Jesus' Millennial Reign Part 2
Notes
Transcript
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Jesus is coming to reign!
When is the Millennial Kingdom?
Based on a straightforward reading of the Bible, the Millennial Kingdom follows the seven-year tribulation and precedes the Great White Throne Judgement, which ushers in the New Heaven and Earth. Here are some timelines that lay it out well.
What are the characteristics of the Millennial Reign of Christ?
Revelation 20:1-3 gives us the first characteristic.
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.
The first characteristic is that Satan is bound in the Abyss for a thousand years so that he cannot deceive the nations any longer. This is the same abyss that 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6 refer to, where the demons of Genesis 6 are locked up. It is the same abyss of Revelation 9 that is opened with the fifth trumpet of the tribulation, where the demons are released to torment unbelievers for five months.
Knowing all this, we can conclude that if Satan is being bound in the Abyss, then all the rebellious spirits are bound as well.
We will not be wrestling against forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12), nor will Satan be the prince of the power of the air going around like a roaring lion seeking whom he might devour (Eph. 2:2; 1 Peter 5:8).
The Millennial Reign of Christ will be a time when spiritual warfare ceases until Satan and his followers are released and once again wreak havoc on the earth (Revelation 20:7-10).
Praise God! Jesus is coming to reign!
Revelation 20:4, Isaiah 11:1-5 and 2 Samuel 7:16 give us the second characteristic.
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.
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”
From these passages, we learn that the second characteristic is that Jesus will be reigning. Jesus, the second person of the Godhead, will be ruling from Jerusalem. It will be a theocratic government from pole to pole.
Oh, what a day that will be when Jesus comes to reign. Come, Jesus Come!
Revelation 20:4 also has the third characteristic of the Millennial Reign of Jesus.
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 third characteristic is that Jesus shares his reign with those who were martyred for their faith during the Great Tribulation.
Who are these individuals who were martyred during the Great Tribulation?
Three factors help us answer this.
The first is that the Great Tribulation is also known as the Time of Jacob’s Trouble (Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 12:1).
Alas! That day is so great
there is none like it;
it is a time of distress for Jacob;
yet he shall be saved out of it.
“At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.
The second is that the Tribulation is the Day of the Lord, when God does two things.
First, he disciplines ethnic Israel, returning them to the center of God’s proclamation of the gospel with the sealing of the 144,000 Israelites - 12,000 from each tribe ( Jeremiah 30:11; Revelation 7).
For I am with you to save you,
declares the Lord;
I will make a full end of all the nations
among whom I scattered you,
but of you I will not make a full end.
I will discipline you in just measure,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished.
Second, he pours out his wrath on the unbelievers (Revelation 6:15-17)
Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
The third is identifying where the church is during the Tribulation. Let’s look at what Paul teaches us in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 and 1 Thessalonians 5:8-11.
For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
Paul makes it pretty clear that the Day of the Lord begins when the church is caught up to meet Jesus in the air. He also makes it clear that the church is not destined for the wrath of God that is coming upon the earth during the Great Tribulation.
Based on these verses, we can conclude that the Church will not be in the Tribulation and therefore would not be included with those resurrected in Revelation 20:4 because we are already resurrected and with Jesus.
So, who are these individuals who are martyred during the Great Tribulation?
Based on the verses we just covered, they are predominantly Israelites who were saved during the time of Jacob’s Trouble.
Jesus, then, during the Millennial Reign, will share his reign with the Israelites who were martyred during the tribulation.
I have great news! Jesus is coming! Are you ready?
Come! Lord Jesus, Come!
