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Revelation 20 The Millennium
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:1-10)
Satan Bound
At the victory of Jesus Christ we read that Satan will
be bound with a great chain and cast into the bottomless pit for 1,000
years. Not only is he bound but he is also gagged, shut up, his mouth
sealed. Jesus is taking no chances. You see Satan’s worst weapon
has always been his mouth. Starting in the garden of Eden, Satan deceived
Eve by his words. In the wilderness Satan tempted Jesus by his words.
The word is also God’s most powerful weapon. By His word He created
the world in six days and by His word the enemy will be defeated. Words
are powerful. The well known saying that the pen is mightier than the
sword is true. Not only is the pen mightier than the sword, it is also
mightier than guns and tanks. The world is in the midst of a revolution
that will ultimately have just as much impact as the industrial revolution.
Those countries that enter into the information age prosper while those
that remain dependant on manufacturing economies see their wealth and
power diminished.
In this world that we live in there is a constant attempt by Satan to
drown out the true word of God. Satan is busy spreading lies so that
the nations will be deceived. Don’t be deceived! Now there was
a time when it was possible to totally isolate yourself from everything
but the Bible and Christian media. Some groups have taken the command
to "Be ye separate" very seriously. They decided that since
the influence of the enemy is so pervasive in this world, they could
best serve God by leaving the world. The Amish in America are a well
known example. They fled persecution in Europe and understood well the
evil that was present in this world. So they decided that they would
base their lives completely on God’s word and not allow any influence
from the world whatsoever. What this led to was a group of people that
are exactly the same as they were 300 years ago. They dress the same,
ride the same style of horse and carriage, build the same kind of houses
with the same kind of tools and speak the same German that their ancestors
spoke. However, that German is spoken by no one else in the whole world.
The language and indeed the whole culture changed around them and they
have become a living museum.
Another kind of isolation is the Suruwaha tribe in Brazil that the Suzukis
minister to. They are so difficult to reach that there is no outside
influence of any kind. Many anthropologists believe that letting missionaries
into this kind of people group will "corrupt" them and lead
them prematurely into the modern world. However, this kind of thinking
leads to a similar "living museum" as the Amish. We do not
have a right to put a glass wall around them as if they were animals
in the zoo, any more than we have a right to march in and force them
to accept our culture. I talked with the Suzukis and found that they
are extremely careful not to give anything to the Suruwaha that they
cannot make themselves. They respect the Suruwaha culture immensely,
but at the same time they see the sin that is inherent in it as well.
The attitude that the Suzukis take into their work is love, it is not
a desire to conquer these people for Christ, or to preserve them for
future research. Instead it is to love them with the love of Christ,
indeed to share that love with them so that they can then in turn receive
back the unique love that God has given to the Suruwaha. There is one
problem that anthropologists have begun to realize. In our time thousands
of languages are being lost as indigenous groups are taking on the national
languages of the countries in which they dwell. When a language is lost,
the most powerful essence of culture is lost with it. What they rarely
acknowledge is that the greatest work in preserving these languages
has been done by Christian missionaries who like the Suzukis have sacrificed
themselves out of love to go and learn the words of these peoples so
that they might translate the love of God into words that they can understand.
I do not believe that it is possible for those of us who live in the
information age to isolate ourselves from the world. We are surrounded
by thousands of words every day that may or may not have their source
in the Devil. How can we keep ourselves from being deceived? Is it possible
to walk through a wall of words every day and not be dragged down by
them? Are we doomed to be slowly worn down by the enemy and tricked
into bondage again? Perhaps you have seen on television the tactics
that the FBI uses in hostage situations. The bright lights and constant
playing of loud recorded messages until the criminals break down under
the strain.. Is Satan doing the same thing to us? I believe that he
is, but we are not without recourse! The answer is to know the truth.
Jesus said, "to know the truth and the truth will set you free."
Satan’s ruse is to keep you ignorant of the freedom that Christ
won for you. Once you know the truth, Satan is powerless to restrain
you from walking in that freedom. But as long as you don’t know
about it you will continue to be a slave. Once you know the truth the
lies of Satan are meaningless. They are easy to dismiss, with no more
thought than if someone told you that the world was flat. No matter
how many times you heard the same statement you could not believe it
once you knew the truth. It is the same with the word of God. Once you
know what the Bible teaches, the lies of the enemy seem almost ridiculous.
They are even contradictory, one moment Satan is calling you a miserable
wretch whom God could never love and the next minute he is casting you
as the master of your own destiny who doesn’t need a god anyway.
I think that the time that we spend trying to determine if this or that
is of the devil would be much wiser used in learning God’s word.
The devil gets trickier and trickier, every year there is some new thing
that he uses to deceive and confuse. If you tried to stay on top of
everything you would be forever one step behind. But God’s word
is always the same. It never changes. All you have to do is learn it
once and you will be able to spot the lies of Satan in an instant.
Satan Released
After a thousand years of Christ and His people ruling
the earth, Satan will be released one more time. And sure enough again
he will spread his lies. And one more time the people will believe it
and rise up to battle against Jesus. Now wait a second? Where do all
these people come from? By this time Jesus has been ruling the world
for 1,000 years in perfect harmony and peace. Without sin or corruption
in the leadership or Satan’s influence in the world you can only
imagine how wonderful this place will be. In fact the Millennium is
the most prophesied event in the whole Old Testament. The hope of the
Jewish people was the reign of the Messiah when justice would prevail
on the whole earth. When you hear of the lion lying down with the lamb
and the whole world coming to Jerusalem to worship God in the prophets,
it is the Millennium that they were talking about. Remember that during
this thousand years, millions and millions will be born. Without war
or corruption, they will be no such thing as famine or violent death.
Even disease will be largely held in check. The population of the earth
that was destroyed during the tribulation period will be replaced by
an incredible surge of those born during the Millennium. But most amazingly,
even those who can see Jesus reigning in power, will still have sin
in their hearts and choose to reject Him.
This army will march on Jerusalem believing the lies of Satan that they
can overthrow Jesus Christ. But the rebellion is put down in an instant
and Satan is cast permanently into the lake of fire.
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20)
The Book of Life
After the rebellion God will suddenly appear on the great
white throne. When God appears it will be as if everything else is insignificant.
The earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for
them. Our whole world, even our whole universe will be meaningless when
God appears in His fullness. At that time everyone who ever lived and
died, whether in ancient times, or today, or even in that thousand year
reign of Christ will stand before God. I have taught many times about
how on that day the books will be opened, one with every good deed you
have every done and another with every sinful deed. These two records
of your life will be compared and invariably you will have the weight
of the evidence against you. But we find in this chapter that there
is a third book. The Book of Life. The word of God tells us that anyone
not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
It does not say that those who were found guilty were cast into the
lake of fire. Indeed if it did there would be none who would be saved.
Everyone of us will be found guilty before that great white throne.
However not every one will be condemned. Because there will be some
whose punishment has already been taken. There will be some who realized
long before that they were guilty and could not hope to be aquitted.
There will be some who dropped to their knees, confessed their sins
and begged the mercy of the court. There will be some who received that
mercy because Jesus Himself took their punishment upon His own body.
There will be some who have their names written in the Book of Life
and they will not be condemned but have everlasting life.
Words are powerful. The truth is that Jesus Christ died on the cross
so that your sins could be forgiven and you could have eternal life.
The lie from Satan is that you won’t be punished, you don’t
need a savior, you can beat God. The truth is that all who call on the
name of Jesus Christ will be saved. Those who have the most powerful
word of all, their name written by God in the Book of Life.
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