Hi all,
In the first two parts of this series I shared we are called 'royal' by the Word in several places, and are further told we will reign on the earth during the 1000 year reign of Jesus. Today we will look at who the rest of the kingdom residents are. 
 
How do we get from heaven to rule on earth?
Zechariah 14:5 tells us of the return of Messiah: "...and the Lord will come, and all the saints with you!", confirming the 'armies of heaven' described in Revelation 19 all riding white horses as the Lord does at His return, are indeed believers who have been in heaven up to that point. Further confirmation is given in Revelation 19.
 
Revelation 19: 7-8 tells us those in heaven have been having a marriage supper for 'His wife has made herself ready', which tells us our responsibility in this life to live as one preparing for our wedding day. It says of those saints that 'fine linen, clean and white' was given to them, "for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." Verse 9 concludes: "Blessed are those invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb", which means in order to have an invitation there must also be those not invited. 
 
Who is invited?
In the Jewish Feast of Trumpets the 'rapture' is taught. In that feast day it teaches a 'catching away' initiated by a specific trumpet called 'the last trumpet' or 'last trump' happens with the dead who died believing in Messiah.  
 
The Feast of Trumpets teaches the dead in Messiah will rise to be hidden in Messiah. This is why it is the only festival that starts on the New Moon phase when the moon is hidden, for the moon in Judaism stands for believers. (The sun stands for God, the moon for believers because it has no light of its own but reflects the light of the sun, was made to rule the darkness, etc). 
 
It is why Paul stated in Colossians 2: 16-17 that the new moon is a shadow of something to come. The hidden moon is a type of the Feast of Trumpets blast which causes the dead in Messiah to rise to be hidden in Him. 
 
But Paul adds fresh revelation to the Feast in I Corinthians 15: 51-52 the feast doesn't reveal; that not only will the dead in Messiah arise at what is called 'The Awakening Blast', but also those alive at the time of the blowing of the trumpet will be changed and join them to be hidden with Messiah. (I've recorded several MP3/CD teachings if you want more information, go to our site, click 'store', and search for end times category) 
 
In the Feast the believers in Messiah will be judged (Judgement Seat of Christ) and then immediately take part in a celebratory wedding feast that goes on for 7 years. During these 7 years on earth however, the earth enters 'the days of awe' when the judgement books are opened and prepared for the remaining inhabitants of earth, which is a time of great tribulation, known at the 'time of Jacob's trouble', and culminating in 'the day of the Lord', which is the return of Jesus. 
 
So the ones in heaven participating in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb as described in Revelation 19, is limited to those believers who had earlier died, and those alive when the Last Trumpet sounds. Those saved in the Tribulation won't attend because they will have missed the Last Trumpet's blast. Those who survive the Tribulation and Armageddon won't attend. Those born in the Millennium will be born too late to have attended. Only those it says, who were believers who had died before the Trumpet sounded, or were alive to hear it will attend. 
 
In the immediate verses after saying the saints are given fine linen clean and white, in v11-14, the apostle is describing the return of Jesus telling us He is riding a white horse, and so are the armies of heaven, all of them clothed "in fine linen, clean and white" - showing by that context and also Zechariah 14:5 that the Lord returns with us, the saints who have died and gone to heaven in our age.
 
The survivors of the Tribulation and return of Jesus
After telling us the Lord is coming with all His saints, Zechariah 14:16 says this: "And it will happen that everyone who is left from all the nations which came against Jerusalem to fight (at the return of the Lord in Revelation 19), shall go year by year to worship the King, the Lord of the armies, to keep the Feast of Tabernacles." 
 
The Feast of Tabernacles celebrates God living with man, and though they are to come every year to celebrate Jesus physically living with man, there will be people in some nations that will resist the Kingship of Jesus. They resent righteous rule by the Lord and the righteous government of the saints. For verses 17-19 reveal:
 
"And it will be that whosoever won't come up of all the people of the earth to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of the armies, then upon them will be no rain. (For instance) if the family of Egypt will not come up, then upon them will be no rain. That is the plague with which the Lord will hit the heathen that won't come up for the Feast of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment on Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that don't come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles." Notice, in the next age there will still be heathen that Jesus and we rule over. 
 
Matthew 25: 31-32 describes the scene at Jesus' return once He sets foot in Israel: "...He will sit on the throne of His glory, and all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. The sheep (nations) He will set on His right, and the goat (nations) on His left..."
 
