Blessed are the meek: for they shall
inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5).
MILLENNIALIST
ARGUMENT:
“Doesn’t this passage imply a future
earthly millennium?”
(I)
Prof. Herman C.
Hanko
[Source:
Covenant
Reformed Fellowship News, vol. 3, no. 16, pp. 3-4]
[Matthew
5:5] does not mean to deny that the kingdom of Christ is heavenly and not of
this earth. That is clear from countless passages in the Old and New
Testaments.
But
when Christ comes again at the end of the world to take His church to her final
glory and to make all things new, He will also make this earthly creation new.
We
often forget this. This whole universe is God’s world, God’s creation which He
loves (John 3:16). While wicked men seemingly rule in this creation, it often
appears as if they can make the creation their own and do with it as they
please.
But
God never relinquishes His claim upon His creation which His hands have formed.
It is and remains His. And although now the curse is on it, Christ died also
for it. And Christ died for it because God established His covenant with it (Gen.
9:8-17). When this creation is purged through the fire that shall destroy it at
the last day, the creation shall not be annihilated; it shall be purged; and
from the ashes of this old creation God will make all things new.
And
the wonderful thing of it all is that God will give it to His elect as their
everlasting inheritance.
Psalm
37 speaks of this repeatedly. Other passages from the prophets foretell this.
Revelation 21:1 emphatically speaks of it: “And I saw a new heaven and a new
earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.”
This
new earth will be made like unto the heavenly, for all things will be raised to
the heavenly. And, just as our resurrection bodies will be new and glorious, so
will also the place where we will live. Heaven and earth shall be made one.
All
will be redeemed in the blood of Christ and will be to the glory of God in
Christ forever and ever.
---------------------------------------------
(II)
More to come! (DV)
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