From Newsweek, July 21, 2001, "The Glorious Rise of Christian Pop"

Left Behind is arguably the single most successful Christian product on the market (after the Bible, of course). Tyndale has published eight books in the series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins with a total of 28.8 million copies sold. Last year "The Indwelling" became the first Christian novel ever to hit No. 1 on The New York Times’s best-seller list—and that was without counting books sold in religious bookstores, which the Times does not monitor. A children’s series of the books, "Left Behind: The Kids," has sold more than 7 million copies. And last year, former Growing Pains heartthrob Kirk Cameron starred in a Left Behind movie . . . the producers . . . released it first on video—and sold more than 3 million copies . . . .

We’re going to look at just one point of error in this very popular and prevalent doctrine—the reign of Christ--and hopefully we can use a discussion of this popular book series as an opportunity to open a discussion about the REAL reign of Christ.

Turn to Isaiah 11. Looking at the context of Isaiah’s prophecy, Assyria will invade, Samaria will fall, Israel will be carried, Jerusalem and Judah would be smitten by God, Assyria would be destroyed—never to rise again—all of these terrible prophecies, but in the middles of it Isaiah delivers God’s encouragement to the faithful—a remnant will endure through the captivity and return, from THAT God would build a spiritual kingdom—now we’re given prophecies about its leader, its king—

Isaiah 7:14: [Indicates the king will be born of a virgin.] "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel."

Isaiah 9:6-7: [Shows that the government is to built on this One’s shoulders.] For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

Isaiah 11:1-5: Then a shoot will spring forth from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

(2) And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

(3) And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, and He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make a decision by what His ears hear;

(4) but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; and He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.

(5) Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, and faithfulness the belt about His waist.

He would come forth like a twig from the roots of David which were apparently dead yet still alive and establish a more powerful kingdom.

Has this happened yet? In every denomination it is prevalently believed that the kingdom has NOT been established—they believe that Christ is now serving as Holy Priest in Heaven, having failed to establish His kingdom when He came to Earth, and that His kingship will be established in an earthly manner, as an earthly, physical kingdom, not a spiritual one.

To refute this doctrine we must address a few basic points:

1) The branch spoken of actually is Christ.

2) Christ is both king AND priest, and the two are inseparable—if He is one, He is the other, if He is not one, He is not the other.

3) Consequently the branch prophecies all point to a time that has ALREADY PASSED—it has happened

4) We also should look at the nature of the Kingdom He rules—obviously, it is NOT a physical one.
 
 

1. Christ the Branch of David.

It’s important to first note that the royal lineage of David at the time of Christ was basically a stump.

Jeremiah 22:24-30: [Prophesies of the cutting off David’s lineage.]

This passage indicates that Coniah will bear no children—this is a symbolic gesture on God’s part. Clearly, Coniah does have sons after this (Coniah, whose name is also translated Jeconiah, also Jehoiachin, is identified in the lineage of Christ in Matthew 1:12), BUT his sons will not be kings—it is not a royal lineage now.

Jeremiah 23:5-6: [Here is made mention a promise of one to come.]

A righteous Branch called "Lord our righteousness" was to rise up for David.

Look again at Isaiah 11:2—it says the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, and goes on to describe the attributes endowed to the Branch. Does Christ fulfill this aspect of the prophecy?

Mark 1:10: [At Jesus’ baptism.] And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening up, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him . . . .

Isaiah 11:9-10: They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Then it will come about in that day that the nations will resort to the root of Jesse, who will stand as a signal for the peoples; and His resting place will be glorious.

Isaiah is indicating that Christ will reign over all nations in that day. This passage is referenced in by Paul in Romans 15:12, identifying CHRIST.

Romans 15:8: For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers,

And as if we need any further proof that Christ is indeed the Branch of David, look at Revelation 22:

Revelation 22:16: "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star."

CHRIST IS THE BRANCH OF DAVID SPOKEN OF IN THESE PASSAGES.

2. That being established, let’s go back to the book of Jeremiah for our next point . . . the dual nature of Christ’s kingship and priesthood.

Jeremiah 33:14-18

Here it is identified that the Branch of David, called Lord our righteousness, will serve BOTH on the throne of David AND for the priesthood. A king and priest combined. This poses a real problem for the premillennialist doctrine.

Zechariah 6:12-13:

"Then say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, "Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the Lord.

"Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the Lord, and He who will bear the honor and sit and rule on His throne. THUS, HE WILL BE A PRIEST ON HIS THRONE, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices."

Christ was to be a priest AND a ruling king—to hold both offices in the OT was illegal; this is obviously something NEW being prophesied; the Branch will sit to rule and is a priest—He will be a priest . . . on His throne.

What does this spell for those that say Christ is not ruling at this moment? In the NT, Christ is identified as both an active king and an active priest.

Hebrews 4:14: Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

Jesus is priest—we have him. When the law changed He is leader of the NEW order—

Hebrews 7:11-14:

Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron?

For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.

For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar.

For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.

So, again, this is something that was previously unknown, but THIS is the real clincher—

Hebrews 8:1: Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens . . . .

We have a priest who is seated and ruling!

But WHERE is He enthroned? v.4 indicates that he is seated on His throne in Heaven.

And WHEN did He take His seat?

Hebrews 1:3: And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hands of the Majesty on high;

Christ made purification of sins when He was crucified—He is seated. At His trial, Christ Himself establishes His kingship—

John 18:37: Pilate therefore said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.

And, of course, we have Acts 2, which, in v.30, begins with reference to Psalm 132:11—this passage applied to Jesus—

Acts 2:30-36

v.30-31—Christ was raised in order to SIT

v.32-33—He sits at the right hand of God in Heaven

v.35—Christ’s enemies are on Earth—they are His footstool. Why would Christ lower Himself to reign over all the nations?

v.36—both Lord and Christ; "Lord" in what sense? V.34 indicated that He’d be a lord in the sense that David was lord, but He was to be Lord of lords

Daniel 7:13-14:

"I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him.

"And to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed."

Notice that the Son of Man was to go UP TO the Ancient of Days, not COME DOWN TO.

While we’re in Daniel, we look to chapter 2 to introduce us to our third and fourth points--

3. When was the Kingdom established?

Daniel 2:36-44: [We read here Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream—in it we find a definitive answer to WHEN Christ’s kingdom would come.]

Here we have the rising and passing of four mighty empires—in the fourth, God’s eternal kingdom would come—Babylon, Persia, Greece, and ROME—in THOSE DAYS it would be established,

v.44—no people will break it up,

v.45—the stone, God’s kingdom, came when the image was still standing—it didn’t crumble only to re-emerge later and THEN have an eternal kingdom sprout out—and if the statue were built in accordance with the premillennialist doctrine, the statue would have to be standing on stilts representing these 2,000 years with little Roman feet appearing again at the bottom.

Mark 1:14-15: And after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,

And saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

And yet, no kingdom of God’s ever militarily swept through the Earth—so here we must again address the NATURE of Christ’s kingdom and His subjects.

Isaiah 2:1-4: The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

Now it will come about that in the last days, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it.

And many peoples will come and say, "Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways, and that we may walk in His paths." For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nations, and never again will they learn war.

So in Isaiah 2 we see—

v.2—in the last days . . .

v.2—all nations will flow to it . . .

v.1—indicates that Jerusalem and Judah are involved . . .

v.3—come forth from Jerusalem . . . a peaceable kingdom

Look again at Acts 2.

v.17—THIS IS "the last days"

v.5—it takes place IN Jerusalem

v.5—men of every nation . . .

What happened at Pentecost? What are the apostles doing? Adding the church.

Ephesians 2:13-14: But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.

Jew and Gentile, all men brought together in a common peace . . . a peaceable kingdom

Keeping in Ephesians 2—

v.13—we are brought near to Him by His blood

v.16—we are reconciled through the cross

v.17—To whom did Jesus preach peace? Near and far—ALL

SO the kingdom is described in Isaiah 2, fulfilled in Acts 2, and Ephesians 2 shows us HOW—by Christ’s death... no military coup
 

Romans 5:1: Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ ...

That peace is made available in His EXISTING, ETERNAL kingdom.

Christ is the Branch of David, sent to unite the nations, to sit and rule as king and serve as high priest at the same time. His rule would begin with His kingdom set to come about in the days of the Iron Kingdom of Daniel 2—the Roman Empire. Christ came to Earth, said, "The kingdom is at hand," He sacrificed Himself, and His kingdom—a SPIRITUAL kingdom—came into existence. Free to all nations, flowing out to every part of the Earth, a peaceable kingdom, a heavenly kingdom.

No rapture. No tribulation. No Megiddo, no single Anti-Christ. MANY anti-Christs, yes, but no single one. This is so, so, so, so simple. But the world sees fit to make it complex, much like those Judaizing teachers, making complicated the simple.

Isaiah 11, Jeremiah 23, 33 – prophecy of the Branch

Revelation 22:16 – Christ is the Branch

Isaiah 2, Acts 2, Ephesians 2—the kingdom is established, it is NOW, it is peaceable, it is spiritual.

If you’ve yet to become a citizen, your opportunity to gain salvation is NOW.