In this sermon, Daniel recounts a dream he had in which he saw four great beasts rising from the sea. These beasts symbolize four successive world powers. The sermon emphasizes that the image seen by Daniel and the dream in the second chapter of Daniel are connected, as they both represent these four kingdoms. The sermon also highlights the future kingdom of peace, where there will be no more sickness or affliction, and the power and authority of the federation of the kingdom. The sermon references various Bible verses, such as Leviticus 7, Isaiah 35, and Daniel 7, to support these teachings.

I will read tonight from the book of the Revelation, chapter 20, the 20th chapter of the book of the Revelation. Revelation 20, verse 1. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having a sea of a bottomless pit and a great canyon in his hand. He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, who was a devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. And cast him into the bottomless pit, and set him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more till a thousand years had been fulfilled. And after that he must be loose for a little season. And I saw crowned a day that set upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and who had not worshipped the beast, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands. They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection, whom such the second death hath no power. They shall be priests with God and with Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall be brought to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, frogs and magogs, who gathered in the devil to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up from the breadth of the earth from the compass of the hand of the saint about, and of the lost city, and five came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. In the 11 o'clock hour this morning, we were considering the subject here in our talk, the great tribulation, and we learned that shortly after the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, when he shall himself be seen from heaven when he shall be the voice of the archangel and the hope of God at this time the dead in Christ shall rise first, who are alive and remain. That is, believers shall be called up together with converted in this house to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Shortly following this event, the great tribulation period commences its fourth time described with the life of approximately seven years. This is to be a time when once more God will intervene in the affairs of the human family, and again demonstrate the principle we noticed in Romans 18 this morning. We learn in our Bible that the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness, and the fact that God for some 2,000 years has not intervened in the affairs of man is an indication of the fact that we are living in a period which the Bible refers to as the grace of God. This is not a day of judgment in which we are living, but a day of salvation. In fact, we saw this morning that the sacrifice of Christ is so great that it has enabled God, in view of the righteous character of His, to hold back His judgment for 2,000 years. The tremendous value of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus in vindicating the righteousness and the holiness of God, and providing a salvation that so perfectly satisfies the judgment of God against us, that that death and resurrection of Christ are held in judgment now, or in abeyance I should say, for 2,000 years of judgment of God against sin. But, there is going to be, and that's our subject this morning, another physical display of the divine displeasure of God against sin, and it is when God shall punish this world during that period of time in the Bible known as the time of great trouble or the great tribulation. Now, immediately following the great tribulation, and this instance here, we must say, is ushered in at the rapture, this time of great tribulation shall be climaxed by the revelation of Jesus Christ, which is to be distinguished from the rapture in that this is a secret coming through the air at which time the Lord's people go to be with Him, and at the revelation, climaxing the tribulation there, the Lord Jesus returns to the earth. At this time, His people shall come with Him, His feet shall stand upon the mountain of Elohim, and at this time, also, shall be gathered before Him all the nations of the earth. First and last, is the institute arraigned that in the word of God is known as the Kingdom. There are multiplied hundreds of references to this time in the Old Testament, always referred to as the Kingdom, referring to a time when the Lord Jesus Himself shall look on its head upon the throne of David in the city of Jerusalem. I read across the set in chapter 13 and verse 1, that a king shall reign and righteousness. This is going to be the great society that foolish, guided men have sought to bring about. The Lord Jesus is going to bring it about, and He Himself institutes His reign of righteousness, a reign of peace. Now, the substance of the millennium which we're noting here is now a subject for tonight. Now, we pointed a few times when we spoke on the subject of the rapture that this word is not found in the Bible. In actual fact, this year, again, is that time when the people of God shall be called out to be with the Lord forever in the air. The millennium is not found in the Bible, either, as regards this specific title. This word millennium is a theological term that comes from two words from the Latin language, the word mill, meaning a thousand, and innum or annum, one year. So, it's not mentioned by the name of