May 21, 2017
Evening Service

In chapter 19 we saw the reaction of heaven with the mighty fall of Babylon.  It was a time of praise and rejoicing.  We saw the return of Christ as a warrior accompanied by the armies of heaven all riding white horses.  He was described like this:

Revelation 19:11-13 And I saw Heaven opened. And behold a white horse! And He sitting on him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness He judges and makes war.  (12)  And His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head many crowns. And He had a name written, one that no one knew except Himself.  (13)  And He had been clothed in a garment dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

 

Revelation 19:15-16  And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, so that with it He should strike the nations. And He will shepherd them with a rod of iron. And He treads the winepress of the wine of the anger and of the wrath of Almighty God.  (16)  And He has on His garment, and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

 

The beast, the false prophet and the kings of this earth gathered together with their armies to make war against Christ.  It was a quick and complete victory as the beast and false prophet were captured and thrown into the Lake of Fire and all the others were slain by the sword of our Lord.  It seems strange that this is even called a battle for it takes only 3 short verse to describe the ease in which God overcomes this evil empire.  With the opening of Chapter 20 the Millennium (1,000 years reign of Christ) begins.

 

Revelation 20:1-2  And I saw an angel come down from Heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.  (2)  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. (3) And he cast him into the abyss and shut him up and set a seal on him, that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years should be fulfilled. And after that he must be loosed a little time. 

·         To begin this time of Millennium Satan must be restrained and the angel places him into the bottomless pit.  He cannot roam about deceiving anyone during this time.  It is interesting that John mentions four names of our enemy; dragon, serpent, Devil (accuser), and Satan (adversary).

 

Revelation 20:4-6  And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast nor his image, nor had received his mark on their foreheads, nor in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.  (5)  But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.  (6)  Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. The second death has no authority over these, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him a thousand years.

 

·         This describes the 1,000 year period where the saints of God, His Bride will reign with Him.  There are a lot of details that are not given to us concerning this time.  It appears that those enjoying this time with Christ are His true followers.  Verse calls this the “first resurrection.”  All those present here will not be partakers of the “second death” or the final judgment of men that follows shortly.

·         There are 3 different views taken by Bible scholars concerning this time and the rapture (taking away) of the church.

1.        Premillennialists believe the church is taken up to heaven before the tribulation period begins and don’t experience any of the wrath of God.

2.      Postmillennialists believe the church must endure the tribulation period and the rapture occurs after that time.

3.      Amillennialists believe the rapture occurs sometime during the time of tribulation, most likely after the first 3 ½ years.

 

I believe you can honestly make a case for any of the 3 views.  We all certainly hope that the church is gone before the tribulation, or at least in the middle of it, but we must be prepared to live through it.  This 1,000 year period of Satan being bound appears to follow the church being called out.  This again is one of those points that we have to be able to place on the altar and let God explain it to us when we need it.  We certainly should not wrestle with it or let it cause division among us.  Let’s continue on:

 

Revelation 20:7-10  And when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be loosed out of his prison.  (8)  And he will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle. The number of them is as the sand of the sea.  (9)  And they went up over the breadth of the earth and circled around the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them.  (10)  And the Devil who deceived them was cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet were . And he will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

·         Satan is released and using his skills of deception is able to assemble an impressive army to make a final push at defeating Christ.  This battle just like the one in chapter 19 is very short lived as fire devours them all.  Satan is then was cast into the Lake of Fire joining the beast and false prophet.  Jesus said in Matthew 25 that the Lake of Fire was “created for the devil and his angels.”  Their judgement is final and severe as they will be tormented there day and night for eternity.  Then comes the final judgement of man.

 

Revelation 20:11-15  And I saw a great white throne, and Him sitting on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And a place was not found for them.  (12)  And I saw the dead, the small and the great, stand before God. And books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.  (13)  And the sea gave up the dead in it. And death and hell delivered up the dead in them. And each one of them was judged according to their works.  (14)  And death and hell were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.  (15)  And if anyone was not found having been written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the Lake of Fire.

·         Our God is a loving God, but He is also a just God.  Those who have chosen not to accept the free gift of salvation will stand before Him and answer for it.

·         It says they are judged by their works, but actually it is the Book of Life that matters most.  No amount of good works will get you a free pass to heaven, only the fact that you have or have not accepted Jesus as your personal Savior.  This is the question that will matter most at this time of judgement.

o    Have you have accepted Jesus’ free gift of forgiveness offered upon the cross?

o    If so your name will be written in the Book of Life and your works will be proof of that decision. I believe all those written in the Book of Life will not stand in judgment at this time.  This describes the judgment of only those whose names are not found.  It is them that will stand before this great white throne. If your name is not found you will be judged and then will be cast into the Lake of Fire along with death and hell.  Verse 14 calls this their “second death,” they will be destroyed there.  Life for them will cease to exist.  We will look at this again in more depth in chapter 21.

 

This again leaves a lot of questions in our mind.  What we need to take from this is the importance of establishing a relationship with Christ assuring us that our names are written in that Book of Life.  This judgement is coming and we have the power to choose our outcome.  Ours is a “know so” salvation, there should be no doubt in our mind whether we are saved or not.  And, as we saw this morning, we are to be out sharing the gospel message to those who need to make that important decision before it is too late.

 

Father, thank you for Jesus and the salvation that His blood purchased for me upon Calvary.