`For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea' (Isa. 11:9).

that is the sequel. The answer to the rebellion of the kings of the earth is found in Psalm 2:6,

`Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion'.

Beyond this holy hill the heathen in the uttermost parts are to be disciplined with a rod of iron, and the rebellious

kings and judges of the earth are given counsel and warning.

`Lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little' (Psa. 2:12).

This divinely appointed centre is the theme of Isaiah 2.

`And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top

of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall

go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He

will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of

the LORD from Jerusalem' (Isa. 2:2,3).

First the rod of His strength shall be sent `out of Zion' where the Lord will rule in the midst of His enemies (Psa.

110:2). He will, as Psalm 2:12 threatened, `strike through kings in the day of His wrath' (Psa. 110:5). After the

Lord returns unto Zion, and Jerusalem becomes `a city of truth' (Zech. 8:3) `many people and strong nations shall

come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.... In those days it shall come to pass, that

ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew,

saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you' (Zech. 8:22,23). When the glory returns to

Jerusalem and the temple is built according to the specifications given in the closing chapters of Ezekiel, then the

title of the Lord will be indeed Jehovah Shammah `The Lord is there' (Ezek. 48:35).

The Millennial kingdom ends as we have seen with a rebellious rising of the nations which are in the four

quarters of the earth, the number of which is so great as to justify the figure `the number of whom is as the sand of

the sea' (Rev. 20:8). Rebellion therefore was incipient during the 1,000 years. No such rebellion will mar the day

when 1 Corinthians 15:28 is fulfilled, but that lies beyond the limits of the Millennial kingdom and is not spoken of

in the Book of the Revelation. We may discover that much that we have imagined belonged to the Millennium will

prove to belong to the period that follows. The day of the Lord is followed by the day of God, the Sabbath, followed

by `the first or eighth day'.

If we keep strictly to the record of Revelation 20 we shall see that the so-called Millennial kingdom is the period

when the suffering overcomer who has refused to recognise the Beast or his authority, will `live and reign with

Christ, a thousand years', but nothing is said of the bulk of the nation of Israel, except to reveal that there was also

on the earth at the same time `the camp of the saints' and `the beloved city'. To a large extent this phase of the

kingdom is God's answer to the only pre-millennial kingdom known in the Apocalypse, namely the Pre-Millennial

kingdom of the Beast! When Jerusalem is created a rejoicing and her people a joy, it is then that the wolf and the

lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock, and (yet, at the selfsame time) dust shall be the

serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, saith the Lord (Isa. 65:18,19,25).

The reference to the serpent here suggests that the perfect kingdom has not yet arrived, and in line with this, in

the midst of this section which speaks of `Millennial' blessedness when `as the days of a tree' shall be the days of

His elect (Isa. 65:22), we learn that a `child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old

shall be accursed' (Isa. 65:20). While the age of Methuselah is proverbial, and the age of many of the patriarchs of

Genesis chapters 1 to 11 approached to the 1,000-year limit, not one ever reached it. `The days of a tree' may mean

a thousand years, and for any one in that day to die at a hundred years of age would be like a child dying. The fact,

however, that it can be contemplated that a `sinner' should `die' at a hundred years of age or be `accursed' (however

difficult may be the true exposition of Isaiah 65:20), makes one thing certain, it comes before the descent of the New

Jerusalem to the earth, for then there will be `no more' sin, death or curse. This together with the reference to the

SERPENT in verse 25, makes it evident that during the `Millennial' kingdom there will be some who will be punished