Lessons from The Millennium

Good morning. Yes, thank you so much for your generous support. It's funny, it's just a Maybe a couple of months ago, We, of course, God can do anything like that, but at least on a human level, we were looking going, well, Looks like we might not get back. At the end of January, like we were hoping to get our school, our kids enrolled in school in time for the new semester.

So we thought, OK, well, maybe then we'll just have to wait till May. And the Lord just started moving, time and time again, and we started grabbed our attention and reminded us, wow, of course, the Lord can do this and we just, it became more and more evident that that's what he wanted us to do is get back sooner rather than later. And we were just so blessed to, to hear your, of your generosity and we're gonna try to buy plane tickets in the next week or so to get back at the end of January and And we're just so thankful for the Lord.

It's very con confirming to us that we're doing what the Lord wants us to do.

We're heading in the right direction, making the right choices, following his leading. So thank you for being a part of our ministry and sending us, we're excited to get back with the Greens and the rest of our teammates. I just talked to Vincent this morning, and they're doing well. He's actually gonna spend the New Year's with his family and one of our key pastors, they're gonna suffer for the Lord in one of the, the pretty beaches of the Philippines and Usher in the new year, and we're so grateful for them and you as well.

But let me pray before we begin looking at the word together. Lord, thank you for this faithful church. Thank you for putting it on their hearts. the love for you, Lord, that goes beyond just this building, but a love that desires to make you known to this community and to the ends of the earth, Lord, and it's not just in words but in deed as well.

And we thank you that they are behind us. We thank You, Lord, that you move their hearts, and we pray that we would be faithful stewards of your provision, and that we would bring you much glory. On your behalf, and on their behalf as we all join together in celebrating what you were doing in and through us in Jesus' name. Amen.

And I, I've shared this with churches as well, those who are behind us, this scripture is, is pretty clear that when we work together as different parts of the body and, and glorifying the Lord to the ends of the earth, that our fruit is your fruit. it's not that, oh yeah, we get to do this, and we did, we couldn't do it without people like you. So any fruit that the Lord produces through us is because you helped send us there. So thank you so much.

Now, during Sunday school this morning, we looked at some principles and interpreting, prophetic passages or passages with symbols, which prophetic passages are known for. And to model some of what I was teaching earlier, I decided, all right, let me teach out of the book of Revelation since there are so many symbols in that book. Pastor Mike asked me, he says, yeah, it'd be good that you teach something that would tie in to what you did. And, I'm not fresh out of seminary, but I still make rookie mistakes every now and then and as the more I got into this text, I realized I have no one to blame for it except myself.

I could have picked an easier passage to model how the scripture uses symbols, but once I committed and gave a text, I said, all right, let me roll up my sleeves and Revelation chapter 20 verses 1 through 10 is a very complex passage. I thought it would be good to use because so many of my students have questions about that text and because so many Christians, I wanna highlight that Christians have different views of the interpretation of it. I believe, and I guess even those who would have a different position than I do.

I believe that the way you interpret Revelation 20 much of the book, or poetic liter, excuse me, prophetic literature in general, your hermeneutics will determine Where you land, the way you interpret the Bible, the system that you use is going to cause you to land on one side or another.

Well, that being said, as I worked through this text, and I was like, wow, I'm getting a lot of information here and that, I don't know how I'm gonna do this in, say, an hour or less. So I had written about 1 to 2 pages, just an introduction. OK, so I, that's filed in the circular file. Don't have time for that.

I'm just gonna go straight, straight to it. I like to really set up a passage and try to draw everyone in and all that. Oh, I'm gonna have to skip that. I'm gonna go straight to some key terms that I think we need to be familiar with when interpreting the book of Revelation.

And then I wanna look at some, Of the context of the book, as we talked about in the first hour, you have to start off with the context and then we'll get into the exposition of the text. So let's look now at first to some of these terms. resents a strong word, but I remember in seminary and, and before that, not liking when people would throw out these big terms that I was not familiar with pre-trib, the millennium, on millennialism, pre-millennialism, and there's many others.

And I appreciated guys like one guy that comes to mind is, is Doctor Wayne Gruden and his systematic theology.

He does a good job of stating what those things are plainly and clearly. And I appreciated people who didn't assume I knew what all those things, even in seminary, it's easy to get that stuff confused with all these different terms flying around. So I just wanted to define a few for you in very simplistic definitions, of course, they can be much broader and deeper, but for instance, Pre-trib or pre-tribulation, that refers to the belief that the church will be raptured or taken up pre or before the world goes through a horrible time of judgment known as the tribulation.

Which is the last 7 years.

That's just a little condensed. Definition of that, the millennium refers to the belief in a time where Jesus and his followers will rule over the earth for 1000 years before the judgment and destruction of Satan, sin and his followers. And as we'll see as we get into Revelation 20, a lot of people have different Ideas of what 1000 years means. Our millennialism believes that the 1000 year reign of Christ described in Revelation 20 is not a literal 1000 years, and they are, we are living in that millennial period, that 1000 years has already started, we're living in it now.

it started during the time of Christ, 2000, the 1000 years started 2000 years ago. It's not literal, from the millennial perspective. Pre-millennialism is the belief that Jesus will return just before that literal 1000 year reign to defeat the Antichrist, the false prophet, and the armies that follow them. Just, I know that's fast, I know that's condensed, but those are some key terms that I know that, I was confused about for a long time, so I hope just in the simplistic way, it's enough just to get you into the discussion.

Well, as again I mentioned, we talked about interpreting the Bible in the first hour and the first principle that we should use when interpreting like a passage of prophecy and revelation or any passage is that we need to discover its context. So let me start by laying some of the context for Revelation chapter 20 that we'll be looking at shortly. It comes right after the anti-Christ, and the false prophet and their army are defeated and thrown into the lake of fire in Revelation chapter 19.

The anti-Christ, also known as the beast, is mentioned 36 times in the book of Revelation.

And he will be a world leader at the time of Christ's return. There's so many, some people say he's already come, he's already dead and buried, from a, futuristic pre-millennial view, one who believes that, Christ is going to come before this millennial period to wipe out the antichrist and the beast. I see that as he's coming in the future, the anti-Christ, the anti-Christ. A specific person who will lead the world has not come yet.

