Judgments in Scripture

Transcript

GR 2054
10/21/2018
Judgments in Scripture
Revelation 20:1-9; Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

Someone passed on an article to me from the magazine Israel My Glory. A very excellent magazine that I would highly recommend to you, this article written by the Director of the magazine in a current issue. A magazine that I get but I hadn’t had a chance to look at it yet for this issue. He writes, “As I travel and speak people often tell me they no longer hear teaching about Israel and bible prophecy in their churches. Their comments reveal two distinct realities: (1) There was a time when they did hear such teaching in church, and (2) preaching what God says about Israel and prophecy has fallen out of favor,” and this man is a pastor’s son that now heads this ministry. He said, “He realizes that pastors have less time than ever to communicate God’s truth. In many churches, the pastor has merely 30 to 45 minutes on the weekend to speak to his flock. “Without Sunday evening services, midweek Bible studies that were the norm in bygone years, Sunday morning has become the only time the pastor has to teach the Word to his congregation, and you add to that the ever growing emphasis on Reformed Theology in many circles--the value of studying Israel and prophecy has diminished,” and the article goes on.

Well if you’re at Indian Hills very often, you know that I am filling in what is lacking in the other churches, so you get twice as much prophecy here, but it is what is so important. This is where we’re going, and no more important part of prophecy than the closing chapters of the Book of Revelation because that tells us more detail about our eternal destiny than we have anywhere else in Scripture, so turn in your bibles to Revelation chapter 20, where we’ve been looking into the opening verses of Revelation chapter 20.

Maybe it’s a good time to start to point out resurrections that are in the bible. We’ve talked about this and we have a chart, so they’ll put the chart up here for you, and you can see what the pattern of the resurrections look like. You’ve see this chart a number of times. It’s a little variation on the one that is burned into the inside back of your forehead. It just gives an overview of the resurrections in the bible. It starts with the resurrection of Christ, the bodily resurrection of Christ from the dead, and that is the pattern. We have the passages that relate it and it’s called Christ is the first fruits. That verse is taken from the passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the great chapter on resurrection in the bible. His resurrection is the guarantee of subsequent resurrections. The guarantee that you and I, if we experience physical death as believers, will also experience resurrection to glory.

Then there’s the resurrection and translation of the church. Call this the first stage of the second coming. We call this the second coming but it’s in two parts, just like in Old Testament prophecy it prophesied the coming of the Messiah to the earth, the Christ, the Anointed One, and it was not until Christ came that it was revealed that there would be two parts to His coming. He came the first time to suffer and die. He will come the second time to rule and reign.

Now we know from our study of Scripture that this second coming to earth has two parts. The first coming for the church that started in Acts chapter 2, to be caught up to meet Him in the air. That will be called the rapture, the Greek word is harpazo. They’ll meet Him in the air. At the end of the seven-years that intervenes between the rapture and this second coming to earth, Christ comes and there is a resurrection here of Old Testament saints, which includes saints that are part of Israel. That would be the largest group but saints that are not part of Israel, like any believers in the first 11 chapters of Genesis. Men like Noah, Enoch, Melchizedeck, men like that. They are not part of Israel because Israel does not begin until chapter 12 with the call of Abraham. Then you also have the Tribulation saints, those saved in this seven-year period. It would be Jews and Gentiles alike so that’s, the resurrections that occur in Scripture.

First Christ, and then following the pattern, the Church, then Old Testament saints and Tribulation saints, because remember Tribulation saints are part of the Old Testament pattern, the 70th week of Daniel, prophesied for Israel and then we will have a final resurrection of unbelievers. These are resurrections of believers, called the first resurrection. The first resurrection is a quality of resurrection. We’ll say more about that in a little bit. It is a resurrection of all believers, two parts, the church and Old Testament and Tribulation saints. This final resurrection, which we’ll get to in our study of the closing verses of chapter 20, is a resurrection of all unbelievers. Every person who dies will be resurrected and the unbelievers will be resurrected here, and this is the judgment of unbelievers. Everyone at this final resurrection and judgment is going to an eternal hell.

