Sunday, February 14, 2016
Millennial Reign = a literal not figurative thousand-year reign of Christ on earth beginning at the Second Advent and going to the end of human history, prophesied throughout the OT and in Rev 20.
The millennium is promised to Israel in the Davidic covenant found in 2Sa7:8‑17, PSA 89:20‑37 which says that David would have a son who would sit on the throne in Jerusalem where He would rule the world for 1,000 years.
PSA 89:35-37, "Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David. His descendants shall endure forever, And his throne as the sun before Me. It shall be established forever like the moon, And the witness in the sky is faithful." Selah.
2SA 7:16 "And your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever."
The millennium is plagiarized by Satan's attempt to create perfect environment on the earth, not only during the Church Age, but especially in the Tribulation period.
The Millennium is also proclaimed by angelic heralds in Rev 10 and by human heralds in Rev 11.
It is a time of perfect environment existing because Satan is bound and demons are removed.
The baptism of fire removes all unbelievers from the earth at the beginning of the millennium, (Jewish unbelievers) EZE 20:34‑38; (Gentile unbelievers) MAT 25:31‑46.
It will be a period of time when the justice of God imputes fantastic blessings to the righteousness of God found in mankind.
Church-age = we can reveal some of the manifestations of this promised kingdom right now in the midst of Satan and his kingdom of darkness which is made up of both fallen angels and demons.
The main principle again is that all blessing from God originates with divine justice and terminates with the divine righteousness that was imputed.
1TI 6:6-7 But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.
1TI 6:8 And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.
HEB 13:5 Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,"
Contentment and inner happiness reveals you have the capacity to fill up the potential that you have for divine blessing from God which glorifies God.
ISA 60:21 "Then all your people will be righteous; They will possess the land forever, The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified.
God is glorified when He is able to give to us. He is glorified by the work He does for us.
The glorification of God by means of the Church (EPH 3:21) occurs when the believer attains spiritual adulthood and moves to spiritual maturity.
EPH 1:3 (Eulogetos) "Worthy of praise and glorification be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,"
EPH 1:4 just as He (God the Father) elected us in Him before the foundation of the world,
Ephesians 1 teaches that The first thing God ever did for us is the means of glorifying Him, which is to receive the blessings He has provided for us.
Billions of years ago, God the Father deposited into escrow, the greatest blessings that you and I can't even imagine = fantastic blessings are tailored perfectly for you.
Under the doctrine of election, God wills the highest and the best for you as a believer, only when you receive that highest and best do you glorify God.
God's will is for you to glorify Him.
God's will is for you to withdraw from your escrow account as much as you can.
The fact that you do not have the most phenomenal blessings in time and eternity simply means that you're choosing to be a loser.
Equal privilege means that you are in union with Christ and His church.
Equal opportunity means that you have logistical grace support.
Why are you here?
You are here to glorify God!
REV 4:11 "Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created."
ISA 43:21 "The people whom I formed for Myself, Will declare My glory."
Glorifying God demands understanding.
God's will for your life as a member of the royal family of God is to bless you.
EPH 1:3 Worthy of praise and glorification be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
EPH 1:4 just as He (God the Father) elected us in Him before the foundation of the world,
EPH 1:5 In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
EPH 1:6 "Resulting in the praise the glory of His grace."
EPH 1:12, "In order that we should be for the praise of His glory."
EPH 1:14, "For the release of your assets for the praise of His glory."
Anyhing God does results in His glorification.
God doesn't depend on us for His pleasure and glory but instead He expresses His pleasure and glory toward us.
Because God is to be glorified you and I are the beneficiaries of His blessings and divine provisions.
God is not glorified by our system of human works but is glorified by meeting our every need.
ISA 26:15 Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, Thou hast increased the nation, Thou art glorified;
PSA 50:15 And call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will glorify Me."
EXO 33:18 Then Moses said, "I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!"
EXO 33:19 And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will
be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion."
JOB 36:11 "If they hear and serve Him, They shall end their days in prosperity, And their years in pleasures.
ROM 5:15 - A fortiori = If God provided the greater in justification it follows a fortiori that He will provide the less in temporal blessing from the justice of God.
