The Glorious Appearing
Beyond Armageddon
Revelation 20:1-6
When we get to Revelation 20 we are getting close to the good stuff because at this point Jesus has returned, the battle of Armageddon is over and the millennial reign is about to begin.
What we find here is a new heaven and a new earth. To get that in your mind, think back to the beginning of the Lord’s earthly ministry. He taught His disciples to pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Well that time has arrived.
. We read last week about the coming of the Lord in power and glory from Revelation 19. There we found the second great where the birds will come to eat the flesh of the bodies of those who will fall on the battlefield of Armageddon. Notice what happens next:
Revelation 20:1-6
Notice the reference to the resurrection in verse 5. We are going to study the resurrections a little bit more clearly next week.
But for tonight, just to provide the setting here, think about this: there is more than one resurrection. In fact there is more than one part to the first resurrection. The first part of the first resurrection is when Jesus rose from the dead. We celebrate that at Easter and every day.
Jesus rose from the dead and He is the pattern for our resurrection.
Then the second part of the first resurrection takes place at the rapture of the church and it is recorded in I Thessalonians 4 and in I Corinthians 15.
There the Bible says, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
That is the second part of the first resurrection, when the Lord Jesus will give those who are living at the time of the rapture a glorified body. And those who have gone on to be with the Lord will be given their glorified bodies and we will be together with Christ forever.
So when we read Revelation 20, the second part of the first resurrection has taken place and the saved of the church age and the saved of the Old Testament time have been given their resurrected bodies.
So who are these verses talking about? Who is it that receive their resurrection bodies at this particular time and are blessed because of their part in the first resurrection?
He tells us who it is. It is those who have been martyred during the tribulation time. These are those who would not take the mark of the beast.
And now they are rewarded as priests of God and they reign with Him (Christ) for a thousand years.
Then verse 7 tells us that after the Battle of Armageddon, Satan is bound for that same 1,000 years. He is put into a place called the bottomless pit. The word for it is "the abyss". And it is some kind of prison that God has reserved for evil demons. It is mentioned elsewhere in Scripture.
Jude mentions this bottomless pit. Peter mentions this bottomless pit as a place that God has reserved for certain kinds of evil demons until the Day of Judgment. In Revelation 9 it says that demons like scorpions come out of this bottomless pit. And here Satan is bound by God and incarcerated in this bottomless pit.
So these events are happening either simultaneously or in close proximity in time to one another.
Tribulation saints are glorified. Satan is bound for a period of a thousand years and the millennial reign of Christ on the earth begins. So let me give you a little outline that will maybe help you to keep it all straight. Let’s start with what I’ll call
1. The Prophecy of the Millennium
The word, millennium or millenial, is not mentioned in the Scripture, but its doctrine is derived from clear Biblical teaching. Both the Old Testament as well as the New teach us about this time. The word comes from the Latin word mille meaning a thousand. The Greek word millennium comes from two words chilias meaning thousand, and annus meaning year.
The Greek term is used six times in the original text of Revelation 20 to define the duration of Christ's kingdom on earth as a thousand years.
It is also described in many places in the Old Testament. Many of the prophets such as Zechariah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah, and Psalms mention this time.
In spite of that, there are many who deny the reality of the millennial reign. They will say it only speaks of His reign from heaven. It only speaks of a spiritual kingdom, not a literal kingdom. But if you read these passages you know it is talking about a literal reign of Christ on the earth.
Just from a logical viewpoint, it has to be literal. He must reign on the earth. He must reign on the
throne of David to fulfill His promise to David, to fulfill His promise to Abraham, to fulfill His promise to the nation of Israel; He must reign on the earth. He is not finished with Israel.
Jesus Himself taught about the millennium. John mentions it. Paul mentions it. Peter mentions it. So you have many, many places in God's Word where it talks about Christ reigning on the earth.
Even in just general terms, the Bible talks about a time of peace, a time when the ecology will be in perfect balance. The lion and the lamb will lie down together. It talks about the earth becoming productive, the desert blooming as a rose. It talks about when they will beat their swords into plowshares, when they will make war no more.
There is a time coming when Jesus will reign on the throne of David and that reign will have no end. It is going to begin on earth; it is going to continue in the new heaven and new earth. It is going to extend into eternity and it will never, never end.
Now let me re-emphasize something, and that is
2. The Place of the Millennium
Christ will reign on earth. It will be an earthly kingdom. It will be a kingdom on earth. Zechariah makes it plain.
Zechariah 14
The topography of Israel will be changed. The Mount of Olives will split in two when Jesus comes and fights the Battle of Armageddon. When His feet touch down on the Mount of Olives, it will be split in two. And Christ will make a way as He goes to the temple mound to claim His place in the holy of holies.
And the Scripture says that when Jesus sets up His kingdom and He reigns from the temple mound, that the kings of all the earth will come to visit Him there and bring their glory there and come to bow before Him there. And He will fulfill the promise that He made to David. He will fulfill all the covenants He made with Israel. And again God will confirm all the promises of His Word. This is why there has to be a literal kingdom on the earth.
And I just wanted to touch on that and drive down that peg because many doubt it or deny it.
They will say it only speaks of His reign from heaven. It only speaks of a spiritual kingdom, not a literal kingdom. But many of the prophets including Zechariah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah, and the Psalms all reference it. Jesus Himself mentions it. John, of course, mentions it. Paul mentions it. Peter mentions it.
So you have many, many places in God's Word where it talks about Christ reigning on the earth. And generally it talks about a time of peace, a time when the ecology will be in perfect balance. The lion and the lamb will lie down together. It talks about the earth becoming productive, the desert blooming as a rose. It talks about when they will beat their swords into plowshares, when they will make war no more.
He must reign on the earth. He must reign on the throne of David to fulfill His promise to David, to fulfill His promise to Abraham, to fulfill His promise to the nation of Israel; He must reign on the earth. He is not finished with Israel.
There is a time coming when Jesus will reign on the throne of David. He said, "David there is one coming in your lineage that is going to reign upon the throne and His kingdom will have no end. It is going to begin on earth; it is going to continue in the new heaven and new earth. It is going to extend into eternity and it will never, never end.
That’s the prophecy and the place. Let me just give you a word or two about
3. The Preparation for the Millennium
Last week we looked at the destruction of God's enemies at Armageddon. When Jesus came and fought against them with one weapon, the Sword of His mouth. He fought against the most sophisticated armies, the most sophisticated weapons that man could muster.
And all He had and all He needed was the Sword of His mouth, the sharp two-edged sword that proceeded out of His mouth, the Word of God.
We also saw the capture of the beast and the false prophet. They are cast into the lake of Fire in Revelation 19:20. And remember, we took note that they are cast alive into the lake of fire.
Then there is this binding of Satan that we find here in chapter 20.
And notice all of this is done as if Satan has no power. He is completely at the mercy of Jesus. It only takes one angel of God armed with God's authority and power to seize him. And he is bound for a thousand years.
Just as an aside, that means Satan is not bound right now. God has set parameters in which He can operate. God controls his dominion. But Satan is not bound. He is not in hell. He is the prince of the power of the air according to Ephesians 2. And he is alive and at work operating as the ruler of darkness.
That’s why there is no peace in this world. There’s not going to be until this time comes and Satan is bound.
Further, he is “shut up and sealed” to keep him from deceiving the nations until a thousand year period has ended. And by the way, this is where we get the term “millennium”. A millennium is simply a period of 1,000 years.
Then notice what happens next.
Revelation 20:4-6
If we were to keep reading and broaden our research to other parts of the Bible, we would discover that the Lord has given authority to His people to judge along with Him during the millennial reign of Christ. We share in His authority of judgment.
Now keep in mind, at this time we are glorified. We will have His knowledge. We will have His perspective. We will be in glorified bodies. We will have redeemed minds. All those who were Old Testament saints and all those of the church age and those killed during the tribulation will be in glorified bodies.
But I think it also possible there will be some survivors coming through the Tribulation who are still in human bodies and that becomes very important in a 1,000 years or so.
But it means that during the millennial time when we will be in the millennial kingdom there will be those who are in normal human bodies along with those who have glorified bodies. And those who have been glorified will serve in some kind of authoritative position with Christ.
It is going to be unlike any world that we have ever known. It is going to be unlike anything that science fiction could create or come up with or even imagine. Here is a world where supernatural people dwell with natural people.
And in the millennium Jesus will have something for all of us to do. I don't know what it will be, but He will have something for every one of us to do. It will have to do with ruling the kingdom, carrying out the affairs of the kingdom.
He will have an earthly kingdom, and He will be reigning on the throne in Jerusalem and we will be reigning with Him in that He will give us something to do in His kingdom. And we will be a part of that kingdom. We will reign with Him for a thousand years on earth.
And we will finally have on this earth what He originally intended. This is the fulfillment of “Joy to the World, The Lord is Come”. And earth has received her King.
There will be a wonderful thousand years of prosperity and peace because Jesus will rule and reign and everyone will do His will.
The Bible gives us quite a lot of information about the millennium and over the next couple of weeks we’ll look at some of it. We get to see more about the resurrections. How many resurrections are there and why are there so many? We get to see what will happen when the millennium comes to its close. Satan is turned loosed again. Why would God allow Satan to be loosed again after he has been tied up?
Why would God allow Satan to even come in to the Garden of Eden in the first place? Those are all good questions and we will talk about those in the next weeks.
I hope you will be here as we study together.
Let’s pray.
