U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt coined the term United Nations—the UN—for the international governmental body of the same name in 1942, and 50 nations signed its initial charter on June 26, 1945, in San Francisco, California. At that time, the UN stated its aims of joining nations in unity, peace, prosperity, and security in the charter’s Preamble:
We the people of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war … to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women … to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.
However, time has proven that the UN’s lofty ideals failed. It did not consider humanity’s greatest weakness: sin. Since the UN’s inception, injustice and war have continued unabated, and global unity has been elusive. The organization’s ideals remain unfulfilled.
The Millennium
The Bible teaches that there will be a future global government, a true world rule that will fulfill the UN’s desires: peace, dignity, prosperity, and security. It will occur on Earth under the Lord Jesus Christ’s rule and usher in a true golden age for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1–7).
We call this period of world peace, harmony, and longevity the Millennium. This time will occur following the revelation of Jesus Christ at His Second Coming (Matthew 24:29–31). The nations will be judged, and the consequences will be two-fold: Those who failed to honor the Lord Jesus by not caring for His Jewish brothers in their need during the Tribulation “will go away into everlasting punishment,” and those who cared for them “will go… into eternal life” (v. 46).
Through Jesus, the earth will finally know true peace, dignity, unity, and prosperity.
With this final separation between the righteous and unrighteous, the Millennial Kingdom will begin with a clean slate, populated by believers in Jesus. Israel will be cleansed and become the head of the nations, and Jerusalem will be the world’s capital (Deuteronomy 28:1–14; Zechariah 12:10—13:1). The Lord Jesus will rule the world in a new way, with “truth, humility, and righteousness” (Psalm 45:4). He will rule a true, benevolent Theocracy with an iron rod (2:8–9). Through Jesus, the earth will finally know true peace, dignity, unity, and prosperity.
Israel’s Role
This time will bring significant changes. Earth will not need the sun or moon, as God’s glory will light the earth (Isaiah 60:19–21). The King will rule in Israel’s final, fully constructed Temple—the largest, most beautiful temple in Israel’s history. God’s glory will reside there (Ezekiel 43:5). Priests will conduct sacrifices there. God detailed the altar’s construction, which is necessary because the whole Temple complex will be holy (vv. 12–17). The altar will convict the residents of their past sins and iniquities (vv. 10–13). The sacrifices will allow sinful humans to have a relationship with God (vv. 18–27). In The End, Mark Hitchcock writes:
Sacrifices during the Millennium will not be a substitute for Christ’s atoning work. Instead, they will provide ritual purification for unglorified people on earth who approach the holy God in worship (p. 428).
In that time, Israel will no longer be a hated and rejected pariah but the favored head of the nations.
The nations will come to the global capital of Jerusalem to worship God and learn His Law (Isaiah 2:1–3). Zechariah wrote, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you”’” (Zechariah 8:23). Dr. Charles Feinberg explains in The Minor Prophets:
Then Israel will be the head of the nations; this is graphically set forth by our prophet under the picture of ten (which is the indefinite use to express a large number) of all nations taking hold of the [sleeve] of a Jew and expressing their desire to go with him, for they have heard that God is with Israel. The taking hold of the [sleeve] is an expression of their longing to enjoy the blessings and privileges of the Jew (p. 312).
In that time, Israel will no longer be a hated and rejected pariah but the favored head of the nations.
Unity, Peace, and Prosperity
The residents’ longevity will go from “seventy years” (Psalm 90:10) to significantly more than 100 years old, which will be considered young (Isaiah 65:20). Along with extended lifespans, wildlife will be changed. Isaiah declared that the wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the goat, the calf and the lion, the bear and the cow, and the lion and the ox will all live together in harmony (Isaiah 11:6–7). Even a child will play in a cobra’s hole unharmed (v. 8). Such peace is not yet present today, but peace will prevail even among these animals.
The International Monetary Fund estimated the total global value of all nations at 105 trillion dollars in 2023. Yet, prosperity in the Millennium will outdo anything we have ever seen in human history. Abundance summarizes the economy and the food supply then: “The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good” (Deuteronomy 30:9).
With God dwelling on Earth and ruling through the Lord Jesus Christ, the world will enjoy peace, unity, dignity, and prosperity. It will finally have its Golden Age.
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