This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program originally aired on 4/12/23. To listen to the program, please click HERE.
Sam Rohrer: Hello and welcome to this Wednesday edition of Stand in the Gap Today. We’re so glad that you’re with us today. And boy oh boy, there are so many things that we could cover. The unfolding events of our world are literally earthshaking, are they not? And they are worthy of some comment, and we try to do those kind of headline news commentary, those things that are happening. But can I submit that there is nothing more worthy than bringing glory to the God of Heaven and considering what God says will soon come to pass, as his events will literally shake the world. Now, one earthshaking event may well be the fall of America, as we witness real time its collapse morally, economically, politically, religiously. As our enviable world position, which those of us listening to the program, Americans, it’s all we’ve known, where we’ve been the head, it’s quickly being inverted to being the tail, as described in scripture. Think about it. It’s amazing.
And at the same time, we’re witnessing the prophesied rise of prominence of Israel and Jerusalem as scripture says, “a burdensome stone”. Kind of happening, isn’t it? And the alignment of nations. Wow, what a thing. As a God rejecting world, it’s happening, just as prophecy foretells. So there is no headline news more current or important than God’s news behind the news. And that’s what our focus is going to be today, along with my recurring guest, Dr. Carl Broggi, senior pastor of Community Bible Church in Beaufort, South Carolina. Today we’re going to continue with what is number 9 in what I view to be probably our 10 part God Writing History Before It Happens series, in Understanding Biblical Prophecy. And you can find that entire series on our Stand in the Gap website at standinthegapradio.com.
Now in this important prophetical series, our goal has been to highlight what God says he has already brought the pass, what he says he will yet bring to pass. For what reason? As a demonstration of the power and the majesty and the justice and the love of God. And within these 10 programs, we’ve defined prophecy, explained why God’s devoted nearly 30% of scripture to prophecy, and presented a simplified, yet comprehensive approach to this subject, not unlike a basic seminary type instruction. Not as deep into the theology, but the main points that we need to know to live. Yet it’s complete, it’s practical, and these programs answer the most basic and essential questions, such as what is prophecy? Why did God give us so much? What should we learn from it? And how should it cause us to live differently in our current day and more?
Now, if you’ve not listened to the series, go to our website, standinthegapradio.com, start there in August of 2022 where we begin and then listen one after the other as they build one upon the other, moving chronologically progressive through God’s plan. Part seven was, for instance, the battle of Armageddon. Last month, part eight was focus on the Second Coming of Christ. And today we move chronologically to the next prophetical element referred to as the millennial kingdom, and that’s where we go today. Our title, Prophecy and God’s Plan: The Millennial Kingdom. And with that, I welcome in right now Dr. Broggi. Thank you so much for being back with me. This has been just a fantastic series and I am so appreciative of what your help has been and what you’re doing in your church for so long and informing your people down there in Beaufort, South Carolina. A large church by the way, ladies and gentlemen, several thousand people I think, but Pastor Broggi, thank you so much.
Carl Broggi: Oh, it’s a pleasure to be with you, Sam. And it’s always an honor to open God’s word with God’s people as we study these critical events that we’re visibly literally witnessing the unfolding in our day.
Sam Rohrer: We certainly are. So let’s start at the beginning. Like you do, I like to do this first. Define the term ‘millennium’, okay? And ‘millennial kingdom’. Then if you don’t mind, then move into that and put it into the chronological progression. We just passed Easter. That’s the First Coming in Christ. So lay out the big events from the First Coming up through then what will be our concentration today, the millennial kingdom. Could you do that please?
Carl Broggi: Yes. Well, the truth that the Messiah Christ is going to someday literally have a kingdom on the earth is not a New Testament concept. It’s taught in the Old Testament. God made promises to Abraham about a coming kingdom. He said to David, “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I’ll raise up a descendant after you and I’ll establish his kingdom and he’ll be on the throne forever.” Isaiah echoes the truth, “A son will be given to us, the government will rest on his shoulders.” Jeremiah 23, a major critical text, he speaks of how, “All Israel will dwell securely, and the Lord, our Righteousness, will reign.” Even the disciples understood at the ascension, “Lord, is at this time you’re going to restore the kingdom to Israel.” What’s new from the Revelation is not the actual truth of the kingdom, but the length of the kingdom.
