YEHOVAH God, when He returns, will give His people Israel authority in His Kingdom. Have you wondered how you will be able to manage part of YEHOVAH's government?

Let's use our imaginations to travel forward in time a few years.

Picture the Millennium. YEHOVAH God and His Messiah have returned, and YEHOVAH's Ecclesia has been born into His Family. Some have been raised from the dead. Others of Israel were instantly changed from mortal to immortal when the last trump sounded.

Together for the first time, all YEHOVAH's chosen people Israel stand before their powerful and triumphant elder brother, Yeshua the Messiah, waiting to receive their positions of responsibility and service in the new world government.

Now it's your turn. As you come before the Messiah, you sense the power radiating from him. But you have nothing to fear. The look in those shining eyes, more brilliant than a thousand suns, is one of friendship and recognition. You realize that the Messiah knows who you are. It is as if he, too, has been anticipating this moment.

And then, with a voice more powerful than the most powerful waterfall, but full of warmth and enthusiasm, the Messiah says the words you have been waiting to hear: "Well done, you good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in the things I gave you to do, you have overcome and you endured to the end. Welcome to the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God." Then he adds, "I am going to give you authority over 10 cities."

A dream? Yes, but it is the realistic dream of many people of Israel now reading this article. It is a dream that will one day come true.

But wait a minute. The readers of this article are just ordinary people -- an American construction worker, a British housewife, an Australian farmer, a young Danish university student. How can people like that be qualified to rule a city? What do they -- what do you -- know about it?

Responsibilities of Rulership

Did you ever stop to think about what must be done to manage a city, or even a small town? Water and power must be provided, streets and roads have to be planned and a building code must be established. Garbage must be collected. Disposal of sewage must be arranged.

And what about transportation, a school system, shops and places of entertainment? Taxes must be collected and the funds appropriated for the thousands of expenses needed to keep a town running properly.

What do you know about all that ? Some of the best minds in the world today can't make our towns and cities work. So what makes you think you are going to do any better in the world tomorrow? How can you teach what you don' t know?

Discouraged? Don't be. Read on.

The world that YEHOVAH God and the Messiah return to will need urgent help. It will be battered from Satan's rule and horribly chastened by the Day of the LORD.

The book of Revelation shows how the trumpet plagues and the events leading up to the Messiah's future appearance will devastate civilization.

Communications networks will be in ruins. Transportation will have broken down. Dams will have been destroyed and bridges will have collapsed. Once-great cities will be nothing but smoking piles of rubble. The ecosystem will have been badly damaged.

But, starting from Jerusalem, the healing and rebuilding will commence. Representatives of once-proud nations will make their way to YEHOVAH's seat of government, to be taught His ways and learn His paths (Isaiah 2:3).

And they will find that the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God is ready and eager to help. It will also be competent. YEHOVAH God will have a team with all the expertise necessary to show humanity how to live. If you are to be a part of that team, YEHOVAH will have to see to it that you are qualified to help.

"But I have had no experience running a city!" you may say. "How will I be ready ?"

Has, perhaps, YEHOVAH God been wrong in choosing the "weak things of the world [of Israel]" (I Corinthians 1:27) to qualify for His Kingdom? Perhaps it would have been better to have picked His people from among the mayors and governors of the Israelite world today. Perhaps He should have selected the most able civil engineers, town-planning experts, telecommunication operators and those with experience in big business and large construction projects.

Instead, we find that "not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called" (verse 26). Is that going to prove to be a mistake ?

No. YEHOVAH God knows exactly what He is doing. When He returns, His world-ruling team will be ready and able to rule.

The Missing Dimension in Knowledge

To understand how this is possible, we need to remind ourselves again just what it is that has gone wrong with this world.

For 6,000 years, since Adam rejected the kind of knowledge that could only come from YEHOVAH God, humans of the Adamic line have tried to find a way of life that works. We have failed in every aspect except one. The Adamic line has proved itself more than adequate in solving technical problems. Especially in the last 100 years, breakthroughs in all areas of technology have transformed the world.

The Adamic man has demonstrated that he can learn how to harness the power of mighty rivers or string bridges across great chasms. He knows how to build highways and railroads over soaring mountains and searing deserts. He can drill for oil beneath the Arctic ice. He has split the atom, made an artificial heart and regularly travels into space.

But at the beginning of the Millennium, after the destruction at the end of this age, the world will have realized that all the knowledge of physical things has not produced a way of life that worked. It may have seemed right for a while, but it will have led us to the very brink of destruction.

Only YEHOVAH God's intervention will save all flesh from extinction. And YEHOVAH will not just allow man to begin blindly rebuilding. YEHOVAH will restore the government of YEHOVAH God to show this world YEHOVAH's way of life and to teach YEHOVAH's laws. That is what the non-Adamic nations will go to Jerusalem to learn. It is knowledge that they have known nothing about. They must learn it from the beginning, like little children.

