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I’m going to invite you to Revelation chapter 20, that’s where we’re at together today, Revelation chapter 20. And I want you to know this is the chapter where I’ve, I’ve, I’ve finally got to reveal my cards on what I believe about about the book of Revelation in terms of my eschatological opinion, in fact for for some of you that are more eschatological nerds, that means study of the end times. Those that really like focusing on this, I got to tell you, I know Revelation has been hard for you to go through with me. I have had some of you in my office reminding me of this. When are you going to tell us? You know exactly what you think. And, and and it’s been very intentional in how I’ve approached this because I have found in my history of being taught this book, one of the things that I have really been concerned over is that people are really quick to jump to application in the book of Revelation, without really understanding the images that are used in Revelation or what apocalyptic literature is about. And because of that, it becomes very abusive with this book. And in fact, you end up doing some things that I think are more damaging than helpful sometimes, and not you specifically, but I think we can do this as people where in listening to people talk about Revelation, I have heard people say wild things, things like you know, when it comes to the Antichrist trying to figure out who is that Antichrist.
Right. I’ve heard people say things like, you know, it’s it’s it’s Princess Diana. I’ve heard that. Or the Pope or whatever president that someone didn’t like. You know, it’s just trying to identify those things. And then when you read about certain wars that are happening in Revelation, people will get angry towards a particular group of people in the world and say, it’s those people, you know, they’re the ones that the Antichrist is going to use. And, and and one of the things I found that people have done with Revelation that can be damaging. I mean, one day this whole book will come to culmination, right? All of it will conclude. But when you when you when you think about Revelation, you think this book has existed for 20 centuries and every century has thought, oh, this is the this is it, right? This is we are the century, right? So all it’s been an irrelevant book for everyone else until now. And now we’re the group, right? That’s the way people have viewed it. And they try to put it on this, this timeline and these charts, trying to convince you that this is this specific moment right now. And those are the bad people, and that’s the bad person. And this is how it’s all going to work. And and it just makes you pause and think, well, what about, you know, everyone else that’s existed for 19 other centuries is that is this is just irrelevant for them.
It’s just like, throw it on the end. You guys won’t need it for 1900 years, right? Like, is that really what God intends for the book of Revelation? You know, I have intentionally gone through this book and rather than just jump to application, wanted us to understand the rich imagery that John uses and where he’s drawing it from in Scripture, so that when we start to make application, we have a, a healthy basis for for building our understanding of God’s Word and how it relates to us. Because after all, remember the whole point of Book of Revelation is not for you to fill out your eschatology charts. Now, there’s certainly a place for understanding eschatology here, and it’s important. Eschatology is important. Our hope is wrapped up in that. But but more than that, it’s critical to remember. The Book of Revelation was written to a church that was being persecuted, and the point of the book is to encourage and inspire God’s people in worship, that you win in the midst of of the midst of the battle of life and the struggle that is this world and the fallen Babylonian broken world, that you’re victorious in Jesus, and don’t lose sight of that. Continue to worship and grow in him. Right. That’s the that’s the whole idea of this book is, is compelling us as as God’s people to pursue the Lord in this way.
In fact, when you think about the. The idea of chapter 20, we’ve titled it this way for truths that that inspire perseverance. And this is helping us to understand really, how is it all going to end? Well, how is this all going to work out? And when it comes to the idea of understanding how it’s going to work out, these last few chapters really spell out the end for us. And when you think about persevering in the Lord, you know, I hope for, for, for myself, as I think about this title, that the sweetness of this title will become more endearing to me with every passing day. And the reason for that is because hopefully my relationship with Jesus continues to deepen. And I recognize with each passing day, I’m closer to seeing Jesus face to face than I was the day before. And heaven becomes more valuable to me because of that. And therefore the the desire to want to persevere faithfully in the Lord is important for me. And another way to look at this chapter would be how do you respond when you stare, when you’re staring evil in the face. Because what you’re going to see in this chapter is God is about to put evil on trial. That judgment is going to take place.
So in the midst of of of the struggle of life, how do I persevere? How do I remain faithful? What are what are those truths for us as God’s people? Knowing this book was written to encourage us in adversity. In fact, you look at the first century, the church facing persecution. John’s writing this letter. Remember, he’s on the island of Patmos because of his faith in Jesus. He’s been exiled and banished to this island for prisoners. And John is the only remaining apostle. All the others have been martyred. And it wasn’t. It wasn’t because John happened to escape attack against him. At one point they tried to boil him alive and he lived. He survived through that. But now he’s been exiled to the island of Patmos, and he knows other brothers and sisters in Christ are facing persecution. And he wants to continue and encourage them. And he writes this book important for them. But but I want us also to be mindful Fool that the persecution of God’s people still continues throughout the world today. In fact, some people have estimated more Christians have died in the previous century, the 20th century, than all of the other centuries combined. Now, I don’t know how someone figures that out. I didn’t know we kept records that good back then, but. But the general conclusion is that idea. In fact, there’s there’s one book written by David Barrett. It’s called the World Christian Encyclopedia.
And he estimates that 70 million Christians have been martyred for their faith. 45 million of which came in the last century. So the persecution of believers is not something that’s past us or behind us. It’s happening today. And when it comes to living for Jesus, like I don’t want us to think about, it’s just about surviving persecution. Because I think for us as as Americans here in the 21st century, our our battles might be even more dangerous. Not not in the sense that you lose your life, but but in in being lulled to sleep in the critical place that God has you to live for his glory in this world. Sometimes we get so relaxed in our creature comforts that we fail to recognize how important your place is in serving Jesus in this world, and the difference that it can make. You can think of all civilizations that have ever existed all nations, all people, groups, the the most monetary wealth that’s ever existed among a people group. I think we find here in our country and the opportunity that it is to use the resources God’s given you to make a difference, and not just in terms of monetary wealth, but but we live in a, in a, in a culture that has very strong Judeo-Christian roots and other other people groups don’t have that. And we fail to recognize just how blessed we are because of ay ay ay gospel centric foundation that was laid in our country.
And we just kind of take it for granted that it’s there and the difference that it’s made in our society. Now, I know we don’t appreciate the past as much as we should as a country today, but there is a foundation there. And because of that, it has it has helped bring blessing to our country. And and there’s an opportunity in the wealth, the resources that you have available to you as a Christian today and being able to learn and grow that just aren’t in parts, other parts of the world. And then you have the opportunity to to saturate yourself in the richness of Christ and then share that with other brothers and sisters in, in Christ around the world. And so it’s not just about, you know, monetary gain, but but the concern is like sometimes in those positions, because we have so much creature comfort that that we just kind of just settle And we fail to see that God’s got me in a place to make such a big difference in this world for his kingdom and glory. And so, so how do I persevere in light of that as God’s people, what is it God desires for me to do to to make the difference? Let me give you point number one in your notes is this that we would trust in this God’s sovereign reign? How do I persevere? Number one is God’s sovereign reign.
And when I say reign, I don’t mean r a I n like make it rain. I mean, right, right. His his rulership. His authority. Now, I want you to know that’s really not not a a fair point to make about a few verses that we’re about to read together, because truthfully, that’s the theme of all of Revelation, really. Point number one is like this covers everything in the book, but but this is paramount to understanding who we are because the, the basis for the victory of Jesus gives us hope as his people. That’s the whole point of Easter. You have hope because he is your hope and because he has overcome death and defeated the greatest enemy. We too have the promise that we will defeat death in him. And so his reigning matters to us, where Jesus is right now. And the victory that he has achieved is critical for for all of us as God’s people. You know, when I think about the idea of of God reigning and how critical it is for us, it reminds me of an event that happened with with my kids. Actually, it’s just one of my kids. Now, I won’t embarrass him by telling you it was Levi. But in my house. In my house, I have four boys. Right? And when you got four boys, sometimes you just got roughhousing that’s happening.
I mean, it’s led to some trips to the emergency room, some stitches a few times. It’s just part of raising boys. But there was this one time where Levi, he must maybe 2 or 3 years old, where I think that he thinks he can jump from any height. He thinks he is something special here. I don’t know, maybe he thought he could fly. I’m not sure. But it was one of those moments as a parent that you see what your kid is thinking and what your kid is about to do, but you realize that the distance between the two of you is further than you’re going to be able to cover before he executes his plan. And I just remember I’m running him screaming, no. And I watch him jump off something and he lands on the ground and sure enough, he gets injured and he’s crying. And it was a pretty, pretty significant injury. He limped for a few weeks after this, and I remember I picked him up and he’s in tears and I’m hugging him and I’m and just holding him. And finally in the middle of his sobs, he looks at me and goes, dad, can grown ups hold grown ups? And as I’m hugging him and I’m like, what? What kind of question is this? He’s two years old asking me this question. Grown ups and grown ups are like, son, why do you ask me that? Can grown ups hold grown ups? And he said, because, dad, I don’t want you to ever stop holding me.
And when you think about what God’s reign is, that is exactly what it is for his people. It’s this place of comfort and the presence of a God who is victorious. And because he lives, you live too. Now God’s reign is is paramount for us. And as you read in Revelation chapter 20, verse one and three, he starts to paint this picture and reminding us in the midst of the struggle that we face, he says, then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 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. Now I want you to know, in reading this these three verses, this section of Revelation is probably the most divisive three verses in all of Revelation, and maybe to the body of Christ, I’m not sure, but I’ll deal with why in a minute. But you that you that love eschatology. You might already know what these three verses entail.
But and I want to talk about the significance of it as we look at this, but I want first to just work through this passage, and then we’ll talk about why the body of Christ. This could be used to be divisive. We’re not going to do this here. But but I want you to be aware of what this passage is saying in Revelation chapter 20. You’re seeing this, this angel coming down with with the keys. And the idea of key in, in Scripture deals with power or control. They have authority. It really is the better word for it. It deals with the idea of authority. Do you think in in first century, not everyone could afford a lock on their door? In fact, some people didn’t even have a door on their entry to their home, right? I mean, there were homes that were built in such ways where in order to get to someone else’s home, they actually had to walk through your home to get to another home. So it was kind of like an open door policy. Anyone could visit you at any time, really. The only one that ever had a key was a king. And and he he would have the fancy door with the lock. Right. And, and other people might have a door and there might be someone with a key, but it wasn’t a common thing to experience. But the key came to represent this idea of authority, to let someone in or to keep someone out, especially in terms of a kingdom, which we’re talking about a king and a kingdom here.
And so in this passage, what you’re seeing is the enemy who has been warring against God’s people. He’s he’s not now he’s captured and he’s being locked up. Right? He’s he’s being removed. And and this is just playing out for us. The story of Revelation. If you remember Revelation chapter nine, an angel fell from heaven or was cast from heaven, and he opened up the key to the bottomless pit and really all hell broke out. And Revelation chapter 12, it tells us the story of this dragon who was warring against this woman who was going to give birth to a messiah, which was a picture, really, of a way of Mary, this virgin birth. And and this Messiah was to be born in the dragon tries to kill the child, but the child is kept safe and is born. And then through that child becomes a multitude of people. And the dragon, realizing he was defeated in Revelation chapter 12, verse 12, decides to make war. It tells us against God’s people all the way to verse 17, because it reminds us that the dragon knows his time is limited. And now here you see in Revelation 20 that they’re being thrown back into this abyss, and it tells you it’s for a thousand years.
Now some people come to this section and they take this very literal. And I’ve encouraged you when you read the book of Revelation, to, to to choose one method of interpretation. And what I mean is some people get themselves stuck when they think in Revelation. Well, some of these allegorical images are apocalyptic, images are literal and some are not, and they try to bounce back and forth. And really, what’s convenient to them and what they want or don’t want. And you either need to take it all literally or understand it all literarily. It’s apocalyptic. And I’ve helped us understand when it comes to the idea, especially especially of numerology in the book of Revelation, that these these numbers mean something. The idea of four, the idea of three, the idea of seven, and the idea of a thousand. We’ve talked about this, the idea of 12 specifically related to the thousand. We read this in Revelation chapter seven. We read this in Revelation chapter 14. We’re going to look at 1000 again in Revelation 21. When you look at chapter seven, if you remember it talks about the 144,012 times, 12 times a thousand. And we talked about what that meant. Revelation seven John says, I heard a number of every tribe of Israel. 12 times, 12 times a thousand. John says this I heard this. But then in chapter seven, when John turns and looks, what he actually sees is a multitude that no one can number from every tribe, tongue, language and people groups.
And and so what John is saying, he’s saying this idea of a thousand is not a literal number, but rather it’s uniting Old and New Testament, all of God’s people together in Jesus. And so in Revelation chapter 20, some think this is talking about a literal thousand years. So Satan is bound for a literal thousand years. And some say, well, it is a millennial reign. A thousand millennial. But but it doesn’t have to necessarily be exactly a thousand. But it is. We’re talking here about the reign of God. Now, when people read over this, there is certain eschatological positions that that people have have taken and they are They are important to understand, right? Important to know what God is talking about here when it comes to a theological position and eschatology. You know, there’s three popular positions that people have often held to just based on these three verses, help them lay that foundation. And they are important to know. But but I also want you to know that they are not important to divide over as God’s people. And what I mean is, yes, they’re critical. They’re they’re healthy to read and study and understand. There are certain things in Christianity we want to hold with a closed fist. And there are certain things in Christianity we want to study, we want to understand, but we want to keep a more open palm, things that we hold with a closed fist deity of Christ.
Jesus is God. That is paramount to our faith. There is not a sufficient sacrifice in Jesus unless Jesus is God, right? The the the perfect nature of Christ. That he was a sufficient sacrifice because he was perfect. That’s why he’s able to be your substitute. Important. Inerrancy of Scripture. Important. The Trinity. Important. The Godhead. Who God is. Important. The gospel. Important. Close fist on those things. It’s not negotiable. This is who God is, and this is what it means for us then, in light of who he is. It’s critical when it comes to your prediction about the future, and treat it more with an open hand. And when understanding the idea of the future. There’s a few things I want us to keep in mind as I get ready to tell you that these different views and where I land on these things. But when it comes to the idea of eschatology, let me just say this no matter what view you have, everyone is aligned in this idea. Jesus is returning. He won because of it. You win and Satan’s going to be judged and thrown in the lake of fire no matter where you land. All those things are true for us. Jesus is returning. He won. We win. Satan will be judged.
That is wonderful for us. That’s tremendous hope in that for for all of us because of it. Second, I like to remind people when they study eschatology, especially as they start to get very dogmatic and demand that everyone embrace what they believe is that when it comes when it came to Jesus’s first coming in the first century, nobody got it right. Nobody, nobody. Everyone had an expectation of what Jesus’s first coming was going to be like. Nobody got it right except for the demons. The demons were the only one that ever correctly understood Jesus or understood who Jesus was. So if you think all of your predictions about the future are correct, the only company that you keep is the demons, right? So, so if you if you want to belong to that group. Right. So, so when it comes to eschatology, it is important to remember everyone got his first coming wrong. And we don’t want to be so arrogant as to assume we got every detail of his second coming. Correct? Doesn’t make the Second Coming Unimportant. It’s definitely important. But it helps us temper that with some humility. If everyone is getting his first coming wrong. Who am I to suggest? I’ve got every detail of his second coming. Correct? And in addition to that the the idea of of this thousand years, some people hold that very literal. It’ll be a thousand years. Exactly. Millennial reign.
And something I think is important to know is while I think other passages of the Bible talk about his kingdom and his reign, that this is the only section of Scripture that talks about, talks about it being a thousand years, and to hold dogmatically to a theology based on one verse or one section of the Bible is a little bit suspect at best. And what I mean by that is when I want to hold to something very dear and hold it with a closed fist. In Scripture, I look for Scripture to repeat it over and over again, because that’s the indicator to us. Oh, this is really important. We as God’s people should just rest firm on this, right? Because the Bible is saying it over and over. The fact that this is the only section of the Scripture that talks about Jesus’s reign being a thousand years, to try to then hold that literally and say, nope, no room for anything else is. Let me just say on a little bit shaky ground. And so it’s important to, to to temper it in light of the way Scripture repeats itself. And then among the three views, and let’s say that you are right, even if you’re right, you’re not going to spend eternity gloating and glory. And if you are wrong, you’re not going to spend eternity lamenting that you are wrong. We’re all going to be with Jesus, and we’ll be able to celebrate that forever, as long as we have our faith in Jesus.
So what are the three views? I gotta speed this up a little bit quicker, but what are the three views? Here they are. There is postmillennialism and these are not on the screen. So if you want to write them down you can. But there’s Postmillennialism. There is premillennialism and there is amillennialism. Let me explain those postmillennialism millennialism is a little tongue tie here. Premillennialism and amillennialism. Postmillennialism. These are the most optimistic of the group, and the view of postmillennialism is there is a 1000 year reign or thereabouts. And the way it’s going to work is the church is going to continue to grow and preach the gospel, and they’re going to introduce the golden age to the world, and it’s going to get so good. We’re just going to roll right into the millennium. And at the end of the millennium, Jesus returns. So and then we go into the new heavens and new earth. So they see a return of Christ. But it’s not to the end of the millennium, but it’s here at this church age, the church is going to continue to grow, and things are going to get better and better until ultimately we just roll right into that millennium and Christ returns. That’s the postmillennial view that grew in popularity, especially in the 1800s. In the 1800s, you had the Industrial Revolution, you had scientific breakthroughs, and people were looking at and thinking, oh my goodness, this is it is going to happen.
We’re going to usher this bad boy in. There’s going to be so great. And then something called World War One happened, and then World War two, and people thought, we are not as good as we thought we were. Right. And, and the idea of postmillennialism and entering this golden age and the church just bringing all these wonderful things, they realized we still have the depravity of the soul. So that is a view, but it’s the least popular view. The two most popular are premillennialism and amillennialism. Premillennialism believes that Jesus will return, and then he will bring us into a thousand years of his reign. And after, or around a thousand years, the idea of a millennial reign. And at the end of that, he’ll bring the new heavens and the new earth. So that’s the premillennial view. You all. Millennial view, the word all means no. So if you think of the word like atheist. The word theist means God. The a in front of it means no, no God. Atheist doesn’t don’t believe in a god. Amillennialism means no millennial. Now I’ll tell you, that’s not really a good title for amillennialists, because all millennials do believe in a in a kingdom reign, but they just think it’s happening now. So all millennials think because Jesus was victorious, he’s ruling and reigning.
Now we’re in that millennial kingdom. We’re in that ruling and reigning of Christ. He’s reigning in our hearts. And at the end of this reign of Christ, he’ll return and we’ll enter right into the new heavens and new earth. That’s the Amillennial view. Now, if you know, in a room like this, coming from different backgrounds, we’re gonna have people in different places. But I will let you know just a couple places in Scripture where they get this from. If you’re a millennial view, this is where they’d come to passages like Matthew 2818 and said, and where it says, Jesus came and said, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. So the fact that he’s got all authority shows that he’s bound Satan, as it describes in Revelation 20. Satan’s been bound. That’s why he has this authority. And he says, go therefore and make disciples of the nations, meaning Satan’s no longer deceiving the nations. Therefore, we can preach the gospel clearly to the nations. And it’s because Satan’s been bound. Jesus has been victorious. We’re in his ruling and reigning. And one of the reasons you know that is because in Mark chapter one verse 15, when Jesus arrives, he says to us, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. He’s introducing to us the kingdom. He’s telling us to belong to that. And so Jesus brought the kingdom, and therefore he’s ruling and reigning.
He’s on his throne today. But Pre-millennialists will respond this way. They’ll say, well, if that’s true, well, what do you do with passages that say, second Corinthians four three? And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world, who is Satan, has blinded the minds of unbelievers. That doesn’t look like Satan’s bound, right? He’s been defeated for sure, but it doesn’t look like he’s been bound. And and and because of that, he’s deceiving the nations that even though the gospel can go forward to the nations, they’re still being deceived. And so to think he’s been bound. We can’t go with that. Millennials will say. And even in Matthew chapter six, Jesus taught us, though Jesus said, the kingdom of God is at hand. He also taught us to pray and say, God, your kingdom come. Why would he ask us to pray for something to come if it’s already here? And it’s introducing this idea of what’s called inaugurated eschatology. Inaugurated eschatology carries this idea that when Jesus came, he brought the kingdom. But it wasn’t the fullness of the kingdom meaning spiritually. He brought us life through the kingdom, but ultimately he will come physically to rule in this kingdom. Now, when it comes to these these differing views, I told you I would give you my my stand where I land in conviction of Scripture, and I hold to what’s referred to as the Premillennial view.
Well, the rest of you, if you hold to a different view, I’m okay with that, I don’t. I’m not here to to fight contentiously over that idea. More importantly, what I want you to do is study Scripture and let God continue to shape you in this right. This is not a a divisive topic for me. And if you choose not to be premillennial, it’s okay. You can be wrong, right? It’s okay. It can’t always be right all the time, but. But I’ll give you a few reasons why I find that premillennial view important. Because I think there are some promises God’s given in Scripture that still ultimately culminate in the kingdom, the fullness of that kingdom as Jesus rules and reign. Chapters. Chapters of the Bible, like Isaiah 11 and Isaiah 65. I feel like fit better in the idea of a millennial reign. The pre millennial reign. And and then when you study the early church, one of the things that I find most convincing for me is when I study the early church and I just ask the question, what did the early church believe? For the first 300 years of Christianity, the early church held to a premillennial view. It wasn’t until the time of Augustine that the teaching of Amillennialism started to get popular. Now, just because something’s newer doesn’t make it wrong, but in this case, it doesn’t.
Just kidding. But there’s different. There’s different views, right. So but when it when it comes to Revelation I hope that you’ve seen you can walk through the entire book of Revelation and glean from the beauty of this book and not even get dogmatic in those things. Doesn’t mean it’s not important. It is important. The return of Jesus is important. The victory you have in Jesus is important. That’s the foundation of our life, his reign, and what that means for us. But. But to remember how to temper those things in in in honorable ways. So let me give you point number two, because he reigns. The second point is then the coming kingdom, right? So the idea of him reigning says to us, there is a king. And with that, then there must be a kingdom. And so persevering for for the purpose of that coming kingdom is critical for all of us. And when you get to these next section of Scripture, starting in in verse four, John is using this section to encourage believers who are concerned what might happen to them if they die. Right. If you read the book of Thessalonians, you’ll see this too, where the church really believed Jesus could return at any time. They’re really looking forward to the return of Christ, and we should too. Jesus can come back. We should long for that. We should want that.
But some people were worried. They thought to themselves, well, if Jesus comes back, but I died before he returned, what’s going to happen to me? They got really worried. They’re like, I got to live as long as possible, right? Can I cling on so I don’t miss this? And it’s like they thought they might get forgotten. One of the one of my favorite heroes in the faith that passed in the last few years is a man by the name of Timothy Keller. One of the things I like, I listen to a lot of Timothy Keller rid of a lot of his books. I didn’t realize probably some of the best lessons he was going to teach me came at the last year of his life. He was diagnosed pancreatic cancer. Some of you might remember, and passed away. And as he’s dying, he actually wrote another book dealing with death. And the way he approached death was so encouraging because he he he would often say this. If you listen to any of his talks at the end of his life, death is nothing more than a gardener. It helps me flourish in the kingdom of God. It’s really it’s introducing him to, to the Lord. And and so he didn’t fear death because he knew that death had ultimately been defeated in Jesus. He knew where he was going to be. And when it comes to the idea of our eschatological position, it’s important to know how Jesus is shaping all this because it’s where our hope lies.
The coming kingdom. And he says, verse four, then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus. For the word of God, and for. And those who had not worshiped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. Remember, we’ve talked about that. That’s not computer chips, but it’s it’s showing loyalty. What you belong to. And so some people were bowing to the beast, but not God’s people. It’s saying in verse four, they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. Over such, the second death has no power. But they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for for a thousand years. So here’s what he’s saying in Jesus, whether you’ve passed or you’re alive, when Jesus returns, you will all be with Jesus ruling and reigning with him. If you belong to Jesus, you will be ruling and reigning with Jesus. That’s what he’s encouraging you to in this passage.
So for those that are concerned, like what happens if I die before you come back? He’s saying, look, you rule and reign with me. Keep your eyes on that kingdom. Don’t stress, don’t worry. Know that God God has that under control. And in this he refers to it. The first resurrection and the second death. Now, what does that mean? Let me just tell you, when it comes to the first resurrection, you want to be a part of that. When it comes to the second death, you don’t want to be a part of that. If that wasn’t clear in this passage, you want to be a part of the first resurrection. You don’t want to be a part of the second death. Now, what does the first resurrection? This is the really the idea of first fruits or being raised in Jesus new life. There’s going to be a resurrection for those that belong to Jesus. And then there will be a resurrection for those that are being judged who are apart from Jesus. That first resurrection you want to be a part of because you belong to Jesus. You want to belong to Jesus because in that you will rule and reign with him. You are secure in Christ. The idea of the second death is reminding us as God, as as people, not as God’s people, but as people in general. We’re born in sin and death.
We are born dead. And what I mean by that, it’s kind of a weird thing. Like, I’m not telling you you were a zombie in a physical sense, but you’re a zombie in a spiritual sense. You’re born dead. You ever watch Lord of the rings and you see the story of the orcs? Orcs are kind of a they’re really a picture of humanity without Jesus. The we’re soulless creatures. And it’s that’s the idea of the orc. Meaning we have a soul, but there’s no life in it. And what what what Scripture is indicating for us is, look, remember, in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, God said to them, don’t eat the fruit, or you shall surely die. And then they ate it, and then they didn’t die. Like, what’s up with that? Is God a liar, right? Like you were supposed to eat it and die. You didn’t die. I mean, they they went on to die, but they didn’t die. Or did they? And when you come to understand is they physically died later, but in that moment, they spiritually died in their relationship with the Lord. They were spiritually cut off from God. And because of that, they were dead. And what it reminds us of is that God is life itself. And if you’re separated from God, you’re cut off from from life itself because you’re cut off from God.
And from that point, every human being that’s ever been born has, has been born in a spiritual state of death. If you want to read a chapter on that in the Bible Ephesians chapter one first five verses, or excuse me first five verses of Ephesians chapter two tells you that twice in verse one and verse five, you are dead, you’re dead. And what it means is you’ve been cut off from a relationship with God. Now for for humanity. Humanity has created religion as if it it can be this system that people can develop in hopes to avail ourselves back to God. But we discover in the Bible is there is no availing ourselves. Religion doesn’t get you there. You need a substitute, someone to stand in your place. That’s what makes the cross of Christ so important. Jesus stood in our place and died for us that we can find freedom in him. We are dead and unless we put our hope in Jesus, we will not have life. And so if we if we put our faith in Jesus, we have that first resurrection. If we don’t, one day we’ll meet him face to face and he’ll judge us, and then we’ll go to the second death. And that second death. If you want a good passage on this second Thessalonians one nine. That second death is cast away from Jesus’s presence forever. That’s what makes hell. Hell is away from God’s gracious presence forever.
Hell is hell can be a location, for sure. But. But bigger than that. It’s away from the presence of God forever. And and we were made for a relationship with God. And so that is the idea of second death being cast from his presence. When you look at this passage, it’s reminding us as God’s people the the importance of, of knowing Jesus and and coming to his kingdom, and maybe even the the sobering idea of what sin has cost us a separation, a death in relationship with the Lord, and how much we need Jesus to turn to him. So that point number three, we would guard, guard our hearts from deception. I got to say this faster. Seven minutes. Guard our hearts from deception. Look at this, it says. And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth. Gog and Magog. Gog and Magog come from Ezekiel 38. They’re Gog is the ruler of Magog. It’s a land that wars against God to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea. Verse nine. They marched up from the broad plain of the earth and summoned the camp of the saints and the beloved city. But fire came down from heaven and consumed them. And the devil who had deceived them was thrown down into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they were will be tormented day and night, forever and ever.
Let me let me just summarize this and say in terms of needing to guard our heart from deception and depending on what your ecological view is, for example, if you’re pre mill here, you see Christ ruling and reigning for a thousand years with his people, or an idea of a thousand, and at the end of that Satan’s released and he deceives people again. And this is just a reminder for all of us. Very sobering how easily we’re deceived by the enemy, how easy it is to be deceived by the enemy. The Bible says, the heart is deceitful above all things, and Jeremiah 17 nine. In fact, it’s a little contradictory to our culture. Now the Bible is true. Our culture is not. But in our culture today we say things like, you know, as long as you believe it, that’s all that matters. Just follow your heart. You do. You. You know what’s true for you is true for you. That’s the kind of junk will say that’s not biblical, right? In fact, in Romans chapter one, verse 24, the apostle Paul says that God finally gets tired of us in our our desire for sin. And he says in verse 24 of chapter one, he, he just gives you over to the desires of your heart.
