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["Pomp and Circumstance"] Good evening, we're in Isaiah chapter 11, and the Bible reads, There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots, and the Spirit of the Lord 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 the Lord. And shall make him of 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 shall he judge the poor, and reprove with the 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. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also 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, and the cow and the bear shall feed. Their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and a sucking child shall play on the hole of the ass, and a weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatresses then. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand forward and sign the people, to which all the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious. And shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand against the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathos, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together this dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not beg Cyprian. They shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west. They shall spoil them of the east together. They shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them. And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it into seven streams, and make men go over dry-shot. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria, like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt. Let's pray. We thank you, dear Father. We thank you for the Holy Bible you have left us, dear God. We thank you for this church you have given us. We thank you for our pastor, dear Lord. Please bless him tonight as he preaches your word onto us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Okay, tonight we're continuing our Bible study on the book of Isaiah. Tonight we're in chapter 11. And two weeks ago we were going over chapter 10 and essentially talking about the thoroughness of God's destruction upon Assyria, the nation that will be used, or that's being used, to also chastise Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. And it's important to go over the last part of Isaiah chapter 10 because it kind of carries over into chapter 11. If you could look at chapter 10 and verse number 32, it says, And yet shall he remain at Nob that day, and he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. Behold the Lord, the Lord of hosts shall lop the bow with terror, and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled, and he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one. So what this is referring to is the fact that God is going to humble those in Judah. Of course, he humbled those in Israel as well. And he's essentially using the illustration of a forest being cut down. And he's saying that the enemies of God were going to come, of course, through the sanctioning authority of God. And he's cutting down these trees. He's cutting down the thickets. He's basically destroying the forest of Judah, the forest of Israel. And the reason this carries over to chapter 11 is because of the fact that, as we've seen over the last couple of chapters, any time God declares judgment upon his people, he always follows up with what? Hope, right? He said, I'm going to destroy you, but just remember, you know, I know the thoughts that I think of you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Obviously, that's in Jeremiah. But it applies to what we're looking at here, because this is the constant theme that we see with Isaiah, where God is just like, I'm just going to destroy you. I'm going to wipe you off this earth. I'm going to chastise you for your idolatry, for your wickedness, but a remnant shall return. There is hope at the end of the tunnel. And obviously, he's speaking regarding a very immediate future, but then there's also a secondary application to the far future, that we would know as the millennial reign, the new heaven and the new earth, where God essentially restores all things, not just the land of Israel and Judah, but just the entire earth. All of the world is restored by God because of the destruction that Satan and sin has brought about. Now, chapter 11 is a great chapter. It's a very interesting chapter, because it really gives us a glimpse of that millennial era. Chapter 10 focuses a lot on the destruction that's going to come upon Israel and Judah. Chapter 11 brings forth the hope, but then he extends far into the future. It's so far into the future that we're still not even there, because he's going to talk about the millennial reign and what are some of the elements, what are some of the things that we could expect in the millennial reign. It's a very interesting chapter in that regard. It's actually one of my favorite subjects and topics to study and talk about, is the millennial reign and the new heaven and the new earth. And so we're going to look at two things tonight. We're going to look at the profile of the king's description, referring to Jesus, and then towards the latter end of the chapter, we're going to take a peek into the king's domain, referring to that millennial reign. Now the first thing we're going to look at is the stem of the true vine. So keep in mind that at the latter end of chapter 10, he's like talking about the fact that he's going to destroy all these trees. He's going to hew down the trees there of Judah, and it's picturing that destruction that's going to come upon them. Now look at verse number one of chapter 11. It says, And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. So what is that? This is the hope that he's bringing to Judah. In light of the fact that Judah is going to be destroyed, he's saying don't worry though, there's going to come a rod out of that stem, out of that destruction, is going to come forth a savior, because this is obviously prophetic about Jesus Christ. The rod of the stem of Jesse is referring to Jesus Christ, and then he reiterates it by saying, And a branch, capital B, right, shall grow out of his roots. Now how do we know this is referring to Jesus Christ? Well because of the fact that it's giving some indication here, some hints, that there's going to come a ruler, but that ruler shall come forth from the lineage of Jesse, which is the father of David. And of course we know according to the lineages given to us in the New Testament, Matthew chapter one, in Luke chapter three, specifically Luke chapter three, that Jesus Christ comes from that lineage of David, who comes from the lineage of Jesse, who comes from the lineage of Obed, who comes from the lineage of Boaz, and Ruth, so on and so forth. Now, the genealogy that's given in Matthew chapter one, traces everything back to or to, should I say, and going forward to, Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, who gave birth to him, whereas Luke chapter three traces it to his stepfather Joseph. Basically showing us that no matter what lineage you choose to use, no matter what genealogy you choose to use, both of them point to the fact that Jesus Christ is the rightful heir to being the king of Israel. Whether you want to go through his earthly mother, or his stepfather Joseph, he has the right both ways. And this is the reason why that genealogy, that's the only genealogy that matters by the way, in the