But you will know it! You are learning it all the time. YEHOVAH God through His spirit is teaching his people Israel a new way to live of sharing, cooperating, helping, humility and loving your neighbor as yourself. That is the way YEHOVAH lives, and if you are being led by His spirit you are learning to live that way, too. You are discovering that it produces peace.

At the moment, you probably only have the opportunity to live that way on a small scale. You have a small family and perhaps a rather average job. Your income may not be great, or maybe you just have a small plot of land to take care of. Perhaps you are single, old or crippled. Maybe you are even out of work or in jail. But whoever you are, you should be making progress in learning to live your life YEHOVAH's way.

You Are Learning Now

But can that really qualify you to rule a city -- to tackle the complex administrative, organizational and personal problems that come up all the time when several thousand families live together?

Yes, it can. Problems in the world today seem more complex than they actually are, because the nature of the problems is not understood. The apostle James showed the real cause of strife in the world: "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war [to get more]. Yet you do not have because you do not ask" (James 4: 1-2).

In other words, our problems are caused by human nature, expressed in jealousy, resentment, vanity, lust and greed.

Struggles between nations today are really only small problems grown big. The problem of two major powers locked in a hot war may seem more complex than two neighbors fighting over the back fence. But it is essentially the same -- they know no other way to settle disputes. Whether it is nations or individuals, "The way of peace they have not known" (Romans 3:17).

And if the cause is the same, the solution is the same -- love, tolerance, forgiveness, sharing, helping and giving. That way produces peace, happiness and prosperity. It works between people. Given a chance, it would work between nations.

And so YEHOVAH God does not need to see you in action on a large scale to know whether you know how to administer the laws that lead to peace. He sees it now, by the way you solve the problems of your own life.

You, in spite of your limited experience, will indeed have the ability to teach others the way of peace in the world tomorrow. YEHOVAH does not need to see you in action ruling ten cities to determine whether you know how to apply and observe His law. He can see, by the simple decisions you make every day in your life, whether you will obey Him or go the way of the world.

Be Faithful in Small Things

Let's take, for example, your relationship with your wife, your husband or your children. How do you solve problems among yourselves? By shouting, yelling and expressing bad attitudes? Or are you showing YEHOVAH that you know a better way?

What about finances? Would you handle the treasure of a city like so many rulers today, and enrich yourself at others' expense? YEHOVAH can tell by the way you handle your employer's money and the time your employer pays you for, by your attitude toward taxes that you must "render unto Caesar." 

As the Messiah said, "If you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?" (Luke 16:12). And notice verse 10: "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much."

If you learn to be faithful and loyal in small things, YEHOVAH knows that you will be that way when given much greater responsibility. This is clearly shown by the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, starting with verse 14. Let's pick the story up in verses 20 and 21, after the ruler had returned and asked his servants to give account of their stewardship: "So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents...His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over few things, I will make you ruler over many things.'"

The Messiah was showing that YEHOVAH God could tell if His people Israel were developing the qualities of proper rulership by the way they handled the small matters of their lives. The servant who misused his position of trust was disqualified (verses 24-30). He couldn't be trusted.

What Kind of Decisions Do You Make?

The decisions required to live YEHOVAH's way are really very simple -- they are basically a matter of saying yes or no to YEHOVAH's law.

It doesn't have to be complicated. YEHOVAH God did not test Adam and Eve on some gigantic, complex problem to see whether or not they would be obedient. He tested them in one of the most basic areas: What were they going to eat? They succumbed to temptation and ate of the one fruit in the garden that YEHOVAH had forbidden. Faced with a relatively simple decision, they made the wrong choice.

Don't be too quick to judge Adam and Eve -- you have been making the same kind of wrong choices in simple decisions all your life.

You don' t have to be a Hitler or a Kim Jong-Un to prove you are unsuitable to rule over others. The way you treat your wife, your children or your friends shows YEHOVAH God what kind of a ruler you will be. Are you short-tempered, hard to get along with, rebellious, uncooperative, unfair?

YEHOVAH God needs to know that now, before He trusts you with a major responsibility over many people. The Kingdom of YEHOVAH God is going to bring peace to the world, not more strife. Those of Israel who will rule must show YEHOVAH now that they are learning the way of peace.

Every day brings a thousand and one little decisions that show YEHOVAH God whether you are learning His way or not.

YEHOVAH God's Way to Be Taught

Right now, most leaders in the world are not interested in learning this way. They consider it foolish, unrealistic and simplistic. Their quest for peace and prosperity will continue -- damming more rivers, splitting more atoms, developing ever more miraculous machines. Treaties will be made and broken, and the wonderful inventions of science will inevitably be turned into engines of destruction. This world, based on physical knowledge, is destined to come crashing down.

Among the survivors will undoubtedly be architects, civil engineers, artists and others with the technical skill to start rebuilding. But they will realize that their way of doing things was wrong. They will see that it didn't and couldn't bring peace!

They will turn in humility and repentance to YEHOVAH God, and ask to be shown another way.

YEHOVAH will no longer hide that way. In the Millennium, the knowledge of YEHOVAH's way of life will begin to fill the earth like the waters cover the ocean beds (Isaiah 11:9). The information will be readily available: "Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers" (Isaiah 30:20). As people begin to rebuild, if they start to make a mistake, they will "hear a word...saying, 'This is the way, walk in it,' whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left" (verse 21).

Those teachers will have to know the way. They can't teach what they don't know.

But if you have qualified to be in YEHOVAH's Kingdom, you will be among those of Israel who know the way. YEHOVAH God will give you your reward with complete confidence. As you receive your authority to rule, you will also be given the power to go with the authority. The choices you will have to make will be on a much larger scale than now, but you will still make decisions the same way, knowing right from wrong.

A New Way of Life

Destructive trends from 6,000 years of human misrule will be reversed.

Through miraculous intervention the environment will be changed. Mountains will be lowered and valleys raised. Dramatic climate changes will alter barren deserts, turning them into thriving locations for desirable plants and animals. Miraculous healings will occur and sickness will be abolished (Isaiah 40:4, 35:1-7, 9). The very nature of animals will be changed so they no longer harm or fear man (Isaiah 11:6-8).

Once the initial geological changes have been made, the land will be ready for resettling. We will resettle the destitute refugees who survive the events leading up to the Day of the LORD and help them begin a way of life they have not known.

A Temple will be constructed; there YEHOVAH God in His Shekinah Glory shall sit as supreme Ruler and Yeshua the Messiah will be His High Priest and king over Israel. Jerusalem will be rebuilt, much smaller but more beautiful, with verdant agricultural land just outside the city limits.

The entire land of Israel will be divinely allocated and families will be given a portion of land as an inheritance, to own throughout the Millennium without fear of losing it.

Agriculture will become the basis of society. Small, family-owned farms will produce bountiful harvests without soil erosion or the use of harmful pesticides or chemical fertilizers (Amos 9:13). Proper farming methods, favorable weather and societal respect for farming will bring joy to the farmers of the future.

Business and industry will still exist, but on a far different scale. The emphasis will be on serving others. For example, beating swords into plowshares (Isaiah 2:4) will involve manufacturing equipment for constructive purposes from war machinery that was once used for destruction.

No longer will huge, impersonal, get-oriented industries pollute the atmosphere, provide monotonous work or waste people's potential. Workers will enjoy their work as they produce quality goods in a safe and stimulating environment.

Industrial pollution will be halted. Natural energy sources such as sunlight will be wisely used and reusable materials will be recycled, thereby greatly reducing industrial waste.

Even the source of many raw materials will change. Abundant mineral resources from the oceans will be made available for productive use (Isaiah 60:5).

Cities will be rebuilt, intelligently planned so that people won't experience the problems of overcrowding and separation from the beauty and tranquility of an agrarian society. Cities will be architecturally breathtaking, built according to a divinely inspired master plan (Amos 9:14).

Armed with that knowledge and that power, YEHOVAH's chosen people Israel will be able to rule a city, five cities, even ten cities -- in the way of peace -- for a thousand years.

You Must Diligently Respond

Think about this incredible potential you have in your future. Truly, a joyous time of rulership awaits all of us of Israel for all eternity.

But merely knowing about these things is not enough. You must diligently respond to the calling YEHOVAH God is giving you. You must work to develop the attributes of a king by yielding to the will of YEHOVAH God (Matthew 7:21, 18:3, James 1:22-25). As a ruler of the future you must look beyond the difficulties now facing you, to your ultimate reward (Romans 8:18). That is what Yeshua the Messiah did (Hebrews 12:2-3, I Peter 2:21).

Allow this hope to burn brightly in you, for YEHOVAH's plan extends even beyond what this article has covered. Your rulership shall extend to all the universe that now lies dead, awaiting its time for life (Revelation 21-22)!

Remember the example of the Messiah and be obedient to his will. If you do, someday he'll apply these words to you: "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord" (Matthew 25:21).

Hope of Israel Ministries -- Proclaiming the Good News of the Soon-Coming Kingdom of YEHOVAH God!

Hope of Israel Ministries P.O. Box 853 Azusa, CA 91702, U.S.A. www.hope-of-israel.org

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