COVENANTS
PART 11: THE DAVIDIC COVENANT
DISPENSATIONS
2 Sam 7:1-16 (NIV) After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent. ”
Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you. ” But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying “Go and tell my servant David, … ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says, “I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel …
“I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.”
“‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you. When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever … YOUR HOUSE AND YOUR KINGDOM WILL ENDURE FOREVER BEFORE ME; YOUR THRONE WILL BE ESTABLISHED FOREVER. ’”
The Davidic Covenant contains several promises made to David.
First, God reaffirms the promise of the land that he made in the first two covenants with Israel (the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants).
2 Sam 7:10 (NIV) “I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore.”
God then promises that David’s son will succeed him as king of Israel and that this son (Solomon) would build the temple.
2 Sam 7:12–13 (NIV) “I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name. ”
But then the promise is expanded:
2 Sam 7:16 (NIV) “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever” [cf. 2 Sam 7:13 ]
What began as a promise that David’s son Solomon would be blessed and build the temple now develops into the promise of an everlasting kingdom.
David wanted to establish a house for God. But God says that he will establish David’s house. Another Son of David (Jesus) would rule forever and build a lasting house.
The covenant has many confirmations in the Old Testament.
Ps 89:3-4 (NIV) You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, ‘I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm through all generations. ’ ”
The covenant is unconditional (a Royal Grant) because God does not place any conditions of obedience upon its fulfillment.
Ps 89:20-37 (NIV) I have found David my servant; with my sacred oil I have anointed him … And I will appoint him to be my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth.
“I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail. I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure. If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes, if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered. Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness— and I will not lie to David—that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun; it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky. ”
Moses had promised that a future prophet would come to reveal God to men (Deut 18:15,19). This prophet became known as the Messiah (the Anointed One).
Because God prophesied that David’s kingdom would be established forever through his offspring, it was believed that the Messiah would be a descendant of David - and so the title “Son of David” was applied to the coming Messiah.
Primarily, the title “Son of David” is more than a statement of physical genealogy. It is a Messianic title. When people referred to Jesus as the Son of David, they meant that he was the long-awaited Deliverer, the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. *
A Messianic prophecy of Isaiah spoke of the Messiah (the Branch) as being a descendant of Jesse (David’s father):
Isa 11:1-2,10 (NIV) A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him - the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD ... In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.
In Jesus’ day, the people acknowledged that the Messiah (Christ) and “Son of David” were synonymous terms.
John 7:41-42 (NIV) Others said, “He is the Christ.” Still others asked, “How can the Christ come from Galilee? Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?”
Matt 12:22-23 (NIV) Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”
It is clear from the New Testament that Christ fulfills the Davidic Covenant. The first book of the New Testament starts by revealing the genealogy of Christ by listing all generations from Abraham to Jesus.
Matt 1:1 (NIV) A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David …
In the Gospel of Matthew people repeatedly refer to Jesus as “The Son of David”.
The titles of honour they gave him declared their faith in him. Calling him “Lord” expressed their sense of his deity, dominion, and power, and calling him “Son of David,” expressed their faith that he was the Messiah. *
Matt 20:30-31 (NIV) Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
Matt 15:22 (NIV) A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession. ”
Matt 9:27 (NIV) As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
At Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem:
Matt 21:9 (NIV) The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Mark 11:9-10 (NIV) Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
Matt 21:15 (NIV) But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
The Pharisees understood exactly what the people meant when they called Jesus “Son of David. ” But, unlike those who cried out in faith, the Pharisees were so blinded by their own pride that they couldn’t see what the blind beggars could see—that here was the Messiah they had supposedly been waiting for all their lives. They hated Jesus because he wouldn’t give them the honour they thought they deserved, so when they heard the people hailing Jesus as the Saviour, they became enraged (Matthew 21:15) and plotted to destroy him (Luke 19:47). *
Matt 22:41-45 (NIV) While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”
“The son of David,” they replied.
He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, ”‘The Lord said to my Lord “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. ”’ If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?”
