“Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.” (Psalm 145:13)
Many believers long for Jesus’ return and His kingdom, crying, “maranatha (Lord, come!)!” But what will the coming kingdom be like? The prophet Isaiah wrote extensively about it, painting a beautiful, hopeful picture of what awaits us after Jesus establishes His ultimate authority on the earth.
After Satan’s destruction, the Messiah’s future kingdom will include a temporal period of one thousand years (the millennial kingdom) followed by an eternal kingdom. Isaiah repeatedly describes how unimaginably exceptional it will be.
Life in the kingdom will be unlike anything people have ever seen or experienced. Foremost, it will be a time of uncommon world peace as the Prince of Peace rules from Jerusalem.
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” (Is 2:4)
“Then justice will dwell in the wilderness and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. The work of righteousness will be peace and the effect of righteousness, quietness, and assurance forever. My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” (Is 32:16-18)
“‘The wolf and the lamb shall feed together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,’ says the LORD.” (Is 11:6)
“For you shall go out with joy and be led out with peace. The mountains and hills shall break forth into singing before, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” (Is 55:12)
“Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither wasting nor destruction within your borders.” (Is 60:18)
Scripture overwhelmingly foretells a welcome period of divine peace after years of violence, depravity, pain, and widespread unrest. Only those who endure will experience this unprecedented time of rest, joy, and safety.
Renewing the Garden
With peace firmly established, morality and spiritual awareness of the Lord will reach new heights. Isaiah describes that it will be the most significant level it has ever been since the Garden of Eden and Adam’s fall from grace.
“I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants and My blessings on your offspring. They will spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses.” (Is 44:3)
“For the LORD will comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.” (Is 51:3)
God will essentially renew the earth to reflect the original Garden. Its beauty will be surpassing, and its purity will be restored.
Life and Nature in the Kingdom
The Bible also says that a person’s life expectancy in the kingdom will be more like what people experienced in the time of Genesis; it will lengthen significantly.
“No more shall an infant from there live but a few days nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days. For the child shall die one hundred years old. For as the days of a tree so shall be the days of My people.” (Is 65:20, 22)
Isaiah prophesies that nature will also experience an unprecedented renewal.
“Then He will give the rain for your seed with which you sow the ground, and bread of the increase of the earth. It will be fat and plentiful. In that day, your cattle will feed in large pastures. There will be on every high mountain and on every high hill rivers and streams of waters. Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold as the light of seven days.” (Is 30:23, 25-26)
“I will open rivers in desolate heights and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water.” (Is 41:18)
“Also, there was no more sea.” (Rev 21:1)
The Old and New Testaments state that the land will change in the new kingdom. However, while the earth, including rivers and streams, will be renewed, God will remove the oceans, creating entirely new climate conditions. The earth will experience total restoration, and people will never lack again.
New Kingdom, New Heavens
The earth will not be the only thing that changes. The heavens (sun, moon, stars, planets, etc.) will also change, which John foresaw in Revelation 21:1.
“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.”
God will destroy the universe as we know it and replace it with a restored creation that will last forever. Isaiah speaks of this event in Isaiah 65:17 and 66:22, as does Psalm 102:25-26.
“Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure. Yes, they will all grow old like a garment. Like a cloak, You will change them, and they will be changed.”
Though Isaiah 65:17 says the heavens “shall not be remembered or come to mind” in the new kingdom, other Scriptures make it clear that God will recreate them, though we do not know what it will look like.
John, too, saw a vision, but he saw heaven itself—God’s throne room—in Revelation 21:23-25 and 22:5. His vision confirms Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 60:20.
“The city [new Jerusalem] had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there).” (Rev 21:23-25, with addition)
“There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light.” (Rev 22:5)
The universe will radically change, as will heaven. God Himself will be the only light we need, and His brilliance will go beyond the horizon.
We Are Forever Changed
Even as God recreates, renews, and establishes His eternal kingdom, believers themselves can look forward to being forever changed.
Among the abundance of peace, brilliantly lit heavens, lush foliage, and flowing waters, believers will experience an existence unlike anything ever known. Anything associated with sin will be eliminated, including fear, sorrow, anxiety, and death itself.
“He will swallow up death forever, and the LORD GOD will wipe away tears from all faces. The rebuke of His people, He will take away from all the earth.” (Is 25:8)
“And the days of your mourning shall be ended.” (Is 60:20)
John witnesses the vision as well in Revelation 7:17 and 21:4.
“They shall neither hunger anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (7:17)
“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (21:4)
Since there will be no crying in the kingdom, believers will never feel sadness, disappointment, wrongdoing, or poverty again. They will feel nothing but joy, peace, and the fullness of God’s love.
The apostle Paul also echoes the prophecy concerning death in 1 Corinthians 15:54.
“So, when this corruptible [body] has put on incorruption [a glorified body], and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’” (with additions)
Because we now live under the curse of sin, death is mandatory for everyone. But in the new kingdom, where God has eternally abolished sin, death will be no more.
“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor 15:57)
Worship in the New Kingdom
During this time, Isaiah tells us the Lord will gather “all nations and tongues” to see and declare His glory and bring their offerings in worship. He will also establish a new priesthood to function in unique service roles in the millennial temple (Is 66:18-21; Eze 44-46).
Isaiah finishes his prophecy with encouragement as believers wait for the kingdom to come.
“When you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like grass. The hand of the LORD shall be known to His servants, and His indignation to His enemies.” (Is 66:14)
Though the promises of peace, rest, freedom, and renewal are available now to those who come to faith in the Messiah Jesus, they do not compare to what is to come in the new kingdom.
And though we worship Him now, in the new kingdom, we will continually worship the Lord “from one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another (Is 66:23).” We will join the angels in declaring His holiness and enjoy the beauty of the New Jerusalem, including its streets of gold (Rev 21:9-21).
The Lord is Coming
To be sure, God will reject those who reject Him; they will be cast into the lake of fire (Is 66:15-16, 24; Rev 20:11-15). The people God specifically refers to are found in Rev 21:8. Therefore, salvation and faith in Jesus are essential to see the kingdom. John sums up the glorious future the faithful can expect.
“To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. And they shall reign forever and ever. Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city [of the New Jerusalem].” (Rev 3:21; 22:4-5, 14, with addition)
The Lord is coming quickly (Rev 22:7, 12). He can return at any time. May we be ready and not fail in our faith so that we can experience the beauty of the coming eternal kingdom.
