 |  |
#58.
Millennial Failure and Foreshadowing (20: 4-6).
pp. 97 - 101
When we think of the millennium, we usually think of that condition of peace that is
intimated in the words:--
"The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the
bullock" (Isa. 65: 25).
It is a mistake however to assume that such is said to be the condition of things all
over the earth at that time. Both Isa. 65: and Isa. 11: add these important words:--
"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain."
"In all My holy mountain" is not the same in extent as all the earth, and this passage is
one of many that indicate the peculiar position of Israel in the millennium. Another
passage of similar import is Isa. 60: 1, 2:--
"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon THEE.
For, behold, the darkness shall cover the EARTH, and gross darkness the PEOPLES, but
the Lord shall arise upon THEE, and His glory shall be seen upon THEE."
There is the greatest difference indicated between the nation of Israel and the nations
during this kingdom.
"The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee
. . . . . The nation and the kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish: yea, those nations
shall be utterly wasted" (Isa. 60: 10-12).
"Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your
plowmen and your vine dressers. But ye shall called the PRIESTS OF THE LORD;
men shall call you the MINISTERS OF OUR GOD" (Isa. 61: 5, 6).
Israel are here seen in their position as the royal priesthood, and the surrounding
nations as their servants. It was one of the great duties of the priests to teach:--
"For the priest's lips should keep knowledge; and they should seek the law at his
mouth" (Mal. 2: 7; see also Lev. 10: 11),
and therefore when the millennial kingdom is set up we find that the mountain of the
Lord's house shall be set up as the head of the mountains, and to this centre all the
nations shall "stream" and shall say:--
"Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He
will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for out of ZION shall go forth
the law, and the word of the Lord from JERUSALEM" (Isa. 2: 3).
The R.V. margin of Psa. 72: 10 reads:--