When Bombs shall be no more

(rev 20:6) Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

( Isaiah 2:4)He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples.  They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.  Nation will not take up sward against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

Through the centuries men have been questioning, Will this would ever have worldwide peace?

Some have said, “yes,” and devoted much time and money to bringing about peace on earth.

They vainly imagined that they could reform human nature and stop war.

Others have said, There will always be war.  There will never be any change in this world.

Still others have searched the scriptures and found two things.

The impossibilities of a warless world by the efforts of man, and the certainty of a warless world by the second coming of Christ.

It is clearly revealed in the bible that a day of peace and prosperity is coming

This period will practically equal the beauty of the Garden of Eden before sin entered in.

We are talking about the coming of Christ and his personal reign upon the earth. 

I call your attention to seven characteristics of the Golden Age which is yet to come.

1 Satan to be chained

(rev 20:1-3

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain.  He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.  He threw him int othe Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

Lets deal with the chaining of Satan and call attention to the way God is dealing with the devil and the chains of the devil.

I emphasize that the Devil is not bound now but one day he is going to be bound.

He’s going to be bound like a common criminal and cast into the bottomless pit

Before world conditions can improve, the influence of Satan must be stopped.  As long as he is the prince of power of this earth.

The god of this world  there will be sin and darkness

For hundreds of years Bibles have been distributed and missionaries have gone to all portions of the earth.

Millions have accepted Christ.

But still sin is rampant upon the earth.

We know that Satan is in back of this.

Thank God Satan is going to be bound

In revelation 19 we see the Lord coming in power and great glory.

He will come to the awful battle of Armageddon and lay hold upon the Beast and false prophet.

They will be cast into the lake of fire.

The armies of the world dictator will be slain

And then in revelation 20 we see that as Christ begins His kingdom upon earth,

Satan will be chained and his power broken

   The second characteristic of the golden age

Nature of wild beasts to be changed.

The bible dose not contain many more interesting promises than this one about the changing of the instincts of wild beasts

(Isaiah 11:6-10)

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child will lead them, the cow will feed with the bear their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.  The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.  In that day the root of Jess will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him and his place of rest will be glorious

In this scripture the Holy Spirit selects three wild and ferocious beast and declares that the day shall come when they will be led about by a small child.

Not only so, but the wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard with the child, the young lion with the yearling together and their young ones will sleep together.

The nature of a lion will be changed so the he will eat straw like the ox

And then think of it even a baby will be able to play with a poisonous serpents with no danger or harm

In Isaiah it seem so important a message that this promise is repeated in Isaiah 65:25

When the nature of wild beasts is changed, it will certainly be as it was in the Garden of Eden. 

You will remember that everything is brought before Adam to see what he would call it.

There is no indication that any animals were enemies of man.

There is an indication that their natures were changed when the curse was put upon the earth because of sin.

(gen 3:14)

And the Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

Notice that the serpent was cursed above all cattle.

We can only interpret this to mean that all cattle and beasts were cursed because of man’s sin

But the serpent was cursed more.

When the Lord Jesus comes, animal nature will be changed to a peaceful state.

What a glorious day that will be…..

The third characteristic of the Golden Age    WAR WILL END

One of the chief characteristics of this present age is war

And along with war, famines, pestilences and earthquakes.

(Matt 24:6-8)

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.  Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Peace conferences may be held,

Many good sounding resolutions may be passed

But war will never cease until the Prince of Peace shall come.

The United Nations  or  the European Union or NATO has ever been able to really stop a way

Jesus said that war is a characteristic of the age

And so will it remain until he comes again

In ( Micah 4:3,4)

We have a prophecy of that day to come when wars and bombs will be no more:

He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.  They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.  Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more.  Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree and no one will make them afraid for the Lord Almighty has spoken.

The Forth characteristic of the Golden Age is that KNOWLEDG OF THE LORD WILL COVER EEARTH

(Isaiah 11:9)

They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

In Habakkuk 2:14 you find this exact promise repeated:

When Christ comes and takes up his reign,

All forms of false worship will cease.

Mohammedism with its cruel trail of lust and blood,

Romanism with its idolatries and superstitious practices,

Buddhism and Confucianism will be at an end.

The knowledge of the Lord will completely cover the earth

With the knowledge of the Lord covering the earth,

There will be righteousness.

There can be no righteousness until people know the Lord.

In the kingdom age we are assured there will be worldwide righteousness

The fifth characteristic of the Golden Age  CURSE ON EARTH WILL BE REMOVED

When Adam and Eve sinned, 

They brought not only a curse upon the cattle and the beasts of the field

But also upon the ground itself

God said to adam in (Gen 3:17-19)

To Adam he said, Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, you must not eat of it  cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your lifel  It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.  By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground since from it your were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return

The entire earth is under a curse.

Man is able to gain bread for himself only by the sweat of his brow

We can see what effect a curse can have on land by what happened in Palestine.

When Israel conquered the Promised Land,

It was a land flowing with milk and honey.

When the spies were sent out to view the land

They cam back carrying a bunch of grapes so large that it took two men to carry it between them

Because God’s chosen people were unfaithful

The land was cursed until the trees disappeared

The soil was washed away

And the land became as a desert

Isaiah 35:1-10 tells us this

The desert and the parched land will be glad;  the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.  Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;  it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.  The glory of Lebanon will be given to I, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.  Strengthen the feeble handsk steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will com with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.  Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.  Then will the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy.  Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.  The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs.  In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow  And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness.  The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on itl  No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there.  But only the redeemed will walk there and the ransomed of the Lord will return.  They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.  Gladness and joy will overtake them and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

ARE YOU GETTING THE PICTURE HERE

WHEN JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR RETURNS AND ESTABLISHES HIS KINGDOM

THE EARTH IS GOING TO BLOSSOM UP LIKE A ROSE

 THE SIXTH characteristic of the Golden Age

Saints will Rule and Reign With Christ

Paul said, Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world in 1Cor 6:2

And again if we suffer we shall also reign with him if we deny him, he also will deny us II Tim 2:12

The promise often repeated in Revelation 20 is that

“they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

Jesus gave a parable of the talents.

To the men of five talents and two talents who were faithful in service,

He said, Well done thou good and faithful servant

Thou hast been faithful over a few things,

I will make thee ruler over many things:

Enter thou into the joy of thy lord

I believe that we will know the fullness of this in the regn of Christ.

Those saints who are qualified by their faithfulness will have a special place in the ruler ship of the earth

THE SEVENTH and final characteristic of the Golden Age will be the personal reign of Jesus on Earth

(math 25:31) tells us When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.

During the earthly ministry of the Lord,

Again and again his disciples questioned Him about the setup of the kingdom

They knew that Christ was going to reign upon a throne,

But they did not know the time.

James and John said to Him, Grant unto us that the one shall sit on thy right hand and the other on thy left in thy kingdom

The disciples were looking for the kingdom when they said

Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel

Christ is coming again in a literal body,

With the nail prints in his hands and feet

He will stand upon the mount of Olives and will sit on the throne of David in Jerusalem and rule the earth.

He is coming to reign,

And we who are his followers will reign with him.

We face a wonderful glorious prospect.

If we love the Lord

We will be looking for his coming

But be warned he will come like a thief in the night no one knowing the time or day when he will return

Are you ready for him today

Until he comes, we will let him reign and have full right of way in our hearts.

Being ready at any moment.