God Installs His King in Zion! - Reaffirmation, Not Replacement - Part 5

For the next few weeks, we will be sharing with you some excerpts from my new book, When Kingdoms Collide. I am doing this because I believe it's so vital that the Body of Yeshua hears this message. It will change how you view the days we are living in and the age to come. To order the book, please visit our bookstore.

Over the last couple of weeks, we have covered how the New Testament clearly reaffirms Israel's place in God's heart. Israel is not replaced by the Church. Both are key players in God's plans for mankind. Today, we explore several additional passages that demonstrate this truth.

God installs His king in Zion!

Once you understand that God is working on two different spheres—natural and spiritual—it makes sense. And once we see the true literal fulfillment of Zechariah 14, we will see these two kingdoms merge. Is that not what John means in Revelation when he says now all the nations belong to God? This takes place at the sounding of the final trumpet, the seventh, just after the two witnesses rise from the dead.

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven that said:

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever. (Rev. 11:15)

Let’s be honest. The kingdoms of this world do not yet belong to our God. Surely, He has all authority, and He is sovereign. But He has ceded authority over the kingdoms of this world for the time being to national leaders and the god of the world, Satan. But soon, Satan will be conquered. What will the kings of the earth do then (see Psalm 2, below)? For now, we are part of both worlds. That’s why Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 tell us that we must submit to the state, that the state is God’s servant to oversee the affairs of men in the realm of our earthly citizenship.

However, what happens at the coming of the Lord is that the kingdoms of this world become the property of a new emperor. If you study the great empires of antiquity, you will see that they ruled over many other kingdoms. Often, they would even leave the kings in place as long as the defeated kings would submit to the empire/emperor.

In this same way, Yeshua comes with a new empire, not one of tyranny and domination, such as we’ve seen in the ancient Greek and Roman empires, but with justice and righteousness.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness, he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips, he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. (Is. 11:2-5)

Under Jesus’s 1,000-year reign (Rev. 20:6), the very nature of the animal kingdom will change as his influence comes upon it.

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Is. 11:6-9)

The fourth Temple will be built (after the third is destroyed before He comes or at his coming). Water will flow from the Temple in Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, making its poisonous waters fresh. Fishermen will even fish there (Ez. 47). Hallelujah!

That can’t happen until Yeshua is the ultimate governor. Right now, the kingdoms of this world are not part of the kingdom of God, even if sanctioned by God. If you need evidence, just go turn on the news and see what’s happening around the world—Europe is on fire, Russia is attacking Ukraine, inflation is up, there is a massive drought in the western U.S. states, there is a huge division between political parties, and we are dealing with not only COVID but now polio and monkeypox. No one trusts the media, but millions do buy into QANON and other farfetched conspiracy theories.

That is not the fruit of God’s government (as I wrote in Birth Pangs, they may be signs of the end [Matt. 24:1-14]), but soon the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God.

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. (Ps. 145:13)

In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. (Dan. 2:44)

One of my favorite prophecies that speaks directly to the moment that the kingdoms and nations of this earth are taken over by the eternal Messiah, the son of David, Yeshua, is in Daniel 7. This is the moment when the heavenly realm invades the earthly realm when the heavenly government and the governments of this world merge into one under the authority of God Almighty.

In my vision at night, I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory, and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)

Rage all you want!

This is the theme of Psalm 2, where the Messiah is made King of Jerusalem, and He inherits the nations. The world leaders rage against Him, and the Father rebukes them.

He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. (Ps. 2:5-8)

Mission movements love to use this last verse to inspire prayer for the nations and encourage outreach. That’s good! But in context, it is about when Yeshua begins His millennial reign. It speaks of a king, who is “my son,” called Mashiach (Messiah) in verse 2. It can only be Yeshua. He takes up His throne on Mount Zion, which is synonymous with the Temple/Mt. Moriah/Jerusalem. And God gives Him the nations.

This is the moment when the Abrahamic covenant and the New Covenant collide at the outset of the millennial kingdom, when just before or after (or before and after), there is an influx of Jewish people into the kingdom (Zech. 12:10, Rev. 1:7). This is after the nations have attacked Israel (Zech. 14:1-2), and the Lord comes down from heaven (Rev. 19:11) and defends her (Zech. 14:3-4).

If you read this Psalm in its entirety, God is angry at the nations. His wrath is being displayed. It speaks of the uselessness of the international antichrist attack, “I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it (Zech. 14:2a). “[Demonic spirits] go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty… Then they gathered the kings together to the place that, which in Hebrew, is Mount Megiddo” (Rev. 16:14, 16) to march on Jerusalem, which is actually an attack on the coming King. There is no actual “battle of Armageddon.” This is merely the staging ground. The battle is over Jerusalem. The Valley of Megiddo is a massive plain beneath the Carmel Mountain ridge. The nations cannot get to Jerusalem because the two witnesses have held them at bay for three and half years—they breathe fire! But once they are removed, the attack commences. But this assault is futile.

Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying… (Ps. 2:1-2)

While it clearly depicts the outset of the millennial Kingdom and the Second Coming, it should not be seen as God just checking off his End-Time to-do list. His emotions are deeply affected here. Yahweh is angry at the kings of this world. He is now transferring authority. This is a coronation in the highest regard! The kingdom of this world are becoming the kingdom of the Messiah, and He will reign forever and ever (Rev. 11:15). And where will He rule from? God’s holy hill, Mount Zion, Jerusalem.

The ending of the Psalm is God giving the kings of the earth an opportunity to submit to the invading emperor, Yeshua:

Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Ps. 2:10-12)

The imagery is very similar to when a great empire such as Rome or Greece would take over a smaller nation. The kings would often have the opportunity to fall in line with the occupying ruler. This is how Herod served the Romans. We see this with King Zedekiah being urged by Jeremiah to submit to Nebuchadnezzar.[1]

The book of Deuteronomy is written like an ancient Hittite covenant. “It spelled out the terms of the relationship between the Hittite state and the vassals …which gave allegiance to the empire. The king would offer to protect the people in exchange for their support and tribute.”[2]

The Hittite kingdom was much like the Greeks and the Romans. They conquered, and the king of the defeated state could either submit or rebel. The book of Deuteronomy has all the major components of a Hittite suzerain treaty. God is the sovereign, and Israel is his vassal state.

The covenant Yahweh established with Israel at Mount Sinai exhibits striking parallels with Hittite suzerain/vassal treaties, which had six basic features: 1) a preamble that identifies the suzerain; 2) a historical prologue that recounts the previous relationship between the parties; 3) covenant stipulations to which the vassal must agree; 4) provisions for periodic reading and safekeeping of the covenant; 5) witnesses to the covenant; and 6) blessings and curses should the vassal either keep or fail to keep the covenant. The Sinaitic (Mosaic) covenant contains all six of these characteristics.[3]

So, while it is like the Babylonians or the Persians, the Romans or the Greeks, the First French Empire under Napoleon, or the Bolshevik Revolution, it is also quite different. This time it is not Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great; it is not Genghis Khan or Peter the Great, but rather the sovereign of the universe, Yeshua the Messiah, who occupies the nations of the earth and demands their submission. The ultimatum to “kiss the son” (v. 12) is a sign of servitude (Is. 49:23).

NEXT WEEK: Running out to meet our Liberator!

[1] Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared, and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live. But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians, and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from them.’” (Jer. 38:17-18) [2] Dyrness, 114. [3] Russ Meek, “The Suzerain Vassal Treaty (Covenant) in the Old Testament,” Russ Meek, October 14, 2020, https://russmeek.com/2020/10/the-suzerain-vassal-treaty-covenant-in-the-old-testament.