Bible. After that, the Bible forbids us to go into great detail and depth about endless genealogies, things of that nature, it's very vain. And obviously the Jews like to do that, but they ain't got a genealogy, they were scattered long ago. Now, what this is showing us here is that the stem of the true vine is Jesus Christ, and it's essentially showing us the origin of Jesus. Now we obviously know that Jesus' origin is from everlasting, right? He's eternal, he's always been the son of God, but as far as his earthly origin, we would say, well, he comes from the tribe of Judah. That is the tribe that we can trace him back to. And this is what this is telling us here. Now let me read to you from Genesis 49, verse 10, where this prophetic statement is made about Judah, who's of the tribe, one of the 12 sons of Israel who becomes a tribe. It says in Genesis 49, verse number 10, the scepter shall not depart from Judah. Now what is the scepter? It's essentially that instrument that's being used by a monarch to essentially display the fact that he is the ruler. And so when it talks about the scepter shall not depart from Judah, it's essentially saying the king, the ruler, the monarch, will come from Judah itself, nor law giver from between his feet until Shiloh come. And it says that unto him shall be the gathering of the people. And so Shiloh there is just another way of describing the coming of Jesus Christ. And it's saying there that that scepter, that kingship will not depart from the tribe of Judah until that final ruler comes from Judah, which is Jesus Christ, described in Genesis 49 as being Shiloh. Now go with me if you went to Isaiah chapter 53. Hold your place there in Isaiah 11. Look at Isaiah chapter 53, because again, Isaiah 11 says that there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. Basically showing that no matter how severe the destruction upon Judah will be, there's always some hope at the end of the tunnel. And obviously the application there is that, you know, when it comes to Christians, you're never too far gone, or your issue, your situation is never so bad that God can't bring forth a stem, he can't bring forth a branch of hope, right? You know, if you're saved, you have the Bible, you have the word of God, you're serving the Lord, it doesn't matter how severely terrible your circumstance is, there's always hope at the end of the tunnel, okay? There's always light at the end of the tunnel for the believer. No matter how bad the destruction is, the whole entire forest can be locked down, and God can chastise you, and discipline you, and severely punish you. But you know, if you get right with God, if you walk with God, if you're in church, you're serving him, a stem shall come forth, a branch shall come forth from that. God can work all things together for good to them that love God, right? So that's the practical application that we have from that. Now look at Isaiah 53, in verse number one, Isaiah speaking here says, who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he, referring to Jesus Christ, shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground, he hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. And obviously, prophetically referring to Jesus Christ, that when he came to this earth in Bethlehem's manger, he didn't come in a glorious manner, he wasn't comely, meaning he wasn't attractive, he wasn't someone who stood out, and in fact, in his latter years, when he was an adult already doing ministry, people couldn't really tell him apart from every other Jew, right? There wasn't anything distinctly different about him, and that's important because, you know, these Catholic drawings and paintings of Jesus are inaccurate, what's a European doing in the first century AD amongst, you know, with the dress on and long hair and blue eyes? Doesn't exist, that person would be distinctly different from all other Jews of that time. Whereas, you know, here in Isaiah 53, it says he has no form nor comeliness, and the fact that he's being described as that tender plant further gives that proof that he has no form or comeliness because he's not necessarily something that is, you know, extravagant, he's not a beautiful tree that's sprouting out of the ground, he's coming forth as a tender plant, he's coming forth as a stem, he's coming forth as a branch, something that is despised, he's lightly esteemed, right? He doesn't seem to have any pedigree, so to speak, and people did not esteem him, and so this is essentially describing him in his humble state that he came in in Bethlehem's manger. Go back to Isaiah chapter 11, Isaiah chapter 11. So that first verse that we see there is describing that hope that's gonna come upon, gonna come out of Judah in spite of the destruction. Look at verse two, it says, and the spirit of the Lord 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 the Lord. Now this is commonly referred to as the seven spirits of God. When you read the book of Revelation, you'll see that phrase pop up about three or four times when it talks about the seven spirits of God, and it's not referring to the fact that the Holy Spirit is seven spirits, autonomous spirits. This is essentially highlighting the different virtues that are perfected in Christ. Just another way of describing his virtue, his disposition, his spirit, and these seven spirits are, of course, the spirit of the Lord, number one, number two, the spirit of wisdom, number three, the spirit of understanding, number four, the spirit of counsel, number five, the spirit of might, number six, the spirit of knowledge, and number, I don't know what number we're on, six, seven, and of the fear of the Lord. So it's essentially describing those seven spirits, and I think that's important because of the fact that seven is often a number associated in the Bible with perfection, it's often associated with that which is mature and perfect, and so this is showing us here that the spirit of God is perfected in all of these particular virtues of understanding, and that's important to note because of verse number three. It says, and shall make him of 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 he shall 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, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. It's essentially showing us that these seven spirits that God possesses enable him, so to speak, to judge righteously. You have the most righteous person in the earth making judgments, there eventually will make a mistake. You have a godly pastor, a godly leader who makes great decisions, they might have a spirit of discernment and understanding, experience, but ultimately they will make mistakes from time to time because we are imperfect, right? We are deficient in perfection, we are sinners, just like anybody else, whereas the judgments that come from Jesus Christ himself will always be perfect. And so we shouldn't have this unrealistic expectation from leaders whether a pastor or your husband or your boss or anybody in a position of authority and say well they made this one mistake here and they wronged in this area and therefore they're not qualified to be in that position. Well here's the thing, if that's the standard then no one is qualified because we're always gonna make mistakes. Now obviously we know that as people in positions of authority we shouldn't be characterized by just constantly making mistakes. There should be a ratio of like five to one or something, I don't know