Revelation 20:1-6.
The Purpose for the Millennial Reign of Christ.
1 Then I saw an angel coming down from
heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in
his hand.
2 He seized the dragon,
that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan, and bound him in chains for a
thousand years.
3 The angel threw him
into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not
deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. Afterward
he must be released for a little while.
4 Then I saw thrones,
and the people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge. And I saw
the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and
for proclaiming the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his
statue, nor accepted his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They all came
to life again, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
5 This is the first
resurrection. (The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the
thousand years had ended.)
6 Blessed and holy are
those who share in the first resurrection. For them, the second death holds no
power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand
years.”
Ever wonder what it would have been like to have lived
in the garden of Eden? Before sin? An unspoiled earth before the curse!
Paradise! (A little like new fresh bed sheets on the bed).
That time is coming in the Millennium before we enter
the “eternal state.”
God created the
universe in 6 literal days, and rested on the 7th and now, 6
millennia later, perhaps the 7th millennium will be that 1,000 years
rest from sin. When Christ will rule over the earth for 1,000 years.
What will the Millennium be like? Some facts:
Jesus will rule
from Jerusalem, from the throne of David, it will be the capital of the world!
No more war.
Nature no longer
cursed.
Jews will realize
Jesus is the Messiah.
The glory and
knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth!
There are positions on the millennium:
One.
A-millennialism = no
millennium.
We rejected this
for 5 reasons:
1.
A-millennialism
contradicts consistent interpretation.
2.
A-millennialism
contradicts the Biblical doctrine of Satan.
3.
A-millennialism
contradicts the way we have been taught to pray.
4.
A-millennialism
contradicts scores of other verses which promise an earthly kingdom where
Christ rules and reigns.
5.
A-millennialism
contradicts the clear promise of Jesus Christ to come back and establish an
earthly kingdom.
Two.
Post-Millennialism =
there will be a millennium, but Jesus will not return until the end of it.
They believe Jesus will not usher it
in, but the church will. That through preaching of the Gospel the world will
get better and better until we, the church, usher in the time of perfect peace.
I am sorry to say I do not see the world getting better, and I do not see peace
in the world either.
This was popular 100 + years ago when great revival
was going on under the names of DL Moody/Billy Sunday/Spurgeon, etc. It did
look to be a likely situation, but after two world wars, global depression,
rise of communism and the advent of nuclear weapons, etc. You do not find many
who hold to this today.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 speaks of the dangers of the last days:
1 You should know this,
Timothy, that in the last days there will be exceedingly difficult times.
2 For people will love
only themselves and their money (Selfishness). They will be boastful and
proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful (Throwing
off all authority). They will consider nothing sacred.
3 They will be unloving
and unforgiving (Mothers killing their babies in the womb and
out!/and children killing their parents); they will slander
others and have no self-control (Handshake used to be bond/today
even written contracts and peace treaties not any better than the paper written
on!). They will be cruel and hate what is good (Good is
seen as evil, but evil is seen as good).
4 They will betray their
friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than
God.
5 They will act
religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away
from people like that!”
We are not getting better, but worse, things are
winding down/coming apart at the seams. We may feel like we are moving forward
to make a better world, but morally as a society we are on the brink of hell!
Three.
Pre-millennialism. The
Bible position is clearly pre-millennialism = taking Revelation 20 at
face value, literally: Rapture / Great Tribulation / 2nd Coming /
Armageddon / Millennium.
Now, what is the purpose of the Millennium? That is
the final focus before we are done? Why have 1,000 years of peace, what is the
purpose?
Here are but 3 good reasons:
1.
To
fulfil all of God’s promises to the nation of Israel.
God’s chosen people, but chosen to do what? God chose
to reveal Himself through them. God always uses human instruments, and so, the
Bible was written by the Jews (around 40 writers), and then, Jesus the Messiah
came through the Jewish nation, the middle east as a big plan from the
beginning with god, not the USA, Russia, or the UK.
As His chosen people, God made them some unconditional
promises:
A time would come when they would not be persecuted
Jeremiah
23:3-4:
3 And I
will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven
them and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and
increase.
4 And I
will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no
more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, said the LORD.”
Why are the Jews persecuted? Because
Satan knows they are God’s chosen people. (He has always tried to exterminate
them, under Pharaoh / Haman in Esther / Nebuchadnezzar / Titus, the Roman
General in ad 70 /Iran / Radical Islam, and Satan is behind the thinking of all
of these!
Why not in the millennium? Because Satan will be bound
for those 1,000 years!
A time would come when they would possess all the land
that God promised to Abraham. Countless treaties between Jews and Palestinians,
always “land for peace,” but it never works, and never will, but in the
millennium, they will own it all! The Golan heights / Gaza strip / Jerusalem
and temple mount!
