It’s an important question because the credibility of the highly successful television and international ministry of Dr David Jeremiah may be affected if he is not.

I have great respect for Dr Jeremiah. For decades he has consistently preached faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and how to better live as a Christian. His television programme and free magazine, “Turning Point”, has reached multitudes worldwide. He largely upholds Bible truth and presents well.

However, his current campaign to promote his latest book, “The Golden Age”, raises questions which should be answered. I agree with him there is a wonderful age ahead, one in which the greatest prophesied promises of God, such as abolishing war by worldwide peace, banishing sickness and lifting the curse of sin and death, will be fulfilled.

But there’s a big question mark over just when this age will occur. Dr Jeremiah plumps for it being in the “millennium” in which resurrected saints will rule with Christ for a thousand years. In doing so he joins most theologians and big time preachers in putting most of the Old Testament promises yet to be fulfilled into the millennium time basket.

As he puts it: “You know about the Rapture the Tribulation and the Second Coming; now learn about the Millennium, the Golden Age to follow”.

Not so fast, if you please. What if the “Golden Age” doesn’t begin in the Millennium but much earlier? What if Dr Jeremiah and others following the “End Time” scenario first promoted by John Darby and C S Schofield nearly a century ago have got it wrong?

What if the risen, glorified Lord Jesus will appear, bring in his kingdom and in doing so create a truly “Golden Age” as the very next thing on God’s calendar, and long before the tribulation, the so-called rapture and the millennium?

You see, there is another biblical pattern to end time events aside from the widely held Darby-Schofield scenario, and it’s almost universally ignored. Yet it is the series of powerful new acts by God very soon to come as outlined in Paul’s epistles.

For example, in 2 Timothy 4:1 the Apostle Paul plainly tells his disciple:

I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and kingdom, preach the word…

And in Titus 2:13 Paul tells believers:

(Be) looking for that blessed and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity…

Elsewhere in his epistles Paul seven times refers to the “Day of Christ” as the next thing on God’s agenda, saying in 1 Corinthians 1:7-8:

... waiting for the coming [Greek: apokalupto i.e. unveiling) of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The “Day of Christ” is also cited in 1 Cor. 5:5, 2 Cor. 1:14, Phil. 1:6, Phil. 1:10, Phil. 2:16 and 2 Thess. 2:2. It is hailed as the time the Lord Jesus will be revealed in his full glory, when the work of his salvation will be completed, when we will rejoice and, importantly, the time when the Lord will bring in his kingdom, by taking over government of the world.

But, you ask, how do we know the wonderful Old Testament prophecies of a “Golden Age”, which, as Dr Jeremiah rightly says, will see Christ rule on earth in “a world without war, disease and political turmoil”, will be fulfilled in the Day of Christ long before the so-called Millennium?

The short answer is it is because the Lord through the Apostle Paul says so. Let me explain:

In Isaiah 45:23 God Himself says:

Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I AM God and there is none else. I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return. That unto Me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear.

In Phil. 2:9-11 the Apostle proclaims that now [from Paul’s time onwards] God hath “highly exalted” the crucified, resurrected Jesus and “given Him a name which is above every other name:

                 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord [i.e. God overall and ruler of the universe] to the glory of God the Father.

This means two things. First, that the great God Yahweh or Jehovah of Old Testament and glorified Jesus of the New Testament are one and the same. There is only “one true God” and it is Him. Second, that there will be a day in which every knee and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That day is the Day of Christ, as clearly evidenced by the context of Philippians chapter two.

For in verse 16 Paul instructs the Philippians (and us as fellow believers) to:

…shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the Day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

The “word of life” now is that God now commands all men to bow the knee to the exalted Christ and that the full implementation of this will be achieved and seen in the “Day of Christ” (verse 16).

The Lord is not waiting until his second coming or the millennial reign to see every knee bow and every tongue confess his name. As the Apostle Paul clearly says it will be fully accomplished in the Day of Christ.

Now consider Isaiah 40:5:

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Did “all flesh” see that in Jesus’s life on earth? No, the glory that is Christ was revealed only to those in Israel who received Him (John 1:12 and 14) but not to those outside the chosen nation. Is it revealed now, in our time? Hardly. The current world is evil, it is run by the devil and rooted in rebellion against God. So, you might ask, when will his glory be revealed to all flesh on earth? Answer: In the Day of Christ.

Titus 2:13 1 Timothy 6. As I wrote in my recently published book “The Glory of His Day” (available from the author: john.aldworth@hotmail.com):

The “day of Christ” is the pre-millennial, pre-advent age which was spoken of by all the Old Testament prophets, proclaimed as the “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of heaven” then “at hand” by the Lord Jesus [in his earthly ministry] and later confirmed as a yet future event by the Apostles Peter, John and Paul. It will be brought in by the “appearing” of Christ in a blaze of glory.

Thus, in Titus 2:13 Paul instructs us to be: “Looking for that blessed hope even the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”. And in 2 Timothy 4:1 he writes:

I charge thee therefore before God even the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.

So, the Lord first brings in his kingdom at his appearing, not at the “millennium”. True, there is a thousand year reign of the saints with Christ (Revelation 20:4 and 6). But nowhere in this chapter does it speak of the Lord’s appearing in glory, nor does it say this is the beginning of his kingdom. And this for a very good reason: by the time the Revelation scenario unfolds the Lord’s kingdom will have been in operation for several centuries.

But when does his glory appear. Colossians 3:4 declares that: “When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory”. That is God’s promise to all saved by his grace in our time and who suffer with Him in order that they might reign with Him ((2 Timothy 2:11).

Here’s another powerful biblical reason why the kingdom comes first at the Lord’s appearing and not at his second coming to earth or in the millennium. Peter that chosen Apostle of Jesus Christ spoke “infallibly” when in Acts 3:-20-21 he proclaimed that Christ must be retained in heaven “until the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

Included in this “restitution” are all the wonderful promises, such as ending war, banishing sin and disease, providing plenty and turning mankind back to God, that Dr Jeremiah holds will be fulfilled in the millennium. And here’s the rub. Peter speaking with all of God’s authority behind him insists that Christ must be retained by heaven until this restoration of all things prophesied is complete.

Clearly, then the Lord Jesus will be ruling from heaven, taking over government of the world from his seat “at the right hand of God” in heaven, and thus bringing in his kingdom on earth long before the rapture, tribulation or his parousia, his second coming to earth. Accordingly, in Isaiah 66:1 He proclaims:

                Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.

In a vision of the future reign of Christ recorded in Isaiah 6:1-7 the prophet.”…saw the Lord “sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple”. Isaiah heard the seraphims cry, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Well, right now the earth is anything but full of his glory. Rather it’s full of evil, lies and sin against God with the “prince of the power of the air” running the show. That’s why we desperately need the Lord Jesus to step in and bring his kingdom on earth.

I don’t know about you but I’m so glad we don’t have to wait until the millennium to see Him do so.

John Dudley Aldworth

Email: john.aldworth@hotmail.com