You could put up the chart on the judgments; we’ll mention that now that you’ve seen this chart, “The Judgments in Scripture.” The first judgment is a judgment of rewards; it’s the church at the rapture. Now some add others, the judgment of sin at the cross and so on, they have no part, the problem with that but I’m talking particularly here about future judgments that we will incur. The church at the rapture, following the rapture of the church there is a judgment. It is not a judgment regarding our sin and condemnation. It is a judgment of rewards; we call it with the Greek word, bema seat, where they are rewarded. All our sins are taken care of--the blood of Christ has dealt with those. This is to determine the rewards we will receive for our faithful service as slaves of the Master.

The second judgment that we’ve talked about is the judgment of the living at the Second Advent. Remember, when Christ returns to earth, all those alive at that second coming will be called before Him to be judged. We talked about that particularly in Matthew chapter 25. Both living Israelites and living Gentiles and that judgment will determine who is going into the kingdom that Christ is about to establish. The unbelievers will be executed, believers will go into the kingdom. The third judgment takes place at the Second Advent as well, so two and three go together. Number 2 is those who are alive at the second coming. Number 3 is the resurrection of those who have died. Now this is not the church, because remember the church has already been removed from the earth at least seven years prior at the rapture of the church. This is the resurrection, of Old Testament saints and Tribulation saints. We’ll see them again as we move into chapter 20 in a moment, so they are resurrected and rewarded. This is “saints being resurrected,” point 3. Old Testament saints, Tribulation saints they will be rewarded. Part of their reward will be places of ruling in the kingdom that Christ is going to establish.

The fourth judgment in Scripture will take place at the end of the thousand years. We’ll touch on that this morning as well, and at the end of the thousand years, the Millennium, there will be a judgment of living unbelievers, and then the fifth judgment goes with that. There will be resurrected unbelievers, so two and three happen at the same time, and four and five happen basically at the same time. The living unbelievers at the end of the Millennium. At the end of the Millennium is the final judgment of all unbelievers, so unbelievers are resurrected. Every unbeliever from the beginning of human history down to this climatic point.

There is a resurrection and a final judgment, and a sentencing to hell. At that last judgment, the great white throne that will be at the end of chapter 20, every unbeliever appears and only unbelievers appear because, keep in mind for us as believers, Christ died and paid in full for all our sin, all our sins. So, we will not be called into judgment for that, for those sins, but we will be judged on the basis to be rewarded for faithfulness, so that gives you an overview of the different resurrections and judgments in Scripture. Sometimes those who don’t interpret prophecy literally just collapse them all together. One general resurrection one general judgment but the bible is more specific and clear than that as we’ve seen, as we move again through the first part of chapter 20.

I don’t alliterate things very often, but I do it periodically, sometimes just for myself to see if I can do it. The older preachers alliterate. Our family was brought under bible teaching by a pastor named Lehman Strauss in Bristol, Pennsylvania many years ago and he was one of the old-time bible teachers who alliterated. You know they would begin every point of their sermon with the same letter and we have a commentary by him in the bookstore and you’ll note if you read his commentaries, every chapter will begin with the letter L or the letter S so I have some alliteration for you on the first nine verses of Revelation 20. Verses 1 to 3, the restriction of Satan that’s verse 1 to 3 where Satan is bound, the restriction of Satan. Second point verses 4 to 6, the resurrection of saints. You see how clever this is, R and S. Verses 4 to 6 talks about the resurrection of saints and then verses 7 to 9 talks about the rebellion of sinners. The rebellion of sinners so that’s my alliteration for the Book of Revelation.

I limited it to the first nine verses, but the first three verses did talk about Satan being bound. Remember a thousand years is key. If you don’t have it marked in your bible, circle it highlight it, however you mark your bible, a thousand years is mentioned at the end of verse 2, a thousand years is mentioned about two-thirds of the way through verse 3. The thousand years are mentioned at the end of verse four. The thousand years are mentioned in verse five. The thousand years are mentioned at the end of verse six and the thousand years are mentioned at the beginning of verse seven. Six times here, a thousand years a thousand years, a thousand years, God impressing upon us, new information. This is the only place in all the bible that we’re told about this thousand-year period of time, identifying it as a thousand years. Now with this information when we go back and look at Old Testament prophecies, we will understand that some of them related to this thousand-year period of the kingdom. Others relate to what we call the eternal phase of the kingdom. Let me make sure we’re clear on this.

There is only one future kingdom, the kingdom that will be established by Christ at His return. That reign of Christ is eternal, it will never end. When He comes at the second coming and establishes that kingdom on the earth, He will rule permanently from that point on through eternity. Now what is revealed is the first part of that eternal reign covering a thousand-year period. It’s not a separate kingdom. Some who write about this, even from our perspective, talk about an intermediate kingdom. I don’t think that’s accurate terminology. This is the first phase of the eternal kingdom. It is part of the kingdom that is eternal, but we talk about the thousand years because He marks that off as a specific portion, at the beginning of that eternal kingdom. It will last a thousand years. We’ll talk about its purpose as we move along, so the period of time is crucial. During this period of time, Satan and his demons will not be operating. We talked about this, so in the first three verses we’re told that an angel comes and binds Satan. Indication is those who work with him are also removed from freedom, so satanic activity ceases during this thousand years.

He’s bound for a thousand years. He’s held in the abyss. The abyss is the holding place, remember, for demonic beings. This is not hell. Satan won’t be cast into hell until down in verse 10. This is the abyss and we looked at passages where demons are held in the abyss. We’re told in a crucial statement at the end of verse 3, “after these things, he must be released for a short time.” That expression, after these things is used a number of times in the Book of Revelation to mark a particular period that is now being explained. When will they go? “After these things,” associated with the thousand years, verse seven, “he’ll be released,” verses four, five and six tell you about the thousand years. Then we’ll pick up with verse seven, what happens after the thousand years, and basically that will encompass the rest of Revelation, the rest of chapter 20, 21 and 22, so Satan’s going to be released.

Okay, we’ve had that overview, the summary, Satan is out of the picture for a thousand years, but then he’s going to come back in to the picture. Verse four “and I saw thrones” or then I saw thrones. “They sat on them judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus, because of the word of God, those who had not worshiped the beast his image, had not received the mark on their forehead or their hand. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

So you see now, we’ve gone back and talked about believers and the resurrection that occurs and these people are resurrected, so they can sit on thrones and exercise judgment. They are going to be ruling with authority under the reign of Christ. The focus is on those who come out of the Tribulation because they’re the most recent group that have to be resurrected.

We have Old Testament saints as we looked at in a previous study and in other passages, but here you have those coming out of the Tribulation and so they have suffered maybe terrible deaths, but they didn’t lose. The world thinks they cut off the head of a believer, they’ve put an end to him. No, his future is glorious. He’ll be raised, and you’ll note their faithfulness. They had been “beheaded,” verse four “because of their testimony of Jesus.” Their faithful testimony of believing in Jesus Christ, declaring Him the Savior, because of the word of God.

You know you can't be a true believer and not be faithful to the word. People claim to be Christians and ignore the Scripture or twist the Scripture. Part of the indication they truly belong to God is because of their faithfulness to the word of God, and in the Tribulation, they have not worshiped the beast or his image. They hadn’t received his mark on their forehead or hand. Remember back in chapter 12 and chapter 13 that whole issue, so these were faithful. All these come to life to reign.

Go back to one passage we looked at last time in the Book of Jeremiah chapter 30. Just one of the Old Testament saints mentioned and I couldn’t get him out of my mind this week. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, we’re going to that middle of those large prophets, just about the middle of your bible. A little beyond past Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. Jeremiah 30 and the context we noted when we looked at this in a previous study, verse seven. “Alas! For that day is great, there is none like it. It is the time of Jacob’s distress but he will be saved from it.” Jacob is Israel remember. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel so sometimes you still use Jacob’s name when you’re referring to the nation, because the line of descendants from Abraham goes, Abraham, Isaac Jacob whose name was changed to Israel. But the line comes through Jacob, so he’s talking about Israel’s distress, but he will be saved from it and that’s when Christ returns, and God will rescue Israel. Look at verse nine, “but they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king . . “ whom I will raise up for them.”

You see what God says here. What we just read in Revelation chapter 20. He’s going to raise David up from the dead, and he will be king in Israel and we noted Christ comes to rule. He is the Messiah, the King of Israel, the Ruler of the world, but under Him David will have particular responsibilities as king over the nation Israel, and he’s going to be raised for that purpose. And interesting in this passage, David is raised and we’re reminded, we talked about the judgments and believers’ sins are not going to be the factor at the judgment but our faithfulness is. I don’t want to make light of sin but I don’t want to make light of grace either. David sinned greatly, but God wasn’t done with him during his earthly ministry and you know what? There’s nothing mentioned about it here. He doesn’t say “and David, that man who sinned so terribly, that murdering adulterer, that sinful member of the people.” That’s all gone. Remember it’s buried in the deepest sea, removed as far as from the east and the west. Here he is. You and I can rejoice as we anticipate judgment that as believers our sin has been taken care of, that doesn’t mean we look at sin lightly. It is serious, but we rejoice to know when we stand before Him it will be as those who as Paul wrote to the Colossians. We’re presented before the throne of God as holy, blameless, without spot, so here we are reigning, and David will be there, and we will be there also with the positions that God has appointed for us.

Come back to Revelation chapter 20. We’re told in verse five, “the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.” The rest of the dead refer to unbelievers. Their resurrection is down in verses 11 and following, at the end of the chapter, so you see there is an order established and unfolded. “The rest of the dead,” those who haven’t been resurrected by this time. They’re not resurrected yet until a future time. “The rest of the dead didn’t come to life until the thousand years are completed” so you see now we have an order established. We had the church at the rapture, then we had the rest of the unbelievers, the Old Testament and Tribulation saints at the second coming, and then we’ll have the rest of the dead.

What about unbelievers? They also get resurrected bodies, for a different purpose. We’ll talk about that at the end of the chapter. The end of verse five says this is the first resurrection; now remember on the chart, the first resurrection is a quality of resurrection. It includes all believers, the church and Old Testament and Tribulation saints.

Come back to the Gospel of John, chapter 5. John’s Gospel chapter 5. Jesus is giving some instruction during his earthly ministry, and this is in the context that the Jews are desirous of killing Him in verse 18 and Jesus is teaching them. Verse 22, “not even the Father judges anyone but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father.” Now you have a clear declaration of the deity of Christ. The deity of the Father is shared with the Son, they are both God, and the honor goes to both of them. It could not be said of you and I, we cannot be elevated to the same level of God the Father. We receive honor and glory because He has claimed us for Himself but only the Son, and the Son is the One who will exercise divine judgment. You can’t honor the Father without honoring the Son, verse 23 says. Then verse 24, “truly, truly I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, does not come into judgment.” Now in the context here, judgment for our sins. A different kind of judgment, to be rewarded, but not for our sins. We won’t come into that kind of judgment; we’ve passed out of death into life. “Truly, truly I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God.” Those who hear will live. “Just as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son to have life in Himself.”

He also gave him authority to exercise judgment, because He is the Son of Man. There’s a preparation when we hear and believe the gospel, we are made alive in Christ, but there’s a coming future judgment, sin is judged in us. I believed in Christ. My sin was judged. When Christ died, I died; I was identified with Christ in His death, His burial and His resurrection from the dead. The penalty for my sin, past, present and future has been paid in full; that’s the glorious message of salvation. We’ve not been set free to sin however, we’ve been set free to serve the Master who saved us. Verse 28, “do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice.” Here’s a bodily resurrection, bodies that have lain in the grave. They will come forth, those who did the good to a resurrection of life, those who committed evil to a resurrection of judgment.

Now, here again we have presented the basic facts of resurrection. Two kinds of resurrection. A resurrection of life, because it destines you to eternal glory in the presence of God in a relationship with Him, which is spiritual life, and those who manifest that they’ve never had their heart cleansed to a resurrection of judgment. You’re not saved by what you do but what you do reveals whether or not you’re saved, and that’s what He’s talking about, all the judgments of Scripture on the basis of works. We’ll talk more in detail about this at the great white throne, but no one is saved on the basis of their works. There are degrees of suffering in hell, and there are levels of reward given to believers. We’ll talk more about this at the great white throne.

Come back to Revelation 20, so when we talk about the first resurrection, it’s the resurrection to life. Everyone who is going to spend eternity in God’s presence in the kingdom He establishes will have been part of the first resurrection. Anyone left for the yet resurrection at the end of the thousand years is going to hell. There’s a judgment at the great white throne but everybody, at the future judgment, the future resurrection, is going to hell, so we’ll see that as we get to that closing part in our next study. Verse six, “blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection,” so that’s where the blessing comes from, God’s blessing and we are identified as holy. How did filthy defiled sinners, defiled in heart and mind as well as in practice, come to be declared holy by God, by believing what God said. You have to believe God. You can’t be saved by saying God’s a liar. Do you believe that you’re a sinner? Do you believe that God says the penalty for your sin is death? Do you believe that God sent His only begotten Son to pay the penalty for our sin so that whosoever believes in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life? Have you believed that Christ died for you? That’s the issue.

We are holy that’s why I quoted from Colossians. We will be presented before His throne of glory as those who are holy, without blemish, without spot. We have the word holy and the background of it is being set apart. We have been set apart from sin to God. His cleansing power and grace, that’s why I mentioned David raised to reign. A man who did sin, grievously, but it’s been cleansed. As Nathan told him, God has put away your sin. That’s what God does graciously for us as His children. That doesn’t make us want to sin. We realize how awful it is, how inconsistent it is, but we’re thankful that any believer who sins has an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One and He is the propitiation. He has turned away God’s wrath by paying our penalty for our sins and not for ours only, but for the whole world, because He died to provide that salvation, so “blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power,” and the second death down in verse 14 is the lake of fire. This is the second death.

It’s not pride, it’s not arrogance when I say that I have no fear that I’ll be rejected by God, I have no fear of an eternal hell because I have a Savior, but that’s the dividing line. Not religion, not religious practices, not baptism not any—people put their trust in man’s ideas and when they do they are rejecting God’s provision. At the end of verse six, “these who are resurrected at the first resurrection will be priests of God, and of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years.” Now we’re talking about the thousand years, that won’t be the end of their reign, as we’ll see, but we’re talking about what takes place in the context of this thousand-year period. They’ll be priests of God. We’ll be in a close relationship with God, an intimate relationship with God, having access to God, no one between us and God. We’ll be serving Him, perhaps having to do with our relationship with the unglorified saints on the earth during that thousand years, and ministries we will carry on with them.

We will reign, for a thousand years, so that summarizes: when the thousand years are completed, remember the promise up at the end of verse three or the prophecy, he bound Satan, and note that last part of verse 3, “so that he would not deceive the nations any longer.”

Satan is a deceiver. He is active today. He “goes about as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” He works to “blind the minds of the unbeliever lest the light of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ should shine in,” as Paul wrote to the Corinthians. He’s at work right now, even as I preach the word, to keep any unbeliever from opening his eyes and being enabled to see that salvation is by faith in Christ. He deceives people into thinking they’re okay, that they’ll be fine and so on. He won’t be deceiving the nations but at the end of verse 3, “after these things he must be released for a short time,” so we’ve talked about people being resurrected to their part in 1,000 years and the division made in verse six.

Now verse seven, we’re ready to pick up what happens after these things, after the thousand years and what takes place there. Satan will be released so the abyss was a temporary holding place, for the demons and Satan. When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison and he will come out to deceive the nations. You see why. He “was bound up” in verse three, “so he would not deceive the nations.” He’s moving the nations of the world; this is an awesome being, a powerful being. Take a moment. come back to Isaiah 14, two passages of Scripture, one Isaiah 14 that carry us back to before the fall, and you see that nothing has changed in Satan in the millenniums of time. As happens in Old Testament prophecy, sometimes the prophet is being revealed information regarding a present or earthly event of his time or sometime after and then God carries him to an event, outside and beyond that and that’s what happens here.

Verse 12, “How have you fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn,” and He’s talking about Lucifer. Verse 13, “you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of the assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. Nevertheless, you’ll be thrust down” and so on. Satan’s original desire to replace God. Come over to Ezekiel chapter 28, another passage that we go to about Satan and his fall. Going back to the beginning of his desire to be like God, to usurp God’s place. Well how could he come to that? Because he had such great wisdom and such beauty, he began to think of himself as God? Look at the middle of verse 12, “you had the seal of perfection.” Now note this, “full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.” I mean this is amazing. Now I mean that’s why Satan can deceive the nations. He has wisdom he was created with this magnificent wisdom. He can control and rule the world, control nations. How does he do that? He is full of wisdom. He’s perfect in beauty. I mean if we’d seen him, we would been dumbstruck. No flaws, perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. We know we’re not talking about any earthly ruler of the time or any time since. The only ones in the Garden of Eden were Adam and Eve and God and Satan, Lucifer.

You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering and he mentions all these precious stones. Note the end of verse 13 for time. “On the day that you were created, they were prepared,” so I take it was one of those indications that Lucifer and the angels were created on the first day of creation, then God began the creation of the earth. “You were the anointed cherub who covers as reflected in the tabernacle and the temple above the Ark, of the covenant, the two cherubim with their wings spread and covered.” He’s given the most exalted position of guarding the throne of God. “I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of the stones of the fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.”

God didn’t create him as a fallen being, any more than He created Adam and Eve as fallen beings, but there came a point where Satan, Lucifer, had to make his choice and he was so enthralled he thought, I could be God. Remember how he tempted Adam and Eve, you can be like God. I say sin makes you stupid and there it is at its beginning. Down at the end of verse 16. “I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.” Now that huge wisdom, beyond anything that we have, is used to try to control the nations, and turn them in their rebellion against God.

Come back to Revelation chapter 20. Nothing has changed. Satan is bound, confined with the demons for a thousand years in the abyss. He comes out of the abyss as he went in, determined, to make one final overthrow. Remember when the seven years Tribulation is moving on and we got to the middle of Revelation chapter 12 and Satan lost access to heaven, he became more ferocious in his opposition to God’s people because he knew the time was short.

Isn’t it amazing, Satan knows God’s timeline? He’s a great quoter of Scripture. He has a mind of wisdom and the ability to grasp things, but it’s been perverted, corrupted. We see reflections of that in men today. People with great intellect, great minds, and yet it’s used for what? It’s used to try to prove there’s no God, to try to prove the Scriptures are not correct. To deny the God who is there, so when Satan is released back in chapter 20 verse 8 of Revelation, he goes out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth. The way we still talk about today, we could say, you could go to the four corners of the earth, and not find what you’re looking for, we mean the whole world. Gog and Magog, now we saw them back in chapters 38 and 39 of Ezekiel but this is a different time-period,, a different conflict but there’s similarity. What happened with Gog and Magog in chapter 38 of Ezekiel and chapter 39? The peoples of the armies of the world gather to descend upon Israel, to destroy Israel and frustrate God’s plan.

Now here we have Satan, after being confined for a thousand years come out, assembling his people around the world, for the same thing. Come to Israel. We will dethrone the King and I will be enthroned. He gathers them together for the war. The number of them is like the sand of the seashore. Now people say, “Why this thousand-year period?” You know what continues to corrupt the church? I was reading its impact on missions. I was reading someone who claims to be an evangelical. It says we can’t carry the message of Christ to people in other parts of the world who are in poverty, suffering social injustice and an environment that’s almost unlivable. They won’t be open to hear. We first have to help them lift out of poverty and all these things. You know, that’s what the thousand-year millennium demonstrates is false. For a thousand years Christ has been ruling and reigning. Now keep in mind, everyone who went into this kingdom was a believer, but those who went in, in physical bodies, are having children. There is no disease, there are no diseases, there’s no pain in childbirth, there’s no hunger, there’s no death or disease, a perfect king, perfect environment. People are held in line because, remember, the bible tells us He will rule with a rod of iron, and we will be involved in exercising that rule, as we saw in the letters to the churches, with Him in that firm rule. Rebellion will not be tolerated, and any open rebellion will result in death. That’s why I say it said that anyone who dies at a hundred years of age would be thought to be accursed.

This is enforced obedience, submission in a perfect world, but sinners don’t want to live in a perfect world, with a perfect ruler. They don’t want to live with God. You know what we struggle with even as believers is to appreciate how awful sin is. When God said through Jeremiah, “the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, so bad that we can’t really plumb the depths of its wickedness, but the Lord searches the heart.” Here, after a thousand years, these kids born in the first hundred years will live over 900 years in that perfect world, knowing nothing about being sick. Knowing nothing about pain, knowing nothing about hunger. Knowing nothing about injustice, and then Satan is let loose, back into the picture and they gravitate to him in droves. They’re like the sand of the seashore. Keep in mind for a thousand years there’s been nothing but pleasure in conceiving children, and none of these children die, with the rare the exceptions it mentioned, and you get a number--they’re countless, they’re like the sand of the seashore.

We see on TV mobs moving, well they’re coming now to Israel, mobs like have never been seen, flowing from all over the world, to come to Israel and dethrone Christ so we can setup Satan. We say, I can’t believe—you know what, the problem’s not the environment. The problem is not the injustices that go on in the world. The problem is not…..fill in the blank, that they’re poor. The problem is “the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things,” and even during this time when people have gone through the motions because they’re afraid of the consequences of disobedience, when they think they have an opportunity to choose another king, a number like the sand of the seashore. Verse 9, “they came up on the broad plain of the earth, surrounded the camp of the saints in the beloved city” because remember Jerusalem is the capital of the world, “and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.” This is not a series of battles like Armageddon which we saw in chapter 19. This is final destruction, death for these wicked.

It’s just amazing, Satan’s read the last chapter, but he still thinks he can pull it off. I mean we just get a mini glimpse; you share the gospel with an unbeliever today. Every one of us went out and shared the gospel with an unbeliever we came in contact with; well I just want to tell you about the depths of God’s love for you, for me, wretched hell deserving sinners. I want to tell you He had His Son come and die so that I could be forgiven so you could be forgiven. I want to tell you all you have to do is recognize the reality of your sin as God says you are, that Christ came and died to pay the penalty, and place your faith in Him and Him alone. How many people you think we get, oh yes. Is that what the response you get? Boy I’m so glad you came to tell me that. I have my religion you have yours. I have my own beliefs. I don’t believe that bible. I don’t interpret the way you do. I’m not interested, please don’t come to my door again or whatever. Why? We come to tell you about the greatest free gift ever given. “The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through faith in Christ.” It makes no sense. I always say sin makes you stupid. I alliterate there too. Sin makes you stupid. There’s no rationale. He paid the full price, it’s free.

There’s no price paid for Satan, he’s going to hell. That’s the next, verse 10, “Satan is cast into hell,” but then all those who have not believed in the salvation that only God can provide are also going there as we get to the end of the chapter, so what is this thousand-year period about? Why not just have the eternal kingdom begin and we go on? Because God is demonstrating, as He has through the different periods of time and the content of those periods, which we call dispensations, that man rebels consistently against the revelation God gives of Himself, and the grace of God that continues to be offered, right down till today, and people reject the grace of God today. They’ll go through the seven-year Tribulation, some of them, and what? They’ll blasphemy God for all the suffering they’re going through, so God will put the people in a perfect environment but a perfect environment doesn’t change their heart.

The knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. There won’t be any place on the face of the earth that people don’t know about God, about Christ, and about salvation, and yet there’ll be people in their heart, look at our society. You take something of the lid off that controls and restrains man’s sin and we have people doing things--he said I thought we were a different kind of people. I thought there was more civility. I thought people would behave differently. Just take the lid off, so that their sin is acceptable, and they join-together in agreement with one another, about their rebellion against God.

That’s what the thousand-year millennium is about, so we shouldn’t get confused. Will it help if we lift people out of poverty? It won’t make them anymore receptive. Rich people are even less susceptible. When I used to go the city missions in Philadelphia I could at least get people to sit down and listen to me share the gospel. Prosperity just further confirms us in were OK. We’re doing good. The Millennium demonstrates the problem is the heart. That’s why we focus on, let’s bring the gospel to the lost. Until the heart’s changed, nothing changes. These people, like the sand of the seashore, will conform to what is required under the reign of Christ, because the consequences are very severe, death, but their heart hasn’t changed and as soon as they have opportunity, they rebel. We’re clear so I trust you’ve trusted Christ. It’s a time of grace it’s that simple. The penalty’s been paid. Have you trusted Christ? Let’s pray together.

Thank You Lord for the riches of Your word. How gracious You are to provide Your Son to be our Savior, to pay our penalty. To pay it so fully and completely that when we place our faith in Him alone, as the One who loved us and died for us, we experience a cleansing that lasts for eternity. We can be made new. You can call us holy ones, set apart for Yourself for time and eternity, and Lord You continue day after day to make that gracious offer. Whosoever will may come. Lord we pray that even today some who hear this truth might believe, and may we who have believed the truth, not be timid, not be cowards, but bold in our sharing this truth with others we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

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