Kingdom Come - The Final Victory

To Jesus, the Christ,

who saved us from our sins

and promised to return

as King of kings and Lord of lords

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power

and the glory forever. Amen.

MATTHEW
6:9-13

Revelation 20

THEN
I
SAW
an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

THE
MILLENNIAL
kingdom gets its name from the twentieth chapter of the book of Revelation.
Millennium
is derived from the Latin words
mille
(one thousand) and [_annum _](year).

The Millennium defines the duration of Christ’s kingdom following the Rapture and Tribulation and prior to His creation of a new heaven and new earth. During the Millennium, Christ will physically reign on earth.

Not many details are provided about Christ’s millennial kingdom in Revelation 20, except the final order of last-days events, the windup of history as we know it, and the length of the reign. There are, however, enough details to provide an idea of the way things might unfold. Many passages in the Old Testament and the New tell of the future kingdom of Israel within Christ’s kingdom.

I feel the need to clarify that the millennial kingdom is not heaven. While in some ways it can be seen as a foretaste of heaven, sin will still exist. Those who enter this period after already having been in heaven are the redeemed saints, of course. And those who survived the Tribulation are also all saints. So the first few days of the Millennium will be idyllic, with Christ on the throne and all citizens of the earth believers.

But as newborns come along, obviously, they will be sinners in need of forgiveness and salvation. I believe the scriptural prophecies indicate that anyone who does not trust Christ by the age of one hundred will be accursed. And while some may disagree, popular consensus among those of us who take the Bible literally wherever possible is that such people will die on their hundredth birthdays, thus exposing themselves as unbelievers.

You may also find it instructive to see the Millennium as yet another of God’s efforts to reach the lost. He started by providing the perfect environment, the Garden of Eden.

But sin invaded.

Then came the faith age, in which Old Testament heroes acted on their trust in God. The New Testament book of Hebrews contains a faith Hall of Fame, each description of each saint’s acts preceded by the phrase “By faith.”

But sin invaded.

Then came the age of the law, during which God’s people tried to please Him by following meticulous rules.

But sin invaded.

Then came the age of grace, when Jesus died for our sins and all we had to do was trust Him and His work on the cross for our salvation.

Still men and women rejected God.

Then will come the Rapture and the Great Tribulation, and despite these obvious signs that God is sovereign, humans will turn from Him and go their own ways.

Finally, the Millennium will put Jesus Christ on the throne of the earth. His light will illumine the globe. His justice will prevail. It seems inconceivable that anyone could still reject Him, and yet scriptural prophecy is clear. When Satan is again loosed for a season at the end of the Millennium, despite that the earth is massively populated with more believers than have ever lived, there will still be those who live for themselves and constitute the army of the rebellion against God.

Only heaven itself will finally be populated with only believers.

It should be plain from our treatment of this great future period that we are the opposites of anti-Semites. Indeed, we hold that the entire Bible contains God’s love letter to and plan for His chosen people. If Israel had no place within the future Kingdom of God, we could no longer trust the Bible.

I have been studying the prophecies of the Word of God for my entire adult life—more than six decades—and still I thrill anew at what is in store. Now come along as Jerry tells the story of how this could all play out. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The Principals

Abdullah (“Smith” / “Smitty”) Ababneh,
former fighter pilot, Royal Jordanian Air Force, Amman; lost divorced wife and two children in Rapture; former first officer, Phoenix 216; a principal Trib Force pilot assigned to Petra; witnessed the Glorious Appearing; now residing near the Valley of Jehoshaphat, Israel

Yasmine Ababneh,
wife of Abdullah, mother of daughter
Bahira
and son
Zaki;
all raptured; returned to earth with the heavenly hosts at the Glorious Appearing; glorified bodies

Bruce Barnes,
former assistant pastor and original member of the Tribulation Force; martyred; returned to earth with the heavenly hosts at the Glorious Appearing; glorified body

Tsion Ben-Judah,
former rabbinical scholar and Israeli statesman; revealed belief in Jesus as Messiah on international TV—wife and two teenagers subsequently murdered; former spiritual leader and teacher of the Tribulation Force; had cyberaudience of more than a billion daily; teacher of the Jewish remnant at Petra; slain defending the Old City in Jerusalem; returned to earth with the heavenly hosts at the glorious appearing of Jesus, the Christ; glorified body

Cendrillon Jospin,
worker at Children of the Tribulation ministry (
COT
), Valley of Jehoshaphat

Ignace
and
Lothair Jospin,
cousins of Cendrillon; devotees of the Other Light, Paris

Qasim Marid,
friend of Zaki Ababneh; worker at
COT

Montgomery Cleburn (“Mac”) McCullum,
former pilot for Global Community supreme potentate and Antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia; chief Tribulation Force pilot assigned to Petra; witness to the Glorious Appearing; residing near the Valley of Jehoshaphat

Ekaterina Risto,
Greek believer; worker at
COT

Dr. Chaim Rosenzweig,
Nobel Prize-winning Israeli botanist and statesman; former
Global Weekly
“
Newsmaker of the Year”; murderer of Carpathia; leader of the million-plus Jewish remnant at Petra; witness to the Glorious Appearing; now residing near the Valley of Jehoshaphat

Irene Steele,
wife of Rayford; mother of Chloe and Raymie; raptured; returned to earth with the heavenly hosts at the Glorious Appearing; glorified body

Rayford Steele,
former 747 captain; lost wife Irene and son Raymie in the Rapture; lost second wife, Amanda, in plane crash; former pilot for Carpathia; original member of the Trib Force; witness to the Glorious Appearing; now residing near the Valley of Jehoshaphat

Raymie Steele,
son of Rayford and Irene; brother to Chloe; raptured; returned to earth with the heavenly hosts at the Glorious Appearing; glorified body

Cameron (“Buck”) Williams,
former senior writer for
Global Weekly
; former publisher of
Global Community Weekly
for Carpathia; original member of the Trib Force; lost wife, Chloe, to Global Community guillotine; slain defending the Old City in Jerusalem; returned to earth with the heavenly hosts at the Glorious Appearing; glorified body

Chloe Steele Williams,
daughter of Rayford and Irene; wife of Cameron; mother of Kenny Bruce; original Trib Force member; guillotined by the Global Community in Joliet, Illinois; returned to earth with the heavenly hosts at the Glorious Appearing; glorified body

Kenny Bruce Williams,
son of Cameron and Chloe; witnessed the Glorious Appearing from Petra

Gustaf (“Zeke”/”Z”) Zuckermandel Jr.,
former member of the Trib Force; farmer and youth worker, Tiranë, Albania

Map: Boundaries for the Twelve Tribes in the Millenial Kingdom

From
Glorious Appearing

RAYFORD
TRIED
to stay with Chaim. The men had left the Rosenzweig home without breakfast and without a word, as if they all somehow knew where they must go. Rayford decided that whatever was to come, he wanted to be close enough to Chaim to ask questions. The others must have had the same idea, as they all stuck together despite the crowds.

“When you see My throne, join those on My right, your left.”

The words of Jesus were more than impressed on Rayford’s heart. He had actually heard them. He moved to his left without question, and as waves of people moved both directions, suddenly the view before Rayford became clear. Directly below and centered under the vast heavenly hosts, saints, and angels, a great platform bore a throne on which Jesus sat. Behind Him stood the three angels of mercy. On either side of Him stood the archangels Michael and Gabriel.

Rayford knew instinctively that every living person on earth was gathered in that valley.

Chaim explained: “Half a billion or more were raptured seven years ago. Half the remaining population was killed during the Seal and Trumpet Judgments during the next three and a half years. Many more were lost during the Vial Judgments, and millions of believers were martyred. What you are looking at is probably only one-fourth of those who were left after the Rapture. And most of these will die today.”

Indeed, Rayford realized, those assembling on Jesus’ right were scant compared to those on His left.

It took most of the morning for the masses to find their places and settle. To Rayford it appeared that those to Jesus’ left were puzzled at best, frightened at worst.

Gabriel stepped to the front of the platform and stretched out his arms for silence. “Worship the King of kings and Lord of lords!” he shouted, and as one the millions on both sides of the throne fell to their knees. In a cacophony of languages and dialects they cried out, “Jesus Christ is Lord!”

Those on the left of Jesus began rising to their feet, while all around Rayford, everyone remained kneeling. “Clearly two different groups here, eh, Chaim?”

“Actually three,” the old man said. “Those are the ‘goats’ over there, the followers of Antichrist who somehow survived to this point. You are among the ‘sheep’ on this side, but I represent the third group. I am part of Jesus’ ‘brethren,’ the chosen people of God whom the sheep befriended. We are the Jews who will go into the Millennium as believers, because of people like you.”