what the ratio is. But we should be making more good decisions than bad. Whether a husband of a household, a pastor, a leader, a boss of some sort, a righteous person, we need to make good judgments and have good discernment but at the end of the day your husband will make a mistake. He will make a bad call, a bad financial call, a bad emotional call, a bad call on some front and you can't necessarily hold that against him because of the fact that we are all deficient of being perfect. And the only one who possesses these virtues in a perfect manner is the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't have the seven spirits of God so to speak just running full time and just giving us the discernment 100% of the time 24 hours a day, we need to petition the Lord to give us understanding but we still have that sin nature. Whereas Jesus Christ, he judges righteously 100% of the time that's why when you read the Bible you could always rest assured that what the Bible's saying is true. The judgments of the Lord are right, they're pure, they're righteous altogether, they're always correct. You don't have to question what the word of God says and I like what this one song said, if you find when you read it that there's something wrong then there's something wrong with you. You know when you read the Bible and you're just like I don't know about this, you know you should tell yourself I don't know about me. If I'm questioning the word of God the deficiency is not in the Bible itself, it's in your discernment, it's in your judgment, that's the problem. The problem's never with God, the problem's never with Jesus Christ. The problem is with our understanding of spiritual matters is because we're deficient. He is sound in judgment. So we see there the stem of the true vine which is prophetic of Jesus Christ describing him with the seven spirits of God showing us that he is very sound in judgment and of course he's giving us these virtues that we see here but he relates it specifically to a time period because he says in verse four but with 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 and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. Now that did not take place in the first century. He wasn't smiting people with his mouth and he wasn't slaying the wicked with the breath of his lips. This is something that's very much in the future and if we were to pinpoint it when this takes place it would be after or should I say in Revelation 19 at the Battle of Armageddon and thereafter. This is when Jesus Christ has complete ownership and rule of this earth. It's when the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. When he essentially becomes the official dictator of this world and that's not a bad title for him, amen. Hail King Jesus. Now it's telling us here people might think well that just sounds bad though. Give him one man all power and all authority. Well when he has perfect judgment and perfect righteousness you shouldn't worry about anything because there's not one single judgment that he's gonna make where someone doesn't come out losing or something. His judgments are perfect in all the earth. He's gonna judge the poor righteously. They'll never feel defrauded. They'll never feel as though there's some sort of injustice that takes place because you can have a ruler, a political leader who can try their best to kinda rule with equity and righteousness. Someone's gonna come out losing, a righteous person, an innocent person is gonna come out losing one way or another. Whereas when Jesus Christ rules in the end times he's gonna reprove, he's gonna judge and there will be equal playing fields. The balances will be perfect, okay. And so, and by the way how so? Well aside from the fact that he judges the poor he's gonna smite the wicked. And I think that's one of the most important things that Jesus Christ is gonna bring to this world is the fact that he's gonna punish the evil doers. So when people commit crimes and you know when people commit crimes today and they go unpunished, I mean it's vexing to the righteous. It's like ah, people just get away with just the craziest things. They can get away with murder. I mean there used to be a phrase that we used to just describe anybody getting away with anything. Now literally just people get away with literal murder. How about the Clintons for example? But people get away with murder. They get away with all types of injustices and crimes and they're not speedily punished. Whereas when Jesus Christ rules it's a zero tolerance atmosphere. He will smite with the rod of his mouth. This is why the Bible says that he shall rule with a rod of iron, essentially describing the fact that crimes will be speedily punished and that'll satiate the desire for justice in the hearts of the masses when they see that. Says in verse five, and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins and faithfulness the girdle of his reigns. And so essentially saying that, you know when he first came in Bethlehem's manger he came humbly in a manger. He rode into the great city on a donkey but later on when he comes in Revelation chapter 19 for the third time, he comes on a white horse and he's coming to make war. He's not necessarily, even though he is humble he's not coming in a humble disposition. You know the first time he came to redeem mankind to essentially bring him unto himself through faith in him. But when he comes in Revelation 19 he's not coming in that manner, he's coming to kill. He's literally coming to destroy entire armies and to subjugate the world under his rule. And the only people that have a problem with this will be those who are rebellious, those who hate the Lord but people who love authority, people who love the word of God will gladly be under his rule. Whereas you have wicked individuals of this world who are not gonna like it and we'll see what happens to them in just a bit. And so it's giving us this picture, you know it's given Judah this picture really that there's gonna come hope, a deliverer, a savior, the Christ is gonna come, you know and even though they currently during this time do not have a righteous ruler who's judging righteously, he's deficient of equity. Don't worry, someone's gonna come out of Judah, it's not gonna be like their king. He's gonna be a righteous king who will judge the poor, the fatherless, he's gonna have the seven spirits of God, he's gonna reign perfectly, he's gonna right all the wrongs he's gonna punish evildoers, he's gonna take care of the poor, the fatherless and the widow and you know it's just gonna be a great time. So now we're gonna take a peek into the king's domain because the first part of this chapter really deals with the profile, the characteristics and the attributes of this king. Now we're gonna look at what kind of world, the kind of world that we're gonna live in when he rules and this is very interesting stuff here. Look at verse six, a peek into the king's domain, we're gonna look at a shift in the animal kingdom. So the first thing we look at is animals, for you animal lovers out there. Number one, go listen to Pastor Thompson's sermon from the Red Hop, a bunch of worshiper of creatures, no I'm just kidding. But you know what, this is actually, animals are important to the Lord apparently because he decides to highlight them specifically in the millennial reign, okay. It says in verse six, the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together and the little