The Millennial Kingdom
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Revelation chapter 20 shows us what happens after Armageddon.
There’s a controversy about this chapter, the controversy centers itself on the phrase “a thousand years” in verse 4.
This period of time is known as the “Millennium” - No matter if you look at the Greek, Latin, or whatever, this wording means what the Bible says, “a thousand years”...
The only important detail that we have in the Bible is the duration of this time…Thus, there are three theological positions surrounding this time period.
Amillennialism - This view says that the Kingdom is here right now, Satan is already bound. This view spiritualizes these Scriptures and says they are not to be taken literally. (False)
Some advocates of Amillennialism were Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wycliffe, The Roman Catholic Church, B. B. Warfield, and much of the reformed theology today.
Postmillennialism - This view says that men will get better and better and will establish the Kingdom of God and then Jesus will return. (False)
This is the view held by the N.A.R. and other charismatic movements that believe the seven-mountain mandate. Some other advocates of Postmillennialism were Jonathan Edwards, Charles Wesley, and B. H. Carroll.
Premillennialism - This is the theological position I hold to, and it doesn’t matter that I hold to it, what matters is that it’s the only one of the three that you can literally find in Scripture…Premillennialism believes that the words of Revelation 20 are literal. There will be no kingdom until Christ returns and Satan is bound by the Lord.
Look, I just believe what the Bible says, ya’ll…Jesus is coming back and He’s going to rule and reign on this earth for a thousand years...
Some advocates of Premillennialism were William Tyndale, Moravians, Mennonites, John Wesley, W. A. Criswell, Chuck Swindoll, Wayne Grudem, John MacArthur, Albert Mohler, and more...
After easily destroying the global army at the Battle of Armageddon, a new season of global unity, peace, and prosperity enters as Jesus Christ Himself establishes His rule on planet earth.
The millennium is the beginning of God’s restorative work “on the way” to the new heaven, new earth, and new Jerusalem of chapters 21–22.
This truly will be a time of Heaven on earth! If you can image it, there will be a time when things will be as they were before the fall!
The first thing we see in this chapter is:
I. Satan Is Bound Before The Millennium
I. Satan Is Bound Before The Millennium
1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
One of these days, Satan will be bound!
Notice the words in these verses...
Laid hold...
Bound him...
Cast him...
Shut him up...
Set a seal on him...
Satan tried to imprison Jesus in a tomb, but couldn’t. Here, God has no problem restraining Satan, and this incarceration is not for punishment, but restraint. By implication, Satan’s demonic armies are also restrained and imprisoned.
The angel of God with the key from God to the bottomless pit and a great chain from God will come and lay hold of Satan.
• The dragon will not be able to fly away,
• the serpent will not be able to slither away,
• the Devil will not be able to lie his way out of this predicament;
• and Satan will not be able fight his way out of this arrest.
Jimmy Draper said, “Generation after generation will be born and the earth will flourish just as it did in Eden before the serpent seduced humanity. For a thousand years there will be heaven on earth.”
So, right off the bat, Satan is bound, then, the second thing we see is that the...
II. Saints Will Reign During The Millennium
II. Saints Will Reign During The Millennium
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
All the saints of God, that is, every person who received Jesus between the Day of Pentecost and the Rapture of the church will reign with Jesus in His Millennial kingdom. We will share in His glory and in His reign...
12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
The children of God may be mocked and ridiculed down here right now, but there is coming as day when we will return with Jesus in power and glory to this world and we will reign with Him on this earth.
In that day, we will be different that we are now. In fact, we will have already been through the Judgment Seat of Christ and we will have enjoyed the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
We will have been with Jesus when He took control of the world away from the devil and his armies.
We will have shared in it all and we will share in His glory!
When we reign with Him, we will be in our glorified bodies! We will be free from sin, free from death, free from disease. We will be perfect in that day!
Rev. 1:6 and Rev. 5:10 tell us that God will make us kings and priests…I believe we are priests now through the shed blood of Jesus, and one day, here in Rev. 20, we will be kings with Jesus!
At the beginning of the Millennium, all the Old Testament saints and all those who died with faith in Jesus during the Tribulation will be raised from the dead.
The last part of verse 4 makes it clear that there will be a number of people who will come to the end of the Tribulation Period with their faith in Jesus, These people refused the Mark of the Beast and they lived until the end. Some will be Jews, others will be Gentiles, but they will all enter the Kingdom of Christ.
The millennium will be a wonderful time under the cosmic and universal reign of King Jesus.
We see in these verses that Satan is bound before the Millennium, Saints will reign with Christ during the Millennium, then, we see:
III. Sinners Will Be Defeated After The Millennium
III. Sinners Will Be Defeated After The Millennium
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Understand something, and I know this can be surprising, but there will still be sin during the Millennium…Don’t turn me off and vote me out now…Listen to me.
There has to be because of what these verses say...
Everyone who enters into the Millennial reign with Christ will not be sinners, but there will be billions born during that 1,000 year period. You see, all the Jews and Gentiles who enter the Millennium, out of the Tribulation will do so in their flesh and blood bodies.
These people are saved, but their offspring will be born with a lost, sinful nature. They will need to be saved too!
There are three driving forces that influence sin in the world today: the world, the flesh, and the devil.
The world system will be out of the picture, the devil will be out of the picture, but flesh will still be in the picture as I just mentioned to you.
It’s amazing to me…This will be a perfect environment, however, it won’t change the human heart. Just think, it’ll be just like the Garden of Eden.
You’re probably wondering why Satan is loosed out of his prison...
Satan will be loosed to test the hearts of those born in the Millennial Age of Christ. They must choose between the Lord or Satan. Outwardly, billions will conform in the Millennium, but inwardly, they will despise Jesus.
At the end of the thousand years, the world for the first time in ten centuries will be offered a choice.
The Bible tells us that Satan will be loosed and he will deceive these people.
People born in the Millennium who reject Christ will make war against Him. Gog and Magog are terms for those who oppose the Lord. They have gathered from all over the world to oppose the Lord and their numbers are huge, as the sands of the sea.
In this we see more of the important reason God has for the Millennial Kingdom and allowing this final rebellion.
For all of human history, man has wanted to blame his sinful condition on his environment. “Of course I turned out the way I did. Did you see the family I came from? Did you see the neighborhood I grew up in?”
With the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus, God will give mankind a thousand years of a perfect environment – with no Satan, no crime, no violence, no evil. But at the end of the 1,000 years, man will still rebel against God at his first opportunity. This will powerfully demonstrate that the problem is in us, not only in our environment.
9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
This is the last war of all time; as with Armageddon, the war was over before it even began as we see that God Himself sends fire down from Heaven and devours them. You can really call these executions more than wars...
Satan’s plan fails. Their bodies will burn up and their souls will go to Hell.
Our text ends with Satan finally receiving his just reward: he is “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast [i.e., antichrist] and the false prophet are.”
There this unholy trinity’s eternal destiny is to be “tormented day and night forever and ever.”
Their just judgment is literal. It is eternal. No reprieve. No relief. No second chance. No end.
Conclusion
Conclusion
I have been talking about a time when Jesus will reign as King upon this earth.
That will be a special time and it will be a blessed time.
However, you do not have to wait to the Millennium for Jesus to be King. If you will trust Him as your Savior, He will reign as the King of your heart right now.