Jesus further confounded the scribes and Pharisees by asking them to explain the meaning of this very title: how could it be that the Messiah is the son of David when David himself refers to him as “my Lord” (cf. Psalm 110:1)? *
The teachers of the Law couldn’t answer the question. Jesus thereby exposed the Jewish leaders’ ineptitude as teachers and their ignorance of what the Old Testament taught as to the true nature of the Messiah, further alienating them from Him. *
Jesus’ point in asking the question … was that the Messiah is more than the physical son of David. If he is David’s Lord, he must be greater than David. *
In the Book of Revelation, one of the 24 elders refers to Jesus as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” (Rev 5:5).
Jesus says of himself, “These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. ” (Rev 3:7, NIV, cf. Isa 22:22)
Rev 22:16 (NIV) “I, Jesus … am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star. ”
In other words, he is both the creator (the Root) of David and the descendant (Offspring) of David. Only the God in flesh could say that.
Luke attaches significance to the fact that Jesus is born in the “town of David” and that he belongs to the house and line of David:
Luke 2:4 (NIV) So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.
The child from David’s line is
proclaimed by the angel to be Messiah.
Luke 2:11-12 (NIV) “Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby
wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. ”
Full of the Spirit,
Zechariah prophesies:
Luke 1:69-75 (NIV)
He has raised up
a horn of salvation
for us in the house
of his servant David
(as he said through
his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
Matthew and Luke use genealogies to trace Christ’s descent from David.
In the destruction of Jerusalem, the genealogies were destroyed and it would be impossible for Jews of today to trace their lineage back to the line of David. *
Accordingly, in the wisdom of God, the proof that Christ was of the line of David has been preserved, but at the same time the evidence has been destroyed for any future contenders for the honours. *
The Jews of to-day must admit that they could not positively identify the lineage of a Messiah if he did appear now. Only Christ has the evidence necessary, and the line is preserved with him. *
Matthew and Luke keep the same record from Abraham to David.
But Matthew traces through David’s son Solomon to Joseph, while Luke traces through David’s son Nathan.
Thus Matthew has Joseph’s father as Jacob, while Luke has his father as Heli.
Luke’s nativity record seems to be given from Mary’s perspective, * while Matthew’s seems to be from Joseph’s. ** Hence it is believed that Matthew traced the ancestry of Jesus through Joseph, while Luke traced it through Mary.
* Luke alone records the appearance of Gabriel to Mary (1:26-38), her song (1:46-55), the details of her relative Elizabeth’s story (Luke 1), Simeon’s prophecy to Mary (2:34-35), her anxiety when Jesus was lost (2:48) and then the telling statement “But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. ” (2:51) ** Matthew alone records Joseph’s 4 dreams (1:20, 2:13,19,22), his initial intention to break the betrothal to Mary (1:19) and his fear of returning to Judea (2:22).
LUKE’S
GENEALOGY
Thus Heli was actually Mary’s father. Joseph was the son of Jacob, and the son-in-law of Heli. Again in Biblical times it was customary to refer to a son-in-law as a son. * So Luke’s statement was culturally correct.
Interestingly an unlikely source has verified that Heli was actually Mary’s father ** - the Jerusalem Talmud (Haggigah, Book 77, 4). ***
The Bible makes it clear that by virtue of the virgin birth only Mary was a true genetic parent of Jesus. Luke refers to this issue by stating that Jesus “was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph” (Luke 3:23).
* Note that Saul called his son-in-law David, his ‘son’ in 1 Sam 24:16 & 26:17 ** It refers to Mary in a derogatory sense, but nevertheless as “the daughter of Heli” *** The Talmud Yerushalmi or the Talmud of Jerusalem was a product of Palestinian rabbinic Judaism compiled around AD 400.
Joseph was descended from the kings of Judah through David’s son Solomon. Mary descended from another son of David entirely, Nathan, So although not his genetic parent, through Joseph - Jesus had a legal claim to the throne of David.
Accordingly, while the legal lineage came to Christ through Joseph, his legal father and a descendant of Solomon and his heirs, the actual seed of David was transmitted through Nathan and Mary. This brings us to an important conclusion: the line which was to fulfill the promise of the eternal throne and eternal kingdom over Israel was preserved by God through a lineage which in fact did not sit on the throne at all, from Nathan down to Christ. *
But why was the kingly line rejected in favour of the line through Nathan?