They will possess from Mediterranean
to Euphrates!
A time would come when they would be respected and no
longer looked down upon.
Zechariah 8:
23 “Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass,
that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall
take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for
we have heard that God is with you.”
A time would come when they will finally live in peace
Isaiah 60:18 “Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
wasting nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls
Salvation, and your gates Praise.”
This is just 4 of many promises that God must keep!
So, the 1st purpose for the Millennium is
that it is a fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel.
The 2nd purpose for the Millennium will be
a worldwide display of the glory and honour Jesus Christ deserves.
His Name will not be taken in vain,
and no rebels can rise or succeed! He will rule with a rod of iron!
The 3rd purpose for the Millennium will be a final
demonstration of the inherent sinfulness and wickedness in the heart of man.
There are two types will live on the
earth at this time: mortals and immortals (The Church).
The mortals which enter the Millennium from Armageddon
include the believing Jews, and others not at Armageddon. And now, the earth is
free from the curse of nature and is like Eden again, so these mortals may live
hundreds of years again! (Adam lived to 930).
They will live long, reproduce, and the Bible teaches
many will outwardly conform to the righteous rule of Christ, but inwardly there
will lurk a heart of rebellion.
They will have no choice but to
conform outwardly, but when Satan is loosed at the end of the millennium there
will be many try to rise in a final rebellion against Omnipotence God.
So, what does this teach us? Man’s sin nature! No
matter what environment he is in, man is prone to sin! (Even in the Garden of
Eden).
People are not solely products of
their environment; our heart is the problem! Man has always sinned, from Eden (Paradise)
to the dispensation of conscience when there was no law given yet (let your
conscience be your guide? Not good, some do not have one, many do not listen to
theirs! Some have become seared!).
God had to destroy man with a flood! Then later, Moses
brought the written law in black and white, and man sinned more, even God’s own
people. Then the dispensation of Grace when Jesus came, and we all sin, and in
the Millennium, man will sing! Even with Jesus bodily, physically ruling and
reigning, and in perfect conditions!
That tells us that we have incurable
wickedness within, our only hope is the new birth!
The
Thousand Years.
One. Satan
Bound.
1 Then I saw an angel
coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a
heavy chain in his hand.
2 He seized the
dragon—that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a
thousand years.
3 The angel threw him
into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not
deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. Afterward
he must be released for a little while.”
The millennium will be heaven on earth! The promised
1,000-year reign of Christ, who reclaims from Satan the title deed to His
creation. Peace, prosperity, long life, a return to paradise like Eden! It cannot
happen if Satan is on the loose.
The devil is not in hell today, but he
has been summoned! Until then he walks about, seeking whom he may devour. He is
the current (small 'g' god of this world) and holds the title deed to earth won
in the garden of Eden. In the 3rd temptation of Christ offered Him
back the kingdoms of the world, clearly, he had them to give!
Why do we see so many that go about their lives
unbiblically, and assume that because things are going well for them that it is
God’s will? Satan has the power, authority, and resources to reward wrongdoing!
If it takes possessions, he is more
than happy to provide them! Moreso power, popularity, pleasure. Some say: “Things
are going great for me.” Well, I am not surprised, for Satan offered Jesus the
same temptation, reward for wrongdoing! Doing the right thing is not always
easy, and we are not supposed to “go with the flow,” but rather do right even
when it hurts!
So, heaven on earth happens only when Satan is
immobilized and bound.
McGee says: “Satan’s
incarceration changes the world from darkness to light—he is the power of the
air, his power is enormous, beyond the calculation of any computer…his
withdrawal from the earth ushers in the millennium.”
Satan bound, verses 1-3.
Two things under this thought.
1. The person (Satan) is bound.
A literal devil. Most people believe in God and
Heaven, but only a small percentage believe in the Devil and Hell!
But you cannot have one without the other.
Satan is a dragon, meaning he is cruel, powerful,
ferocious. You cannot defeat him in your own strength.
You cannot kick him in the river or hang him on the
line! We are told to flee youthful lusts, and to resist the devil and he will
flee as we resist him with the aid and power of scripture, prayer, and the Holy
Spirit within us!
Has a serpent, he is crafty, subtle. He is good
at tricking us, mingling truth with a little error to foil us entirely. He
starts us down a slight grade we can barely perceive until it becomes a
slippery slope, and we slide way down. He entices us to enter an oven that is
cool, and we are surprised that it is not so bad in there, and he begins
raising the temperature ever so slowly it is almost imperceptible, and when we
finally start to feel the heat, we turn around and he has closed the door
behind us, and he is just laughing!
The devil means accuser, which he is! We are
pawns in his chess game with God and he uses us to try to hurt our Father! Satan
means adversary or enemy (of God, good, and all that is wholesome of you!
