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A reader sent me a link to the following from the BBC:

19 February 2020

No country offers a child both the chance of a healthy upbringing and an environment fit for their future, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

Experts say climate change and harmful advertising encouraging fast-food consumption and under-age drinking are putting children at risk. …
“Every child worldwide now faces existential threats from climate change and commercial pressures,” said former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, who co-chairs the commission.

“Countries need to overhaul their approach to child and adolescent health to protect the world they will inherit in the future.” …

The report also highlighted the threat posed to children from harmful marketing.

It found they were exposed to as many as 30,000 television advertisements a year, including those for alcohol, junk food and sugary soft drinks.

One of the commission’s authors, Anthony Costello, University College London professor of global health and sustainability, warned the meteoric rise in the use of social media among children and adolescents meant “predatory marketing” was more of a danger than ever.

“We have few facts and figures about the huge expansion of social-media advertising and algorithms aimed at our children,” he said.

In 2019, a report estimated nearly 2.3 billion children and adults on the planet were overweight and more than 150 million children had stunted growth. …

Prof Costello warned … “For almost one in every two children to be poor in 21st Century Britain is not just a disgrace but a social calamity and an economic disaster, all rolled into one,” he said. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51547441

The BBC report did NOT touch upon the need for parents to set proper examples and teach children biblical morality. That would help.

The Bible teaches that parents should spend time with their children. Time eating, time working with them, time discussing their education, time doing fun activities with them, time in church with them, time teaching them, and simply time with them. God says to do that:

6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)

6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6).

Teaching children biblical morality is what is needed.

As far parenting goes, the Continuing Church of God put out a video on that:

Five Rules for Effective Parenting

While a lot of child rearing is an on–the-job learning experience, this video provides five rules that Christian parents may find helpful in becoming more effective parents. This video urges truthfulness and elimination of hypocrisy, as well as providing practical ideas in areas such as discipline. The above YouTube video goes through various scriptures and attempts to give some advice on being effective parents.

But what about the future of children in particular and humanity in general?

Well, Satan’s society of this world does not want people to heed Jesus’ words to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).

Notice the biblical millennial future will be great for children:

5 The streets of the city
Shall be full of boys and girls
Playing in its streets.’

6 “Thus says the Lord of hosts:

‘If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days,
Will it also be marvelous in My eyes?’
Says the Lord of hosts.  (Zechariah 8:5-6)

There is hope for humanity and children.

Notice the following from our free booklet: The Gospel of the Kingdom of God:

Jesus’ first and last recorded sermon involved proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15; Acts 1:3).

God’s kingdom is something that the Jews of Jesus’ time should have known something about as it was mentioned in their scriptures, which we now call the Old Testament.

Daniel Taught About the Kingdom

The prophet Daniel wrote:

⁴⁰ And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. ⁴¹ Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. ⁴² And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. ⁴³ As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. ⁴⁴ And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever (Daniel 2:40-44).

¹⁸ But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.’ (Daniel 7:18).

²¹ “I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, ²² until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom. (Daniel 7:21-22)

From Daniel, we learn that the time will come when the Kingdom of God will destroy the kingdoms of this world and will last forever. We also learn that the saints will have their part in receiving this kingdom.

Many portions of Daniel’s prophecies are for our time in the 21^st century.

Notice some passages from the New Testament:

¹² “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. ¹³ These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. ¹⁴ These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.” (Revelation 17:12-14)

So, we see in both the Old and New Testaments the concept that there will be an end time earthly kingdom with ten parts and that God will destroy it and establish His kingdom.

Isaiah Taught About the Kingdom

God inspired Isaiah to write about the first part of the Kingdom of God, the thousand year reign known as the millennium, this way:

¹ There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. ² The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

³ His delight is in the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; ⁴ But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. ⁵ Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist.

