Your Personal End Times: After the Resurrection
Pastor Marty Tuesday, October 2, 2018 at 12:45PM Revelation 20:1-10. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 30, 2018.
Last week we established that at Christ’s Second Coming believers will either be resurrected, or they will simply return with Him having been resurrected earlier (pre-trib, mid-trib, or pre-wrath). For many reasons I lean towards the view that sees the resurrection happening prior to the tribulation. However, it has been humorously pointed out by others that perhaps the best view is those who are “pan-trib,” that is who believe that it will all pan out in the end. Our salvation has nothing to do with our ability to completely understand the timing of these events, and therefore, we should be very careful to avoid being overly dogmatic about our opinions in this matter.
Today we will pick up after the point that Christ has had the Beast and the False Prophet thrown into the Lake of Fire. Also the kings of the earth and their armies have been destroyed by Christ and His armies. Remember, they had been gathered together to try and thwart the coming of Christ. We will continue to follow the Apostle John’s narrative in chapter 20 of the book of The Revelation.
However, before we do, let me say a word concerning how we interpret Revelation. Even though Revelation has symbolism in it, I still believe it is intended to have a literal meaning. What I mean by this is that we should take its words at face value. If they point to symbolism then we take it symbolically, and if they don’t then we don’t. Of course it is easy to want to take everything as symbolism. I think Dr. Ron Rhodes of Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries says it best. He was a regular on the Christian Research Institute’s “Bible Answer Man” program while Dr. Walter Martin ran it. He says, “My policy is that when the plain sense makes good sense, seek no other sense, lest you end up in nonsense.” If we make everything a symbol (even allegory) and nothing is taken at face value, then there is no end to the imaginary interpretations that we can come up with and torture the text to agree with them. Thus we look for clues and direction from the text whether something is symbolic or literal.
Satan is bound in the bottomless pit
As chapter 20 opens we find the familiar Satan being chained in the bottomless pit. Some try to interpret this as something that happened in the past and that the events of chapter 20 only describe the Church Age. However, it stretches the imagination to believe that the Second Coming of Jesus and the jailing of Satan is only a symbol for something that happened in the first century. It has been stated that if Satan has been in prison over the last 2,000 years then “His chain is too long.” Yet, this view does not make sense in light of Scripture. Believers are cautioned against an unchained enemy. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Thus Revelation 20 gives us the assurance that once Jesus physically returns to earth, Satan will be imprisoned in what John calls the Bottomless Pit. This is most likely synonymous with Tartarus of Peter’s letter (2 Peter 2:4-6). Though we have not studied through Revelation in this series, Revelation 9 and 11 both state that the Beast rises up out of the Bottomless Pit. Now whether that means the Beast is a manifesting, fallen angel, or that a spirit that comes out of the Bottomless Pit will inhabit a willing human, it seems to be the place in which God imprisons spirit beings. It is also interesting to note the irony that Satan tried to hold Christ prisoner in the grave. Now the tables are turned.
In Revelation 12:9 and here in verse 2 several things are tied together. The serpent of old is a reference to the Garden of Eden. It wasn’t just a snake that tricked Eve. It really was an inter-dimensional being from among the Sons of God who was speaking to her that day. Satan is also called the dragon, which connects with serpent and dragon passages of the prophetic books in the Old Testament. The serpent-dragon-sea creature is an image of evil that goes back to the beginning of mankind and points to this being, Satan or the devil.
We are told that the purpose of this imprisonment is so that he will no lo longer be able to deceive the nations while Christ is physically ruling over the nations of the earth. Scripture does indict mankind for its rebellion and sin. However, it also points out that man’s sin has been made worse through the spiritual interference of Satan and his angels. We really are being played and spurred on by supernatural forces. This is seen in the Garden of Eden where Satan himself tempts Eve to rebel against God. In Genesis 6 we again see the spiritual interference as the Sons of God (a class of spirit beings) come down to mankind and lead them in wickedness. After the flood we are once again confronted with spiritual interference as God judges the Tower of Babel project and rejects the nations. Deuteronomy 32:8 and Psalm 82, make it clear that the spiritual powers who were supposed to help mankind, forsook their proper duty and encouraged mankind in wickedness. The New Testament often refers to the powers of the air and the prince of this world as spiritual forces. What a groan of relief will come from the collective mouth of mankind as Satan and his spiritual forces are removed from the earth. It is hard to conceive of what that will be like since it is all we have ever known.
Next we are told that he is bound for 1,000 years and then he will be released for a little while. We will come back to that later. Now in the Old Testament many passages speak of the Messiah’s reign over all the earth and how it will be a time of peace. Passages like Zechariah 14, Isaiah 11, and Isaiah 65 are just a few. However, none of them give a length for it. In fact, we could say that even in Revelation it doesn’t end after 1,000 years. Rather, it goes into a new stage. It is here that it is twice stated that there will be a period of 1,000 years in which Satan is bound and Christ rules. This is where we get the term “Millennium” for the time of Christ’s earthly rule. It means one thousand years. Some try to make this a symbolic number by saying that it only means a long period of time. But 1,000 years makes complete sense and there is nothing in the text that requires us to make it symbolic. Most nations or empires last hundreds of years. Thus the Messiah’s rule lasting a thousand is most likely literal and points to his wisdom and power. It is even more insulting to the intelligence of the average person to say that we are in this period right now. We are not in the Millennium and the earthly rule of Christ has not yet begun, regardless of those who say it is symbolically occurring right now.
Jesus reigns with his saints in the millennium
Starting in verse 4 we turn away from Satan and towards the governance. It is interesting that we are not given much description of life during the 1,000 years. We are only told about its setting up and its ending. However, the Old Testament passages that point to Messiah’s reign do give us a flavor of what it will be like.
We are told that thrones are set up and “they sat upon them.” The “they” does not have a clear antecedent, but I believe it points back to Christ and His holy ones, or saints. We are told that we will be in charge of judging angels in 1 Corinthians 6:3. Thus the beginning of this period will no doubt include the judgment of those angels who have worked with Satan to abuse mankind, and also would include the judgments of Matthew 25 where the nations are judged and separated into the sheep and the goats.
Verse 4 also directly references that the souls of those beheaded during the Beast’s horrible, but short, reign will live and reign with Christ. Some people think that this must be when the resurrection happens. However, it doesn’t actually say it happens at that time. And, even if it does, it doesn’t preclude an earlier resurrection. I think the point is the same as that in 1 Thessalonians 4. It is easy to fear that those who are killed or die before Christ’s coming will somehow miss out. Here our minds are set at ease that even those who were dying in those last years will be able to reign in the millennium.
In verse 5 we are told that this is the First Resurrection. Now this must mean something more than just first in sequence because Jesus was the first to be resurrected and this happened many years before the events of Revelation 20 (John clearly knew this). In Matthew 27:52-53 we are also told that some of the Old Testament saints were resurrected at the same time as Jesus and even went into the city and “appeared to many.” In Revelation 11, we also have the resurrection of the two witnesses who even ascend into heaven. We have also talked about the clear possibility that there is a wholesale gathering together of believers in immortal form in heaven. Thus in relation to Revelation 20, this is the first resurrection (Note: that the second resurrection is in verses 12-13 and involves the wicked dead being brought before God for judgment). However, in relation to the previous resurrection it is of the same kind. Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20-23). The First Resurrection is the Resurrection of the righteous and there is an order and timing to it that involves at least two events (the firstfruits and the gathering) and perhaps more. The First Resurrection is a class of resurrection in which those who belong to Christ are raised up in the order that God has decreed.
Some seem to get the idea that only saints who are killed in the tribulation get to participate in the millennium, but this is not what John is trying to say. Rather, he is emphasizing that they will not miss out. They too will be resurrected and participate in this millennial kingdom. As it says, the saints will be priests who reign with Christ throughout this 1,000 years.
The final rebellion occurs
Verse 7 begins another transition in the text. We now jump to the end of the 1,000 years and Satan is released from his prison in the Bottomless Pit. Of course, as if on cue, he immediately begins to deceive the nations. I would assume some time elapses here. However, it seems that he is able to gather an army that surrounds the capital city of Jesus and the saints. This is presumably Jerusalem, though it is not named in the passage. There is not much fan fare. Rather, John describes a fire coming down from God out of heaven to destroy the army (verse 9) Because verse 11 has the earth and the heavens fleeing away from the presence of God and the emergence of a New Heaven and a New earth, some connect this fire from God with 2 Peter 3. This seems to be a cosmic melt down in which the elements completely dissolve. This creation is doomed to be consumed by a fiery conflagration. Of course such a fire is not a problem for those who are immortal.
Lastly in verse 10 we are told that the devil is thrown into the Lake of Fire where he is to be tormented night and day forever. Finally the arch-deceiver will come to an end as God separates him from all of creation and especially the creation which is to follow this event.
As we bring our time today to a close, it is good to ask ourselves why God would allow Satan another shot. Why not throw him in the Lake of Fire to begin with? There seems to be a point that God is making with the millennium and the final rebellion. Even when God steps in forcefully, removes evil, and enforces good, many people will still choose evil. Man is not basically good, and neither is his evil only from his environment. No we are capable of choosing evil even when we have enjoyed the good life and perfect peace. So check your heart today. Where are you spiritually? Don’t let the devil and his lies deceive you into thinking that God is something to be cast aside or attacked. In the end God’s plan will happen. The only question is where you will fit in that equation. Choose life!