Revelation 20
Notes
Transcript
Revelation 20
Revelation 20
Good morning church. We have much to cover this morning. I’d like to encourage you to take some notes this morning, or at least jot down some scripture references. Or you can go on the website in a day or two and jot down the passages in the slide show, but I think it may be helpful for any of you interested in deeper study. I trust that that is all of you and that is why you are attending a Calvary Chapel Church, because you want to go deep into God’s word.
At our last gathering we talked about two future suppers. The marriage supper of the Lamb and the Great supper of God. The marriage supper of the Lamb is a wonderful event that we look forward to when the bride of Christ, His church, is joined together with Him in a Heavenly celebration, and the Great supper of God, a horrific event that takes place on this earth when God calls together all of the birds to feed upon the flesh of Kings, and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of strong men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.”
Legacy Standard Bible (Three Sixteen Publishing, 2022), Re 19:18.
We also talked some about the second coming of Christ which takes place at the very end of the tribulation period. I love the description of that that we have in Zech 14:3-6
3 Then Yahweh will go forth and fight against those nations, as the day when He fights on a day of battle.
4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.
5 And you will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; indeed, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then Yahweh, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!
6 And it will be in that day, that there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle.
7 And it will be a unique day which is known to Yahweh, neither day nor night, but it will be that at evening time there will be light.
8 And it will be in that day, that living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.
9 And Yahweh will be king over all the earth; in that day Yahweh will be the only one, and His name one.
My desire this morning is to cover our chapter, but I also hope to clarify some things that can be clarified and maybe share some thing that I don’t think we can fully know this side of Heaven. One of those things happens to come up in this passage when it talks about our Lord Jesus touching down upon the earth.
4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.
We have talked about different events described as the Lord’s return or the second coming. Some of these events describe the Lord coming in the air and others talk about Him touching down.
It is important when we are reading in our Bibles that we make a distinction between the two. When it refers to the Lord coming in the air it is talking about the rapture of the church, the Harpazo, or the great snatch when the Lord comes back in the air and the church rises up to meet Him, I believe taught clearly in the bible in an event immediately preceding the 7 year tribulation period where God pours out His wrath on a Christ rejecting earth.
In other passages, touch down passages, it speaks of our Lord returning to the earth, that is the second coming when He returns with His church. So that is how we distinguish between the two, is it in the air or on the ground. One refers to the rapture and the other to His return.
As we pick up in chapter 20 this morning the excitement continues. We have passed the Battle of Armageddon, the Lord is now on the earth, the second coming has taken place, and the Lord has established His earthly reign and rule. So let’s pray and we will dig in.
Now we will see the the rule of Christ is from this point throughout all of eternity. But the Bible speaks of a new heaven and a new earth, but before that happens we will experience what Revelation chapter 20 describes for us as a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ upon the earth.
1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having 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 finished. After these things he must be released for a short time.
So John sees an angel come down from Heaven and He has with Him two things. The first is the key to the abyss, that should sound familiar we have talked about that before, this place called the abyss, but this time there is something else as well, he has a great chain in his hand. I don’t know what a great chain from Heaven must look like, but I’m thankful for it.
Now I mentioned that we have heard about some of this before. Back in chapter 9, it began...
1 Then the fifth angel sounded. Then I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth, and the key of the pit of the abyss was given to him.
If you remember he then opened the pit and out from the pit emerged those locust like creatures that then stung the men of the earth with a pain that wouldn’t die, in fact they couldn’t die, but were simply in torment for a period of 5 months.
Then when we got to chapter 11 you guys remember the two witnesses, who had the authority of the Lord to prophecy upon the earth for a period of 3 1/2 years and when they had finished their witness, verse 7 tells us...
7 And when they have finished their witness, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them and overcome them and kill them.
In chapter 17 you’ll remember we talked about the destruction of the great harlot, mystery Babylon, or religious Babylon and she came riding on a great beast, which was the kingdom of antichrist that came from the abyss or the pit as it was a hellish, demonically inspired kind of Kingdom. Verse 8 in chapter 17
8 “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.
And now when we get to chapter 20, we read of the same place, but here it is with the idea of it being like a bullpen, a holding cell, or temporary confinement. Pretrial detention. This according to the bible will last for a period of 1,000 years. We will rule and reign on earth with Jesus, under the perfect authority of Jesus, all the while the Devil will be bound. And this time the key is not used to unlock the pit, but it is to secure the pit.
When we read this passage there be no confusion about the identity of who is being bound we can see the bible is very clear, verse 2 again...
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;
This one who is the enemy of old, the liar, the deceiver, the evil one is chained and bound by who? Who laid hold of the dragon? Back to verse one...
1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
An angel, not Michael, not the Angel of the Lord, an angel. An unnamed angel. Probably one without a heavyweight record. No notoriety, not mentioned in any other place. Maybe his friends call him JJ? I don’t know. Why don’t I know, because the bible doesn’t tell us. But what I do know is that this unknown, unnamed angel has no problem under the authority of God, wrapping up satan in an old skidder chain, or some kind of a great chain in heaven, throwing him in the abyss, and locking him up for 1,000 years. I think that’s pretty cool! Go JJ.
As we think about Satan being bound for 1,000 years I want to look as some other areas of Scripture and see if we can’t increase our understanding a little bit. So the first place I want to turn to is...
4 For if God did not spare angels who sinned, but cast them into the pit and delivered them to chains of darkness, being kept for judgment;
If you have the NKJV or the ESV I think your bible says Hell there. But notice this is talking about angels, so the bible is telling us here that it isn’t just satan that is going to bound and chained and kept for judgement, but also the fallen angels and here the bible specifically call that place Hell. Mine says pit, translated from the word Tartarus specifically meaning Hell.
Now if we look at Jude 6
6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,
Now here are two passages from the scriptures that I’ve read to you that agree with what we are reading in Rev 20 about Satan being bound along with fallen angels and demons. I want to point some things out this morning. In my growth group, someone said, I know I can’t share what happens in growth group, but I think this is OK. IF not, they will forgive me and kick me out. But someone said something to the effect that Pastor, it is so refreshing as we are going through Revelation that you don’t know what you’re talking about.
That’s not exactly how they said it. But they meant that they were glad that when we get to areas that the bible doesn’t say, I don’t pretend to know, or just teach you what I have been taught, because if the bible doesn’t say it, then it is just opinion and speculation and this book, Revelation in particular gives a pretty stern warning against that in the final chapter, so I’m not willing to do that. My response to their statement was just you wait until this week!
I have studied by bible, I’ve got an advanced degree in biblical studies and theology, and I am telling you there are things that I just don’t know about, that I don’t fully understand about the afterlife. I’ve studied for a long time, I’ve listened to a lot of sermons, read a lot of commentaries, and I’ve heard people teach quite confidently about the different places that people go after death.
The whole idea of the place called Sheol, and it having two compartments, one being paradise and the other being the underworld. They point out the story of Lazarus and the rich man as evidence of that. I’ve heard it all, I’ve read it all, and the more I’ve studied, listen this isn’t a the less I know situation. It is the more I study, the more I become convinced that there are some things that we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt based upon the scripture (such as God loves you, and sent His Son Jesus to die for you, to pay the price for your sin if you ask Him to, and if you place your faith and trust in Him He will give you ever lasting life, and we can know it.) There are things that we can know and frankly there are some other things I just don’t think we can be sure of.
So let me give you some things that I do know about the afterlife. I know that when a believer, a follower of Jesus dies, their soul goes immediately to be with the Lord. Don’t take my word for it, let’s look at it in the book.
6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight—
8 we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
Meaning immediately upon being absent from our body, we are immediately present with the Lord. You may have heard it expressed as you take your last breath on earth and your next is in the presence of the Lord. In the book of Philippians...
21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
22 But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know what I will choose.
23 But I am hard-pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better,
24 yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.
I think from reading this we can know that when the Apostle Paul wrote this, it was his understanding that when he took his last breath, He would immediately be in the presence of the Lord. So although there are things I don’t know about the afterlife, I know that when I die, or when a believer dies, our soul goes immediately to be with the Lord. And we can take comfort in that.
Here’s what else I know from the Scriptures, that the Lord is presently, right now in Heaven. So putting two and two together, if believers are immediately present with the Lord upon their death, and the Lord is presently in Heaven, then where do believers go immediately upon death? They go to Heaven. He’s what Jesus taught us about it.
1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
4 “And you know the way where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going. How do we know the way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.
I understand these verses to mean that right now in Heaven Jesus is preparing for me. He’s building me a dwelling place and if Jesus is doing it, it will be awesome! These are things that I do know. I also know that there is a day coming in the future to resurrect believers from the earth and give us resurrected bodies. So those departed Christians are in Heaven as Spirits, but one day will have a heaven prepared, glorified body.
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
So I understand this to mean, because this is what it says, that there is a day coming when the Lord Himself will return to the earth with a shout and the dead in Christ will rise…what rises here? Bodies. Bodies rise. What kind of bodies?
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a corruptible body, it is raised an incorruptible body;
43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
So in the resurrection when the rapture takes place, all the believers who’s bodies are now in the grave will come forth from the grave in a heaven prepared glorified body and will be reunited with their spirit or soul if you will that is presently with the Lord and will be returning with Jesus, and will unite their soul and their glorified body from then and throughout all of eternity.
Now I already touched on this some, but I also understand that as you read through your bibles that Hell is sometimes referred to as a place of unquenchable fire, sometimes as outter darkness, sometimes as we’ve read this morning as a place of judgement and chains, it is sometimes called the abyss, or the pit, sometimes it is called Sheol, sometimes Hades, and sometimes it is called Gehenna.
So we have talked about what I think we can know about the afterlife for the believer, let me share with you some things about the afterlife for the unbeliever. In ...
43 “And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire,
44 [and where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.]
Jesus goes on to say if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off, if your eye causes you to sin pluck it out and three times with the statement where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. It is not annihilation as many in the world teach. You don’t die as a non believer and it is just lights out over, but it never ends and the fire is not quenched, actually the bible, does sort of describe it as lights out in another place...
12 but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Remember our passage in 2 Peter also referenced this darkness.
4 For if God did not spare angels who sinned, but cast them into the pit and delivered them to chains of darkness, being kept for judgment;
So sometimes hell is described as this place of darkness, definitely a place of separation from God. Often described as an abyss or a pit, sometimes described as a place of fire and torment. Again, I’ve already confessed that I don’t understand it all, but with that multitude of descriptions, it appears at least possible to me that Hell is both immediate for the unbeliever and also future.
When we read of Sheol and hades in the bible, it is very likely the present place of punishment of the unbeliever, but also the place of awaiting the future punishment in the place that Revelation chapter 20 will teach us about this morning. So a long and winding road back to the beginning, but my hope is that it will help us to understand our text this morning.
I know this takes some time, but you folks are students of the word and aren’t satisfied with fluffenutter sermons. Calvary chapel folks dig deep into the word. SO when the bible talks about this place Gehenna, the lake of fire or the second death mentioned in Revelation, as hell after the judgement seems to be a future version of Hell. So whatever it is, however it is, again, I don’t fully understand all of it. I know believers are immediately with Jesus. Praise God for that.
But the unbeliever goes into Hades, or Sheol, the pit, abyss, or whatever it is, it is called different things in different places, we generally refer to it as hell the place of outer darkness. Separation from God. So here at the beginning of our chapter, Satan is bound, he’s thrown into this pit. Bound in chains for 1,000 years. Which we saw in Peter is called Hell. So it is theologically correct to say here that Satan is being thrown into the pit of Hell and now after the 1,000 years. In the future He will be brought out of the pit of Hell and cast into the Lake of Fire. Some future iteration or version of Hell. That is what we know. If you understand it all, good for you!
So back to verse 3 Rev 20:3
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 finished. After these things he must be released for a short time.
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 witness of Jesus and because of the word of God, and who also 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.
5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
So, as we continue to read through this we see that the saints of God will be ruling with God during this 1,000 years that Jesus reigns upon the earth. John says he saw thrones, and they sat upon them and judgement was given to them. So who is the they here? Let’s see what the bible says...
2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not worthy to constitute the smallest law courts?
3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?
Paul tells the Corinthians that it is us, the Saints. OT reference....
27 ‘Then the reign, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’
Again, the bible says in these texts and there are others, that tells us that somehow, someway, when Jesus returns that the Saints will rule with Him and somehow and in Someway will be entrusted in some way with future judgement.
So lets break this down a little bit further back to verse 4...
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 witness of Jesus and because of the word of God, and who also 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.
So the bible is describing a very specific group of people here. These are the martyrs of the tribulation, those that do not take the mark and that die for their faith in Jesus. These that John sees are the tribulation martyrs, and these Saints are now given their heaven prepared glorified bodies as a part of this first resurrection. So don’t get confused. We’ve already talked about the rapture of the church. This isn’t that. As I understand the bible the rapture of the church takes place before, or immediately prior to this 7 year tribulation period.
The rapture occurs, the tribulation begins and continues for 7 years, the tribulation ends Jesus returns in the second coming (touching down), defeats the antichrist. Establishes His rule and reign upon the earth, and then at the beginning of the millennium period there is a resurrection that occurs. The first resurrection. Who does it involve? Those who were believers and who were martyred during the tribulation period.
But then verse 5 tells us that the rest of the dead.
5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Who would this be? The unbelieving dead. Let’s look at verse 6
6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
These that are resurrected, have a very cool privilege they will be priests of God and of Christ and reign with Him. This is a resurrection of blessing. But the second resurrection that is mentioned is not a blessing it is referred to as the second death. This is being judged into everlasting torment into the lake of fire, it is spiritual death. If we don’t get bogged down in all of this. One thing that verses 4, 5, and 6 make abundantly clear to us that that there will indeed be a literal 1,000 year reign and rule of Christ that begins at the end of the tribulation and ends with this coming judgement that we will get to in just a moment. It is not a figurative thing, it is a literal span of 1,000 years.
7 And when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be released from his prison,
This is at the very end of the 1,000 year reign of Christ, Satan is released from his prison and
8 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.
9 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.
10 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.
Forever and ever. Now this book is really all about Jesus, it is the revelation of Jesus Christ, but there is another revelation here, a revelation of the true character and nature of Satan. After being chained for 1,000 years Satan is let out, not on good behavior, he’s released on parole, his temporary confinement time has expired and what does he do. That’s always the question right. Does confinement punish or rehabilitate? What is the convict going to do upon release. Well this one reveals or confirms his true nature and he immediately comes out to deceive the nations.
Now the two distinctions we have in our text is the camp of the saints and the beloved city. Believed to be Jerusalem, and more specifically the saints that live there during the millennium in glorified bodies. The other the nations which are believed to be the mortal people that go alive into the millennium, not in the holy city, they are believers, but they don’t live in Jerusalem, but in the rest of the earth. Guess what? I don’t know for sure.
We can know from our text though that there are still deceivable people in the millennium. The Lord Jesus is ruling and reigning in perfect righteousness. Lawlessness is not allowed. Rebellion is not tolerated. Perfect justice is executed every single time. The tribulation martyrs are there in their glorified bodies, the church is there in their glorified bodies, but our text tells us that there are still deceivable people on the planet. That means, and we can know that if this is so, then there are still people with a sin nature.
How and who are they? See there are two kinds of creatures that go into the millennial kingdom. We have already said that there are some that go into this kingdom in heaven prepared gloried bodies, and then there are other that go into the millennium in natural bodies. How long does this last church? A literal 1,000 years. During the millennium satan is bound, his influence is removed from the earth.
But life on earth does not stop. Things are great, Jesus is in power, but people with sinful natures, even christian people during the millennium, marry and are given to marriage. They have kids, they have kids, they repopulate much of the earth, and all of them have free will. This is why those martyred saints will need to serve as priests and preachers for Jesus. Because even in the millennium, you need Jesus to be saved. Now I believe because of passages such as Isaiah 35, Zechariah 12, Romans 11 and others Matthew 25, I believe that all that enter into the Millennium will be believers. You will have mortal believers and immortal, glorified saints in the millennium. But do believers ever have unbelieving children? Yeah, why? Because God gifted all of us with free will.
He gave us all the right to love Him and follow Him or to mock Him and hate Him. We get to chose. SO, some of those children born during this time will be deceived.
SO Satan is released, he deceives the nations, Gog and Magog are mentioned here. Again, I don’t really know why. If you are familiar with OT prophecy you will automatically think of Ezek 38 and 39 here, but I don’t think this is that invasion, I don’t believe it fits the text, so I think that must occur either at the beginning or during the tribulation, there’s different theories, I sort of think even before the rapture of the church...but we know this is the very end, so it’s not that, this is not that invasion.
But all these nations are gathered together, they are deceived, they are thinking that somehow, someway, they are going to defeat God, maybe be their own gods. Again, I have no idea how after witnessing the perfect reign of Christ, they could look to the beast and think, yeah that’s better, I want him, Jesus just isn’t for me. But the bible tells us the number of them is so great it is like the sand of the seashore. Ever try to count just the grains of sand you can fit in the palm of your hand?
Here’s what happens, verse 9 again...
9 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.
Fire comes down from heaven and devours them…and the devil gets his parole revoked.
10 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.
there are now no more rebellious mortals on the earth, God is finished with mortal sin. The Devil is in the lake of fire. Again, what can we know and what can’t we. I just said that there are no more rebellious mortals on the face of the earth, right? God wipes them out with fire from Heaven…so then any mortals that remain on the face of the earth at this time are on God’s side, they are saved.
But somewhere between the end of this chapter and the beginning on chapter 21 something radical happens. We don’t directly read it in our text, but it is definately implied in our text. Man, I don’t to get into next week’s study. Agh, I’d have to read the first 5 verses or so, but know this. Chapter 21 begins with a new heaven and a new earth. We read that the former things are passed away and behold all things are new....there is no more tears, no more death, no mourning, no crying, no pain. So we know that somehow, someway, those mortal Christians that are on the earth are somehow translated into their heaven prepared glorified bodies, but cause they must in order for these conditions to exist. But I don’t now how or when exactly.
Lets try to finish the chapter that we’re in.
11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sits upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.
12 Then 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.
13 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.
14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
John sees this vision of a great white throne with Jesus sitting upon it. How do I know that this is Jesus? How do I know that it’s not God the Father? Well, we’ve got to go one other place and see what Jesus said about this...
22 “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,
23 so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
25 “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, and those who hear will live.
26 “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;
27 and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.
So Jesus teaches us that it is Jesus that does all the judging in the afterlife.
and then Rev 20:11
12 Then 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.
Standing before the throne…the thronos the throne of the supernatural. The KJV, NKJV, the NLT all say Throne of God…So John tells us that all judgement is given to Jesus and verse 12 in Revelation 20 confirms then that Jesus is God.
One more little rabbit trail, but not really it is related. This is what is called the Great white throne Judgement, but there is another judgement seat mentioned in the bible. The other judgement seat is called the judgement seat of Christ. One of these judgments is for believers and one is for unbelievers.
If you are here this morning and you are a believer in Christ, this judgement is not for you. But if you are here this morning, and you have heard the gospel over and over and you keep coming and you are just playing church and think that you’re good with God, without making a choice, confessing your sins, asking Him to forgive you, placing your faith in trust in Jesus for your salvation. If you don’t do that then your are going to die in your sin.
And then this great white throne judgement is for you. Believers have been saved from judgement from the cross. We are already judged as being worthy to enter the kingdom of Heaven because Jesus has paid the debt for our sins and our names are in the Lamb’s book of life. We have another judgement...
9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
13 each man’s work will become evident, for the day will indicate it because it is revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
So what is this judgement seat of Christ thing? If you are a believer, when you die you are going to be required to stand before Jesus in Judgement. But this is not a judgement of worthiness, or a judgement of entrance into heaven, you already have those things in Him. If you have trusted Jesus with your salvation then you are saved. This is where we give an account for what we have done. Our life and our works will be looked at concerning motive. Those things that we did for Him will be rewarded, those things that we did for ourselves or the approval of man, will burn up, but we will still be saved.
But this other one, the great white throne judgement. It looks as though every unbeliever will appear before the Lord. It doesn’t matter what deal you think you have with God, how big your bank account is, or even how much you donated to charity.
But there are some books here, the first thing that will be checked if their name is in those books...
15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
If your name isn’t in that book then the book of works or verse 12 says the book of life and then every work you have ever done is judged before a Holy and righteous God. Christian imagine if we had to do that. In our case we can plead the blood of Jesus. Yes, all of that is true, but Jesus paid for it all. I can’t imagine standing there without that. I’m so thankful I won’t stand at that one at all.
I will close with this…as we saw in our text the nature of satan is that of deceiver. That is what is to come at the end of the millennium, but that is what is occuring today. It is His biggest goal to deceive you into thinking that you’re all set without Jesus. I read it earlier..
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.
Grace and Peace