The Coming of Emmanuel and its Events and Effects

INTRODUCTION

If you have a Bible, I want you to turn to Revelation 20. This is where we will end Theology Week 2025.

And I want to tell you why this is where we will be spending our time tonight.

First of all, I think this is a passage that SUMS UP everything we have learned at Theology Week thus far.

It will give us the opportunity to recount what Christ has done in His first Advent as we consider the second Advent.

Secondly, this is a passage that I hope will CLEAR UP some things for you all tonight.

If you have always been a bit confused by Revelation and maybe intimidated by the doctrine of the 2nd Coming itself, I hope we can lay a good bit of that to rest tonight.

Furthermore, tonight I will be teaching from this passage as an Amillenialist.

I will explain more about what that term means in a moment.

But for now, I will say that many Christians have only been exposed to the theology you find in the Left Behind books when it comes to the 2nd Coming.

Maybe you have heard the term “Amillenialist” before tonight, but you weren’t sure what it meant.

By the end of tonight, even if you disagree with the theological perspective, I believe you will understand it.

So that is another way this passage can CLEAR UP things for you this evening.

Thirdly, this is a passage that BUILDS UP.

It will be edifying for us to hear about the work of Jesus.

The consummation of the Kingdom.

The end of the age and the Savior making all things new.

God being our God forever. The Church being His people forever.

In fact, I hope to leave you with a perspective tonight that renews the fire in your spirit for evangelism and fulfilling the Great Commission.

And lastly, this is a passage that calls on us to keep our HEADS UP.

The Day is drawing near with each passing moment.

The Jesus we have heard about all week is going to return.

Let’s read our text--

Revelation 20 ESV

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 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. 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. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 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. And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

FOUR VIEWS OF REVELATION 20

In many ways, the way you view Revelation 20 will dictate the way you view the book of Revelation and the way you view the doctrine of the 2nd Coming.

That is part of the reason I wanted to preach on it tonight.

There are four main viewpoints when it comes to Revelation 20 and the idea of the millenium.

We don’t have time to deep dive tonight.

I am just going to give you a few sentences to summarize each one.

I will start with Premillennialism.

This perspective says that Christ will return and establish His Kingdom on earth and reign for a 1000 years (typically a literal 1000 years).

You can divide Premillenialists up into two groups:

Classic Premillienialists and Dispensational Premillenialists

Classic Premillennialism sees believers enduring the age of tribulation and then Christ returns, establishing the 1000 year Millennial Reign and then the Final Things and the New Age.

Dispensational Premillennialism is different.

It includes a rapture where believers are taken to heaven prior a literal 7 year tribulation. There is also a major distinction made between Israel and the Church.

This would be the viewpoint that most American evangelicals are familiar with.

It is what you would find in a David Jeremiah sermon or John MacArthur Study Bible or the Left Behind series.

Then there are Postmillenialists.

They say that before Christ returns, the whole world will be converted to the Gospel.

As the world is won for Christ, sin and evil are gradually defeated.

This age will culminate in a global Christian golden age and then Christ will return.

And finally we have Amillennialists.

This literally means “no-millennialism,” but “now-millennialism,” would be more accurate.

Here is a great definition from Joel Beeke:

It teaches that the millennium is not a future earthly kingdom. Rather, the millennium is a symbolic description of the spiritual kingdom of God that is now present ever since Pentecost...

Joel Beeke

This is the perspective I will teach from tonight—at great risk to my own health, possibly...

I won’t spend much time seeking to refute other points of view for the sake of time.

My goal is not even to make a case for Amillennialism.

Instead, my goal is to make a case that the second coming of our Lord is glorious and something we should ponder and rejoice over every single day.

It just so happens that I can only do that from the theological position I have come to hold.

CONTEXT OF REVELATION

Now one of the keys of the Amillenial viewpoint is the way that Revelation is read.

The Amillennialist looks at Scripture as inspired and inerrant and infallible and sufficient, but they also want to study each text with its genre in mind.

In the case of Revelation, it is Jewish Apocalyptic literature—much like the back-half of Daniel or the book of Zechariah.