Rabbis speculated, some said it would be 40 years or 70 years or 400 years or 7,000 years, and they had different reasons for that. But God, by Revelation, with the last book of the Bible tells us it will be 1,000 years. Literally 1,000 years. And of course, the word ‘mille’ means 1,000, and it’s translating from the Latin. The Greek is ‘chilioi,’ which means 1,000. And that’s what you used there in Revelation 20. But we draw the word millennium from the Latin Bible that the church used for 1,000 years. And so ‘milli ana’ means 1,000 years. So prophetically, Christ came, he died on a cross, he offered a kingdom to Israel, they rejected him. And so nonetheless, he did what he came to do the first time. Die on a cross, rise from the dead, ascend into heaven.
But he promised he would come back, and he would not come back until Israel said, “Bless is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” And so at the Second Coming, after the Rapture, Jesus will literally come and descend to the earth, land on the Mount of Olives, there’ll be a number of events that will transpire, and he will rule and reign for 1,000 years on the earth. So that’s the big scheme. And after the millennium, Christ will take the current earth and planet that we’re on, along with the universe, the heavens above, and he’ll literally destroy them. He’ll create a new heaven and a new earth, and then we will enter into eternity future.
Sam Rohrer: Okay, now that’s the big picture. Thank you so much for that. You’ll just be able to set this up. We’ll have to curate, I think, into the next segment. The millennial kingdom, this wonderful time, and we’ll describe it more if we get into it, we’ll have just come off the Battle of Armageddon, Tribulation period, the worst time of death and carnage the world has ever seen. But how does that transition occur? Probably just set it up, teaser, and then we’ll open up the next segment with that. Go ahead.
Carl Broggi: Yeah. So the Lord Jesus will literally, physically come back on the earth. He’ll land on the Mount of the Olives, unlike in the Rapture, we’re caught up in the air. At the Second Coming, he comes to the earth. And there’s a number of judgments that initially take place. Certainly those who were not involved in the Battle of Armageddon, who are alive, they will be judged. Both Jews and Gentiles. And so Ezekiel 20 speaks of the living Jews being separated at the Second Coming, believers from unbelievers, along with Ezekiel 39. Most of that point will be to Israel, believing Israel, but not all. Then the Gentile nations will be judged as well.
Sam Rohrer: Okay, just hold right there. We just running out of time. Ladies and gentlemen, stay there, we’re going to conclude what Dr. Carl Broggi was just getting into, that transitionary time when Tribulation period Second Coming into the millennial kingdom will begin and then begin to unfold. Today our theme is Prophecy and God’s Plan: The Millennial Kingdom. This is number 9, in what probably will be 10 programs on the theme of prophecy, and it’s all been with Dr. Carl Broggi, senior pastor of Community Bible Church in Beaufort, South Carolina. He has a website at searchthescriptures.org, which you can find a tremendous amount of information there available. But we’ve been walking through since last August up to this point now of looking at this matter of prophecy. Why we do it? Because it’s important. 30% of scripture is prophecy and we’re not going to get into all the things that we have covered, but I strongly and encourage you, there’s nothing more important right now than understanding God’s plan as fulfilled, God’s plan as being fulfilled, and yet to be fulfilled.
As God’s people we need to know these things, because it will, absolutely if we know it, impact our lives for better. And that’s exactly what we spending so much time here about. Now from such passages as scripture, such as for instance, Isaiah Chapter 11, there are a number of those, we’re told there’s a time that will come where Jesus Christ will rule as king of the world. Pastor Broggi. Referred to some of those in the last segment. Now in that passage, and Isaiah talks about, “He will rule with righteousness. He shall judge the poor, reprove equity for the meek of the earth, and righteousness will be the girdle of his loins.” Very distinctive different rule than any rule of government we’ve ever seen on this side of where we are.