millennium, but we'll notice in the passage we read tonight in chapter 20 that a thousand years of time is mentioned six different times in this passage where we have read prophesied, multiplied, hundreds of times in the Old Testament it is called the king. So, tonight we want to look into the word of God and see if the doctrine of a millennial reign, thousand years reign of peace, is substantiated by a collective teaching of the word of God. This is very important because there are people who I call are millennialists who do not believe that there's going to be a literal kingdom. As a matter of fact, there are some who believe that we simply are living in the millennium. A lady told me that one time, and she said that we are living in the millennium now, and in a mix of theology she said the tribulation follows the millennium, and I said to her, I said, if this is the millennium in which we're living now, God help us when the tribulation comes along. Now, let us look in the word of God and see what the Bible has to say about the doctrine of the millennium. I want you to turn with me to the prophecy of Daniel, chapter 2. He talks here in the second chapter of the prophecy of Daniel, and also, as we shall see in chapter 7, you have the foundation of all the prophetic scriptures regarding the coming great kingdom, that coming great age of peace. You know, it is hard for you and for me to realize this, and to really grasp the fact that for 1,000 years peace shall reign upon this earth. There'll be no more wars, there'll be no more rumors of war, and this earth is going to revert back to its ethnic condition before sin first reared its head in God's creation. It's hard for us to grasp this truth because of the society and the age in which we live. What I want us to do now is to look simply in the word of God and find, first of all, the prophecy and then trace it from this point right on through to its establishment, and then look at something of the character of this kingdom from the Old Testament that will give us an insight into just what kind of a world we will have for those 1,000 years. When you come to Daniel, chapter 2, then you can note that the king was on the horns of a dilemma. He had had a vision or a dream, and it's difficult when you have a dream and don't know what it means, but when you have a dream and not only you do not know what the dream means, but you forgot what the dream was all about, that is indeed a problem. So, calling all the sheep sayers and others, he could find nobody to interpret his dream, and then it was brought to the attention that there was a man named Daniel who was an interpreter of dreams. Daniel was one of the chosen young people of Israel who was carried away on the nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian captivity. Now, Daniel interprets the dream for the king, and he starts in verse 29 of chapter 2. Now, he's standing before the king, and he says, "'As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed. What should come to pass hereafter?' Now, here is the subject of the book. It's the thing that should come to pass hereafter. I must say right here that the stroke of the vision reaches from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, you shall see shortly, in the 38th verse until the coming of Christ in Judgment under the fingers of smitten stone in the 34th verse, which we shall look at just shortly. Apparently, this period of time from Nebuchadnezzar's reign of the kingdom of Babylon until Christ comes back in Judgment and stands upon the Mount of Olives is that period of time the Lord Jesus speaks of in Luke chapter 41 and verse 24 as the times of the Gentiles. Times of the Gentiles being that period in the history of the human race in Gentiles' power to hold sway over this earth. And so, the subject of the vision is what's going to happen following that period of time from Nebuchadnezzar's reign until the coming of Christ in Judgment. Now, look in verse 31. Thou, O King, saw it, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the form thereof was parable. The image's head was a fine rose, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet worn of iron and carved of clay. Thou saw it, and shuffled on looking, till a stone was cut out with our hands, which smote the image upon his feet, that would of iron and clay break into pieces. Then was the iron and clay, the brass, the silver and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the shaft of the summer threshing floor. We carried them away, but no place was found for them, and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole lot. Now, the reason that God gave to Nebuchadnezzar concerning the things that should come to pass hereafter, is that they determined that all of this image composed of four distinctly different parts. It is perfectly obvious in this section, as you should see also in the seventh chapter, that this image that Nebuchadnezzar saw was symbolic of four successive quintile world powers. Now, you need only to look in the thirty-eighth verse to see that Nebuchadnezzar was the head of this image, and, verse 11, that children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the clouds of the heavens, as he that is God given unto thy hand, and made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this hand of God. So, you see, we are told right here that this tremendous image that he saw, whose head was of God, was representative, first of all, of himself and of his kingdom. And then, it says, after these shall arise another kingdom and inferior to thee, and then another third kingdom of grass which shall bear you over all the earth, and the fourth king shall be strong as iron. Now, here we learn that God conspired prophetically to avail himself to a heathen king, and threatened by his servant Daniel four successive quintile world powers that were going to control the end of this earth, leading right on until the coming of the Lord Jesus as the smiting stone in verse 34. It is interesting to notice, when you look at chapter seven, that God again gives us this vision, but it's under different symbols. Whereas he gave it to Nebuchadnezzar in chapter one, in chapter two, and interpreted by Daniel, in the seventh chapter of the prophecy, God gives the visions directly to Daniel, and instead of a beast composed of four parts representative of four different world powers, he gives it to him in the form of four different beasts. Now, if you'll notice, it doesn't take much careful scrutiny to see that each of the four beasts is the exact counterpart of the four kingdoms mentioned in the second chapter. Now, in the first year, in chapter seven, the best year I've ever seen of Babylon, Daniel had a dream. In visions he had from the bed when he dreamed of the dream, he told the son of the mother. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds of the heavens flowed upon the great sea, and the four great beasts came up on the sea, different ones from another. The first was like a lion, there's five, and behold another beast, the second like to a bear. Verse six, after this I beheld another like a leopard. After this, I saw in the next vision, in verse seven, and behold the fourth beast, dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth. It devoured and broke them, tasted and smelt the residue that defeated it, and it was different from all the beasts that were before it. So, the lion's teeth were, and the fourth beast had ten horns, ten horns. Now, it's perfectly clear from this passage and from the passage in the second chapter, remember that the mighty sword, in verse 34, smote the enemies upon its feet, and upon the feet there were ten toes, and upon the head of the fourth beast there were ten horns. And, it is very easy to see that these are representative of a federation of ten kingdoms, progressively unfolding a range of intellectual supremacy over the world, from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar right on through to the age of Israel, and then until Jesus Christ himself came back and smote the enemies upon its feet. You can notice, we read that, when the stone cut out with our hands, hell from heaven split into eternity and fleshed it until it became like the cast of the summer's threshing floor. This is symbolic of the presence of the power and the unfolding of a federation of ten kingdoms. Now, the word tells us this, if you'll notice, in verses 23 and 24 of chapter 7. Thus, he said, the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth which shall be death unto all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth until it is bound and dead to the table. And, the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise. And, so you see the same vision in the second chapter in the form of an image that's given to Daniel directly in the form of four beasts. The four beasts having ten horns and the full part of the image having ten toes. Would you notice that it says that legs and the feet of this image in chapter two were part of iron and part of clay? It speaks of that without the legs, with a display of unity without any real union. And, it says in chapter two, iron and clay were not mixed together. That's perfectly obvious. So, in the days, you see, my friends, that's prior to the coming of Christ, notice how this follows in Europe. That's what we saw this morning in the Great Tribulation Period, because, you see, the Antichrist will gain the date of the covenant with Israel at the commencement of the tribulation, and then he is going to hold absolute sway over commerce, and over poverty, and over religion, and everything else. Now, this is resulting as God is getting together all of the Gentile powers, all the powers of the law, all the anti-Semitic powers, well, those who are opposed to the faith of God, and just toward the end of the Great Tribulation, when the forces of evil and Antichrist have converged on Jerusalem to destroy the sacred groups of holy people, then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Jerusalem. The law himself shall be seen, and he is coming, and he's going to rescue Israel from apparent absolute annihilation, going to deliver the nation of Israel, restore them to their place, and fulfill the covenant that he promised to David, and to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. It is the coming of Christ that is to bring this to pass. You see, nowhere in the word of God are we told to usher in the kingdom through the preaching of the gospel. Nowhere does the word either suggest or intimate that by evangelization of the world that the millennial reign of Christ will be ushered in. The coming of a king is that which starts the kingdom itself. Those who notice in verses 13 and 14 of chapter 7, "'I saw in the night busy, and a whole one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, came to the ancient of days, and they brought him here before him, and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.'" But, back to the moment of chapter 2, here we have, again, a prophecy of this kingdom that's to be established. Now, we have seen already, as symbolized under the fourth beak with ten horns, and under the image with ten toes upon his feet, this speaks of a federation of ten king-style powers that shall be wholly swayed over the world at the close of the great tribulation too. In verse 44 of chapter 2, "'In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a king,' and