Good Health
Isaiah also tells us that:

"There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old" (65:20).

This suggests that infant mortality, which is still a scourge in many developing countries, will be wiped out. If someone only reaches the age of 100 he will still be accounted a child. What a change from the present, when life expectancy in some countries is only 40 years or so, and even in the medically advanced countries it only attains what the Psalmist described as "threescore years and ten". Childhood will be a joy, and old age no disgrace, for, "there shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof" (Zechariah 8:4,5).

If Jesus, the Great Physician, in his first ministry could heal the sick, cure blindness-from-birth, make cripples walk, exorcise mental disorders and raise people from the dead, then there is every certainty that he and his aides will do that, and more, in the future. When the people of the world are moved to turn to divine standards and to seek help in the right quarter, then scourges like cancer and heart disease will disappear. When families again have a reverence for the sanctity of marriage and for correct sexual behaviour then pestilences like AIDS will no more afflict the nations. The good news is that:

"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing" (Isaiah 35:5-6).

World Resources for the Good of All

It is a sad commentary on our modern civilisation that despite large deposits of minerals and the abundant potential in the soil for the production of food, man seems unable to feed the ever-growing population. He cannot distribute the resources or organize the labour so that everyone can have satisfying work and lead a prosperous and contented life. But it can be done! The resources have been there since the Creator designed this bountiful earth. What it needs are right- minded people, with the commitment and authority to solve the physical problems and to organize the bounty.

It is worth remembering that Jesus was a great organiser as well as a great teacher. What he could do in feeding thousands of men, women and children in well-ordered groups of fifty or a hundred, with a dozen assistants, he will surely do among the starving millions when he is God's King on earth. The heart-rending scenes we have seen reported from Ethiopia or Mozambique or Bangladesh will be a thing of the past. No food mountains will rot in European storehouses; no American crops will be burned because the sale price is too low.

The Bible foresees the curse on the ground being removed, and plentiful crops for all who will labour for them. "There shall be an handful of corn ... upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon", said king David (Psalm 72:16). "The mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters", said Joel (3:18; see also Amos 9:13). The farmer's crops will be abundant, for "the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew" (Zechariah 8:12).

Then there is the prophet lsaiah's vision of the desert rejoicing and blossoming as the rose (35:1 ). Think of the vast areas of Africa, the Middle East and Asia where every year the sands are encroaching on fertile ground and millions are dying. Governments seem unable to spend the huge sums of money necessary to bring up the water that often lies just below the surface! Then what a blessing it will be for desert peoples to be engaged in huge irrigation schemes and to benefit from the new fertility of their lands. These are the wonderful things that will be possible in the kingdom of God.

Living Life to the Full
There will be less concentration of population in large cities: city-dwellers moving out into pasture and woodland areas made available by worldwide conservation schemes. God has never encouraged people to live in large cities, where the worst traits of humanity are expressed and where evil men hide in dark places. On the other hand when, under the improved conditions of Christ's reign, human fitness reaches its peak and men's minds are expanded to their full potential, there will be abundant room for utilising those skills, to the tremendous benefit of all the world's inhabitants. Everyone will achieve what we call 'job- satisfaction':

"They shall build houses, and inhabit them (a contrast with former times!); and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands" (Isaiah 65:21- 22).

Arabs Working with Jews
One of the most joyful prospects will be the harmony that will exist between ancient enemies. The prophet's vision of the wolf and the lamb feeding together is not only a beautiful description of a restored harmony between man and the animal creation, but it also has a special reference to future peace between previously warring nations. Isaiah speaks of the Arabs, coming to Jerusalem to "shew forth the praises of the Lord" (Isaiah 60:6). He pictures them helping to build up the walls of the new city, working with their former half- brothers, the Jews, and feeding their flocks and becoming farmers and vinedressers. That will be a wonderful reversal of the present state of affairs in the Middle East: a fulfilment of major promises which God made long ago to the Arab branch of Abraham's family.

How Long will it Last?
Will this benevolent state of affairs last for ever? In the sense that God has designed the earth for man to live on for ever, the answer is: Yes. But Christ's kingdom, controlled by ever-living rulers, will still have a predominantly mortal populace. That is to say, human propensities and sinfulness will still be there and that is why God has set a time limit on it. By God's reckoning it will take one thousand years fully to educate the inhabitants of the world to divine standards of behaviour. By then they will have a long-term understanding of the marvellous benefits to be enjoyed by possessing eternal life themselves.

Eventually the Millennium must come to an end. It will be marked by a deliberate easing of the King's strong reign in order to allow vestiges of rebellion among some of his subjects to come to the surface in a final desperate challenge to his will (see Revelation 20). These disloyal subjects will attack Jerusalem, but will be utterly destroyed. It will be mankind's last death fling. It will provide the necessary marker, a millennium-end "sign of the times", to the people of the world that the finale is about to take place.

When the rebellion is over, Christ's work as Saviour and King is nearly done. The dead of a thousand years must be raised from their graves, to meet again their King and Judge:

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened ... and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works" (Revelation 20:1 2).

Alongside those raised will stand the millions who are living. They must now await Christ's righteous judgement. The rebels and those who represent the worst elements of human nature will die, consigned to the "lake of fire", the death from which there is no returning. On the other hand, the faithful subjects of Christ's kingdom on earth will then receive their reward, everlasting life, just as their rulers had done a thousand years before.

"Thy kingdom come"
Following these dramatic events, the earth is to be inhabited only by men and women who possess eternal life. The work of the Lord Jesus as King is done. He has no mortal subjects to reign over and the great destroyers of man's potential, sin and death, have been conquered. God's will is now truly done on earth, and the "Lord's prayer" has been answered. The Apostle Paul summed it up in 1 Corinthians 15:

"Then cometh the end, when he (Jesus) shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death ... And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all" (verses 24-28).

We may find it difficult to think that far ahead, or to visualize what is meant by God being "all in all". But it will be the climax of the Creator's great purpose with the earth -- and it will be very wonderful!

"As truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord" (Numbers 14:21).

Don't let this marvellous future slip away from you! Jesus will be here soon. Please, read your Bible, and pray with all your heart:

"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven".