0:01 Well I, with great excitement invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Revelation in chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20. Now as many of you are aware, last week we began studying this chapter which features the exciting and glorious reality of the future one thousand year reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, known as the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. And last week also, our primary objective in that session was to determine two things, the actuality of the millennium, and the timing of the millennium. Now what do I mean by actuality?
0:43 We sought to determine if what John is writing here in this chapter is predicting a literal one thousand year governance that would be administered by Jesus Christ himself when he returns to the earth and sets up his throne in Jerusalem, or if what John is writing about speaks about a spiritual reign, which Christ is exercising from heaven through his church since his first coming until his return. And hopefully, we have been persuaded through the Word of God that John is actually speaking about a actual reign, a literal kingdom, a real government that will break into human history and change it forever. Now from there, we sought to also conclude find answers about the timing of the millennium. Can we pinpoint it? Will it happen when Christ returns?
1:52 Will it only occur after the church Christianizes the world? Or are we currently in it? In a spiritual sense again. And just like the actuality we've also determined that the millennial kingdom will commence immediately after the second coming of Jesus Christ? And the answers that we have found in the Word of God have come from five main observations that we already discussed, but we have to review them.
2:18 This is such an important truth. You have to understand that from the beginning of the Bible to the end, there's this ongoing theme about the kingdom. The kingdom, the kingdom, the kingdom. It's throughout the prophets. Jesus himself came preaching about the kingdom of God.
2:37 It's alluded to in the epistles written by the apostles of Jesus Christ, and it is a dominant subject in the book of Revelation. So this is not some peripheral thing, this is not some secondary thing necessarily. This is a key truth as a Christian who believes that this is in fact God's book. So there were five things that we looked at that helped us come to a greater clarity of this truth, this doctrine known as the millennium. Number one, we looked at the chronology of the text.
3:09 John strategically, clearly led by the Holy Spirit, but also predictably, places the truth of the millennium after Jesus Christ returns in Revelation 19, and before he ushers us in into the eternal age. It's right there in between. And if we are people who honor the chronological progression of the Book of Revelation, then this makes sense. Not only does it make sense, it also sets in stone the fact that this is a future event. It can't possibly be speaking about something that we're currently experiencing, the chronology of the text.
3:42 But from there, we looked at the meaning of the one thousand years. Again, opposing views would say, that's just a pretty number that describes a long period of, we don't really know how long, but an indefinite period of time that primarily speaks about our current experience as the church. But we saw here that there was nothing conclusive, there was not even a shred of evidence that would suggest that this is a symbolic number, that this represents something else, that this is mysterious. Actually, we saw that we have all the reason more to believe that it is a real unit of time, and we look at different examples of this and really that observation helped us understand that this truth of the millennium boils down to how you interpret the Bible altogether. Are you gonna take things at face value when the genre of the the text and the context of the text says so?
4:39 Or are you gonna play around with it because of a preconceived notion or a theological template that you associate with? So let me give you another example. I was having a conversation about this with a couple people after the service last last Sunday. If you're gonna be a Christian who believes in the first coming, I mean, you can't be a Christian unless you believe that, but if you're gonna look at prophecies like Micah five two where it tells us of the birthplace of the Messiah, which is what? Bethlehem, Ephrathah.
5:08 Right? Bethlehem. If you're gonna take that literally and say, no, the Messiah, according to Micah, would come to Bethlehem and that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, then why wouldn't you take the Jerusalem mentioned in Zechariah 14 concerning his return just as literally? So determining this truth of the millennium actually says a lot about how you interpret the Bible altogether. So we looked at the meaning of a thousand years and we understood that must be speaking about an actual unit of time.
5:40 Thirdly, we looked at the nature of the resurrection that John describes. We're gonna read it again in a moment here. Is the resurrection that John's speaking about referring to our spiritual rebirth when we put our faith in Christ? It can't be. Why?
5:56 Because he says that it's a bodily resurrection. He speaks about those who have been beheaded coming back to life, reigning with Christ. So again, either that is speaking about some spiritual thing, something that we all know when we trust in the Lord, something that is synonymous with being born again, you're meddling with the the simplicity of the prophecy. It's actually pointing to something that awaits. And lastly, we looked at the witness of scripture as a whole.
6:25 We briefly examined key prophecies that paint our world in a way that doesn't fit humanity's history as we have known it and continue to know it, nor does it fully describe the perfection of heaven that will be experienced in the eternal age. These prophecies that we peeked into seem to have a consistency with the characteristics of what we know to be the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. And if that is true, then we understand that this kingdom is yet to come, and it will be the first major phase leading us into what we know to be the new heavens and the new earth. Now, all that being said, my desire in last week's message was not to present an exhaustive defense of this truth, but to provide enough biblical evidence to remove any common objections that might hinder somebody from receiving the truths that we will know now as we zoom into John's prophecy to see some of the details pertaining to the millennial reign. So listen, I'm fully aware that there are unanswered questions, perhaps even in your own mind right now.
7:35 I'm I'm fully aware that we did not look at every single potential objection from opposing views, but if we if we survey the entirety of the Bible and try to do that, we're gonna be here for a very long time. Instead, what I seek to do now is to honor the flow of the book of Revelation and to look at what John emphasizes about the millennial reign of Christ. What is John led to bring to our attention concerning this giant thing called the Millennium Kingdom? What is it that he wants to highlight? And that's important to know because John, although he is writing things about the end times, he's writing also to a specific audience.
8:17 He has original readers that he is trying to minister to, and that the Lord is using to not just bless them, but also bless us. A persecuted church that is enduring so much, and God is using John through these writings to build them up and build us up also. And so as we turn to this chapter, I want us to see a few things that John wants us to look forward to, that John is very strategic about concerning some of the features of the Millennium Kingdom, and there are at least three things that I want to underscore with you. Let's begin by reading verse one of Revelation 20. We're looking at the same verses as last week, but now we're taking a closer look at the Millennial, The millennial kingdom of Christ.
9:04 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit in a great chain, and he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended. Lord, we ask that you would help us now in in your word. Help us see the glories of this kingdom. Help us see the promises of this kingdom. Help us see our future is set and determined and nothing can change that.
9:43 And, Lord, may this truth that we look at today and everything connected to the main points cause our hearts to say, come, Lord Jesus. Come, Lord Jesus. We want to see you. We want to see you vindicate your name. We want to see you rule and reign forever.
9:57 This is our heart cry, Lord, and we pray that you would use this session to even bring revival to our faith. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Three things. But the millennium, hopefully, you will be able to remember it and it will be a subject of your prayers. It'll be a matter of encouragement in your family and fellow believers.
10:21 The first thing that we wanna consider about the millennium is that Satan will be bound. Satan will be bound. This is Christ's first order. Remember, at the end of Revelation 19, we read how the Lord returns bodily, physically with the saints. He destroys the Antichrist, the false prophet, the kings of the earth, and the armies that are working with them.
10:40 They have been dealt with. But as the kingdom is ready to be inaugurated on the earth, what does the Lord do? He binds Satan. And when we see the way Satan is bound here, the Spirit of God informs us that his imprisonment involves two main things or at least it helps us understand at least two main things. Number one, this is the Satan.
11:03 There's no question about it. There should be no confusion about it. Look at all the titles attributed to him in verse two, the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, and Satan. So this is the same devil that's been terrorizing our world, tempting people, destroying what God had created, who is going to be incarcerated for a thousand years. Secondly, this Satan will lose any and all freedom that he might have known since the beginning of all things for century upon century upon century.
11:41 So you have to understand that the fact that he is confined to the bottomless pit does not mean that Satan's activity in our world will be minimized. No. It's going to be completely absent, non existent. And you have to remember in Revelation 12, Satan was expelled from heaven, and he was limited to the earth. But now we come to Revelation 20 and we realize that now he is exiled from the earth and he is confined to the abyss.
12:12 So we see the progression of his defeat. We see where this is headed. Satan has had many falls. We've studied that in a separate study, and now we see that he has reached the second to last place, the abyss. And and at this point, I couldn't help but reflect on the contrast between Satan's descent and Jesus Christ.
12:35 Did Jesus Christ leave heaven to come to the earth? He did. Did Jesus Christ even from the earth go to the underworld to preach his vicarious death and resurrection? He did according to Peter, but there's a difference. Jesus Christ descended from humility.
12:51 Jesus Christ descended in power. Jesus Christ descended in meekness. Satan, his fall because of pride. Satan, it wasn't a voluntary choice. He had to go.
13:04 And so even in this, we see a wonderful picture of how strong Jesus is, how beautiful our Christ is, and how Satan is his opposite in many ways. But why? Why all of this? Why the drama? Why the extra measure?
13:25 Why the language that denotes complete restriction? Why is Satan bound for a thousand years? Well, think about it. If you've ever studied the glories of the millennium, they would be virtually impossible to achieve and experience if you have a devil that prowls around like a roaring lion. Right?
13:45 You can't have Satan doing what we see the New Testament says he's able to do, and then also know what we see concerning the prophets and their predictions about this kingdom happening at the same time, he has to be bound. That has to take place Or else things like what Isaiah says in Isaiah nine seven are hard to believe to actually transpire. You know this, we quoted almost every Christmas, Isaiah nine six at least. But in Isaiah nine seven, speaking about the government of the one who is called mighty God, who is called wonderful counselor, prince of peace, everlasting father, listen to these words from verse seven of Isaiah nine, of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. Uninterrupted peace.
14:33 There will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. So Isaiah says, there will be a son of David who will occupy the throne of David, and when he does, he will bring forth a peace, an increase of peace that will never be halted, that will never know a break, that will never be meddled with. There will be no end to this peace and with it unprecedented righteousness and justice. How can that possibly come to pass if you have a roaming, roaring, devouring devil who has the ability to deceive nations? It can't happen.
15:20 That's why he has to be bound. What about other prophecies? This is one that's rarely looked at when we consider the millennium. The prophet, not Zechariah, Zephaniah. It's a short book.
15:33 Turn there with me in Zephaniah. I want us to get another glimpse into the moral purity of the millennium that will just compound this truth about how Satan has to be dealt with in this way in order for us to know the bliss of the rule and reign of Jesus Christ. Look at Zephaniah three. He's one of the minor prophets, so it's on the right side of the Hebrew Bible. Zephaniah chapter three, and look there at verse eight.
16:07 Contextually, what we're looking at here is the Lord's final dealing with the wicked. This is about the future, this has not yet been done in history. Notice what we see here in Zephaniah chapter three verse eight. The Lord says, therefore wait for me, declares the Lord, for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger, for in the fire of my jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed.
16:45 Does that sound familiar to you? It does to me. I believe what you have here is another Old Testament snapshot of what John tells us about the return of Christ in Revelation 19. When he gathers the nations in his sovereignty and he consumes them, There's a day appointed for that. This is when God's wrath is going to be unleashed upon the wicked.
17:08 It's the same event that's being described here, and just as the Millennium immediately follows the truth of Christ's return of Revelation 19 going into Revelation 20, what we find here in Zephaniah's prophecy has a similar order. We look at the judgment of the world here, when the Lord himself will rise and seize the prey and deal with those who have opposed them. But what does he speak about immediately after? Some of the glories of the Millennium Kingdom. Look at it with me here in verse nine.
17:42 For at that time, I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech that all of them, highlight all of them, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord. Now why is this prophecy important? Because it's dealing with Gentiles. It's dealing with nations. He's not speaking about Israel.
18:05 He's not speaking about the Jewish people here. He's speaking about all peoples. This is universal worship that's being predicted. But notice the the context. What happened before?
18:17 Universal judgment. So after universal judgment, this confrontation between a holy God and a wicked world, what's going to follow? What's going to come? Universal worship. And now the focus shifts to the Jewish people and what they will experiencing far...
18:33 Following the Lord's marvelous intervention of justice. Look at verse 10 now. From beyond the rivers of Cush, my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones shall bring my offering. On that day, that phrase, on that day for the prophets usually and generally almost exclusively speaks about the day of the Lord, the return of Christ. On that day, you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me.
19:03 For then I will remove from your midst your proudly exalted ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain. But I will leave in your midst the people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord. Now fast forward with me to verse 14. Verse 13 says, those who are left in Israel, they shall do no injustice and speak no lies nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue for they shall graze and lie down and none shall make them afraid.
19:33 Now go to verse 14. Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel. Rejoice and exalt with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away the judgments against you.
19:44 He has cleared away your enemies. The king of Israel, the Lord is in your midst. You shall never again fear evil. So a few questions pop up in my mind at least. He's speaking about the Jewish people here, is he not?
20:02 Can you say at any point in history the Jewish people had never known fear? Has there been ever a time fulfilled where he says here, the Lord, you shall never again fear evil? Does that currently describe the experience of the Jewish people? Come on. What about the King of Israel, the Lord is in your midst?
20:21 He's not talking about Hezekiah here. He's not talking about Josiah. He's not even talking about David. He's talking about himself ruling and reigning in their midst. And one of the byproducts of the Lord coming in, moving in, occupying the throne of Jerusalem, there will be universal worship.
20:40 Yes. We see that the Jewish people will also know salvation as predicted by the prophets and even Paul himself. But look at some of the glorious consequences. What did he say earlier? I will remove from your midst in verse 12 of people or I will leave in your midst rather people humble and lowly.
20:55 Earlier, he says, I will remove in your midst your proudly exalted ones. You shall no longer be haughty. So when the Lord comes, He's gonna erase pride from the earth. He's going to inspire humility on a global scale. Can you imagine a world without pride?
21:20 Can you imagine world leaders without pride? Can you imagine this quality dominating the masses? And is this kind of attitude possible if there's a devil out there tempting people to be proud? It's hard to imagine how that can be. Let me pause here and say something.
21:48 Again, when I read something like this, when you read that many verses and you can only say a couple of things, it's not easy. It's very difficult. But let me say this, we're looking at prophecy here, but whenever you read something like this, always look for principles. Always look for what does it say about God? What does it say about me?
22:04 So this is speaking about the future certainly, but consider what it means about the reign of Christ. What does it say about when Jesus Christ becomes king of some place or some people? This is the millennial kingdom? Absolutely. But let's talk about our hearts.
22:21 Jesus Christ is king today, and if he's truly King in your heart and mind, guess what? One of the things that's gonna go is pride. You wanna know if Jesus Christ rules your heart today? How strong is pride in your life? How strong is your humility?
22:45 What's your ambition? How do you view yourself? How do you view others? You you wanna know if Jesus Christ is king over a local church? How is pride dealt within that local church?
22:56 Look to the leaders, are they arrogant? Do they look down on the members? What about the members? Do they look down upon one another? Is there strife?
23:06 Is there self interest? Is there conflict because there's a clash of agendas and preferences? Is there civil wars ongoing? I'm not talking about perfection. I'm just talking about if there's conviction in a person's life or in a community's life regarding pride.
23:33 Because what I read here is that when Jesus Christ becomes king, pride is confronted and humility is inspired. And we have a choice to respond to the lordship of Jesus Christ and his guidance and even his chastisement, but there's a day coming according to Zephaniah where Jesus Christ will make people humble. He's not gonna give them an option. It's not gonna be conviction, and you have to, should I or should I not? Should I apologize?
24:00 No. He's gonna be there. And when you see his majesty and his glory, you're gonna melt and so will your pride. So why am I reading all this? Why am I bringing this to our attention to to show that, yes, when Jesus Christ does return, it's going to change our world.
24:17 It's gonna change our our in look, our outlook, but more specifically, we're looking at a world that describes what happens when Satan is totally removed from it. And when he's not there doing what he wants to do because he's serving a one thousand year jail sentence. I want you to just sit back and and imagine it with me. Can you fathom a time coming when the devil and his minions will no longer be able to tempt anyone to sin? He will no longer be able to influence leaders of nations and massive organizations and industries.
24:54 Can you imagine a world where you cannot plant seeds of disparaging thoughts to the weak, to the fainthearted, to the one who is regularly depressed and that depression is compounded because you have a devil with his minions that seek to destroy them with lies, and insecurities, and confusion, and anxiety. Can you imagine century after century after century where nobody's ever possessed by a devil, and false religions lose their power and their persuasiveness, And the seed of the truth of the gospel and God's wisdom and his commands can never be snatched away from the human heart because there's no devil to do it. That that world is coming. That world has been promised to us, and it's no wonder how you read things like Isaiah two four when he speaks about the latter days and he says this, nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war anymore. How can you do that unless there's a devil that has been constrained and apprehended and placed somewhere where he cannot deceive any longer.
26:22 Now, it's important to know that when Satan is incarcerated in this manner, he is placed. He is thrown into what we saw to be the bottomless pit, which means the abyss. And throughout our study in Revelation, we know that the abyss consistently refers to a temporary holding place for demons. Haven't we seen this in our study of these prophecies that from time to time, the Lord will even allow the abyss to be opened so that these evil spirits can come out and wreak havoc on the earth as a form of judgment. Absolutely.
26:57 And so the abyss, even though it sounds horrible, does not speak about the permanent place of punishment for for Satan and his angels. It does not. The Lake Of Fire is that place. The place of no return is the Lake of fire. The abyss, however, is a holding cell, and why that's important to distinguish is because knowing that Satan is placed in the abyss according to John's prophecy prepares us for a potential release.
27:29 And that's exactly what's going to happen, which brings me to the second point. What does John want to help us see about the millennial reign? What does he want us to look forward to? What does he want us to anticipate? One, he's going to bind Satan, which is exciting.
27:44 But number two, he's also going to test and humble humanity. Look at the last part of verse three with me, please, of Revelation 20. Well, let's just read the whole verse together. And threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended. This fascinates me.
28:20 God intends for Satan to be released at the end of the millennium, And the wording here is so important to grasp. Notice that it doesn't say that Satan will break free. It doesn't even say that Satan will be released. He must be released. Do you see that?
28:40 After that, he must be released for a little while. It has to happen. Now why? Why does the Lord allow this? Why does the Lord even plan for this?
28:51 What's the intention? There are two things. Number one, to show us Satan's unchanging character and to demonstrate how his eternal punishment is just. Now, you would think here that Satan being bound for a thousand years would change some things with Satan. You would think that after being humiliated in this way, that that would cause him to rethink his plans and his desires and his attitude toward God and his program altogether.
29:20 Think about the way he's even apprehended. Does Jesus Christ deal with Satan directly when he returns according to the first verse? No. An angel does. An angel does.
29:31 So Satan here doesn't even receive direct interaction with Christ. He just dispatches one of his creatures to do it. And so he is an opponent to God, but don't make the mistake, he's not on the same level as our king. He's not. And beyond that, he can't do anything but submit to what?
29:55 Being chained and being stuck here in a pit and staying there and not being able to find any exit? Here's how I'm thinking about it. At some point, you're gonna have some kind of change of heart. You're gonna relax a little bit. You're gonna realize that you're not as powerful as you thought you were.
30:17 The opposite. After that, he must be released for a little while, and the moment that he is released, later on in the same chapter, what does Satan do? He immediately seeks to deceive the world and to gather them for a final attempt to overthrow the lordship of Christ. And here we are today listening to this and nodding our heads in disappointment. Right?
30:43 How could you, Satan? And we wag our fingers probably too. Look how despicable you are. Look how arrogant you are. You didn't even learn after a thousand years.
30:54 Here's the most interesting part, Satan's release at the end of the millennium is not just to show us who he is, more importantly, it's to reveal who we are apart from God's saving work in our lives, which brings me to the second reason why he must be released. When Christ returns and destroys the Antichrist, the false prophet, everybody involved, don't make the mistake in thinking that the world will be depopulated completely. The Bible also shows us that there will be some who will survive. They will survive that incredible conquest made by Christ, and they will enter into the millennium with unglorified bodies. And as they enter into the world in such a state, the inhabitants of the millennium will repopulate.
31:42 You're gonna have people who are getting married in the millennium. You can have people who are gonna have families. You're gonna have people who are living in homes. You're gonna have people who are going to grow over time, and that helps us understand how Satan is able to do what he is planning to do after his release. Because he has to deceive somebody.
32:03 Is he gonna deceive those who come with Christ? Those who later on we learn are part of the first resurrection and will rule and reign with him? Impossible. So who does he trick? Who does he lie to in order to turn against Jesus Christ?
32:17 Well those who have come into the millennium who haven't been changed. And you can just imagine over that millennium how the world will grow in number in population. Now this has troubled some people because they try to make sense of how you can have glorified people and even a glorified Christ coexisting with supposedly what, unglorified people? That doesn't fit their understanding of the future or how this all plays out. You're gonna have resurrected people interacting with unresurrected people.
32:53 And whenever that argument comes up, I always generally remind people that Jesus Christ walked among us for two for two thousand years ago for a few years, didn't he? And not only did Christ walk among us, God in human flesh, but that even after his resurrection, he was among his apostles for forty days teaching them, counseling them, fellowshipping with them, and even eating with them. So to think that we can't adopt this view of the millennium and the practicalities of it because it seems so unlikely, well, you got to question the gospels then. Because Jesus in his resurrection, Jesus in his resurrected form, in his glorified state was walking among us and was dealing with people who have not yet also been resurrected. So it's not impossible.
33:48 It's totally plausible. It's actually what's going to happen, and this is mentioned because Satan will be able to recruit people from the nations at the end of the millennium because many have not experienced the inner heart change that would be able to resist such an unspeakable and unthinkable thing which is staggering. Because the people who will be deceived at that time experience what the world has never known, a world that is almost perfect. A government with no scandal, swift justice every time, prosperity, peace. Imagine in the millennium, you're gonna have people, children learning from books about a past when there are things called weapons.
34:43 What's a weapon? What's a gun? What's a bomb? It's gonna be ancient. And in that kind of a world, listen very carefully, Satan will be able to find many who will turn against Christ.
34:58 That's why I say that the millennium will test and will humble humanity because the heart of this prophecy reveals that the Lord is showing us humanity's fundamental issue. Humanity's fundamental issue is not going to be and never was your environment. It's not unfortunate circumstances. Listen, politicians have issues, but you can't blame them for everything. Bad government is not our fundamental problem.
35:30 What is your heart and mine? That's what this truth showcases. Even when Jesus Christ is president of the world, you will have people who will deny him. Saying, I can't imagine that. Well, do you remember Adam and Eve?
35:51 Like don't just read this in isolation. Remember what we've seen in the past. In the Garden of Eden, there are only two of them by the way. And all it required was one devil to lie to them. You have to understand that the Millennium will serve as a historical demonstration of what Jesus Christ taught us thousands of years ago.
36:14 What's the source of evil? Where does it all ultimately come from? Mark seven verse 21 reads, for from within, out of the heart of man comes evil thoughts, sexual morality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things in verse 23 come from within and they defile a person. So all these clever people in our day that think what we need more than anything else is socialism, or capitalism, or the right guy in the white office, or this, or that.
37:08 They got it all wrong. Having a conservative Supreme Court, having a more diplomatic and intelligent president, having more strict and even righteous laws may curb evil, but it will never solve it. Never. Which should and must encourage the Church of Jesus Christ to stay focused. Don't you lose focus.
37:33 Our mission is to provide the true remedy, and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It boils down to that. I'm not against efforts. I'm not involved... I'm not against getting involved in these practical means and these these endeavors that help us reflect God's heart and God's truth and God's righteousness, but if you don't have trust in the gospel of Jesus Christ, if you don't understand that what people need is heart surgery, then you're wasting your time and so am I.
38:06 Here's Christ going to establish a utopia, and after a thousand years of it, you're gonna have people side with Satan because their hearts have never been transformed, which provides another scary insight. You know, the Bible prophesies that during the millennium, there's gonna be amazing amazing tranquility. There are other prophecies that speak about children playing freely in the streets and old men and women sitting comfortably in their properties, not fearing or worrying about anything. So there's gonna be a lot of... The crime rates are gonna drop.
38:46 There's gonna be civility again. There's gonna be respect for authority. All of that is going to most definitely happen, but according to this prophecy, a lot of it is just gonna be outward. It's gonna be external compliance because when the Lord allows for an opportunity to arrive through Satan's release, people will take it and they will fulfill their ultimate desire, autonomy. I don't want Jesus Christ to rule and reign.
39:13 I want to rule and reign. Isn't that terrifying? Isn't it? Isn't it terrifying that people can put on a righteous show and they look clean and proper. You know, just because you wear a suit doesn't mean you're righteous.
39:31 There are bad guys who wear suits, you know that, right? And you can look respectable and you can look successful and you can even look religious, but your heart is wicked because Jesus Christ is not king of that heart, you are. And I know you think to yourself, how can God condemn me? Condemn me? Look at my track record, look at the things that I've done, look at the donations that I've made, look at the love that I've shown my family, my wife.
40:00 I'm faithful, I'm reliable. But you know what the millennium shows me? You and I are capable of doing unspeakable things should the opportunity arise. That if things get really desperate or if you get really frustrated or things don't go your way, you're willing to side with Satan. So the millennium, at the end of it at least, is going to show us that Christ was right all along about his assessment of our hearts.
40:36 Finally and thirdly, what does John want us to see about the millennium? What does he want us to anticipate? What does he want us to hope for? The millennium will be a means to vindicate the church. Let's read verses four through six as we close here together.
40:53 After mentioning the release of Satan for a little while, verse four reads, then I saw thrones and seated on them, now notice the thrones is plural, not one throne. I saw thrones and seated on them with those whom the authority of the judge was committed. Also, 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 and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.
41:28 This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. Over such, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. The Millennium will be a time when Jesus Christ will exalt his people and issue his rewards to those who have been faithful to him. Notice there are thrones, and I want you to understand that these thrones will be occupied by those who have paid a price and who have served Christ.
42:00 That's the context. There's debate. Who are the ones seated on the throne? Just read the following verses. He talks about those who've been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus during the tribulation.
42:09 Then he speaks about those who came to life and reign with Christ for a thousand years. So there's a resurrection here. Who's promised resurrection? Those who believed on Christ from all ages. So this is something about the church.
42:25 This is something about believers from the beginning of time, and imagine how encouraging this must have been for John's immediate audience. He's an old man riding from an island called Patmos. He's been imprisoned for his faith, and Christians are being targeted. No mercy, viciously. And as they come to the end of this book when he shares it with these churches, they read how there will be a time when those who are in Christ will rise, and they will occupy these thrones and they will rule with Christ.
42:56 Christ will administer his his own policies and his own righteousness and his own policing through the church. And so as though John is saying, there's a time coming precious believer when the Lord will bring us from being the persecuted ones to being princes with him. This is beautiful justice. This is the Lord saying something to his church even now. Do you remember how believers were being treated early on in Revelation?
43:32 Do you remember what we read in those seven letters to those seven churches? Let me give you one example. What Jesus said to the church in Smyrna in Revelation two verse 10. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation.
43:51 Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. I love that, don't you? The very devil who was once permitted to imprison Christians for ten days will be thrown into jail for a thousand years. There's a reversal happening here, and the Lord wants to let his church know justice is coming. I know that's...
44:13 That may not mean much to us today because you're sitting in a comfortable seat not worrying about who's gonna barge into these doors and potentially point a gun to your face for being a Christian. But you give this truth to the believers in China or in other countries where you going out holding a Bible will get you arrested, and to hear that I will rule and reign with Christ one day? But it's not just going to be justice that Christ will accomplish on our behalf. As I said earlier, he will actually entrust believers to bring that justice under his kingdom. He will actually ask his people to enforce and to determine cases and to solve situations.