So if that’s what you want, have it right. And it’s a reminder that there’s really there’s only one king and you’re not it. And what you surrender to matters and our heart is easily deceived. Now, I don’t want anybody walking out of here paranoid, like, oh my gosh, Satan’s here to get me. You know, Satan could be anywhere. Just start freaking out about trying to avoid Satan. Can I just tell you, the way you find victory over Satan is not by focusing on Satan, but rather walking in Jesus. Your victory is in Jesus. Alright. So you don’t you don’t find victory in in from sin or from Satan. By fixating on not sinning or focusing on Satan, you find victory by looking to Jesus. In fact, over and over again in Scripture, it tells you this in second Corinthians chapter ten verse four, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but of divine power to destroy strongholds. So so we have this warfare, and it’s encouraging us in this verse, Satan wants to create strongholds in your life. This is the only place in the New Testament the word stronghold is used. But Satan wants to create these strongholds in your life. And the question we should ask, how do we defeat it? Do I focus on Satan? Do I need to exorcize the demons? You know, what do I gotta do to get rid of this Satan? And then it tells you in verse five, we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
You know how you defeat the enemy. Truth. You know where you find the truth, God’s word. And you think about the Garden of Eden. What did Adam and Eve do? They strayed from the truth and the temptation. In Matthew four, when Jesus went to the wilderness and Satan met him, what did Jesus do to combat against the enemy? He quoted the book of Deuteronomy. He clung to truth. You want to defeat the enemy, look to truth. In fact, Second Corinthians four says the same thing how the gospel is veiled to those who are perishing in the case of the gods of this world, has blinded their minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. He’s saying, the way out is is the truth. It’s the truth. You want to defeat the enemy? Cling to the truth. In Matthew chapter one, around the time in Matthew chapter five and six, Jesus gives the sermon on the Mount, and he says this. You have heard it said, do do not commit adultery. But I say to you, he who has looked at a woman lustfully with his heart has already done it right. Then he goes on to say, if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.
And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. And really, the idea of that can continue to be built. It’s saying this look, if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your tongue causes you to sin, cut it out. If your ear. Here’s something that shouldn’t hear. Cut it off and you start to eliminate parts of your body, you begin to realize, wait a minute. The problem has never been on the external. It’s always been what’s been warring in my heart. You can cut all those things off, but you’re still left. The only way to defeat that is the truth of God’s Word. Lord, help me to embrace the reality of who you are. Lord, help me to surrender to you rather than the enemy. Let me give you this last point. Remember, judgment is coming. Remember, judgment is coming. And you see this the last few verses all the way to verse 15 at the very first verse 11, there it says, then I saw a great white throne. There are two thrones described in Scripture. One is the great white throne, the other is the Bema Seat. Bema seat is mentioned in Romans chapter 14, verse ten, and then again in second Corinthians five. It’s in your notes if you want to look those up and under point four.
But when it comes to these, these the idea of Bema Seat, BMC, it’s a place of reward. Great White Throne is a place of judgment. You don’t want to be at the Great White Throne. You do want to be at the Bema Seat with Christ because of of who he is. It’s it’s it’s important for us in light of all of Revelation. As you look at this, you realize this book is talking about this fallen, broken world of which I am not called to belong to, but rather God invites me to belong to him. Alistair Begg and I’ll end with this statement. Alistair Begg Once posed the question of people, he said, look, when you get to heaven one day and someone, if they were to ask you, why should we let you in? What will your response be? And he said, if your response starts with, well, because I. Or if your response starts with I in any way. He says it’s a dangerous response to not understanding what the gospel is, because it’s never been about what you’ve done, but rather what he’s done for you. But because of what he’s done for you, the Cross of Christ is the place where all of us get the opportunity to to know God and to experience the gracious presence of God forever. It’s in the willingness to surrender to him that we experience this victory.