that's plain, clear, simple English. In the days when these ten kings are wholly swayed over this earth at the close of the tribulation, at that time the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and this kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." Now, here there's a definite prophecy that tells us that in a future day, at whichever a federation of ten kingdoms is wholly swayed at the close of the tribulation, at that time God himself shall establish a kingdom upon this earth, and of this kingdom there shall be no end. You have this prophesied. Look, please, now in verse 34 of chapter 2. Let Daniel Connecticut know that our boy still got a spoon that cut up with our hands, with a smoke image upon his feet, that would of iron and clay and break them to pieces. Then does he turn the clay, the brass, the silver, the gold, broken to pieces together, became like the shaft of the sun that broke the floors, and the wind carried them away. This speaks of an annihilation, of a crushing and a breaking of power and authority, that no place was found in it. Now, notice, and the stone that smoked the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Now, in your testament, the word mountain is symbolic of a kingdom, and there's a difference between a stone and a mountain, but I want you to notice sometimes, if you are studying this subject, you'll find that the Lord Jesus Christ is called a rock four times in the Bible, and he is called a stone 17 times, and three of the 17 times he's called a stone is found in the second chapter of the book of Daniel. Here is the prophecy of the establishment of this kingdom, when that spoon that cut up with our hands fell from heaven, might, just like a world of images, symbolize in the feet of this image and crushes of power over the world, and then notice the stone becomes a mountain and fills the whole earth. Jesus shall reign wherever the sun doth its successions, during his blood, his kingdom reach from shore to shore, for none shall wax and wane no more. Yes, there's a great day coming. It is a day of which we cannot possibly understand or conceive at this present time. Now, I want you to notice in Zechariah chapter 9, and watch how this theme is developed, turn right over toward the end of the Old Testament to the ninth chapter of the book of Second Life. You know, when it comes to eschatology, that's a great big time tunneling ride for all the things that are going to take place at the end times, there is plenty of room for difference of opinion. I can forgive a man for being a mid-tribulationist, and a person who believes that Jesus Christ is coming in the church midway to tribulation. I can even forgive a man for being a post-tribulationist, that Jesus Christ is coming at the end of the tribulation to take his people out of the earth. That means the church is going through the tribulation, but I just cannot forgive a man. I don't even have him a bad sense of the word, and I cannot understand a person who is an all-millennialist, who denies that there's to be a literal kingdom. I hate to add this, but some of the best men in the world today, among the theologians, deny that there's to be a literal kingdom. They spiritualize it. They spiritualize it. It's not an actual kingdom, but if you look at the word of God, and interpret the Bible in plain, common, everyday methods and rules of interpretation according to all other English literature and everything else, you've got an awful lot of spiritualizing to do if you deny that there's to be a literal kingdom, at which time Jesus shall sit upon the literal throne in the literal city of Jerusalem, and shall exercise literal authority over the whole world for 1,000 years. Now, we have seen prophesies very distinctly and clearly in the book of Daniel. Now, notice you have this prophecy concerning the coming of the king to establish a kingdom in Zechariah 9, and in verse 9. This verse is fulfilled in Matthew 21. Now, it says in verse 9, "...rejoice greatly, O board of Zion! Shout with all the Jerusalem, for thy king cometh unto thee. He is just, and hath salvation. Roll in, riding upon an aspen, upon a coat, let go with an eye." This is that portion referred to in Matthew's gospel of the triumph of Israel to Jerusalem. Remember, they set him upon the back of his jester, the third-pound branch, and in advance threw that coat down before him, and hung it down, and blessed he that cometh in the name of David. Remember that? It was a grand and a glorious turn. Of course, now, the ruler did not give him this royal reception. It was a common people out herding gladness, but the prophecy in Daniel now is confirmed here in the promise of the coming of the king to establish his kingdom. Now, quickly to Luke chapter 1, and we'll see when we come to the New Testament that this is confirmed to merit by the angel Gabriel. In the language, it becomes clearer and clearer, and I believe you have to do terrible harm to the word of God directing the scriptures through your own description, almost, to spiritualize this glorious event. Look in the first chapter of the gospel of Luke, and verse 30, "...and the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found plague with God. Behold, I will proceed in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Let's explain this. I don't understand how anybody can try and say that this is not going to be a literal kingdom. Then, notice chapter 22, the Lord Jesus in this gospel confirms this prophecy himself in language that is so simple and clear and plain. In the 22nd chapter, here the disciples are having a little bit of strife among themselves as to who should be the great. For, potentially, they were plagued with flesh back then just like we are now when we sought to serve the Lord, and they wanted to be great. He reminds them that he that is chief among you shall be the servant of all. And, notice in verse 29, the Lord says to these men who are aspiring to be great, he says, I have bought unto your kingdom, see, as my father hath appointed unto me. Says the Lord Jesus to his disciples, I have bought your kingdom even as my father hath appointed unto me that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Do you not remember in Matthew chapter 19, verses 27 and 28, when Peter said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, we have left all and followed you. What shall we have, therefore? Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, you that have left all and have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall come, he shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And here, the Lord says, just as my father has appointed unto me a kingdom, I also appoint unto you a kingdom as well. And, again, I say I'm absolutely astounded at how anybody can sit so cynical of his kingdom and say there'll not be a little strain of a thousand years. Now, in the third chapter of the Gospel of Luke, John the Baptizer, the forerunner, comes announcing the coming king, and he is beheaded. In Luke chapter 23, the king is crucified and the kingdom is postponed. The postponed, my dear friends, but not done away with. Now, let's turn to the book of the Revelation, chapter 14, and look at the level of establishment of this kingdom. Now, remember we read a moment ago over in the Prophecy of Daniel about that beast, that poor beast, and about the ten horns. Most of you noticed the striking similarity of this language in the book of the Revelation in the 13th chapter. Now, here I might say this, that the more I study the Word of God, and particularly the prophecy, I think that that's Daniel's most important book in the entire Old Testament. There can be no prophecy or no understanding of the book of the Revelation without a knowledge of the book of Daniel. But now, in verse 1 of Revelation 13, he says, I stood upon the stand of the sea, and I saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads. And notice this beast has seven horns, or ten horns. Now, I don't think it's accidental that this beast, the first beast that arises out of the sea, has ten horns. This is the Federation of Ten Kingdoms we saw a moment ago. The scholars of Gilead agree that this is the revival of the Roman Empire, which shall again be revived out of the heaps and ruins, and shall be wholly slain in connection with the Federation of Ten Kingdoms over the world at the close of the Great Tribulation. Now, here we have this first beast rising up out of the sea, and we'll notice over in chapter 17 and in verse 13, we won't look at it now, but these ten kings have one mind, and they shall give their power and their strength unto this beast, and the antichrist. In verse 11, I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke like a draught. I have no problem going over these two beasts, I believe, but very simply, the first beast is an empire with a great leader, a political power, and it's Gentiles. The second beast is the antichrist, and he is a religious leader, and he must be a Jew, else his claim of being Israel's true Messiah will not be accepted by the Jews. Remember, in John 5, verse 43, the Lord Jesus said to the Jews, Now, it is logically impossible to even suspect that the Jewish nation would accept a Gentile leader as their Messiah. He must be a Jew, and so the second beast here is the antichrist. I think it is seen in this fact that he had two horns like a lamb. This is the second beast, but it's like a draught. It indeed is two characters. Notice how the word of God was simply referred to Satan on numerous occasions as a draught. So, here we have the beast, the false prophet, then we have the antichrist making their appearance, and from this section on you'll find the chaos and all the world turned upside down in the upheaval that is taking place during the last half of the Great Tribulation. Now, look at the 19th chapter of the Book of Revelation. Here you have the Lord Jesus Christ coming back from heaven upon a white horse. Notice the 15th verse of the 19th chapter. Here, my dear friends, is the smiting stone of Daniel 234 coming from heaven and smiting his enemies upon the feet, breaking Gentile world power into the world, rescuing Israel, restoring Israel to the land, rebuilding the tabernacle of David, and building up the walls thereof, and instituting his reign. In verse 15, out of his mouth broke a sharp sword that, if it is to smite the nations, he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth for one breath of the fiercest and last of all men. May I repeat just once more these words from that wonderful hymn? Jesus shall reign where the sun doth its successive journey draw, his kingdom reach from shore to shore, the moon shall rise and reign no more. He is going to reign. He is rejected today. He is the rejected king. He's going to a far country to receive himself a kingdom and to return. He is coming back in power and in great clouds of glory, and here he is going to put his enemies down under his feet. What a day it's going to be when the very darkest hour for the history of Israel is coming into the air, and back to the air the states will stand upon the Mount of Olives. And there he shall go into the city of Jerusalem, and actual literal fulfillment of Zechariah 9.9, and triumphantly enter into the city of Jerusalem, now enthroned in the temple, enthroned the seat of David, and he shall sit and reign for a thousand years. Now, the character of the kingdom, we ought to remember, is