Well, in Revelation 19, it talks about him coming in the future and he is defeated by Jesus, cast in the lake of fire with the beast. Commenting on the anti-Christ, John MacArthur wrote that apparently he will be seen as a supportive of religion, the antichrist will seem supportive of religion of God and of Christ. He will not appear to be enemies of the church at first until something known as the great apostasy happens. Then he will exalt himself and oppose God by moving into the temple in Israel.

So that's pretty, that's another problem that means the temple needs to be built again or somehow the temple that the Jews and And the Muslims are fighting over now has to be turned over to him. But he will go into this, Jewish temple in the future, the place of worship, and he will declare himself God and demand to be worshiped by the world. The false prophet. is basically his prophet who serves him.

He will promote the antichrist power and convince the world to worship him as God. The anti-Christ will primarily be a political leader, but the false prophet will be a religious leader. I'm not saying that the, as some believe that the anti-Christ will be Muslim. but as Muslims, like if you look at Iran, they have a political leader and then they have a, a religious leader.

I'm just saying for comparison, not that it's gonna be Muslims, it could be, but it's gonna be like that, the leader of the government will be a a secular leader and then he will have the second person who will be the religious leader over the people. So, let's see, so this morning we're gonna concern ourselves with what the world will be like after the anti-Christ is defeated, after the false prophet is defeated, and after they've cast into the lake of fire. We're gonna be looking at this time called the millennial kingdom.

What will that be like?

We see this future reality is pictured in Revelation chapter 20 verses 1 through 10. And it serves to teach us a few lessons. We'll see that in the end. I just share a couple of reflections and lessons that I think we can learn from this book, but we're gonna see the, the outline structure I see of this passage is first, Satan's imprisonment, we'll see in the first three chapters of the book.

And then chapter, excuse me, 3 verses, and then verses 4 through 6 will deal with Christ's reign. And then verses 7 through 10, we'll deal with Satan's final defeat. All right, so follow along as I read Revelation 20. Versus 1 through 10.

Let me see if I have that here. I don't think I put the whole thing there, so I'll just read, hopefully you have your Bibles there, or is that the whole thing? I guess I do get the whole thing there. All right.

Well then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. This is the apostle John writing, he's seeing many visions, this is one of them and he continues, he says, and he is speaking of this angel laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for 1000 years. And he threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him. So that he would not deceive the nations any longer until the 1000 years were completed.

After these things, he must be released for a short time. My eyes are too weak to see the writing, so I guess I'll have to, where are we at? I'll just, I'll keep moving there. Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them.

And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God. And those who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received the mark. On their forehead and on their hand. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for 1000 years.

The rest of the dead did not come to life until the 1000 years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for 1000 years.

When the 1000 years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war. The number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up onto the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are also, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

All right, so after the anti-Christ, the false prophet and their army is destroyed in Revelation 19, and then when they have the marriage supper of the Lamb. The natural question would be, well, OK, so false prophet, antichrist destroyed, well, what about Satan? Some of God's enemies are destroyed. The government that's leading the world against God's destroyer, what about Satan, the one who is the architect of it all?

Well, this is answered in chapter 20 through John's vision, this next vision that he has. So he continued his story by disclosing Satan's imprisonment. John wrote in this first verse and, and we'll look at the part of verse 2. He saw an angel coming down from heaven holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.

And he will take hold of the dragon, the serpent of old. Well, this angel is unnamed, we don't know who the angel is, but we do know he comes down from heaven to deal with someone identified as the dragon. And the angel is pictured holding a, a key and a great chain. Now this is, this could go either way, this one, that it could be a literal key.

And it could be a literal chain or it could be a figurative key and a figurative chain. In either case, it doesn't matter because the interpretation is the same. Whether it's literal or figurative, the angel will have the ability to lock the abyss, which is a deep pit used as a prison for demons until their final judgment. It's a place of confine, confinement that prevents demons from having free reign in our world.

Now John sees this angel with this chain and this, and this key, he seizes or he takes hold of the dragon as a guard takes hold of a condemned prisoner, and then he throws him into the abyss. And the abyss is also called the bottomless pit. Now, we don't need to speculate. Regarding the identity of, OK, we've got this figure of a dragon, who's the dragon?

We don't have to speculate because the text tells us clearly who it is. And this brings us to an important principle to remember when interpreting symbols or figures of speech. We talked about this a little earlier, but when you're interpreting a symbol or figure of speech, check to see if the text interprets or identifies the symbol or figure that it's using. I've seen a lot of students and pastors have a text, especially a parable of Christ, and Christ will have a picture of some heavenly reality and he tells a story.

And then you'll hear some preacher assign all these meanings to it, and then later on Christ goes, now this is what this parable means, and it's the complete opposite of the, of the preacher. So what's one thing you wanna check on early? You wanna keep reading, get the context, it's not, the context isn't just what's before, but what's after. And see, does the angel or the elder, the, the heavenly messenger, does Jesus, does it tell us When he gives some picture or symbol, what it means.

In this case, scripture tells us his identity in verse 2 when John wrote that he is the devil, he's the devil, he's Satan. He is the one who was cast out of heaven for desiring to be higher than God and he's the one who introduced chaos and sin into our world. we shouldn't understand the dragon as being Literal, for one, as a mythical beast. We don't have dragons as far as we know, so I think it's, it's kinda clear that, oh, the author of scripture is using this figure of a picture of a dragon to describe Satan.

He's trying to teach us something, so he's basically saying here's, here's the characteristics we ascribe to a dragon. Satan is like that. Dragons or we tend to ascribe to them characteristics like being fierce, being powerful. He also used a serpent.

We ascribe cunning to serpents. So he's just trying to tell us this, this dragon who represents Satan is a powerful, fierce, cunning being and the angel grabs him, seizes him and imprisons him. Well, John goes on in verses 2 and 3 to recall in his vision that the angel took the devil and bound him, it says for 1000 years. And then he threw him into the abyss, he shut it and sealed it over him.

Now this picture I believe was given to emphasize how securely Satan's imprisonment will be. The angel will not just bind him with any restraint, he didn't just tie his hands, it tells us he used a great chain. So what do these figures of speech or symbols in these first three verses picture them? That's, that's what we want to be careful.

If we got a symbol or picture, once you determine, OK, this is definitely not to be taken literal, this is a symbol, then the next question you need to answer is, well, what is this symbol picture? What is the author trying to tell us? What is the literal truth behind this figure of speech? We're in dangerous water if we take figures of speech.

And just assign any meaning we want to them. I didn't, I had to cut this out of my notes just due to space, but I, I did, just as a quick example, when I was reading some of the background of this 1000 year period, there were estimates from rabbis and different teachers and even Christian commentators to the ages of that, that 1000 years equals anywhere from 400 to 240,000 years. And there were all kinds of people that had definite, oh it's 600 years, it's 1000, it's 4000, and they had their reasoning why they did their math and this and that.

But that's the problem is when you take something that was given to communicate a little truth and you spiritualize it, you can make it say whatever you want.

So through the image of a key, a chain, the seizing and shackling of Satan, the prison cell of the abyss, the closing and locking of it, God is communicating through John that Satan will be securely held with no hope of escaping or harming or harassing anyone. I think it's a very clear picture. He is shackled, he is thrown in a pit. It is sealed over him, it is locked.

He's not getting out. He's not gonna mess with anyone. Well, however, In spite of this clear picture of a literal reality that's waiting for Satan, there are those who fail to see them or fail to believe. That this binding is completely secure.

I had a missionary friend in the Philippines who believed that he took all this symbolically. And he told me, he goes, it's like this. It's like Satan is, Satan being chained and bound and thrown in the pit, in the abyss or the pit is, it's like having a dog in your front yard and you've chained him up, and you've got a chain link fence around your yard. OK, he's no longer gonna be able to bite the mailman as he comes by or kids walking by, but he can run up to that fence, and he can bark and he can growl and harass and run, you're on the end, he'll follow you all the way across and bark, bark, bark the whole way.

But he can't leave the confines of that chain or gate. He said, that's what this is like. Well, to come to this conclusion, you have to spiritualize this passage. However, a consistent literal interpretation of scripture makes it clear that the imprisonment of Satan is very secure and that it will last for a literal 1000 years.

If your dog in your front yard is not simply chained on a chain and run a chain link fence, but you dig a deep pit. And you chain that dog up, he can't move anything, and you throw him in the pit and you close it over him and you lock it shut. He's not gonna harass anybody. And that's the picture that the Lord is giving us through John.

Those who take Revelation 20 spiritually have a different interpretation not only of the binding of Satan and his imprisonment, but also what the 1000 years means. They believe that the 1000 years is a symbolic way of just saying, it means a long time. We don't know how long, it just means a long time. They also believe that we are living in that 1000 year period right now.

It's, it's, we're in the millennium now they believe. They believe further that it started about 2000 years ago, at the first coming of Christ, that will continue until his second coming. Now I put The chart here, it looks like that chart's not even gonna fit on the screen. Is it on this one either?

No. It looks like it doesn't fit on the, it just disappeared, so. That's all right, I'll just describe what was in the chart, but basically, The interpretation has a few problems and I try to show that visually. First, to interpret the text in this way, one is forced to spiritualize the length of time that the kingdom will last, and believe it or not, as I mentioned, there are so many views of what 365 days happening 1000 consecutive times.

There's many views of what the length of that is. Some people would say, no, 1000 years doesn't mean 1000 years. That's the first problem. The second is you have to believe that chapters 19 and 20 are not in chronological order.

See, the pre-millennial view, that is the view that Christ will return before the millennium to wipe out the antichrist. And his false prophet, and then set up his 1000 year kingdom and imprisoned Satan. you have chapter 9 where Christ is having the, what is it called, the marriage feast of the Lamb. He's, he defeats the anti-Christ.

This is in the pre-millennial view, that's when Christ returns the second time. That lasts literally for 1000 years and then in chapter 20, you've got the millennial kingdom, Satan imprisoned. And that happens after chapter 20 happens after 19. The millennial view, they say yes, chapter 19 pictures the defeat of the Antichrist and the beast.

But then in chapter 20 where it pictures then Satan being dealt with and in prison for 1000 years, they say, oh well, you got 19 happening in the future, but chapter 20 happened 2000 years ago when Christ came here. They have to switch the chronology of it and then they have to spiritualize the years, and they have to spiritualize what the imprisonment of Satan looks like, right? Because let me ask you, Is Satan deceiving the nations today? Is that clear?

we can look at the headlines and see what's happening with, say, ISIS, Syria. Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, our own government, our, our political climate here. Satan is alive and well deceiving the nations. He's not a dog chained behind a fence that can bark and growl.

When the millennium happens, he is going to be sealed in a pit and no longer influencing nations that Christ is gonna come down himself. And rule our world. So what approach should we use in interpreting a passage like this? What lenses should we be looking through?

This brings me to another important principle of interpretation. The important principle of biblical interpretation that applies here is that unless there are grammatical, contextual, or logical reasons, this and all passages of scripture should be understood in their plain. Normal and literal sense. By default, that's how you take it.

You take it plain, normal, literally, unless there's a good reason in the text itself to go, oh, for instance here, oh wow, there's dragons, there's gonna be dragons in the millennial kingdom. Oh wait, it tells us here the dragon is actually a symbol for Satan. OK. So grammatically, there's a good reason to take that figuratively.

Otherwise, you take things literally. If there's, if you suspect something might be a symbol, then you're gonna look for clues in the text. Some of those grammatical clues or reasons are the use of comparative words. I put works, I meant words there.

Most often, you'll see words to compare text using the word like or as. For example, John sees visions of Of God and of Jesus, he sees him on the thrones, and he is seeing something no one has ever seen before. We don't have human words to describe it. So he has to wrestle with his limited vocabulary and he goes, well, I, I saw him and his, his face, it was like, oh wow, like, flaming, he would have to use terms the best he could.

from our language to describe Something from, God's kingdom and Rome we've never seen. So he uses descriptive words and you'll see like or as, that is a big clue that, oh, he's not really saying that he's got eyes of coals and, burning body parts, he's just trying to describe what he looks like using our limited vocabulary, that's a figure of speech. So you wanna, those, that's one clue you would see, the author defining and telling us that this is a figure of speech or here's what it really means.

Jesus did often when he told parables, here's what the, the seed means that they scattered or, the wheat means this, the lamb is this, the goat, the chaff, he used a lot of figures of speech to describe heavenly realities.

When we see those clues, we know, OK, we don't take this. Literally, we'll take this figuratively or vice versa. Revelation 20 does not use these kinds of words to indicate that the 1000 years are symbolically. When you look at the 1000 years, it didn't say, he was thrown into the pit for something like 1000 years.

He just, matter of fact, states that there's, there's nothing in the language to indicate that this should be taken figuratively. Some people have a denomination, a theological position that has that pos that would hold to that so rather than scripture itself, they say, well, this is what we believe as this denomination or that. But we need to submit ourselves to what scripture says and so what, if it comes to it, wow, my denomination teaches this, but how do I get around what I see in scripture?

I remember as a young boy growing up in charismatic churches and I'm not trying to knock charismatic churches.

I have a lot of friends in charismatic churches, but I, I wrestled with seeing them, they're conservative charismatic, but they would speak in tongues every now and then and I started wrestling, wow, that was more than 3 people and that wasn't in order. there's guys flopping and shaking on the ground in another church I went to and the pastor and his wife were roaring like lions and I don't see this in scripture, so I either just got to say, well, that's what we believe and continue on with it and say, I, my, my duty is to the word of God, not to, to men.

Well, here's another problem with this view that the 1000 year kingdom of Christ started 2000 years ago. It has to do with Satan.

Verse 3 reveals the reason for Satan's imprisonment. Verse 3 says that here's why he, Satan is in prison, so that, here's our purpose clause. Here's the reason, he is in prison, he's bound, he's sealed, he's chained, he's shackled, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer until the 1000 years were completed. After these things, he must be released for a short time.

So, Christ is going to come down. He's got him stowed away in a pit. He's not gonna have to deal with him at that point. He's gonna allow justice on the earth, he's gonna rule and reign with the saints as we'll see.

But as I mentioned, just, just reading the headlines today makes it obvious, if we were in, if their interpretation was correct, and we're in the millennial period right now. We're in Year 2000 something of the 1000 year millennium. then Satan would be bound at the same time and no longer deceiving the nations as it says here in verse 3, but it's very clear that he is and continues to and will continue to do so until Christ returns, as it says in Revelation 19, wipes out the anti-Christ, the false prophet, and then throws Satan in the lake of fire, which is a few verses away.

So Scripture makes it clear that Satan will be active in deceiving.

And destroying till Christ returns. And here's some passages that Show how Satan is working today. Here's some scriptures that prove that. For, for my friend I mentioned in the Philippines, he says, oh he's like the dog chained in the yard, he's not really deceiving the nations anymore.

Well, scriptures clear, like 2 Corinthians 4:4, I have a list of them here, so I'm gonna go through them really quickly. But he, he blinds the minds of unbelievers. This is how, what he's doing today with unbelievers. He's especially at work and, and those who are disobedient, Ephesians 2:2.

He snatches the gospel from unbelieving hearts in Matthew 13:19. He influences people to lie, Acts 5:3, regarding his status in the world today. he is the God of this world, 2 Corinthians 4:4. He's the ruler of this world, John 12:31, the ruler of the king of the air, Ephesians 2:2, he disguises himself as an angel of light.

2 Corinthians 11:13-15. Regarding believers. He traps the unwary in 1 Timothy 3:7. He tempts believers to sin.

1 Corinthians 7:5, Ephesians 4:27. He seeks to deceive the children of God and take advantage of them in 2 Corinthians 11:3. He thwarts the progress of ministry in 1 Thessalonians 2:18. He seeks to destroy the faith of believers in Luke 22:31, and he wages war against the church in Ephesians 6:11-17.

And then here's a passage regarding both believers and unbelievers. He traps and deceives people, holding them captive to do his will according to 2 Timothy 2:26, and he is a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour in 1 Peter 5:8. Osborne commented, commented that it is hard to see how anyone who is imprisoned. With it shut and sealed over him.

In the way that Satan will be, could be able to deceive the nations as described in some of these passages I shared with you. Matt Wemer offers a helpful illustration to show the absurdity of The belief that Satan will have some influence even when he's cast in the abyss. Weimer contends that if the warden of a prison puts a prisoner in solitary confinement for the stated purpose of preventing him from killing other prisoners, this does not mean that he is free to steal from them and to do other such activities.

After all, the location.

Of solitary confinement completely removes him from the rest of the prison and cuts him off entirely from the other prisoners. In the same way, the degree of Satan's restriction in Revelation 20 is determined not by the location. Of, of imprisonment. The abyss Which removes the devil from earth and cuts him off from any influences.

So, let me read that last part, I think my inflection was kinda off there. In the same way, the degree of Satan's restriction in Revelation 20 is determined, More by the location of his imprisonment, so. because of the very nature of him being in this pit, he is not just like a prisoner in solitary confinement, he is gonna be unable to harass anyone in this world, like a dog barking at a fence. One last thing to consider regarding this 1000 year imprisonment of Satan.

Is that within the context of the book of Revelation itself. I'm talking specifically about taking this 1000 years and spiritualizing the 1000 years. Revelation is a book full of many numbers. So for instance, it mentions 7 churches in the beginning of the book and how 7 letters are written to these 7 churches, 7 literal letters to 7 literal churches or cities or even named.

Now those churches may be representative of the kinds of churches that are going to be out throughout the world, but there's 7 literal churches, and it talks about 7 stars that represent the 7 angels and messengers of those 7 churches. There are also 7 golden lampstands for these churches. It talks about 7 literal bowls of judgment, 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 plagues, 7 heads, 10 horns, 7 crowns, 2 witnesses who will literally be 2 guys standing up against the anti-Christ and proclaiming the gospel, 24 literal elders, there'll be 4 literal horses and their riders, 4 living creatures, literally 144,000 saints from the literal 12 tribes of Israel who will become tribulation.

martyrs, they will die for coming to Christ and sharing their faith during the tribulation.

