Kingdom Come

Introduction

English Standard Version Chapter 25

The Final Judgment

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

English Standard Version Chapter 25

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

English Standard Version Chapter 25

46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

While we wrapped up chapter 25 during our last time together, there were certain aspects of the text that I didn’t have time to touch upon. Whereas, our day-in and day-out preaching regimen is to exposit the Scriptures, book by book, often times there’s occasions and good reasons to take the time to explicitly teach on particular topics. The main goal of expository preaching is to communicate and apply the primary meaning of any given text, so most of our effort is spent there, which also means that we often have to abstain from some of the minor points of a particular text.

For instance, the primary point of Matthew 25:31-46 is to call us to examine ourselves, and to teach us that how we treat one another, as members of Christ’s body, is how Christ will judge us on the last day. He intends for us to know that how we treat one another is an expression of how we treat him. And, of course, this text is a part of a broader context of Jesus’ admonishment to his disciples of how they must be prepared for his return, that he will come at a time that is purposefully unexpected so as to reveal the hearts of men.

However, what I also pointed out in this text, was a smaller point which Jesus taught almost implicitly, a point that he seemed to assume while he was teaching, but that he made clear when he said that those on his left, that is, the goats, “will go away into eternal punishment.” Now, Jesus wasn’t only teaching that some would be punished at the final judgement, but that they would experience eternal or everlasting punishment. And it’s texts like these, combined with other similar texts, that inform our understanding of the nature of hell, what it will be like. In this case, Jesus said it will be everlasting punishment.

And while this isn’t the primary emphasis of this block of text, it’s still important for our understanding of the doctrine of hell. So the Bible doesn’t always present the doctrines that we glean from it in a direct didactic style. For instance, we don’t see Jesus sitting down with his disciples to have a singular discussion on all the finer points concerning the doctrine of hell, instead we glean Jesus’ teaching on hell by everything else Jesus has said, everywhere else in the Gospels, and we compare those statements with what others in the Scriptures teach concerning the subject, so as to come to a biblical conclusion of what is true.

So, it’s often a good idea to dedicate a message, or a series of messages on a particular topic that may not, as frequently as it should, find its way into an expository sermon. One example, was our sermon series on the doctrine of the Trinity last year, while there are a lot of texts that teach this doctrine, that come to bear upon this subject, they’re scattered all throughout the Scriptures, so we took four weeks to focus on the Bible’s witness to this particular doctrine.

Parousia marked by judgement

Which is why I want to spend some more time here in Matthew chapter 25, to take the opportunity to focus particularly on biblical eschatology, or the doctrine of last things (i.e. end times). In Matthew 25 Jesus teaches us, in passing, additional details about his coming, starting there in verse 31, that I think we’re prone to miss, so read with me again there in verse 31, he says,

English Standard Version Chapter 25

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

Now, while we probably read that without thinking much about it, Jesus tells us something very informative concerning his second coming, he says that when the Son of Man comes in all his glory, that all of the angels will be with him and that he will sit on his glorious throne, so when Jesus comes all of his angels will come with him. And what will he do then? Well, it says there in verse 33 that before him will be gathered all the nations, and that he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. In other words, when Jesus comes it’ll be a day of reckoning, a day of judgement, and Jesus has brought the angels with him to carry out that objective.

You might recall the Parable of the Weeds back in Matthew 13 when Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When his servants discover what has happened their master tells them to leave the weeds alone until the harvest when the reapers will gather the weeds into bundles to be burned. Then, later in chapter 13, when Jesus explains the parable to his disciples, he tells them that, “the Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

So, when we read in Matthew 25 that when the Son of Man comes that he’ll bring with him all of his angels, it’s quite clear what purpose these angels are intended to serve. They’ve come to carry out Jesus’ command to separate the people one from another, like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. They’ve come to gather out of his kingdom the law-breakers, and to throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Now, I point all of this out because the clear assumption here is that when Jesus comes, so will final judgement. There will be no second chances, and this is why he admonishes his disciples to be ready. And what’s significant about this? Well, what’s significant is that while everyone in the church today is taught that judgement will follow Christ’s second coming, many are also taught that before judgement comes, there will be an intervening, literal, 1,000 year reign of Christ on the earth. And so the significance of this text, and others like it, is that Jesus doesn’t give us any indication of a thousand year span of time that will separate his coming from his judgement. In fact, he seems to indicate that his coming will be marked by the final judgement.

So while the lion’s share of eschatological material, or at least most of the details, are found predominately in chapter 24, remember, both 24 and 25 span the entire Olivet Discourse. What we read in chapter 25 is related to what was said in chapter 24, and so all of 25 is part of that eschatological conversation. Remember, chapter 25 is all about how we ought to be ready for Jesus’ unexpected return that we learned about in chapter 24. And by the time we get to this last teaching concerning the final judgement Jesus adds more eschatological details to the conversation. Again, he seems to indicate that his coming will be marked by final judgement, and that there’s not an intervening 1,000 year reign between his coming and the final judgement. And this is what I want to zero in on today. That we’re not intended to look for a millennial kingdom in the future but that the kingdom has already come. That the millennial kingdom that many assume will begin at Jesus’ second coming began at his first.

