Peace in the Millennium

“IN THAT DAY”
“In that day” appears four times in Isaiah 27. It refers to a special future event.
In Isaiah 27:1 we read, “In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.”
Remember that Isaiah has been speaking about the Millennial Kingdom for three chapters.
It chapter 25 Isaiah contrasted the way the world was and the way it will glorious become. A world of sorrow and tears and death will be transformed into a world of life and joy and wonder.
In chapter 26 he described its beauty and glory as the 1500 hundred mile cubed city, the New Jerusalem hovers above the earth.
Now, in chapter 27 Isaiah describes events that will bring peace and joy to God’s people.
I – A Defeated Foe
First, Isaiah addresses what will happen to Israel’s great enemy, Leviathan. Now, Leviathan represents Satan. Let me show you why Isaiah reveals to Israel’s Leviathan’s defeat. If you lived in a ten-million- dollar mansion and you had 10 billion dollars in the bank and you could go any where in the world you liked but, you had a vicious enemy that had hounded you and stalked you and wounded you and was trying to kill you, you couldn’t and wouldn’t have peace?
For 6,000 years mankind has had an enemy, Satan. He hasn’t just been someone that despised man and hates mankind, but he is an enemy that wants man dead and in hell where man will burn for eternity.
Notice three things God reveals to us in verse one concerning that enemy:
A - Sword
When we say “sword” many think of a physical sword that a man fights with. This sword in Isaiah one speaks of the “Word of God.” God’s sword is great and strong to those who are on the Lord’s side but it is very sore, or uncomfortable and painful to those who walk contrary to God’s Word.
Notice who wields this sword: Read Revelation 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
Notice to whom it will be used against:
Read Revelation 19: 15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. The Lord will use this sword or His spoken word to fight against the nations of the world that have turned against Him.

Today, God’s sword is used to reveal truth. Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
It is used to cut away the rottenness of sin in our souls and mind which will eventually turn to gangrene if we don’t allow God’s spirit to do surgery. Once spiritual gangrene sets in only amputation or death follows.
But Isaiah told us for eleven chapters that God would fight the nations of the world. How? With the sword of His mouth.
Now, in Isaiah one we discover that the Sword of the Lord will be used to fight against our greatest enemy, the Leviathan.
b. Serpent
In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
The greatest enemy of mankind and of God’s people particularly has always been Satan. It is he who is describe in this passage.
His beginning was in the created hand of God. God gave him life. God gave him position and beauty and honor.
And Satan spurned God’s gift of life and turned all that God gave him against Him. His voice to sing with, ceased to sing praises to God. His gifts and talents and charm to influences others to bring glory to God changed and he influenced those to walk contrary to God’s way.
Many Christians do this as well. They take the gifts and talents God has given them and rather than using those abilities in church for God’s glory they use them to influence people to go against God.
John called Satan, the devil, the serpent, the one who deceiveth the whole world in Revelation 12:9.
Job says in Job 41:15, “His scales are his pride…” We know Satan was the most beautiful angelic being created. He had built in pipes and lights that glowed as he orchestrated praise to God throughout heaven.
But the scales of which Job is speaking of is Satan’s pride. For some insane reason, Satan actually thinks that somehow and someway he is beyond the judgment of God. But, is that not what many in this world believe as well? Has not Satan deceived many in thinking they will never face the judgment of God?
Satan’s judgment has been written down in God’s word for 2,000 years yet he thinks somehow he will overcome that judgment.
Look at Satan’s two judgments:
1) He will be imprisoned for one thousand years.
In Revelation 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
During that time the world will experience 1,000 years of peace and prosperity. The world will have 1,000 years of joy and jubilation.
Satan will then be loosed for a little season and then we see his final judgment.
2) He will be imprisoned for eternity.
In Revelation 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
That is it! It is over! Satan fought in the garden against Adam and Eve and won. He fought against Israel and won. He fought against the nations of the world and won. Then he fought against Jesus Christ on Calvary and lost.
Though Satan is a defeated foe, he still fights and deceives. Man only has to run to Christ to fine peace and joy. One day according to the scripture we just read, he will be gone forever as well as all those who followed him. The believers will then step into eternity free of man’s greatest foe.
c. Sunrise
Keep two things in mind. 1) The phrase, “In that day” (v 1) is a technical expression that refers to “The Day of the Lord.” It speaks of what shall happen in the future and it normally reveals prophetic truths that shall come to pass.
2) Keep in mind that the Jewish day began in the evening. First comes night and then comes day.
David wrote in Psalms 30:4-5, “Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
David writes, “Sing to the Lord, give Him thanks, and remember He is holy. His wrath will come so choose God’s favor or accept God’s Son. Tribulation shall come but joy will come when the night is ended.
The tribulation must come for it is the prophecy that must come to pass. But when it is over there shall be joy, yea delight, pleasure, bliss, ecstasy, thrill, wonder and amazement like this world has never known.
I – A Defeated Foe v 1
II – A Delightful Day v 2-9
Isaiah 27:2 In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.
In Isaiah five Isaiah describes Israel as a vineyard God had planted and made absolutely beautiful. He turned it over to the leaders of Israel and told them to take care of it but they failed and it fell apart. It was suppose to bring forth good grapes but it brought for wild grapes.
But here in Isaiah 27 we find another vineyard. The vineyard still represents Israel but there will be some changes.
A - First it will be a time of great joy. Notice Isaiah describes “A vineyard of red wine.” That means after Satan is bound and Israel enters the millennium this world will be characterized as a place of abundance, fruitfulness, bounty and joy. When you listen to the news today or read a paper you hear of war and sorrow, killings and death. You hear of food prices going up and gas prices going up and production going down and jobs being lost. In economics 101 the reason prices are going up is because the demand is greater than the supply. But in the New Jerusalem there will be the abundance of every thing.
In that day, the deserts will bloom with greenery and flowers and fruit and vegetation. The world will be filled with more than food and blessing than ever. The world will be filled with singing, and joy will fill men’s heart as air fills the atmosphere.
How many of you have discovered that nobody takes care of what belongs to you better than you? Well, Jesus is coming back to make the covenant stick with Israel this time.
So it will be a time of great joy.

