The Government of God on Earth — a Review

A Study Outline

I. Mankind has for millennia longed for a renewal of Edenic Paradise on the earth, and has established communities of families to try and achieve this blissful existence.

A. It is built into his very psyche to desire not only his Creator’s presence, but a world in which he ought to live in peace, joy, and harmony with the creation

B. We see all around us today the attempts of mankind to build governments they believe will fulfill the needs of the citizens, but they all fall far short of that goal by failing to recognize who man really is: a creation of Elohim in His very image.

Genesis 1:26-28. “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”

C. We can expect that Satan will try to mimic the government of God in this age, before the Kingdom of God arrives, and that is indeed the case as we witness the attempts to forge a one-world government, or “New World Order”.

II Corinthians 4:4. “… whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”

Ephesians 2:2 “In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit which now works in the sons of disobedience,”

II. Let us review this wonderful promise of the establishment of a renewed earth, under the loving authority of Jesus Christ, the prophesied King of King and Lord of Lords.

III. This “kingdom” is a literal, physical government that will rule on earth, and which will replace all other rulerships of men.

A. Daniel 2:31-45. See Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

B. Acts 3:19-25. These pivotal verses of Scripture point to the restoration of God’s government on earth, which was lost after Adam sinned.

IV. The King of this Kingdom

A. The Israelites in Palestine in Jesus’ day were expecting a leader to arise and restore the lost fortunes of their people.

Luke 19:11. “Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately.”

B. Jesus Christ admitted He was born to be a king.

John 18:37. “Pilate therefore said to Him, ‘Are You a king then?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’”

world (Strong 2889) = kosmos, “a harmonious arrangement or order, then, by extension, adornment or decoration, and came to denote the world, or the universe, as that which is diversely arranged.” It is translated to mean the “earth”, the “earth” in contrast with heaven, the human race, gentiles as distinguished from Israelites, the present condition of human affairs, and the “sum of temporal possessions.” Jesus in John 18:36 and 37 is referring to His Kingdom not being a part of this present eon in which Satan rules, but the next eon in which the Devil is bound for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1-3).

C. After the resurrection of the saints and the marriage supper in heaven, Jesus Christ and the saints return to battle the forces of the Beast and False Prophet. Revelation 19:11-21.

D. The Old Testament parallel to C is Zechariah 14:3-4, 12.

E. The Parable of the husbandmen speaks of Jesus’ resurrection, and His return to destroy the evil husbandmen. Luke 20:9-16.

V. The Land for this Kingdom

A. The saints will reign on the earth. Revelation 5:9-10. “And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.’”

B. The saints will reign with Jesus Christ for 1,000 years, and Jesus’ throne will be on the earth. Revelation 20:4. “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

C. When Christ returns to destroy the nations His Kingdom will fill the whole earth.

Daniel 2:34-35, 44. “You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”

VI. The Laws or Constitution of this Kingdom

A. God’s laws will prevail as the Constitution across all the earth. Micah 4:1-5

B. The new covenant will be God’s laws within the hearts nd minds of people, even as that law exists within the saints today.

Hebrews 8:10-11. “”For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD; I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.”

C. The character of the King of Kings will pervade every facet of the new age.

1. Animals will be peaceful. Isaiah 11:6-9.

2. The earth will be well-watered and beautiful. Isaiah 11:1-2,7.

3. All will be healed and long-lived. Isaiah 11:3-6; 65:19-25.

VII. The Citizens of this Kingdom

A. The saints will rule with Jesus Christ for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4), with the survivors who make it through the Tribulation.

B. Not many people will survive the Tribulation, but some will, only those who will be open-minded enough to listen to and obey Jesus Christ, the King.

1. Acts 3:23 deals with the beginning of the new age. “And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.”

2. No people will survive the Tribulation except those days will be shortened.

Matthew 24:21-22. “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be [again]. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”

3. Zechariah 14:16. “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.”

4. Isaiah 24:1-6. “Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty and makes it waste, distorts its surface, and scatters abroad its inhabitants. And it shall be; as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; the land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, for the LORD has spoken this word. The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away; the haughty people of the earth languish. The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.”

VIII. With such a wonderful future in store for us, we ought to take Paul’s advice:

Hebrews 12:1-2. “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the stake, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”