. But we know that he wrote the Romans from Ephesus in 57 CE, right before he left by ship to catch the Pentecost celebration in Jerusalem, Acts. 20:16.
We shall have a closer look on this important topic. 1 Cor. 15, selected verses, from American Standard Version,
23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; then they that are Christ’s, at his coming.
24 Then cometh the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be abolished is death. ----- -----
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?
A question is now in its place: Are we, the ‘One new Man’ – the Church, awaiting the Lord’s coming from heaven to establish that promised millennial Kingdom?
My answer, of course, is no. Not by any means are we going to wait for Christ to come down to greet His body, the Church. We are in no manner going to be included as citizens of the coming millennial Kingdom in Israel with Jesus on His throne on Zion and the temple.
It is the other way around: We are going up to Christ, by God’s super-natural intervention when the day of redemption arrives and the Church dispensation is concluded!
Paul’s description in 1 Cor. 15 of Christ rapturing the believers and also raising the dead ones up from the graves, does not belong in the Church dispensation.
It was ‘Fresh Ware’ with a ‘Sell-by-Date’ stamped on it: It only had relevance in the Acts period when the coming of Christ was imminent. He was expected to come back the same moment that God saw that Israel had repented to Christ. They did not repent, so – the whole matter of resurrection and rapture up in clouds has been cancelled, since Israel as a nation for God was cancelled in 70 CE, at the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and Jews scattered all over the civilized world at that time. It’s a historical as well as a Biblical fact!
Check out my separate article on the rapture-teaching of Paul here on the site. You will learn that all of this was cancelled by God.
We notice in 1 Cor. 15:23 that Paul has a clear reference to the coming of the Lord.
In verses 24 and 25 Paul points to Christ when He has ruled for a thousand years, and He delivers up the Kingdom to God, because He has then – during the millennia – put all His enemies under His feet. Total victory.
And verse 26 gives us Christ as One Who defeated death, as His last enemy.
This narrative is not seen until AFTER the millennial Kingdom, be sure of that.
It has no relevance for us at all.
What of Paul in verses 50-55 teaching of issues concerning death – life – eternity?
Verse 50: Flesh and blood (as it is now) cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
Verse 51 and 52: We shall all be changed - the dead shall be raised incorruptible, at the ‘Last trumpet’ – and we shall be changed.
This latter, a trumpet, and dead being raised, and the ones alive when this happens being changed…it all pertains to the very same narrative as found in 1 Thes. 4:13-18 of the so-called ‘Rapture-doctrine’. It belonged to the Kingdom-preaching of the Acts period, and not to the Mystery epistles with the Church dispensation. Be not confused.
We are definitively in Kingdom teaching, as we find the word ‘Trumpet’, and ‘Inherit the kingdom of God’ and ‘We shall be changed’. None of these words apply to the Church, the ’One New Man’ in Eph. 2:14, 15.
Col. 3:1-4 tells NOT of anyone hearing a trumpet blowing! None is ‘changed’ – but it says that the believer in that ‘One New Man’ Church shall be “Appearing with Christ” –understood: Up in the heavens. Also, there are no opening of graves on earth, because that is the sum of understanding this: Paul described it 1. First the dead are raised up from graves, then 2: The dead shall then TOGETHER WITH THOSE ALIVE ON EARTH be taken up in the clouds meeting Jesus Who has come down from heaven, and bringing these saints gathered together landing them down in Jerusalem/Israel. This is the same thing in both 1 Cor 15 and in 1 Thess. 4. We cannot find the ‘One New Man’ of the Mystery revelation in Ephesians/Colossians at all in this scenario.
The incorruptible body Paul wrote of in 1 Cor. 15:54 is a genuine normal human body, only – it has been ‘clothed’ in extra-heavenly power from on high, and made sustainable and impossible to make worn and tired and sick of old age, for 1000 years. God takes up the original life-time found in the oldest books of the Bible, people lived till they were close to 1000 years of age. This is a condition which shall not come on the entire world, but will be so for Israel’s Jesus-believers only. This will really make these believers stand out from the world, living that long.
It says of this arrangement, that if a sinner dies at the age of 100 years, he shall be considered as one who died as a youth!
Another prophet says, that the age of man shall become like the trees, - thinking of the millennial blessing on Israel when Jesus shall reign from Jerusalem.
We cannot find a single thing on death-resurrection-rapture-changed bodies- put on immortality-trumpet sounding- etcetera, at all in Paul’s Mystery epistles, Ephesians and Colossians. End of research.
The kind of ‘Immortality’ found in 1 Cor. 15 and 1 Thess. 4 is the prolonged stretched new norm of human age, like it was in the oldest times after creation. It will be seen in the coming millennia for Israel!
