Thy Kingdom Come Isaiah 65

Today the world is plagued with problems, and Israel struggles merely to survive. But God has a plan that will change everything.

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In an age when Jesus is marginalized and the Bible grows more despised each day, it’s remarkable that anyone would know the Lord’s Prayer. But know it they do. It’s recited frequently at funerals—even at those of unbelievers.

The prayer actually was Jesus’ instructions to His disciples, teaching them how to pray. It begins, “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Mt. 6:9–10, KJV). Unfortunately, most people have no idea what the Kingdom actually is.

The Kingdom is the real and wonderful future God has planned for Earth when the Savior returns. No more political corruption, racial strife, poverty, sickness, crime, or any of the problems that plague humanity today. The Jewish prophet Isaiah unveiled a remarkable portrait of this future Kingdom.

At its inception, a healing will take place that transforms the planet to the way it was before humanity rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden: “The former shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Isa. 65:17). After seven terrible years of tribulation that will wreak havoc on the landscape and destroy a vast amount of the world’s resources and population, the Lord will return physically to Earth. Those who repent and welcome Him will be redeemed and enter the Kingdom. The planet will be in shambles. Yet Jesus will reform it in such a way that people will hardly remember the chaos. Even animals will be changed: “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox” (v. 25). Since they are carnivores, wolves and lions would devour a lamb today. In the Kingdom they will be herbivorous, feeding only on plants and grass.

When Adam (the first human) defied God’s command, everything under his authority, including animals and plant life, was plunged into a lost and fallen condition. The Fall is why there are wild animals, weeds, thorns, and thistles. It is why we have natural disasters, disease, pain, suffering, and death. When the Lord returns to establish His rule on Earth, these afflictions will be forgotten.

“No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old” (v. 20). No more will a child have a rare and horrible disease. People will live hundreds of years and not suffer with the afflictions of old age. No one will battle cancer, heart disease, or painful conditions. The Kingdom will bring healing to the world.

A Dream Come True

For the Jewish people, who have spent thousands of years trying to return to their land and live there in peace, the Millennial (1,000-year) Kingdom will be their dream come true. The Lord promises they will “be glad and rejoice forever in what I [God] create; for behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy” (v. 18).

Today Jerusalem—the eternal, God-given capital of the Jewish nation—is viewed as one of the world’s biggest problems. It seems to be anything but “a joy.” The nations seek to control it, dissect it, and sever it forever from Israel. Yet the Lord encourages His Chosen People, “I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying” (v. 19).

When Jesus, our great High Priest (Heb. 4:14), establishes His Kingdom on Earth, He will rule from Jerusalem, Israel: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying: ‘Behold, the Man whose name is the BRANCH! From His place He shall branch out, and He shall build the temple of the Lord; Yes, He shall…sit and rule on His throne; so He shall be a priest on His throne’” (Zech. 6:12–13).

In 2005, as part of Israel’s “disengagement” plan to give the Gaza Strip to the Arabs in the hopes of making peace, Israel removed its own citizens from their homes and forced them off lands, some of which they had purchased from the Arabs more than 40 years earlier.

That land, which would not produce for the Arabs, had become a breadbasket for the Jewish nation.

When King Jesus rules, they will never be forced off their land again: “They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat” (Isa. 65:21–22). They will flourish in the land God gave them: “For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain” (vv. 22–23).

The sin curse will be lifted, and Israel and the world finally will dwell in peace. Israel will enjoy the safety, security, and protection provided by its King-Messiah: “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear” (v. 24). As God promises in His Word, “Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God” (Ezek. 37:23). The Kingdom will last 1,000 literal years, after which all unbelievers will be purged from the earth: “For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, the earth will grow old like a garment” (Isa. 51:6). Then eternity will begin, with a new heaven and new earth: “For behold,” God declared through Isaiah, “I create new heavens and a new earth” (65:17).

The apostle John corroborated Isaiah: “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Rev. 21:1). Bible commentator John A. Martin explained, “Most likely Isaiah did not distinguish between these two aspects of God’s rule [Millennium and eternal state]; he saw them together as one. After all, the Millennium, though 1,000 years in duration, will be a mere pinpoint of time compared with the eternal state.”¹

Though the immediate future may look bleak, the big picture is glorious. God is sovereign in His universe, and what He decrees will come to pass. What a day it will be when His Kingdom comes to Earth and His will is done on Earth, as it is in heaven.

ENDNOTES

1. John A. Martin, “Isaiah,” The Bible Knowledge Commentary, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 1,120.

Tom Simcox is the Church Ministries training coordinator and a Bible teacher for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry and Word of Life Bible Institute.