WHAT IS AMERICA?
by Ronald Wright
THE WORLDS BEST HOPE
Some honest men fear ... that this Government, the world's best
hope, may by possibility want energy to preserve itself. I trust
not.
- Thomas Jefferson, 1801
As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an
era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power
of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon
the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a
few hands and the Republic is destroyed.
- Abraham Lincoln, 1864
The real war always has been to keep alive the light of
civilisation everywhere.... The end of the world begins not with
the barbarians at the gate, but with the barbarians at the
highest levels of state.
- Ben Okri, 2003
WORLD ORDER
THE SO-CALLED WAR ON TERROR will breed only more terror and more
war. The neglect of the world's poor will lead to chaos. The rape
of the environment will take our civilization to catastrophe. Our
only hope, as great Americans such as Woodrow Wilson and Franklin
Roosevelt understood, is to build a world order in which everyone
has a say and shares the rewards. A full belly and a fair hearing
won't stop a fanatic, but they will greatly reduce the number who
become fanatics.
ONLY THE BRITISH DID IT
George Orwell once likened the British nation to a family with
the wrong members in charge. In America the "wrong members" - the
Bushes, Reagan, Nixon and others who have betrayed America's
founding ideals since the days of Andrew Jackson - seem to get
hold of the nation about once every third or fourth presidential
term, the time it takes for memory to fade and a crook or an
incompetent to mature by the glow of nostalgia into a statesman.
As Tocqueville foresaw, the great risk in a democracy is that the
voters can choose tyranny. Sometimes the enemy of the people is
the people. This risk is probably higher in the age of the sound
bite, the televangelist, Fox News and the politics of fear than
it was in the 1830s. Tocqueville may also be right that "nothing
is more opposed to the well-being and the freedom of man than
vast empires." Rome was only slightly and briefly democratic;
Spain never so. The only precedent for a world empire run by a
democracy is Britain - and Britain opted to keep its democracy
and let its empire go.
USA
Since the mid-term elections of 2006, there have been encouraging
signs that the great machine of American democracy is still
capable of repairing itself. In the caucuses and primaries for
the 2008 presidential election, the field of candidates was less
predictable than it had been in half a century. Turnout was
unusually high, especially among the young. Whatever else George
W. Bush may have done, he awakened American voters to the
importance of taking part. Republicans could choose from a
Vietnam War hero, a Mormon millionaire, a Christian
fundamentalist, or a maverick libertarian who agreed with
many on the left that the terrorist threat to America has been
caused by his own nation's foreign policy. Democrats were ready
to make history by nominating either a woman or an African
American (literally).
The Republicans settled on Senator John McCain, whose
forthrightness, courage and military background made him the
candidate most likely to draw swing voters. The Democratic
contest (still open at the time of writing) was hampered by its
embarrassment of riches. In a normal election year, Hillary
Clinton's candidacy alone would be remarkable. But the young
outsider, Barack Obama, managed to inspire a broad range of
voters with what he called (in a book title) the "audacity of
hope." His policies did not differ much from Clinton's, but his
eloquence, intelligence and liberal record - notably as one of
the few senators to vote consistently against the war in Iraqa
roused a national mood for change. Change and hope were soon on
every candidate's lips; even those of McCain, whom George W. Bush
publicly endorsed, and whose inner circle includes William
Kristol and other neoconservative ideologues close to the Bush
White House.
PRESIDENT TO INHERIT
The hope so easily aroused will be far less easy to fulfill. Much
will depend, as always, on which party carries Congress. Whether
it is Backwoods America or Enlightenment America who takes
charge, the new leader will inherit the wreckage of the past
eight years: wars that seem both unwinnable and inescapable, a
ruinous public debt and a financial crisis that may prove to be
the worst since the 1930s. Hope may be a virtue - and it can win
elections - but hoping for the best instead of learning from the
past has often led America astray.
It remains to be seen whether the count in November will be
accurate and fair; whether moderation and thought will prevail
over extremism and personality; whether the outgoing regime will
resist the temptation of exploiting a crisis such as a "terror
alert" (real or not) to throw the election its way., The latter
possibility is less far-fetched than it may seem. In mid-2004,
when George Bush's re-electoral prospects were looking dim, the
White House and the Justice Department actually discussed
postponing the general election because of the "terrorist
threat." Such a thing has never been done in the history of the
United States - not even in world wars.
