Establishing the kingdom (4)

The Bible says that Jesus will return to earth when the Jews are ready to receive Him, to deal with His enemies and set up His kingdom.

(If anyone tells you that God has washed His hands of the Jews, take no notice. It isn't true. Look at Rev 21:10 - 14, which tells how at the end of time the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven:

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

having the glory of God. And her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal,

Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.

Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

The names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel, and the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.

If people tell you that God has finished with the Jews, ask them what the names of the 12 tribes of Israel are doing on the gates of the New Jerusalem.)

The glories of Christ's kingdom are described in many places in the Old Testament, for instance Micah 4:1 - 3:

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
  That the mountain of the Lord's house
 Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
  And shall be exalted above the hills;
And peoples shall flow to it.

Many nations shall come and say,
  "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
  He will teach us his ways,
And we shall walk in his paths."
  For out of Zion the law shall go forth,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between many peoples,
  And rebuke strong nations afar off,
They shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
  And their spears into pruning-hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
  Neither shall they learn war any more.

We are told to pray that His kingdom will come (Matt 6:10). We are told that His is the kingdom, and the power and the glory (Matt 6:13).

The first five verses of Psalm 2 tell us how the kings and rulers of the earth will seek to shake off God and His anointed, but God will hold them in derision. Then comes verse 6, surely one of the most reassuring verses in Scripture:

"Yet I have set my King
On my holy hill of Zion."