Much like Jesus’ Olivet Discourses in the Gospels.

With that in mind, we should read it understanding that Jewish Apocalyptic writing is filled with symbolic visions and Revelation is a book of symbolic visions.

Images and numbers are symbols that are there to point us to realities that God is revealing to His suffering church in the first century AD.

Furthermore, with the importance of numbers in mind, we can look at Revelation and we can see SEVEN symbolic visions.

These seven visions tell us about the things that must soon take place.

They tell us about what God is doing in the world and what He will ultimately do in the world.

You can divide Revelation up like this:

Vision of the Son of Man and The Seven Churches (1:1-3:22)

Vision of the Lamb and the Seven Seals (4:1-8:1)

The Seven Trumpets (8:2-11:19)

Woman, Dragon and Beasts (12:1-14:20)

The Seven Bowls of Wrath (15:1-16:21)

The Fall of Babylon and Wedding Supper (17:1-19:21)

Millennium and New Heavens and New Earth (20:1-22:21)

Tonight we are dealing with the seventh and final vision. And it will tell us all about the same thing the other six symbolic visions do.

They all give us different angles of the way things are and the way things will be, culminating in the 2nd Coming of Christ.

It is very much like seeing seven different angles of one play in a sports game.

Seven different angles to see if the receiver got both feet in bounds or not...

Well—tonight we get the definitive angle as we look at Revelation 20 and peek into chapter 21.

We will have three teaching points that we will use as our roadmap tonight:

1. The Emmanuel of the Second Coming (Rev. 1:7; Rev. 20:1-3)

2. The Events of the Second Coming (Rev. 20:3; 7-15)

3. The Effects of the Second Coming (Rev. 20:4-6; Rev. 21:1-4)

THE EMMANUEL OF THE SECOND COMING (Revelation 1:7; Rev. 20:1-3)

First of all, we begin with the One who has been the focus of our entire week...

1. The Emmanuel of the Second Coming (Rev. 1:7; Rev. 20:1-3)

FIRST ADAM TO LAST ADAM

The Bible begins with a very clear picture.

In the beginning, God creates the heavens and the earth.

He is the Maker and He is the Ruler over all things.

God creates Adam and Eve and places them in the Garden and commands them to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth and subdue it.

They are to have dominion on the earth.

And as they enjoy this authority given to them by God, they also were to know God and love God and experience a perfect relationship with God in a perfect world.

So then this is God’s Kingdom design—God ruling over all things, with a man ruling on the earth as His vice-regent.

And more than that, what we see in God’s relationship with Adam is God’s desire to rule over a people and bring them into rest with Him.

After all, if Adam obeys God and submits to His Law, then he will not surely die. He will have life with God.

And so would his children.

But this Kingdom design is interrupted by the Fall in the Garden, when Adam and Eve disobey God.

Due to their disobedience, sin and death enter the world.

Satan is given a level of influence in the world.

And Adam and Eve are ousted from the Garden—the people God made in His image to be His vice-regents have become His enemies who are estranged from Him because of sin.

But there is a promise made to Eve of One who would come:

Genesis 3:15 ESV

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

There is a promised Hero from the line of Eve who will give the Serpent a fatal blow and fix what the first Adam fractured.

So throughout the Old Testament, we are looking for this Hero to come.

Will it be Noah, the man who God starts over with after the Flood? No, not him. He gets drunk before the ground is barely dry.

Will it be Abraham, the man who God calls to father a nation for Him? No, not him. He tries to pimp his wife out to save his own skin on a couple of occasions.

Will is be Moses, the deliverer that God uses to bring His people out of Egypt and back to the land of promise? No, not him. Moses and his generation won’t even enter into the land because of their sin.

Will it be David in the time of the kings, the man after God’s own heart? No, not him. He sleeps with another man’s wife and then has that man killed in the cover up.

And yet the prophets continue to promise that One will come who will be:

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Is. 9)

Seated on David’s throne forever with a kingdom that will never end ( 2 Sam. 7; Is. 9)

Crushed for our iniquities and pierced for our transgressions (Is. 53)

A ruler in Israel whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days (Micah 5:2)

One like a son of man, given dominion and glory and a kingdom by the Ancient of Days

And then, after Malachi ends his prophecy by promising that one like Elijah the prophet would pave the way for the great day of the Lord, there are 400 years of silence.

No voice from heaven.

No prophets.

Until John the Baptist, the one who is like Elijah, comes preaching a baptism of repentance and calling on people to prepare for the way of the Lord.

And He points to Jesus and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

And of course, this is who Jesus is.

He is the One who Paul calls the Last Adam.

But unlike the First Adam—Jesus never disobeys God.

As One born under the Law, He keeps the Law.

And then, He goes to the Cross and though He was a perfect Lawkeeper, He died as if He was a Lawbreaker.

Though He did not deserve it, He bore the curse of sin as our Substitute and suffered in our place.

Then He rose again from the grave to break the bonds of sin and death and ascended on high as the Lord over all.

THE BINDING OF SATAN (REV. 20:1-3)

Now, let’s stop right here.

Because everything I have said about Jesus thus far is really what we have been studying this week.

God eternal becoming God Incarnate in order to save His people.

Immanuel—God with us—born, living, dying and rising again to save the Israel of God.

But if you look at the first few verses of Revelation 20, we see something important about what Immanuel accomplished in His first coming.

In verse 1, an angel comes down from heaven with a key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.

He is clearly planning to lock someone up.

In verse 2, we see him seize the Dragon and bind him for a thousand years.

There is no doubt as to who this Dragon is. John describes him with four names.

The Dragon—identifying him as God’s foe from Revelation 12 who wanted to eat His Son and kill His people.

The Ancient Serpent—identifying him as Adam and Eve’s deceiver from the Garden

The Devil—the slanderer who comes to steal, kill and destroy

And Satan—The Adversary

This is the rebel angel who has led the charge against the glory of God throughout time.

And now, here in Revelation 20, at the beginning of the 7th cycle, we are seeing how he is dealt with.

In verse 3, he is tossed into the abyss and it is sealed over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years concludes.

After that, he will be released for a brief time.

PREMILLENNIALISM

Premillennialists say that Satan’s binding happens when Jesus returns to the Earth.

They say that Satan cannot be locked up before the Lord returns because he is clearly alive and well in this age.

2 Corinthians 4:4 (ESV)

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

If he is called the “god of this world,” how can he also be bound?

AMILLENNIAL RESPONSE

This is more than a fair question, so allow me to spend some time teaching my understanding of these first few verses.

And in order to do that, I actually want us to go to John 12. Because I believe that Jesus’ words in John 12 are key to us understanding John’s vision in Revelation 20.

John 12:20–24 (ESV)

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

When Jesus says that the hour has come for Him to be glorified, what does He mean?

He means that it is time for Him to go and die and resurrect and ascend to the right hand of the Father.

That is why right after those words, he says that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it doesn’t bear fruit.

But if it does, it bears much fruit.

He must die, in order to resurrect and ascend and free His people from their bondage to sin.

And then, a few verses later, he repeats that the “hour has come,” but this time, He does not refer to His saving work as His glory, but as the judgment of the world and the casting out of the ruler of the world.

John 12:31 (ESV)

Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.

The Cross of Christ judged the world in the sense that it exposed the awfulness of sin—so awful that it has slain the Son of God.

But in His redeeming work at Calvary, bearing the guilt of His people, Christ disarmed Satan and his minions.

And now, with Christ’s work on Calvary completed, Satan is cast down and bound in the sense that he will not be able to stop the Gospel from going to all nations—not just the Jews, but also the Gentiles.

For before the first coming of Christ, the nations were in abject darkness.

God had revealed Himself to Israel and made covenant with Israel, but unless a nation came into contact with Israel, no one would know God’s saving grace.

The nations did not have the light that Israel had.

But now, with Christ coming, and accomplishing His saving work, the Gospel will go out from Jerusalem to the entire world.

John 12:32 (ESV)

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

In fact, when we think about this casting out, there is a direct connection to Revelation 20 and John 12 because when Jesus says the ruler of the world will be “cast out” in John 12:31, the same Greek word is used to refer to Satan being “thrown” into the pit in Revelation 20:3.