Even at His return there will be (heathen) people and whole nations who don't want enforced righteousness made by the King and His royal family - and that is where we will pick it up next week to close out this series. Until then, blessings!
 
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

Hi all,
I closed last week talking about the fact we are royal children, and as with any royalty, royals rule over non-royal citizens. The kingdom of heaven is set up the same way. We are royalty, but not all in the kingdom of heaven are. 
 
I think we lump every believer down through the ages and into the future ages all together as being the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, royal children, but that is because we haven't been taught what the Word actually says. Once we do that, order is seen, and also we will see just how special you are!
 
Who is qualified? Who will rule the earth?
"Do you not know the saints will judge the world?...Do you not know that we will judge angels?" I Corinthians 6: 2-3 
 
"For to the angels He did not put in subjection the world to come..." Hebrews 2: 5
"And has made us kings and priests to God and His Father..." Revelation 1: 6
"...and has made us unto our God a kingdom of priests, and we shall reign on the earth." Revelation 5: 10
 
"...and laid hold of...the devil...and cast him into the bottomless pit...until after 1000 years...And I saw thrones and those who sat upon them, and authority to rule was given them...and I saw people who had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshipped the beast neither had taken his mark on their foreheads or in their hands...and they lived and reigned with Christ 1000 years. But the rest of the dead did not rise until after the 1000 years were finished. This was the first resurrection." Revelation 20: 1-5
 
How spiritually mature now must you be to rule then?
The above verses were written to real people - imperfect people  - and they were told they will rule and reign with the Lord in the 1,000 years called the Millennium. Some of these Paul wrote to were the Corinthians. 
 
Paul said to them 'we' will judge the world and angels. Not 'he' but 'we', meaning Paul and those he was writing to.
 
Again, 'judge' is an administrative term from the first century, meaning you are going into government service, it is not a court situation of judging angels like right or wrong, but rather being in charge of them, giving assignments and such. For the people we rule over the age to come will be settling disputes by the gifts of the Spirit and seeing to it that the Lord's will is done in that which we are put in charge. 
 
Rabbit trail
Early on when the Lord started visiting me to teach me things, He let me ask 'my' angel questions after he had delivered his message to me. I asked him on one such occasion how he felt about me ruling over him in the age to come. The expression on his face immediately turned to horror that I could ask such a thing as he said in utter shock to me: 
 
"It is right! It is proper!" I asked 'Why?' and he responded, "Remember, we know Him as Creator. But you know Him as Savior!" 
 
Those wild & crazy Corinthians!
The Corinthians had at least 10 major issues covered in Paul's first letter. This will give us hope for ourselves! 
 
In chapter 3 they were in envy and strife and divisions living like they weren't born again Paul told them. 
In chapter 5 a man sleeping with his step mother and the rest of the body of Christ not dealing with it.
In chapter 6, the first part has believers suing each other, while others in the chapter he names as formerly "sexually impure, homosexual, idol worshippers, adulterers, 'abusers of themselves with mankind' (let your imagination wander on that one), thieves, drunks, extortioners, 'party spirit', visiting prostitutes connected to temple idolatry, and rioters...And such were some of you..." His exhortation was to stay with the Lord, and pure in Him. 
 
In 7 it was confusion about dating, marriage, divorce. 
In 8 it was flaunting their freedom in Christ by eating meat that had earlier been surfaced to idols in the presence of other believers who thought it was a sin to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols.
In 9 it was about supporting Paul financially because they had received so much from him but gave nothing back. 
In 10 he warned them saying Israel's unbelief was an example for them, and closing thoughts on eating meat that had been previous sacrificed to idols in the pagan temples. 
 
In 11 we see the rich refused to eat with and have the Lord's Supper with the poor, and as a result of their prejudice some had died early and others were 'weak and sickly' Paul said, for 'not discerning the body'. 
Chapters 12-14 were about the gifts of the Spirit, love, order in the home based meetings that was church.
In chapter 15 it was about the rapture as taught in the Feast of Trumpets.
In 16 it was giving to others, personal plans and closing messages.
 
So you can see, they had issues just like Christians today! And yet he said, they will judge the world and angels. 
 
