🎙️ The Notes I Leave: Millennial Perspectives

Total Time: ~30 minutes

Format: 1/2 public + 1/2 members-only

⸻

🕊️ INTRO

Shalom, and grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome to The Notes I Leave podcast.

The Hebrew word “shalom” signifies more than mere peace; it signifies wholeness, completeness, well-being, harmony with God and others. All of which, I wish for you.

The purpose of this podcast is to share the diverse experiences I encounter as a professor, teacher, entrepreneur, student, father, son, brother, and follower of Christ Jesus. These notes are intended for you, now and in the future.

⸻

📖 MAIN MESSAGE

📜 This week’s theme:

In this episode, I discuss how Christians view end times (eschatology) in reference to the millennial kingdom of Christ.

📜 Anchor verse(s):

1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; 4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. 5 Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist. 6 And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. 7 Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea. 10 Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious. 

Isaiah 11:1-10, New American Standard Bible, 1995

📜 Application or takeaway:

The Lord has placed on my heart to share what I learned in a systematic theology course last spring.

⸻

🙏 TRANSITION TO MEMBERS

That is the heart of what the Lord laid on me this week—but for those of you walking this journey further with me, there is a deeper side I want to share; in the members-only section, I’ll be opening up about how this career change challenged me as a father and a disciple.

But first, I would like to leave you with a quote and question.

📚 Quote:

"But I and every other man of right mind are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, as the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare."

—Justin Martyr

☕️ Question:

What is your view of the millennial reign of Christ and is it a means of division or education amongst Christian brothers and sisters?

📞 Call to action:

If you are not yet a member and want to support this work while gaining full access to deeper reflections like these, head to https://www.biblicalanatomyacademy.com click on ‘Podcasts,’ and then click on ’Support the Podcast’ or simply access the direct link via https://podcast.biblicalanatomy.com/support

⸻

🕯️ PRAYER AND BLESSING

Father, thank You for guiding us—even when the path is not clear to us. Teach us to walk in humility, trust, and obedience.

Until next time, may the peace of Christ dwell richly in you and may I express ‘maranatha,’ which is an Aramaic word translating to “Come, Lord Jesus.”

Shalom, grace and peace.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

My name is Daniel Miller and this is the Notes I Leave Podcast.

Hello and welcome.

Thank you for being here.

Today we're going to talk about millennial viewpoints or millennial perspectives.

And this comes on the heels of our previous two weeks of episodes.

Recall that two weeks ago we talked about the Rapture perspectives

and whether or not people believe the Rapture is a thing that occurs.

I think that we've rebuttled that pretty easily with 1st Thessalonians

4, verses 13 through 18, that the rapture is an event that is

going to come.

And then we shifted last week into discussing tribulation viewpoints

and we talked about Matthew 24, verses 15 through 28 on what Christ

detailed about the tribulation period and also alluded to his

coming, which I believe is in tie with 1st Thessalonians 4, verses

13 through 18 in what we'd refer to as the Rapture.

Today we're going to talk about the millennial reign of Christ,

which literally translates to a thousand year period of reign,

also referring to as we also refer to it as the kingdom of God.

And the kingdom of God is referenced throughout scripture almost

cover to cover, and is something that in this period of humanity

that has been something we've been waiting to come.

We sort of open in these first three chapters of God's Word with

this perfect garden of Eden, this perfect world before the sin of man.

And then we have all these chapters.

I want to say that it is 1183 chapters detailing sin in our previous

current and future existence.

And then three chapters at the end of the Bible, which gets us

to a total three plus 1183 plus three to 1189 total chapters.

The last three chapters detailing the kingdom of God, this millennial reign.

And we're actually not talking about that specific part of Scripture,

which I highly encourage you to do in Revelation 20, 21 and 22.

We're actually talking about a verse today from Isaiah and it's

always good when I can get into God's Word more quickly than normal.

So let's do that.

So with eschatology on the mind, and specifically the millennial

kingdom of Christ, Christ being our focus, let's turn to Isaiah,

chapter 11, verses 1 through 10.

The beauty of the podcast, as I've said before, is you can pause here.

When I'm in class every day in our physical science class or our

human anatomy and physiology class, those being the two main classes

that I teach, we open up with God's Word.

And just like I would do if I was at the pulpit in a church service,

I'd like to give you some time to get to Isaiah 11, verses 1 through 10.

Now, again, you can pause and I could get straight into it, and

that would be fine as well.

But I suppose one of my pet peeves is teachers and pastors that

tell you to go somewhere and then they just go right into it.

I'd like for there to be some rest and some perhaps backstory,

some leading into while people are opening up God's Word.

It's also really cool for the students that I work with because

they are able to navigate through God's Word.

And every time you open God's Word, it's a good thing.

Every time you open God's Word and you navigate through the different

books, you're learning the order.

You're reminding yourself where things occur.

In fact, at the school that I teach, we start day one in Genesis.

We go Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judge,

all the way through.

And we go book by book so that they understand the order and that

we're getting a glimpse into not only each book, but Scripture

every single day.

So we are not quite yet at Isaiah, given the.

The time spent this semester so far, but we'll be there before too long.

And Isaiah, as you know, is in this middle section of the Old

Testament around books like Proverbs, Psalms, Job, I believe Lamentations

is right there as well.

And then I think it's Jeremiah, certainly Daniel, Ezekiel that follow.

But we're right in this section of what we call the border between

the wisdom books and the prophetic books, or the major prophetic prophetic books.

If you haven't learned before.

There's a numbering system that's helpful with remembering Scripture.

There is a.

Well, now I'm on the spot, so.

So we'll see if I remember this. 5:12. 5, 5:12, I believe, is

what it is, where you have five books of the law, and then you

have 12 books of history, and then you have five books of wisdom,

and then five books of major prophets and 12 books of minor prophets,

and that gets you to the Old Testament conclusion.

Then you go through the New Testament in total after the New Testament,

from COVID to cover.

So it'd be 66 books.

Like I said earlier, I believe it's 1189 total chapters.

Boy, will I be embarrassed when I publish this and realize that

I had some stuff out of order.

I think I'm pretty close, maybe even correct on that.

But like the Bereans that were held in such good light by Paul,

they studied what he stated.

Please do the same whenever you hear anything from me. Certainly.

Or anyone else for that matter, verify in Scripture. All right.

I think I've given everyone enough time.

Especially if you paused to get to Isaiah 11, verses 1 through 10.

Let's go ahead and read that.

So then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch

from his roots will bear fruit.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom

and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit

of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

And he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

And he will not judge by what his eyes see, nor make a decision

by what his ears hear.

But with righteousness, He.

He will judge the poor and decide with fairness for the afflicted

of the earth.

And he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with

the breath of his lips.

He will slay the wicked also.

Righteousness will be the belt about his loins and faithfulness

the belt about his waist.

And the wolf will dwell with the lamb.

And the leopard will lie down with the young goat and the calf

and the young lion and the fatling together.

And a little boy will lead them.

Also the cow and the bear will graze.

Their young will lie down together.

And the lion will eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra.

And the weaned child will put his hands on the viper's den.

They will not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain.

For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the

waters cover the seas.

Then in that day, the nations will resort to the root of Jesus.

Excuse me, Jesse.

This is Jesus, who will stand as a signal for the peoples.

And his resting place will be glorious.

And that's Isaiah 1. Excuse me.

Isaiah 11, 1:10.

Always very bothersome for me when I stumble in the middle of God's Word.

It's the perfectionist in me.

I want to be able to get through it without stumbling and get

through it without missing pronouncing anything.

The end of verse nine.

I believe I said seas, and I should have said, waters cover the sea.

I know that seems very perfectionist, maybe even legalistic.

But I don't want to ever misquote God's Word.

Because God's Word is going to deliver it better than I will ever

have the capacity to do.

Another mistake I had, as I said, the root of Jesus, which is

the root of Jesse, which is Jesus.

So I guess that's a good mistake to make. And.

And I rarely correct my mistake in the midst of it.

I try and continue to go on, be that better or worse, I don't know.

But if I'm to make a mistake in saying the root of Jesse, I would

like for that mistake to be the root of Jesus.

Nevertheless, as we continue to move on here, what a wonderful

period of time this will be.

This period of time again, I also encourage you to look at Revelations 20.

It's not Revelations.

Jace from Duck Dynasty would be very upset with me right now.

It's one of his pet peeves, people, to say Revelations.

It's Revelation, Revelation 20, 21 and 22, in addition to what

we read here today.

I encourage you to go there.

But what a wonderful period of time this will be.

It sounds a lot like.

Well, a few things.

The first thing that came to mind here when it says that a little

boy will lead them.

I was thinking of David and protecting his flock against lions

and bears and those sorts of things.

But quickly, I don't forget about that.

But I think of something else as we move forward in our verses,

because it talks about the lion eating straw like the ox, unless

the lion's bored.

Currently, that doesn't seem like a normal thing.

However, it does remind me of the Garden of Eden.

It does remind me of a time when humans and all sorts of animals

weren't defined as predator and prey, weren't defined in opposition

with each other.

That there was peace, that there was tranquility, and that they

were all together.

What a wonderful period of time that would have been.

And I think a lot of us read those first three chapters of God's

Word and are maybe even envious of being.

Not being able to be in that period of time.

But if we continue reading like in Isaiah 11, Revelation 20, 21,

22, we learned that there is a period of time just like that coming

and where everything will be brought together in peace and harmony.

Perhaps at that time everything will be fed by based on the vegetation

of the earth, like it was in the Garden of Eden.

Perhaps in that time we may even have communication between humans

and animals at that period of time.

There's probably a lot of things that will occur that we can't

wrap our mind around.

But what we can be certain of is that the kingdom of God is coming.

And the kingdom of God will occur after the tribulation period.

And it will be his forever reign.

Literal Translation of a thousand years.

What happens after that? Thousand years.

I pray that I'm there to see it.

I believe that I will be in my security with Christ.

I believe that I will be in my salvation of Christ, that I am

locked within his hand and no one can pry me from his hand.

I pray that you are as well and that you have strength in that,

that you have security in that, that you have faith in that, that

you live each day in that.

And for us that have that peace, what a wonderful time that this will be.

So many things we would read through here and in this life have fear.

Like, why would somebody let their child play near the hole of a cobra?

Why would they let them put the hand, their hand on the viper's den?

Like that sounds like bad parenting.

But there will be no fear in that time.

There will be no sickness, there will be no sorrow.

There will be no fear.

And whether it's on this earth or on a new earth, whether this

earth is restored or a new earth is made, the kingdom of God is coming.

And the kingdom of God is factual.

And it is very much something we can be a part of.

We can also choose whether it be in our inaction or our action,

to actually choose not to.

We can actually choose to not be a part of it.

And what a horrible decision I believe that is.

I've referenced this a number of times, but it comes into mind

now currently with this discussion going back to Duck Dynasty,

second Duck Dynasty reference today, but in the patriarch of the

family, Phil Robertson, who passed just a month, a couple months

ago, I believe.

But he used to explain it like this.

And I tell this to students quite often, but basically two options

on either side.

One hand represents the believers, the Christians, and the other

hand represents the non believers or the atheists.

I've got to figure out something with my animations here because

as I put fingers up, whether it's a thumbs up or whatever, I'm

getting different animations that are built into the iOS system.

I'm getting balloons and confetti.

So I apologize about that.

I'm not even sure how I did that.

But nevertheless, going back to Phil Robertson and his description,

he basically says two things on either side.

In the eyes of a Christian, what's the best case scenario? That's easy.

That's eternity with God.

In a Christian's viewpoint, what's the worst case scenario?

You rot in the ground.

Let's go over to the atheist side.

What's the best case scenario?

You rot in the ground.

What's the worst case scenario?

You're wrong and you Spend eternity in hell.

And if that was all, I knew that I'd never opened God's Word for me.

And maybe it's because God knew I had this heart for him.

But that would be enough for me to open God's Word and read it.

And I pray that that's enough for you to open God's Word and read

it and continue reading it over and over.

Or enough for all of us to be inspired to love our neighbor and

encourage them to read God's Word as well, so that they can know truth.

Because when we lay it out simplistically like that, there really

isn't a choice that makes sense.

The furthest reach I can grapple with is that you're so obsessed

with having the best life on earth possible that you're delaying

the consequences of your actions into eternity, which is a terrible

trade to make.

You wouldn't trade a dollar now for not getting $1,000 later. Is a.

Is a very trivial example of what we're talking about here.

But people around us make that choice all the time.

They choose to ignore God's Word because they're having seemingly

such a good time right now, though they'll pay the consequences later on.

And I won't go into my thoughts or opinions on what that is a symptom of.

But it's human nature.

And maybe we've all had periods of time in our lives that have

been like that.

I know I have.

And I'm thankful that the world didn't come to a close before

I was able to make the decision that I did.

And I'm encouraged and hopeful to share that with others so that

they can make their decision.

Not that I can convert them or force them to make a decision decision,

but they have what they need to make a decision before the clock runs out.

I'm underneath a pastor right now who believes the end times are so close.

They are so close that they he absolutely believes they will happen

in our lifetime.

I'm not sure that I share that belief.

I think I lean more towards perhaps even thousands of years to

come after I'm gone.

But regardless, the viewpoint that I hold of a pre tribulation,

pre millennial viewpoint, I believe is the only viewpoint that

stresses action now and stresses hope.

There's nothing that we know that will come that will signal a

warning bell for us, for all those people that are living in sin,

living their best life now.

There's no evidence we have in Scripture that there will be a

warning bell that will say, okay, now you've Got, you know, you've

got 10 minutes to repent, that you've got 10 years to repent.

And other viewpoints may argue that there is some sort of a warning.

I don't believe that there is.

Jesus tells us that no one will know the time.

Not even the Son will know the time, but only the Father will

know the time.

And for that reason we need to all have our oil lamps floating whole.

We all need to be ready for that time.

In preaching God's word, in being in God's word and doing what

he left us here to do, which I believe is supported throughout Scripture.

I haven't talked really at all yet about the different millennial

viewpoints and I apologize for that.

I, as you can already tell, am a pre millennial viewpoint.

Doesn't mean that that is absolutely correct or that my mind can't

be changed on that, particularly when I faced Christ.

When I face Christ, whatever he says goes his will, not mine.

And if I'm in error on any of this stuff, I pray that I will always

maintain the humility to admit my wrongs and admit my shortcomings

and alter conform to His.

The other common viewpoints that we have are amillennial and post millennial. The premillennial.

The viewpoint that I hold believes that today we are before the millennial kingdom.

You may also believe in that viewpoint that we are also before

the tribulation and the start of the tribulation will be by the

rapture, as we talked about last week.

You may also believe in a mid tribulation rapture which would

still be before the millennium.

So in that case you would be a pre millennial mid trib standpoint.

You could also believe in pre wrath which we talked about last

week, which would still likely be a pre millennial viewpoint.

You can also then be a post tribulation, which may be an amillennial viewpoint.

In that case you believe that the tribulation period has passed

and that we are currently in the millennial reign of Christ, that

he's reigning from heaven, not from earth.

I don't hold to that view because I believe there's enough evidence

in Scripture that Christ will reign physically on earth.

He will come reign with his people here on earth.

And I believe that will happen after the tribulation period.

You could also believe in a post millennial viewpoint where the

tribulation has passed, the millennium has passed, and we are

now in this I'm not sure now in this period of uncertainty, this

period of I'm not sure in all those viewpoints I believe for me

there's a lack of peace.

There is also warning of potentially things to come apart from

the post the post of course we believe that we're past it or those

people believe that they're past.

And so now we don't know what is what is to come and what is next.

And with that the thing that I would agree with on that is that

they're still needing our oil lamps full in that to make sure

that we are ready for Christ coming because we don't know when

that will be.

However, unlike that viewpoint, I don't believe any of those periods

have come yet and that the 70th week of Daniel is to be and therefore

I align with the pre tribulation, pre millennial viewpoint which

again like the post millennial, post tribulation stresses being

ready and not knowing when Christ will come again.

This is the third week in a row that I've said this, but this

is not a time for us to divide.

This is a time for us to discuss, educate and love one another.

Most of this comes from a theology course that I was in last spring

and if you have an opportunity to attend any sort of theology

course, specifically from a seminary, jump all over was a great

experience and I can't wait for the next one.

I'd like to share a quote with you that goes back almost 2000

years by Justin Martyr.

The quote is But I and every other man of right mind are assured

that there will be a resurrection of the dead and a thousand year

reign, a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built,

adorned and enlarged as the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah, Isaiah

and others declare.

I agree with that.

I think Scripture lays that out pretty easy for us to to find again.

You can argue whether it's a new Jerusalem from a new earth or

it's this earth remodeled into a new Jerusalem.

I believe that's worth discussion but not worth argument.

But regardless, there will be a resurrection of the dead and as

1st Thessalonians 4 tells us, a resurrection or a ascension of

the alive in Christ and that those two categories of believers

will meet Christ in the air.

And like I have the last couple weeks, my question for you is your view.

What is your view in this instance?

What is your view of the millennial reign of Christ?

And more importantly, is that view a cause for division or a cause

for discussion and education with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?

I'm now going to take this time to transition.

We're already getting a little bit over on time here, so I'M going

to transition to the Members Only section.

I'm not going to mention our call to action.

It's mentioned almost every single week on where you can go to

sign up and to support us to get access to the Members Only section.

So if for some reason this is your first time listening to this

and you want that information, you can fast forward to about halfway

through just about any episode, and you can get that information

on where to go to gain access to the Members Only segment.

So with that being said, and with the time frame that we're at,

I wish you all the best.

I love you and God bless.

Until next time.

May the peace of Christ dwell richly in you.

And may I also express Maranantha, which is an Aramaic word translating

to Come, Lord Jesus