A Changed World Under Christ
When the Lord Jesus Christ returns to earth, there will be a resurrection of the dead: ”Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt”
(Daniel 12:2).

Concerning those who attain unto life eternal, it is said: ”They shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years”
(Revelation 20:6; see also ch. 5:9-10).

Obviously the immortal redeemed will not reign with Christ in heaven as some claim. Clearly the Bible shows it shall be on earth. Christ will occupy ”the throne of his father David” (Luke 1:32), and that throne was in Jerusalem. In that city Christ shall establish the nucleus of his earthly rule and Zechariah declares that he shall be ”king over all the earth” (’ch. 14:9).

Notice the clear evidence of the Bible:

(1) The Lord is to return personally and visibly to the earth:
”This same Jesus, which is taken up from you (apostles) into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1: I 1 ).
”Every eye shall see him” (Revelation 1:7).

(2) He will raise from the dead and bestow immortality on those who have lived according to his precepts:
”For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterwards they that are Christ’s at his coming” (CORINTHIANS 1S:21-23).
”For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (v. 53).

(3) He will destroy the military might of the nations:
”He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Micah 4:3).
”The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted” (Isaiah 60: 12).

(5) He will set up his power in Jerusalem:
”The Lord shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously” (Isaiah 24:23).

(6) He will proclaim his law from Jerusalem requiring the obedience of all nations:
”Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3).
”A law shall proceed from Me, and I will make My judgment to rest for a light of the people” (Isaiah 51:4).
”He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his law” (Isaiah 42:4).

(7) He will completely restore scattered Israel, and regenerate the nation as the nucleus of his world power:
”Behold, I will save My people from the east country and from the west country; and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, in truth and righteousness” (Zechariah 8:7).

(8) He will supervise the building of a glorious Temple in Jerusalem as a centre of universal worship:
”Behold, the man whose name is the Branch (a title of Christ); and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord; even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both” (Zechariah 6:12-13).
”Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people” (Isaiah S6:7).

(9) Representatives of the nations will make constant pilgrimage to Jerusalem for worship:
”It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities; and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts; I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord” (Zechariah 8:20-22).
”It shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 14:16). ”All flesh shall come to worship before Me, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 66:23).

(10) This will result in one thousand years of peace on earth with humanity delivered from the problems and frustrations of today:
”They (the immortalised Redeemed) shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him (i.e. over the mortal populations of the earth) a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6).
”Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14).
”Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
”In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth... He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper... He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence; and precious shall their blood be in his sight” (Psalm 72:7-14).

All the Bible passages quoted above, emphasise that the earth is the arena of God’s future purpose with humanity, and that His plan envisages a time when present conditions will be replaced by a divine order, the kingdom of God on earth. Christ is to return to set up his power and reign from Jerusalem.

Enemies of Righteousness Overthrown At Christ’s Return
Christ’s return will synchronise with a period of extreme international trouble. Daniel predicts that there will be ”a time of trouble such as never was” (Daniel 12:I), and we are experiencing premonitions of that in the developing world problems of the moment.

His first work will be to resurrect those amenable to judgment (John 5:28-29; 2Corinthians 5: 10), and reward with immortality those believers who have obeyed his precepts (Romans 2:6-7). Then, with almighty power, he will compel the nations to submit to his rule (Zechariah 14:1-S). ”He must reign,” taught Paul, ”till he hath put all enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25).

When Christ has triumphed over the present rulers of a spiritually dark and evil age, when every social, political, moral and ecclesiastical evil has been suppressed, and man’s power brought into subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ, ”glory to God in the highest peace on earth and good will toward men” will result.
Food, raiment, shelter, health, strength, even life itself, come from God, and therefore it is only reasonable that praise and adoration be presented to Him. This is the fundamental characteristic of all who would serve Christ even now, and it will be required of all people when Christ rules in the earth. It will be reflected particularly in the services to be conducted in the great temple to be erected in Jerusalem under the supervision of Christ - the ”house of prayer for all nations” to which he referred when he visited the temple almost 2,000 years ago.