"Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 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 thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
Every culture has a utopian dream, a place where there is no more disease or dying, a place where there is no more crime, no more violence, no more war, a place where there is no more lies and deception and immorality, oppression and injustice, a place where you don’t have to work two job in order to just survive. That makes man a very easy target for politicians who make false promises to deliver on these things and more. But has anyone taken notice of the fact it never comes. They fail to deliver the promised results, but if we'll elect them one more term, they'll get the job done. It never comes. Despite all their elusive promises and false claims, all the things we despise seem to still plague us. The problems we face in this life cannot be solved by government or man.
Romans 10 tells us " For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes."
When Jesus Christ return to set up the millennial kingdom, it will be a very different world, our life spans will be exceedingly long. The world ruled by the Messiah will be dominated by truth, holiness, righteousness and justice. Living in this world, it's difficult to imagine a day when the effects of sin on our society cease to exist and the environment is finally reclaimed, when social injustices are reversed. I assure you, it will be beyond anything that we could ever comprehend. It is for this reason that I have labored intensely to teach the Word of God, we have to let people know. That's our assignment. Biblical truth is of profound important, especially in our society today.
In the last year and a half, Almighty God has shaken things up, to get our attention. We've strayed from His path. We've become comfortable living in this world, we had our plans, everything was pretty much all set. God disturbed all of that to let us know He's still the One in charge. We cannot claim to be a Christian and remain indistinguishable from the world. God's Word tells us we are set apart. We can''t continue living in sexually immorality and sin.
And I'm not just talking about homosexuality. Because it's convenient to focus our attention on that. There are Christians condemning this sin and cheating on their spouse. It's not right. We have to turn to Christ to fix us before we can go out and tell the world about what He has done in our lives. Oh sure, we can talk a good game, but when they look at our lives, they not going to believe what we say is true. And as I said before, truth matters. It's one thing to know the Word of God, it's quite another to apply it to our lives. We have to live out our faith.
Romans 10:14-15 says "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent?"
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, we thank You for Your Word. Thank You for these eternal truths that remind us our hope is not in this world but in Christ. We are grateful that You have given us a hope that can not be shaken by this world. Thank You for reminding us that we are not to be deceived by all the smoke and mirrors, lies and deceptions of this world. How privileged we are, how blessed, how rich to be able to live in the light. Thank You for Your grace and making us citizens of Your Kingdom, we are so unworthy.
Today's Message: Thy Kingdom Come
Throughout the Old and New Testaments, He always promised a Kingdom that was eternal. Part of that eternal Kingdom, will be an earthly Kingdom. Which we refer to today as the Millennial Kingdom, when is established Christ returns for a thousand year reign. This Millennial Kingdom is really just the first phase of God’s eternal Kingdom. And, that is the theme of this magnificent chapter. Furthermore, I do not believe that there should be any dispute about this very straightforward text. And, for about 300 years after the Lord ascended into heaven, there wasn't any. However, soon afterwards, many began to promise an earthly millennial reign and a re-instituted nation of Israel, which ignited a firestorm of controversy that rages on to this very day.
Open with me your Bibles and turn to Revelation chapter twenty, verses one through six. Revelation 20:1-6, will be the focus of our study today. There are a number of people who have varying interpretations of the Scripture. I am inclined to spend our time today explaining these controversies
rather than examining the text. Because I believe that these views will
impact you with respect to how you view the world today. However,
I do not want to allow the world to detract our study of the Word of
God. As I have covered much of this in previous messages. So, I'll briefly touch base and your can read up on them yourselves, if you choose to do so.
First, there is post-millennial. In other words, they believe that Jesus comes after the Kingdom. They believe that it’s not Christ who brings in the Kingdom by His return, it’s actually the church that brings in the Kingdom and then offers it up to Christ. But that is not to interpret the Bible literally.
Then, there is amillennial who say there is no Kingdom at all, it isn’t going to come. With this view, they hold a spiritualized rather than a literal interpretation, and they believe it is all figurative and we are living in the kingdom now. Obviously, neither of these two views share the same system of hermeneutics that you and I do.
A simple understanding of the chronology of Revelation makes us a pre-millennial because we can clearly see the return of Christ, the Kingdom, then the eternal state. You cannot just disregard the chronology of Revelation. I believe that the Lord Himself has outlined His revelation for us. There is certainly a chronology there. The Kingdom becomes the final stage on earth in which the last drama of human history. This is necessary to establish the new heaven and the new earth and the eternal state. So then, chapter 20, catapults us into the millennial reign of Christ, brings a great sigh of relief with the binding of Satan and the resurrection and reward of the Tribulation martyrs.