I shared that because if someone is their own worst enemy, the thoughts that arise are 'I'm not worthy to be one of those who reign' and 'I'm not qualified because....' But the truth is that Paul included the Corinthians with all their faults and immaturity in his teaching on the rapture, saying they were included, and they would administrate the coming world and angels. Amazing grace! 
 
I felt we needed to get that out of the way. Those saved from the gospels to the coming of Jesus are included in those who will reign...amazing grace. Yes, you are qualified to reign in the age to come, not by reaching a level of maturity, rather being in Christ now and knowing Him now. 
 
"Now are we the sons of God, but it does not yet appear what we shall be, for when He appears we will see Him as He is, and we will be like Him." I John 3: 2
 
If you look at yourself now you may say 'No way am I qualified'. The good news is, Jesus is basing His choosing of us to live in this time based on what 'we shall be' when we see Him 'as He is', in full glory -  a glory that will further transform us. So rejoice...and more next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

Hi all,
In the previous series I shared about Jesus the Oriental King. Now I'm sharing a related topic, royals and non-royals in the kingdom of heaven. 
 
We are royals in the kingdom of heaven
"You are a choice *race , a royal priesthood, a holy *nation , a people acquired..." I Peter 2:9
 
*The word 'race' here is the Greek word 'genos', for 'family', and where English gets 'generation' and 'genealogy' - family. The word 'nation' is the Greek word 'ethnos', where we get the word 'ethnic'.* 
 
Ethnos doesn't mean a nation like we think of a nation with borders covering a specific geographic area, but rather 'ethnic' as a distinct ethnicity, a "subgroup within a population." It means being classed with others of a common background or origin. Ethnically in the kingdom of heaven, we are a unique class of being, royal priests. 
 
I Peter 2:9 thus reads: "You are a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy (distinct) ethnic group within the population, a people acquired..."
 
Most Christians assume all people in all ages who get saved will be folded into 'the body of Christ' as one big happy heavenly family, but that is not what the Bible actually says.
 
Here is something to consider
As royalty we won't be the only ones in the kingdom. We are royalty, the others are not. We are the royal family. Was the royal family of King David the only citizens in Israel? Is the royal family of Great Britain the only citizens in the UK? 
 
A kingdom
A kingdom has a king, in our case, Jesus. A kingdom has its own laws, customs and....a royal family who 'outranks' the rest of the citizens of the kingdom. Today the UK is an example everyone knows, so I'll use that. The first five royals in order to the throne are:
 
1, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales. 2, Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge. 3, Prince George of Cambridge, eldest child of William and Kate. 4, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, child 2 of William and Kate. 5, Prince Louis Arthur Charles, Prince of Cambridge, child 3 of William and Kate. 
 
And so it goes. One site lists 53 in line for the throne, and their relatives are part of the extended royal family as well, depending on how different lists are compiled. As royals they have rank and privilege. 
 
But the total population of the UK is over 66 million people. The royals are a very small percentage of the total population. 
 
God's royals: Israel
Israel came out of Egypt, and on the 50th day, in Exodus 19:5-6, when Israel was camped at the bottom of the mountain, the Lord told Israel: "You are my own treasure above all the nations of the earth, for all the earth is mine. You will be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation." 
 
Notice - a kingdom of priests ABOVE all the nations of the earth. The whole of Israel was to have been royal priests to God above the other nations, and therefore His representatives to the other nations of the earth. They were the royal nation over all the other nations of the earth. They had special rank with God that other nations did not. 
 
All the earth - all the people - are His creation, but Israel was to be the top nation, the favored nation. God made covenant with them and no other nation. The knowledge of God was to have been dispersed to the nations through Israel. 
 
They failed, and now we Gentiles have been given the opportunity to share God with the world. We are unique in that privilege. We are His royal children. All who believe in Jesus in this age are God the Father's own royal family, a unique ethnic group in this world, given the privilege of knowing Jesus and sharing that knowledge with the world. 
 
You may be asking if we are the royal family, then who are the other citizens in the kingdom who are not royalty? 
 
And that will require many verses for next week...so until then...blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com
 

Hi all,
I've been talking about how Jesus is an Oriental King, and the Bible is an Oriental book. Today: What happens when He takes His throne.
 
One of the characteristics of Oriental rulers that can be traced back centuries, is that the ruler is also considered divine, and worshipped. As such they had absolute rule. 
 
For instance, the Emperor of China was considered to be the son of heaven, and absolute ruler of what was called All Under Heaven. Egyptian Pharaohs were considered to be incarnations of the god Horus. Romulus, the founder of Rome, was considered to be Quirinus the undefeated god, and by the time of the gospels and epistles Emperor worship was part of the Roman culture, among just a few examples. 
 
When in Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar saw the image with the head of gold, and the rest of the body made of lesser materials, he was told by Daniel that he was that head of gold - superior in government to the ones that followed. Nebuchadnezzar had absolute rule. His kingship had not submitted itself to the rule of law - what he willed was law.
 
The one in the image immediately following Nebuchadnezzar was the chest and arms of silver, the 2 arms describing the Medo-Persia rule. You will recall the ruler of the Medes and Persians, Darius (chapter 6) made a law saying that for 30 days no one may pray to anyone but him, the god-king Darius.
 
Daniel of course did not obey the law, which resulted in his conviction (6: 7-16). When Darius wanted to change his mind about the law because he had not intended to trap Daniel, he could not, for unlike Nebuchadnezzar, he had submitted himself to the rule of law, so he had to throw Daniel in the lion's den. 
 
777 - Jesus is THE head of gold
Six has been seen as the number of man ever since it was observed he was created in the sixth day. Ever since Nimrod in Genesis 10 absolute rulers have tried to combine political, religious, and economics under them, in what is known as 666. The triune rule of man, for combining those 3 elements is controlling the people 100%.
 
For instance, Hitler was able to combine political and economic rule, but he could not get everyone to worship him, resulting in the holocaust which cost 6 million Jews their lives, and another 6 million Christians and political opponents theirs, in the camps. 
 
The rule of man politically, religiously, and economically, will end with the Lord Jesus taking absolute control of the earth, in what will be the 777 so to speak. He will be the first ruler ever who will successfully combine politics, economics, and religion under one King. 
 
We are now in a time when the great harvest of the earth is happening. This is why harvest terms are used to describe Jesus and us as the 'firstfruits of the earth', in James 1: 18, Romans 8: 23, 11: 16; I Corinthians 15: 23.
 
King over the whole earth
Zechariah 14: 9 tells us '...in that day the Lord will be King over all the earth...' Furthermore, THIS oriental King will demand worship, for Zechariah 14: 16-19 says this: 'Every year the nations will come to Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles (which celebrates God living with man) to worship the King, and if for instance, Egypt refuses to come, then 'upon them will be no rain...' 
 
Revelation 2: 27, 12: 5, 19:15 all say He will rule the nations with a rod of iron. Jesus will be the true and absolute, Oriental King. Jesus, King of kings, Lord of lords. The rod of iron is the Word - He is the Person of the Living Word, and from Him proceeds our written Word. That means He will be enforcing love, forgiveness, right dealings and honesty in every aspect of human life. 
 
Administrators with gifts - Paul tells us in I Corinthians 6: 2 that we will 'judge' the world and angels, the word 'judge' is being an administrator of the world (not court judge like we think of in 21st century culture). We will administer the age when Jesus is King over the whole earth, Hebrews 6:5 calling the gifts of the Spirit 'the powers of the age to come'. We will have the gifts of the Spirit as we administer a forced righteousness on the earth, having words of knowledge and wisdom for situations and requiring people to be honest and transparent in their dealings. 
 
Remember that people will be born during these 1,000 years, and we will have probably billions who survive the last years of this age to see the return of Jesus, and many of them will not like enforced righteousness. That is why Zechariah mentions what will happen to nations who refuse to come to Jerusalem to worship the King - they will dig in their heels and refuse to celebrate God living with man. Amazing. 
 
Ezekiel 40-47 tells us of a temple that will be built, presumably a place for Jesus to call 'home'. The flow of water that starts there will flow into the Dead Sea, turning it into a fresh water lake! Can you imagine how huge that lake will have to become to dilute all that salt? Ezekiel 47: 6-12 tells us men will cast nets for the fish living there, and only the marshy places will be left briny. 
 
The royal children...
One other trait of Oriental kings is their children are royalty, and they want their children to rule and reign. We are not only a kingdom of priests to the Lord, but also the children of God. We are royalty, and as such have a place in the kingdom to come that others do not.
 
Others in the kingdom? That will be related but different subject for next week...I'll pick it up there, until then blessings! 
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com