child shall lead them and the cow and the bear shall feed, their young one shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox and the sucking child shall play on the whole of the asp, referring to a serpent and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den, referring also to a poisonous serpent. So what we see here is that there's actually, that God is actually gonna change the metabolic composition of animals during the millennial reign. Carnivorous animals will go back to being vegetarian. This is not symbolic, okay. You know there's people who wanna symbolize everything in the Bible and there's definitely a lot of symbolism in the word of God but some things are just like, you just need to take it as is, okay. This being one of them. And there's gonna be a change in which animals, the way animals relate to each other as well as the change in which humans relate to animals because we see that the wolf is dwelling with the lamb who typically he would just slay and eat. Same thing with the leopard and the kid, the calf and the young lion. But then it goes on to say that a little child shall lead them. So this metabolic change that he brings about with the animal kingdom is so drastic that they will no longer have any desire to kill or destroy even to the point where you can entrust a child into the hands of the animal kingdom and nothing's gonna happen. So you can get the wolf, you can get the leopard, you can get the young lion and the little kid is like, come on y'all and you know, we're following the leader, the leader. Nothing's gonna happen. Now some people have wondered like, does this include dinosaurs? And based upon this passage, I can't really tell you yes. It doesn't really say anything about dinosaurs. I would hope so. That would be cool. Lead about a velociraptor or something, you know. But whatever it is, you know, we're just gonna be able to play in the mouth of a carnivorous, a previously carnivorous animal. Okay, and nothing's gonna happen. It's pretty awesome. Now here's the thing is that this is during the millennial reign. So this takes place after Revelation 19 when Jesus Christ destroys the Antichrist, the false prophet, his army. They're cast, the Antichrist and the false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire and then authority is distributed to the servants of God, those who serve the Lord faithfully. They're given dominion over different parts of the world. Okay, and that's not a specific part that we're highlighting here. I'm just telling you the era. And this takes place over a span. Basically this era lasts for a thousand years. So, and during this thousand years, only animals become plant-based. Now obviously this is not something that can happen today. Lions and wolves just can't survive by eating grass or a vegetarian diet. They need meat and blood. They need the liver. That's what they desire. That's how God changed them after the fall, okay? Or after the, should I say, after the flood. And so he changed them, but now we obviously see that during this time, they kill other animals. There's predators. There's like a chain in the animal kingdom where one preys upon another. But during the millennial reign, they will all become plant-based. But not everyone in the earth becomes plant-based. And the proof of that, and what I mean by that, is the fact that humans are still eating meat. Flesh, by the way, okay? So during that millennial reign, not everyone goes vegetarian or vegan, just the animal kingdom. We say, well, how do you know that? Well, because of the fact that in the, in verse number eight, it says the sucking child. Sucking what? Milk. You know, milk is not vegetarian or vegan. Says the weaned child. Not only that, but we also see that the glorified Christ ate meat, right? And when you look at Zechariah chapter 14, there seems to be an indication that sacrifices, animals are still being killed and seethed and boiled and eaten during that particular time. And so only animals become plant-based during this time, but humans are still eating meat. And, you know, people have a problem with that sometimes. I've even heard people take issue with the fact that, you know, we teach that the Bible says that unsafe people are gonna be in the millennial reign. They're like, no, it's only safe people in the millennial, but it's such a stupid interpretation. It's dumb. You say, why? Because death is not cast into the lake of fire until the latter end of Revelation chapter 20. And so if death is not cast into the lake of fire, hell and death are not cast into the lake of fire until Revelation 20, that means people are still dying. And if people are still dying, that means there's still unregenerated people in the millennial reign. Because the only people that can't die during the millennial reign are you and I. You say, well, how do you know it's just you and I? Because anybody who's here right now, who's saved, will be a part of the resurrection, albeit maybe there's some people in this room that I don't know, you might be sweeping the streets, but hey, that's still better than what the alternative is, amen. But we will be in that kingdom. And we will have no need of sleep. And it's not like, oh man, I gotta go get a nap in before I decree God's laws or whatever. There's no need of that. Our glorified bodies during that time are not fueled by blood. Blood is the life of the flesh, but in the resurrected state, the spirit is the life of the resurrected body. And so you say, well, then why do we have to eat? Well, I purely think it's part of a pleasure. I don't know about that, then why did Jesus eat? Honeycomb and fish. He's like, have you here any meat? And I don't think he's just like, hurry, because I'm like famished or something. I think we retain the taste buds in our mouth, and we just eat. He's like, where does all the food go? I don't know, God made the glorified body. I don't know if it goes, if he wastes it, or I don't know what happens to it, or it just metabolizes into the glorified body. You're gonna have to ask the maker that. I don't know how he transforms the metabolic composition of animals. How one day a lion's just gonna be like, grass sounds better. And they're just eating grass, like an ox. But that's, there's something in the brain, in the body where God just switches, because he's the creator, where it just goes back to those conditions once again. And so we have here the fact that carnivorous animals will go back to being vegetarian. People will still be eating flesh and meat, including the resurrected. And people are living longer, during this time too, by the way. Now at this point, you know, the Bible tells us that people live up to 80. And obviously people can surpass that by just a little bit. Some have said that, you know, there are those who live up to 120. It's very rare, but it's possible. But the vast majority sometimes don't even pass 60 or 70, and if by strength, 80, right? Like a body has to be very strong, and you and I have both met some pretty strong individuals who are up there in age. It's just like their body's just still kicking. But during the millennial reign though, people are gonna surpass the 80 year mark, 100 year mark, and they're gonna be living a long time. Hundreds of years, in fact. Now I don't think that the people who have this long life expectancy are those who go into the millennial reign from the wrath of God during Daniel 70th week. It's probably those who are born into the