Powerful Passages for Powerful Living, Pt. 3
Study Guide, May 17, 2026
Pastor Clay Olsen
One day peace in the animal world will be an everyday picture when at last there will be peace on Earth, even in the animal kingdom. And we know this to be true because of powerful passages like this one talking about the time on Earth soon to come known as the Millennial Kingdom. Isa.11:6-9 – “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” NASB
Just think, in the Millennial Kingdom, once dangerous animals will be as pets to us…wolves, leopards, bears, oh my…and so on. They may not fit in your lap, but they will be as friendly and peaceable as your pet dog or your cat is now! And as for the cobra’s and vipers…that might take a little while getting used to, but they will all be safe and peaceful, nonetheless.
But the Millennial Kingdom has seemed to many as a most mysterious as well as misunderstood topic of eschatological teaching. Which is rather ironic, of course, since the teaching of the Kingdom runs throughout the entire scope of the Scriptures! In fact, it was so well known that Mary spoke about it in her ‘worship prayer’ after learning that she would give birth to the Messiah. Lk. 1:32,33 – “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
And Mary certainly knew of Isaiah’s prophecy in Isa. 9:6,7 – “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.” Yes, Mary knew that the Messiah child to be born was also the Mighty God and King that would rule on Earth from the throne of David!
Oh, to be sure, the Old Testament saints knew that this glorious Kingdom would come. And the New Testament saints also knew that the Kingdom to come would come in two phases; first the Millennial phase of the Kingdom, and second, the eternal phase of the Kingdom. The Apostle John clearly identifies both this mediatorial Kingdom and, also the everlasting Kingdom. Two passages clarify this: Rev. 20:6-10- “Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” NASB
By the way, some believers are surprised to learn that there are also two separate ‘Gog and Magog’ battles. The first battle is at Armageddon, which occurs upon Jesus’ return to the Earth, and the second battle is upon completion of the Millennial Kingdom, when Jesus ultimately conquers all rebellion and all enemies. Which brings up another surprise…as in, but how can there still be enemies in the Millennial Kingdom? We’ve spoken to that, but we’ll go into detail later in our study.
But then the other revelation is from Rev. 21:1-4 – “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
Now, since we coastal folk are ocean lovers, every time we read this passage, I always point out that the words ‘no longer any sea’, simply means ‘no longer any sea as we see it now’, or ‘as we know it now.’ To be sure, there will be lots of water, rivers of waters, of course, on the New Earth. But it will be more in line with the waters of the Original Earth, which was not covered mostly by water, because that resulted from the world-wide Flood. Plus, since the New Earth is described as expanded, everything will be bigger! Why, the Capital City of the New Jerusalem alone is over 1,500 miles wide! Anyway, the Lord is the Creator of waters, so there will be lots of water on the New Earth!
But the other point we need to point out is something we have pointed out before, but we especially need to point it out now! And that is this reminder to us all that the only way to Biblically and rightly understand the world around us and the world to come is to look at life not from where we are now, and then on toward the future, but to look at the future as already foretold and then look back to now. Remember, you cannot understand what’s happening today without better understanding what’s going to happen tomorrow…and all the tomorrows after that. Learn to think backwards…from how life is going to be in the Kingdom to the way life is now in our preparation for it.
For example: The Bible instructs us that the Eternal Kingdom of the New Heavens and New Earth is preceded by a Millennial or a One Thousand Year Kingdom on a ‘Restored Earth.’ We could call it a ‘Transitionally renovated Earth’ before the ‘Eternal resurrected Earth is completed.’ And why does there need to be a Transitional Kingdom over a millennium of time before the Eternal Kingdom is established? There are many reasons why…but note this.
The key to it all is this: It’s because God is growing a ‘Forever Family’, and God’s family is going to include the saints that come from the Millennial Kingdom. Often we think of God’s family as consisting of the Old Testament saints, and the New Testament saints…including the ‘Church’, and then the Tribulation Saints. But wait! There’s more! And that’s where the Millennial saints come in. Oh yes, all the saved and already resurrected immortal family of God will be with the Lord in the Millennial Kingdom. However, there will also be a vast number of Millennial saints who will be born to their saved Mortal parents who had directly entered into the Millennial Kingdom when Jesus came back to the Earth! And just like all of us ‘Mortals’ who became converted and ‘Born-again’, many, who are mortal in the Millennial Kingdom, will also turn to the Messiah King and trust Him as their Lord and Savior and become ‘Born-again’ as well.
Therefore, God is waiting for these saints of the Millennial Age to also become sons and daughters of their Creator and King. And so, with the saints of the Old Testament Age, and the saints of the Church Age, and the saints of the Tribulation Age, they finally complete the ‘Forever Family of God’ and are then ready to all enter the Eternal Kingdom of God with His Human family and with His Angelic ministers.
And another ‘of course’ here…, is that, of course, at some point these mortal Millennial saints will also be clothed with immorality in order to live forever in the Eternal Kingdom. But the timing of their change or resurrection is not stated in the Scriptures. However, that leads us to another reason for this transitional, often called ‘mediatorial’ time of the Millennial Kingdom. Back to Rev. 20…
There is coming a time on Earth which will essentially be a return to the Garden of Eden, but without one particular entity…that is ‘Satan.’ We can think of the Millennial Kingdom as ‘Eden Extended.’ But we can also think of it as a time when ‘Human nature’, particularly the ‘sin-nature’, is on full display. Just think about it: Satan is completely bound for 1,000 years and completely removed from interaction or interference in the affairs of human beings, both personally and corporately. No mortal in the Millennium is going to be able to say: “The Devil made me do it!” No way! He’s out of the picture entirely! An Angel seizes Satan and confines him into the Abyss for the full 1,000 years. He can no longer tempt people, deceive them, or deceive the nations, nor possess or distress anyone on the Millennial Earth for that period of time. No demonic deception, no demonic influence, and no global spiritual darkness.
At the same time, the Lord Jesus Christ is ruling from His temple and over all the earth with a rod of iron, carrying out perfect and fair justice, and insuring wonderful peace on earth. There will be no more war. Nations have beat their swords into plowshares and learn war no more, just as Micah 4:3 says: “And He will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they train for war.” Remember, Micah was not talking about the Eternal Kingdom…he was talking about the Millennial Kingdom. In the Eternal Kingdom King Jesus will not need to judge people or nations anymore at all, neither rule with a rod of iron, like we previously have mentioned. Plus, some passages imply that even King David will be positioned as a Prince or Ruler in Israel once again. But that needs a separate study as well…just a little preview there…
Also, the environment of the Earth is near perfection, as in Eden. It is so productive that Amos has an astonishing way of describing how productive it is: Amos 9:13 – “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; When the mountains will drip sweet wine…”
How about that… ‘the plowman will overtake the reaper!’ It’s like saying people are still harvesting the abundance of the crops while the Sowers are seeding for the next harvest! That’s golden soil for sure! And everything else, as in education and industry and arts and music and technology and entertainment will be flourishing beyond anything we can now even imagine.
And yet, even with this near perfect environment…we keep saying ‘near perfect’ because of this…because of what the saved mortals brought into the Millennial Kingdom. For though saved, the sin nature of mortal humans is not yet removed until the mortal is removed, just like with humans now…before we lay aside our mortality. And, again, just like with humans today, even of saved parents, each child needs to personally turn their life over to God and receive Christ as their Lord and Savior in order to become Born-again. But not all children do so…either throughout mankind’s history, or even in the Millennium.
Which reveals the great rebuke to the voices of humanistic thinking. The great rebuke and correction consist of this: Man’s greatest problem is not his environment – It is his heart. Jer.17:9 – “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” The human heart cannot be spiritually cured…that’s why it has to be converted…transplanted with a new heart from the New Birth in Christ. This is why education cannot save. Cultural good cannot save the soul. Government cannot save. Societal changes, even for good, cannot save the soul. Rehabilitation cannot save. Behavioral rehabilitation cannot save the soul. It can only be saved through regeneration of the soul by God the Holy Spirit as a person repents toward God and places their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
But, thankfully, many mortals in the Millennial Kingdom Age will repent and receive King Jesus as their Lord and Savior and thus, become that last converted people that make up the glorious family of God who will all go into the Eternal Kingdom along with the saints of all the ages. What God wanted when He created the heavens and the earth the first time, and what He now has when He re-creates the now New Heavens and New Earth will be what He always wanted…a family of human sons and daughters with which to spend eternity.
…A further look into the Millennial Kingdom in our next study…