1. Zechariah 14 talks about the coming of the Lord.
Similar to Revelation 19, it speaks of Jerusalem being surrounded
by the armies of the world. Then
the Lord shall return and PHYSICALLY stand on the Mount of Olives. And then it describes events that shall occur
ON EARTH. A river will flow from
Jerusalem to the seas (in New Jerusalem, there will be no seas, so this
MUST be before that - Rev. 21:1), He will be King over the EARTH (just like in
Revelation 20), the LAND shall be inhabited and safe, and those that are
left in the nations will come YEAR BY YEAR (in New Jerusalem there is no
more time - Rev. 21:25) to worship the Lord (those who do not come suffer droughts).
These events clearly depict the same events of Revelation 19-20. The Lord shall return to earth and rule
FROM Jerusalem. All these events
AFTER the coming of the Lord clearly take place on earth, not in
Heaven. There are still things like
seas, time, and sufferings, so this cannot be the New Jerusalem.
2. Jeremiah 23:5-8 also describes these same events.
In these verses, we see that the Lord will reign and execute
justice and judgment IN THE EARTH.
And during His days (time), Judah and Israel will dwell in safety.
3. In
Daniel chapter 7, we see a vision of world history, culminating with the
return of Jesus. Daniel sees 4
world powers as beast (Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome), along with
a little horn that rises out of Rome (antichrist-popery). He sees this antichrist ruling and
persecuting the Saints, until the Lord returns and delivers them. Then they take dominion over the earth
(Revelation 20:6), and the Lord rules FROM the earth (It says His Kingdom
is UNDER Heaven – verse 27). These
are the same events (just in broader scope) as the events in Jeremiah,
Zechariah, and Revelation.
4. The
Scriptures speak of EARTHLY changes that will happen at Christs return
(I.E. The restitution of all things – Acts 3:21)
5. Isaiah 11 speaks again of the same events, and clearly depicts the Lord ruling on
earth, speaking of drying up the
sea of Egypt and ruling the nations.
6. Isaiah 65 again speaks of this same event.
In it, He states that the Lord creates a new heavens and new earth
(tying this to Revelation and indicating that Isaiah is seeing the entirety
of the events, not just the millennium), and also states that death still
occurs (verse 20 – while in the New Jerusalem, death is removed – Rev. 20:14; Rev. 21:4). So these events
obviously occur PRIOR to death being removed.
7. Ezekiel 47 speaks of the river, connecting these passages to Zechariah 14 and
thereby the other verses. He speaks
of the river bring life (Restitution like in Acts 3:21), but also mentions
some seas NOT being restored (therefore it cannot be referencing the
perfection of New Jerusalem, but something PRIOR to it). He also mentions borders of land for the
Jews and other nations, indicating an earthly realm.
8. Amos 9 again refers to these same events and clearly depict life going on on
EARTH with a restored nation of Israel.
9. Psalm 72 again depicts these events and clearly show the Lord reigning on
EARTH. It mentions Him reigning
over his enemies (but in New Jerusalem, the enemies are gone, thrown into
hell – Rev. 20:15), and reigning in a land with seas and moon (but in New
Jerusalem, the moon and seas are gone - Rev. 21:1, 23).
10. The
Scriptures speak of Jesus ruling the nations with a rod of iron (Rev. 2:27;
19:15; 12:5). This has not yet occurred
and cannot refer to the time of New Jerusalem, since the nations will be
gone then and only the born again will remain.
Revelation 19-21 give a clearer and more detailed look at
the events described in these Old Testament Scriptures. But they CLEARLY depict the exact same
events. If we spiritualize Revelation19-21, we then need to spiritualize all of these Old Testament prophecies. We also need to outright dismiss some of the unfulfilled
prophecies, because they state things that simply cannot be referring to the
New Jerusalem.
We have clear Scriptures
stating that the Lord will rule from the EARTH (a restored earth), that His feet
will literally stand on earth, that Israel will be restored to a prosperous
time, that Christ will reign over the nations with a rod of iron, that there
will still be vegetation, rivers and seas (which New Jerusalem is clearly
depicted as NOT having seas), there will still be time and a moon (New
Jerusalem has neither), and there will still be suffering like droughts (New
Jerusalem does not have suffering), death (New Jerusalem does not have death),
and enemies (New Jerusalem does not have enemies).
None of these things can be spiritualized
away and taken in a poetic or apocalyptic way.
They clearly indicate literal events that were not fulfilled during His first coming, and simply cannot be during the
time of New Jerusalem, and also clearly occur AFTER the Lord has returned. The only way to explain this is to understand that there is a period of time on earth after the Lord returns and before the final judgment. And the most sensible thing to do is to take the
1000 year period of Revelation as a literal time frame describing that period of time. And that makes PERFECT SENSE, because in it’s
natural reading (chapters 19-21), they seem to be showing a chronological order
of end time events, as touched upon in these OT Scriptures.
So to summarize.
Based on the OT Scriptures, the New Testament Scriptures speaking of the
end, and the Book of Revelation, here is what we see: Time will progress on earth. Evil men will wax worse and worse. The love of many will grow cold and
wickedness will abound. The earth will
suffer earthquakes and famines and Christians will be persecuted and killed. False teachers and prophets will abound. (See Matthew 24 and 2nd Timothy3)
A great falling away will occur (although
this may have already occurred) and that man of sin (the little horn of Daniel –
popery) will be revealed (2nd Thessalonians 2:1-3). A beast system will rule the world and will
cause all men to take a mark of allegiance, without which they will not be able
to participate in the economic system (Revelation 13). The time of the gentiles will come to an end
and salvation will go back to the Jews (Luke 21:24; Romans 11:25).
Israel will be protected during a time of
revival, while Christians will be persecuted world wide by satan (Revelation12). After a period of time, Israel will be opened up for the devils attacks. He
will gather the nations of the world against her to destroy her. When it looks like she is doomed, the Lord
will return and all of Israel will be saved! (Zech. 12; Revelation 19; Rom.11:26).
The dead in Christ will be risen
and glorified and then any Christians still alive will be also be glorified (1stCor. 15:52-55; 1st Thess. 4:15-17).
Christ and the newly glorified Saints will descend upon Jerusalem (see
the verses mentioned above). The Lord
will destroy the armies of the devil and will cast the beast and false prophet
into the lake of fire. Satan will be bound for 1000 years in the abyss and
Christ will rule and reign the remaining nations from Jerusalem, and the
glorified Saints get to reign with Him! (Revelation 20)
A time of restoration on the earth will take
place, and God will reign with a rod of iron.
It will be a time of prosperity, long life, and peace. At the end of the 1000 years, satan is loosed
and deceives the nations once more, causing them to rebel against Christ and
Jerusalem. God reigns down fire from
Heaven to stop them (perhaps the melting of the elements mentioned in 2ndPeter 3:10?) and casts satan into the lake of fire. Earth and Heaven end, and the judgment seat is
set. The dead are raised and judged by
the things written in the books. Anyone
not found written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire. Death and hell are also destroyed. A New Heaven and New Earth are created with a
New Jerusalem! There will be no more
death, or sorrow, or suffering, and we will live forever with God! (Revelation20-21)
I highly recommend reading these two articles:
http://www.baptistpillar.com/article_396.html
(although this is dispensational, which I do NOT hold to)
Also, if you desire to do so, please check out this article
I created with an “end times time line.”
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