The millennial reign: REVELATION 20:7-10
REVELATION 20:7-10. AND WHEN THE THOUSAND YEARS ARE EXPIRED, SATAN SHALL BE LOOSED OUT OF HIS PRISON AND SHALL 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 WHOM IS AS THE SAND OF THE SEA.
AND THEY WENT UP ON THE BREADTH OF THE EARTH AND COMPASSED THE CAMP OF THE SAINTS ABOUT AND THE BELOVED CITY AND FIRE CAME DOWN FROM GOD OUT OF HEAVEN AND DEVOURED THEM. AND THE DEVIL THAT DECEIVED THEM WAS CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE WHERE THE BEAST AND THE FALSE PROPHET ARE AND SHALL BE TORMENTED DAY AND NIGHT FOREVER AND EVER.
The millennial reign is the 1000 year period of peace and righteousness following the second coming of Jesus Christ who will reign over the earth during this time. During the reign of Christ Jesus on Earth, Satan will be bound and sealed in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, and he will have no influence over the earth to deceive mankind. That old serpent, which is the devil, that old serpent which has plagued mankind, will have absolutely no influence on the world for 1000 years. Can you imagine what the world will be like? Can you imagine 1000 years of complete and utter peace? Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost In his book Things to Come states quote,
"THE MILLENNIUM WILL BE THE PERIOD OF THE FULL MANIFESTATION OF THE GLORY OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. THERE WILL BE THE MANIFESTATION OF GLORY ASSOCIATED WITH THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST"
"THERE WILL BE THE GLORY OF THE GLORIOUS DOMINION IN WHICH CHRIST, BY VIRTUE OF HIS OBEDIENCE UNTO DEATH, IS GIVEN UNIVERSAL DOMINION TO REPLACE THAT DOMINION WHICH ADAM LOST"
"THERE WILL BE THE GLORY OF A GLORIOUS GOVERNMENT IN WHICH CHRIST, AS DAVID'S SON, IS GIVEN ABSOLUTE POWER TO GOVERN. THERE WILL BE THE GLORY OF A GLORIOUS INHERITANCE IN WHICH THE LAND AND THE SEED PROMISED TO ABRAHAM ARE REALIZED THROUGH CHRIST". End quote. Once the 1000 years have elapsed, Satan will be released.
And once he is released, he resumes his intense opposition to God and God's people. We see that Satan organizes an army that consists of the people of the earth in another rebellion against God. Satan raises his last army. The question arises, If Jesus has reigned so wonderfully for a thousand years, then why will some people on the earth uprise against him? They will do it. And God will allow it as a final demonstration of man's rebellion and depravity. After a thousand years of living in a thriving, perfectly righteous, perfectly prosperous Christ ruled world, people will still uprise against God. Imagine that although people will live in a perfect world, people will still uprise against God. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. When has this happened? Before. The garden. Adam and Eve lived in a wonderful utopian world with God, but yet they rebelled against him and the people who will live during this 1000 year period and the people who are born during this 1000 years will not know anything other than the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Outwardly they will conform, but inwardly, inwardly, their hearts will be full of rebellion.
JEREMIAH 17:9 THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS AND DESPERATELY WICKED. WHO CAN KNOW IT?
Oh, the thousand years of Christ's righteous reign is a beacon of hope, a period of divine restoration where righteousness and peace will join each other, where the lion and the lamb will lie down together. And yet, even under the benevolent reign of our Lord, the unregenerate heart persists in its rebellion, its baffling, yet profoundly revealing the stubbornness of the human heart, how it, even amidst perfect conditions amidst boundless blessings and unrivaled peace, still clings to the shadows of sin and prefers the darkness over the light.
You see, brethren, the heart untouched by the redeeming blood of the lamb, untouched by divine grace, is a fertile ground for rebellion. This millennial reign is a divine example, revealing the true colors of the human heart. And yet some hearts remain cold, remain unresponsive to the king of kings. Ah, what a significant illustration this is. How often have men pointed their fingers to their surroundings, to their circumstances, justifying their sinful natures by blaming the world around them? Oh, it was the family I was born into. Oh, it was the society, the system that made me this way. I am a product of my environment. This millennial kingdom of unparalleled peace and righteousness is God's answer to man's perennial blaming game. It will once again be demonstrated that regardless of his benefits and surroundings, man, absent the grace of God and the new birth maintains a heart that is solely evil and in hostility with God.
Understand this Church of Jesus Christ. God will remove every external factor man blames for his sinful condition. No more Satan to tempt, no more evil to corrupt. A thousand years of a utopian world under the direct rulership of Christ Jesus, these people will be able to see Christ and all of His glory. And what will be revealed that the problem is not external, but internal. It is the heart of man that is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? The Bible informs us that our hearts are deceitful and they are not merely deceitful. They are desperately wicked. You may say to me, Pastor, I know my heart. I am sure of my heart. But are you certain? The truth is you don't genuinely know your heart because to claim such knowledge is to claim you know how you will react. In every single situation, there exists circumstances that can prompt an individual to act out of character. You don't know your heart. You don't know your breaking point, the point that can push you to behave unexpectedly. Life can introduce situations that push you to your limits, where you commit acts you never envisioned committing. Are you aware that there are individuals in prison at this moment because they committed acts they never thought they would? People have ruined their lives by performing deeds they never believed they were capable of.
You don't know your heart. You don't know the evil receding in the human heart, observing all the convicts in prison. I assure you, if you were to see their childhood photos, you wouldn't have foreseen their future as murderers. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Nobody knows the extent of evil. The human heart can conceive. Some propagate the idea that humans are inherently good. This is not the case. The unknown wickedness in people's hearts surprises us often. How often have we heard? I don't know what made me do that, or I don't know what came over me or I don't know why I did that. And the truth is, they genuinely don't know why the heart is deceitful. The human heart is infected with sin. It's not the imperfect environment. It's the imperfect heart, the heart that, when left to its own devices, will choose rebellion over obedience, shadows over light and sin over righteousness. When you. Manatee is given a world without crime, without pain, without tears. A world ruled by the Prince of peace himself. And still. Still, there are those who will choose to rebel at the first opportunity. It demonstrates unequivocally that the problem is ingrained within us.
Now, what surprises me is that these people who will be deceived and recruited into the army of Satan are not a few in number, but they are a great multitude that cannot be numbered. The Bible states the following regarding the vast size and scale of Satan's army. Quote, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. End quote. This boggles my mind every time I read this passage of Scripture, because I cannot understand how Satan can recruit so many people after 1000 years of perfect peace. It does not make sense to me. It baffles my mind. But then again, this shows how powerful Satan's deception is and will be during this period.
There are some atheists and agnostics who state the following line. Quote,
"I WOULD BELIEVE IN GOD AND EVEN FOLLOW HIM IF I HAD PROOF HE EXISTED OR IF I SAW HIM"
end quote. No, you wouldn't. That is a lie. No, you wouldn't. And this period will prove it. Although people will physically see the Lord Jesus Christ, they will still rebel against him. I struggle to understand a person who rebels against the Lord after seeing him in his glory and all his beauty and all of his kindness. We can see another example of how hard mankind's heart can be against God. The Bible states that during the Great Tribulation, people will know the reason why all of these disastrous events are happening. But rather than repenting and seeking forgiveness from the Lord, men shall seek death.
REVELATION 6:16 AND SAID TO THE MOUNTAINS AND ROCKS FALL ON US AND HIDE US FROM THE FACE OF HIM. THAT SITTETH ON THE THRONE AND FROM THE WRATH OF THE LAMB.
This proves the fact God doesn't send anyone to hell or anyone to heaven. Individuals are given the choice and they choose heaven or choose hell. The rich man, whilst in the depths of hell, attempted to get Father Abraham to send someone from the dead to preach to his brothers. However, Father Abraham said, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced, even if someone rises from the dead. Even in our world today, there is evidence and proof of God. Christianity is not a faith built on blind faith. There is real, tangible evidence that shows the reality of God. Unfortunately, people decide not to seek for the evidence that can be found.
In addition to this, the God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. Christianity is an extremely rational faith. I encourage you to read a book written by
NORMAN GEISLER AND FRANK TUREK CALLED I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH FAITH TO BE AN ATHEIST.
And in this book, you will discover the reliability of the New Testament accounts concerning Jesus back to the end of the Millennial reign of Christ Jesus. Of course, there will be a lot of people that will be born during the Millennial reign of Christ Jesus, and they will have no idea what it's like to live in a world with the devil, to live in a world like the world we live in today.
They will not know the world we know full of crime, greed, deceit and backbiting. However, there will be a great multitude who have lived through the Millennial reign of Christ Jesus, who will be in this army of Satan.
REVELATION 20:9 THEY WENT UP ON THE BREADTH OF THE EARTH AND COMPASSED THE CAMP OF THE SAINTS ABOUT AND THE BELOVED CITY AND FIRE CAME DOWN FROM GOD OUT OF HEAVEN AND DEVOURED THEM.
This great vast army that Satan has gathered is destroyed with fire that comes from heaven. This great and vast army doesn't even so much as put up a fight against the Lord. This is something we need to understand clearly. Satan is not the opposite of God. People tend to view Satan as the opposite of God or the opposite equal to God. He is not the opposite. Equal to God. Yes, in some aspects he is the opposite. God is light and Satan is darkness. God is good. Satan is evil. However, when it comes to power, Satan is not even in the league of God. The Lord God Almighty is in a classification of his own. Satan, you must remember, is a created being, whilst the Lord God Almighty is the Father of creation. God is all powerful and Satan is powerful, but he is not all powerful.
And this is evident in how easily and how quickly Satan's vast and great army is. Fleetly and utterly devoured without even amounting any resistance. And we see in the very next verse that the devil is cast into the lake of Fire.
REVELATION 20:10. AND THE DEVIL THAT DECEIVED THEM WAS CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE, WHERE THE BEAST AND THE FALSE PROPHET ARE AND SHALL BE TORMENTED DAY AND NIGHT FOREVER AND EVER.
At the beginning of the 1000 years, the Antichrist and the false prophet are cast into the lake of Fire. These two are both cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. It is interesting to note that these two are rightly the first two people to be cast into the Lake of Fire, but they are the only two individuals who are not judged before going their. Everyone else cast into the Lake of Fire goes through the great White throne judgment first. However, these two are placed into the lake of fire alive and they are later on joined by Satan. Notice how the Bible clearly tells us in Revelation chapter 20, verse ten, that in this lake of fire, the Antichrist and the false prophet are there. I think this is to show us the fact this place is an eternal place. It is a place where people do not cease to exist, but rather are there forever and ever. Eternity is forever. We are eternal beings.
0 Comments