Tertiary matters

Now, I mentioned this on the outset of our study in Matthew 24, but it’s worth mentioning it again here. As we study eschatology, or the end times, we have to be careful. We have to 1) be careful to remember which doctrines are essential to our faith, and which ones are not. That’s not to say secondary and tertiary doctrines don’t matter at all, they certainly do (otherwise we’d skip them altogether). All doctrine has an impact on the Christian life, what we believe has consequences, no matter how small. It’s why I’m going to preach on eschatology today and why I’m going to give you my best understanding of these things. But the question is which doctrines are essential to our faith for salvation. We don’t want to major on the minors and minor on the majors.

And 2) we must have charity for one another on the non-essentials, so as not to become divisive on lesser matters, because if we’re not careful we can overemphasize the importance of our eschatological positions, and do harm to one another. Much of eschatology involves secondary or tertiary issues. What’s essential within eschatology that we must all agree upon is that Jesus is coming back, and that he hasn’t come back yet, but almost every other issue is going to fall into the non-essentials category.

Some of my favorite preachers held, or hold to, differing views of eschatology, yet I’d commend them all to you. The late R.C. Sproul held to eschatological convictions that are altogether different than what his close friend John MacArthur teaches today, while many of the Puritans were convinced of even a third way. So at various times throughout church history different eschatological positions have been more or less prominent.

Eschatological positions

Now, the three most common eschatological positions throughout church history have been 1) premillennialism, 2) postmillennialism, and 3) amillennialism. All three of these positions boil down to their view of the millennial kingdom and the timing of Christ’s return.

For example, premillennialism, which is most prevalent today, argues that Christ will return before the millennial kingdom, and that the nature of that kingdom will be a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ on the earth. For the majority of my Christian life I held this view, not necessarily because I had studied it extensively, but largely because it was the only view I had heard.

However, what I’ve been arguing for throughout Matthew 24 & 25, and will continue to argue for today, is the amillennial position. In general, this position argues that the nature of the millennial kingdom is largely spiritual, and that Christ inaugurated this millennial kingdom at his first coming, and that he will return at the end of the millennium on a day that we do not expect.

And it’s texts like these in Matthew 25 that I think contribute to our understanding of how and when Christ will return. As we saw earlier, Jesus indicated that his coming would be marked specifically by judgement. That when he comes, final judgement comes with him. Whereas the prevailing eschatological view in our day, which is, again, premillennialism, teaches that final judgement won’t occur until 1,000 years after Christ’s second coming. The premillennialist adds a gap of 1,000 years between Christ’s second coming and the final judgement.

Satan bound

And the premillennialist does this for a couple of reasons, one of those reasons is because of a reference in Revelation chapter 20 to Satan being bound for a thousand years, so go ahead turn with me to the Book of Revelation, chapter 20, starting in verse 1, and we’ll have a look at this together. The Apostle John writes,

English Standard Version Chapter 20

The Thousand Years

20 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

The premillennialist points out that the devil will be bound for a thousand years, and therefore Revelation 20 must be referring to a time after Jesus’ second coming, because in 1 Peter 5:8, Peter warns the church that,

English Standard Version Chapter 5

Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

In other words, Peter clearly teaches us that the devil is actively prowling around like a roaring lion today, therefore Revelation 20 can’t be referring to the time before Jesus’ second coming, instead John must be talking about a time after Jesus’ second coming. A time when Jesus comes and binds Satan for a thousand years. This is why the premillennialist inserts a gap of 1,000 years between Jesus’ second coming and the final judgement.

Cannot deceive the nations

However, I think the premillennialist overlooks an important detail when reading Revelation 20. Notice in verse 3, I’ll start in verse 2, we read,

English Standard Version Chapter 20

2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended.

So what does this verse indicate Satan is bound from doing? Well, it says that he’s bound so that he might not deceive the nations. The text does not argue that Satan is altogether bound from any activity at all, but instead that he’s bound that he might not deceive the nations. And we also have to realize that the Book of Revelation is not simply a straightforward narrative of future events. It’s primarily a book or prophecy, and John uses prophetic and apocalyptic language to describe spiritual realities in order to give the persecuted church hope.

So what John is doing in Revelation 20 is describing Jesus’ first coming, and he describes the event as Jesus seizing the great dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, and binding him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, that the gospel of the kingdom might be proclaimed and triumph throughout the whole world.

