Horizon 3000

Empowered to Shape the 3rd Millennium

As the people of God are launched into the 3rd Millennium He has called us not to just live in the 3rd Millennium but to shape it. The purpose of this page is to provide concepts that stimulate and challenge the Christian mindset as we seize the divine opportunity to change our world for good by shaping human destiny in the 3rd Millennium.

Peter & Ann

#1. SETTING THE MILLENNIUM TONE

The Age of the Kingdom at Hand
As humanity launches into the 3rd Millennium there are important questions for all believers. How does God see this era? What are His hopes and desires for humanity and what is our part in that vision He has? Since the ascension of Jesus and the launching of the church in Acts 2 we have been in the era of the Church Age. The focus has been the development and expansion of the church into and throughout the world. Our understanding of types and shadows and the apocalyptic of Revelation have been bound up in this idea of the church age and the end of the 2nd Millennium marked the perceived boundary of this time. Many groups anticipated the consummation of the ages would occur at some point during the period of the final century of that Millennium.
However, the unthinkable has occurred and we are all still here, further more the task is greater than it has ever been. Despite two millennia of the influence of the church even the most optimistic liberal Christian understanding of the percentage of those who would be considered redeemed would be far less than 50% of humanity. The most optimistic orthodox Christian point of view would only be 30% and generally 25% would be considered closer to the real value. This would drop to perhaps be even less than 10% in the fundamentalist conservative viewpoints. The anticipation at the launch of the church and the immediate history of Acts in the expansion into the known world resulted in a church that penetrated and impacted the world wherever it went, Acts 17:6. Given the urgency of the task and the initial impetus the results are less than encouraging in terms of the dream that began it all from the heart of Jesus.
In my own nation of Australia Government census of Australians shows that whilst a large percentage of Australians (80 to 90%) believe in a divine being less than 20% of Australians would associate that with a church. I remember when as I was daydreaming one day the Lord challenged me by asking me to imagine what the nation would be like if we could reverse those percentages; i.e. 80% effectively transformed. What would be the impact and the manifestation in my nation? I imagined a catch cry like reversing the 80/20 rule.
It is clear that we need to move beyond the Church Age that reached its zenith in the final century of the 2nd Millennium. But what is to be the tone of this new 3rd Millennium that can fulfill the dream of Jesus?

THE CHURCH IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE CHURCH!
This statement borrows the idea of the official announcement of the passing of one King and the establishing of the new King that took place in ancient Sovereignties. There is a time to recognize that the passing of one era is occurring and at the same time the beginning of a new era is dawning. It is not the position of King which passes but the rule of the one fulfilling that role. This was a critical moment of transition in a Kingdom and as such one that is difficult for those who grew up under the old era and are now confronted with change. It is a time to evaluate and capture the good and important contributions of the passing era, but it is also a time to let go and embrace the new. If this is done tradition does not become traditionalism. Tradition presents a launching pad for the future but traditionalism raises a barrier to perception of a new future and becomes a prison that locks people up, preventing them from entering a new world so that it cannot even be seen. I remember once that the Lord spoke to my heart and said ‘a new idea in an old paradigm is an old idea.’ Often church leaders, including myself, will attend conferences and come back bursting with new ideas but the passage time results in those new ideas being absorbed into the old paradigm. The paradigm must change or the idea will be changed and re-shaped to become an old idea by the paradigm.
The Church Age has successfully achieved its’ purpose of the expansion of the church into our world. There has been a consequent establishment of a firm unshakeable base for launching into the fulfillment of the Lord’s desire to reach and impact the whole world, 2Peter 3:9 & 1Timothy 2:4. However, it is time to acknowledge that although this is the desire what we are doing is not only failing to get the job done but will never achieve this goal. If the old era of the Church Age could have achieved this goal it would already have done it by now. There has been ample time, anointed and gifted leaders and abundant revelation. It is time to acknowledge that the Church Age is over and the new Age is dawning. It is the Church Age that is dead not the Church but the church must embrace a new mindset, and hence paradigm to fulfill the dream Jesus had when He launched the church by first launching the Church Age. This begs the question; what is the new age or era?

JESUS DREAM: The Kingdom at Hand
Whilst all the gospels agree that the message of Jesus was the Kingdom it is Matthew’s Gospel where this is highlighted and accentuated. In Matt 3:1-2 this is the subject of the preaching of John the Baptist at the launching of his ministry. Then in Matt 4:17 Jesus picks up the same theme and subject as His preaching ministry is launched. The message is exactly the same in both; “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The recording by the author of the Gospel of a one line statement concerning the subject matter of their preaching being exactly the same for both serves to emphasize and underline the importance of the Kingdom as the subject of the message. Furthermore the fact that Jesus was not at hand as John’s ministry is launched shows that it is not just the presence of Jesus that brings the Kingdom at hand. The message shows that the time of the Kingdom has arrived and is now at hand in their era and moment in time. The Body of Christ, i.e. the person of Jesus, is the vehicle of the message as the Body of Christ, i.e. the Church, should be today. The first recorded teaching sermon by Jesus in the Gospel is what is called the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ and this is about Kingdom life, Matt chps. 5 to 7.

JESUS MESSAGE OF THE KINGDOM: An Historical Background
In 1Samuel chapters 8 to 12 is the record of the appointment of the first King of Israel, Saul. On the surface this appears to be the fulfillment of what Moses predicted and prepared for as recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy; see Deut. 17:14-20. However, the Lord said to Samuel when Samuel went to the Lord lamenting the seeking of a king; “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day – with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods – so they are doing to you also.” (ISam8:7-8) At the time of Samuel the Kingdom is already operating and has been since the days of the coming out of Egypt. Furthermore God is already King, (see 1Sam12:12 where Samuel recounting the events states the people had said “No, but a King shall reign over us” to which Samuel observed “…when the Lord your God was your King.”)  As a result God is the one who is being rejected in the call for a human king not Samuel.
The reasoning the elders gave in their request for a human king like the nations around them was the behavior of Samuels’ sons as possible judges in Samuels place (1Sam8:4-5). However, the real reason was they wanted someone else to fight their battles and take responsibility for them (1Sam8:20 & 12:12). They abdicated the leadership role in their own lives and desired to surrender it to someone else. Consequently, the Kingdom of God enters a form of suspension in this period of the human king. Hence the message of Jesus is the Kingdom of God is at hand; God is resuming His role of Kingship and restoring the kingdom relationships in the person of Jesus, His Son. He Himself is coming into direct relationship as King again.
During this time of suspension of His role of king God has not relinquished direct command; i.e. they are still His people. In Deut16:18 Israel is instructed to appoint judges when God brings them into the land. This is the equivalent of our civil government and in Deuteronomy as today it is the people and who will appoint the civil rule. God gives guidelines for their behavior but leaves the choosing with the people. However, in Deut17:14-20 God anticipates the request for a human king but the difference is that although they can have a human king they can only have one that God chooses. There are very strict guidelines on who can be appointed and how the appointed king must behave in daily life. Consequently, there is not a suspension of the kingdom but relationships within the kingdom, i.e. God’s role as King is suspended and replaced with a human counterpart. It is this direct relationship with God as King that Jesus restores in His message of the Kingdom at hand. See also My Prophetic Journey: The Kingdom at Hand