ROM 5:15 For if by the transgression of the one [Adam] the many died [the human race] much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many -
The provision of temporal blessings glorifies God in time when any believer has any of the blessings of life in the devil’s world.
A fortiori says "Much more" if the blessings from God glorify God in time when it was difficult for mankind to blessed because he possessed an OSN, then think of how easy it be for God to bless in eternity when man is minus an OSN.
"Much more" = God provides more in grace than man had in innocence before the fall. God provides more in the imputation of divine righteousness than He did in the garden where no righteousness had been imputed.
If God did the most for us when we were spiritually dead in Adam He can only do much more than the most for us now that we possess divine righteousness and resultant justification.
ROM 5:15 “But not as that transgression [Adam’s original sin], so also is that gracious gift [the work of Christ]. For if by the transgression of [that] one [Adam] the many [human race] died [spiritual death],
much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, by the one man, Jesus Christ, who has provided superabundance for the many [who believe].”
1. The believer in Christ through salvation adjustment to the justice of God has been placed in a greater position than that which was lost by Adam in the garden.
2. God provides more in grace adjustment to the justice of God than man ever possessed originally in the garden.
3. The justice of God did the most in judging our sins when Christ was carrying them on the cross.
4. If the justice of God did the greater at the cross it follows a fortiori that the justice of God can do the less—temporal and eternal blessing for the mature believer.
5. The sin of the first Adam results in the condemnation of the human race but now the grace gift of God provides more for the many than the first Adam lost originally.
6. The believer is not restored to the status of Adam before the fall, he is restored to something far greater than Adam ever had.
By indwelling the serpent, deceiving the woman and therefore putting Adam into a position of having to choose between God and the woman, Satan thought he had defeated both of God's creations, Ish and Ishshah, man and woman, and he was right.
Satan under-estimated the wisdom of God and lost.
JOH 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.
ACT 4:12 "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved."
7. What Satan thought was actually a great victory was one of his greatest, if not, the greatest of his defeats.
8. This constitutes a double a fortiori. If God can do the greater at salvation He can do the less after salvation. If God can do less after salvation He can do greater than less again and again and again for all of eternity.
ROM 5:16 And the gift [salvation] is not like that which came through the one who sinned [our Lord's gift is different then what Adam gave us]; for on the one hand the judgment [of Adam's original sin] arose from one transgression [Adam partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil] resulting in condemnation [that is condemnation of the entire human race],
but on the other hand the free gift [salvation] arose from many transgressions [Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world] resulting in justification [anyone who believes in TLJC receives +R and is justified before God].
ROM 5:16 And the gift [salvation] is not like that which came through the one who sinned [our Lord's gift is different then what Adam gave us];
for on the one hand the judgment [of Adam's original sin] arose from one transgression [Adam partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil] resulting in condemnation [that is condemnation of the entire human race],
but on the other hand the free gift [salvation] arose from many transgressions [Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world] resulting in justification [anyone who believes in TLJC receives +R and is justified before God].
The word for gift is the Greek noun dorema and it refers to the Lord Jesus Christ as the last Adam.
In Luke 3:38 Adam is called the "son of God." Jesus is, or course, also called the "Son of God" and of course that is one of the titles of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Adam's sonship is physical. He was created by God out of the dust of the earth. Therefore in the physical sense, God is Adam's father.
Jesus' sonship, on the other hand, is spiritual. He is God's "only begotten son."
Adam was a created being, TLJC is not a created being; "For by Him all things were created (COL 1:15). He was not subordinate but took on the role of a son.
Although both were "sons of God" the sonship of Christ is far superior.
Adam was miraculously born (GEN 2:7). This is true also of Christ (MAT 1:18-25). Adam was formed out of the dust of the earth. God created him full grown.
TLJC, on the other hand, was born of a virgin. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Adam's birth was a shadow of Christ's birth.
Adam loved his bride, the woman later on called Eve. He cared for her and was concerned (GEN 2:23-25). Just as Adam loved his bride Jesus loves His bride, the church.
EPH 5:25, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it"
Through Adam's disobedience, sin entered the world. But through Christ, salvation from sin has entered the world.
Because of Adam, his sin brought spiritual death into the world. When Christ came into the world he brought spiritual life into the world.