And now, with Satan bound in the pit during this age, Jesus will gather every name from every nation that is written in the Lamb’s book of life.

With the strong man bound, his house is ready to be plundered.

Matthew 12:28–29 (ESV)

But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.

He overcame Satan in the wilderness by the Word of His Father.

He saw Satan fall like lightning when He sends the seventy to go out and evangelize.

And now, with His saving work done, Satan is bound.

The Gospel will go to the nations.

This is all taking place during what John refers to as “a thousand years” in v. 2.

This is where we get the term Millennium from.

This 1,000 year period is not a period in the future.

Instead, this is a symbolic way for John to describe this age.

1000 is a multiple of ten.

Ten and its multiples symbolize an indefinite amount of time from the perspective of humanity.

We see “thousand” used a hyperbolic way of describing things you can’t measure in the Bible, like the “cattle on a 1000 hills.”

So the “thousand years,” is a symbolic way to think of the long, indefinite period of time that we are living in during the church age.

REIGNING NOW (v. 4-6)

During this time, the souls of those who have already died in Christ, are already reigning with Him in heaven. We see this in v. 4-6.

Notice that the first resurrection mentioned here is not a physical resurrection, but a spiritual resurrection.

We know this because in v. 4, it is only the souls of those who have been martyred that resurrect, not their bodies.

And the rest of the dead will not come to life until after this 1000 year period—something we will get to in a bit.

But during this age, our Christian brothers and sisters who have passed away and gone ahead of us, are already with Christ.

Their souls are already reigning with Him during this church age.

Because they have experienced the first resurrection, they will never taste the second death.

They will never taste the Lake of Fire.

You see that in the Beatitude in v. 6.

They will never taste eternal judgment. They will reign with Christ for the rest of the church age, until the symbolic Millennium ends.

THE SECOND COMING OF THE LAST ADAM

And on that Day, the Serpent-Binder will come again.

And everyone will look upon Him.

Revelation 1:7 ESV

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

And when He returns, He will defeat all of the enemies of God.

The Serpent from the Garden who is already bound will be burned forever in the Lake of Fire. The Persecutors of the Church will join him, along with all who refused to submit to Christ.

The former age will pass away and the Kingdom will be consummated.

God will rule the Universe.

His Son Jesus will be King over the nations.

And those whom have been saved by grace through faith in King Jesus, will be His co-heirs.

Through Christ, God will be their people and the people will have their God.

They will know Him and love Him forever.

God’s original Kingdom design is restored for all time, by the Hero of Eve’s line—Jesus Christ.

The Last Adam

The Better Noah

The Better Abraham

The Better Moses

The Son of David

The Fulfillment of the Prophets

Our Shepherd who brings us back to God and our King forever

Immanuel—God with Us.

Now, how do we get there?

What does Revelation 20 tell us about the details of the events that are yet to come?

Let’s turn our attention there now.

THE EVENTS OF THE SECOND COMING (REV. 20:3; 20:7-15)

2. The Events of the Second Coming (Rev. 20:3; 7-15)

1. SATAN’S LITTLE SEASON (20:3, 7-8)

First of all, you see that at the end of the thousand years, Satan is released for a little while (v. 3, 7).

This is what William Hendriksen and many after him have called “Satan’s Little Season.”

During this time, Satan will deceive the nations and prepare them for battle against God’s church.

It seems like this is the time when the Man of Lawlessness appears—often referred to as the Antichrist or the Final Antichrist.

2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 ESV

Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

And then look at what Paul says after this.

2 Thessalonians 2:6 ESV

And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.

During this age of Gospel proclamation, there is a restraining that is happening. Satan is bound.

The Man of Lawlessness will not appear during this binding and restraining.

But when Satan is released for his little season, then we will see the Man of Lawlessness.

When the man of lawlessness is released, there will be a rebellion against the Church, and Satan will actively lead the rebellion through the man of lawlessness.

Michael Carpenter

2. ARMAGEDDON (20:8-9)

When Satan gathers his forces to come against the people of God, we get the battle of Armageddon.