All of these numbers are literal and there's no reason. To say, OK, well, yeah, yeah, all those are literal, but now Revelation 20,000 years, oh well, that one's spiritual. The rest of those. They're literal, but this one here.

Arbitrarily, for no reason, grammatically or anything, any clues contextually text, but this one is spiritual. There's no reason to do that unless you want to bend scripture to fit your theology, and that's what I think is happening. All right, well, we move from Satan's imprisonment. To Christ's reign in verses 4 through 6.

John continues to describe his vision and what he saw next in verse 4, saying then, And it's interesting, even the very first word of verse one, right, at Revelation 19, Antichrist. Beasts thrown in the lake of fire. Then I saw an angel. It seems to me very logically given and in chronological order.

I saw an angel come out of heaven with a key, a great chain. Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given them. The home of New Testament commentary points out that we're not told where these thrones were, but all other thrones of revelation have been in heaven except for the throne of Satan. So, I see that's clear in scripture, it mentions thrones in heaven so many times that I have to believe.

John's now, he went from seeing this scene on earth where angel comes out of heaven, down to earth. He says, OK, we've taken care of the, the anti-Christ and the beast now Satan, he grabs them, throws him in a pit. Now, He switches from this earthly scene, now he's looking heaven, heavenly, heavenward. And we have a scene, he sees in heaven of thrones.

John does identify or does not identify who will sit on these thrones, he only refers to them as they. So all we can really do is, is speculate there, some have speculated, and I, I, I would lean towards this, that they are the 24 elders sitting on 24 thrones as mentioned in Revelation 4:4 since it mentions these 24 elders sitting and judging, it's very possible these are the same thrones and the same elders. Others suggested maybe it's the 12 apostles. And still others proposed it, it could be angels, we don't know for sure, we can't be dogmatic on that.

I think, I didn't put this in my notes here, but this is a good thing too, good principle is in an unclear text, we need to be charitable. When scriptures clear, we take our stand. graciously, but when it's unclear, we need to be gracious to others and say, we, we don't know for sure. For some reason, God didn't want us to know exactly who's gonna be on those stones at this point.

There's a lot of things God has in store for us. He's got a lot of surprises for us. It's, it's kinda like, if you got surprises for your kids, my son and my youngest daughter can't stand when she buys Christmas presents, she wants to tell everyone before, oh, I got this, open it now, open it now. And I'm like, no, I'll wait till Christmas and There's a lot of things that God has in store that he wants to tell us and things to encourage us, and I think that's why this book was written to encourage us, even though these horrible times are coming.

He wants us to know that he wins. Don't be shaken by this. But at the same time, God is holding a lot of surprises back. He's got a lot of awesome things in store for us.

Well, the judgment that these people sitting in these thrones, the kind that they would render is not clear either, but we are told we will stand before these judges. And So we're not told the kind, but we'll stand before them and John continued saying that I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony. Of Jesus and because of the word, and those who are not worshiped the beast. Or his image and had not received the mark on their forehead or on their hands.

So he saw these thrones, doesn't know who's on them, but in addition to seeing them, he saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony. These are people who were martyred for Christ. now there's different views here that maybe this is just the, the tribulation saints. It's just the, there's 144,000 mentioned in Revelation who are, who I believe are, are Jews who come to faith in Christ during the tribulation.

The church has been raptured out, I believe, and, So you've got the earth full of unbelievers and all these things are happening in the earth and, in the heavens, and even angels are flying overhead proclaiming the gospel. 144,000 Jews that survived and so many are wiped out, they get it. They recognize, whoa, what we heard and what we're seeing, Jesus was the Messiah. He is our savior, they repent, and they refuse to accept the mark of the beast.

they refuse to follow him. And they are killed for that. And so they're gonna have a special reward, I believe along with not just them but anyone who was martyred for Christ through the years. So it's unclear.

that those standing before the thrones. are just the martyrs. the martyrs are definitely there, but it doesn't mean that it's only the martyrs. So if we go back to chapter 19, which we haven't talked about here, but, chapter 19 pictures Christ returning and says his armies are with him, and he wipes out the antichrist and the beast.

So, Christ returns to the earth and he's got these This army with him, we got to remember that context, the army of saints, not the angels, I believe these are the ones who are raptured, and these are the Old Testament saints with him, they've come with Christ and returned to the earth, he wipes out his enemies, except Satan he imprisons, and I think then John sees these thrones, well, I think they're there as well. He's not mentioning them there because that's not his focus.

That was in the last chapter, but he's mentioning, now these ones who are martyred are getting a, a special blessing which we'll see in a minute. So the souls of those who have been beheaded for their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, It's clear, I believe it can refer to all of God's people who were, were, and will be martyred for him, including the, the two witnesses.

John the Baptist was beheaded as well. And the Greek word here, This one I'm not as confident on, but, John MacArthur comments that at the time that this was written, the Greek word for beheaded became a general term for being slain or executed. if that's the case, then this verse would mean that not just those specifically that have been beheaded, but anyone who was slain somehow for standing up for Christ and the word of God. So these martyrs will be there and they refuse to rec receive the mark of the beast.

And John saw that these martyrs came to life in verse 4. They came to life and they reigned with Christ for again 1000 years. He keeps, he's repeated that word several times. Their reward will include physical resurrection.

And being a part of Jesus' government. So a couple of questions come, at least to my mind. And I find this fascinating, says they're gonna rule, they're gonna come to life and they're gonna reign with Christ for 1000 years. Who are they going to reign over?

You ever thought of that? And then even after the millennial period, When Satan is finally wiped out, and then the eternal state comes and the new Jerusalem, the new heavens, and new earth, we're still gonna be reigning. And ruling with Christ, who are we going to reign over? I find that fascinating.

And it's answered in part. At least during the millennium, but in eternity, I don't know. So there's some exciting, exciting, possibilities in store for us. All right, well, who will they reign over and where will they reign from?

Are they gonna, I always assume that they're reigning on earth during that time. But we saw this picture of the throne in heaven. I think it's very reasonable that the thrones in heaven and Christ will be ruling, perhaps going back and forth and as people could be going back and forth, we could live on the earth. It doesn't detail all that out for us.

We do know it involves heaven and earth. So, who will they reign over? Well, where will they reign from? Well, regarding whom they will reign over, Grant Osborne reminds us that in Revelation 19, the antichrist and the beast and their armies are going to be destroyed, but there are still nations.

There's still all the people that those armies represented, and those nations will be around during the millennium. His view is that these are the earth dwellers who support but are not a part of the army. They go through the millennium. And it is they who are ruled by the saints on the thrones in Revelation 20 verses 4 and 6.

They then formed the group who flocks after Satan when he's released. And So you've got resurrected. saints who are raptured and you've got these resurrected, martyrs living there. But you've got people who are still in their regular earthly bodies, they're still gonna, during that millennium, they still have children.

So the population can continue to grow that time. Christ will rule the world rather than these wicked governments. There'll be, there'll be something much better than Obamacare taking care of everyone. And Christ will be in charge.

Satan will be imprisoned and These people expand in the earth and it'd be, we, we couldn't know, but it's, it's fascinating if you figure even if what do we got like 6 billion plus people on this planet right now and Revelation talks about huge percentages of the population being wiped out at one time from plagues, half at one time, a third, a lot from pestilence and sword, but if you've got 6+ billion people, even if you had 10% of that, you've still got a whole lot of people on this planet and if they're living around To 1000 years and having more children, you're gonna have a lot of people at the end of that 1000 years.

And people who need to be governed. Well, the saints live and rule with Christ during that time, but where is Christ? I believe he's in heaven where he sits on the throne and rules and all authority to rule in heaven and earth has been given to him according to Matthew 20:18.

And the saints redeemed from sin and death are seated on the heavenly thrones and are privileged to rule as royalty with Christ in heaven. And I think again, they're gonna be, go back and forth between heaven and earth. That is my speculation. I wanna be careful and I don't want to put Read words into the text, that's just where I speculate based on what I've read, but So that may answer whom they will reign over, but where will they reign from?

I've mentioned, I think, Probably heaven and earth, maybe outposts here, but I believe that these thrones. are in heaven, but God's kingdom will extend, of course, beyond that and it's funny I remember Jehovah's Witnesses coming to my door throughout the different years that I lived out here and they, they had a big thing, oh, God's gonna restore the, the earth, the 144,000, they're gonna live in heaven, but the rest of us here are gonna be in a restored earth and I've just rejected that all right, they're a cult and that's all wrong.

The I read scripture, I said that's one thing they've got partially right at least. The heavens and the earth are gonna be recreated and, and the heavens is gonna come and rest on the earth when you look at the rest of Revelation after chapter 20.

And that's when God and man will be together forever. So, there's no reason to spiritualize this rain. As those from a, a millennial position do and here's what they say, this is, this is the problem they have, OK? So, they would say, we're in the millennium right now.

The 1000 years started 2000 years ago, we're in it now, yes, OK, yeah, I, OK, Satan has to be bound. OK, fine, he's bound, he's just, but it's, he still has influence. And then They have to dance around a few other problems, cause they'll say, OK, well, it says Christ is gonna rule and reign. I don't see him rolling and reigning.

Physically, like is expected and taught in scripture. 000 yeah, well, how do they dance around that? He's ruling and reigning in our hearts. His, his kingdom is invisible.

Now there's an element of truth to that, but scripture is promising more than that. It's more than just a, simply believers being ruled by His word and following Him and Him being in our hearts. I think a really good example of this, the biblical teaching on the kingdom of, of God and the expectation of that comes from Acts chapter 1 verses 6 and 7. Jesus had just been crucified.

He resurrected, he's about to ascend to the Father, he spends about 50 days on the earth and he's spending some time with his disciples, and they asked him in Acts chapter 1 verses 6 and 7. OK, Lord. We, we didn't quite get it, you kept telling us you had to die. OK, we got it now, you died, you rose, you are sin offering, OK, well now, Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?

Now are you gonna set up the physical kingdom, now you're gonna wipe out Rome? And rule in the earth, and establish David's kingdom forever like he promised. Jesus responds to them in verse 7, it's not for you to know the time or the epochs which the Father has fixed by his own authority. Interesting to know what Jesus didn't say there.

Jesus didn't correct him. He didn't go. Where'd you get that idea? What do you mean, am I gonna set up a physical kingdom and rule now?

Who told you that? No, no, no, no, let me straighten you guys out, you got it all wrong. He didn't say that. He didn't say, no, no, no, the, the kingdom is here now, but it's spiritual.

I'm gonna rule and reign in your hearts and visit, he didn't say that. He didn't correct their understanding cause their understanding was correct. What he did do is say, it's not for you to know that. The fathers fixed those times when his kingdom is gonna be restored in this earth when David, Christ, reigns on David's throne forever.

The father's already said that, but you don't need to worry about that, and then he goes on and the next verse says, here's what you need to worry about, you gotta go out and be my witnesses. That's what you need to worry about. Don't worry about when I'm gonna re-establish the kingdom. That was a correct view of physical kingdom.

That's the right expectation. So in attempting to answer that question, it's helpful to know the context of this passage if we ask, OK, if it's gonna be a physical kingdom. Then who's going to be a part of this government? Who, who's gonna rule?

In heaven and on earth. Again, remember that just before Revelation 20 With Jesus is his armies. So that if you could picture those visions of John, you've got Jesus with the Old New Testament saints, his armies with him. You've got these thrones in heaven, with the souls of those who were martyred for Christ.

These are the people who are going to be ruling and reigning over the earth during that 1000 year period. And again, between the two. So we can conclude that those who reign with Christ are the Old New Testament saints, along with those martyred through history. I think it's also important to note that this doesn't negate the roles.

Those homillennials tend to have, they also tend to Say that the church has replaced Israel. Where those who would hold a pre-male position, that would take the millennial kingdom literally would say there is a distinction between Israel and the church. A mills would say, no, no, no. The Jews What did I say distinction between, did I say Israel or Jews?

The distinction is between Israel or the Jews who are right with God and, and the church, they would say, Israel blew it, so the church took over. And the blessings promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, their descendants after them under the old covenant, they forfeited that they lost it and the church gets that. That's what Amils, that's another distinctive of the Amil position. But the premier will say no, the promises that God made to Abraham and his descendants, they will get those.

And the church has promises and blessings as well. And the, what I like to use as an illustration of that, it almost seems to me like people are getting jealous of the Jews. Yeah, it's not fair that they get these special privileges. what?

In the church, in the body of Christ, do we all have the same gifts and do the same thing? some are teachers, some have the gifts of administration, some have gift of evangelism, some have the gift, we have different gifts. I, I I admire my friends who are great at sharing the gospel. And I, it's, it's funny is sometimes, I can say, wow, this guy's really good at sharing the gospel when he does it, he sees much more fruit, more people coming to Christ than when I share the gospel, but I understand the Bible so much better than him.

How is that? That's God's business. God gave him that gift and that privilege, and I have my own, I'm not gonna be jealous of it and when we get to heaven, God has special gifts and privileges for the church, and he has special gifts, privileges, roles for Israel. And all of us who get the privilege of going there, all we should be able to say is, Thank you for letting me in in the first place.

I don't deserve to be here. Whatever I can do. You got a, you got a toilet brush, show me where it is. I'm happy to do that for eternity in heaven, then be the other place.

Whatever God gives me is a privilege. Well, it goes on to say in John's vision, As he just, he just described, the, the thrones that he saw in his vision and that those who are martyred come to life and they reign with Christ. And he says the rest of the dead. Did not come to life until the 1000 years were completed.

This is the first resurrection. The rest of the dead refers to those who are not a part of the first resurrection. It refers to those who do not follow God, I believe. Now some could take this as It's believers that haven't been resurrected yet, but I believe that the rest of the dead are those who are not believers.

They come to life, or are resurrected after the 1000 year kingdom of Christ is completed. And from the Gospel of John, we see that scripture Only talks about two resurrections. We see in John chapter 5 verses 28 and 29, It says there that an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice. And will come forth Those who do good deeds to, here's the first resurrection, a resurrection of life.

And those who commit the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. So there's only two kinds of resurrections, one to life, one to judgment. The second resurrection of judgment is found in verses 11 through 15 in Revelation 20, which we won't have a chance to. look into today, it's described as the great white throne judgment, which is followed by the second death, and it's for those who will be thrown into the lake of fire.

These are going to be the enemies of God who reject him. Although the lake of fire was created for Satan and the fallen angels, those who chose to follow him, God is going to cast him there as well. John commented about the first resurrection, saying in, in verse 6, that blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for 1000 years.

So God's blessed and holy people who will be resurrected to enjoy life with Him will not have to worry about the second death. They will not have to worry about judgment. That second death and that judgment will result in eternal separation from God. And as, as we speculate, well, what, what is hell like, we hear talks about it being torture and described it flat, flame, fire, worm that doesn't die out.

to me, that's not as scary as the last thing you see before you're cast or you see this glorified Christ and all his beauty, recognizing that. I rejected him, I rebelled against him. I chose to do my own worship myself rather than him, and seeing that beauty being cast away and never again, that's the last probably burn in your eyes, never again to, to see him. And just to be in that pit forever going, what did I do?

I heard the gospel from my friends and my family or the radio station, or I, someone left this track on my table or whatever, God spoke to me and I didn't care. I thought I had better things to do. To me that is gonna be the worst hell of hell. Not the torment, not the separation, not the darkness.

It's seeing the beauty of God and never being able to glimpse at that again and enjoy his goodness. Well, those who Don't suffer the second death. Instead, they will be rewarded and have the privilege of serving God in various ways as this text tells us. Just as the people who are under the law, and the people today who are a part of the church have different gifts and roles, so it will be during the millennial reign of Christ, and probably on into the eternal state, we will get the privilege of serving God.

In the unique ways that he's created us for and the unique privileges that he's given us. John said that they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for 1000 years. I'm So I'm, I'm attempting, I'm dabbling with 10 verses. but as more I got through this, the, the church is asking me, OK, can you give me your passage and the verses and the title and the outlines, so I'm given that, and then a few days later as I'm getting into it, I'm going, oh shoot.

As I'm, my notes are getting longer and longer, it's like, I really would love to cover more of these details, but I have to just mention some gloss them and highlight what I think is the most important. But really, it'd be better to handle these verses, probably in 2 to 3 messages at least, if it's really mind the depths of it. So if you find this fascinating at all, and instead of this, this is a lot of information being dump trucked on you. I'd encourage you to read this and, and take your time.

Actually, I had an assignment at school and I found it very helpful reading the whole book the several times, the first reading, just looking for major themes that keep repeating, just keep a list of major themes like you'll see thrones as mentioned many times and these different judgments and you just start noting those down and writing the verses and that list keeps getting bigger and bigger. By the time you read through that, the, the whole book, one time like that, you, OK, I see the major themes and start reading it again and, read some good studied Bible notes, get an introduction to the book, who's writing, who they're writing to, the purpose, dealing with some of those symbols and some of the history and backgrounds and connections to Daniel and Isaiah, and Ezekiel and other books.

This is a book that will require years of study. I don't claim at all to be an expert in this book and I've been studying this book more in the last several years of my whole life and I feel like, OK, now I'm not afraid of it like I used to be.

But I haven't mastered it. but I do see these reoccurring themes that get asked a lot, so I thought this is a good example, good opportunity to share. How I interpret a passage like this. All right, well, moving on.

So the next scene in John's vision is the conclusion. Of the millennium and Satan's final defeat. So we see here in verse 7. It says when 1000 years were completed, Satan will be released from his prison.

After imprisoning Satan for an entire millennium and allowing the whole earth to see what it's like to live under Jesus' rule, to see his beauty, his kindness, his good, goodness, to see what a government will look like when it's out for God's glory and mankind's best and it's not stealing and bribing and taking advantage. People live under that for 1000 years. And if you read some of the other passages in scripture, you see that it says if someone dies, I forget the age, it was, I, I can't remember if it said 100 or something like that, but people are going, oh, so young, so sad.

