Entering
theMillennium
If you’ve ever been on an Up to Jerusalem tour with The Friends of Israel, you’ve xperienced the excitement of a plane-load of
people craning their necks for their first glimpse
of the Holy Land. Most do not know what to
expect when they arrive, but they know they are
in for a phenomenal experience. Christians often
view the Millennium in the same way. Although
shrouded in mystery, it will be unparalleled.
There will be peace and prosperity, mortals and “immortals,” a Millennial Temple,
and a reigning Messiah. It will be a glorious
time on Earth when God restores the Davidic
Kingdom, and Israel takes its rightful place as
the spiritual head of the world.
All these things will happen after seven years
of tribulation devastate the earth. What will have
begun as a worldwide dream of unification will
end as a global nightmare, with the Antichrist
seizing totalitarian control of everything. Earth
will be in chaos, its financial centers destroyed
and its cities reduced to rubble. As the Antichrist
assembles the armies of the world in the Valley of
Megiddo in a last attempt to thwart the establishment of the prophesied Messianic
Kingdom (Ps. 2:2– 3; Rev. 16: 13–16),
the heavens will break open,
revealing the King of
kings and Lord of lords
approaching on a white
horse (Rev. 19: 11).
The treasury building in Petra, located in Jordan (Thomas Pullicino/iStockphoto).
24
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011