millennial reign. Because there's gonna be people who are literally being born during that particular era. Which is absolutely astounding if you think about it. So why, because there's gonna be people in this world who have no knowledge or understanding of this current world. Like all they will ever know is that thousand years. So that means they will be born when Jesus Christ is king. Think about that. And they'll live up to 900 years or so. And we'll see that again. And again, just as God kind of switches the metabolic composition of the animals, he also reverses the aging gene, which is why people live longer. People are so concerned about reversing that right now. You're gonna die. Like, oh, I just don't, I'm worried about, you know, these wrinkles, you're gonna get them. And you know what, what if you, okay, let's say you have some special cream out there that just gets rid of all your wrinkles, you're just gonna look really good in your casket. You guys don't like that, but it's true. That's fact. Because, you know, aging, that's not the only way you can die. There's many other ways to die in this world. And you might die with a stretched out face or, you know, with a facelift or something, with implants and, you know, teeth implants and all the, you could have a tummy tuck and, you know, fake bicep, you know, you could do everything you want. But here's the thing, you cannot reverse the aging gene. Not gonna happen. You know, only God knows where that compartment is. I mean, it's incredible that God is able to just do this. That during this transitional period, he just switches something in the genes of humans where they just age very, very slowly. And obviously, you know, we see people today, they're like 70 years old and they look like they're very young. It's very rare, but you'll see people where it's just like, oh, I'm 60 and they look like, I don't know, 40, even 35. But folks, during this time, you'll be like 500. You'll be like, wow, you're 500, I thought you were like 100. You're looking good, you know? And, you know, during this time, obviously, it's a very prosperous time. And people are living longer, so if people are living longer, that means they're becoming smarter. They are having more wisdom, more experience. It's just a different era, okay? So carnivorous animals will go back to being vegetarian. People will still be eating flesh. Animals are still gonna be dying. People will die. It's just that it's not gonna be through means of, I don't believe murder will be, there'll be a high percentage of murders during this time, or killings, because of the fact that Jesus Christ is ruling with a rod of iron. And, you know, Satan, by the way, during this time, is in the bottomless pit. So if he's in the bottomless pit, he's not, his demons and, you know, principalities and powers, they're not on this earth tempting people. They're not on this earth to, you know, just wreaking havoc through religion and iniquity. None of that is present. The only thing that's present is the sin nature of man, which is kept in subjection by the laws of God and by the Christ who's present during that time, okay? And, of course, his servants. So, you know, essentially what we see here is all of history is Garden of Eden stages where people lived forever, they just kept on living, of course, until Adam and Eve screwed it all up. You have Garden of Eden, then you have the time before the flood, and then you have the time after the flood, which is currently where we're at right now. The millennial reign will go back to those, you know, the times before the flood. So people are obviously living longer, it's a different system. A lot of peace. Now go to Romans chapter eight, if you would, hold your place here in Isaiah. Romans chapter eight. Because, you know, when we think about the resurrection, which is synonymous with the rapture, the second coming of Christ, not in Revelation 19, but rather Revelation six and seven, specifically seven, we often think of the resurrection as, you know, us, the fact that we're gonna resurrect, the fact that we're gonna be transformed, and that's definitely the pinnacle of the resurrection. Like, that's the most important part. But everything is essentially changed, though. It's not just us. Even the animal kingdom is changed, as we saw in Isaiah chapter 11. Look at Romans eight, verse 19. For the earnest expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of the sons of God. So the animal world is just, like, waiting for us to be resurrected and glorified, because that means then they're up after. It says for the creature was made subject to vanity, meaning they die. You know, animals, you know, they die and that's it. There's no soul, there's no spirit. There's no, you know, they have a mind, they have a soul in the sense of they can think, and they can react, and they can feel they have emotion, but they have no spirit. They're subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who had subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God. So he's saying, you know, this wave of the power of the resurrection is so profound and replete that it not only affects us, but it even affects all of creation as well. Animals are living and dying, you know, and they provide a lot of entertainment for us. You know, you go on social media, nature is metal, and you just see animals just killing each other in the worst, most gruesome way, and it's just like, that's cool, you know. You see great white sharks, and killer whales, and orcas, and lions just tearing each other apart. Well, the Bible's telling us here that those creatures are waiting to be released from that bondage of corruption. You know, it's almost as if like the wolf is just like, look man, I don't wanna eat you, but I gotta eat you. And the lion's like, I don't want you to eat me either. So you know, the ones we're being preyed upon are just waiting for that glorious deliverance of that bondage, where they're no longer killing each other. It says in verse 22, for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. That groan and travail can be seen in the animal kingdom by the gruesome deaths that they suffer. And you know, it's always funny to me where vegans and vegetarians are always fighting for animal rights, and they're like, you know, eating meat is murder, then why don't you go arrest some of the most prolific murderers in this world, according to your standards, and go get those lions. Go protest those lions. You're not gonna stop them from eating meat, and just killing baby, you know, hippos or whatever. You're not gonna stop them from doing that. That's in their nature. But the whole creation groans, it travails. They're waiting for that. Verse 23 says, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. In other words, explaining or describing the fact that we within ourselves, if you're a Christian that is constantly fighting the flesh, as we should be, or you're combating the flesh on a day-to-day weekly basis, you get tired of it. It's tiresome fighting the flesh. I get tired of it, you know, because you wake up with your flesh. You could have a great victory yesterday, but then you wake up in the morning, and there he is again. He's just alive and well, wanting to fight you, and wanting you to just disobey the laws of God. And it's just like every day you get up, and you just put your dukes up, and it's just another fight again. And then you have days where you might lose a lot. You're just like, today I was just really carnal. You guys know what I'm talking about? There's days, you know, how many of you had those days where at the end of the day you're like, man, I sucked today as a Christian? I put my other foot up and I fall. You have those days where you're like, well I sucked as a Christian today, I failed, and it's just like the flesh got the best of me, or you know, it's just a tough day. Sometimes you can even say it was a tough week. In some instances it's like a tough month. In other instances it's like a tough year. It's just the flesh is just beating you down. And the answer to that is, you know, a just man falls seven times and rides it back up again. When the flesh is beating you down, you gotta get up. Gotta get up and say that's all you got. You call that a hit, call that a punch, and go back at it again. But you know what, it gets tiresome after a while. I know that for a fact. There's days, at the end of the day, you're just like, I'm kinda tired of fighting the flesh, and I gotta fight the world, and I gotta fight the devil, and my spouse is mad at me, and my dog died! You know, we've grown within ourselves. It's like, oh, I just can't wait till the day where we get the glorified body and I don't have to deal with this old man. Because if you're a person who reads the Bible, you love the Lord, you get sick and tired of dealing with the old man. Now, there's Christians out there that are not sick of dealing with the old man because they're just in subjection to the old man constantly. They just do the bidding of the old man. It's a horrible life to live. But those who actually are walking with God, you're praying, you're soul winning, you're living a godly Christian life, you've grown within yourselves, you're like, I'm waiting to win the redemption of my body. Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? And obviously, then you kind of get back on track and you're like, well, I want the glorified body, but there's a work to be done here. Souls to save, people to turn to righteousness, people to restore, a godly life to live. I want to serve the Lord. And then you get that renewal of strength once again. Romans 8 is just kind of expressing that frustration that we all share, okay? And so it's telling us that we experience that frustration, but it's also saying like the animals do too. Because they're subject to vanity. They're subject to just die. They die horrible deaths. Sometimes it's not even at the hand of a predator. Sometimes it's just no rainwater comes and they just die of starvation. Sucks to be an animal, but hey, you know? I say that because I'm a human. I'm thankful that God made me a human. It sucks to be a shark. It sucks to be an orca. You're like, well, I thought the orcas were the best. Yeah, but they're not better than us. We'll mop the floor with orcas any day of the week and not even use it for anything. You know, we could just kill orcas if we wanted to. We could nuke the whales if we wanted to. The greatest apex predator of this world is us. We do whatever we want with the animals. I'm not saying it's right. I'm just saying that's how it is. Go to Isaiah 65, Isaiah chapter 65. Isaiah chapter 65, if you would. So we're taking a peek into the king's dominion. There is a definite shift in the animal kingdom. They become vegetarians. They get along. A child can lead them and fulfill their dream of just hugging a lion or whatever. They don't need stuffed teddy bears. They can just go get a real one. And nothing will ever happen. God switches off that violent nature of the animals so that children, human beings can literally interact with them, slap them around if you want. No, I'm just kidding. You can play with them, you know. I know Russians do that already, but you know. Still risky though, you know what I mean? It's just wicked because they want to do it without Christ, you know what I'm saying? Look at Isaiah 65 verse 20. This is again another glimpse into the millennial reign. It says in verse 20, there shall be no more thence an infant of days. Why does it say there's not going to be any more an infant of days? Because unfortunately in the world in which we live, children die young through abortion, you know, murders. Some children didn't live today, you know. It's a wicked world that we live in. But during Christ's administration though, there shall be no more thence an infant of days. Nor an old man that hath not filled his days. For the child shall die 100 years old. It's like when a child dies at 100 years of age, it's like wow, that person died young, 100 years. But the sinner being 100 years old shall be a curse. Kind of expressing the longevity, the life expectancy of that time. And they shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. No taxes by the way, just tax free. No property taxes. Don't want to steal your money, there's no Uncle Sam. God says build it. Make it as big as you want. Plant the vineyards, dig the wells, all yours. They shall not build and another inhabit. They shall not plant and another eat. For as the days of a tree are the days of my people and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. What a gracious God. He's like you can build the most lavish home that you want and enjoy it. For how long? At least for 1,000 years. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth trouble. Bring for trouble, excuse me. In other words, you get your paycheck and it's not like the government takes a large chunk of it out. Whatever you work for, you get. Everyone knows that feeling. I forgot the part where the government worked those hours that I worked. You're not gonna labor in vain. For they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock and the dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountains, saith the Lord. And so I think my interpretation of this is the fact that there will be unprecedented peace throughout the world. Obviously amongst the animal kingdom but I think even amongst people. I don't think crimes are gonna be committed in mass numbers. I don't think there's gonna be mass murderers or killings of that nature because when you have strict laws in place and you have Christ ruling there, you know what I mean? It's just like people will think twice before they commit any kind of crime and they don't have Satan or the devil or any kind of demons coaxing them into committing these crimes. And this is why the Bible says that the child shall live 100 years old. And so it's an incredible time. Go back to Isaiah chapter 11. Isaiah chapter 11. So again, we see a shift in the animal kingdom that animals will live and it'll be just a beautiful time where a child can even reach into a den of serpents and just pull a snake out. Be a snake handler if they want to. Cause they can reach inside. And I heard a great sermon years ago and it was from Isaiah chapter 11. And the preacher was, let's see, was quoting, what verse is it here? It says in verse number eight, and the sucking child shall play in the hole of the asp and the weaned child shall put his hand into the cockatrice's den. And he just, he spends like 15 minutes just talking about how the child is gonna reach in and pull out the serpent, this really venomous serpent and nothing's gonna happen to him. And he literally just spends like 15 minutes just talking about how this is gonna be a reality. And it's just like, where is he going with this? And then he hits us with this, he says, but now is not the