We’re told then that, “Children will play over the entrances to scorpion nests, and they’ll not need to fear. Lions are going to lie down with the lambs.” The description of the earth is like nothing that we’ve ever seen probably since the days of the Garden of Eden. But what else do we know? We’re going to break out some of what scripture does tell us about this amazing period of time as we move into the balance of the program. But Pastor Broggi, you were laying out what is the transitionary time moving into the millennial kingdom. Complete what you were saying, if you could at that point, and then I want to walk you into describing what physical life as we know from scripture will be happening in the millennial kingdom.
Carl Broggi: Okay, so the church is raptured, we’re called up into heaven. The Seven-Year Tribulation period unfolds. Then the Second Coming happens. Christ meets people at the Battle of Armageddon. He rids the earth of the Antichrist and the false prophet who are the first to enter into the Lake of Fire. The dead, old [inaudible 00:10:34] saints for the first time are raised in the resurrection bodies. Daniel 12:2. The tribulation saints who died during that timeframe, they’re raised, Revelation 24. Living Jews are separated, believers from nonbelievers, living Gentiles are separated. Unbelievers go to Hades, believers walk into the kingdom. And of course, it’s at this point that Satan is bound for 1,000 years and the great millennial kingdom begins. So there’s a series of judgments and then there’s some preparation that has to happen for the earth itself.
Sam Rohrer: Now we don’t know exactly how long that may be. I mean, the Lord could do it all in a day I suppose, but there could be a couple of years perhaps between the Second Coming and the beginning of the millennial kingdom? Do we know anything?
Carl Broggi: Well, it’s interesting, Sam, you ask that because, in Daniel 12 it says, “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up,” that happens right in the middle of the tribulation as Daniel teaches, as John echoes, as Paul says, there’ll be 1290 days. Then he goes on and says, “How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains the 1335th day.” So there appears to be a space of time after the formal end of the seven-year period when you see these things happen, you know not that he’s here but he’s near, because no one can know the day or the hour. He begins that judgment process, the restoration on the earth, and then we enter into the millennial kingdom. So it appears to be a short time rather than a longer time.
Sam Rohrer: Okay. Let’s move into this now. From what scripture says, physical life, obviously, I mean it’s just like we’re living today and we look around and we see a world, there will be human beings. You say it, described believers walking into the millennial kingdom, life just like us. But scripture gives us an insight though, it doesn’t it, to physical life? So if you could add further description to what physical life will be like during the millennial king. For instance, weather and climate, what do we know? Planting, harvesting, family and children, life. What do we know?
Carl Broggi: Yeah, so we know for certain that there are people who’ll enter into the millennial rain in their natural bodies. They’re called tribulation saints, Jew and Gentile alike. They will live a long period of time. A great descriptive chapter of what life will be like is Isaiah 65. And he too speaks of a new heaven and earth. But in his context, it’s not the same terminology that John uses where this current heaven and earth is destroyed. But he’s echoing off of truth like what Jesus said when he speaks of his disciples sitting on 12 thrones in the regeneration. Or what Peter says in Acts 3 when he’s preaching to the Jewish brethren about the period of restoration of all things. So the earth is fundamentally going to be changed. And it will be so different that… Let me just read a text from Isaiah 65.
“No longer will there be an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his days. For the youth will die at the age of 100 and the one who does not reach the age of 100 will be thought to be a cursed.” So he is not speaking of the eternal state. He’s speaking of a regenerated earth where there’s still death, unlike in Revelation 21, where death will be no more in the eternal state. And so there’s a transformed biology and ecology on the earth. As you mentioned, he’ll go on to say that, “Men will plant vineyards and they’ll eat of them, men will build houses and they’ll enjoy them.” That may seem nothing for us, but there’s many parts of the world today where you build a house and your goods are stolen or you plant a vineyard and your product is taken. Not during the millennial reign. And the lifetime of a man, the scripture says in that passage, will be like the lifetime of a tree.
