Lesson 14

Once Jesus returns and defeats the False Prophet and Beast, living waters flow out from Jerusalem helping to transform the earth back into a paradise during the first thousand years. Keeping Satan bound in prison and unable to influence the world’s inhabitants is vital for this part of God’s plan of redemption. Satan is the prince of the power of the air and he broadcasts his sinful nature to mankind through the air. With him in chains, away from humanity, this will be the first time people are free of Satan and able to fully live within God’s loving ways unhindered. Although they are living under the rule of God, all the earth’s inhabitants don’t willingly follow Jesus, some will need divine persuasion. When the Kingdom of God is ruling the world, humanity will finally be living in a world of peace and the knowledge of God will fill the world. How do these verses blend with the traditional beliefs of when and where heaven is? Could a world where God is worshiped everywhere and where even the animals live at peace be possible if Satan was free to broadcast his sinful nature?  

Ephesians 2:1-2 Evangelical Heritage Version
1 You were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked when you followed the ways of this present world. You were following the ruler of the domain of the air, the spirit now at work in the people who disobey.

Zechariah 14:8-9 Contemporary English Version
8 In both summer and winter, life-giving streams will flow from Jerusalem, half of them to the Dead Sea in the east and half to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 9 Then there will be only one Lord who rules as King and whose name is worshiped everywhere on earth.

Zechariah 14:17-19 The Message
16-19 All the survivors from the godless nations that fought against Jerusalem will travel to Jerusalem every year to worship the King, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, and celebrate the Feast of Booths. If any of these survivors fail to make the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship the King, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, there will be no rain. If the Egyptians don’t make the pilgrimage and worship, there will be no rain for them. Every nation that does not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths will be hit with the plague. Egypt and any other nation that does not make pilgrimage to celebrate the Feast of Booths gets punished.

Isaiah 11:6-9 King James Version
8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.