I heard this story: A man said to Billy Sunday: you
talk about the devil as if he is real! (yes, he is). Well, you speak like you
meet up with him every day! (I do!). Well, I do not say the man. Billy Sunday
said to him “maybe you are walking in the same direction!” If Satan leaves you
alone it is because you give him no threat!
He is called the destroyer! Of homes, marriages,
friendships, consciences, lives, etc. Plus, he is no respecter of persons (He
does not see your cute kids and say, I will leave them alone. No, he is a
destroyer!
He is the deceiver, tempter, evil one, father of
all lies, devouring lion. He is symbolized in verse 2, but he is
very real!
That is the person
who is bound.
2. The place is bound.
This is not hell, not the lake of fire, this is a
temporary prison for 1,000 years. It is the same place where millions of demon
spirits are held today as we speak (too vile to be allowed out until the Great
Tribulation, see chapter 9 study. Sometimes called the abyss.
Satan fell, taking 1/3rd of demons with
him, many roam the earth, many not yet! The world has not yet seen the worst
Satan has to offer, that is reserved for the Great Tribulation.
Now, in verse 3b loosed! Satan will try to make
one last attempt to frustrate God’s plan. So, Satan bound now.
Two. Saints Blessed.
4 Then I saw thrones,
and the people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge. And I saw
the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and
for proclaiming the word of God.
They had not worshiped the beast or his
statue, nor accepted his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They all came
to life again, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
5 This is the first
resurrection. (The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the
thousand years had ended.)
6 Blessed and holy are
those who share in the first resurrection. For them, the second death holds no
power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a
thousand years.”
Let us look at those who rule, and those who are resurrected.
Verse 6. Those who “rule.” According to this
verse, if saved, you will rule and reign with Christ during the millennium. And
this is not the only place the Bible mentions this. (See Revelation 5:10;
1:6; I Corinthians 6:1-3, etc.). At present believers suing each other,
Paul says, why stand before a worldly judge, you can handle it, you will judge
angels!
During the millennium we will rule and reign over the
heavenly angels. We will be in our resurrected glorified bodies which the
Bible says will be better than the angels. Hebrews 1:4 “Being made so much
better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent
name than they.”
In rank and position we will be higher
than the angels. That is amazing, is it not? From being lost, sinful,
alienated humans who rejected God to being higher than these angels which have
remained loyal! It is the precious blood of Jesus that makes the
difference!
We have been redeemed at a higher price than was ever
paid for any angel. And God’s amazing grace will again be demonstrated to us in
our elevation to another height we are most unworthy of attaining!
In your job/work you may feel like you need
to answer to everyone else. But there is coming a day when you will be over angels! Someday
I will judge angels!
We may not know many details of how we will give
angels orders, but we know that we will, and that our positions of authority in
Christ’s kingdom will be based upon our faithfulness and service to Him now, so
let us be busy serving, praising, and glorifying Him as we will for all
eternity!
Verses 4-6. Those who are “resurrected.”
These verses dispel the myth of a general resurrection,
there is no such thing! (Some believe that all who have ever died will be
resurrected at the same time, and on that day, God will separate the saved from
the lost—false). Some preach that there will be an extensive line of folks
waiting to see if their name is written in the book of life, some go left to
hell, and some go right to Heaven.
Those whose names are not found will all be together
at the great white throne, 1,000 years after the saved are judged at the
judgment seat of Christ! This is a formality showing them legally that they
were never saved and why not!
There are two resurrections:
One for the saved,
and one for the lost.
See Revelation 20:13-15 at end of millennium. Death gave up the body, hell gave up the soul.
This is the 2nd resurrection; you need to be part of the 1st
resurrection.
The 1st resurrection occurs
in 3 phases.
I Corinthians
15 compares the
resurrection to a harvest, which has 3 phases:
First fruits, Old Testament priest would take a handful
to the temple for a wave offering, like a tithe, and a promise of more to come!
Main Harvest. Farmer brings this in, but in Old Testament
he is not allowed to gather in everything, if a part falls off the wagon, he
must leave it on the ground, and he cannot harvest in the corners of his fields
(Left for the poor.).
Gleanings. Leftovers.
Put all 3 together and it is called the harvest!
Now
look at I Corinthians 15:22-25:
22. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive.
23 But
every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward, they that are
Christ's at his coming.
24 Then
comes the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the
Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For
he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.”
1. Christ is the first fruits of the
resurrection.
2. The main harvest is the church age, from
Pentecost to the rapture.
So, what about
those that missed the main harvest?
Tribulation saints who are killed are the gleanings! Seen
here in Revelation 20.
The big question now is, which resurrection will you
be a part of?
Another: you have
lost neighbours, co-workers, and family, which of you will arrive in heaven for
judgment first? Let us do what we can to change that scene at the judgment!
Revelation 20:7-10.
The Defeat of Satan.
Three. The Defeat of Satan.
7 When the thousand
years come to an end, Satan will be let out of his prison.
8 He will go out to
deceive the nations—called Gog and Magog—in every corner of the earth. He will
gather them together for battle—a mighty army, as numberless as sand along the
seashore.
9 And I saw them as they
went up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded God’s people and the
beloved city. But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies and
consumed them.
10 Then the devil, who
had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulphur, joining
the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night
forever and ever.”
As the shadows of the Millennial Day fall, the Angel
who imprisoned Satan will unlock the “prison house” of the “Bottomless Pit,” and
Satan will come forth embittered by his forced confinement to vent his anger upon the people of God.
A refusal of the claim that the miseries of perdition
will lead to repentance. Satan will still be the same menacing being after his
1,000 years of confinement that he was before. His hatred against God and His
people will be unquenched.
As soon as Satan is loosed from his prison in the “Bottomless
Pit,” he will find a vast multitude ready to believe his lie, and to
serve and obey him. He will gather them from the “Four Quarters of the Earth” to battle. They will be in number as the “sand
of the sea.” Revelation
20:8-9.
The revolt will be Worldwide and will mean the
mobilizing of vast Armies. Satan will conduct them across the “Breadth of the Earth” until they compass the “Camp of the Saints” (the
Holy Land), and lay siege once more to the “Beloved City.” From this we see
that the unregenerate heart is like a powder magazine, all it needs is a match
to set it off, and Satan when freed will be that match.
This the “last
war” that this world shall ever see, will
be bloodless, for the vast armies of Satan shall be destroyed by fire!
From this we see that the “Millennial Dispensation,”
like all the six Dispensations before it, will end in failure. God will have tested man in “Innocence,” under “Conscience,” under “Self-Government,” under
the “Headship of the Family,”
under “Law,” under “Grace,” and finally under the
influence of the “Holy Spirit,” free from Satanic influences, and under them
all he will prove himself to be hopelessly, and incurably bad.
If after 1,000 years of the Presence of the King, and
of universal peace and blessing, man persists in rebelling against his Maker,
what will there be left for God to do? Humanly speaking there will seem to be
nothing for God to do but destroy humanity.
To send another Flood and wipe out mankind. But this
He cannot do, for He promised Noah that He would never again destroy the earth
with a flood of waters. Genesis 9:11.
But do something He must, so He is going to purge the earth with Fire. 2 Peter 3:7.
Revelation 20:11-15.
The Heavenly Books and
Final Judgement.
Four. The Final Judgment.
11 And I saw a great
white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his
presence, but they found no place to hide.
12 I saw the dead, both
great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened,
including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had
done, as recorded in the books.
13 The sea gave up its
dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were
judged according to their deeds.
14 Then death and the
grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death.
15 And anyone whose name
was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Verse 12. “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books
were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book
of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the
things which were written in the books.”
Heavenly books are
mentioned at least 30 times in the Book of the Revelation. There are at least
three heavenly books referred to in the Word of God:
1.
The Book of Remembrance
(Malachi 3:16).
“Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another,
and the Lord listened and heard them; so, a book of remembrance was
written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His
name” Malachi 3:16.
God took notice of the
manner of life of the godly and wrote what He witnessed in a book, to reward in
time.
The Persians would take the
names of those who deserved special acknowledgement from the King and wrote
down the good things the person had done, so that he or she might be
rewarded sometime in the future by the King.
2. The
Book of Life (Revelation 13:8; 20:12; 20:19).
“All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose
names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world” Revelation
13:8.
“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing
before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened,
which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged
according to their works, by the things which were written in the books” Revelation 20:12.
“And anyone not found written in the Book
of Life was cast into the lake of fire” Revelation 20:15.
Revelation
3:5 says, “He who overcomes shall be
clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the
Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His
angels.” Simply promises that the overcomer's name (the saved person), will
not have his name taken out of heaven's register.
King David drew a
difference between the “Lamb's Book of Life” and the “Book of Life,” in Psalm 69:28 “Let them be blotted out of the
book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.” The Book of
Life contains all the names of those born on the earth.
3. The
Lamb’s Book of Life (Revelation 21:27).
“But
there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an
abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of
Life.”
What could the difference
be between the Book of Life and the “Lamb's Book of Life?” When the sinner dies
and fails to receive the Lord Jesus as Saviour, there is a good possibility
that his name is taken off the register of the book that records all the names
of everyone born into this world.
On the other hand, the “Lamb's
Book of Life” seems to be a more special book. For it has only the names of the
redeemed written therein.
This is the end of chapter 20.
