Taking a look at the millennial reign this morning. Most people focus on Heaven as being our 'life after this life' but a literal translation of the scriptures points to a robust and diverse future. God is not done with our planet after the apocalypse (seven year time of Jacob's trouble). Israel is going to see it's nation in full bloom like an olive tree producing oil and fruit. We see governmental Israel restored now but God is going to make Israel the center of the world.
Sukkot (the feast of tabernacles) and Solomon's life are pictures of the millennial reign. Solomon is a type of Christ and his reign was a shadow of the kingdom to come. He even sits on a 'great white throne'.
"The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with the finest gold." - 1 Kings 10:18 ESV
"Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them." - Revelation 20:11 ESV
Yes, Heaven is amazing but God is training us to reign with Him.
"If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:" - 2 Timothy 2:12 KJV
"Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." - Revelation 20:1-4 ESV
"Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the LORD. On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. For seven days you shall present food offerings to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work." - Leviticus 23:34-36 ESV
"You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress. You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns. For seven days you shall keep the feast to the LORD your God at the place that the LORD will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful." - Deuteronomy 16:13-15 ESV
In the garden of Eden Adam had this organic unity with God. When it came time to name the animals He just knew by observation what to name them. When this corruptible puts on incorruptible we will think with God in an adult way. Our childhood will be resolved. Our weakness will be filled in with strength. Our sin consciousness will be replaced with glory and integrated thinking.
What we operate in now will be the template that our future will be framed with.
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." - 2 Corinthians 3:18 KJV
Could it be that the choices we make today affect our activity and even responsibility for 1,000 years? The feast of tabernacles isn't far away on the prophetic calendar. We have more to look forward to then harps and clouds. There will be the reclamation of our world and the glory of God will be on display like never before. Angels will be visible. There will be territory to take and victories to be won. The dominoes of what happened at the cross will still be falling and every loose end revealed in the book of Genesis will be tied up again in the end.
Are we spectators or are we participants? Do we have a template of wood, hay and stubble or is our life built on the gold, silver and precious stones of Christ's life and accomplishments?
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