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

Visit the website Day of Christ Ministries for more challenging, positive Bible studies.

 

Part II

Rev. 11:15-18: And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever.

And the 24 elders worshipped… saying, we give Thee thanks O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and is to come; because Thou hast taken to Thee thy great power and hast reigned.

And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great, and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.  

Rev. 20:4: And I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgement 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 which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark on their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ for 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 hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of 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 go out to deceive the nations.

It is on the scriptures quoted above that Dr David Jeremiah and others holding to a millennial reign of blessing base their understanding. However, it seems they have overlooked some of the basic rules of hermeneutics (Bible study) in doing so.

Those rules include:

• Noting to whom the book is written [i.e. to fellow partakers in the tribulation and to the seven churches in Asia],
• When it was written [amid ancient Roman persecution of Christians], noting the different tenses used, i.e. whether events occur in the past, present or future.
• Considering the context.
• Rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15) to determine whether the scripture studied is “present truth” for us today or belongs to another dispensation.

Even at a glance it is clear that the above verses about “the thousand years” say nothing about a “golden age”, in which the curse is lifted, men live to be as old as trees, people’s hearts are turned back to God and the earth restored to its pre-Flood beauty. All of which blessings and many others were detailed by the Old Testament prophets who foresaw them being fulfilled in a special day of God’s glory that would occur long before the events of the Book of Revelation.

Indeed, Revelation chapters 19 and 20 say nothing about such things at all. Nor does Revelation as a whole. Rather, the overall theme of chapters 19 and 20, and indeed much of the whole book, is one of judgement rather than restoration, still less the “restitution of all things” prophesied by the Apostle Peter in Acts 3:21.

Conclusion: the great blessings God promised through the prophets are not fulfilled in the Millennium but earlier in the Day of Christ, otherwise known as the Kingdom of God. Importantly, this world changing event takes place before the rapture, the tribulation and the second coming. It comes centuries before the parousia, the time of the Lord’s personal 1000-year presence on earth. 

That this is so is easily proved. One helpful method of Bible study is to carefully note where a word is used or not used in scripture. For example, the word “restoration” or “restitution” is nowhere used in Revelation but judge, judged, judgement occur frequently in the book. Similarly, warnings, admonitions, the call to repent, rebuke and decreed punishments abound in Revelation but are not found in the hundreds of Old Testament prophecies that truly depict a “Golden Age” of blessing and restoration. For example:

• Psalm 67:4: For Thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon earth.
• Romans 15:12: … Isaiah saith: There shall be a root of Jesse that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles [nations] and in Him shall the Gentiles [nations] trust.
• Psalm 96:10: Say among the nations the Lord reigneth. Rotherham: Say among the nations Jehovah has become King.
• Isaiah 2:4: They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore
• .

 By contrast the story in the Book of Revelation is one of continual war, war in heaven, and war on earth. Peace is mentioned only twice in Revelation; once in Rev. 1:4 as a salutation to the seven churches, then in 6:4 stating that the Red Horse has power to take peace from the earth. The biblical truth is that the 1000-year personal presence on earth of God Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ, will bless mankind in many ways. It will provide an intimate understanding of God Himself, his plans and purposes that could not be learned in any other way.

But a necessary preparation for such a time is that first the Lord must step in to take over government of the world and bring in a truly “Golden Age” of blessing and restoration for all mankind. This is mentioned six times in Paul’s epistles as the “Day of Christ”. It is when the Lord Jesus will shine forth from heaven in a blaze of glory [his epiphanea] that will manifest his kingdom on earth (2 Tim. 4:1).

It is my conviction that only after centuries of this highly beneficial heavenly rule, as foretold in the Old Testament prophecies listed above, will we then be ready to meet the Lord in person at his coming.

John Dudley Aldworth

Email: john.aldworth@hotmail.com

Visit the website Day of Christ Ministries for more topical and challenging Bible studies.

Part III

A key passage in grasping biblical end time events is Acts 3:19- 21. Anyone who wants to know what’s next on God’s agenda should study it carefully. Sadly, however, it seems most teachers and preachers fail to take notice of it when positing what will occur once the current dispensation of the grace of God (Eph. 3:1-4) draws to a close.

Certainly, it is missing from the future scenario Dr David Jeremiah paints of a rapture, great tribulation, the second coming of Christ followed by a “Millennium” of great blessing that will be a “Golden Age”.

But, to throw a spanner into the works, consider what the Apostle Peter told his Jewish hearers on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago:

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that you sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ who before was preached unto you:

Whom the heaven must receive until the times of the restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began (Acts 3:19-21).

Quite simply, this means the Lord Jesus Christ must be retained in heaven until everything on earth (and in heaven) is restored to the order in which God originally created it. And, if that is so, then clearly this restoration takes place long before his parousia (second coming), that is his personal, official, physical presence on earth.

Hence it is also long before the “Millennium” when “the saints will reign with Him” for a thousand years. That Christ will remain hidden in the heavenlies for so long is made plain in the Message Bible translation of Acts 3:21:

For the time being He (Christ) must remain out of sight in heaven until everything is restored to order again just the way God, through the preaching of his holy prophets of old, said it would be.

And if the Lord Jesus must remain in heaven until the full work of such restoration is complete then obviously this restitution must take place long before He comes to earth to inaugurate the Millennium.

Another verse, Col. 3:1-4, throws light on what the Lord being retained in heaven really means:

For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.

This teaches that right now Christ’ together with faithful believers is “hid in God”. But when He “appears”, and I believe He will do so shortly, then we will “appear” with Him also. Note that in 1 Cor. 1:7 his appearing is called the “revelation” (not “coming” as incorrectly translated in the KJV) of Jesus Christ as God Almighty that the Corinthian believers were awaiting.

As said before, it is at his appearing (Greek: epiphanea) that the Lord Jesus brings into being his kingdom (2 Tim. 4:1). And He does so by blazing forth the fullness of his Deity in his “appearing” to the whole world.

Other scriptures confirm that the restoration of all things will occur first, that is perhaps thousands of years before the Millennium. For example, in Matt. 17:11 Jesus Himself says: “Elias truly shall first come and restore all things”.

First before what you might ask? Answer: Before the coming of the Lord Himself which ushers in the “Day of the Lord”. This is confirmed by the prophecy of Mal. 4:5:

Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

Remember that Acts 3:21 requires that the Lord Jesus must remain in heaven until all the prophecies spoken by God since the world began are fulfilled. And Mal. 4:5 is one of them. That means Elijah will be resurrected to “restore all things” (Matt. 17:11) before the Lord returns in his parousia, his co-called “second coming” to bring in the “Day of the Lord’.

And, far from being the “Golden Age” Dr Jeremiah envisages, the “Day of the Lord’ means sudden destruction for many (1 Thess. 5: 3). Indeed, a grim picture of God’s unleashed wrath during this event is found in 2 Thess. 1:7-9 where Paul writes:

And to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power.

No room can be found in this terrible punishment for the wonderful promises of blessing spoken by “all the prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21). Try fitting in Isaiah 25:6-8 for example:

And in this mountain (i.e. the kingdom when Christ takes over government of the world) shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things, full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces…

Note that the blessings vouchsafed by God here are for all people, not just some with the rest being destroyed. Oh, no. The “Golden Age’ of the “Day of Christ”, (not the Millennium) is for everyone. Why?  Because blessing all people is the hallmark of the Lord’s kingdom which He will bring in at his appearing (2 Tim. 4:1).

My prayer is that God would open the eyes of all to see that before returning in flaming fire to take vengeance on incorrigible unbelievers the Lord will first usher in an era of several centuries in which He will bless all mankind with his goodness and grace.

This is prophetically anticipated in Psalm 68:18 which says:

Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men; yea for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.

The “gifts for men, even the rebellious” are the fabulous blessings the Lord Himself will shower upon all people during the day of Christ (1 Cor. 1:8, Phil. 1:8, 10 2:16), starting with his appearing (Titus 2:13, 2 Tim. 4:1). Thus it is at his appearing that He will bring in his kingdom and thus inaugurate a “Golden Age” when …

… at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

John Dudley Aldworth

Email: john.aldworth@hotmail.com

Visit the website, Day of Christ Ministries, for more positive and exciting Bible studies.