173 Revelation: Earth's Golden Age

After Jesus’ glorious defeat of the Antichrist and his armies at Armageddon, He steps down on planet Earth once more and takes up His throne. The King has returned to set up His Kingdom.

The 1000-year reign of Jesus is best known by its Latin name: the Millennium. Revelation 20 lays out four events that will take place during this time.

1.     Satan will be chained.
Jesus commissions an angel to seize, bind, and chain Satan and throw him into a place called “the Abyss.”  We can infer that with the subjugation of Satan, the world is swept clean of all demonic influence because vs. 3 notes that this imprisonment will keep him from stirring up the nations against the rule of Christ. 

2.     Saints will be enthroned.
Incredibly, as part of our inheritance as children of God, we will join with Jesus in the judging and ruling process.  Specifically named are those who were martyred during the Great Tribulation, but most scholars see such a highlighting as a word of assurance more than a word of exclusivity. All believers who had died before this are now given their “fit-for-eternity” bodies. This is called “the first resurrection.”

3.     Satan will be released.
Why bind Satan for a thousand years just to release him and have to deal with him again? I think God does this to prove once and for all that He is just in His judgment – of Satan and of mankind.

When Satan is released, he will once again deceive the nations and lead a rebellion against the Lord. Who are these people who rebel? One theory is that these will be some of the children born during the Millennium. Notwithstanding a perfect environment and flawless social conditions, there will be some who will still want to do their own thing and have their own way.  They will chafe at Christ’s rule.

This brief rebellion is the final proof that the terrible and final judgment that is about to happen is right and just.

4.     Sinners will be judged.
Satan is thrown into the lake of fire with the Antichrist and False Prophet. Then a white throne is set up and unbelievers come forth to stand before the Lord one last time. “The books” are opened, the record of their deeds. Make no mistake, this is not seeing if their good deeds outweigh their bad. That’s impossible. These books do not save, they condemn.

Then the “book of life” is opened and all those whose names are not found written there, are thrown into the lake of fire.

What can we take away from all this as an application?

·      Realize Christ’s authority.
There is no dualism. Good and evil are not two equal sides of an equation. God alone is God and Satan is nothing but an angelic being. Authority is Christ’s alone.

·      Remember your destiny.
As children of God, you are destined to rule with Christ. All your sacrifice for the Kingdom is going to be worth it!

·      Recognize man’s impurity.
There’s only one way to make real and lasting change. You need a new heart…and only Christ can give you that.

·      Reflect on eternity.
Hell is real…and real people will be going there. If anything should cause you to consider Christ, it’s this. And if anything should drive you to your knees praying for your unsaved friends and family, and give you the courage to witness to your hope…it’s this.

Text: Revelation 20

Originally recorded on June 4, 2000, at Fellowship Missionary Church, Fort Wayne, IN