Revelation chapter 20.
I don't know how long tonight's going to be.
We'll see.
But what I'm going to try to do is I'm going to try to get through verses 4 through 6 of
Revelation 20 and hopefully maybe be done with this whole mini series within a series
on eschatology and then Lord willing next week we can maybe start going verse by verse
through Revelation and that's going to be a lot of fun.
But just to keep in mind kind of where we're at we're talking about eschatology which is
the study of the end times or the final things, the last things, stuff like that.
Let's say this is a timeline of history and we're looking at okay well what's going to
happen and we've talked about all these different views with the premillennial dispensational
view of the secret rapture where Jesus and the church here and then they're up here and
then starts the seven year tribulation period.
Jesus returns at that point and he sets up the 1000 year kingdom.
And so we have spent a lot of time talking about you know well what about the rapture,
what about this seven year tribulation period.
And last week this is as far as we got when we were talking about the binding of Satan
and if you were here last week good for you and your back so that's awesome.
If you weren't here go and listen to that one and try to work out for yourself what
that actually means.
And so kind of where we're at now is the actual millennium, the 1000 year period that is talked
about here in Revelation chapter 20.
So if you have your Bibles I want us to start in verse 3 and we're going to read through
verse 4.
So this is what the Bible says.
And threw him into the pit and we're also going to have it up on the screen tonight
for anybody who might not have a Bible plus we're going to be looking at a lot of different
verses in the Bible.
So rather than having you flip it's just going to be up on the screen.
So he threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him so that he might not deceive
the nations any longer until the 1000 years were ended.
After that he must be released for a little while.
Then I saw thrones and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed.
And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for
the word of God and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received
its mark on their foreheads or on their hands.
And they came to life and reigned with Christ for 1000 years.
Now this is the famous passage about the 1000 years.
The millennium.
Right?
And it seems like a pretty straight forward passage.
You read this and the simplest most straight forward understanding of this is what?
This is a literal 1000 year period.
You read this, hey, 1000 years is going to take place.
This is what's going to happen before, after, during, and it's 1000 years.
The most simple reading of that is that it is 1000 years.
That's in fact the dispensationalist view is that it is a literal 1000 years.
The historic premillennialist says that it is a literal 1000 years.
Even the postmillennialists, they go back and forth.
So there's like a split, right?
But like some postmillennial will say that the 1000 years is a literal and others will
say that it is symbolic.
It is only the, I'm not going to spell it out.
This is the only letter that you need to know.
The amillennialist is the only one who says, well, maybe it's not a literal 1000 years.
That's where the name amillennial comes from.
A in Greek is a negation, so it means literally no millennium, which is not exactly their viewpoint,
but you get the idea.
It's saying that they believe there is not a literal 1000 years, but that this would represent
a symbolic number.
So they would say it refers to a whole time period, specifically the time between Jesus'
ascension and his return.
That entire time period, they would say is the millennium, which would mean if that's
true, what are we in now?
The millennium, right?
So that is their interpretation of that.
And for some who oppose this literal 1000 year interpretation, there's one objection
that would say, well, hey, listen, this is the only passage in the whole Bible that actually
refers to a literal 1000 year period, and it occurs in the most highly symbolic, apocalyptic
book in the Bible.
So therefore we don't have to interpret it literally.
Now that objection is technically fair, but also remember the Bible only has to say something
once in order for it to be true, right?
So in the end of the day, it really doesn't matter if this only occurs in one passage
or three passages.
As long as the Bible says it once, it's true.
I mean, I think there's only one verse that says that Jesus is the way, the truth, and
the life, and no one in here would question that, would we?
We wouldn't go, well, it only appears once, so I don't know about that.
No.
If we say something once, it is true, and it needs only say something once.
So that objection of the whole, it only occurs in one passage and it's in a highly metaphorical,
symbolic book, it's fair, but it's weak.
The question that we need to be asked, and if we're going to determine, okay, is it literal
or is it metaphorical symbolic, is do we have any legitimate reason to interpret this in
any other way other than literally, right?
So the most plain reading is a literal thousand years.
We all agree on that, but it does occur in a highly metaphorical, symbolic book, apocalyptic
literature.
So it is a legitimate question to ask, is there any reason, legitimate reasons, we should
wonder whether or not this should be literal or symbolic.
And I think we do have a couple reasons we should consider.
First and foremost, and I didn't give you a handout tonight, I just wanted you to write.
So Revelation is apocalyptic literature that utilizes highly figurative and symbolic language.
So the fact that it occurs in Revelation, the genre itself, gives us a legitimate reason
to question whether or not this is a literal thousand years or a symbolic thousand years.
The fact that it is occurring in Revelation should already make us go, okay, we need to
be asking if this is literal or not.
The second thing that we should consider is that numbers all throughout Revelation are
used symbolically.
There are a couple of times when numbers are used quite literally, like the seven churches
that are in Asia Minor.
There were literally seven churches, but all throughout Revelation, numbers are used symbolically.
Do you remember when we talked about, towards one of the first studies in Revelation, we
talked about the seven spirits of God.
And we said, well, that was a symbolic way of referring to the fullness of the Holy Spirit,
because seven means fullness, completeness, wholeness, and we don't believe that there
are seven Holy Spirits or seven Spirits of God.
We believe that is saying, it's a way of referring to the full presence of the Holy
Spirit.
There's a passage in Revelation in, I believe, chapter 11, which is going to be super fun
to talk about that night, looking forward to it.
We're talking about the two witnesses that come to earth during a certain time, and they're
witnessing and prophesying and do all this kind of stuff.
Well there's good reason to believe that the two there is symbolic, and it's not actually
referring to two people, but there's a lot of Old Testament stuff that goes into that
passage.
So the number two there is probably metaphorical or symbolic.
We read about the four corners of the earth.
I don't know if you know this about earth, contrary to flat earth people, but the earth
is round.
So there aren't technically four corners of the earth.
It's just a symbolic way of referring to what?
To the whole earth.
The four corners of the earth is referring to the whole earth.
Even like the number 12 in Revelation is used in symbolic and metaphorical ways.
Twelve is often used in its multiples to refer to the people of God, right?
There were 12 tribes of Israel.
How many disciples did Jesus have?
He had 12.
And then also think about its multiples, there's that famous passage about the 144,000 that
were sealed.
Well it's a symbolic way of referring to the fullness of God's people, the entirety of
his people.
So numbers throughout Revelation are used symbolically.
Another point is that the number 10 and its multiples, I don't know if you know this about
the number 1,000, but it's a multiple of 10.
So 10 and its multiples are used throughout Revelation and the Bible to represent and signify
like indefiniteness and magnitude and completeness.
So something that is so grand that you can't even hardly wrap your mind around it.
So think about this, Revelation chapter 5 verse 11, it'll be on the screen.
This is what the Bible says.
And I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beast
and the elders.
And the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands.
Right?
Okay, so clearly John didn't have time to count the whole multitude.
So he's like, okay, how do we represent this?
10,000 and then thousands upon thousands upon thousands.
He's saying what?
It's a large number of angels that he's seeing here.
It's a large multitude that he's seeing.
It's so indefinite and big you just can't even really put a number to it.
So let's put a thousand up there and just kind of multiply.
Right?
And then think about Psalm chapter 50 verse 10.
Again, it's going to be on the screen.
For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
Now here's my question to you.
Let's think about this.
Does God only own the cattle on a thousand hills?
But that 1,000 in first hill, well that's not God's.
That belongs to someone else.
Is that what the Bible is saying here?
No.
It's a metaphorical way, a symbolic way of saying it's all mine.
The cattle on a thousand hill, everything is mine.
So just put a number to it.
What's a big number that's going to just grasp this idea of bigness?
It's going to be a thousand.
So Daniel chapter 7 verse 10.
A stream of fire issued and came out from before him and a thousand thousands served
him and 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him.
The court sat in judgment and the books were open.
So again, you have this large crowd.
How do you represent it with a number?
A thousand thousands, thousand thousands, 10,000, 10,000, thousand thousand thousand.
You get the idea, right?
You want to represent something big and grand in the Bible?
Put a thousand up there or a multiple of a thousand.
So that's how it's used throughout the Bible.
And then this kind of other point, it's very interesting.
The Greek word here for 1000 is only used one other time in the entire New Testament.
And the only other time it is used in the entire New Testament occurs in a passage that just
incidentally talks about the return of Christ, which is pretty interesting, right?
So 2 Peter chapter 3 verses 7 through 8.
The Bible says, but by the same word, the heavens and the earth now exist or stored
up for fire being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand
years and a thousand years as one day.
That is pretty interesting.
That is literally the only other time in the entire New Testament outside of the book of
Revelation that the word thousand appears and it appears in a passage referring to the return
of Christ.
And what is the Bible saying here?
You can't understand God's timing, right?
A day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day.
So the big thing is like the small thing and the small thing is like the big thing.
What's the Bible saying?
It's saying here's this large number that you can't even grasp, but don't worry for
the Lord, it's like nothing and He's going to return.
Don't worry about counting down the days, don't start at a thousand and go, okay, I
got this now, and that'll equal one day and blah, blah, blah.
It's just a big time, right?
Can we get that?
It's a big time period that's happening here.
So when you consider all these factors together, I'm not saying one way or the other, whether
you should begin to interpret this symbolically or metaphorically or literally.
I'm not trying to push you one way.
But what I am saying is that there are legitimate reasons, as you can see, to question whether
or not we should be interpreting this symbolically rather than literally.
And the surmounting evidence of the Bible here and its usage of a thousand kind of starts
to lend itself towards that symbolic interpretation.
And if that's the case, and a thousand usually signifies the fullness of a large time period,
it would make sense for it to represent the entire time between Jesus' ascension and
His return, right?
If you are a biblical writer inspired by the Holy Spirit and you're trying to say, okay,
how can I define that large period of time in which it's going to take that much time
for Christ to return, what would I do if you're a biblical writer?
What's the number that comes to your mind?
A thousand.
That's how you represent it throughout the rest of the Bible, right?
We've seen it used that way throughout the rest of the Bible, so you just say a thousand
years.
A millennium, a large chunk of time that's representing the fullness of that time period
of the church age until Jesus returns.
And notice what it says here that during this one thousand year period, it says that Christ
is ruling and reigning right now.
Did you see that in verse four, Revelation chapter 20 verse four?
It said, then I saw thrones and seated on them where those to whom the authority to judge
was committed.
Also, I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for
the word of the Lord.
Those who 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 they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
So it's a picture of Christ ruling and reigning, right?
He's seated on a throne, which means that he's in a place where he is ruling and reigning.
A king would rule from a throne.
And then ruling with him are those who are martyred for their faith, as well as all Christians,
because it said it's those who do not align themselves with the beast.
They don't receive the mark of the beast.
And these rule and reign during the 1000 year time period.
Now again, if we're going to just entertain this idea that the 1000 years is happening
now, the millennium is happening now during the church age, well then we have to ask another
question, right?
What's the question we should be asking based on what we just read?
That is a great question that we will not talk about tonight.
Good for you, but not the question I'm looking for.
So it says, during this 1000 year period, Christ is seated on a throne and he's ruling
and reigning with all Christians.
And if we're saying it's possible that this is referring to the time period of now, I
think the question would be, well, is there any biblical evidence to suggest that Christ
is ruling and reigning right now, right?
Like wouldn't you want to know that?
Are we waiting for some future reign to happen or is Christ ruling and reigning now?
So rather than hearing my opinion, let's just go and see what the Bible says.
Hebrews chapter one, verses three through four.
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.
And he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high,
having become much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent
than theirs.
So it says, Jesus is seated in the place right next to the father in a throne on high.
Ephesians chapter one, verses 20 through 22.
That's talking about the power that worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead
and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.
For above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is
named, not only in this age.
Did we catch that?
Not only in this age now, but in the age to come.
And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church.
Peter chapter three, verse 22, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God
with angels and authorities and powers having been subjected to him.
First Corinthians 15.
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death for God has put all things in subjection under
his feet.
But when it says all things are put into subjection, it is plain that he is accepted who put all
things in subjection under him.
And then maybe my favorite Psalm in the entire Bible, Psalm 110.
The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool.
The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter rule in the midst of your people
or midst of your enemies.
Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power and holy garments from
the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.
So is it clear based on what we've just read that Jesus is currently ruling and reigning
from heaven?
Yes.
Yeah.
I think we can all agree on that's not even one of the controversial things.
Do we need to go back to the binding of Satan?
We can get back into that.
But no, it's very clear Jesus is ruling and reigning now from heaven.
And it's interesting, it says that he's ruling in the midst of his enemies, the scepter extends
forth from Zion, which is the place of the city of God, the people of God.
And so Jesus is in heaven, ruling in the midst of his enemies.
How is he doing that?
How is he exercising his rule and his power in this world?
The church.
Exactly right.
Jesus is ruling and reigning from heaven, but in the midst of his enemies through us,
the church, we are the symbol of God's power in this world because we are indwell by the
Holy Spirit of God.
We have the power of God literally in us.
And so this is what the Bible is saying here.
And it says that the Father is making the enemies of Christ his footstool.
And that it's really interesting because this is not how basically if you were going to
a university that was how to mascot like the crusaders, you might want to change it because
like, don't you think the crusaders got it wrong?
They read passages like this and they said, okay, we've got to bring all people into Christ's
dominion.
And so we're going to pick up swords and we're going to bring them by force into the church
and they're going to join us that way.
And notice that's not what the Bible said here, right?
Like that's how the kings of old would conquer.
You'd go to a city and there'd be some people there who were your enemy and you'd use power
and might to bring them under your authority.
Well, that's not what Jesus does.
The beautiful thing here is it says that the people will offer themselves freely on the
day of his power.
And so what this is referring to is conversion.
Jesus is not going around saying, hey, I'm forcing you to join my, he's not dragging
people into his kingdom kicking and screaming.
He's sending forth his people as his ambassadors into the world with the gospel message and
dwelled by the spirit of God.
And when they preach the gospel and they share the good news about Jesus, the power of God
comes upon unbelievers.
They're convicted of sin and they see the beauty of the glory of God and the truth of
the gospel.
And what do they do?
They give themselves freely to Christ.
They lay down their lives and willingly join his kingdom because they have been won by
his grace, right?
So in this beautiful picture of how Jesus is not being a crusader dragging people into
his kingdom, but he is ruling in the midst of his enemies through his church by sending
his church on a mission.
And notice what the Bible says here in verses five through six.
It says that during this period, the believers who are ruling with him are those who are
martyred for their faith, those who died are now in heaven with Christ and even believers
here on earth.
And it talks about the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years
were ended.
This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection.
Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ
and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
So unbelievers who died, they are not resurrected during this time, right?
That's not what the Bible says here.
It says that they remain dead until a time for judgment.
Their resurrection will come when Christ returns and we go to the final judgment, but the first
resurrection that's spoken of here is a spiritual resurrection, right?
Do you see that?
Why would we think that this resurrection that's being referred to here is spiritual
rather than a physical bodily resurrection?
Okay, partially.
Yes, right.
So I guess we can, we'll kind of jump ahead, although I don't really want to jump ahead
that much, but because it's complicated, right?
