Galatians 4; he ano agora, he ano Ierousalem. Putting these references together, we perceive that Sion differs from

Jerusalem in that it is associated with overcoming, it is the Upper City, it is the alternative title to the heavenly

Jerusalem. In the Old Testament this heavenly city is unrevealed, and Zion refers there to the centre of the Lord's

administration not in days of perfect peace, but in the midst of enemies:

`The LORD shall send the rod of Thy strength out of Zion: rule Thou IN THE MIDST OF THINE ENEMIES'.

`The Lord at Thy right hand shall STRIKE THROUGH KINGS in the day of His WRATH' (Psa. 110:2,5).

This passage is comparable with Psalm 2. There we have the kings of the earth setting themselves against the Lord,

and against His anointed, but He that sitteth in the heavens shall have them in derision, and when He speaks to them,

it is in His WRATH, saying:

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

This King whose dominion includes `the uttermost parts of the earth' shall `break them with a rod of iron' and these

kings are enjoined to `Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, When His WRATH is kindled but a

little' (Psa. 2:6,8,9,12).

The Millennium follows immediately upon the Coming of Christ (Rev. 19:21; 20:1,2). There is no interval for a

Pre-Millennial kingdom in the records of the Apocalypse except it be the kingdom of the Beast. When Christ

comes, He comes to Zion:

`The Redeemer shall come to Zion ... Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon

thee' (Isa. 59:20 to 60:1).

At the selfsame time, namely at the coming of the Lord to Zion `darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness

the people ... and Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising ... the nation and the

kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish, yea those nations shall be utterly wasted' (Isa. 59:20; 60:1,2,3,12).

Again we read in the prophecy of Joel:

`Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land

tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand ... The LORD also shall roar out of Zion ... and the

heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children

of Israel ... for the LORD dwelleth in Zion' (Joel 2:1; 3:16,21).

The Millennium opens (1) with the Lord reigning in Zion, or (2) it does not. If it does, then the Millennium

cannot be a kingdom of universal peace, to say so denies the testimony of Scripture. When the Lord reigns in Zion

it is in the midst of enemies. Wrath is to be feared. Rule will be severe - a rod of IRON. Nations are in danger of

perishing and so are kings, and the nation and the kingdom that refuse to serve Israel shall perish `Yea, those nations

shall be utterly wasted' (Isa. 60:12). This will be the day when Israel shall be named `The Priests of the Lord' and

`Ministers of our God', the day when those that mourn `in Zion' shall have beauty for ashes (Isa. 61:3,6).

So we could continue. We must either believe that when the Lord reigns in Zion, it will be on an earth where

enemies still exist, or we can believe one or other of the theories with which the Millennial kingdom has been

invested, but it is impossible to believe both.

The Millennium is man's last opportunity and test. Here, when sin is restrained and the Devil bound, man still

proves utterly unable to stand, and the Millennium is the last of a series that commenced with Eden, and which

continued under patriarchal rule, the dominion of law, and the reign of David, even to the advent of the Son of Man

in His humiliation on earth.

We have evidently placed in the Millennium prophecies that belong to a succeeding age, and not to the reign of

the overcomer. A day follows the Millennium when the heavenly Jerusalem descends to the earth, to be the jewelled

centre of a new earth, and Peter tells us that the day of God follows the day of the Lord. The new heavens and the