Dispensation of the
Kingdom
The dispensation of the
Kingdom describes the period of 1,000 years in Revelation 20
in which Christ rules on earth from David’s throne. It is
the period in time that the Jews were looking forward to
during Christ’s first advent and even His disciples were
confused about. This period of time is known as the
Millennial Kingdom.
During the Millennial Kingdom
Satan is bound and unable to tempt anyone. As Jesus reigns
as King of Kings and Lord of Lords nature is restored to the
harmony in which it was intended. Christians who died during
the tribulation are brought resurrected and reign with
Christ along previously resurrected and raptured saints.
The tribulation causes Israel
to realize that they have missed the coming of their Messiah
and it is during this time that all Israel becomes saved as
Paul writes about in Romans 11. The Millennial Kingdom is
the fulfillment of prophecies to Israel. They finally lay
hold of all of the land that God promised them in Numbers
34. Even more importantly is that the Davidic Covenant is
fulfilled as David’s throne is established eternally as
Christ is reigns from David’s throne.
The Davidic Covenant
establishes not only a long line of succession beginning
with David’s son Solomon but David’s line was never broken.
David wanted to build a temple for the Lord but he was told
that his son Solomon would be the one to build the temple.
David was also promised that even if Solomon sinned, God
would not remove him from the throne as He had Saul. David’s
kingly line remains intact for the sake of David. This does
not mean that Solomon would go unpunished for his sins as we
are told in 2 Samuel 7:15.
We know that David is a
descendant of David. What many don’t realize is how literal
this prophecy is. Both Mary and Joseph are descendants of
David, Joseph through Solomon and Mary through David’s son
Nathan. As Joseph’s legal son, Jesus carried on the kingly
line of Solomon as God had promised that the kingship would
not be removed from Solomon. But Solomon is not an ancestor
of Jesus (being that Jesus is genetically only Mary’s son).
David’s line was carried on genetically and held the rights
to the throne. Solomon’s line continued to hold the rights
to the Davidic throne through Jesus but he was not a
physical ancestor of Him.
Isaiah 65:18-25 describes the
conditions of the Kingdom. Death will be held back as one
who dies at the age of 100 will be considered just a youth.
War and disaster will not cause people to lose houses or
crops that they planted. Even nature itself will be restored
to tranquility as the lion lay down with the lamb. Despite
conditions that are much better than exist today, perfection
is still not attained on earth.
Despite the reign of Christ and Satan being bound, there
will still be sin in the Millennial Kingdom. It is man’s
nature and there will be rebellion even at this time. Jesus
will deal with sin swiftly however. At the end of the
Millennium, Satan will be unbound for a short time and he
will deceive people once again. As he gathers followers
together, fire comes down from heaven and consumes them.
Then Satan is cast into the lake of fire. All of this is
according to Revelation 20:7-10.
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