So if you're a dispensationalist, they, again, this isn't every single dispensationalist,
I'm just going to give this caveat every time.
I'm speaking in generalities because there are new aunt's views.
I respect that.
You can have your new aunt's view.
But most dispensationalists would believe in about four different resurrections.
So at the time of the rapture, you would have pretty much all believers of the church are
resurrected at that time.
That's a physical bodily resurrection according to most dispensationalists.
And then when Christ returns, this would be the whole church, those who've died.
And then at the return of Christ to begin the millennium, you have a resurrection of
Old Testament saints.
The Old Testament saints are raised up at that time.
And then here at the end of, and also you have another resurrection here, those who
died during the tribulation, who became believers during that time, they're also resurrected.
And then at the end of the millennium, you have the resurrection of unbelievers who are
resurrected at that time.
You have these four different resurrections that are happening according to the dispensationalist
view.
And my question is, why should we believe that the resurrection that's being talked about
here is spiritual rather than a physical bodily resurrection?
Okay.
Yeah, there are a number of things that go into this.
You can ask the question, do we believe that believers who are in heaven right now have
a physical body?
That's a question to consider, right?
Do they have a physical body?
Does the imperishable inherit the imperishable?
Uh-huh.
Do they have them now?
Okay.
Yeah, that's all.
We're all friends here.
We're just asking questions.
We're just talking.
First Corinthians chapter 15, verses 22 to 24.
For as in Adam, all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own
order Christ the first fruits, then it is coming.
Those who belong to Christ then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God, the
father, after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
How do we feel better equipped to answer the question?
Why should we possibly believe that the resurrection being talked about in Revelation 20 is spiritual
rather than physical?
I think it just gave us the answer here.
Okay, yeah, but what else?
Just look at the timing, right?
Each in their own order.
Christ is raised first, then when are other people raised?
Early resurrection, verse 23.
That is coming, right?
So then you have to ask, okay, well, if you're a dispensationalist, is this his coming?
And we would then agree that that's possible and this could be referring to that.
This is his coming.
There's a physical resurrection there, but then notice the very first word of verse 24.
And then after.
Comes the end.
But this isn't the end, right?
Like it would be way down here somewhere.
And so what many dispensationalists will do is they'll put a gap there.
It's kind of like the gap theory in Genesis, but it's also, there's a gap theory in 1 Corinthians.
They'll say that then there's a big gap there and this is the gap.
Here to here.
Jesus comes, this is his coming, and there's a resurrection, and then comes the end.
But this is pretty quick in succession, is it not?
Like the way that you were reading this, and this is an epistle, this is not apocalyptic
literature, this isn't metaphorical or symbolic.
This is straightforward, Paul's writing to the Corinthians.
He's very logical, very literal, and he says, okay, you want to break down of how it's going
to go?
Here's how it is.
Your hope is in Christ.
He was raised from the dead.
You're going to be raised from the dead.
When?
At his coming.
And then what?
Then comes the end.
Do you see how quick in succession that is?
He's showing us that this resurrection is going to happen at Jesus' coming, his second
coming, when all things are coming to an end.
Then comes the end, and what happens immediately after that?
The kingdom is delivered to the Father.
It's not something else.
It's not a tribulation.
It's not a thousand year period.
It is the end.
But what's being referred to here is not the end, right?
This is referring to what happens during that thousand years.
And so this is a spiritual resurrection, when believers die, they go to be with Christ, right?
Absent from the body.
You're at home with the Lord.
You're in the presence of Jesus.
You're not a physical entity at that point.
You're some sort of spiritual being.
But you are alive, and you are with Christ, and it says, blessed is the one who partakes
in that first resurrection.
The second death has no power over them.
You are going to be with Christ during that time.
It also means that those who are alive now, in one way, we have also experienced a spiritual
resurrection, right?
We were dead, but now what?
We're alive in Christ.
We have been raised to new life in Christ.
And so that is the guarantee that when we die our physical death, I'm still going to
be with Christ.
I'm going to be alive with Him, and I don't have to worry about that.
And praise the Lord, it says the second death has no power.
So the first resurrection is a spiritual resurrection, and then the second resurrection
is a physical one, where we get our resurrection bodies that we'll have for all of eternity
in glory with God.
And converse that, the first death is a physical death, and the second death is a spiritual
death.
And praise the Lord, again, that we will not experience that second death.
And so, again, just to end this very quickly, Joseph mentioned something about the priesthood.
Just something to note here, that language that they'll be priests of God and Christ,
that is the exact language that is used of Christians living now.
The Bible says that we are a royal priesthood, and even Revelation chapter 1, verses 5 and
6, it says, and from Jesus, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of
the kings on earth, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and
made us a kingdom priest to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
So again, this is not something we are waiting on in the future.
We're not one day going to become a kingdom of priests to God.
The Bible says we are now.
If you're a believer, you're part of that royal priesthood.
So I think next week we'll touch on the mark of the beast.
That's a good point.
I didn't even really think about getting into that, but we will.
We'll dive into that, but I just wanted to end with five little things real quick.
I know you're like, oh, five things, and it's Alex.
It's not, I'm just going to read them.
That's all I'm going to do.
Okay?
And I won't even say hardly anything else, because here's what I know.
I know when we get into this type of stuff, and we're looking at all these different views,
and we're considering, okay, what's most biblical?
There's a lot of disagreement, right?
And we've been exposed to a lot of new stuff like last week, and a lot of stuff we haven't
considered.
Many of us have never even considered whether or not this is literal or symbolic, and whether
or not there are good reasons for thinking that.
But here are five takeaways that no matter what your view is, we can all agree on as
Christians, and I think it's a good reminder.
So number one is that Jesus is ruling and reigning now.
No one disagrees with that.
He's ruling and reigning now, and listen, that's a comfort for us.
It means that no matter what happens to us in this life, Jesus is sovereign, and he is
over everything.
He's ruling and reigning.
Secondly, the other thing we can agree on is that Jesus' kingdom will prevail, and the
Father will steadily defeat the enemies of Christ.
So no matter what it looks like in the world, when you see all the sin, you see all the
war, you see all the UFOs being shot down in America right now, and you're wondering
what in the world is going on, there's a comfort here that no matter what happens to the kingdoms
of man, the kingdom of God will prevail.
He will have the victory in dominion.
The third thing is that believers are a kingdom of priest to God with a mission from God to
go and make disciples of the nations to expand Christ's kingdom to the ends of the earth.
That's who we are now.
That's not something you have to wait on in the future and say, one day I'm going to
do that.
That's who you are now.
You're a priest of God on a mission.
Just as Adam and Eve, God told them to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth.
Well we have that same command today as Christians, but the way that we are fruitful and multiply
is by making disciples, and we fill the earth with disciples.
And so it's a cool little connection there where we have this mission from God.
The fourth thing is that believers will never experience the second death.
Christ will raise us up and we will be with him forever.
And so it's terrifying as the first death might be and everybody, even if you're not
afraid of death, most people are afraid of dying.
And there's not much you can do to avoid that except say, come Lord Jesus, come quickly.
And that is terrifying, but the second death is even worse and it lasts forever for all
of eternity.
And one of the greatest comforts of a Christian is that that has no power over us, that we
will never experience that.
We'll be with Christ.
And then fifth, and this may be the best one of all, is that Jesus is coming back before
the millennium, after the millennium, sometime else if there is such a thing, you know, I
don't know if there is, but we don't know when, we don't know the day, we don't know
the hour, but every Christian should rejoice and can agree that Jesus is returning and
he's coming back for his bride.
And that's us.
And that is good news, which means every Christian should be praying, come Lord Jesus, come quickly.
Amen.
All right.
So next week we'll get into some other stuff.
We didn't go that far over, but hey Michael, how about a word of wisdom?