People are gonna live much longer during that time.

And to see these things go on, and if they have any memory of before. The millennium and the tribulation, and what God did in the earth, if they heard stories of the plagues, and the antichrist and the beast and the judgments and all the things, all the things that had happened. Or put yourself in their shoes. If you're in the future and You found yourself a survivor of the tribulation and you're in the millennial reign and you see Jesus ruling, you hear all the lies that Satan did, you see the goodness of God, and then Satan's released again, how would you respond?

It's worse than this, but this is the first, I, I always say to myself, don't get off your notes cause you're gonna say something you might regret, maybe I will, but the first thought, just imagine, I'm trying to think of a heinous crime, but let's say you learned that your vacant house next to you just got rented by a sex offender. And you got a bunch of young children in your house, how would you feel about that guy living next door to you? Knowing the past, especially if you knew the grisly stories of what he did.

I know for me, I would do, hey, I'd go to the government or local officials.

I don't want this guy living next to me. I've got children here. I've got a wife here. I don't trust this guy.

I don't, I don't want that, or I'm gonna move, or I'm gonna pick up my stones. that's what I would expect people to do living in the millennium. When Satan is released. I think what happens, as recorded in John's vision is shocking.

Verse 8 tells us, 8 and 9. John records the response. Of people in the world, and what they do after Satan's release, it says, Satan, after he's released, he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, that's a figurative way of saying all over the world. Gog and Magog, some speculate that these ancient names they can trace them back, some say that's Russia, maybe, maybe not, we don't know.

not so important actually to the interpretation of what's going on here, but Satan gathers the nations. Together for war. They want to fight against the God, against Jesus who has been caring for them and ruling them with justice for the last 1000 years, in spite of all the history of Satan. The number of them is like the sand of the seashore is another figure of speech.

It's not that God has a number, this is exactly how many pieces of sand, and this is, it's saying there's gonna be a lot, an uncountable number, there's so many. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp, and the saints of the beloved city Jerusalem. And fire came down from heaven and devoured them. So, Satan is released, but it's, as it said, a short time.

I'm gonna talk about this in, in a few minutes. I think there's a lesson we learned, but why was this, why did God allow this millennial period? And why did he release Satan one more time? We'll talk about that in a few minutes.

What's the purpose of that? So there's shock, their response is shocking, but it demonstrates the, the perversive nature of sin and the wickedness of the hearts of men and women. John records the final outcome of Satan. He tells us that in verse 10.

That the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also, and they will be tormented day and night forever. The next few verses, we have the judgment of everyone else who rejected God throughout the, the centuries. Their judgment they're throne there as well. So the devil will be cast into this place that was made specifically for him, the lake of fire and brimstone, his punishment, and the punishment of everyone that does not submit and follow Jesus will be unending.

This should also, one lesson, I didn't put this down on my notes, but I don't know why it wasn't obvious to me before, but one lesson from this is this should motivate us to share the gospel with people, because this punishment that where Satan is gonna be thrown, where they're gonna be thrown, never ends. They don't go unconscious, there's no soul sleep. It's night and day, they are tormented and separated from God and those that they, what they called as love and their families and friends are separated from them forever.

Well, this book was not just written to encourage churches during the Apostle John's time, but to encourage all churches until Jesus returns, them as well as us and churches until he returns.

And so a few other lessons that we can learn from this is one, again, it should motivate us to share the gospel while there's still time, so that people don't face the same judgment and end as Satan. Another lesson. That should encourage us, I mentioned I have 6 kids, I, I'm almost done, but when we had our We were about to have our 5th. We were talking to our parents about it and I remember my mom going, oh, this world is just so horrible, you sure you want to have any more kids?

It's just such a bad time and, I've heard a lot of Christians, oh, abortion and all these things, it's just so horrible, I just, and people are so vicious and if you read, I, I'll read blogs and if you see people's comments are so vicious to each other, the, the times are just getting really wicked. And if you're like me, you're sad about what's happening in the government. This is an encouraging book that it's clear in the end, as bad as things get, God wins, which means we win.

We want to warn people.

To submit to God, to surrender to Him, to accept the gospel, to turn from their sin, and to turn to Him and be saved. We want to remember that God wins, and then here's the last one, it's, it's my speculation, but I ask, I think this is a lesson taught, why did God allow Satan to be released again? Why did he have this millennial period of chain him up and then allow him to be released for a short time? Here's my theory.

In the Garden of Eden, you had Adam and Eve. They were created good, they didn't sin, they were without sin. And what did they do when God let them on their own? They fell, they sinned.

And now in the last book of the Bible, God shows, I believe this is what's happening, he shows, look, even if I reign on this planet, in front of your eyes, and you see justice and the goodness and kindness of God, and you live under those blessings and benefits, Unless God is with us. We will be wicked. We cannot do the right thing without God's sustaining grace, and I think that is gonna be the exclamation point to close out the church age and as we go into the eternal state, we're gonna remember we need to be tight and cling to God because if we don't, we could be like Adam and Eve, we could be like the people in the tribulation, and even with God in front of us, we'll go our own way.

That's 3 lessons that I discerned from this book, but I hope this whets your appetite for this book and gives you a little insights on to a few, few tools in interpreting.

There are many more. I don't have time. There's so many good com commentaries. If you're interested in any more in studying in this book, to see me after and I can share with you some of the books, commentaries I've consulted, maybe other issues in here.

But let me, just, close our morning with prayer. And Lord, we thank you that you gave us your word to encourage us that even when times are bleak, we know that in the end you win. We thank you that even in the last chapter of this book, you even throw out one last plea that you're coming quickly and your reward is with you, and you give the opportunity to repent and turn to you. And I pray that everyone here has done that, if they've not, that they would do it because the time is short.

We would turn to you while we still can, while salvation can be found, Lord. I pray that you would reach out to us and draw us to yourself. And again, I thank you Lord for this faithful church and their generosity, their love and their kindness to us, and I pray that we would bear much fruit for them to enjoy with us for your glory and in Jesus' name. Amen.