No matter who wins the keys to the White House in 2008, it would
be a mistake to think that the outgoing presidency was an
aberration and that its like will not be seen again. Politicians
such as George Bush and Dick Cheney - who feed on superstition,
fear and the worst kind of patriotism - are "grounded in a
widespread cultural pattern." Their power base is one half of a
polarized nation. Roughly half the electorate may be expected to
agree with Katherine Harris, who presided over Florida's voting
fiasco in 2000, tried to disenfranchise as many blacks as
possible, and later said that "God is the one who chooses our
rulers." This is Backwoods America talking - or being talked to
(Harris herself is a wealthy banking, fruit and chemical
heiress). Enlightenment America is outraged by such statements,
which cater to a fundamentalist mindset not vastly different from
that of the Taliban, al Qaeda and other extremists whom the
"godly man" in the White House vowed to destroy.
In short, a significant part of the United States still belongs
to an archaic, aggressive and colonial culture that has drifted a
long way from the mainstream of western civilization. If this
judgment seems harsh, consider these departures from the modern
norm. The United States is the only major western nation
* where the death penalty is still used - only China and Iran
outdo America in executions; George Bush alone, while governor of
Texas, issued 152 death warrants;
(This is correct to have - Keith Hunt)
* where one person in 130 is in jail - the world's highest rate
of incarceration (about seven times higher than in Canada or
Europe);
* where automatic pistols and assault rifles are readily on sale;
* where five out of ten think the Creation myth in the Bible is
literally true;
(This is correct to think and believ3e - Keith Hunt)
* where only one citizen in eight holds a passport;
* where there is no universal health care (47 million have no
coverage).
* America also has the widest gap between wealthy and poor, and
the lowest direct taxation. Education is locally funded: poor
districts get poor schools - another problem first identified by
Tocqueville.
* In a recent opinion poll taken for the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation, 52 percent of those interviewed chose the United
States as "the country that stands out as a negative force in the
world." (The second choice, Iran, came in at 21 percent.) It is
likely that a similar poll taken in Europe, Australia or Latin
America would yield similar results. American prestige has never
been lower; yet, whether we like it or not, the United States is
such a military and economic power that what it does is
everyone's business. All of us, Americans and outsiders, must
live with this land of paradox: a democracy hobbled by theocracy
and plutocracy; a "peace-loving" country at war almost constantly
for four hundred years; a nation both wellmeaning and rapacious,
welcoming and suspicious, devout and materialistic, friendly and
fearful, innocent and corrupt, libertarian and repressive,
individualistic and conformist, generous and grasping, imperial
and parochial, modern and archaic.
THE USA AS WORLD MEMBER
We may still hope for progressive American leadership in the
world, but we can no longer afford the old twentiethcentury habit
of depending on it. Repeatedly seduced by atavistic impulses,
America has become an unreliable member of the world community.
Despite the sorry record of the past eight years, the 2008
elections could still go either way. Too many voters, like the
first President Bush, "don't care what the facts are"; too many
opt for the fast food of the national myth instead of the
sobering nourishment of history - even history so fresh that its
dead are not yet cold.
The tragedy of American diplomacy since 1918 has been that the
United States did learn the hard lessons of world history in the
first half of the twentieth century, and then forgot them in the
second. Over the same period - especially the last four decades -
mankind has begun to grasp that its problems have grown beyond
the purely political. The human boom set off by history's Big
Bang in 1492 is reaching Nature's bounds. The crops, metals and
"free" land of the New World gave western civilization a new
lease on life which has lasted five hundred years, the period I
have called the Columbian Age. Now the lease is up for renewal on
much steeper terms. We are still enjoying the wealthiest times of
all times, but we are eating into Nature's capital instead of
living on her interest, wrecking the very ecosystems on which we
depend." The economic "surplus" is in fact an overdraft -
mortgaged against the future of all, squandered by the few on
luxury and weapons.
QUALITY NOT QUANTITY
If there is to be order, not chaos, in the twenty-first century,
we must build a new world order strong enough to manage the
ending of the boom and make the best of what the Earth provides.
We must opt for quality over quantity, thrift over opulence,
right over might, stability instead of reckless change. These
aims will be extremely hard to fulfill: they require a new
politics, a new economics and a new demographics, all cutting
against the grain of human nature. But there is no other choice.
As the great British historian Eric Hobsbawm warned more than a
decade ago: "The price of failure, that is to say, the
alternative to a changed society, is darkness."
Many Americans, from Rachel Carson to Al Gore, have done their
best to awaken us to what we face. In the 1970s the United States
led the world in environmental standards and protection. But that
momentum has since been lost. Government regulation and
conservation have been demonized, international cooperation
undermined, and the public good abandoned to the despotisms of
the market and the military. For the past eight years in
particular, the American empire has become the problem, not the
solution, a neo-Aztec pyramid of force and greed.
THE WORLD'S BEST HOPE
It is one thing to answer the question "What is America?" with
such unflattering words. We must also ask if there are any other
candidates for the title of "the world's best hope," any better
models for how the future might be run. The former Soviet Union
seems to be returning to a corrupt authoritarianism, tossing its
short-lived liberal democracy on the same midden as its socialist
dreams. The rising powers of India and China, who together make
up more than a third of the human race, seem locked in the
embrace of globalization, repeating the worst mistakes of the
Industrial Revolution: dirty industries, exploited workers,
reckless urban sprawl. Chinese communism has mutated into a
surreal hybrid of dictatorship, state corporatism and chaotic
private enterprise.
THE EUROPEAN UNION
There is one big, bumbling, yet remarkably successful attempt to
find a new way forward: the European Union. For some sixty years
now, Europe has grown away from tribalism, fanaticism and
militarism, and towards a new commonwealth built not on the
threat of war but on its memory. The Union has gelled little by
little, expanding from six members to twenty-seven, with others
on the waiting list. More than a trading alliance but not quite a
federation, this evolving supranational organism now has more
people and a bigger economy than the United States.
The Union's political structure is adaptive, pragmatic and
uncertain. There is still no formal constitution or unified
foreign policy. Per capita income in the richest member nations
is ten times higher than in the poorest - but that is partly
because the EU is admitting the ruins of the Warsaw Pact and the
Balkans. New members with weak economies and civic standards are
being upgraded as they join what began as a rich man's club. The
European Union seems able - or at least willing - to refit whole
countries, while the United States can barely restore New
Orleans.
Europe still has considerable sins: marginalized "guest" workers,
exploitive investment in the Third World and unsustainable levels
of consumption. That said, energy use per head is half that of
the United States and Canada, while the average standard of
living is about the same. A better balance has been struck
between the interests of capital, labour and the environment than
in any other trading bloc. The greatest threat to the European
experiment is Americanization: Friedmanite pressure to weaken
social and environmental laws in the name of business
"efficiency." So far the Union is standing its ground. As Mark
Schapiro wrote recently in Harper's, "Europe is now compelling
other nations' manufacturers to conform to regulations that are
far more protective of people's health than those in the United
States. Europe has emerged not only as the world's leading
economic power but also as one of its moral leaders. Those roles
were once filled by the United States."
Early in 2008, the European Union announced a plan to spend 60
billion (some $90 billion) each year for twelve years to reduce
carbon emissions at least 20 percent by 2020. This reduction
still may not be enough - especially if diehards such as the
United States and Canada fail to join in - but it is leadership.
If carried through, the Europeans' financial commitment to
fighting climate change will rival what America spends fighting
the enemies it has made in Iraq.
Like a rehabilitated criminal, Europe seems to have confronted
the grim realities of its own past. The peace within the Union
since 1945 offers hope that peoples, like individuals, can learn
from their mistakes. Nations who had been killing one another for
centuries are now at work on a shared future. If the human race
as a whole is to avoid a worldwide catastrophe caused by its own
desires, fears and delusions, it will do so along such lines.
The Columbian Age was built on colonial attitudes: on taming the
wilderness, civilizing the savage, and the American dream of
endless plenty. Now there is nothing left to colonize. Half a
millennium of expansion has run out of room. Mankind WILL EITHER
SHARE THE EARTH OR FIGHT OVER IT - a war nobody can win. For
civilization to continue we must civilize ourselves. America,
which helped set the Europeans on their new path half a century
ago, must now examine its own record - the facts, not the myths -
and free itself from the potent yet potentially fatal mix of
forces that created its nation, its empire, and the modern world.
..........
IN THIS BOOK BY RONALD WRIGHT THERE ARE 100 PAGES OF "NOTES."
RONALD WRIGHT DOES NOT BELIEVE IN THE BIBLE OF GOD, YET THIS
LAST CHAPTER OF HIS BOOK IS VERY PROPHETIC. HE DOES NOT KNOW HE
IS SPEAKING ABOUT END-TIME PROPHECY OF THE BIBLE, IN SAYING
EUROPE IS THE BEST CONFEDERATION OF NATIONS TO LEAD THE WOLRD IN
A NEW AGE OF THE 21ST CENTURY.
AND IN TIME EUROPE WILL BECOME THE GEM OF THE POLITICAL-ECONOMIC
WORLD - TRADE AND MIGHT - MILITARY POWER ALSO. SHE WILL BE THE
LAST RESURRECTION OF THE BABYLON HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. A BEAST WHO
WILL HAVE A WOMAN WHORE CHRISTIAN CHURCH GUIDING AND RULING IT. A
FALSE PROPHET ABLE TO WORK MIRACLES AND A POLITICAL/MILITARY
LEADER WILL JOIN ARMS FOR A WHILE. THEY WILL LEAD THIS BEAST
EUROPE TO WAGE WAR ON THE WEATERN WORLD, AND WIN THE BATTLE IN NO
UNCERTAIN TERMS. SHE WILL CRUSH AN ABAB UNION OF NATIONS - THE
KING OF THE SOUTH. SHE WILL TRY AND DEFEAT THE EASTERN POWERS OF
RUSSIA, CHINA, INDIA, JAPAN ETC. TO RULE THE WORLD.