However, as you read the passage, you find out that it is not much of a battle.

Satan will deceive the nations from four corners of the earth—so this is a global deception.

Gog and Magog and mentioned in v. 8, as well as in chapter 19.

This has caused quite a stir over the years as people have gotten out newspapers and charts to try and figure out who Gog and Magog are.

But in truth, we just need our Old Testaments.

In the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel prophesies about how Israel will be:

Spiritually resurrected (Ez. 36-37)

New heart—dry bones coming to life

Reunited under a King like David with God ruling over them (Ez. 37)

They will be attacked by an international enemy—Gog of the land of Magog (Ez. 38)

Revelation 20:8 is simply referring to the beginning of Ezekiel 38 in order to say that foreign enemies will be coming against the church from all over.

Through the Man of Lawlessness, Satan will deceive the nations into an unprecedented persecution of God’s church.

He will have the church of God surrounded, so to speak.

Who will these enemies be?

The book of Revelation gives us some idea.

The Dragon, who tried to kill the Son of God and now hunts His people in the wilderness of the world.

The First Beast from the Sea, who is allowed to make war on the saints and conquer them.

This Beast would symbolize evil world governments that persecute God’s church.

The Second Beast, who rises out of the earth, looks like a lamb, but speaks like a dragon.

This Beast would symbolize false religion in the world and it serves as the propaganda machine for the first beast.

And then it is Babylon the Harlot, which represents the evil world and those who are a part of it.

Led by Satan, the Dragon from the Garden, they will seek to make war on God’s people, just as Satan made war on Adam and Eve in Eden.

Their numbers will be like the sand of the sea.

In truth, this depiction of the final battle is like a “Take Two.”

3. CHRIST RETURNS (v. 9)

And then you see what takes place next in verse 9.

As all the enemies of the church march up over the broad plain of the earth and surround the saints, fire comes down from heaven and consumes them.

This is referring the 2nd Coming.

This is how Armageddon will quickly come to an end.

Jesus will return and destroy every enemy with holy fire from heaven.

With the breath of His mouth, He will end it. The battle will not wage long into the night.

2 Thessalonians 2:8 ESV

And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

Revelation 19:11-21 comes at the end of the 6th symbolic vision in Revelation and it gives us a more complete picture of Armageddon, Christ appearing to make war on His enemies and then His destruction of them.

When He is finished, their bodies are left for the birds of the air to feast on.

A big contrast from the Wedding Feast that the Bride of Christ enjoys with the Lamb.

Revelation 19:11–18 ESV

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.”

In both Revelation and in Revelation 20, the end results of Armageddon and Christ’s victorious return are the same—the devil’s beasts are thrown into the Lake of Fire, along with him.

They will be tortured there forever.

4. RESURRECTION (v. 11-13)

Going back to Revelation 20, we see a great white throne and Him who was seated on it.

From the presence of God, earth and sky flee away because they have no place.

A cosmic shakedown is underway.

All throughout Revelation, God’s judgment has been accompanied with grave natural phenomena like earthquakes and mountains and islands being tossed around.

It is no different here in Revelation’s final symbolic vision.

And then you will notice in v. 12 that the dead, great and small, are standing before God’s throne.

This is everyone.

Great and small.

Every soul who has ever lived, called to account for their lives before the throne of God.

The fact that they are standing indicates they have been raised from the dead.

This is what we call the General Resurrection.

God will resurrect everyone from the dead—some to eternal judgment and some to eternal life.

We see this taught in the OT and the NT.

Daniel 12:2 ESV

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

John 5:28–29 ESV

Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

There are two sets of books present as everyone stands before the throne.

God’s books of record that tell of every person’s deeds.

The Lamb’s Book of Life

The first book lets us know that everyone’s life will face the scrutiny of God’s bar in God’s courtroom.

Everyone will be judged by what is written in these books and according to what they had done.

In your flesh, you will see the Judge on that last day. We will all be there in our bodies before the judgment throne of Christ, to give an account of what we have done with our lives.

Joel Beeke

The second book lets us know that there is a registry of names who will escape the Lake of Fire because they belong to the Lamb.