given to us in the Old Testament. Now, we're going to have a little Bible quiz. Turn to Isaiah chapter 2, and you'll see I quickly can turn these up. I'm most likely to repeat them because I've got nine all tied down with paper clips, and they're the same. But, look in Isaiah chapter 2, and you'll notice the character of the kingdom. Now, when you speak of a thousand years reign of peace, and a thousand years of perfect righteousness, you must never get the idea that there's not going to be an end. You must never get the idea there's not going to be any death in the millennial reign of Christ. Righteousness, indeed, are characteristics of a reign. It will not be a reign of perfect righteousness, but the character of the reign is one of righteousness. The character of the reign is one of peace. Now, in the second chapter of Isaiah, we learn, first of all, that peace shall be no more raw. All right, Isaiah chapter 2, verse that Isaiah the son of Amos calls concerning prudent Jerusalem, it shall come to pass in the last days that the kingdom, as the word mountain, of the Lord's house shall be established in the one translated dance on top of the mountain, not in, but on the top of the mountain, and shall be exalted above the hills. So, if a mountain is symbolic of a kingdom, then the hill is symbolic of these little insignificant kingdoms that are making so much noise in the world today. But, the mountain of a kingdom of God is going to be established on the top of all of these mountains, and all nations lips shall flow unto it. Many people say, darling, say, come you let us walk 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 path. So, out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge among the nations, and shall regroup them, where it means patience, to direct and recruit, and to keep up. They shall beat their swords in the powshares, and their spears in the pruning hooks, and nations shall not lift up sword against nations, neither shall they learn war any more. It's hard to conceive of 1,000 years without a single battle on the earth, isn't it? This is so entirely contrary to human history. Look in chapter 11, and may I remind you again of something I've said over and over in these eight Sundays this year, that our knowledge comes not from man's reason, but from the revelation that God has given to us. And, in the 11th chapter of Isaiah, we learn something that is absolutely marvelous, and apparently the beasts of that day are going to revert to their evident character, and the lions, who are pernicious animals, one of the herbivores...I can never remember who it's her or her, but it's her. Herbivores. Herbivores sit beneath it. They're going to feed upon vegetation. They're going to be vegetarians. Now, apparently before the judgment of God came, in the fall of Adam, they were at that time vegetarians. The animals were. Apparently, only the presence of plants in their fall, with all the creations, were consuming meat. Notice in verse 6 of chapter 11, the wolf, of course, shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid. The only time the leopard and the kid lie down together now is when the kid's inside the leopard. The calf and the young lion and the cat, when they gather, the cow shall lead them, and the cow and the bear shall feed their young ones. They'll lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The sucking child shall tell the whole of the ass, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the tuft of Christ's skin. They shall not hurt or destroy, nor my hold or nothing, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the world does cover the sea. Remember that prophecy in Habakkuk? As Aliya says, the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the world does cover the face of the sea. But, because our time is fleeting away, I'll just give you some references, and you can make a memo of them. If we fiddle around here, then we won't get through by turning up these passages. So, chapter 6 says that the kingdom will be one of peace, with no more wars. It'll be one in which the animal nature, the succulent nature of the beast shall revert to what they were before the fall. And, in Isaiah chapter 35, there shall be no more curse upon the earth. In this marvelous section there, you read that the lame man shall leap like the horse, the dumb man shall see. There, we learn that there'll be no sickness, no affliction. Remind when you've been through what some of us have been through, and seen what we have seen, it is almost impossible to draft mentally a world without any sicknesses. That's exactly what it says. And, in Jeremiah chapter 23 and also chapter 31, we read that righteousness shall reign supreme, and sin will be judged and put down immediately. Now, it's apparent that, like these two sections, there we read that the coming of David, every man shall be judged for his own sin. He says in that passage, no more will they say that the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children have teased their own heads, but he says every man shall bear his own sin. That day, it says that a man who commits a sin will be killed immediately on the spot. You see, someone has said, and I thought it was tremendous faith, that what the world needs today is a benevolent dictator, a benevolent dictator. It is already particularly obvious after two thousand years of autocratic, theocratic, democratic, and republican every kind of a government you can think of in the world that peace cannot be brought about by these various systems. The only form of government that will ever bring peace to this world is an absolute dictatorship, but it's not even like kind of dictator. There's going to be none of it under Jesus Christ, the Son of God. What this world needs is an absolute dictator. If you have an absolute dictator, a benevolent dictator, a man who was absolutely honest, a man who was perfectly forthright, and whose spirit, character, and very nature was an absolute epitome of righteousness, and morality, and spirit, and truth, and love, and life, sitting in Washington in his words of absolute law, peace, and reign in the United States could not have been regained so long as he lived. This is what the man meant when he said what the world needs is a benevolent dictator, a man who has absolute authority over the people of whom he rules, and this is what the Lord Jesus Christ is going to do, and in that day we're going to live in peace. Now, there won't be any supreme courts for the current decision. There won't be any jurors vacillating and not able to make up their mind. There won't be anybody cutting anybody's head off and admitting to complicity in the crime, and getting away with it. There won't be any more of these robbers, any more of these people turned loose who should be put to death to kill other people again. There'll be any of that, because when a man commits a crime in the millennium, very obviously he'll be put to death on the spot. In the millennium reign of Jesus Christ, if a child rebels against his parents, he will be killed. He'll be put to death. You'll say, well, this is terrible. This is horrible. How could God be so harsh? What do you think people deserve? You know, one thing that people are not aware of is this, that even the judgments of God against the world are a blessing. You think, for example, of Leviticus, and you think of God of the Old Testament as being a tribal god, and those massacres that God's ordinance on the part of the nation of Israel to kill all the men, women, and children of various tribes, and yet these men like to call him a beastly god, a tribal god of the Old Testament, is not the god of the New Testament community, but he is. And, what blinded theologians and liberal teachers don't understand is this, that at these times, when God annihilated men, women, and children of a particular nation, he was doing the world a favor, because these people would have danger in a minute to the very welfare of the human race. Can you not imagine what it would be like if God had left the sins of all the hippies and rickies and folks in the hills running forth until America was flooded with nothing but that kind of curses? Would he not do the world a favor by taking it all away? Well, of course he would. And, that's exactly why he did it in the Old Testament. And, he did it in love with things of the nation. It's not ours to understand, but to remember that God works all things out through the counsel of his own will. Who has been the Lord's counselor? I've been faithful 32 years, and he never said a word to me about anything he was going to do. Anybody here tonight? I've had God come here and say, look, I'm trying to make up my mind about something I want to do. I'd like some information. You think I should do this, or shouldn't I? I'd hate to have a god like that to save me, wouldn't you? No, God has got to do the sovereignty. And, in that day, Jesus said to him on the throne of David, he shall reign in absolute eminence. What a day that would be! See, something else. We're talking about longevity. We're talking about old age, and periodicity, and all that sort of thing. Well, there ought to be around another day we try to figure it out, because in Isaiah chapter 65, indeed, there's a man who dies at a hundred years old, and somebody comes along and says, well, my poor child died so young. That's why he cares in Isaiah 65. The man who dies at a hundred years old shall be considered a little baby. My, what a day that would be when Jesus shall reign. You know, I was reckoning in this group the night when I was speaking, and taking on this subject of the day when the Lord shall come, and shall establish his kingdom, and peace shall be upon this earth. I said to myself, my, wouldn't it be nice if he could hear us during this day? Wouldn't it be nice if he had it now? And, all of a sudden, the Lord said to me, well, if it's gone with you, you have got it. You've got it now. And, I said, well, glory to God, I thank the Lord for reminding me of it, because I do have a millennium in my heart, and in my soul, and in the midst of all the turmoil and strife in the world, my heart tonight is sitting in such a state of perfect peace and composure. And, the great thing about the gospel, my friends, tonight is this, that if you will trust Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, are you living in a world that will never notice that we've been talking about him, that Jesus comes and establishes his kingdom in 90,000 years? The peace that shall reign is not the age, for if it is, you can have it in your heart today. If there's a young person here tonight and you're tired of running, if you're tired of trying to run your own life, you're tired of the pain, you're tired of the upset condition of your heart and mind, if you're fed up with all the confusion that goes on, and you don't know what's being adopted, where you're going, no sense of direction in your life if you will receive Jesus Christ, and then through this door, then God will give you direction to your life, and he'll give you peace. The glorious thing about the gospel is that while there's no peace in the world around us, thank God we can have peace within us. Peace can be the present possession of anyone who is willing to receive this strength of peace. I'll leave these verses with you in closing. We're going to chapter 14 and verse 27. Jesus said, "'Peace I leave with you. My peace give I unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'" Notice the Lord says, "'My peace' appears first of all because he made it. In Colossians 1-20, we read that he made peace by the blood of his cross, and from the cross the Lord Jesus died for your sins and for mine, and took that which separated us from God, giving away in him the remissance of God by the death of his son. And that sin, yet, that we owe to God, is that which estranges us from God and makes us enemies of God, and locks us up in peace. So, when Christ died upon the cross, he made peace for us by the blood of his cross. Now, we read in Romans 5-1, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And then, last of all, in Ephesians 2-14, we read that he, the Lord Jesus Christ, he is our peace who has broken down the little wall of competition between good and Gentile, thus making out of two one new man, and so making peace. He is our peace. They thought he made peace for us? Not only did he make peace for us, but he is in the Lord. And there in the Bible, in this life, day by day, the Lord Jesus ministered to me in my daily experience. In the midst of all the trials and turmoils of life, he administers the peace and purpose for me by his blood upon the cross. He made peace for us, and praise God, he is our peace. Did you not see in John 16-33? Listen, these things that I've written unto you, that it means you might have peace. And, my friends, you're a fool if you look for it anywhere else. Your business, your bank account, your possessions, your accomplishments, and your life, what is it? Only a paper that appears for a moment and then fades away to be gone forever. But, look, my friends, Jesus said these things I've written unto you, that it means you might have peace. In your world you shall have liberation, for here, for here, I have overcome the world. Glory to God, he has overcome the world. The world is my enemy, but he, the Christ, has overcome the world. He made peace for me, and took my sins away, brought me into a great relationship with God, and lived in heaven and on earth, and in this life, and gave me his Holy Spirit, and reverence in me, and his word has guided me through this trial, and the peace he guides me in, he wills to administer. That's why the Bible says, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Now, I'm telling you right now, in this raided, papyrus-mixed-up, murder-mutilated world of ours we live in today, if you have peace in your heart, well, that's the key to your life. Blessed is he who confesses his sins. This is what I'm saying to you today. Glory to God, this peace I have in my heart is only a little foretaste of that blessed peace that's going to be mine through all eternity. Did you notice in the Revelation chapter 20, we learn that they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. They're going to reign with us. Paul said to Timothy, if you remember, they suffered with your whole family. I think, listen, I want you to cheer up. The best is yet to come, and things are going to get worse, but praise God for the Lord's people, because Jesus is here to talk. Daniel ain't seen nothing yet. He's waiting for the Lord Jesus to come to take his people home, and deliver them from all of our drunks and groans and aches and pains. When he comes back, listen, he sits upon his throne, and he's seated in the city of Jerusalem, and he's going to reign with them over this earth for a thousand years. I tell you, it's a great day coming, a great day. Well, I thank God these great times have given me. I don't see how in the world I would have lived without the same university of another 623, and that means Brother Bob has to burn in my book, but Lord, he took away from me enough. Right there on the front page, Brother Bob, please. Number 623, my favorite, my favorite poem. I'll tell you, I wish he'd come tonight. I wish he'd come right now, because I'm not a very good singer anyway, and what a time for joy this would be if Jesus would come this very moment, and he may, and oh, what a day it would be for the people of God, and they're coming, my dear friends, a glorious morrow. But listen, my friends, you are not saved, and you have neither part nor lot in this matter, because your heart is not right with God. You ought to get saved. You ought to get saved tonight, so you can be the king that's following you back, and oh, the hope that fills my bosom, the joy, my, when I think of the truth of these words, they're about the truth. I don't think I can write this kind of harmony. Number 623. When I started talking, I had a feeling that some age and others disappeared. It won't be wonderful when you all get home, save by the grace of God, and look back upon these horrible experiences, a terrible heart cut by the wind, crushing experience, loved ones lost, loved ones killed, horrible subjects. We will listen and love you. We'll listen and we'll share. Because we'll see that God loves us and loves me together with you, and I love you. I won't let you down, Lucy, but I hope I never see you again, Lucy. So, we pray. Father, oh, God, our Father, we thank you, Lord, that you have been pleased to meet with us and to encourage us on these dark and trying days. Help us to remember that you are more than purposeful in the hand who loves us. Give you all the victories. We thank you for him who fought the battle for us, receiving the powers of darkness, that devil held death in the grave, and who is alive with thy right hand of justice. We thank you, Father, for those words from Jesus' tongue. We thank you to be with us, and may it be before the morning light of the Lord. May we share his healing, the love of God, and may we come again. Oh, Lord Jesus, come to me. Amen.