time. And he essentially relates it to the fact that you can't be reaching into the serpents den and not expect for a serpent to bite you, spiritually speaking. That's gonna come one day, but now is not the time. You know, and you know, the world in which we live is not this particular world. So right now we gotta have our guard up, amen? Right now is the time to fight, it's not a time to just take it easy, spiritually speaking, and not read your Bible, and not come to church, and not go sowing, and not live a godly life. What you do here will affect that future, amen? And you know, you still have an enemy, an adversary, there's a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he made of our. Now is not the time to just ease up in the Christian life, now is the time to buckle down and fight the good fight of faith, amen? To not forsake the assembly, to read the word of God, because our vacation, so to speak, is coming one day. A thousand year vacation. And so, very important there, look at verse number nine. We're also gonna see the spreading of the knowledge of God, it says in verse nine, they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, just as we saw in Isaiah 65, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. This is one of the reasons why I believe, you know, crime will be an all time low, because it says that they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, because for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. You know, the laws will be enacted during this time, and everyone, no one's gonna be able to say, well I didn't know that. No, everyone's gonna know, okay? Now this is one of the reasons that I believe that false religions will be eradicated also. Because again, Satan, who the Bible says is the God of this world, who has blinded the minds of them which believe not, and of course he blinds them through philosophies, false beliefs, but just false religions. Islam will not be a thing. Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, Mormonism, all the isms will be gone. They will be completely, totally eradicated from this earth. There will be only one religion at this time, and that is Christianity. And in fact, let me read to you from Hebrews chapter eight, verse 10, in relation to what we just read. It says, for this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people, and they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord, for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. So all the mosques, cathedrals, basilicas, temples, they're all gonna be destroyed. It's not gonna be present. Meaning there will be no hindrance to the gospel. It's gonna be a great time of soul winning as well. People are gonna be getting saved, the knowledge of the Lord will spread like the oceans and the sea. People are gonna know what the truth is. Now, that's good, but you can also see how that can be bad too, right? Because when we read towards the latter end, or towards the middle of chapter 20 of Revelation, you know, you have the battle of Gog and Magog, where Satan goes and he deceives the nations to fight against God, right? And you kinda wonder like, what, you get stupid or something? So tell me your strategy. What's the plan? How are you gonna fight against God, right? But when you have generations of people who live during this millennial reign, and they're constantly being given the truth, the truth can either enlighten you or it can blind you. It can become a strong delusion to the point where you actually believe you can beat God. Now we see a strong delusion in the earlier parts of Daniel's 70th week with the Antichrist proclaiming himself to be God, and people worshiping him, but there's even greater delusion, strong delusion towards the latter end during the battle of Gog and Magog. And of course, God allows that because he just wants to round them all up and just, you know, flame them, and just destroy them. But the point that I'm making here is that the knowledge of God will spread throughout the world, because number one, there's no hindrance to the truth anymore. Okay, there's no false religion, you don't have to run into Jehovah's Witnesses, there's no lame, you know, Christian influencers out there. All that stuff is gonna be gone, non-existent, amen. Orthodoxy will be wiped off the face of the planet, you know, all the nonsense out there will just be but a memory, okay? Not only that, but the priest of God will spread the knowledge of the Lord. And the Bible says that we, as God's people, will reign as kings and priests. And I believe the reason it specifically gives us those titles is because a king reigns. So he gives us, you know, cities to occupy and to reign over. And in fact, in Revelation chapter two, it says that we also shall rule with a rod of iron. So that is why he calls us kings. But then it says we're priests, why is that? Well, priests of the Old Testament, one of their jobs was to teach the Word of God. So whatever area we're designated to go to to rule over, we're not only enacting the laws of God, keeping rule, but we're also teaching the Word of God. You know, and I don't believe this is the time, I don't believe during this time that we're gonna be forcing people to get saved or forcing people to believe because the gospel doesn't change. The only thing that we're gonna be enforcing are the practical laws of God. But in, you know, simultaneously preaching the gospel, encouraging people to worship the one true God and to believe on our benevolent dictator, Jesus Christ. For look how good he's been to us, right? And so the priests of God will spread the knowledge of the Lord. Go to Isaiah chapter two briefly, Isaiah chapter two, and then we're gonna go to Zechariah chapter 14. I'll cover these last two passages because I'm out of time. I wanted to cover this whole thing because it's very interesting. So the knowledge of God is gonna spread throughout the world and it's gonna be because false religions are removed, the priests of God, referring to the resurrected believers are gonna be teaching the word of God in their sanctioned areas that God's given them rule over. But then also nations will make pilgrimages to learn from Jesus Christ. So obviously he's ruling and reigning from Jerusalem, but then nations throughout the world are gonna say, let's go to Jerusalem to hear from Jesus Christ himself. It will have the liberty and the freedom to do so. Look at Isaiah two, verse number two. It says, and it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways. And we will walk in his past, for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people and 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 anymore. So nations are gonna be like, hey, let's go to Jerusalem, road trip. Let's go hear some of the greatest sermons we will ever hear in our lifetime. And Jesus Christ will be there teaching the word of God. And then people are gonna go there and be like, you guys need to get right in this. He's gonna be rebuking nations and correcting them. But of course he's judging with equity. Now go to Zechariah chapter 14. Zechariah chapter 14. Now, believing on Jesus Christ during this time will not be enforced, be strongly encouraged. But there will be a punishment for not worshiping the Lord, okay? Because he is worthy of worship. And you gotta be weird to not just worship the Lord when he's right there. After everything he's done, you're just like, nah. Like, you crazy? Like when you're in heaven, God