The Consummation of the Kingdom

Text: Revelation 20 (HCSB04)

Primary Audience: Believers

CIT: John saw the rule and reign of Jesus openly manifested in human history for all to see.

Proposition: The rule and reign of Jesus will be openly manifested in human history for all to see.

Purpose: To help the congregation understand that Jesus will rule, and evil will finally be defeated.

Title: The Consummation of the Kingdom

Outline

1) 20:1-3 “The Binding of Satan”

2) 20:4-6 “Ruling and Reigning with Jesus”

3)

Read Revelation 20

Prayer

Introduction: In 1965 Barry McGuire released his hit song entitled Eve of Destruction. It was a protest song written about all of the things that were taking place in the world at that time. In fact, some of you might be old enough to remember the song, or better yet maybe you remember living through what the song was about. To say that the song was controversial would be an understatement! The first couple of verses go like this,

-The Eastern world, it is explodin' Violence flarin', bullets loadin' You're old enough to kill but not for votin' You don't believe in war, but what's that gun you're totin'? And even the Jordan river has bodies floatin' But you tell me over and over and over again my friend Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction

-Don't you understand what I'm trying to say? Can't you feel the fear that I'm feeling today? If the button is pushed, there's no running away There'll be no one to save with the world in a grave Take a look around you boy, it's bound to scare you, boy But you tell me over and over and over again, my friend Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction

When you take a look outside, times really haven’t changed that much in 56 years, have they? ---- We live in a wicked world, don’t we? If you don’t believe that’s true, all you’ve got to do is turn on the news (if you can even trust it!) for just a few minutes or type a few words on your I-phone. But I’m here to tell you that a day is coming when all of that is going to change and change in a drastic way. I my view the 20th chapter of Revelation gives us just a brief glimpse into the beginning of that change. I view this chapter as the hinge, if you will, between this age and the next when the rule and reign of Jesus will be openly manifested in human history for all to see. After all, Scripture tells us one day, “10 … at the name of Jesus every knee should bow — of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth — 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians, 2:10–11). I believe this the text we’re going to look at this morning shows us when that will begin to happen.

Let’s look at what it says.

20:1-3 “The Binding of Satan”

-First vv.1-3, the binding of Satan.

The first thing John sees in his vision is “1 … an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand.” Now, the first question I have when I read that is, what exactly is the abyss, or as some translations have it, the bottomless pit? Well, we’ve already read about this place in Rev. 9:1 to be exact. There we were told about an angel who was given the key to the abyss which, after unlocked, allowed a massive swarm of locusts to be unleashed on the earth. I take those locusts to be John using symbolic language to describe a future demonic invasion on the earth. To be precise, I think these demonic beings are those described by Peter and Jude, and here’s why I say that. Listen to what Jude says, “6 … and He (that is God) has kept, with eternal chains in darkness for the great day, angels, who did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling” (Jude 6). Peter clarifies who these angels were for us in 2 Peter 2:4 writing that these were angels who sinned during the days of Noah, which is a reference to Gen. 6:1-8. (For the sake of time, we won’t turn there, but the passage mentions the sons of God who married the daughters of men and had children with them which produced the Nephilim, giants.) Now, there’s a lot of argument about who these sons of God were, but when I read what Jude and Peter write is certainly seems to tell me that those sons of God who had children with the daughters of men in Gen. 6, those sons of God, were divine beings. Yes, I know for some of you, that sounds crazy, angelic beings having children with human women, but that seems to be what the straight-forward reading of the text is saying. And that argument gets even stronger when you consider that Job 38:7 uses the same Hebrew phrase, sons of God, in referring to divine beings, created by God, who were present and watching as God created everything. What John is telling us in Rev. 20:1-3 is that this place, the abyss, where these angels/divine being are now imprisoned, is where Satan is going to be thrown and locked up for a time. Now, here’s something you’ve got to understand, demons are terrified of this place, and so is Satan. If you recall, the abyss is the place where the demons begged Jesus not to send them when he cast them out of the man they had possessed in the country of the Gadarenes. They begged Jesus to send them into a herd of pigs (Mt. 8:28-34). Now, ask yourself, why does Satan fight so hard? ---- It’s because he knows that there is coming a time when he’s going to take up residence there, in the abyss. The big question however, is when? ---- Now, I have many brothers and sisters in Christ who are good friends who take God’s word very seriously; they are not liberal, (they don’t spiritualize the text) and they take the view that this is something that has already happen. They would say that it happened in the ministry and work of Christ during his first coming, but personally, the problem I see with that view is I can’t seem to square it with the way John presents Satan in Revelation, let alone the rest of the New Testament. You see, what you get folks doing here, when you talk about the “binding of Satan”, is that they will start quoting all those verses about how Jesus bound the strongman (Mt. 12:29), or how Jesus said, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightening” (Lk. 10:18). Yes, all of that’s true, God’s word teaches it, but the question, at this point in Rev. 20, is how does John, himself, the author of Revelation view Satan during the present age we live in? ---- I would argue that in 12th through 14th chapters of Revelation, John pictures Satan, at present, actively deceiving the nations, which is exactly what this text says is going to stop. So, for me, this text, Rev. 20:1-3, points to a future reality, something that’s going to happen in conjunction with the return of Christ. In my view (at least at the present moment) this text is telling us that a time is coming when Satan will be chained down and locked up more than he’s ever been before. So, the next question is, what then(?), what happens after that? Verses 4-6 give us the answer, saying that Jesus is going to rule and reign with his followers. In other words, the kingdom that’s present now, will then openly manifest itself in human history and believers will rule and reign with Christ. Look at vv.4-6.

