“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.”-Revelation 20:1-3
Last week we
looked at the Battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. We
learned how the nations of this world will drawn to the doorsteps of Jerusalem
for a great battle at which the Lord Himself will return and will destroy them
with the Word of His mouth (Rev. 19:11-16). The Anti-Christ and False Prophet
will be thrown into the Lake of Fire and the nations will be judged. After the
carnage of that day, Jesus will take His rightful place as King of Kings and
Lord of Lords upon this earth.
“Then the seventh angel sounded: And
there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms[a] of this world have become the
kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”-Revelation
11:15
This will be a
very unique time in the history of humanity as Christ will reign on the earth
for 1,000 years. However, it will also be unique as Satan will have no
influence over mankind for 1,000 years. According to Revelation 20, an angel
will come down and bind Satan with a chain for 1,000 years. He will be cast
into the bottomless pit. It will be shut and sealed so that he cannot deceive
the nations until the 1,000 years is finished. But, after it, he will be
released for a little while.
According to
Revelation 20:4-6, at the beginning of the 1,000 years there will be a
resurrection of the dead:
“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[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 is a
resurrection of those who believed in Christ during the tribulation and were
killed for their faith. The rest of the dead will not live again until the end
of the 1,000 years.
What then
will life be like during the 1,000 year reign?
The 1,000
years will be an unprecedented time of peace and healing with Jerusalem at the
epicenter of worship:
“Now it
shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above
the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come,
and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall
go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge
between the nations, and rebuke many people;
They
shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
anymore.”-Isaiah 2:2-4
Harmony will
once again be restored in nature. Life will continue on earth. It will look
vastly different, however, with Jesus reigning on the earth, Satan bound for
1,000 years, world-wide peace and nature back in balance.
Nevertheless,
at the end of the 1,000 years something mind-boggling happens!
Pastor Scott
Burr
Dayspring
Community Church
No comments:
Post a Comment