Complete Deliverance

Series on Revelation

II The Viewpoint

G Cycle Seven, The Reign of the Saints & the Last Judgment

Text: 20:1-21:8

Introduction

This is undoubtedly the most difficult passage in the book of Revelation for us to interpret, and in fact it may be the most difficult passage in the Bible. It would not be that way except for the fact that so many theories have been advanced and so many Christians have clung to their interpretations with what resembles a life and death grip. So much is this so that many have relegated those who differ from their interpretation to the unorthodox and heretical camp. As with all the visions of Revelation we must remember that this is not a book of history written in advance. It is an apocalyptic prophetic series of pictures of the age in which we live designed to be a survival manual for Christians. When you are immersed in the study of Revelation try to remember that you are not in a laboratory, but in an art gallery. The biggest bone of contention is here where the thousand years are mentioned. The thousand years have been interpreted literally as a millennium and hundreds of passages in both the Old and New Testaments have been bent or twisted to fit the chiliastic view. There was a period in church history around the time of the Protestant Reformation when chiliasm was regarded as heretical. Actually the Reformers all adopted the Augustinian view which was simply that the thousand years represented the period between the first and second advent of Christ, or as it is sometimes called, the Church age. This section of revelation is modeled closely on Ezekiel 38-48. The Gog and Magog mentioned in verse 8 are taken directly from Ezekiel’s prophecy in chapter 38. There they are the forces of pagan nations coming up against the city of God. It is an invasion after the kingdom of Messiah has been established and we know this because Ezekiel goes on to describe the glories of the restoration and the rebuilt temple in the succeeding chapters. It is couched in Old testament terminology which the people of Ezekiel’s time could understand, but it is speaking of spiritual realities that would occur about six centuries later, far beyond their time. The true restoration is not a rebuilding of ancient Jerusalem and the temple and a resumption of Judaism, but a spiritual restoration in Christ who is the true temple and sacrifice for sin. This is the exact pattern John follows in Revelation ending up with the New Jerusalem in 21:2, I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. So what we have here is a series of pictures, a photo album of the end of days and the events occurring and there five scenes: Satan restrained, saints resurrected, Satan released, secrets revealed, and success realized.

I Satan Restrained

The restraint of Satan is in verses 1-3, And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. We read earlier in Revelation 12:10, Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. This is followed by the statement that the saints overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. Obviously verse 10 is about Satan’s power being limited. To this Jesus bears witness in Luke 10:17-19 After Jesus sent out 72 disciples and they returned rejoicing in the success of their mission, we read, The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” This is obviously the binding of Satan through the work of Christ and it is something that characterizes the age in which we life. The further undeniable proof of this is that Satan is bound with a specific intent, namely, “To keep him from deceiving the nations anymore.” In Old testament times the truth was like a spotlight on Israel alone. They had the truth and the Gentile nations were in darkness, but with Jesus ascension the light spreads like a floodlight to all the nations of the earth and Jesus tells His disciples to carry the good news everywhere.

II Saints Resurrected

The next scene is the resurrection of the saints in verses 4-6, I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ 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 are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. We should first decide whether this is a scene in heaven or a symbolic scene in the world. The elements point to the earthly city of God, the Bride of Christ, the Church. Let us remember that the Church of Christ is both militant on earth and triumphant in heaven, and that is how it is described here. It includes those on earth and the souls in heaven. St.Augustine wrote a marvelous treatise entitled, “The City of God,” and thereby explored the continuity between the ancient physical city of Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem which was the Church. He thus guided the understanding of Scripture for centuries. John Newton, the writer of “Amazing Grace,” wrote a hymn about the Church which declares, “Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion city of our God, he whose word cannot be broken formed thee for his own abode; On the Rock of Ages founded, what can shake thy sure repose? With salvation’s walls surrounded, thou may’st smile at all thy foes.” The thousand years is not literal, but a symbolic and ideal number of perfection. The martyrs include all believers because all who have suffered with Jesus will also be glorified with Him according to Romans 8:17. In Matthew 19 Jesus tells His disciples that they will sit on thrones in the kingdom judging the 12 tribes. This refers to shepherding and ruling in the Church which began with the day of Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. The first resurrection is clearly regeneration or the new birth, and this is how Jesus describes it in John 5:25-29, I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. First the spiritual resurrection for those who were dead in their sins, and then the resurrection of the body from the grave. All of this section dealing with the resurrected saints is in perfect accord with the first section which spoke about the binding of Satan. Satan is bound during the church age so that he cannot deceive the Gentile nations that once lay in darkness, and the great commission to take the gospel to all nations can be fulfilled. Parallel to that we see the church reigning with Christ in the city of God above and below.

III Satan Released

We are not done with Satan yet because his binding was only partial. Thus in verses 7-10 the malevolent angel is released again to go forth and corrupt the nations, When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. A word of caution is appropriate here. We know when this ends as well as how, but because the thousand years is not literal, and is a symbolic time, we do not know when this begins in our own time-line. We do know that already Satan is mustering his forces to disperse falsehood worldwide, lead the masses of mankind astray, wage war against God’s people, and surrounding the camp of the saints. At present non-Christian religions together with secularism are spearheading the lie, causing much of humanity to live in spiritual darkness, and fiercely persecuting Christians on every continent. This, like the kingdom of Christ is a growing thing. In fact, I would surmise that as the kingdom of Christ advances the opposition grows in proportion. Notice again that they “Surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves.” The background for this section is Ezekiel 36-39 where God’s people rest securely in a future setting, but are still attacked by the evil nations Gog and Magog. In rabbinical Judaism these two enemies came to be used to describe all of the enemies of the Messiah and the people of God. Just as “Armageddon” in chapter 16 and thereafter is symbolic of the spiritual battle against the manifestation of Christ’s rule in the world, so this last conflict is not an attack with troops and armaments, but a spiritual pointer to the ultimate defeat of Satan and his lies. In Ezekiel the attack of Gog and Magog is followed by the final order as described in Ezekiel 40–48 in terms of a rebuilt temple in a new Jerusalem, so in Revelation 21 and 22 we have a similar description of the triumph of the crucified.

IV Secrets Revealed

Now we come to what we call the last judgment in verses 11-15, Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. As Hendriksen describes it, “God now calls everyone into his courtroom, and as the books are opened, everyone is judged in accord with divine justice. The division between the saints and the ungodly is irrevocable and final. The ones whose names are recorded in the book of life are forever with the Lord, but those who have spurned him are forever cut off.” The apostle Peter describes this scene in II Peter 3:7 and 10-13, By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men…But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. There is only one final judgment and it occurs with the coming of the Lord at a time unknown, and the renovation of the present heavens and earth to the new creation. As the Westminster Confession, Chapter 33, Paragraph 1 states, “God hath appointed a day, wherein He will judge the world, in righteousness, by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father. In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged, but likewise all persons that have lived upon earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds; and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil.” Those whose names are written in the Book of Life have nothing to fear. Though they are sinners, they are justified freely through the grace of Christ.

V Success Realized

Finally we come to the new heavens and new earth which is initially described in 21:1-8, Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” Much will follow further describing this new paradise, but first and most important we can observe here that every obstacle to fellowship has been removed. God dwells with us. In 13:6 John had used the illustration of God dwelling in his heavenly tent surrounded by his people. Kistemaker writes, “The tabernacle in the desert had the holy of Holies where God dwelled. The temple in Jerusalem likewise had the sacred place behind the curtain as God’s dwelling. But neither in the desert nor in Jerusalem did God and his people live under one roof. Now notice that when Jesus came, he dwelt among his people; literally, ‘he pitched his tent’ among them according to John 1:14. This is also the case in the new Jerusalem, where God and his people live together in perfect peace and harmony. The people will fully know him, love and serve him, and forever taste his goodness. The symbolic tent in which God and his people dwell is not a picture of their dwelling in a temporary shelter. The symbolism points to the privilege his people have in contrast to the Old Testament saints. For them only the high priest once a year might enter the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. Now his people are always in his presence. God has made it possible for human beings to dwell with him, he is their God, and he is forever with them. The results of this fellowship are that there is no more thirst, no crying, or mourning, or pain and by implication no more of the conditions that cause these. This is the situation in God’s tent. The enemies are eliminated, there threats are ended and the host provides protection and care for the stranger who is His guest. In typical middle eastern style of hospitality, David described this in Psalm 23:4-6 where he pictures finding refuge in God’s tent, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. This hospitality was so extreme that once the host had received the traveler in his tent it became his sacred obligation to protect him with his life. This Jesus did for us so that we could dwell in God’s tent forever.