20:4-6 “Ruling and Reigning with Jesus”

John begins in v.4 by telling us, “4 Then I saw thrones, and people seated (Lit. they sat) on them who were given authority to judge …” Then he tells us that he, “… also [saw] the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands …” Now, I think it’s important to pause right here and take note of where John saw these people, at least at this point in the narrative. He saw them in heaven. The word throne in Revelation always refers to thrones in heaven, except for one place, Rev. 2:13, where it refers to Satan’s throne on earth in Pergamum. But here’s the thing, when you consider what’s said in the last part of v.4, the location of what John is talking about seems to change. The last part of v.4 says, “4 … They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” ---- Now, it’s here in v.4 where the whole controversy over the “millennium” lies, and it’s this, what does it mean “they came to life”? While it is true that this phraseology could mean coming to spiritual life, in other words these people became believers, I would be willing to argue on the strongest terms that the Greek word used here refers to people, dead people, bodies, coming back to life from the dead. This argument, at least for me, becomes even stronger when you consider v.5, “5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.” Everyone, all interpreters, agree that this verse, v.5, is a reference to physical resurrection. Now, here’s what I’ll say, if in v.5 “came to life” is a reference to physical resurrection, and it’s the exact same Greek word, then it’s really hard for me to see how you can take what’s written about the first resurrection in v.4, “they came to life” as anything other than dead bodies that come back to life. Now, if that’s the case, and I’m correct about this, then there must be some period of time between the first and second resurrections, what John, here, calls a millennium, however long or short the thousand years is. I will certainly grant that the number one thousand may simply be a number that John is using to refer to a complete period of time. That’s the way this number seems to be used in the Bible. (Please don’t use the argument that because the number 1000 is used six times it must be literal. That argument is really a joke and holds absolutely no weight.) (Also, notice that when John talks about the length of this period of time, he doesn’t use the definite article. He says, they reigned for “a” thousand years … That also seems to point to John using this number in a symbolic way. Now, notice that when John mentions the end of the period of time he says “the” thousand years. So, what am I getting at? The point seems to be that John knows this is a complete period of time, but he’s not willing to nail down an exact length. He does, however, know that this period will have a definite end point.) ---- Now, look at what John then says in v.6, he tells us this “6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years..”