In fact, in Revelation chapter 12 John describes Satan as being thrown down from heaven by Michael and his angels. Go ahead and turn over with me to Revelation chapter 12, starting in verse 7,

English Standard Version Chapter 12

Satan Thrown Down to Earth

7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

Here we see a behind the curtain of Christ’s first coming. That a war arises in heaven against the dragon, who is the devil, and he is defeated, the deceiver of the whole world, along with his angels, are thrown out of heaven and down onto the earth. Then John hears a loud voice in heaven saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of the brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

Satan has been defeated but he remains on the earth, and like Peter says prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, knowing that his time is short. In fact, we read in Luke 10:17 that after Jesus had sent out his 72 disciples they returned with great joy, saying,

English Standard Version Chapter 10

“Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

And later during the passover feast before Jesus’ crucifixion Jesus says to his disciples in John 12, verse 30, that,

English Standard Version Chapter 12

31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

And when the Apostle Paul is describes to the church in Colossae the wonders of Jesus’ work on the cross Jesus says in Colossians 2:15 that,

Colossians 2:15 ESV

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

My point is that the initial defeat and binding of Satan took place at Jesus’ first coming, and it paved the way for the gospel and the kingdom of heaven to advance, which we witness most vividly in the Book of Acts, and the many centuries since.

1,000 years

But if Revelation 20 is speaking of a time that began at Jesus’ first coming, why then does John describe it as a 1,000 years? Hasn’t more than a 1,000 years elapsed since Jesus’ first coming? Well, again, It’s vital for us to remember that the Book of Revelation is not historical narrative, in other words, it’s not like the Gospels that are primarily accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry, what Jesus did and what Jesus said. Revelation is not what we call historical narrative, it’s not simply a straightforward narrative of future events. Instead the Book of Revelation is primarily a book of prophecy and apocalyptic literature, which means it’s primarily a book of symbols. The Book of Revelation could be described as a picture book. The symbols are intended to elicit vivid imagery within the mind of its reader.

And when the Apostle John wrote this book he drew from a vast collection of OT imagery to communicate hope to the persecuted church. He used symbols that they would be familiar with to paint a picture of was taking place from a spiritual perspective, both what had already happened and what would happen in the future. Therefore, our default method of interpretation for the Book of Revelation should not be to interpret the text as we would a historical narrative. And that doesn’t mean we don’t take the text seriously, or that we get to make it mean whatever we want, but that we should assume that John’s language is symbolic unless he tells us otherwise.

Listen to Revelation 20:1-3 again,

English Standard Version Chapter 20

The Thousand Years

20 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

There’s nothing in the context here that indicates to us that we should understand the thousand years to be taken literally, in fact, if we took the thousand years literally then we should also take the key to the bottomless pit literally too, as well as the chain that the angel binds the devil with. We have to be careful how we choose what’s to be taken literally in a prophetic book like Revelation where symbols are typically the default mode of communication.

Now, you might ask, if the thousand years isn’t intended to be taken literally then what does it mean? Well, as I said earlier, the Apostle John draws from a vast collection of pre-existing OT imagery and symbols when he writes his book, and because John draws his imagery from the OT we can use the OT to help us understand what he’s telling us in the Book of Revelation.

Listen to Psalm 50:10,

English Standard Version Psalm 50

10  For every beast of the forest is mine,

the cattle on a thousand hills.

and then listen to Deuteronomy 7:9,

Deuteronomy 7:9 ESV

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

and then Job 9:3,

Job 9:3 ESV

If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times.

and then Joshua 23:10,

Joshua 23:10 ESV

One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, just as he promised you.

or Psalm 84:10,

Psalm 84:10 ESV

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

and then even the Apostle Peter uses this same number to describe God’s patience in 2 Peter 3:8,

2 Peter 3:8 ESV

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

I have 16 texts like these in my notes, and I’ve only listed six of them. And my point is that it was normative for the writers of the both the OT and NT to use the number 1,000 to describe a prolonged period of time, or a large indefinite amount. Which sounds very similar to what we’ve seen in Matthew 24 and 25, when Jesus tells his disciples that no one knows the day or the hour of his coming, and then goes on to describe his second coming in parables as one that seems delayed, that Jesus’ second coming is taking longer than expected.

Conclusion

So, at Jesus’ first coming Satan is thrown out of heaven and bound from deceiving the nations, that the gospel of the kingdom might spread throughout the whole world. And as the devil is bound for a 1,000 years the kingdom of heaven expands, and the church grows, one soul at a time, from every nation, tribe and tongue under heaven until Christ finally returns with his angels, to separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

And the reality that the kingdom has come should give us great hope in the face of our earthly circumstances, which can often appear dire and hopeless. While it may appear at times that the kingdom of darkness will swallow us all John reminds us that in fact the devil has been thrown down, that he has already been defeated, and that the devil comes with great wrath only because he know that his time is short!

Now, in the weeks ahead we’re going to look more closely at the nature of this kingdom, and how the Scriptures describe this kingdom as we experience it now, and as we will experience it at Christ’s second coming.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we’re in awe of your great might, that by your hand the ruler of this world has been cast out. That your Son, by his death and resurrection, disarmed the demonic rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them. That they have been conquered by the blood of the Lamb and word of our testimony. Lord, embolden us to bear witness to what you’ve done. I pray that texts like Revelation 12 and Revelation 20 would give us hope and boldness in the face of troubling earthly circumstances.