These are those who endured the age of tribulation.

They are those who were not deceived by the Dragon and His beasts.

These are those who did not go along with Babylon and her evil culture.

These are the people of God.

5. FINAL JUDGMENT (v. 14-15)

And then we see Final Judgment in v. 14-15.

Death and Hades are thrown into the Lake of Fire.

This is just as Paul promised in 1 Corinthians 15—the last enemy to be destroyed is Death.

And if anyone’s name is not found in the Book of Life, they are tossed into the Lake of Fire, which is the second death.

SUMMARY

So in summary, at the end of this age—the symbolic 1000 years—

Satan will deceive the nations through the Man of Lawlessness

The nations will come against the church in an unprecedented persecution

Jesus will return and defeat His enemies with the breath of His mouth

The Lord will resurrect every body from every grave and Final judgment will ensue

Only those whose names are found in the Lamb’s Book of Life will escape judgment

THE EFFECT OF THE SECOND COMING (Rev. 21:1-4)

And this brings us to our final point for tonight.

We have seen Emmanuel.

We have seen the Events.

3. The Effects of the Second Coming (Rev. 21:1-4)

I want to give you two effects—one for the future and one for the present.

We will start with the future.

NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH (REV. 21:1-4)

Once Christ has returned and defeated every enemy and eradicated every shred of evil, the new age will begin.

Revelation 21:1–4 ESV

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Cancer. Child abuse. Mass shootings. Idolatry. Pornography. Adultery.

It will all be gone.

And what will be restored will be that which God designed from the start.

The people of God will dwell in the place prepared for them by the Lord of glory.

He will be their God and they will be His people.

A man will have unending dominion over the earth as God intended—the God-man, Jesus Christ.

And we will reign with Him forever.

No more enemies.

No more sin.

No more separation.

Every promise made to Abraham and Israel and David has been fulfilled.

Every promise made to the people of God will have found its YES and AMEN in Christ.

The Kingdom will be delivered by Christ to the Father.

The work of Jesus will be consummated and enjoyed by His sheep forever.

This is the future effect of God’s Kingdom.

Here is Herman Bavinck talking about this future reality:

Just as the harmony of a hymn is enhanced by the quality of the voices, and the beauty of light is multiplied in the richness of its color and tints, so Christ will one time be glorified in the multitude of His saints, and He will become wonderful in the thousands times a thousand who believe in His name. For all the inhabitants of the New Jersualem will behold God’s face, and will bear His name upon their foreheads…and each in his own way will proclaim the great works of God.

Herman Bavinck

ESCHATOLOGICALLY COMFORTED

But that future effect and reality encourages us in the present.

Just as it was meant to encourage the suffering, persecuted, 1st century believers that Revelation was written to.

I can only imagine the volume of burden and suffering that exists in this room tonight.

If everyone stood up and just said the three things that worried them the most out loud, we would all be overwhelmed by the end.

Few of us are likely enduring physical pain for the Cross tonight, but some of you are reviled. You are slandered. And it is because of faith in Christ.

I know there are some of you sitting here tonight who are in a dreadful battle with cancer or someone you love is in the thick of it.

Maybe your spouse walked out last year. Maybe your grown child broke your heart last year.

Maybe you feel like you have been so defeated by the patterns of sin in your life lately.

Maybe you are burnt out from serving and you are looking for motivation to go on.

Well rejoice tonight, Christian.

Emmanuel has come and is coming again.

And though this present age is long and we don’t know when it will end, we are promised it will end.

The Lord will bring it to a close in a way that magnifies His own glory, but also magnifies the greatness of His redemption of His people.

And in that culmination and consummation, we find our comfort.

We are not people who really wish things will work out in the end.

We are not people depending on invisible, non-existent Karmic laws.

We are not people who think we are no different than animals and we will just be worm food.

We are a people of concrete, eschatological hope.

And that means we are a people who receive concrete, eschatological comfort.

The God-Man has come.

The God-Man has lived and died.

The God-Man has risen.

The God-Man has ascended.

And just as you saw Him go, He will come again.

Keep your head up.

The sands of time are sinking. The Day is drawing near.