Revelation Chapter 20‏

Hello Friends!

Welcome back! During this week’s fellowship time, we’ll continue our study of Revelation.

Revelation Chapter 20
 
This week we will investigate chapter 20 in our journey of the end times. 

As we approach this exciting chapter, we find the summary of the 1000-Year Millennial Kingdom. It's a very limited presentation and does not exhaust all that could be said about that thousand years. And yet there is instruction about the Kingdom itself throughout the Bible. In fact, if we were to just study all of the places in the Scriptures that deal with the Kingdom scattered throughout the Old Testament and New Testament, we would be at it for months! 

A literal Kingdom of one thousand years after Jesus Christ's return – before the creation of the new heavens and a new earth – is the subject of this chapter. It is called by many names in Scripture. Just in the New Testament alone there are verses that refer to it as:

 

The “regeneration“:

So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel – Matthew 19:28

The times of “refreshing“:

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord – Acts 3:19

The times of “restoration“:

whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began – Acts 3:21.

The “fullness of times“:

that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him – Ephesians 1:10

Chapter 20 is not all that is to be said about the Kingdom. It is merely a placing of the Kingdom in its chronology and highlighting some of its very important elements. We'll remember reading about the fact that at His Second Coming, Jesus Christ will carve a valley from the Mediterranean toward the Dead Sea and a new river flowing through that location will turn the desert into a blossoming place. There are a number of things that are going to be reconfigured in the world at this time. It will be like the Garden of Eden again – paradise will be regained. This renovated earth will become the place where Jesus Christ will sit on the throne of David in the city of Jerusalem, that great city from which He will rule the world. He will be truly the God of that age and the whole world in all of its economics, labor, social life, morality, understanding, learning, opinions, thoughts, ideas and concepts will fully reflect the mind of Jesus Christ. It will be the opposite of our world today in which has the god of this age – Satan – and everything in it reflecting him.

As already mentioned, there are many more Scriptures on the subject of the Kingdom age. In fact, there are more Scriptures on this subject, than most all other subjects that the Bible details. One could argue that the Kingdom is the key theme in all of Scripture, moving towards the fact that God rules and that He is sovereign over all things. The goal of redemptive history is an eternal Kingdom in which God reigns. Any believer who is going to understand the Bible must understand the 1000-Year Kingdom.

 

The Old Testament is loaded with the anticipation of the coming Kingdom of God on earth that the Jews continue to pray that it might come to pass. We can go to 2 Samuel chapter 7 and read about the Kingdom. We can go to Psalm 2 and read about the Kingdom. We can read about it in Isaiah 2, in Isaiah 11, Isaiah 35 and Isaiah 40 to 48. We can read about it in Jeremiah 23 and 33. We can read about it in Ezekiel in a number of places, chapter 34 for example. We can read about it in Daniel chapter 2 and chapter 7. We can read about it in Hosea chapter 3, Joel chapter 3, Zephaniah chapter 3, or Zechariah chapter 14. 

 

This is "His kingdom" also promised to the Jews:

I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed – Daniel 7:13-14

Those are but a brief smattering of Scriptures where we can read about "His kingdom" to come.

 

There are three different main elements to this chapter. 

First – Notice that Satan will be "bound for 1,000 years”:

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while – Revelation 20:1-3

This will be the very first time that Satan will be "bound". There is no such event as the "binding" of Satan in any other passage of Scripture. We do not have the power to “bind” Satan today. As the Apostle James instructs, we must "submit ourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from us."
 
Terminology matters! Although we do indeed have authority over Satan and demons in Jesus’ Name, only God has the power to "bind" Satan. Christians must “submit to God” and “resist” the devil and Scripture promises that he will “flee!”

Second – We see the revealing of the time of the Kingdom and those who "lived and reigned" with Jesus Christ for that 1,000 year period when He and the "bride of Christ" – the church – will rule from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem:

And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years – Revelation 20:4-6

Those who know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior down through the ages will be a part of that "ruling party" in the Kingdom. It is this very utopia, this golden age that men have longed for and dreamed of here on earth. They have written about it. They have desired an age of righteousness and peace when oppression would cease and injustice would be gone and war would end. An important point to reiterate is that this is a literal Kingdom. Remember, we must maintain a literal, historical, grammatical and contextual interpretation because that's the only way that we can truly understand the Bible. We have to take it at its linguistic face value and when we do that we find the literal aspect of God's Word.
   
The Devil – Satan – will be incarcerated in the "bottomless pit" for that 1,000 years and then released:

Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison  and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them – Revelation 20:7-9

Satan will try and gather all those un-believers from the Kingdom Period – born in the Kingdom Period – who reject Jesus Christ… Even in a perfect utopian society the wicked heart of unbelieving man is exposed!  
This “army” – Satan and those unbelievers he gathers at the end of the Kingdom period – will be thrown into the "lake of fire", where the “beast” (Antichrist) and the “false prophet” “are” – have been – for that “1,000 years”.    

