Revelation Chapter 20 (Part 1) post storm

The Process of the Second Coming

The Sixth Bowl - Armageddon

Revelation 16:14

Revelation 16:16

Babylon Will be Destroyed

Isaiah 13:1–5

Jerusalem - “A heavy stone”

Zechariah 12:2–3

Zechariah 14:2–3

This is the moment Jesus will return

The Prophecy of the Remnant - Bozrah

Isaiah 63:1–4

Jeremiah 49:22

Matthew 24:16

Revelation 14:20

Israel Repents - Israel Saved

Zechariah 12:10

The Mount of Olives

His Second Coming

Zechariah 14:3–4

The Valley of Jehoshaphat (God has Judged)

Joel 3:12–17

Matthew 25:31–32

Matthew 25:40

The Thousand Years - Millennium

We now come to Rev. 20:1-6+ which was so universally held by the early Church to teach a literal thousand years with a literal resurrection, and to be so thoroughly consonant with Jewish views, that the Apocalypse narrowly escaped proscription by the enemies of premillennialism.

Depending upon how one understands the first few verses of this chapter, one will most likely wind up in one of the major interpretive camps: premillennial, postmillennial, or amillennial.

Simply put, postmillennialism is a view of eschatology teaching that Christ’s return to earth will occur at the end of the Millennium. . . . Postmillennialism . . . expects the gradual, developmental expansion of the kingdom of Christ in time and on earth. . . . Christ’s personal presence on earth is not needed for the expansion of His Kingdom.

The amillennial view denies a literal Millennial Kingdom on earth (Rev. 20+). It holds that the kingdom promises in the OT are fulfilled spiritually rather than literally in the New Testament church. Amillennialists usually consider the thousand years of Revelation 20+ as a symbol indicating an “indefinite” period of time. Christ is seen as ruling over His kingdom through the church in the current age, a kingdom which is strictly spiritual.

Was the promise to Mary Literal?

Luke 1:32–33 “32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.””

If we reject the early Church belief in this particular, the veracity of Apostolic Fathers, who assert that they received their interpretation of it from the Apostles and their associates is impeached, and the teaching of the Apostles themselves which directly led to such a faith in all the churches established by them is open to grave suspicion.

Chart

Revelation 20:1–3 “1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 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. After that he must be released for a little while.”

Satan Bound , Shut up & Sealed

Isaiah 24:21–22 21 On that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth. 22 They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished.”

This is the de facto fulfillment of what was accomplished at the cross. In the bruising of Christ’s heel, the serpent had ultimately laid the groundwork for the bruising of his head: “And I will put enmity Between you [the serpent] and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed [Christ]; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel” (Gen. 3:15)

If Satan is bound in the future, after the 2nd Coming, what is his status today?

Kingdom Now?

The basic problem with interpretations which assert that the kingdom described in this passage is actually upon us now, having begun at the cross, is that they are unable to understand or unwilling to recognize the delay between spiritual accomplishments and their outworking in the physical realm. On the way to Jerusalem prior to presenting Himself as king, just a few days from His crucifixion, Jesus stopped to teach a parable “because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately” (Luke 19:11). The parable concerned a nobleman who “went to a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return” (Luke 19:12). He instructs his servants to attend to his affairs in his absence. His kingdom is not received until the time of his return: “And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants” (Luke 19:15). This parable, we might observe, was specifically intended to do away with the delusion that God’s kingdom on earth is fulfilled in the Church today. Christ accomplished everything necessary for the establishment of the kingdom at the cross, but the time was not right for its commencement—there was to be an intervening age: “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:7b)

Why was Satan bound & sealed in the pit?

A plain reading of the passage indicates that Satan is unable to deceive while he is locked away. As soon as he is released, he immediately goes out to deceive the nations (Rev. 20:8+, 10+), which he had been completely unable to do while in the abyss.

Why is Satan released after 1000 years?

What an amazing time of blessing this will be! Satan and his demonic realm will be rendered completely inoperative during the coming earthly kingdom of God. But this great blessing also has a flip side: in the removal of the great tempter is the removal of a convenient excuse by which men hide their own rebellious nature. And this, it would seem, is part of God’s plan in locking Satan away for the duration of the Millennial Kingdom—to show man his utter incapability of obedience to God, even in the midst of ideal conditions and in the absence of the influence of the serpent of old.

After the thousand years have expired, he is released to deceive the nations one final time. Here we see the sovereignty of God Who uses all things to achieve His ultimate ends. Satan is no less a tool of God in his rebellion than in his obedience. Although God is not the author of sin, His sovereignty over the affairs of history is not the least threatened by the disobedience of His creation.

Why 1000 Years? What’s the Pattern?

Genesis 2:1–3 “1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”

Has anyone every lived 1000 years - 1 day?

Genesis 2:16–17 “16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.””

Did he die in the day that he ate of it?

Genesis 5:5 “5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.”

Genesis 5:27 “27 Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.”

Genesis 5:31 “31 Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.”

Eternity Past?

1000 Edenic Covenant

2000 Noah’s Covenant

3000 Abraham’s Covenant

4000 Israel’s Covenant

Christ - New Covenant

5000 Church Age (day 1)

6000 Church Age (day 2)

7000 Sabbath \ Millennium (day 3)

Thy Kingdom Come

Revelation 20:4–6 “4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to 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. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 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.”

3 Groups Seen by John?

John describes two or three groups of resurrected believers (they “came to life”) in Rev. 20:4+

First, the thrones represent believers of the pre-tribulation era (as the twenty-four elders sat on their thrones before the tribulation began—Rev. 4:4+) OT Saints & Church Saints (Rev 2:26-27; Rev 3:21; Dan 12:2)

Second, the souls of those who will be martyred in the first half of the tribulation (Rev 6:9 Opening of 5th Seal)

Third, those who will refuse to worship the Beast in the second half of the tribulation. - Tribulation Survivors? Jews?

Can these include living saints who survive the Tribulation until the Second Coming of Christ and enter the Millennial Kingdom in their natural bodies?

Verse 4 states “They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

Groups 2 & 3 are a subset of group 1

Blessed and Holy

An examination of Scripture reveals a number of individual resurrection events separated in time, all of which fall into one of two categories: the resurrection of life (the first resurrection) and the resurrection of condemnation (the second resurrection)

The first resurrection consists of several sequential resurrection events which are treated as a single category—the raising of all who are redeemed.

There are several different resurrection “events” which transpire in history, each of which falls into one of two categories.

All but the last resurrection event make up the first resurrection.

Scripture knows of two births, two deaths, and two resurrections. Everyone is physically born once. Those who do not undergo the second birth, the spiritual birth, also undergo the second death which is the permanent separation from God with eternal torment.

Births, Deaths & Resurrections

What is life reigning as Kings and Priests in the Milleninium?

Are we setting up the Kingdom now?

Government??

Isaiah 9:6–7 “6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

World Peace

Daniel 2:44 “44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,”

Health System - Human Life

Isaiah 65:20 “20 No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.”

Prosperity

Amos 9:13 “13 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.”

Harmony throughout the Earth

Isaiah 11:6–8 “6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.”