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Millennial Parallelisms (Series)
Following any disaster, be it natural or man-made, the very first task of relief and recovery teams is typically to establish a functional headquarters from which their work can be coordinated and launched. Could this possibly have been what God did in planting The Garden in Eden, and placing Earth's new 'land lord' (Earth god or lord) in it to tend and grow it? It could if the fall of satan occurred between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2.
Following the predicted disasters during the last half (3 ½ years) of the tribulation period, it is no stretch of the imagination to believe Jerusalem will immediately be established as the global headquarters of Earth’s new rulers, Jesus and His saints from across the initial four ages of history, immortal and glorified. This headquarters might be the first place on Earth to be fully recovered and rehabilitated. Keep in mind we are not yet talking about the new Earth (noted in Isaiah 65:17, 66:22, and described in Revelation 21), but only a Jerusalem recovered from the worldwide ravages of the tribulation. Thus, from here, it seems reasonable the new authority will launch worldwide rehabilitation work. Unless God intervenes miraculously, this could take quite some time!
Imagine every place ‘outside’ of Jerusalem as being like those places of the Earth outside The Garden in Eden...waiting for that garden to be so well tended by Adam that it would grow, spread and eventually fill the Earth with its beauty, grace and peace. Though faint, can you perceive the parallelism - surviving mankind (initially very scarce on the Earth), the soil, waters, trees, plants, animals, sea creatures, etc., all ‘hungry to be redeemed’ from the curses of the tribulation?
Having difficulty perceiving this parallelism? Well here are some more clear ones to ponder -- parallelisms between The Garden in Eden and Jerusalem during Christ’s Millennial Reign.
1. God obviously desired the geographical spot we call The Garden in the land of Eden. According to Psalm 132:13-14, He desires the geographical spot called Jerusalem:
For The Lord has chosen Zion;
He has desired it for His dwelling place:
This is My resting place forever;
Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
Zion in The Bible refers both to Jerusalem, and, more specifically, to the location where Solomon’s temple was built, and the place where the Muslim al Aqsa mosque is currently situated. Many Bible scholars think Jerusalem may have been the geographic center of Earth’s unified/pre-continental land mass. Consider the Amplified Bible translation of Ezekiel 5:5, where God said,
This is Jerusalem;
I have set her in the center of the nations,
and countries are around her...’
Jerusalem will be the seat of Christ’s Millennial Kingdom. I am not alone in believing these two locations (The Garden spot and the Temple Mount) are identical, hence a perceived geographical parallelism between our first and final millennia on earth. The parallelism is God’s desire for this location, twice.
2. God purposely selected the location in both the first and last millennia for His strategic purposes. During mankind’s first millennium on earth, He planted The Garden in Eden as a place of beauty, grace and peace for man’s work. There He came to Adam to meet and commune. This would serve as mankind’s base or headquarters from which, not only to ‘multiply and fill the Earth’, but also to replicate the ‘garden experience’ throughout the Earth (i.e., the physical beauty, grace, peace, plus fellowship and communion with God, etc.). During His Millennial Reign, Jesus will establish His kingdom headquarters in Jerusalem from which He will rule the whole world. There, representatives of all surviving families in the nations that fought in the two preceding attacks in Israel (the 1st War of Gog and Magog and the Armageddon War, Ezekiel 38 and Revelation 19, respectively), will be required annually come to Him for the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles. (See: Zechariah 12:9, 14:12, and A Forced Reconciliation (Poem)) The parallelisms are God’s strategic selection of this location, twice; and who came/will come to whom at this location.
3. Mankind’s glorious time in The Garden abruptly ended due to a source of tension - the spirit of satan, who provoked Adam and Eve to sin. As a result, they were dismissed from The Garden into what had then become a harsh, sin-stained Earth, just as devils' fall from Heaven sin-stained the whole universe. Current-day tension in Israel, namely the ‘Gordian Knot’ of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Al Asqa mosque, will be finally resolved by the time of, or during Christ’s Millennial Reign. (Some speculate the anti-Christ may finagle a way to have the 3rd Temple built, into which he can enter and proclaim, 'I am God!') However, at the end of/after Christ's reign, tension will arise – satan’s kingdom, locked away during The Millennial Reign, will be released for ‘a short time’, during which he will provoke the second Gog/Magog invasion of Israel, as outlined in Revelation 20:7-10, a repeat, of sorts, of Ezekiel 38 and 39. * The parallelism is satanic tension provoking sin, thus ending, or at the end of these two glorious experiences. (Umm, how short is short, I wonder? See Millennial Parallelism #5.)
4. Recall, God seemingly does everything (possibly except instantaneous miracles) via the seed, time and harvest principle. Thus, imagine The Garden in Eden as His seed, planted with the intent for mankind to tend and grow it to cover the entire Earth with peaceful beauty (i.e., the entire planet as The Garden), and eventually to produce the ‘fruit’ of two new ‘Jerusalems’, namely the headquarters of Christ’s Millennial Reign on our current version of Earth, and afterward, the eternal ‘New Jeru-salem’ on a brand new Earth as described in Revelation 21. Voila! By His faith and patience, every facet of God’s original intent shall be accomplished - beauty, grace and ‘salem’ shall cover the new earth, eternally! The parallelism is a type of seed, planted in our first millennium, producing its fruit in the final millennium ...and beyond (throughout eternity).
Millennial Parallelism (#6)
First Millennial Garden, A Seed to Final Millennial Fruit
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* It seems as if the Gentile nations will have totally forgotten the outcome of their attempted battles in the 1st War of Gog and Magog, and the Armageddon War! (Ezekiel 38, Zechariah 14:8 and Revelation 19:11-21)
Pic sources:
http://jodystowell.blogspot.com/
https://thewordinhebrew.com/product/jerusalem-hebrew-message-cards-pack/