And so men will live a long time on a regenerated earth. So much so that the lion will down with the wolf and the lamb. There’ll be a harmony in the creation itself, much like before the Great Flood when man lived 900 years plus, except they’ll apparently lived a whole 1,000 years, unless they are rebels, in which case the Prince of Peace will put down all rebellion. Because there will be children born to tribulation saints who will have to make a decision for Christ during this period of time, which is apparent from Revelation 20 that not all people will. But, “‘A son will be born to us,’ Isaiah said, ‘A son will be given to us and the government will rest on his shoulders.'” And so when he comes, he judges with a rod of iron, but he also rules with a rod of iron. He’ll have authority over all the nations of the world, and we will see what God initially had intended for man.
Sam Rohrer: All right. That’s excellent. Now you brought up the word ‘rebellion’. You brought up the word ‘ruling with a rod of iron’. Obviously, Jesus Christ physically is reigning from Jerusalem at this point in time. It’s an actual kingdom. Just as we look around and say there’s nations of Israel and China, there’s going to be a king of Israel, Jesus Christ, in Jerusalem. Describe just a little bit what we know about the political climate of that time. And I’ll say also the spiritual climate, because I think scripture does say that the kings of the earth are going to have to come to Jerusalem to acknowledge Jesus Christ. So put some of those together.
Carl Broggi: Yeah. So Jesus, for instance, promised to the church at Thyatira, “He who overcomes and keeps my deeds,” which is a mark of conversion, “until the end, I will give authority over the nation.” And then in the next verse he say, “And he,” referring to the church at Thyatira, and not just them, but this is what the spirit says to all the churches, “He shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of potter are broken into pieces.” Now that’s from Psalm 2. And in Psalm 2, the father says this of the son, but here the son includes believers in that promise, much like you read throughout the New Testament. Paul will say, “We shall reign with him.” Revelation 5 says, “We will reign with him upon the earth.” Revelation 20:4 says, “We’ll reign with Christ for 1,000 years.” So it’s a government where he is in charge, but there will be unbelievers born during that time, just like my children have to make decisions for Christ, as my grandchildren, they’re not automatically Christians.
So the children of tribulation saints, which by the way, demands a pre-tribulational rapture. Either throughout the millennium altogether as the [inaudible 00:17:20] millennialist does, there’s a whole reason for that, or if Christ is literally going to rule, if we go up in the rapture, then we come back and transformed bodies at the Second Coming. We won’t be able to sin. The only people who will be able to sin, will be tribulation saint. They’ll be like us. I can still sin today, but they’ll live much longer, but their children will need to make decisions. And at the end of the 1,000 years, Satan is released and he tempts these people to go against the Lord. And so that’s why the Lord has to rule during the kingdom age with a rod of iron. And you mentioned Zechariah 14 where the kings of the earth, they come and they acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, but it has to be more than outward. It must be inward. And we will see at the end of the millennium how Satan will go against those who have not inwardly been converted, and there’ll be a final rebellion before we enter into eternity future.
Sam Rohrer: All right. And boy, it brings us right up to the break, because within what you are saying there, you brought up something that I want to ask you in the next segment, when we further break out, ladies and gentlemen, who it is. Now, we’ve talked about it and Pastor Broggi said, those of us who are believers, if we’re going to reign with him, all right now, we’re going to find a bit more clearly, who is they who will reign? What does that actually mean? And then we want to break out a little bit more about the why. Why the Second Coming? Why the millennial kingdom? How does that fit into God’s plan? There’s reasons for it. God always has a reason for everything. We’ll try to deal with those fundamental and key questions in the next segment. Stay with us and we’ll be back here in just a moment.
Before I reengage Pastor Carl Broggi here on our theme today, the millennial kingdom, I just want to share just a brief note from a listener, a new listener. This is Elaine from an area here, Hatfield, Pennsylvania. She said, “Dear Sam and the Stand in the Gap team, thank you so much for your program.” She said, “We listen every day.” She said, “On BYN 107.5″.” So that’s an area here in Pennsylvania that a lot of people listen to that. “We particularly enjoy the programs on current issues, of prophecy,” just like today, “And other things.” She said, “We often marvel at how you and your guests can so clearly explain the many complicated issues of the day. Thank you for not only sharing the truth,” keyword, “but also for ending each program reminding us that in this lawless world, God is still in control and we can trust him.”
That’s the bottom line, ladies and gentlemen. I just share that because I was so thankful for Elaine. Thank you for sending that to us, but also as an encouragement to all the rest of you who have never sent us anything. Drop us a note. Let us know what God is doing in your life through this program. It takes a lot of time and effort to put together a program that every day like this. We could not do it without your prayer support. We could not do it without your financial support. And God is using this program literally to go around the world. Literally around the world. You can be a part of that. Join with us, partner with us, financially and in prayer, and I honestly, believe that’s part of what is a matter of laying up treasure in heaven. You can do that. Invest on the other side, in people’s lives. You can do that by helping us to communicate the truth. Standinthegapradio.com is where you can go and communicate and give. So, thank you. I’ll just leave it at that for now.
In Revelation 20, and Pastor Broggi has referred to it earlier, scripture says there that, “An angel comes down from heaven and lays a hold of the dragon who is the devil and Satan, and binds him for 1,000 years.” That’s the millennial time, “And casts him into the bottomless pit.” And then in verse six it says, “Blessed and holy is he that has his part in the first resurrection. On such the second death hath no power,” referring to a group of people, “But they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him 1,000 years.” All right, Carl, let’s go back, because that ties in with what we just kind of concluded on the other side. And I’m going to want you to break out and identify that group of people specifically and what it means, ‘priests of God,’ and ‘reigning with him’. Who those people are and what that actually means.
But I want you to address the matter of the why. Overall, we know the whole aspect of scripture is all about the unfolding plan of redemption that God telegraphed all the way back in Genesis. And everything that has happened these past 6,000 years, and will proceed into the 7,000 years ultimately of the millennial kingdom, will be God’s unfolding plan. And there’s a why to that. Could you just very briefly, just in a few words, what is the primary purpose of the First Coming, the primary purpose of the Second Coming, and the primary purpose of the millennial kingdom, our discussion today? Could you do that?
Carl Broggi: Well, in the First Coming, the Lord comes as Savior. When he comes again, he comes as judge. In the Old Testament, the First Coming of the Messiah is pictured as a suffering servant. But in the Second Coming he comes as a sovereign king. So he came the first time to save us. He’s going to come again to judge the world. The time of grace is seen now beginning with his death on the cross. The future time of the Second Coming is the wrath of the Lord. So he is not coming to a cross again. He is coming to a throne. He’s coming on a cloud. He’s going to rule and reign, and as you mentioned, for 1,000 years. And who are those who are in resurrection bodies. And so the First Resurrection in scripture is in deference to the Second Resurrection, which is a resurrection of eternal death.
And included in the First Resurrection, biblically, of course, is Christ the first roots, those who are raptured, those who were raised at the Second Coming, which would include Old Testament saints and all the tribulation saints who died and were martyred. And so to rule with a perfect king, you have to be in a perfect body. And of course, Philippians 3 tells us that when we are resurrected, we’ll be like Christ, and so we’ll be able to rule and reign with Christ. So that’s the broad span. Now, as for the reason, there are really six reasons for the millennial kingdom. If you want, I can go into those.
Sam Rohrer: Yeah, I think you can. Go ahead and do that because that’s our focus today. Build those out, because probably most of our listeners right now have never heard the reasons. So yeah, please do that.
Carl Broggi: Yeah, so why doesn’t Jesus just come back, take us all to heaven, and end it all? Several reasons. Number one, he made promises to Israel that he would have an established kingdom. Those have never been fulfilled. Even when Gabriel came to Mary, “The Lord will give him, your son, the throne of his father David.” Secondly, God’s going to show and prove what his original intention was for us. “God bless the creation, be fruitful, and multiply. Sin entered into the world and now there’s disaster.” And it seems like the world is falling apart. Well, what we see today, what we’re living in, is a result of sin entering into the world not as God designed the world. And so he’s going to give us a picture of what his original design was. In addition, a third reason is God is going to prove the promises that he makes to the church.
He says, “We’ll judge angels. We’ll reign through the one Jesus Christ.” He’ll give authority to us to rule over the nations. And so over and over God makes these promises to the church and to Old Testament believing Jews that they will reign with the Messiah. That is going to be fulfilled during the millennial reign. In addition, the promise to prayer that we’ve been praying for some 2,000 years, “Lord, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” That prayer is often prayed in ignorance, but contextually, broadly, with the whole biblical scope of Revelation, we’re praying for the will of God to be done on earth as it is in heaven. That prayer will be answered during the millennial reign of Christ. And among other things too, he’s going to prove the depravity of man’s nature. He’s going to underscore that when we sing, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” A lot of people say, “Well, I may be bad, but I’m not a wretch.” And God is going to prove, “No, there’s none righteous.” He’s going to give us a glimpse into what he saved us from, what our capacity was during the millennium. Because we’re going to see with Jesus literally reigning on the earth, not all will give their allegiance. Men will still rebel and follow after the evil one when he is released.
Sam Rohrer: Okay, fantastic. And let’s go back in on this and in that passage in Revelation that I’ve referred to, these people, these resurrected Old Testament saints, the resurrected tribulation saints who died during a tribulation and the raptured church, okay, that group of people, they shall be priests of God and of Christ. You don’t have a long time right now, but can you expand a little bit upon that? Priests of God in an earthly civil kingdom? And what’s reigning with Christ? Do we have any idea what that actually means? What are we going to do?
Carl Broggi: Yeah. So there’s kind of a near/far fulfillment of this. In the near sense, the scripture speaks in passages like First Peter, that God has made us into a holy priesthood. And so we serve the Lord through a regenerated life with the spiritual gifts that he gives us. During the millennial reign we’ll also be priests of God, but I think in a fuller, different sense. The Bible speaks. It goes through many chapters towards the end of Ezekiel of a millennial temple. That there’ll be a temple that will be built that people will offer sacrifices in. The sacrifices never took away sin. Moses affirms that, that the sacrifices, even in the Old Testament temples could never remove sin, but they looked forward to what Messiah would do. The whole earth is going to be repopulated with millions and millions of people. We, in resurrected bodies, will be like angels. Will be unable to procreate, but tribulation saints will be able to have children.
And one of the functions of the millennial kingdom that we’ll have a part of in the millennial temple will be to look back at what the Lord Jesus accomplished. Much like the Lord’s table looks back and it looks ahead, even so the millennial temple. It won’t be all the same sacrifices, but there’ll be some sacrifices that will be teaching and instructive to people in their need to have forgiveness of sin and receive Jesus, who’s literally ruling on the throne in Jerusalem, for people to bow and give their allegiance to him. And of course, millions will, but a great multitude like the sand on the seashore, John will say, won’t, because of their rebellious depraved nature. In terms of all of the aspects of ruling, we’re given little glimpses, kind of like with rewards that the scripture speaks of at the bema seat of Christ, we are going to receive the rewards. What are the implication of all the rewards? We don’t know, but we get little hints. Like Jesus said, “This man will rule over 10 cities. This person over 5 cities. This person over 1 city.” So resurrected believers will be given authority with the Lord Jesus, under the Lord Jesus, to help rule and reign with him. And that will be fleshed out during that time and we’ll see its full implication.
Sam Rohrer: You did a fantastic job. And again, we’re about out of time, but ladies and gentlemen, think about this as well, and we’re going to talk about in the next segment, but when Christ is ruling here, there are nations, there are people, they’re just not wandering around. There are living. They’re living a life for 1,000 years. They’re having children, they’re building homes, they’re planting, they’re harvesting, they’re going about life, just without all of the normal evidences of sin. And of course the devil’s locked up for 1,000 years, so things are different. But you have government of some type. You’ve got nations. All right, so it’s very similar what we’re talking about now, except that there are some big differences. All right, now when we come back, I’m going to talk with Carl and ask him to take and define this aspect, the 1,000 years will come to an end. What happens at the end of that 1,000? What does scripture tell us? And then how then does that move then from the end of the millennial kingdom? What concludes the millennial kingdom? We’ll talk about that next.
In Revelation 20, in verses seven and eight, there’s a continuation of what we referred to in the last segment. After the devil was locked up for 1,000 years, it says in verse seven and eight, “And when the 1,000 years,” this millennial time period, “When the 1,000 years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and he shall go out and deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the Earth, Gog and Magog, and gather them together to battle.” So, while Jesus, as we just explained, reigns as a physical king in a physical location, Jerusalem, Israel and is physically reigning, and we are physically here reigning with him, those of us who know Jesus Christ now as our personal savior and are raptured out, or tribulation saints who are martyred for their faith during the time of Tribulation and Old Testament saints, okay, while that happens, we’re with him, physically, and the devil who was locked up for 1,000 years, well, he now comes out and then things begin to change.
Because he immediately proceeds to once again do just like he’s always done, beginning with Eve, to tempt, to seduce, and to try to undercut, ultimately, the plan of God, by organizing human government, so it’s the nations of the world at that point. He’s going to deceive the nations. So human government still exists, even though Jesus Christ, the king of the world, is physically reigning, he’s going to go out and he’s going to deceive these people.
All right. Now then there’s going to be a big battle, and at that point then there’ll be a final battle, and that’ll be done. But there’s a question here as well. What do we learn from this and how should it affect our lives? But Carl, let me go back here and ask you to go and build out further. We know from this passage that this wonderful millennial kingdom, perfect, wonderful time the world has never seen, it’s going to come to an end. So further add any description and what we know from scripture about how the millennial kingdom will actually… And how long is this period of time? And what brings it to an end? And bring us to the end next month, then we’ll talk about the new heaven and new earth.
Carl Broggi: Okay. So obviously, if the post-tribulational rapture position was true, we would all go off, we’d all come back and resurrection bodies, and we would be unable to sin and rebel. So some people, they read this passage and they just say, “Well, we’ll spiritualize that there’s no actual kingdom, there’s millennialism. But God literally fulfilled all the prophecies for the First Coming, precisely as you said. And so we can expect for the Second Coming. I tell people, “Look, when the plain reading makes good sense, you shouldn’t seek any other sense, or you’ll come up with nonsense.” But if the church is removed, we come back and there’s living tribulation saints who enter in, who have children. These are the folks who are rebelling. And so at Satan’s release, he will tempt these nations of the world and God will put an end to it. Satan will be forever then cast into the Lake of Hell. Contrary to popular belief, he is not in hell right now. He has full reign.
No one is actually in the Lake of Fire yet. The first two recipients will be the false prophet and the antichrist, Satan, and then all the lost. And so what follows after this is you see a great white throne. And then after that paragraph in 21:1, “I saw a new heaven and an new earth.” So the destruction of the current heaven and earth takes place at the end of the millennial reign. And that’s what Peter says. God’s going to burn it with fire. “The day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which he will destroy the heavens in the earth.” And so there’s this new heaven, there’s new earth. But before that happens, the lost of all time are reigned and they stand before the Lord.
And God has a reason for waiting until the very end of time to bring all the lost together for the final, final judgment. Right now, men are in Hades. They’re going to head, in the end, to the Lake of Fire. And so then a new heaven and a new earth will start, righteousness will dwell in it. They’ll never, ever be any expression of sin from Satan or anyone else. It will be a perfect, eternal universe. And the new Jerusalem where our loved ones are right now, the Father’s house, is going to come down and sit on this new heaven and new earth, and it’s going to be the capital, we might say, of heaven itself.
Sam Rohrer: All righty. Well, don’t have much time here right now, but I just have to ask this question. People say, “Gog and Magog, because I read that.” Well, Gog and Magog is involved on Battle of Armageddon as well. There’s some terminology of that, which suggests that there’s going to be a lot of similarity perhaps, or some similarity anyways, in nationhood between now and perhaps going into the millennial kingdom, does it not?
Carl Broggi: Yeah. So there’s three major battles that scripture writes of that have never taken place. One is the battle of Gog and Magog, Ezekiel 38-39. Some would say it could happen before the Rapture. I think it takes place shortly after the Rapture. It’s not a hill to die on, but that battle has never taken place. The actual nations are named where they’re going to go against Israel, God will supernaturally intervene. At the end of the Seven-Year Tribulation, the Battle of Armageddon takes place, where Christ comes to set up his kingdom. There the nations of the world go against God’s Messiah, or God’s ruler. And then the third and final battle yet to take place is described here with the term ‘Gog and Magog.’ It’s a different war. It’s not five nations, it’s all the nations of the world that are engaged in this. But it’s a term much like ‘Armageddon’. People say, “Oh, this event that took place with this tornado is Armageddon-like.” And so we use the expression sometimes to describe a time of horror, and so it’ll be an appropriate expression to describe this third and final war that will take place at the end of the 1,000 year reign of Christ.
Sam Rohrer: Fantastic. Okay. Two minutes left here at the end of the program. I always like to conclude this way, and as the listener said, we give hope at the end of the program. Brother Carl, what should this information, the knowledge of this information that was laid out today, what should it do for the believer who’s listening right now? How should it cause them to think and live differently?
Carl Broggi: Amen. Well, the good news is that in the end, God wins, and if you’re on the winning side, then you’ll win with God. All sin, all wickedness is going to meet their due judgment. And we have much to rejoice in. It seems like the world is falling apart, but it’s actually coming together for the very prophetic schedule that scripture speaks of. Sometimes we can’t understand why the righteous suffer and at the same time the wicked succeed. Well, in Revelation 20, God is reminding us that in the end, Jesus is victorious over it all, which is a reminder that we need to be ready. We need to be ready to meet the Lord. And so today is a day of grace. People who are listening to our voice will have no opportunity after the church is raptured. Only those who’ve never heard the gospel before empowering clarity will respond during the Tribulation. Now’s the hour to respond. Whoever will call on Jesus’s name will be saved. And so the scripture affirms when you hear the message, don’t harden your heart, because tomorrow may be too late for us. We may put the final callous by delaying, and millions of people have been lost by procrastinating. And if we procrastinate long enough, death can come unexpectedly, and then we enter into an eternal state and it’s forever.
Sam Rohrer: Pastor Carl Broggi, what a fantastic time here today. Ladies and gentlemen, Searchthescriptures.org. Searchthescriptures.org is Pastor Carl Broggi’s website. You find a lot of information on that, and many, many, many sermons are available there that cover all the things we’ve talked about. We’ve been netting these things down in this particular series that we have put together here, prophecying God’s plan. I encourage you to go to our website, standinthegapradio.com. You will find it there. It’s on the headline page. Go back and listen to all of these. Walk through them for a tremendous education on what the scripture says about prophecy. It will affect how you live and think. Affects how I think. And I hope that it does as well for you. Know the truth, embrace the truth. Ladies and gentlemen, stand in the gap.
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