Chapter 20:1-6

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. ² He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; ³ and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

“⁴ And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for 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. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.”

As we rapidly approach the end of the church age, we need to take note not to miss all of the wonderful things that are happening. We humans have a habit of missing the minute details that add to the experience. Even in the political realm, we can see the obvious divisions of the world around us. I had a dear pastor friend make the comment that as far as he is concerned, he votes based on one question: ‘what is the candidate’s stand on abortion?’ Usually, if they have this wrong, then the rest of their thinking is wrong.

Just yesterday, our Prime Minister here in Canada vowed to ‘confront’ the Vice President of the US because of his stand on abortion. Imagine that you vow to confront someone because they support NOT murdering babies. Think of how screwed up we are as a people and how far from God we have gone that we confront someone for NOT being a murderer.

Those of us that are avid students of prophecy can see the ‘writing on the wall.’ The US is cutting its ties to the old Roman Empire, as is England; and soon the elements of the old Roman Empire will stand on its own, ready for the rise of the Anti-Christ. The idea of the ‘sheep and goat’ nations from Matthew 25: 31-46 is growing more and more clear.

There are nations who seek to help and serve the nation of Israel. By the way, as true Christians we should be praying for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6) as much as we can. And, there are nations that despise Israel; and for these, Israel can do nothing right. Even defending herself is evil in their eyes.

The attack on free speech is real, and the idea that there are certain parts of the Bible that need to be changed – or at least edited to change the message so as not to assault the ears of the hearers and cause them any shame or sadness over sins, or cause them to be uncomfortable because of their choices – is so prevalent right now. We have some churches that have stopped addressing sin; they don’t want to make people feel uncomfortable.

The entire Bible is written to make us feel uncomfortable before the Holy Living God, and then to comfort us with the message of His grace and His mercy (see Romans 3:10, 23; Romans 6:23 and Romans 5:8; 10:9-10). The message of the Bible provides godly comfort for the ungodly uncomfortable.

Last week, we looked the wonderful names of Jesus: Faithful and True, as well as King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus, what a beautiful name! A name that brings comfort and power, a name that offers love and kindness, a name that reminds us that there is hope.

Today we begin the journey to the end of the Revelation of Jesus. And it begins with a judgment on Satan.

The Bottomless Pit, verses 1-3

The war is over, the Anti-Christ and his cohorts are in the Lake of Fire forever, but Satan is still not yet at the end of his journey. He is bound up by an angel with a golden chain, and he is cast into the bottomless pit. He is there for 1,000 years. This is an important lull for mankind to have from Satan. Let me explain:

We of a certain age can remember a comedian called Flip Wilson. One of his tag lines was ‘the devil made me do it.’  He got a lot of laughs from this line. But the Bible tells us that we are sinners not because we sin, but that we sin because we are sinners. It is in us to sin. We do not need the devil. Let me give you an example that we are all familiar with.

In Matthew 4:1-10, we have the account of Jesus being tempted by Satan. Notice that ALL the temptations came from without. Satan made every suggestion to the Lord about the actions He should take. At no point did Jesus ever have a sinful thought that He had to fight; and in so doing, bring His body into subjection to His mind. He, Jesus, had NO SIN nature. In contrast to this, Jeremiah says this about our human hearts, in chapter 17:9:

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?

We have evil in us, and we do not need Satan to tempt us to do evil. No one has to teach their kids how to lie, cheat, steal or how to more effectively disobey. Why? Sin is there at birth. It blossoms as they get older; and as adults, we learn to mask our sinful thoughts with good actions. Jesus NEVER had this problem.

During the Millennial time of 1,000 years without Satan, mankind will not be able to blame Satan for any of their sinful behaviors; he will be imprisoned in a bottomless pit and unable to tempt them. Man will have to come face to face with his own evil in contrast to the holiness of Jesus. Even in the Millennial Kingdom with Jesus clearly visible, some men will still reject Him. How do I know that there are some who will reject Jesus? Just read chapter 20:7-10; after the 1,000 years, Satan is able to raise an army of men to wage war against Jesus.

The Millennial Kingdom, verses 4-6

If you took the time to read Isaiah 60-63, you would see the Millennial reign talked about in the Old Testament. If you were to read the first 13 chapters of Matthew, you would see the Messiah showing the nation of Israel that He was there amongst them, ready to be their King and ready to restore their land if they would repent as a nation and accept Him as Lord. Now, while many of the people did accept Jesus, the leaders rejected Him, and the nation crucified Him. (See Isaiah 9:6-7 – the government will be on His shoulders.) Their rejection began a descent that has taken the better part of 2,000 years and will culminate with them accepting a ‘false messiah,’ the Anti-Christ, and trusting in a man and not God.

