Daniel 7:2-12 Daniel spoke, saying, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea. (3) And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. (4) The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it. (5) "And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: 'Arise, devour much flesh!' (6) "After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. (7) "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. (8) I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words. (9) "I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire; (10) A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. (11) "I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. (12) As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.”
The context of the above quoted passage of scripture is a vision given to the prophet Daniel about the last days. In the vision Daniel was shown four beasts, and each beast represented a separate kingdom that would be in the earth at the second coming of Jesus Christ. The fourth beast in Daniel’s vision represented the kingdom of the anti-Christ. That beast is referred to in this passage as the beast that was slain and its body destroyed. The reason for that is because the army of the anti-Christ will be destroyed at the battle of Armageddon, and the rest of his kingdom will be taken into captivity to serve the Lord’s saints. Unlike the kingdom of the anti-Christ however, we see that the three remaining beasts (kingdoms) will not be destroyed when the Lord returns, for this passage states that their lives will be prolonged for a season and a time. The season that this passage is referring to is the thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth. As we have already mentioned, after the destruction of the anti-Christ’s army there will still be approximately 5.4 billion people living on the earth. Of that 5.4 billion people, we have accounted for 1.1 billion from the anti-Christ’s kingdom who will be delivered to the saints as their servants. That means that the three remaining kingdoms would account for approximately 4.3 billion people. Nevertheless, although these three kingdoms will be allowed to continue on the earth during the Lord’s millennial reign, they will no longer govern their own affairs, for this passage refers to their dominion being taken away. In other words they will be subjected to the rule of Jesus Christ and His church during the Lord’s millennial reign. It is important to note that in scripture, a kingdom very often refers to an alliance of nations. And so each of the three kingdoms mentioned in this passage will be made up of an alliance of the various nations of the earth. Something else that we need to understand about these 4.3 billion people is that even though they will not form part of the anti-Christ’s kingdom, they will nevertheless all be unbelievers, for they would have rejected the gospel message preached to them before the rapture of the church. We have already mentioned that because no children will be born during the Lord’s millennial reign, the population of 5.4 billion unbelievers will therefore not increase. Nevertheless, it is also important to note that just as there will be no births during that period; neither will there be any deaths, for if people continued to die without any births to replace them, then the unbelieving population would cease to exist after just one hundred years. So how will God solve this problem? The Lord will once again allow mankind to live for the full one thousand years of the Lord’s millennial reign, just as He did in the age of Adam to Noah when men lived close to one thousand years. There will be a difference this time however, for although mankind will live for the full one thousand years, they will nevertheless not grow old. In other words the unbelievers won’t look like ancient old men and women at the end of the Lord’s millennial reign. And so we see that just as God was able to slow the aging process during the age of Adam to Noah, so He will completely halt the aging process during the Lord’s millennial reign.
Psalms 48:1-7 “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, In His holy mountain. (2) Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. (3) God is in her palaces; He is known as her refuge. (4) For behold, the kings assembled, they passed by together. (5) They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, they hastened away. (6) Fear took hold of them there, and pain, as of a woman in birth pangs, (7) as when You break the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.”
When the Lord Jesus sets up His reign in the city of Jerusalem, all the heads of state of the unbelieving nations will be summoned to that city to present themselves before the Lord. The above quoted passage of scripture describes that event, for it speaks of the kings of the earth being assembled together and passing by before the Lord. It will be on that occasion that the various heads of state will be informed as to how their nations will be governed by the Lord’s saints from that point on. We can clearly see from this passage that this will be an extremely fearful experience for these heads of state, for it describes them marvelling at what they see and being troubled and hastening away as fear takes hold of them.
Revelation 2:26-27 “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations-- (27) 'he shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels'-- as I also have received from My Father.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit describes the church ruling over the unbelieving nations during the Lord’s millennial reign. In this passage He mentions that the saints will rule the nations with a rod of iron. In other words in the eyes of the world, the rule of the saints will be harsh and uncompromising. So why is that? The reason is because the unbelieving nations will not willingly submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, because their thinking will still be carnal. So what does carnal thinking imply? The bible clearly teaches us that the carnal mind is not subject to the laws of God, neither indeed can it be (Romans 8:7). And so we see that when the saints apply God’s laws in the earth, they will have to enforce those laws with a rod of iron because the unbelievers will not willingly obey them. We will discuss this particular point in more detail in a later section.
Michael E.B. Maher
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