B - It will be a time of great blessings: Why will it be so then and not now? Look at verse three: 3 I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
The Lord Jesus will be the protector of Israel at that time. He will be the keeper of the vineyard. He will daily satisfy their thirst. He will watch over them day and night. He will be their king and their protector. Jeremiah said, “He will be there God and they will be His people.”
You might ask this question, “Why doesn’t the Lord do that today?” Well, friend, He did protect and provide for Israel when they walked with Him and obeyed Him and He will again in the millennium when they walk with Him and obey Him.
But Israel broke the covenant with God. Then God made a new covenant through Jesus Christ His Son and they rejected Him. But, one day they will see the light and turn and receive Jesus Christ as their Messiah and Savior and Happy Days will be here again.

C. It will be a time of great peace: 5 Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.
In the millennium man can make peace with God by being obedient but that does not secure his salvation. No other place in the Scriptures do we find where man can make peace with God like this.
But, this peace is not permanent. This is the peace man has for the one-hundred-year period that a person will be given to make spiritual peace with God and settle the sin question.
Paul tells us in Romans 5:1, “Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The only permanent peace with God comes from knowing Christ as Savior.

D. It will be a time of great prosperity: 6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
Israel will prosper. Their land will prosper. The whole world will prosper during this day of great blessings. There will be no war, no poverty, no unemployment and no hunger. Everything will be grand and glorious.
Isaiah showed us a defeated foe, a delightful day and now…
III – A Dismal Judgment v 7-11
Isaiah 27:7 Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?
Isaiah answers a question that many ask, “Why does it seem that Israel suffers more than other nations?” Isaiah says in so many words, this is the consequences of failing to walk in the light.
Light creates responsibility. Israel was given truth that the rest of the world was not given. Rather than being responsible to God for that great truth, they spurned it and walked after the flesh and judgment came on them time and time again. And one day during the tribulation period great judgment will fall again. But we see God’s mercy and longsuffering in the fact that He will keep His covenant with Israel and not cast them off as He does other nations.
Listen to an application today. 2 Peter 2: 20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
Here is a warning to the Believer. To hear God’s Word or to know the truth of Scripture and yet to go against God and to live in outward practice sin is to bring a judgment on you one day that for which your prayers won’t help you.
Why is it that many who profess Christ live openly and contrary to God’s word? They do wrong and they know it and don’t care. Why?
Is it that they have never been saved? Do they feel not guilty and shame? If they feel no guilt and shame surly they would be lost?
If they are saved then judgment will fall on them one day and they will run to God to beg for forgiveness but it may be to late. I would plead with all of you in the sound of my voice, if you are playing with sin, please stop. Sin is like a baby anaconda. It is eerie and exciting yet easy to control when it is little but it grows up and then it will one day control you. God says that a person’s latter end will be far worse.
Don’t gamble with God. Don’t compromise with Satan. You will lose. Man always loses. You lose if you run with the devil’s crowed and you lose if you walk contrary to God. Just obey the Lord and be safe and be blessed!

Isaiah reveals the day of inward cleansing. Sadly, it will take the Great Tribulation for Israel to open their eyes to who the true Messiah is. They will then recognize that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. Then verse nine will come to pass and they will tear down all false altars:
9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.
Israel will be saved as you and I are saved today. They will recognize the blood offering made by Jesus Christ on Calvary many years ago. They will then humble their proud hearts and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
2. Isaiah then reveals a day of outward cleansing.
10 Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.
The world will lay desolate. There will be no more manmade structures for man to glory in. There will be no industry or business that man can say, “My hand has made this.” All the cities of this world that Israel and any people participated in building will be laid desolate for now the Lord will rebuild everything far greater than ever before.
July 9, 2007 National Geographic pick the modern day “Seven Wonders of the World” by a global poll.
1) The 105-foot-tall "Christ the Redeemer" statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was picked. It is quite beautiful but it will be destroyed.
2) The Coliseum in Rome, Italy was built by Emperor Vespasian in 70 A.D. It once held up to 50,000 spectators who came to watch gory games for sport which involved gladiators killing one another and killing Christians and the mutilation of Christians by wild animals.
3) The Taj Mahal in India is beautiful but it is a mausoleum, a tomb, built by Emperor Shah Jahan to honor the memory of his beloved late wife, Mumtaz Mahal from 1632 to 1647. Emperor Jahan was deposed and put under house arrest by one of his sons soon after the Taj Mahal's completion. It's said that he spent the rest of his days gazing at the Taj Mahal from a prison window.
4) The Great Wall of China is one of the modern day wonders which stretches over 4,000 miles and took over 2,000 years to build.
5) Jordan's ancient city of Petra is a red-rose city with an amphitheater that will sit 4,000 people. Remember this place.
6) Inca ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru was a mountain settlement in the Amazon region. In the 1500’s the Spanish forces is believed to have brought the small pox virus to the area killing off the entire civilization.
The massive mountains reach 7,970 feet high.
7) The ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá in Mexico was the political and religious center of Maya civilization during the period from A.D. 750 to 1200.
11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favour.
All of man’s silly ideas of what beauty and glory is will be brought to naught. In all of the man-made structures there is no glory to God, only to man and man’s skills, how very foolish man has been.
The structure that matters to God today is the building of the temple of God made without hands which is within us. It is Jesus in us that matters.
God want us to build His life in us. That is the temple that will last forever. Do people see Jesus in your eyes and your life?

After seeing a defeated foe, a delightful day and a dismal judgment we find a divine future.
IV – A Divine Future v 12-13
Isaiah 27: 12 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
There is a day coming when God will lead His children home. Some say, but preacher Israel is already home. Yes, they are but during the tribulation period they will be force to leave in the middle of the period.

Many Bible historians believe they will flee to Petra to escape the wrath of the Antichrist. But after God disposes of the Antichrist, the Lord will bring Israel back into the Promise Land for it is here they will worship the Lord in the Holy Mount at Jerusalem.

Notice three phrases: 1) In verse 12 Isaiah says they will be gathered one by one. People are saved one by one. Every individual person must make that crucial and vital decision to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. People come to Christ one by one.
Do you recall the day, you desired Christ to be your savior and you asked him to save you from your sins? Do you? You must have a spiritual birthday. We don’t grow into becoming Christians; we are birthed into the kingdom of God one by one.

2) In verse 13 the people of Israel will be ushered into the New Jerusalem with the sound of a great trumpet. The Church waits for the voice of the Lord that sounds like a great trumpet when he cries, “Come up hither” and we will leave this old world of woe to enter our Heavenly Jerusalem.
One preacher said, “I’m not looking for the undertaker but the upper taker.”

3) The word “worship” is a key word in the New World. Man will worship in Spirit and in truth. The same is true today. To worship Christ, we must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.