Jehoiakim was the was the eighteenth and third last in that kingly line of Solomon. He was the king who publicly cut and then burnt the prophecies of Jeremiah.
Another prophet, Uriah proclaimed a similar message to Jeremiah and Jehoiakim ordered his execution.
Jer 26:20–23 (NIV) (Now Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jearim was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord; he prophesied the same things against this city and this land as Jeremiah did. When King Jehoiakim and all his officers and officials heard his words, the king was determined to put him to death. But Uriah heard of it and fled in fear to Egypt. King Jehoiakim, however, sent Elnathan son of Akbor to Egypt, along with some other men. They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him struck down with a sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people. )
Jer 36:27-30 (NIV) After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, “Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim … burned up. Also tell Jehoiakim … ‘This is what the Lord says You burned that scroll … Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim king of Judah He will have no one to sit on the throne of David …
Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years, until 598 BC and was succeeded by his son Jeconiah (also known as Jehoiachin). But after only 3 months, Nebuchadnezzar deposed him and installed Zedekiah (Jehoiachin’s uncle) as king in his place.
Jeremiah writes of Jehoiachin:
Jer 22:28-30 (NIV) Is this man Jehoiachin a despised, broken pot, an object no one wants? … This is what the Lord says: “Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah. ”
Paul writes:
Rom 1:3-4 (NIV) regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
2 Tim 2:8 (NIV) Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel …
All Christians believe that Christ is the one who fulfills the promises of the Davidic Covenant. But the issue is how and when Christ fulfills it. On this question, there have been two principal answers. Christ fulfills the promise:
by his present session at the right hand of the Father in heaven;
by his return and righteous reign on earth during the Millennium.
Those who deny a literal Millennium (Amillennialism) or who identify Israel and the church (Replacement Theology) claim that Christ is fulfilling the covenant by his present session in heaven. Those who believe in a literal Millennium and a reign of Christ on earth (Premillennialism) affirm the second answer.
PREMILLENNIALISM
Jesus taught us to pray, “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt 6:10, NIV)
your kingdom come: This implies that the ultimate kingdom of God is still in the future – not Christ’s rule in the present age.
on earth as it is in heaven: This indicates that the kingdom of Christ we pray for will be “on earth” and is not fulfilled by the kingdom “in heaven”
Gabriel specifically applies the promise of David’s throne to Christ.
You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus … The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end. [Luke 1:31-33, NIV]
Isa 9:7 (NIV) He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom …
David’s throne was in Jerusalem. His kingdom was in Israel.
It is true that Christ is the Son of David, and that this is literal descent, but it is without significance unless he also possesses the throne of his father David. Is it the meaning of the covenant that the kingdom of David and his authority over Israel should be transmuted into a general government of God over the world or over the saints? Is it not rather that the literal fulfillment of the reign over the house of Jacob and the throne of David is specifically singled out by the angel in the announcement of Mary (Luke 1:32-33)? *
It was prophesied in the OT that the Messiah would reign from Jerusalem over the entire earth. The Jews at Christ’s first coming expected the Messiah to immediately set up his earthly kingdom. In one case, the proximity of Jesus to Jerusalem led the people to think that he was going to set up the earthly Messianic kingdom that they were expecting.
Luke 19:11 (NIV) While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once.
The apostles expected an earthly kingdom of God.
Unaware of the coming ‘Church Age’ with the gospel
going to the Gentiles, they expected the Messianic
reign to come immediately. While gathering outside
Jerusalem, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time
going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6, NIV)
Notice that in response, Jesus doesn’t reprimand the
disciples for believing in a Jerusalem-based Kingdom
Age, but simply tells them that, “It is not for you to know the times
or dates the Father has set by his own authority.” (Acts 1:7, NIV)
The unconditional covenants demand a literal, physical return of Christ to establish the kingdom. Premillennialists generally believe that multiple covenants will see their fulfillment in the Millennium:
Abrahamic Covenant – Israel finally receives all the land promised, a posterity, and a spiritual blessing (Gen 12:1–3).
The New Covenant – the promise “if we endure, we will also reign with him” (2 Tim 2:12) will be fulfilled.
