The Millennial Kingdom
Revelation 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. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 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.

“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. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 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.”

This week while studying through the book of Matthew and reading two commentaries on Matthew, one by H.A. Ironside and another by John Walvoord, I came to understand some things about the Millennial kingdom that I did not see before. As well, I had a lovely Christian lady ask me about the Millennial Kingdom, as she had heard another teach on it and she did not even know that there was one to come. I had to ask myself how many others had not heard of the Millennial Kingdom either; and so, this week, we will explore this utopia that Jesus will bring in.

It is fitting that we take a look at this as we are remembering the invasion of Europe by the Allied Forces on June 6^th, 1944. That generation of young men was brought up thinking that WW1 was the war to end all wars, but here just 25 years later, they were engaged in an even bigger war. One that would cost more than 50,000,000 lives.

I watched the opening of the movie Saving Private Ryan last evening, and I was astonished again by how many men never even got out of the boats that landed on those beaches. The carnage was heart- wrenching, but these men did what was necessary to ensure the freedom of Europe and the Pacific nations and the whole world.

Since that time, man has been trying to build a world without war. This has never been done, not for one second. By 1953, just 10 years after WW2, the US was waging war in the Korean peninsula; a decade later in Vietnam; then the Cold War; the short skirmish in Grenada; then Somalia (Blackhawk Down); then the US was at war in Kuwait. In the early 2000s, they were in Iraq and Afghanistan; and now they are still warring in the Middle East and seem poised to go to war with Iran if need be.

Even the United Nations has soldiers, called Peace Keepers, but soldiers with weapons nonetheless. Nations are still rising against nations, and the perceived peace is fragile at best in most nations.

Folks, the idea of a Utopia without Jesus is a myth. If we do not get this, then the importance of the Millennial Kingdom will be lost. Jesus will do in a moment what man has been trying to do for more than 2,000 years – bring in peace. We must grasp the hopelessness of our situation if we are to appreciate what Jesus will do, and in so doing, create in us a real hope for His return. This hope will frame how we live and focus our lives so that we are ready, upon the event of His return, to serve in His new Kingdom.

Jesus’ First Coming, Luke 4:18

Jesus came to offer this Millennial kingdom to the Jews at His first appearance when He was born, lived and grew up among them. We find in Luke 4:18 a fulfillment of a prophecy in Isaiah 61:1,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”

If you take the time to read the prophecy beginning in Isaiah 60, you will see that this is the promised Millennial kingdom that Jesus was here offering the Jews when He walked the earth. But the nation rejected Him, not once but twice. How did they reject Him twice, you ask? Let me show you.

If you take the time to read the account of Jesus birth in Matthew, you will see that the Magi came looking for him at Herod’s home in Matthew 2. In verse 4, Herod calls the Jewish religious leaders, the chief priests, and the scribes. They, in Matthew 2:5, point out that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem in accordance with Micah 5:2,

“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

But notice that the chief priests and the scribes made no effort to go and find Him. The Magi went and worshipped Him. The Gentiles did that, not the Jews. A generation later when Jesus is about 30 years old and doing His ministry, He is again rejected by the chief priests and scribes; they call Him Beelzebub and eventually call for His execution at the hands of the Roman government. Two generations rejecting their Messiah, one out of apathy the other out of hatred. The Jews chose to stay under the rule of Rome rather than submit to their King and humble themselves.

As we learn in Daniel 9, they will still be looking to Rome for peace when the Anti-Christ comes, and they will accept him as their messiah and make an agreement with him. There are none so blind as those that choose not to see.

Sadly, we live in the same time. We are surrounded by some of the most educated people to ever walk the planet, and yet there is ever-growing doubt about the Creation and the Creator. When we see the complexity of the human body, or just parts of it like the eye, it should humble us and drive us to our knees before the Holy, Loving, Powerful God; but many, like the first generation of Jews, are apathetic, and the others are hostile rejectors of Jesus. The same rejection that Jesus felt from His own people 2,000 years ago.

Envoys of the Kingdom, Matthew 10:5-15

Jesus sent out the disciples in Matthew 10, and he gives them the instruction to avoid the Gentiles, but to go to the “lost sheep of Israel.”

“These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: ‘Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

The kingdom of Heaven is at hand; this was John the Baptist’s message, the message that Jesus first spoke, and this was the message to the Jews. Right here, right now, the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. But they rejected the message and the messengers. What was it that Jesus was offering the nation of Israel? We find the answer in Isaiah 2:2-4,

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: ⁴ and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

Notice that ‘beating the swords into plowshares’ comes after Jesus teaches the people His ways and when He judges the nations, settling their disputes. Then the people will stop learning war. Jesus was offering to Israel what the world has been longing for since the end of WW1; they have longed for the end of war.

At the UN building there is a partial quote from Isaiah 2. They have just a part of verse 4 about the swords and plowshares; they do not want to let the world know that it is only in, through, and by Jesus and His judgments that these things can happen. They want a world without war, but without the Prince of Peace.

Jesus offered this world, the Kingdom of Heaven, to the nation of Israel, and they rejected Him. Our current world longs for this heaven that Jesus offered the Jews, but not as long as Jesus comes with it.

The Reign of Our Great Lord and King, Isaiah 11

Take the time to read the chapter for yourself. What a time this will be! The joy, the glory, the way that life was supposed to be before the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Here is an excerpt from Isaiah 11: 6-9,

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

‘The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

‘The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.

‘They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

Oh, what we have missed because the Jews rejected their Messiah! Think of the loss of life in the various wars over the last 2,000 years. Think of the way that our world has immersed itself in denying the Lord. But, had the Jews accepted Jesus’ offer, there would be a sea of knowledge around us. He would be on every NEWS outlet; the nations would travel to see Him and know him; they would seek His advice for every human dispute; and we would have the Utopia that everyone wants. But it only comes with Jesus and with Him only.

The Millennial kingdom will give us a 1,000-year glimpse of what life could have been like without the fall of man. A view of what life would be like if the Beatitudes and not the Law were the foundations of human interactions. A view of life where death was rare and no one had to fear getting old.

Isaiah 65:20, “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.”

Oh, what a time it will be! A time when Jesus is King, and the kingdom of Heaven – once rejected by the Jews – will be shown to the whole world. We in the New Testament church will serve in the Kingdom as priests and kings. I am not sure how the hiring goes just yet. But Revelation 1:4-6,

“John, to the seven churches which are in Asia:

“Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

The Kingdom twice rejected by the Jews is at hand once again, and we are the heralds, the watchmen on the walls, telling the world, “Jesus is coming; be ready. Judgement is coming; be ready. Eternity is at hand; be ready.”

“Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.”

Missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

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