-Now, at this point I often feel as though there’s going to be someone out there who asks the question, “What’s the point of this period of time?” Why do we need this? ---- To answer that question as simply as I can, the text doesn’t explicitly tell us. What the text does say is that these people “6 … will be priests of God and of Christ …” In other words, as DA Carson says, these people will be mediators of some kind.[1] Carson also points out that the text doesn’t explicitly tell us where these people will reign because the city that’s mentioned may well be a reference to the people themselves more so than to a literal physical place.[2] Also, there are some who will try and say that this period of time is never mentioned anywhere else in Scripture. My retort to that is this, what do you do with those OT passages like Is.65 and Zech. 14 that seem to hint at a period of time that’s much better than the one we live in now, but still short of the new heavens and earth? One passage that’s really difficult for me to square with any other view beside some form of premillennialism is Isaiah 24:21-23 where the prophet speaks of the final day of the LORD. Isaiah writes, “21 On that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven above and kings of the earth below. 22 They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon; after many days they will be punished. 23The moon will be put to shame and the sun disgraced, because the Lord of Hosts will reign as king on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and He will [display His] glory in the presence of His elders” (HCSB) Now, I don’t know about you, but for me that sounds like something that hasn’t happened just yet, and it also sounds an awful lot like what’s going on in Rev. 20. ---- One final question that comes up about the millennium is, “Who are these people, those who experience the first resurrection, ruling and reigning over?” That’s a good question because when you read the end of Rev. 19 it would seem as though everyone who’s an unbeliever has been taken care of at the return of Christ.---- I don’t want to speculate too much but I’ve often wondered if Paul might have given us a hint in his first letter to the Corinthians when he wrote this, “3 Do you not know that you will judge angels …?” That said, the major takeaway I want to point out to you in all of this is that if you’re listening to me today and you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, the second death, which is hell itself (Rev. 20:14), has no power over you. Now, let’s look briefly at vv.7-14, Satan is released and the final judgement falls.

20:7-14 “Satan is released and the final judgement falls”

Verses 7-9 read, “7When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 They came up over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city …” Once again, who is this referring to? To be blunt, the text doesn’t explicitly tell us. The main point, however, seems to be found in the second part of v.9 and on though v.10, “9 … Then fire came down from heaven and consumed them. 10 The Devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

Now, I told you last week that some interpreters argue for the view that this battle is the same one that’s mention in Rev. 19, Armageddon, so, I need to address that. Yes, there is evidence in the Greek text you can use to build a case for that view, but it may also be that John is telling us that this war, if you will, is one that will be fulfilled in stages. In other words, yes, it’s all viewed as the same war but as different (battles) parts of the whole. Think of WW2 for an example. On September 1, 1939, the Germans invaded Poland for what we call the first battle of WW2. But then, on April 1, 1945, the battle of Okinawa began, which is the last battle of WW2. It’s the same war, but two separate but related events.

That, then, leads into a picture of judgement that’s given in vv.11-15. John sees a great white throne (v.11), and then, v.12, he sees all the dead standing before it, and in this seen he tells us that there are books being opened, by which the judgement is taking place. Note the fact that there are two sets of books in this seen. One set of books contains the record of all the deeds those standing in judgement have ever done; the second book that’s mentioned is the book of life. Note, if you will, very carefully how those, whoever they are, in this seen in vv.11-15 are judged. ---- If their name is not in the book of life, they must be judged according to the works they have done. Here’s a major point this seen is showing you. Friend, there’s nothing, no work, you can do to earn your salvation. If you’re relying on your good works to get you in, it won’t be enough because all there going to get you is judgement. The security of you salvation is based solely upon whether or not you have placed your faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. (Appeal) So, on that note, I want to conclude with this, whatever you want to make out of the millennium, whichever view you choose to hold, hold it lightly, realizing you can and may well be wrong. The important thing is this, what are you going to do with Jesus?

(Rev. 20 is an expansion of the 7th trumpet, Rev. 11:15-19. The battle of Rev. 19, Armageddon, begins at the end of the 6th trumpet, Rev. 11:11-14. There seems to be a suspension in the activity of deception as the martyrs are raised (i.e., the two witnesses, the martyred church), then, the rest of the dead are raised after the 1000 years. The number 1000 being a symbolic number representative of a “complete” period of time. The number does not necessarily have to refer to a “long” period, but a complete one.)

[1] DA Carson, Revelation lectures, part. 25.

[2] Ibid.