THE EAST WILL COUNTER ATTACK, AND IT WILL ALL LEAD TO JESUS THE
MESSIAH COMING BACK, TO STOP THE WAR THAT WOULD INDEED KILL EVERY
HUMAN ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH, IF HE DID NOT COME TO STOP IT.
JESUS, WITH THE HOLY ANGELS AND THE RESURRECTED SAINTS, WILL
FIGHT THE WORLD'S ARMIES AT ARMAGEDDON, AND BRING AT LAST THE NEW
AGE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH.
THEN IN THAT AGE, THE PEOPLES OF ISRAEL (MOST OF THE WESTERN
WORLD) AND THE JEWS OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH, WILL BE ONE PEOPLE
ONCE MORE, AND WILL BE GIVEN A NEW HEART, A HEART WITH THE SPIRIT
OF GOD. THEY WILL AT LAST BE THE LIGHT TO THE WORLD OF GOD'S
RIGHTEOUSNESS, AS THEY WERE ORIGINALLY CALLED TO BE (DEUTERONOMY
4). IT WILL BE A NEW AGE OF PEACE, WHERE NATIONS WILL NOT LEARN
WAR ANY MORE. WHERE THE LION SHALL DWELL WITH THE LAMB, AND EAT
STAW WITH THE OX. FINALLY THE AGE TO COME WILL HAVE ARRIVED,
SPOKEN ABOUT BY ALL THE HOLY PROPHETS SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN.
GOD SPEED THAT DAY!!!
Keith Hunt
Reward of the SavedPromise to Abraham by
Keith Hunt
Gal. 3:29 If we are Christians we are looked upon by God as
Abraham's seed - and we are HEIRS - not yet inheritors of THE
PROMISE
Gal. 3:16 Because to Abraham and his seed - Christ - were the
promises made. We shall inherit the SAME promise that was given
and promised to Abraham - that's what your NEW TESTAMENT says.
Let's look to see what SPECIFIC promise Abraham was given. Gen
12:5-7. God promised the land of Palestine - Canaan.
Gen. 13:14-15 God reaffirms the promise to Abraham. Gen. 17:8 the
LAND OF CANAAN - Palestine - was to be given to Abraham and his
seed for an EVERLASTING - ETERNAL possession.
Look, try to find, search, see if you can find the verse that
promised Abraham HEAVEN as his eternal possession or even for a
1000 years. You will not find it - there was no such promise ever
given.
Did David believe what God said and promised Abraham and his
seed? Yes - see Ps. 105:8-11.
Did Abraham ever receive this promise?
Heb. 11:8-9; 11:13
Paul restates the promise given by God to Abraham.
Abraham died in faith - NOT having received the promise - eternal
life on THIS EARTH.
Acts 7:1-5
Stephen also believed what God had promised Abraham -
the land of Palestine - but Abraham has NOT INHERITED YET, nor
his seed.
Christ is Abraham's seed - if we be Christ's we are Abraham's
seed
and heirs with Him of the SAME promise. Christ came as a mediator
of a better covenant(Heb.9:15;7:22), just as David knew - Ps.
37:11.
Matthew 5:5
Christ has promised us the ENTIRE earth - not just Palestine.
Abraham was never - not even for a day - promised he would go to
heaven where God the Father is. Christ never promised us heaven.
The word of God NOWHERE promises us heaven for ANY length of
time. But it does promise us THIS EARTH for a 1,000 years with
Christ in His kingdom ruling the nations. And then when Christ
has put down all authority and rule and all enemies are under his
feet, the last enemy to be destroyed being death (at the end of
the 1,000 years) Rev.21:14,15. He shall then deliver - hand over
the Kingdom to the Father. See I Cor. 15:23-26.
God the Father will descend together with the new Jerusalem to
this earth (Rev.22:1-2) and God shall come and dwell with them
(v.3).
Oh, the truth of God is available to those who live the truth -
to those who fear and tremble before the word of God.
Will you do as the Bereans did when Paul preached what seemed
"strange things" unto them (Acts 17:11)?
"These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in
that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and
SEARCHED the SCRIPTURES daily, whether those things were so."
................
Written 1981
Kingdom of God - Where will it be?On Earth or in Heaven?
by
Keith Hunt
CHRIST SAID HE WAS BORN TO BE A KING- HE HAD BEEN APPOINTED A
KINGDOM. HE TOLD HIS DISCIPLES THEY COULD HAVE A PLACE A PLACE
WITH HIM IN HIS KINGDOM. IS THIS KINGDOM A LITERAL KINGDOM
OR JUST SOMETHING IN THE HEARTS OF MEN? WILL IT BE SET UP ON THIS
EARTH OR IN HEAVEN? WHEN WILL THIS KINGDOM COME - HAS IT ALREADY
COME? WILL THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST BE IN TWO STAGES WITH
THREE AND A HALF, SEVEN OR ONE THOUSAND YEARS BETWEEN EACH
COMING? THE WORD OF GOD CAN ANSWER ALL THESE QUESTIONS AND OTHERS
BESIDE, IF WE WILL SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES TO FIND WHAT GOD TELLS
US. CHRISTIANS ARE TO ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD - WE NEED TO KNOW
- WE CAN KNOW WHAT THAT KINGDOM IS. HERE THEN ARE THE MAIN
PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE THAT SHOW US WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD!
Job 19:25,26
Job said he knew his Savior was alive and that in the latter day
He (the Redeemer) shall STAND ON THE EARTH.
Job said nothing about a 1,000 years after the latter day or a
third return of Christ to this earth. In verse 26 he went on to
show EXACTLY what time he knew his Redeemer would stand on this
earth - when he (Job) is RESURRECTED - Job was to die - yet in
his flesh (a resurrection) he shall see God.
That resurrection of the righteous takes place at the return of
Christ (I Thes. 4:16) and Job will be in it, and Job said that at
that time the Redeemer would stand on the earth.
Isa. 2:1-4
God gave two prophets living at different times (Micah 4:1)
the same truth. (Isa. 2:2) Mountain is a symbol for kingdom (Dan.
2:35, 44). In the LAST DAYS God is going to set up His kingdom,
mountain of the Lord's house - Christ is preparing us a place in
it, Jn. 14:1-3. He brings it with Him on His return (Rev. 22:12)
and on top of, above the other kingdoms and all nations will look
to it, flow to it.
v. 3 Notice! People will say after God has set up His kingdom,
let us go up to it and let God teach us HIS WAYS - they will be
willing to walk in His ways. Here then are people who do NOT KNOW
God's ways, saying we WANT TO LEARN His ways. This cannot be the
new earth for only the immortal righteous dwell on it - only
those
who ALREADY know God's ways and have been made eternal dwell on
the new earth - sin and death have been destroyed (Rev. 20:14,
15).
v. 4 He shall REBUKE many people. This cannot be on the new
earth, only sinless saints are on it. Swords into ploughshares -
here are people that still have weapons of war, and God makes
them turn those weapons into implements of peace - they are
TAUGHT not to fight anymore. NONE Or THIS WILL HAPPEN ON THE NEW
EARTH - it has not happened yet - it must be for the 1,000 years
after God sets up His kingdom over this earth.
Micah 4:6-13. This is a continuation of Isaiah's prophecy - God
gathers Israel - all the prophecies about Israel at Christ's
return find them in a state of captivity - v.8, the kingdom comes
to Jerusalem - v.10, Zion is delivered from enemies - v.13, Zion
or Judah shall break their enemies. None of this will happen on
the new earth. It is speaking of the SAME DAY (v.6) as v.1-5.
Isa. 11:1-16
v. 1-3 Most Bible scholars agree that this is Christ
talked about here.
v.4 Smite the earth ... slay the wicked. The second
advent of Christ.
v. 6-9 The earth full of God's knowledge - wild animals tame - no
more destruction. Notice! A little child, sucking child (months
old) and weaned children (v.6,8) are playing with these animals.
The NEW EARTH will not be for bearing; and rearing children -
only for immortal saints - see Mt. 22:29 30
v. 10 AND IN THAT DAY - the same time as v. 1-9 - the Gentiles
shall seek Christ - cannot be the new earth.
v. 11-12. Again we are told about Israel being regathered at this
time.
v. 13-14 Israel will literally subdue some countries.
v. 15-16 At this same time there will be a SECOND EXODUS for
physical Israelites.
None of Isaiah 11 has happened yet - it will not take place on
the new earth - it must be for the 1,000 years.
Isa. 24:1-6
This is a prophecy for the yet future - when God comes
to punish the earth. v.6 Few men are left. v.19,20 The earth
reeling to and fro.
v. 23 Heavenly signs (see Mt.24:29) God reigns in JERUSALEM.
Isa. 25
It is a continuation of the same prophecy.
v. 7 Spiritual blindness is removed (see II Cor. 3:15)
v. 8 No more tears.
v. 9 People will be saved -people rejoicing in salvation.
Isa. 26
IN THAT DAY - this prophecy continues - Judah will sing
this song.
v. 19 the resurrection!!
Isa. 27
Still continuing the same prophecy - IN THAT DAY
v. 1 Satan is bound (compare with Rev. 12:3,9. 13:1, 20:1-3).
v. 6 Israel will blossom and be a blessing to all the world.
v. 11 God will show them favour.
v. 13 Notice! The great trumpet shall blow - Israel is regathered
and they come to worship God AT JERUSALEM. This is the second
return of Christ - the last or great trumpet - Israel gathered -
the resurrection - salvation - spiritual blindness removed - the
earth punished - heavenly signs.
Isa. 66:15-24
Verses 15 and 18 tell us when this prophecy will be
fulfilled - "...the LORD WILL COME with fire... and His rebuke
...I will gather all nations... they shall come and see my
glory."
This has never yet happened - it will at this second advent - he
will gather all nations to fight them at the battle of
Armageddon. (Rev. 16,17:12-14, 19:19, 20) - see my text on
"Armageddon and the Age to come" v. 19 People will be sent out to
other nations, isles that have NOT HEARD of Christ's fame nor
seen his glory. This cannot be on the new earth.
v. 23 People will keep the Sabbath and worship God.
v. 24 The stubborn wicked will be destroyed from one Sabbath to
another - for a long period and the righteous shall view their
carcasses.
None of this can be on the new earth, There is no sin or death
then (see Rev. 21:4,5, 20:14); no salvation offered then - no
need - only immortal saints on the new earth.
Dan. 2:31-44
Daniel's image is well known by most Bible scholars as depicting
the four world-ruling empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece and
Rome. Rome was to have a final ten-nation resurrection at the
time of Christ's return (the ten toes). See also Rev. 17:12-14.
v. 35 the stone smashes the image and becomes a great mountain.
v. 44 Interpreted as a kingdom.
v. 35 WHEN this stone (Christ, Acts 4:10-11) smashes the image -
God sets up a kingdom - THEN, not three and a half or 1,000 years
later, but in the DAYS OF THESE (TEN KINGS) NATIONS v. 44. And
this stone becomes a great kingdom and fills the WHOLE EARTH, not
heaven. There's no mention of heaven AT ALL for THIS kingdom
(Christ's kingdom).
Dan. 7:9
The earthly kingdoms have been cast down.
v. 11 gives us the time setting - the beast is slain, his body
given to the burning flame - compare with Rev. 19:19, 20. This is
the second advent of Christ.
v. 13 Son of Man coming with clouds - see Acts 1:9-11.
v. 14 Christ receives DOMINION - GLORY - KINGDOM - that all
people, nations (plural), languages (plural - different
languages) should SERVE HIM - you can not serve someone if you DO
NOT EXIST.
There will not be DIFFERENT nations and languages in the new
earth - God will dwell with us, we all shall be HIS PEOPLE then -
immortal and like him, I Jn. 3:2; one family of God.
v. 27 The kingdom is UNDER the whole heaven - not in heaven - no
three and a half or seven years in heaven stated here.
All dominions (plural - different ones) shall SERVE and OBEY Him.
The saints are IN the kingdom - all other kings and kingdoms obey
the overall kingdom - God's kingdom - which is set up UNDER the
whole heaven - as Daniel in chapter 2 tells us, it fills the
whole earth.
No mention at all in these two chapters of Christ's kingdom being
in heaven for a 1,000 years. Just the opposite - in the days of
these kings (last ten nations to compose the last Roman Empire)
the God of heaven sets up a kingdom, and it "filled the whole
earth". 2:35,44
Zech. 12:1,2,3
A prophecy directed to Israel.
Zech.12:2-5
THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON - Nations are gathered at Jerusalem. God
will destroy them verses 9,11. See my text on "The Battle of
Armageddon."
Zech. 12:10
This is at Christ's second advent - NOT 1,000 years later. Proof
- When this battle takes place, the house of David (Judah), the
Jews will have God's spirit and grace poured out on them. They
do not have it today. They have rejected Christ and grace.
"...... and the (house of Judah - Jews) shall look upon me
(Christ) whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him
...... "
Zech. 12:11-14
The Jews shall weep when they see that the king they have waited
for, for so many centuries, is the very person they - the Jews -
crucified 2,000 years earlier.
Zech. 13:6
IN THAT DAY (see v.1) a person shall ask Christ about the wound
scars in His hands. He shall tell them about how He was put to
death by His own people 2,000 years earlier.
These two chapters of Zechariah are yet to be fulfilled. They
will be fulfilled at Christ's SECOND ADVENT - not a 1,000 years
after or on the new earth.
Zech. 14:1
The time setting is clearly given for this prophecy - DAY OF GOD
- Christ's return to punish this earth.
Zech. 11:2-3
The Battle of Armageddon
Zech. 14:4
IN THAT DAY - the day of God - the Armageddon battle - HIS FEET
SHALL STAND UPON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES - from whence he left (Acts
1:9-12).
Zech. 14:5
THE LORD SHALL COME and all the saints. Yes, the resurrection has
taken place (1 Cor.15). We have been caught up to meet the
descending Christ in the air - the clouds (1 Thes. 4:16), and we
continue to descend with him to the Mount of Olives outside
Jerusalem.
This is at Christ's SECOND ADVENT - NOT three and a half, seven
or one thousand years later. The rest of the chapter proves it
will not be on the new earth nor at the end of the Millennium.
Zech. 14:6
IN THAT DAY - as preceding verses. The light not clear or dark.
(See Mt. 24:29).
Zech. 14:7
ONE DAY - a literal twenty-four hour period. WHICH SHALL BE KNOWN
TO THE LORD - Compare this with Mt. 24:36. This is the SAME DAY
Christ talked about.
Zech. 14:8
IN THAT DAY - a literal river going from Jerusalem representing
the Holy Spirit - living water - God's word and salvation going
forth.
Zech. 14:9
Christ is king over the earth.
Zech.14:8
Notice! This river flows to the EASTERN sea (see margin
ref.) and the Hinder Sea - to the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean
Sea. On the NEW EARTH there is NO SEA - Rev. 21:1.
Zech: 14:10-11
Specific areas of land and what God will do to them at this time
of His return and after.
Zech. 14:12-15
How God will destroy the nations at the great battle. IN THAT DAY
- the same day as the previous verses.
Zech. 14:16.
Continuing - what shall happen IN THAT DAY (v. 13) and after -
the people LEFT of the nations who fought at Jerusalem will come
to worship the King Christ.
Zech. 14:17
If any family - families (plural - different ones) WILL
NOT send representatives to Jerusalem to worship God - God shall
withhold the rain from them - they will be punished.
On the new earth there is no unrighteousness, rebellion, sin
(Rev. 21:1-8).
Zech. 14:18
Here is a specific nation mentioned - Egypt - if they
rebel God will send a plague upon them - God will smite the
heathen (unconverted, rebellious, sinners) if they do not do as
God says.
Zech. 14:19
God repeats what He just declared.
None of this will happen on the new earth.
Zech. 14:20,21
SACRIFICES will once again be done in Jerusalem - to remind
people of sin (Heb. 10:3, 4). This is all foretold in great
detail in Ezekiel, chap.40-48. This will not happen on the new
earth.
Rev. 14:1
A COUNTERPART OF ZECH. 14 - it is the same day and the Lamb
(Christ, Jn.1:29) is standing on Mount Zion - the
resurrection has taken place, v.1-5.
Rev.14: 6-7
Then - AFTER v.1-5 an angel is sent out to preach
to them that dwell - ARE STILL DWELLING ON THE EARTH - to
every nation (different ones), kindred, tongues (different people
speaking various languages) and people. The angel says to fear
God and worship him - THEY ARE NOT YET DOING SO.
Rev. 14:8
Another angel cries that Babylon HAS fallen (who Babylon IS I
have explained in my text on "The Beasts of Daniel and
Revelation" which one day shall be on this Website).
Rev. 14:9-11
Another angel cries out that if anyone still wants to worship the
false way, he will be in the WINE OF THE WRATH OF GOD - see v.
19,20; 16:13-16; 19:11-21 - the battle of Armageddon.
Lk. 1:31-33
Christ was to be given THREE things: 1. The throne of
David, 2. rulership over Israel, 3. a kingdom.
He never received ANY of these the time He was here in the flesh.
Did Christ believe He would receive these three things?
1. THE THRONE OF DAVID
It was foretold in the prophets - see Ps. 132:11-18; Isa. 9:6-7;
16:1-5. Christ BELIEVED he would receive a throne - Mt. 19:28 -
Christ has NOT YET been given that throne.
Rev. 3:21.
He is now sitting on the Father's throne in heaven.
Christ receives that throne when He returns - Mt. 25:31. The
throne of David is a LITERAL throne - it is somewhere on this
earth today - God knows where. It will be given to Christ at
Jerusalem on His return - Jer. 3:17.
2. RULERSHIP OVER ISRAEL
It was foretold in the prophets - see Micah 4:6,7. I have already
explained Micah's prophecy. Christ never denied that Israel was
to be a great kingdom. Acts 1:6, the disciples ask if He would at
THAT TIME in history restore the kingdom to Israel - they knew
and expected Israel to have a great kingdom - they knew what was
prophesied in the Old Testament. Verse 7, Christ did NOT say "oh,
you misunderstand the prophets, you've got it all wrong, here is
the truth, let me put you straight." He said it was not FOR THEM
at that time (2,000 years ago) to be given the understanding when
that (Israel to be a great kingdom) should take place.
3. A KINGDOM - It was foretold in the prophets Ps. 45:6, 7. I
have given you dozens of passages that foretell Christ is to have
a kingdom. Christ plainly said He was to be a king and that's why
He was born - Jn. 18,37. But His kingdom was not to start at that
time in history, verse 36. It starts when He returns - Lk. 19:11,
12, Mt. 25:31,32; Rev. 19:11-15. These verses depict Christ's
return in power and glory - He comes to punish the nations. BUT
LOOK, verse 15, He is to RULE THEM also. If there is no one left
on this earth, how is He going to rule them?
Rev.20:1-3
Satan is bound. Why? So he WILL NOT deceive the nations,
verse 3. If there are no nations, people that could be deceived,
why bother saying he is bound so he WILL NOT deceive them.
Rev. 20:4,6
Christ and the saints REIGN - rule for a 1,000 years.
A king or priest reigns over people or nations who are subject to
him. Rev.19:15 has stated Christ will rule the nations.
Rev.20:7,8.
After the 1,000 years, Satan is loosed to go out to
deceive the nations - notice it - which ARE - already there -
already living - in the earth.
The second resurrection has NOT YET happened. It does not occur
until after verse 7-10 have been fulfilled.
Rev. 5:10
In chap. 20 we are told that the saints shall be priests
and kings with Christ - they shall reign for a 1,000 years. Where
shall they reign? In heaven? On Mars? Under the sea? The Bible
must tell us - not our own idea or dreams--"AND HAS MADE US UNTO
OUR GOD KINGS AND PRIESTS: AND WE SHALL REIGN ON THE EARTH." Rev.
5:10
Mt. 5:5
THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH. We have never EVER been
promised in the Bible to go to where God the Father is now. You
try to find it. God the Father is coming to be with us, see Rev.
21:3
Rev. 22:12
Christians are to receive REWARDS at Christ's return.
Mt. 19:27
Notice the SPECIFIC reward that Christ promised each
of the twelve disciples, "Jesus said to them, truly, I say to
you, in the new age (the Messianic rebirth of the world ) when
the Son of Man shall sit down on the throne of His glory, you
(who have become my disciples, and followed me) will also sit on
twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of
Israel" (Amplified Bible).
The literal twelve disciples are to sit on literal thrones
judging the literal tribes of Israel. Christ will sit on the
literal throne He was promised - the throne of David.
Rev. 2:26,27
The overcomers will have rulership over nations (plural - many
different ones).
Lk. 19:11-27
Because some at Christ's first advent thought His kingdom should
IMMEDIATELY BE SET UP, He gave them this analogy. A nobleman was
to receive a kingdom but first must take a long journey. He gave
his servants a job to do while he was away.
Lk. 19:15. When he returned and had received the kingdom he
called his servants to reward them according to their works.
Lk. 19:16-19. Those who had done something with what he gave
them, the nobleman (Christ) gave them rulership over CITIES.
Lk. 19:20-26. The Christian who did nothing - received nothing.
Lk. 19:27. The ones who rejected Christ - were slain.
Christ is the nobleman - He has gone to heaven - He will return
and set up his kingdom - His servants will be given RULE OVER
CITIES.
Mt. 25:14-30. Is the same parable given by Matthew.
Mt. 13:24-30. Parable of the sown seed.
Mt. 13:36-43. Christ gives us the interpretation in verse 40: the
harvest is the end of THIS AGE (world - see the Greek). Compare
with Rev. 14:18-1; 19:11-21; 16:13-16. See my text on "The Battle
of Armageddon."
Verse 41 Christ will start dividing the righteous and
unrighteous.
But the question is how long will this take? A day? A month? A
year? In THIS PARABLE Christ does not say. We must look elsewhere
in the scriptures to find the answer.
Mt. 25:31-46
Parable of the sheep and goats - gives us some of the
answer to the parable of the seed and how long the harvest lasts.
v. 31, Christ comes and sits on HIS throne - the throne of David
(Lk. 1:31-33) at Jerusalem (Jer. 3:17). V. 32 and THEN - after He
is on this earth - after the battle of Armageddon - after He
receives the throne of David and His kingdom - ALL NATIONS are
before - under His rule - and THEN starts the dividing.
Yes, this dividing - this harvest - starts at Armageddon and
continues through the 1,000 years. All the prophets of old
testify to this truth.
Read again the whole chapters of Zech.12,13,14, and Isa. 66:15-
24.
Mat. 13:31-33
Christ likened His kingdom to a small mustard seed - it will
start small (at Jerusalem) spread over Israel and eventually the
entire earth (the stone becomes a great mountain and fills the
whole earth, Daniel 2) and then the nations will lodge in its
protection, strength, and goodness.
The little leaven put in the bread so all became leaven is
another example Christ gave, to show how His kingdom will spread
over all the earth when He comes to set it up and sit on the
throne of David.
THY KINGDOM COME LORD, THY KINGDOM COME!
................
Written 1980
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