But one day soon, the day that Jesus splits the sky open with the armies of Heaven, the nation of Israel will see their Messiah, the real one. Zechariah puts it this way in 12:10-14:

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.”

You see, this was the national repentance that Jesus was looking for, but never got when He came the first time. There was no mourning for sin, no mourning for their harlotry, and they went after false gods and gave their children as sacrifices to the gods of the pagans around them. No sorrow for turning their backs on God, no sorrow for allowing the religious pagans like the Pharisees and Sadducees to hijack the Word of God and smother it in rituals and man-made rites that stifled the truth and turned the love, mercy and grace of God into a series of performances like an actor in a play.

The nation will have a real change of heart and not just outward piety that was just a façade and not even a good one. The nation of Israel will humble themselves at the feet of their God-King, and God will have mercy on them and heal their land.

There is a heresy that has come to birth over the last few years, maybe a decade or so; and it seems to be tied to the Calvinist movement, or at least I hear it a lot in the realm of the Calvinists. And that is the idea that the New Testament church has replaced Israel. The first time I heard this was in a sermon about 8 years ago or so. I was astonished. The man teaching was the president of one of the Baptist seminaries here in the Toronto area. How could this be? What Bible was he reading?

The Rapture will end the church age; and upon that event, the entire focus of God will return to Israel and to Jerusalem. We can see the focus already turning to Israel. In fact, if God is done with Israel, why allow her to come back to life in 1948? Why preserve her against superior forces in the wars of 1948, 1967 and 1973? I mean, God has had ample opportunities to destroy the newly birthed nation. But He does not. Why? Jesus is coming back to rule the world from Jerusalem.

In the next chapter, we will see the New Jerusalem. Wow! That sounds very Jewish to me. Not the new New York, not the New London, Paris, Tokyo. NO, NO NO! The New Jerusalem.

In an article entitled “Will David Reign on the Millennial Throne?” at www.rightwordtruth.com, we see that the author makes the case that King David will be a vice-regent with Jesus as He sits on the throne of Israel. Verses from Ezekiel 34:20-24; 37:24, Hosea 3:5 and Jeremiah 30:9 help the author, and as well, one of my professors at the Andersonville Theological Seminary to come to the conclusion that King David is raised to be a vice-regent with Christ over the nation of Israel. How then can the church replace Israel? The answer is, it is never going to do that.

There is much more to explore about that 1,000 years, but sufficient for today is what we have covered. We learned that mankind will not need Satan to be evil, and we learned that the church has not nor ever will replace Israel. The two ages are separate, and God knows where He is going with us in the end.

Jesus is coming; are you ready?

Missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

 

Revelation 19:11-16

“Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. ¹² His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. ¹³ He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. ¹⁴ And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. ¹⁵ Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. ¹⁶ And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:

“KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.’”

It may seem that we are going over some of the ground that we already traveled, and we are to some degree. But I try to write as I see that the Lord is leading me, and this is what I feel in my heart that I need to cover. We are going to look at the names that Jesus is called in these verses and see how they can apply to us and to the security that we have in Him. This is the point of this all. Jesus is our security, and this is what separates us from the world system, the system of Babylon if you like, around us.

Jesus described it this way in the Gospels, Matthew 7:24-27:

“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: ²⁵ And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. ²⁶ And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: ²⁷ And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”

There are only two systems available to mankind in the world. One has Jesus as its foundation, and the other has the system of Babylon in all of its presentations, as the foundation. Only one is true; the other is a lie from Hell. One system will guide you into the eternal rest that you have in Jesus, and the other will beguile you into Hell. One system promises riches, fame and fortune here; the other promises us that we will be with Jesus in Paradise. One is building an eternal kingdom that will last forever, and the other a kingdom that, though it appears to be alive, is already actually dead. One system, that of Jesus, is the resurrection and the life; the other system was destroyed by the resurrection and only offers death.

So, let us take a look at the names that Jesus is called and draw some strength from them.

Faithful and True, Revelation 19:11

These are two of the qualities that mankind keeps seeking for but tries to find them without looking at Jesus. Jesus is the very definition of faithfulness and truth. He is the standard of both. We sing the song “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” and those of us who have walked with Jesus for some time can sing that song heartily and with fervor. Jesus has been faithful to the nth degree.

In Nehemiah 9:19-21 we see this testimony to God’s faithfulness to a rebellious and evil generation of Jews in the wilderness:

“Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go. ²⁰ Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. ²¹ Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.”

No matter the sinful behavior of the nation of Israel, even to building a golden calf and worshipping it, the Lord remained faithful to them and took care of them. The same can be said in our lives. I will give testimony that I struggle with sins, I struggle with doubts, and yet God is faithful to me and my family. He provides all we need, and to tell the truth, provides beyond all we could ask for, and often provided before we have a need.

King David said it this way, Psalm 37:25:

“I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”

When it comes to the subject of truth, Jesus declares that He is The Truth, in John 14:6. There is NO TRUTH without Jesus. Let that sink in.

In John 1:14-17 we see these words:

“¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ¹⁶ And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Notice verse 17: “truth came through Jesus Christ.” He is synonymous with truth. Truth and Jesus cannot be separated. This is essential to us in these the last days. As we live and breathe right now, we can see that lies are being told, big lies; they are being told repeatedly in movies, on the NEWS, in commercials and by the government; and many are beginning to believe that they are the truth.

You know the lies, but only if you know the TRUTH.

This is why the world system is so serious and diligent about removing the Bible; lies can only exist in a vacuum where the truth is removed. But, once the light of truth is shed upon the lies, they, like darkness, disappear. The Bible is Jesus’ word to us; thus, it is absolute truth since Jesus is absolute truth. Jesus is both Faithful and True, and this is the foundation of the security that we have in Him.

King of kings and Lord of lords, Revelation 19:16

There have been many kings over the course of human history. Right now, in our world, we have kings and queens in places like England (The United Kingdom), Japan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Sweden and Thailand to mention just a few. Just this week I had the privilege to meet a Jew who is also a believer in Jesus as His Savior. What a joy to my heart! One whose eyes have been opened to the person of Jesus. Do you want to know what we discussed? Jesus, the King of the Jews.

Let us look at that for a bit – Jesus, the rightful King of the Jews. He is born of the lineage of Abraham from the tribe of Judah, and he is the oldest living male of the tribe of Judah in the line of David. Thus, Jesus and Jesus alone has the legal right to be the King of Israel. But more than that, He is the King of kings, the King that all kings must bow to and pay obeisance.

We see this promised in Philippians 2:10-11:

“that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Yes, even Satan will bow at the name of Jesus one day. He will not ascend into the heavens, he will not sit on the Throne of God, and he will not be the supreme ruler of the entire Universe, ever. No, he will be just like all the other mere men who must bow before Jesus. We have a King whose name instills fear and reverence in the whole world. It may not feel that way now, but wait a bit; it will one day soon. Our King is a fierce warrior, a man who will destroy evil and bring in a time of true world peace. In this time, even the lions will eat straw like the ox.

Isaiah 65:25 “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.”

This is the Lord we serve; this is our King: undefeated, never outmatched, never outwitted and never outplayed. He is always one step ahead; well, actually He is 6,000 years of steps ahead of His enemies, and He is never flustered and never gets caught off-guard. Nothing has ever caught Him by surprise, and He owns eternity.

Do you get it yet? Jesus has you! Jesus has it all figured out and all planned out; all we need to do is sow the seed of the Gospel until He comes to get us. He will supply our needs; He does mine. He will supply our dreams; He does mine. We can walk with confidence (not arrogance) that Jesus has never lost, and He won’t start losing today. We can have confidence in His Holy Bible, the God-stated truths that we live by. No matter what the world says or does, they cannot get rid of the Bible. In fact, they will be judged by the very words that they describe as false.

We see these words in Revelation 20:11-12:

“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”

Look at the last line of verse 12, “judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.” These books refer to the 66 books of the Bible. Here God revealed Himself and His ways to mankind. From these books we learn about right and wrong, we learn about grace and mercy, we learn about sin and our sinfulness, and we learn about salvation and the wonderful gift of eternal life that was offered and is still being offered today. But these liars will be judged by the same books that they have tried to discredit for thousands of years. Nonetheless, the truth has not changed, and it will not be altered for them, or for us either.

We have a Jesus who is Faithful and True and who is the King of kings, the Supreme Ruler of the Universe. Worship Him, praise Him, glorify Him, thank Him and obey Him.

He is coming soon. Are you ready?

Mississionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca