The Government of the Messianic Kingdom
Isaiah 9: 6-7
The government of the Messianic Kingdom DIG: How does Isaiah define the Messiah? What expectations would this arouse in you if you heard Isaiah pronounce it? What type of Son or Ruler would you expect to arise? How would this be different than in the past? How would it make you feel?
REFLECT: How does the New Covenant interpret what this prophecy means (see Matthew 4:12-17; Luke 1:32; John 8:12)? Of the titles given here, which fit Jesus as you know Him? How does He reign in your life?
For us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. 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. The zeal of the LORD of heaven’s angelic armies will accomplish this (Isaiah 9:6-7). The Messianic Kingdom will be administrated through an absolute monarchy with a definite chain of command and lines of authority. The absolute monarch will be Jesus Christ. The delegated authority will be split into two branches: a Jewish branch of government and a Gentile branch of government, each, in turn, having a chain of command.
Dear Awesome God and Father, We humbly worship You. Someday soon You will rule over all the earth, both over all the Gentile nations and over Isra’el. You are all powerful and all wise! How wonderful that when You rule, the government will be honest and totally just and fair. We have the opportunity to love and serve You with a heart of love right now. Please give us the words to say to our neighbors, friends and family to tell them about You. It will be wonderful to rule with You, but it will be terrible for those who end up in hell. Please open the hearts of those we speak to about You, sending others to water the seed we planted. Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow. Now he who plants and he who waters work as one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. (First Corinthians 3:6-8). We love You and look forward to living with You forever, praising Your holy name through all eternity! In the holy name of Yeshua and the power of His resurrection. Amen.
Isaiah 2:2-3 tells us: In the last days, the mountain of ADONAI’s Temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths. His rulings will go out from Zion, and the word of ADONAI from Jerusalem” (see my commentary on Isaiah, to see link click It – Look to the Rock from which You Were Cut, and to the Quarry form which You Were Hewn).
Jesus the Messiah will rule as King. That Yeshua Messiah will sit upon the throne of David (Jeremiah 23:5-6, 33:14-17) in Jerusalem (Psalm 24:7-10), and rule Isra’el and all the Gentile nations of the world (Isaiah 9:6-7; Zechariah 14:9) is clear from both the TaNaKh (Psalm 2:6-8) and the B’rit Chadashah (Luke 1:30-33).
Justice, holiness, and righteousness will characterize His reign so that the innocent will receive justice and the guilty will be condemned (Psalm 72:1-19). He will rule as a sovereign monarch with an iron scepter (2:27, 12:5, 19:15), and in the power of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:1-5). Consequently, Christ will be both King of Isra’el and King of the world. Under His absolute authority and monarchy there will be two branches of government established, a Gentile branch and a Jewish branch.436
There will be a Gentile branch of government (20:4-6). Both Gentile believers that were raptured before the Great Tribulation and the Tribulation martyrs who were the souls seen under the golden altar of incense in heaven (6:9-11), will rule with Messiah during the Millennium. The martyrs were beheaded either because they refused to worship the beast or his image, or they refused to take his mark on their forehead or on their right hand. Therefore, the Church and the Tribulation martyrs will co-reign with the messianic King over the Gentile nations (see Fk – Gentiles in the Messianic Kingdom). They will be Christ’s representatives and carry out His decrees to the unsaved nations. With Him, they will rule with an iron scepter.
Because the Jews are to be regathered in the land of Isra’el and possess it once again, all the Gentile believers will live in the Gentile nations where they will carry out their ministry of ruling with an iron scepter. They will visit Isra’el, visit Jerusalem and worship in the messianic Temple, but they will live and minister among the unsaved Gentile nations.
During the Messianic Kingdom, the different Gentile nations will have kings over them. All kings will bow down to Messiah and all the Gentile nations will serve Him (Psalm 72:11). These kings will have their natural bodies, while the believers ruling over them will have their resurrected bodies. While the kings will have dominion over the various nations, they themselves will be under the authority of the Church and the Tribulation martyrs. Accordingly, in the Gentile branch of government, the chain of command will be from Christ to the Church and Tribulation martyrs, to the kings of the Gentile nations, and finally, to the Gentile nations themselves.
There will be a Jewish branch of government. The absolute monarchy of the Messiah will extend to Isra’el as well as to the Gentile nations. But directly under Jesus, having authority over all Isra’el, will be the resurrected David, who will be given the dual titles of king and prince. He will be a king because He will rule over Isra’el (Jeremiah 30:9; Ezeki’el 34:23-24, 37:24-25; Hosea 3:5), and he will be a prince because he will be under the authority of Christ. The Gentile nations will have kings, and Isra’el will have a king. The difference is that the Gentile kings will have their natural bodies, while David will have his resurrected body.437
On two occasions, Yeshua promised that the twelve apostles would rule over the twelve tribes in the Messianic Kingdom (Mathew 19:28; Luke 22:28-30). We have no idea which apostle will rule over which tribe. The answer to that question will have to wait until the Millennial Kingdom comes.
In addition to king David and the twelve apostles, there will be others simply identified as princes. (see the commentary on Isaiah Fy – See, a King will Reign in Righteousness). These princes will be in positions of authority, and their character will be righteous (Ezeki’el 45:8). The resurrected Zerubbabel could very well be among those future princes (see the commentary on Ezra-Nehemiah Ak – Numbering the Exiles Who Returned Under Zerubbabel).
Judges and counselors will also be appointed in the Messianic Kingdom. ADONAI, says: I will restore your judges as in days of old, your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City (Isaiah 1:26). This position of authority will be particularly connected to the City of Jerusalem. These judges and counselors will be responsible for ruling justly. There will be no travesty of justice in the Millennial Kingdom.
The final link in the chain of command of the Jewish branch of the messianic government is that Isra’el will rule over the Gentiles. This was part of God’s promise to Isra’el, “For ADONAI your God will bless you, as He promised you – you will lend money to many nations without having to borrow, and you will rule over many nations without their ruling over you” (Deuteronomy 15:6 CJB). Ruling over the Gentiles will be part of Isra’el’s reward for obedience. Moses said: If you listen closely to what the LORD your God says, observing and obeying all his commands which I am giving you today, ADONAI your God will raise you high above all the nations on earth (Deuteronomy 28:1 CJB also see Deuteronomy 28:13 CJB). If Isra’el had been obedient at Yeshua’s First Coming, they would have been able to live in the Land in peace and achieve this goal. But since they were not, God postponed this promise until the Messianic Kingdom.
In addition to the statements found in the Torah, the prophets also describe Isra’el’s future ruling over the Gentile nations. For ADONAI will have compassion on Jacob – He will once again choose Isra’el and resettle them in their own land, where foreigners will join them, attaching themselves to the house of Jacob. Peoples will take and escort them to their homeland, and the house of Isra’el will possess them in the land of the LORD as male and female slaves. They will make their captors captive and rule over their oppressors (Isaiah 14:1-2 CJB also see Isaiah 49:22-23 and 61:6-7).
Therefore, the chain of command in the Jewish branch of the Messianic government will be from the Messiah, to King David, to the twelve apostles, to the princes, to the judges and counselors to the nation of Isra’el, who will rule over the Gentile nations.
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