The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever – Revelation 20:10

IMPORTANT: This passage stating “where the beast and the false prophet are” completely destroys the false doctrine of annihilation espoused by the Jehovah’s Witnesses and other cults. The “beast and the false prophet” did not – and will not – “die” nor be “annihilated” during their eternal sentence in the "lake of fire.” The same is true of all unbelievers who will then face the Great White Throne Judgment and then are physically “cast into the lake of fire” to be “tormented day and night forever and ever” – eternally!
   
Thirdly – This last element is the "Great White Throne Judgment" which marks the "end of history" and is the revelation of the terrible time of judgment for all lost people. This passage reveals the "Judge," the "Judged" and the "Judgment":
 
The "Judge"

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them – Revelation 20:11

The "Judged"

And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works – Revelation 20:12-13

The "Judgment"

Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire – Revelation 20:14-15

This will not be a judgment to determine whether someone is "saved” or “lost" – that will have already been determined. No one will stand at this “Judgment" unless they have rejected Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This will be the time for the sentencing of “lost” souls to the "lake of fire", forever – in physical, resurrected bodies.
   
This truth of the "Great White Throne Judgment" leaves me with mixed-emotions. A "joy" that comes with knowing Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and a great "sadness" for those who have rejected Him.

The events of the "Binding of Satan” and the "Kingdom Period" as well as the "Great White Throne Judgment" are key in the scheme of God's plan for the future. Let me remind you of what "triggers" these events – the Rapture of the church… Which could happen anytime… even today…

Final Thoughts:
 
If we take the chronology of Revelation at face value, we are going to come to realize an actual Kingdom for Israel in the land in Jerusalem on the throne of David with a Messiah – out of the line of David – reigning not only over Israel, but over the whole world. The Apostles are there. The redeemed of all the ages are there. The glorious characteristics of the Kingdom are clearly defined. It's going to last a thousand years. It's going to follow the return of Jesus Christ because that's explicitly what the literal text yields. From the earliest post-apostolic era, the church understood the Millennium of Revelation 20 as a literal one thousand years. Papias, Barnabas, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and Tertullian all give evidence of this fact in their writings. The church taught nothing else until the fourth century. And then Augustine popularized it even more. A literal Kingdom of one thousand years after Jesus Christ's return and before the new heavens and new earth is the subject of this chapter. And any other viewpoint about the Kingdom gets so confounded that you can't find your way through without some kind of "magic" act!
 
As we’ve discussed, we don't know fully what the Kingdom will be like. It will be a time with no prisons, no hospitals, no mental institutions, no barracks, no saloons, no houses of ill repute, no gambling dens, no homes for the aged and the infirmed. Cemeteries are crumbling relics of the past. Tears are wiped away. The wolf and the lamb, the calf and the lion, the cow and the bear, the child and the scorpion are all at peace. Jesus Christ has come! The golden age has dawned. The earth is filled with the knowledge of God. Jesus is Lord. He rules the nation with a rod of iron. His reign is righteous and the nations obey. Sin is visited with swift and certain judgment. It's everything that you could never even imagine – beyond your wildest dreams. This is the Kingdom! This is what we as Christians live for. This is what we wait for. This is what we hope for. And this is what is really coming!

The Kingdom was also much a part of Jewish thought. The Jewish writers in the post-biblical times used to talk about the malkuth shamayim – a term for the Kingdom of heaven. Malkuth shamayim is a Hebrew phrase indicating God's coming world dominion. And even after biblical times the Jews looked forward to the Kingdom of heaven. They saw it as a time when God would exercise power over the heathen and when He would subject the world to Himself. The malkuth shamayim means the Kingship of God is extended over all mankind and is a part of the prayers of Jewish people. It is the object of Jewish prayers since ancient days. The Kaddish for example opens with these words:

"Glorified and sanctified, be His great name in the world He has created according to His own pleasure. May He establish His royal dominion and start His deliverance of His people and may He bring His Messiah and redeem His people in the time of your life and in your days and in the time of the life of the whole house of Israel with haste and in a short time, and Thou shalt say, Amen."

With this information as a foundation for your studies, please read through Chapter 20 of Revelation.

Thank you for reading! Don’t miss next week’s edition as we investigate chapter 21 of Revelation…

Keep looking up and sharing the Gospel while there is still time… Hallelujah and Maranatha – come quickly Lord Jesus!

We are not guaranteed tomorrow – tomorrow may be too late! If you haven't yet made that most important decision of your life, won't you make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior today - before it's too late? Today is the day of Salvation!

If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com

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Blessings!
Shane K. Morin <><

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