45:07 Listen again to the beginning and the end of Revelation 20 verse four. Just listen, just sit back and take it all in. Then I saw thrones and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. And the last part of that same verse, they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. You probably never heard this in your Christian experience.
45:32 You heard about heaven, you heard about some mansion that's gonna be there with your name on it, but it's much more than that. According to John, there's a time coming when the Lord will look at some in his church and say, you've been faithful to me on earth. I'm going to entrust you with this position of authority. And what John is saying here is actually the fulfillment of many old and new testament promises. This is nothing new.
46:02 This is not like we've been reading our Bibles and and saying, Woah, we're gonna we're gonna... Some of us are gonna sit on thrones? I'm just gonna give you one scripture after another. You don't have to turn there for the sake of time, but just lean in and listen to these promises. Daniel seven twenty seven.
46:21 In Daniel seven twenty seven, we read, and the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the most high. His kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Who will be given to? The people of the saints of the most high. And there are other Old Testament prophecies that echo this, but then you fast forward to something like first Corinthians chapter six in verse two.
46:53 This is New Testament now, so don't argue this away. Don't say, oh, yeah, we can spiritualize that we're the church. We rule and reign in the kingdom because we have authority. Okay. So what did Paul mean in first Corinthians six verse two when he told Christians, or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?
47:11 And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? I love that. They're having problems in the church, and he reminds them of their future. Don't you realize that some of you are gonna judge the world and you can't solve your issues in the church? Get it together Corinthians.
47:28 Snap out of it. The Lord is gonna entrust believers to judge the world. Now, how are you gonna spiritualize that my friend? What do you do with this? Oh, we we we are holy and we convict people through our lifestyle.
47:43 Is that how you read this? What did Paul say earlier? Let me just stop here. I get excited about this stuff as you can tell. Look back at chapter five verse 12 of first Corinthians.
47:52 Notice what he says. The same people, just a few verses before, what does he say? For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Isn't that those inside the church whom you are to judge? So he's saying in this church age, it's not your responsibility to go out there and judge the world.
48:10 Your duties to judge and to determine matters that keep the church pure and holy and sanctified. But then from there, he goes in chapter six and he says, do you not know that the saints will judge the world? That's a future time, and it can only be fulfilled in the millennium. Even in Jesus's parables, when he speaks about faithfulness and he has all these different illustrations of entrusting these resources to one and this amount to another, Do you remember what he said in Luke 19 in the parable of the minas? When he says this in Luke 19 verse 17, and he said to them, well done, good servant, because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over 10 cities.
48:56 Now out of all the rewards that Jesus said one could have for their faithfulness, he speaks about cities and being over cities. Now you can spiritualize that. You can say, well, it's a it's a parable, but that sounds quite consistent with everything else we've been looking at. Even within the book of Revelation itself. Now since you're in Revelation, you can turn here.
49:21 Go back to chapter two and look here at verse 26. My dear brother and sister, I'm not sure how much of this truth is moving you or helping you, but as I said last week, this doctrine is coming under severe attack, and you need to be able to know why you believe what you believe from the scriptures. Look at Revelation two verse 26, The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron as when earth and pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my father. What are one of the rewards for those who are faithful until the end? Jesus Christ is gonna come with a rod of iron, but he also says, I'm gonna give it to some of you and I'm gonna entrust some of you to rule over nations with me.
50:21 He's speaking to his church. One final scripture, fast forward here to Revelation five. Look at verse nine and ten with me. And they sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, and you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God, from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priest to our God, and they shall reign on, where? In heaven?
50:52 No. They shall reign on the earth. When? That's for you to figure out. Is it now?
51:00 Is it in heaven when everything is made perfect? Well, there is a continuation of our ruling and reigning surely in the eternal age, but we have to also consider the millennium. Now, people sometimes ask, okay, you've convinced me there's gonna be some kind of administration that we're a part of. What does that look like? You ready for this?
51:23 I don't know. I don't know. Whatever it does mean, what we know for certain is that this is one way that Christ expresses his rewards for those who were devoted to him and who were faithful to him with the little that you and I have in this life. It's not the only reward, but it is a reward that Christ will dispense and that he will crown those who belong to him already. And as exciting as that thought is that the saints of the Old Testament and the saints during the tribulation period, and the saints who come back with Christ will be resurrected and reunited at his return to rule and reign with him.
52:07 While the wicked of all ages who have died will remain in the grave and show up at the end of the millennium as we see here in Revelation 25. Right? Remember what he said there? That at the end of the thousand years, the rest will be raised. That's the wicked.
52:21 They're gonna show up at the end of the millennium and face judgment. But at the beginning of the millennium, all the redeemed will be there, and they will be rewarded, and they will rule and reign. That is thrilling. That is incredible, but it's not the most exciting part about our resurrection. It's what we see here in verse six and this is where we're ending.
52:41 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. Over such, the second death has no power. Is there going to be a beginning to the Millennium? Sure. Is there going to be an end?
52:55 Yes, but it's not the end of us, and it's not the end of Christ's goodness and his power and his rule. And so it's as though John brings clarification, there is there is going to be an end to this, but it's only gonna bring us into the final phase of all things. And the greatest part about knowing that we're going to be resurrected is that we will never die again. Never. I will be at his side, you'll be at his side, we'll be at each other's side for eternity.
53:26 And this is one of the beatitudes of the book of Revelation. There are several of them. Blessed is, blessed is, blessed is. And the Holy Spirit is doing this on purpose as we're coming to the end of the book of Revelation because, you know, you can be a non believer interested in the book of Revelation. You can be sitting here today and you're just curious and you just like these kind of conversations and discussions, but you're not going to be a part of that resurrection for one main reason.
53:53 You have not bowed the knee to the lordship of Jesus Christ. All men according to the bible will be resurrected, but there's two different ones. There's a resurrection of the just and the resurrection of the unjust. There's something in each of us that wants to live forever. Even the defense mechanisms built into us are there because God instilled this in our nature that we wanna preserve ourselves and we wanna protect ourselves and protect our loves.
54:21 Where does that come from? Where does that desire to live? Where does that pain about death? We've known death since the beginning, but why does it still hurt so much? Why does it cause so many people fear?
54:34 Why do we try to push it out of our minds because it's unnatural? It's not a part of God's original creation. It's not part of his original order for us. And it also is an indication too that there's something beyond this life and there is. And today as you hear me speak these truths, God has given you the choice to determine what the rest of your existence will look like.
55:04 And you will either be blessed and be part of this resurrection where you will be triumphant even though people may behead you according to the scripture, Or you can supposedly enjoy your own little kingdom, little empire that you built in these seventy, eighty years, even if you get that, and then you'll come to the root realization that, oh, there's a king above all kings. There's a king above all kings and you'll face him. And this king, he came to this world two thousand years ago already to die on a cross for you. He gave his life. What king is like that?
55:40 Any other king throughout human history demands the allegiance and the submission of people's lives to die for him. But this king laid down his life for his subjects. Subjects? His subjects? No.
55:53 No. No. His enemies. What kind of king looks at a sea of rebels and say, I'm going to die for them in order to be able to conquer their hearts? This king, and he did it.
56:07 And this is a room filled with people who are part of that kingdom. Would you like to be a part of it? There should be nothing in you that would resist this glorious invitation. There should be no logical reason, nothing in you should be able to say, though it's very Nothing in you should be able to say, though it's very possible for you to be saying it as I'm speaking, I refuse this gift. Why would you why would you refuse forgiveness?
56:31 Why would you shun it? Why would you deny it? Instead, this book also has been given for people to realize what's to come and for you to make the choice to be certain what's to come for you. And today I make the invitation, believers rejoice in knowing that one day Christ will vindicate his people. You don't have to defend yourself and you don't have to resort to any kind of violence or any kind of revenge.
57:01 Leave that to Christ. But also for the person who might have slipped in here and you don't have certainty about tomorrow and you're hearing these things for the first time, let me make this very clear. The main message of this is that Christ is beckoning you to come to him. Jesus Christ today, this afternoon is calling you to bend your knee and recognize that he died on the cross for your sins, and he's willing to forgive you in this very moment and change your heart. Change your heart so much that even if Satan himself and the world with him would try to persuade you to deny him, you would say, no.
57:33 He died for me. He saved me. He lives in me. Becoming a Christian is a supernatural thing, and as supernatural as it is, he gives you the choice. Make the choice today to receive his love and to be transformed.
57:53 Come, Lord Jesus. We look to you and we say, come, Lord Jesus. Thank you for helping us be equipped in these things. For some, this may have been a reminder of matters that they have studied before. For others, this may be new and fresh, but for all of us, Lord, we pray that you would help us know how to explain our beliefs, defend our beliefs, and more than that, look forward to the realization of these beliefs.
58:18 And Lord, as we stand here today, help us, oh God. Shake off all the discouragement and the fear and the anxiety, and may we live in light of the millennial kingdom of Christ, the re... The realization of your arriving government that will make all things new, and we will be a part of it. Thank you for inviting us to be a part of it. In Jesus name we pray.
58:43 Amen. Amen. Let's stand church, and let's rejoice in the Lord together.