is so glorious, so magnificent, he just leaves you in awe that all you wanna do is worship him. I mean, there's angels in heaven and elders that all they do is just worship the Lord and I'm sure they don't get tired of it. Because God is just a reservoir of just majesty and beauty and magnificence. And the only thing you'll probably have trouble with is like more words to describe how beautiful he is. But on earth, during this time, there will be a punishment for people who choose not to worship the Lord, okay? Now look at verse nine first. It says in verse nine, and the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day there shall be one Lord and his name one. Now let's skip down to verse 16. So obviously this is in context of the millennial reign. Look at verse 16. And it shall come to pass that everyone that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the king and the Lord of hosts and to keep the feast of tabernacles. So this is talking about nations that survived the wrath of God. Because those who came up against Jerusalem he's referring to, those who came up against the Lord, you know, these ones who survived on a year by year basis, they're gonna make that pilgrimage to Jerusalem to go worship the king. Look at verse 17. And it shall be that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no reign. So God's like, oh, you don't wanna worship? Okay, well, this season you're getting no reign then. Well, that's not fair. What about like liberty and stuff? Well, first of all, how about the fact that you're just ungrateful, right? Like, how stupid do you have to be to realize that you survived the wrath of God, you see the utter destruction, you were spared from that judgment, and then you just don't wanna go where, well, I got things to do. Now, you know, this surprised me initially, but then I thought about it, I was like, actually, this is not surprising at all because people make reasons, come up with excuses why not to worship the Lord today. Right? They just don't come to church. They got things to do, their hair hurts or, you know, they can come up with all kinds of reasons. Why not to gather together with God's people to make the pilgrimage to the house of God to worship? Like, well, I got, you know, what do you have to do that's more important than worshiping the Lord with your brothers and sisters in Christ? Go ahead and provide the list, won't you not? Right? Getting kinda quiet, amen? You're like, well, you know, you weren't there, pastor, and I'd just like to hear from you. You should just like to hear from anyone who preaches the word of God. And be here in your place to worship the Lord, not the preacher. And so when I read this, I was just like, these people are ridiculous. I'm like, well, wait, hold on a second. I guess there's no new thing under the sun, though. People do this now. Where they'll just come up with any reason not to come to church, amen? To worship the Lord, to sing praises unto his name, to hear the word of God preached. I mean, this is something that's real today. You know, the manner of some is. Well, there's a manner even in the millennial reign, would you believe? I mean, how slight of you think the Lord Jesus Christ would feel during that time? And you know, people are like, well, I would come to church if the Lord Jesus Christ was here, though. I would, I would definitely, if he was the one preaching, I would definitely come to church. Well, we have an example here where Jesus Christ is literally on this earth. And there's gonna be nations that are just like, you know, I bought a piece of land and I must need to go see it. I have married and I cannot come. You know, God says, all right, I won't send rain upon you. Now, the practical application there is that people today who do not worship the Lord by coming to church, they don't receive the showers of blessing as we sung, right? Because the rain signifies what? Blessings. And you miss out on a lot of blessings when you don't come to church. Okay. I'll get off that. But just your weekly reminder, now that I'm back, get your blessed assurance in church. And stop making excuses why not to come. We all have good excuses why we don't come, but you know, the greatest reason to come is to worship the Lord. It says in verse 18, and if the family of Egypt go not up and come not, that have no rain, there shall be a plague. Wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. He says, this shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. In that day, there shall be upon the bells of the horses, holiness unto the Lord, and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Basically saying that during that time, everything's gonna be sanctified unto the Lord. Even the garments, the bells that the horses wear, will say holiness unto the Lord. Everything belongs to him at that point. Meaning everyone, even the horses, should come and worship before the Lord. This is in verse 21. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts, and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them and see therein. There's your proof that animals are still being boiled and cooked and eaten. And in that day, there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. So basically what it's showing us here is that during this time, the millennial reign, people will make pilgrimages to Jerusalem to go hear from Jesus Christ himself. And yet during that time, there will be nations that refuse to do so. Okay, he's not gonna smite you with a sword and kill you, you just won't get any blessings. And the same goes today. You know, you choose not to serve the Lord, to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, to come to church, to sing praises unto his name, to do the bidding of the Lord, okay, then you don't get no showers of blessing then. You know, and I don't know about you, but I want it to reign continuously in my life. I want God's blessing to always be in my life. And obviously, to a certain extent, I have no choice, because I'm the pastor here, so I need to be in church. But you know, I still have to worship the Lord when I go home too, though. And when I'm in my vehicle, when I'm with my family, you know, I need to put God first in everything. But in the most practical sense, even if I wasn't the pastor, and there was a time in my life when I wasn't a pastor, you know, I was in church, worshiping God. And I can attest to the fact that when you're in church consistently, you get those showers of blessings consistently as well. And so I'm gonna finish there. I still had a lot more to say, but the time will not permit. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the promise of the millennial reign, Lord. And I pray that, Lord, you help us to keep that in the forefront of our minds, that we would think upon it in times of weariness, and when we're tired spiritually, Lord, that you would kinda give us light at the end of the tunnel and help us to realize that our labor is not in vain. And in due season, we shall reap if we faint not. Help us to be consistent. And when we get tired, help us to put it in first gear, maybe take it a little slower, but not quit. And if there's a time when we did quit and we fell out the race, Lord, I pray that you'd help us to get back up again, take the reigns, and serve you once again. And may you bless us as we go on our way. Give us a great weekend to follow. We love you, we thank you, pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.