Now, let's go to God's Word, where we’re going to be looking at the aspects of the Kingdom that unfold in the fifteen verses of this chapter. So, to set the text in our minds, I will read all fifteen verses, though we won't get to all of them today. Listen for the voice of our Lord. Revelation 20:1-15.
"Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand 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 thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
"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 a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is the one who has a 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 a thousand years.
When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and 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 on 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.
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
So, in verses 1-3, "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand 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 thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time."
I believe that a face value, literal interpretation of what was is said here, is very, very clear. But, for the sake of clarity, I will give you a brief summary. An angel comes down, the angel has a key, and has a chain, takes hold of Satan, binds
Satan, throws him into the abyss for a thousand years at the end of
which, he is released, for a brief time. Because Satan is the prince of the power of the air, he’s the god of
this age, he’s the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience, there is going to be a dramatic shift in the world. Now, we can’t be dogmatic, but I believe this is probably Michael, the archangel. If you will recall, in chapter 12, he physically expelled Satan from the realm of heaven.I believe he's the most likely candidate.
Scripture describes this present time in which we live as an evil age and Satan is called "the god of this world." Today, Satan is free and walks about as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, however, because of Christ’s victory on the cross, Satan and his demonic forces are even now defeated. During Christ’s reign on earth, the Millennial Kingdom, Satan and his demons, will be bound and put out of commission until the end of that thousand-year reign. This is not just allegorical. Using a literal hermeneutic, I believe would clearly interpret the phrase that we have here in Revelation 20, "a thousand years" a thousand years. There is no reason to interpret that any other way, there is no contextual reason for doing so. The only logical reason for anyone to interpret this any differently, is because they have a theological agenda.
God has already taken care of many of the rebellious leaders, fallen sinful men, and those who survive that will perish in the holocaust around Armageddon. If the Lord is going to establish His Kingdom, He’s going to have to get rid of the ungodly. And He did. All that remains is Satan and his demons, and "an angel coming down from heaven," takes care of that for a thousand years, at which time, he'll be released. There can be no one thousand years of peace and righteousness if he is free to roam the earth. I just want to make we understand that completely. It's important. Because to be clear, Satan is alive and well today and is preparing the world to be willing subjects to the unholy trinity of the dragon and the beast and the false prophet.
In fact, Genesis 3:15 tells us "He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel."
And, in verse 2, we read "And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years." The term "laid hold of" is the Greek verb "krateó," means "to seize hold of, or to place under one's grasp." I'd like you to notice, Satan is described as "the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan." And, in Genesis 3, he was described as a serpent that tempted Eve in the garden. It is the "nachash" in Hebrew. The Hebrew word for dragon, "tanniyn," is also often translated as serpent. Because the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field, it was the serpent that tempted Eve. As a footnote, what we would call a dragon that would have stood upright and walked on two legs because it was not until after he was cursed that he was forced to slither on the ground and eat dust.
In the book of Revelation, the Lord repeatedly describes the events of His Kingdom. To defend a theology that teaches anything other than what Scripture teaches is heresy.
Then, in verse 3 "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 thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time."
Notice this angel who has a key, which simply identifies authority, lays hold of Satan and bound him for a thousand years. Now here in verse 3, we see that the angel "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 thousand years were completed."
You cannot get much clearer than folks! So, I believe these 3 verses pose a real threat to the post-millennial view, that insists that the Church and political reform are ultimately going to Christianize the world, bring it to a place of Christian Utopia and then hand the kingdom over to Christ where he will rule it from heaven. By the way, the angel also had a great chain in his hand. I believe this is to identify the great power of Satan. So much so, that it takes a great chain to bind him. So Satan then goes and he’s bound in the same place that these other demons have been eternally bound in great chains.
I believe this ties in with Jude 6, "Angels who didn’t keep their own domain but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal chains under darkness for the judgment of that great day." Even Satan himself cannot break the chain of God that is used to bind him. Satan is bound during this thousand year period of time of the Kingdom. There will be no satanic enterprise, there will be no satanic ideologies, no satanic philosophies, no demonic theories, nothing. In other words, the entire demonic world is incarcerated in the abyss along with their leader, and Jesus Christ sets the agenda for all of the world.
Notice at the end of verse 3, after being bound for a short time, Satan will be released. That's exactly what Scripture tells us. I have often been asked"Why would this be? Once God has him him bound in hell?" The answer is simple, Satan is going to have one last opportunity to collect all of those who would
rather be in his Kingdom than God’s, because there will be people born
during that time that will again follow the path of unrighteousness. Satan will return to take the, to hell with him for all of eternity.
Now, verse 4 "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 a thousand years.
I was to give you a footnote here, that I believe is important; the amillennialists that tell us that we’re now in the Kingdom, this is the only Kingdom there’s going to be, this is it, if that is true, if this theology is correct, then that means Satan must be bound now. I believe with all the demonic activity and influence we see in the world today, we know this simply cannot be true. Some believe that he is now unable to deceive the nations, whereas he can still deceive people. This is pure heresy! If this is true, how then do you explain that we as believers are to resist him so that he will flee from us? You can't because it just doesn't fit. It's satanic deception. Scripture is abundantly clear that Satan has enormous influence on people today.
Notice John describes what he sees here, "And I saw thrones." There’s only two kinds of thrones, one is a judicial throne, today, we would call that the bench where the judge sits. And, the other is a regal throne and we say that’s where the king takes his place, that's the place of authority. Who did He promise that He would put on a throne? Scripture teaches that we will enforce the will of God and we will adjudicate, and we will judge. This fulfills the promises of Scripture given to the church regarding judgment and ruling with Christ. In Daniel chapter 7, three times it says the Kingdom will be given to the saints. Then, there's Matthew chapter 19, which looks at that sort of period between the Old Testament and the New, the time when Jesus was on the earth, and He says all the apostles and all who have left to follow me are going to reign.
I do not believe that there is any way possible to make this equate with the current age. We are clearly living in a completely different world suited for destruction. Rather than to focus our attention on saving the planet, we would do well to focus our attention on saving people.I believe that is what we must be concerned with.
That said, I don’t believe Satan gets in your mind and makes you sin. I simply believe Satan creates an environment that stimulates the desires of the flesh that cause you to be tempted, it's entirely up to the individual to succumb to that temptation. Sinners have no one to blame but themselves! By the way, all seven times this abyss or bottomless pit appears in the book of Revelation, it refers to the place where fallen angels and foul, evil spirits are detained until their final destination, which is called the lake of fire, where their captivity and torment will never be relieved. It's forever folks.
So, to conclude verse 4, you’ve got resurrected Old Testament saints, you’ve got resurrected saints who followed Jesus during His lifetime, you’ve got resurrected New Testament saints, and now you’ve got resurrected tribulation saints, and it’s all the resurrected saints who reign. By the way, when it says "came to life," it can't mean anything but resurrection. In fact, it's the same word is used in John 11:25.
That brings us to verse 5, "The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection." Now, I don't want to get ahead of ourselves here, so I'll just mention what is written in verse 6, "Blessed and holy is the one who has a 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 a thousand years."
Again, I believe the text here is very, very straightforward, if all the saints of the Old Testament are resurrected and all the saints of the period of Christ’s time are resurrected and all the New Testament believers are resurrected and all the tribulation saints are resurrected, that only leaves one group of people. The ungodly. Unbelievers who rejected Christ, who rejected all the offers of salvation throughout human history, they do not "come to life" until the end of the chapter. We know that all the saints of all the ages are in the first resurrection. Even those who came to Christ during the Tribulation period, those who were martyred for their belief in Christ. By the way, it is significant to mention, there is sequence and several phases, to the resurrection, not all the saints are resurrected at the same time. There is a definite order to the resurrection. When your body dies, your spirit goes immediately to be the with Lord. Your body stays in the grave until the resurrection. Your body goes into the ground and dies, and out of that dying seed yields life.
I believe that I Corinthians 15 clearly teaches this; "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming."
And, we know that the second death, the lake of fire.
Let's look at the points, verse one, lay hold of Satan. Two, bind him for a thousand years. Three, cast him to the abyss. Four, lock him with a key. Five, set a seal. Six, loose him at the end of the thousand years.After the Millennial Kingdom is over, we will live forever in eternal glory. I pray that you realize what is in store for us. We will escape the second death, hell, and the eternal lake of fire. No unsaved person will enter the Kingdom. It appears if you take all of the prophecies with regard to the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord is exhaustive against the wicked and all of them die. Only people going into the Kingdom are the people who are believers.
I believe that is why it is imperative to let those who are being deceived know, they are under the influence of false teaching. To warn them of what is in store by being deceived by damnable doctrine, that has convinced the masses it's fine with God to continue in their sin, so long as they pray the sinners prayer, without true repentance and transformation. That Christ does not require obedience, we must warn them of the truth, as God Himself has revealed it.
We must share the gospel with the lost, whether professed Christian or unbeliever. There is nothing in the Scripture that says any unbeliever survives the day of the Lord, in fact, quite the contrary, it is therefore our responsibility to warm them. Because we’re fallen people, even the millennium will produce unbelievers. In a thousand years, there can be millions of people on the globe.That's why the saints who will reign with Christ will try to bring them to the knowledge of Christ. However, even in a perfect environment, though utopia has arrived, some will refuse His grace and they will refuse the Lordship of the King of all the earth.
May it be so..
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen