The Future of Christ

He is coming to rule over the nations

When the Son of God came into this world at His first advent He suffered the humiliation of rejection, ‘He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not’, John 1. 10. But at His second advent, ‘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 that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ’, 2 Thess. 1, 7-8. The One who came in humility as the Lamb of God, John 1. 29, will return in power as the King of kings and Lord of lords, Rev. 19. 16.

The Old Testament prophets looked forward to the day when the rejected One will reign over all the earth. ‘Thou art my Son. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel’, Ps. 2. 7-9; ‘Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him’, Ps. 72. 11; ‘And the Lord shall be king over all the earth’, Zechariah 14. 9. ‘The Son of man … And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that people, nations, and languages, shall serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed’, Dan. 7. 13-14. The universal reign of the Lord Jesus Christ will be of peace and prosperity, ‘In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth’, Ps. 72. 7.

The New Testament prophet, the apostle John, also foresaw the day when ‘The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever’, Rev. 11. 15. But as far as this old earth is concerned His reign will last only a thousand years, ‘Christ shall reign a thousand years’, Rev. 20. 6.

He is coming to reign forever over the new creation

‘And I saw a new heaven and a new earth ; for the first heaven and the first eartl were passed away’, Rev. 21. 1. After Christ’s thousand year reign over this earth has ended, when the old earth has passed away, then will dawn God’s new creation.

This present creation has been ruined by human sin. When God looks down on the earth this is what He sees, ‘And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth, and it grieved him at h heart’, Gen. 6. 5-6; ‘And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth’, Gen. 6. 12. As then, so now, and ever be, ‘The nations went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them’, Rev. 20. 8-9. But God has promised a new creation, ‘Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness’, 2 Pet. 3. 13.

The new heaven and the new earth will be the dwelling place of God and His people for eternity. ‘He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God’, Rev. 21. 3. The Lord Jesus Christ will reign over the new earth, sharing the very throne of God, ‘the throne of God and of the Lamb’, 22. 3. With the Father He will receive the worship of that new creation, ‘And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it’, 21. 22.

‘Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever’, Heb. 13. 8.