⁶ “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. ⁷ The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. ⁸ The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. ⁹ They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰ “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious.” (Isaiah 11:1-10)

The reason I referred to this as the first part or first phase of the Kingdom of God, is that this is a time where it will be physical (prior to the time when the holy city, New Jerusalem comes down from heaven, Revelation 21) and will last a thousand years. Isaiah confirmed the physical aspect of this phase when he continued with:

¹¹ It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea.

¹² He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth. ¹³ Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, And Judah shall not harass Ephraim. ¹⁴ But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west; Together they shall plunder the people of the East; They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab; And the people of Ammon shall obey them. ¹⁵ The Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River, And strike it in the seven streams, And make men cross over dry-shod. ¹⁶ There will be a highway for the remnant of His people Who will be left from Assyria, As it was for Israel In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt. (Isaiah 11:11-16)

Isaiah was also inspired to write:

² Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. ³ Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. ⁴ He shall judge between the nations, And rebuke many people; 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. … ¹¹ The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. (Isaiah 2:2-4,11)

Thus, it will be a utopian time of peace on earth. Ultimately, this will be forever, with Jesus ruling. Based upon various scriptures (Psalm 90:4; 92:1; Isaiah 2:11; Hosea 6:2), the Jewish Talmud teaches this lasts 1,000 years (Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Sanhedrin Folio 97a).

Isaiah was inspired to also write the following:

⁶ For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷ Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Notice that Isaiah said that Jesus would come and establish a kingdom with a government. While many who profess Christ quote this passage, especially in December each year, they tend to overlook that it is prophesying more than the fact that Jesus would be born. The Bible shows that the Kingdom of God has a government with laws over subjects, and that Jesus will be over it. Isaiah, Daniel, and others prophesied it.

The laws of God are the way of love (Matthew 22:37-40; John 15:10) and the Kingdom of God will be ruled based upon those laws. Hence the Kingdom of God, despite how many in the world view it, will be based upon love.

Psalms and More

It was not just Daniel and Isaiah that God inspired to write about the coming Kingdom of God.

Ezekiel was inspired to write that those of the tribes of Israel (not just the Jews) who were scattered during the time of the Great Tribulation would be gathered together in the millennial kingdom:

¹⁷ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”‘ ¹⁸ And they will go there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there. ¹⁹ Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, ²⁰ that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. ²¹ But as for those whose hearts follow the desire for their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God. (Ezekiel 11:17-21)

The descendants of the tribes of Israel will no longer be scattered, but will obey God’s statutes and stop eating abominable things (Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14).

Notice the following in the Psalms about the good news of God’s kingdom:

²⁷ All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You. ²⁸ For the kingdom is the Lord’s, And He rules over the nations. (Psalms 22:27-28)

⁶ Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. (Psalms 45:6)

¹ Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! Sing to the Lord, all the earth. ² Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. ³ Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples. (Psalms 96:1-3; also cf. 1 Chronicles 16:23-24)

¹⁰ All Your works shall praise You, O Lord, And Your saints shall bless You. ¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, And talk of Your power, ¹² To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, And the glorious majesty of His kingdom. ¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations. (Psalm 145:10-13)

Various writers in the Old Testament also wrote about aspects of the kingdom (e.g. Ezekiel 20:33; Obadiah 21; Micah 4:7).

So, when Jesus began teaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God, His immediate audience had some familiarity with the basic concept.

Yes, children will flourish during that Kingdom!

More about that, including teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, can be found in our free booklet: The Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Most people do not really understand the truth about the Kingdom of God. The Continuing Church of God, however, is reaching people with that message.

We are also teaching about environmental matters (see The Bible, Christians, and the Environment), alcohol (see Alcohol: Blessing or Curse? and Binge Drinking, Health, and the Bible), fast food (see Obesity, processed foods, health risks, and the Bible), and other physical matters in this age.

But, we realize that the solution is for people to turn to God, and since only some will in this age, we strive to provide a witness for the coming Kingdom of God.

That is good news for children. But there will be troubles (Mark 13:8) and a time of great tribulation (Matthew 24:21-22) before then.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 19th, 2020 at 8:00 am and is filed under Doctrine, Prophecy.

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