Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I said this is going to be different today.
[00:00:02] And the first thing that you should notice as we read through revelation chapter 20 is that this phrase 1000 years is mentioned six times.
[00:00:13] And so that should immediately tell us that this is really, really important.
[00:00:18] Whatever this 1000 years is here, it is very, very important.
[00:00:25] And this is referred to as the millennium.
[00:00:28] And one's understanding of end times, meaning what's going to happen at the end is largely dependent on what you say this 1000 years is, what is it and when is it?
[00:00:44] And then does Jesus come after the millennium, after the 1,000 years or before?
[00:00:52] And so answering all those questions, questions are important for you, understanding what's going to happen at the end of human history.
[00:01:01] It's vitally important.
[00:01:03] Now there are two views that understand the millennium to be now, presently, and that Jesus will come after the 1000 years.
[00:01:18] Two views that say right now we're in this 1000 year reign and it's figurative, it's symbolic, and Jesus will come when this 1000 year reign is over. The first people that hold this view are called post millennialists. Now both of the views that I'm going to give to begin with, these are Christians, these are orthodox Christians who believe the Bible is the word of God. These aren't heretics. I know when we get into end time stuff, we get in our camp and we say everybody else is wrong. They don't know what they're talking about, they don't believe. That's not what's going on here. These are legitimate views about the millennium. And so the first is post millennialism. And they would say that the 1000 year reign of Christ again is figurative. And it's this time between Jesus first coming and his second coming. That's what it's referring to in a symbolic way.
[00:02:19] And they would say, as we read in the passage, the first time Jesus came cross resurrection, he bound Satan. Remember in the text, Satan, the first part of the text, Satan is bound. And so they would say that Satan is bound now and we are in this 1000 year reign of Christ.
[00:02:42] And why was Satan bound?
[00:02:44] It's so that the Gospel can go to the nations. It's so that the gospel can run on the earth freely. And what that's going to lead to is this nearly golden age of human history where the gospel takes hold and it changes culture, it changes society. We've even seen that throughout history where Christianity will take hold in a culture and, and it will transform that culture. Well, they would say this is going to happen all over the world in this very literal way. And then Jesus is going to return. So they say we're now in the 1,000 years.
[00:03:25] It's going to end up in this literal rule that the church takes part in with Jesus as the gospel moves. And then Jesus will come. Post millennialism, the next is amillennialism.
[00:03:39] Now they nearly believe the same thing, except they would say that this rule is spiritual, not just figurative. It is figurative to them. They would say we're in this thousand years and it represents the last day, the time of Jesus resurrection till he comes back again.
[00:03:59] And Jesus is ruling and reigning now, Satan is bound.
[00:04:03] But primarily the rule is experienced spiritually on earth, in the church and with the church as the gospel moves to the ends of the earth. And so unlike a post millennialist, they're a little more pessimistic about the end of human history.
[00:04:24] Even as we've seen in Revelation, it seems to spiral toward tribulation and deception. And then Jesus comes. But they say it's now more spiritual and Jesus will come after the millennium, after this thousand year reign that we're in right now as the church.
[00:04:48] Then there is the view, which is the correct view, which is my view, which is the millennium is future. And I didn't think I was going to continue to hold to that view as we're moving through Revelation, but this week really solidified this for me.
[00:05:07] And it is the belief that there is a literal reign of Christ that will come to the earth, that Jesus will come back and he will establish a literal reign of on the earth before we see the new age, before we see heaven and earth renewed, before we see the new creation.
[00:05:31] Now this is called premillennialism. And there's all kinds of different versions of this.
[00:05:36] More recent would be a dispensational premillennialism. That is a very recent view of the millennium. But we know the most about it because it has been so popularized in our culture. We think about the Left behind series, we think about the way in which it's almost this popular version and in the church for many years, this is what has been taught, this is what I was raised upon.
[00:06:06] But there's also a premillennial view that is called historic historical premillennialism, which is what I would hold, which is the belief is that's it's the belief of what John was teaching here and John's disciples. And it's historic, it's not this current view.
[00:06:24] And so what I believe will happen is that currently we are in the last days, not the millennium. We are in this time between Jesus's first coming and second coming. And as we've unpacked in Revelation, God is shaking the world during this time. We talked about the seals, we talked about the trumpets, we talked about the bowls. What did we say that is describing the last days? We are in this time of tribulation right now, where God is shaking the world, preparing the people of God for his return, just like he did with the Exodus, warning, I'm coming to get my people.
[00:07:08] These are warnings that we see in our culture. Jesus talked about the last days, where we see wars, rumors of wars, false teaching everywhere. Well, that's going to culminate in a great tribulation, as we've seen in Revelation. And then, as we've seen in the last few weeks, a worldwide deception.
[00:07:27] And we saw the people of the earth are going to gather again, just like they did at Babel, to oppose God.
[00:07:34] And when that happens, Jesus is going to return.
[00:07:38] And what's going to happen when Jesus returns? We read in 1st Thessalonians, chapter 4, verses 16 and 17, the dead in Christ will rise.
[00:07:47] So the world is gathered against God and his Christ and his people.
[00:07:54] And Jesus returns. And when he busts open the sky, the dead in Christ are raised from their coffins. And. And at that same time, those who are alive are resurrected and raptured up to him, and he begins to usher in this new kingdom, this literal physical kingdom that we see here will last for an extended period of time. I would say this.
[00:08:23] I don't necessarily think it's a literal thousand years.
[00:08:26] As we've seen in Revelation, numbers are used symbolically, but it is referring to a real time on planet Earth in a real physical kingdom. And as we'll see in the text, this is what happens at the first resurrection, when Jesus comes to Earth and gathers his people to Himself. So we're going to move through this passage with that understanding of Scripture and then make or of this passage and then make some application at the end.
[00:08:58] And so, first of all, in our text, we see the binding of Satan. Notice verse one.
[00:09:05] Then I saw.
[00:09:07] Now, as we think about all those views, we have a choice right here.
[00:09:11] When chapter 20 begins, we have to ask the question, is this a new cycle? Because as we've talked about in Revelation, remember, there are cycles of the last day. He's telling this story over and over and over again.
[00:09:26] So we get to the end of chapter 19, and we have to ask the question, has that cycle ended when the beast and false prophet were thrown into the lake of fire. Was that the end?
[00:09:39] And does chapter 20 begin a new cycle? So he's going to go back to the time of Jesus and tell this story from his first coming to his second coming again and what's going on? Or is this a continuation of what he was talking about in chapter 19?
[00:09:55] I believe it's a continuation. And why do I believe that? Every time we've talked about these cycles we get to the end and there are these signs. There's thunder, there's lightning, there is hell, there is this judgment scene and it all ends and then we start over. None of those signs are here. So what John is doing here is he's continuing or this vision is, is continuing from chapter 19 into chapter 20. And so what we saw even beginning in 18, is that Babylon was defeated. And then we saw the beast and the false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire. And now there's just a continuation of what's going to happen at the end when Satan himself is defeated.
[00:10:44] And first of all we see Satan is bound. Notice this angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to this bottomless pit and this great chain. And this is a place we've seen earlier where demons are held hostage. And here Satan is going to be taken to this. We don't know it's a figurative place where he's going to be bound. But notice the description.
[00:11:09] He seized the dragon, the serpent, the devil, Satan, and bound him. Now many will argue even though he's bound, he's on a chain, he still has influence in the world.
[00:11:23] And so if you argued right now with a post millennialist or an all millennialist, you said, I don't really believe Satan is bound.
[00:11:31] When I read my New Testament, Paul talks about Satan as being the God of this age who can blind you. He talks about Satan being the prince of power.
[00:11:41] It seems as though Satan has some sort of power now. And they would say, yeah, he has power, but he's on a chain like a dog on a leash. I don't think that's the description here in verse three, notice. And they threw him into a pit, it's not just a leash.
[00:11:59] And they shut it and sealed it over him. So the point here is there is coming to earth a time where Satan will have no activity, none notice, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended. And after that he must be released. And we know, we experience the work of Satan. Sin, death, deception. I think it's really hard to say. He is bound right now in the way it's described here.
[00:12:30] And remember chapter 12 of Revelation.
[00:12:35] the cross and Resurrection, we see Satan is cast out of heaven. And the point there is that he can no longer accuse. His power to accuse those who are in Christ is gone. And where is he cast to? He's cast to earth.
[00:12:52] And what is he allowed to do on the earth? Literally deceive.
[00:12:57] And chapter 12 says his time on earth is short because he's full of rage. There's going to be this in the last day, this rage of Satan. And it is a short time. It doesn't make any sense to say it's a thousand years, which is meant to be an extended period of time.
[00:13:17] So Satan is allowed to roam the earth like a roaring lion, seeking to destroy the church. And that is the point of the Book of Revelation that you are facing Satan as the greatest. He's behind it all.
[00:13:36] He is the one who is seeking to destroy the church. And the point of Revelation is, yes, you can die for Jesus and that's not defeat.
[00:13:48] You can die under the Roman Empire and you can die under the influence of sin, Satan in the world, but you will still be victorious on the last day. You are waging war against this serpent. But there will come a time where he will be bound and you will experience a real world without his influence. So we think about why does he need to be bound during this time?
[00:14:16] Well, let's go back to before creation or before.
[00:14:21] After the world's creation, before the fall, Satan leads a revolt in heaven and there are these demons that revolt against God and his angels. And then we see in the very garden what Satan does. He deceives Adam and Eve. And so the point here is that there is a kingdom coming where unlike Adam and Eve, Satan will not be able to deceive the bride of Christ.
[00:14:49] He will be bound.
[00:14:51] Notice next we see the resurrection of the saints. Then I saw thrones. And seated on them were those whom had authority to judge. It was committed to them. This seems to be the promise throughout Revelation where if you cling to the gospel and you conquer and you overcome, you will sit on thrones at the rule of Christ. In chapter two, you will rule with Christ with a rod of iron. In Matthew 19, Jesus tells his disciples, you will sit on Thrones. In second Timothy, chapter two 12, if you endure and you will reign with him in the end. In Daniel 7:18, dominion is given to the saints of the Most High. And none of those passages does it Sound like that is present.
[00:15:38] It is this future reign that will be given to the people of God.
[00:15:43] But notice the text continues.
[00:15:45] And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image or received its mark on their forehead or their hands. And we've said that this influence continues to cycle in human history.
[00:16:02] And there are those who worship something other than Christ at the force of government and tyranny. We see it in the Roman Empire, those who refuse to do this and those who are willing to lose their life for this. Notice the end of verse four. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. That doesn't seem to be a spiritual resurrection.
[00:16:26] That doesn't seem to be a spiritual rule. Actually those who are martyred were martyred physically.
[00:16:34] And so they are raised physically as a vindication and reward to for their testimony of faith in Christ.
[00:16:44] So this is a literal reign. This is a literal resurrection that is being talked about here. Notice verse 5. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. And so when Jesus comes back to earth, there is going to be a first resurrection. Which here seems to be believers, saints, Christians, those who have clung to the gospel to the end. They are resurrected when Jesus comes before this 1000 year reign. Now a lot of the other theological positions that we've talked about, they say this is all symbolic and Jesus is ruling with his saints in heaven. That doesn't make sense with the martyrdom that's described here. And it also doesn't make sense with how resurrection is talked about in the New Testament. It is never used as spiritual. It is a physical, bodily resurrection. And the pattern for it all is Jesus's resurrection. He was raised up physically and bodily and is literally ruling and reigning physically, bodily, and then will rule and reign with his saints physically, bodily, on the earth. Notice, blessed and holy is the one who shares in this first resurrection. Those who trust in Christ, those who believe in Christ are gathered up to him when he comes over. Such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. This seems to be a literal rule and reign.
[00:18:24] First resurrection happens. We rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years.
[00:18:29] Just a note about the thousand years here. Now we're getting really technical. Just hang on, hang on. We're going to get to the end. Hopefully it's going to be really good at the end, something for everybody.
[00:18:41] But as we move through Revelation, we talked about these time periods of three and a half weeks or seven weeks. We talked about the 70 weeks in Daniel. And one of the things that I said, and I think Pastor Eric may have said this too in one of his sermons, is that that is the last days. A lot of times people say, well that's a seven year tribulation in the future. But I've said that is what we're going through right now, these seven weeks, 483 years. And I think all of that is symbolic.
[00:19:15] But my point right here would be that that time frame can't be the same as the thousand years.
[00:19:21] It's two different times.
[00:19:23] And so if you're going to interpret that the 483 years as the last days, you can't interpret the thousand years as the last day too. It's two different times. And here's my point. Hang on, come back.
[00:19:39] The shorter time period refers to right now in the last days.
[00:19:43] And one of the points John is making is the last days is going to seem a lot shorter than the 1000 year reign.
[00:19:52] Hold on. When you look at the New Testament, what is the, what is the New Testament calling us to do? Look for the return of Christ. It could happen any minute. It's going to be a short period of time compared to this 1000 year reign.
[00:20:11] Now next we see the defeat of Satan.
[00:20:15] I gave myself like five more minutes. That's not gonna happen today. Men are gonna have to give this table out really quick today. Run, verse seven.
[00:20:25] And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Now after a thousand years, he's released.
[00:20:40] And what we begin to move in here is a second resurrection and a final judgment of Satan and those who have followed him, his followers, those who have opposed God. And if you go back to Ezekiel chapter 37, 38, you see this description of Gog and Magog, it's a very generic description of this king who rules this place. And it really represents the enemy of God. Enemies of God who A lot of people come to Gog and Magog and they try to point out countries that exist right now. You can't do that. That's not the intention. It was generically used before and it's generically used here. And notice their number is like the sand of the sea. So this isn't one country or another country. This is the whole earth. And so what's going on here after Satan is unbound, in the end, he does the same thing he's always done. He goes into the world and seeks to deceive. And so what I think he's doing here is there is another resurrection that we see here that we're going to talk about in just a moment. And he begins to deceive the world again into thinking they can oppose God, the forces of evil.
[00:21:57] He seeking to oppose God again in this way.
[00:22:02] And I think this is part of this second resurrection that was alluded to before when it's talked about the second death. And we'll talk about that in just a moment. Notice verse nine. And they marched over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints in the beloved city. So it's very possible Jesus sets up shop in Jerusalem and rules the planet from Jerusalem. And if we go to Ezekiel again 37, 38, we see this time period that the people of God are in that is peaceful.
[00:22:36] They're living in a place where they don't have gates or locks or security.
[00:22:42] There's this peaceful time that they're living in, which sounds very much like the millennial kingdom when Jesus is ruling and reigning and there's been peace established on the earth. Satan is bound and those who opposed him are in Hades. And so there's peace on the earth. And at that time, that's when this Gog and Magog began to attack the people of God. But I want you to notice something here. Notice how it ends.
[00:23:09] And this is all, this is how it ends. Every time in Revelation, when we talk about Armageddon, we have visions of Armageddon and it's this bloodbath and all of this notice, fire came down from heaven and consumed them.
[00:23:25] That's how the battle goes, is one last hurrah for Satan, which is foolish and stupid for everyone. I'm sorry. Stupid parents. I'm sorry.
[00:23:37] Not supposed to say that a lot of your kids rebuke me after last time.
[00:23:41] But one last hurrah and he consumes the people of the earth that oppose him. There's no battle. And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and false prophet were. And they were tormented day and night, forever and ever. And so what seems to happen is the beast and false prophet from chapter 19. Then there's this coming of Christ. He rules and reigns during this extended period of time. And Then he puts Satan where the beast and false prophet are. Notice. Next, the judgment of unbelievers.
[00:24:21] Then I saw a great white throne. So after this literal rule and reign, Satan is defeated.
[00:24:29] Now we have judgment again.
[00:24:32] Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it.
[00:24:38] And from his presence, earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them.
[00:24:44] And so this is, this is the time after the reign of Christ where everyone is going to be ushered or those who have opposed Christ are going to be ushered before him.
[00:24:56] And there is this awe inspiring vision here where earth and sky just fall away from his presence.
[00:25:05] It is to invoke a sense of gravity and weight.
[00:25:09] No place was found for them.
[00:25:12] Notice. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And the books were open.
[00:25:18] And so all who have ever opposed Christ and those who have aligned with Satan, who is now, who have now been destroyed, they will line up before God in the books of judgment.
[00:25:31] Their deeds, their conviction according to the law, perfect law and righteousness of God will be opened before them and they will be convicted of their sin.
[00:25:44] Those who have denied Christ, rejected Christ, opposed Christ, followed Satan to the end.
[00:25:51] But here's the good news.
[00:25:53] Then another book was opened which is the book of life.
[00:25:58] And I want you to notice something here. This book of life is the Lamb's book of life that we talked about earlier.
[00:26:04] Those who trust in Christ, their name has been sealed from the foundation of the world. There they have cling to Christ. They've been sealed by the blood of Christ. They endure to the end in Christ.
[00:26:15] Notice. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
[00:26:23] So how are those who are apart from Christ judged by their works, by their deeds.
[00:26:31] Those who are in Christ are judged by the book.
[00:26:35] So on the last day, how will we all be judged?
[00:26:38] We will either be judged according to our works or the works of Christ.
[00:26:43] And the issue today is, which one are you trusting in? This is the Gospel.
[00:26:48] What hope do you have when you stand before God? We asked the question around here, if you were in God's presence and he said, why should I allow you into heaven? A good answer is you shouldn't.
[00:27:00] Except that my name is in the book of life because of the blood of Christ and the Gospel.
[00:27:06] It should never be. Look what I've done.
[00:27:09] This is what sends you to hell.
[00:27:12] Notice. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. And so what we're Seeing here is another resurrection.
[00:27:21] And so if we distinguish between those who were fighting with Satan, or is that every unbeliever? Well, if not here, the rest of the unbelieving world is raised up to judgment in this second resurrection that leads to the second death. And notice where they come from. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one according to what they had had done. And so in this second resurrection, it leads to final judgment. And those who were, were Satan, who is from the sea.
[00:27:57] He deceives the world. They follow Satan on the earth where they die, they're cast into death in Hades. But here there's something else coming, where they are gathered up once again to be judged according to what they have done. Now, just a side point here.
[00:28:12] The Bible does talk about two resurrections that lead to judgment. The resurrection of those who are righteous and the resurrection of those who are wicked. In John, In Daniel, chapter 12, verse 2, we see that there are some that are raised to life and some to death, which is destruction. In John, chapter 5, verse 29, we see there is a resurrection of life and there is a resurrection of judgment. What I believe is those two resurrections are separated by a thousand years. And this is the final judgment of every unbeliever. We will all be resurrected and we all stand before Christ. And the issue is, where is our name?
[00:28:51] Is it in the book of life, or is it on our works?
[00:28:55] Notice verse 14.
[00:28:57] Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire which those who are part of the first resurrection escape the now. This is a place of separation, which is hell.
[00:29:10] If when you die as an unbeliever now you go to Hades, you go to hell, you're separated from God and you do not know his goodness. You only know his judgment. But then there is a final place of judgment called the lake of fire. You are resurrected, joined to your body again, and cast into the lake of fire forever.
[00:29:34] This is literalness here. This is what the Bible is meant to communicate.
[00:29:39] And it's scary.
[00:29:41] And we've talked a lot about judgment in the last, you know, I don't know, year now in Revelation, it seems like we're going to get to heaven next week. It's going to be glorious.
[00:29:52] Some of you are going to be really happy about that.
[00:29:55] But notice verse 15.
[00:29:57] And if anyone's name is not found written in the book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of FL fire. So the way to escape hell in the Lake of Fire is to believe in Christ by the grace of God, to have your name written in this book of life. It is all through the blood of Christ.
[00:30:15] And why is all of this important?
[00:30:18] Why unpack all of this today? Why didn't you just preach? Why didn't you just tell us what to believe? Why didn't you just do it that way?
[00:30:27] Because I want you to really understand the realness of the gospel.
[00:30:33] Our hope is really real.
[00:30:36] It's flesh and blood real.
[00:30:39] And it pertains to everything that we touch and feel and experience in this world.
[00:30:47] Our hope is not just in this fairy tale, mystical, abstract thing that we can't define and we don't know what it's going to be like.
[00:30:58] When you experience sin and death every day, when you feel the oppression of Satan and deception every day, your hope is all of that will be vanquished.
[00:31:12] And not just that, not just that those things are going to go away.
[00:31:17] You're going to know what it is to live under the rule and reign of a good king.
[00:31:23] So it's not just all the bad things, poof, disappear.
[00:31:28] No. God's promise to you is that you will know flesh and blood what it means to experience life literally under a real king. And I believe that's extended period of time on earth. Another reason I believe that is when Jesus came and said the kingdom is at hand. When what did he do?
[00:31:51] He cast out demons, he healed the sick, he raised the dead, he, flesh and blood, died for sin and got up out of his coffin to tell us this is real, this is a real kingdom and you're getting a little glimpse of it right now, but it is coming and it will invade the earth. And as the glory of God covers this planet, as the waters do the sea, you will experience the rule and reign of Christ here. And that's so important to you when you stand at a funeral.
[00:32:32] That's so important to you when you feel Satan's weight on your life.
[00:32:38] Oh, there's a day where I will maybe even be standing in the same spot and not feel that there may be even a day where I'm standing in this very cemetery, having been raised from the dead and experienced the literal rule and literal reign of Christ. I think that's important as we live life here.
[00:33:01] But it all comes down to a very real gospel.
[00:33:06] The most important thing here as we get to the end, to understand that you, your literal eyes will see Jesus and you will look into his eyes as either your king who saved you or a king who's about to judge you.
[00:33:23] And on that day, all you will have is to plead his mercy and his grace and his gospel. Do not go another day thinking you will be okay by what you do. When you stand before him, you will be judged according to your works.
[00:33:38] And the law says they're not good enough. That's why we need a real gospel.