Davidic Covenant – the promised to Israel that a king from David’s line would rule forever—giving the nation rest from all their enemies.
The millennial kingdom refers to
the 1000-year reign of Christ
on the earth.
Rev 20:6 (NIV) Blessed
and holy are those who
share in the first resurrection.
The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
Jesus will rule the whole earth from Jerusalem.
Zech 14:9,16 (NIV) The Lord will be king over the whole earth … Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King …
Many prophecies state that David (i.e., Jesus the “Son of David”) will reign as king.
After the time of ‘Jacob’s trouble’ (i.e., the Tribulation) Israel “shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king whom I will raise up for them. ” (Jer 30:9)
Hos 3:4-5 (NIV) For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days. [cf. Jer 23:5-6]
Ezek 34:23-24 (NIV) I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them …
Ezek 37:24-25 (NIV) My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever.
His reign will be characterized by joy and singing.
Isa 35:10 (NIV) and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Isa 55:12 (NIV) You will go out in joy … the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Individual peace is the result of Jesus’ reign as the Prince of Peace.
Isa 9:6-7 (NIV) For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called … Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end …
Weapons and war abolished
Hosea 2:18 (NIV) Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.
The cessation of war through the unification of the kingdoms of the world, together with the resultant economic prosperity (since nations need not spend vast amounts on munitions), is a major theme of the prophets.
Global peace is the fruit of Messiah’s reign.
Isa 2:4 (NIV) He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. [cf. Micah 4:4]
His rule will be characterized by safety.
Jer 23:5-6 (NIV) “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety …”
Isa 9:7 (NIV) … He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
Jer 33:115 (NIV) In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land.
The period will not be characterized by idleness. Agriculture as well as construction will provide employment.
Isa 65:21 (NIV) They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
Ezek 48:18-19 (NIV) Its produce will supply food for the workers of the city. The workers from the city who farm it will come from all the tribes of Israel.
The perfect labour situation will produce economic abundance, so that there will be no want.
Joel 2:22-25 (NIV) … The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches … He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten … [cf. Isa 30:23, Ezek 36:29]
The earth and in particular the Land of Israel, will become “like the Garden of Eden”.
Ezek 36:33-35 (NIV) … On the day I cleanse you from all your sins … The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through it. They will say, ‘This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of Eden …’
There will be no hunger.
Joel 2:26 (NIV) You will have plenty to eat, until you are full
Amos 9:11,13 (NIV) In that day I will restore David’s fallen tent … the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills.
Sickness will not be a problem because “the sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in its wings” (Malachi 4:2).
Isa 35:5-6 (NIV) Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Isa 33:24 (NIV) No one living in Zion will say, “I am ill”…
Even stuttering and feeble-mindedness will be healed.
Isa 32:4 (NIV) The mind of the rash will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.
Longevity will be restored to that experienced by the antediluvians. Presumably, a person could live the entire 1000 years in the restored environment.
Isa 65:20 (NIV) Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.
Isa 65:22 (NIV) For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands.
Animal creation will be changed so as to lose its venom and ferocity. They will be friendly to one another and to humans.
Isa 11:6-10 (NIV) … the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest … In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples …
Isa 65:25 (NIV) The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and
the lion will eat straw like the ox … They will neither harm nor
destroy on all my holy mountain …
For those in doubt as to whether or not we’re in the Millennium now, you can perform a simple experiment to test. Put a wolf and a lamb together and see what happens!
The Jews will recognize Jesus as the Messiah and repent over their previous rejection of him:
Zech 12:10 (NIV) And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
The King will bring the subjects of his kingdom into full knowledge.
Isa 11:1-2,9 (NIV) A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD … for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
Isa 9:6 (NIV) … And he will be called Wonderful Counselor …
Isa 54:13 (NIV) All your sons will be taught by the LORD …
There will be no spiritual deception. Satan’s activity in the world will cease after he is bound and thus unable to deceive the world’s inhabitants.
Rev 20:1-3 (NIV) And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized … Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore …
Only the worship of the true
God will be allowed.
Zech 14:9 (NIV) …
On that day there
will be one LORD, and
his name the only name.
Isa 11:10 (NIV) In that
day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.