Praise ye the Lord. When Brother Scott read that
passage, I was looking at verse 7, returning
to thy rest, O my soul. A believer does not go off about
a week later, a month later, a couple of months later, realize,
you know, I just haven't been resting like I ought. With the
believer, it's right now, right now, right now, right now, right
now, right now. They're just constantly, constantly.
They think on Him. They realize Him. They need Him. Let's turn to the book of Revelation
chapter 20. I'd like to just deal with verse
4. Actually, the last time we were
in this chapter, I started in the 4th chapter, just got in
it just a little bit. Our time was up. So I want to
just take that verse. this morning, Revelation chapter
20 and verse 4. John said, I saw thrones, and
they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw
the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, for
the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither
his image, neither had received His mark upon their foreheads
or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand
years." There were three indisputable
truths that set forth in this fourth verse of Revelation chapter
20. John said, I saw thrones And
they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them." Now, remember,
this scene in the fourth verse comes as Satan has been laid
hold of, and he's been bound for a thousand years. Why was
he bound? for a thousand years. Well, the
Scripture says that he should deceive the nations no more till
the thousand years should be fulfilled. Well, a thousand years. I know that as we looked at last
time, John saw an angel come down from heaven. The Lord in
His incarnation came into this world for the purpose of the
binding of Satan. How long? Well, Scripture says
a thousand years. Well, 2 Peter 3.8. And the reason
I say this is because how men have tried to set a thousand
years as being a period of time. And some will say, well, this
is Constantinople, or this is this. And to be able to see exactly,
the word thousand there, I looked it up. It means a plural of an
uncertain end. It's a period of time. Scripture
says in Psalms 90, verse 4, for a thousand years, in thy sight
are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the
night. 2 Peter 3 says, But beloved,
be not ignorant of this one thing, a day with the Lord is a thousand
years, a thousand years is as a day. How long was yesterday
with the Lord? A thousand years. How long is
a thousand years? Just a day. The word is a plural
of an uncertain end. John saw an angel, the Lord come
down, and he had a key. He had the key that locks or
unlocks whatsoever he has purposed. And during this thousand years,
this uncertain end described as a thousand years, Satan's
ability to deceive the nations was bound. Whenever the Lord
came into this world, read the scriptures, the Jews had the
gospel preached to them. They had the prophets. They had
the law. It was the Jews. And in the providence and purpose
of Almighty God, the Samaritans and the rest of the world, they
didn't have it. God allowed Satan to deceive
the nation. But when the Lord came into this
world, He came to seek and to save that which was lost. Who
did He come to seek and to save? All that the Father had given
Him. He told some folks one day, He said, I have some sheep that
are not of this flock. They weren't Jews. Them I must
bring. And all that the Father has given
the Lord Jesus Christ, shall come." So the Lord came into
this world to bind Satan that he should deceive the nations
no more. How many out of those nations
are going to hear? All that the Father, out of every
nation and kindred and tribe and tongue that the Father gave
the Son, they are going to hear. And Satan is going to be bound
as to his ability to bind them. He is not going to be able to.
So the Lord established a way, a means in which He was going
to call out His own. John said, I saw thrones, that
is, seats of authority who are actually the preachers of the
gospel who have been given the privilege and the seat of authority
to preach the gospel. I'll show you. in just a minute.
Why? They have been given this seat
of authority to comfort God's people. That's the reason. They feed God's sheep with knowledge
and understanding. They don't lord over God's people. They don't exercise dominion
over God's people or over God's heritage. But what are they?
They are to be, according to 1 Peter 5.3, Examples to the
flock. Examples. God's preachers are
gifts to His church. Ephesians 4, verse 8 says, when
He ascended upon high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts
unto men. What were those gifts? Well,
verse 11 of Ephesians 4 says, some apostles and some prophets
and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. Why? Why
did He do that? for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of
the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And these
that sat on these thrones," John says, I saw thrones, and they
sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them." Now remember,
turn over to Matthew 19.28 just to show you the Lord speaking
of this particular blessing right here. Matthew 19.28. Matthew
19.28, "...and Jesus said unto them..." He was speaking to His
people, to His disciples. Look at verse 23 of Matthew 19,
"...then said Jesus unto His disciples, Now he's speaking
to his disciples, and in verse 28 he says, And Jesus said unto
them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me
in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne
of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel. So the instance in Revelation
20, John said, I saw these thrones that the Lord had spoken of.
I saw them. The Lord had told His disciples,
He said, when the Son of Man, in the regeneration, when He
sits on His throne, you'll sit on thrones, and judgment will
be given unto you to judge the twelve tribes of Israel. So this
judgment that is spoken of in Revelation 20, verse 4. John
said, I saw thrones. I saw the thrones that the Lord
said His disciples, and all like them. Preachers were given, and
judgment was given unto them, the Scripture says, judgment. The word judgment there means
this, a verdict arrived at, a verdict. This judgment is obviously not
to be understood as God's preachers having the ability to pronounce
the sentence, but they are the proclaimers that Christ Himself
shall certainly judge this world in righteousness." They are proclaimers. Judgment was given unto them.
Not that they are the judge. We have one judge, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the judge. But judgment
is that they proclaim that He is the judgment. They say forth
that which is so. They proclaim present and future
judgment to rebels, and they proclaim judgment that has already
been rendered to God's Lamb for the sake of God's elect, for
the sake of God's people. And those that have this judgment
received it. The Scripture says, ìI saw thrones,
and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them.î
No one takes upon himself, I just think I'm going to be a preacher. Someone asked me one time, they
said, what do you think about someone becoming a preacher? I said, if I could do anything
else, I would. I wouldn't be a preacher unless
I had to, to be honest with you. Find something else to do. Do
anything else. But be a preacher. Don't do that. But if God calls a man, he has
to. The love of Christ constrains
him. Because believe me, if God Almighty
doesn't give a man a heart to preach the gospel, he won't.
He won't. Have no desire to do anything
else. This judgment was given unto
them. He came up to Matthew and he
said, follow me. And what did Matthew do? Followed
him. Constrained him. Pulled him. These are servants. They are servants to the body
of Christ for Christ's sake and for the bride's goods. Christ's
messengers are His ministers to His people and they are zealous
to his calling. Turn to Romans 10. I saw something
I'd never seen before. Romans 10. Romans 10 and verse 15. This
is concerning God's preachers. It's hard, as I said before,
it's hard to preach about being a preacher when You're saying
something that the Lord has said about you. I know that, but it's
hard to... This is what it says, Romans
10, 15. How shall they preach except they be sent? That's what
he said right there. How are you going to preach if
God didn't send you? Anybody can emulate a message. I can listen to what you're saying.
I can copy. what you're saying, but if God
doesn't bless the message to your heart, you just don't care,
Gary. You just don't care. How are they going to preach
except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. Now, how beautiful. I've read that passage for years,
Carl. How beautiful are the feet. Beautiful
means timely. How timely. Belonging to the
right season is what it means. How beautiful. How timely and
how belonging to the right season. I've said before, isn't it amazing
how when the Lord is pleased to bless a message to His people's
heart, it's just so timely. You know, you think, man, I needed
that. I went last Wednesday night. I was there in Baldwin. Last Sunday preached there and
Milton had asked me, said, when he found out that I wasn't leaving,
he said, well, won't you just preach for us tonight? And I
said, I'll tell you what, let's do this. I said, my mother's
having this. If I'm here, if I'm at the services,
I'll be at the services. And if I'm not, I won't be. But
I said, I don't know exactly what her you know, situation.
He said, I understand. I understand. I said, Milton,
you preach. I just need to sit down and listen, okay? I appreciate
it. And he preached out of Psalm 116, passage of Brother Scott
Redd. And he preached on verse 7. Return,
O my soul, return unto thy rest. And I thought as I was listening
to that message, I thought, man, that was exactly what I needed
to hear. I get so caught up, you know,
and I think to myself, wait a minute. I've said before, Romans 8.28
is the same, whether I'm standing here preaching and the sun's
shining outside or whether I'm thinking my mother's just getting
ready to have bypass surgery and I return to thy rest. Oh, my soul, it's okay. There's
nothing. Almighty God is not going to
allow anything to happen outside of exactly what is for His glory
and your good, my good. How beautiful, how timely. Belonging
to the right seasons. How beautiful are the feet. That word feet right there means
the earnest desire for movement. God's people, God's preachers
preach to His people, and it's timely, and there's an earnest
desire for the movement. I know this, as we've said before.
I don't understand the depth of what's happening this morning,
but I can promise you, based on the Word of God, that whatever
purpose God has purposed as far as the preaching of His gospel,
it's going to accomplish that. God is going to do exactly what
He's pleased to do. Whatever His people need to hear,
they're going to hear it this morning. Whatever Almighty God
is pleased to say, He's going to say it through the gospel. John said, I saw thrones, and
those that sat on those thrones, judgment was given. The proclamation
of the verdict was given unto them. God's ministers, as I said,
they're not judges. In that sense, they proclaim
the truth for the comfort and for the edification and for the
good of God's people. There, as the potters, and let
me just read this to you, in 1st Chronicles 4.23, it says,
and it's speaking of God's preachers, those that dwell among the plants
and the hedges, there they dwelt with the King for His work. What
are God's preachers doing? They are dwelling among God's
heritage. And they are preaching. They
dwell among the plants. They dwell, as Song of Solomon
says, in His garden. And Almighty God draws out the
spices of His grace and mercy through the preaching of the
gospel. This is food for God's people's soul. They hear it. They believe it. They rest in
Him. They trust Him. Almighty God
sends preachers. And then secondly, in this verse,
the result of God's power in calling out. The first one was
the means of God's calling out His own. John said, I saw thrones
and those that sat on those thrones. Judgment was given unto Him.
Secondly, the result of God's power in calling out His elect. John says, and I saw the souls."
Back in Revelation 20, verse 4, "...I saw the souls of them
that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, for the word of God,
in which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither
had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands."
Here we see those that have been actually martyred for Christ,
martyred for Him. Now, I realize that many throughout
history have physically been martyred. But the word, beheaded,
there, it says, I saw the souls of them that were beheaded. Actually, it's smitten is what
that word actually is interpreting. It's smitten. I saw those that
were smitten. Now, whether they were smitten
or beheaded, physically or whether they won't be beheaded or smitten
physically. Not all of God's people that
have been called out of darkness through the preaching of those
that sat on the thrones and judgment was given unto them, not all
of them physically are murdered or martyred as we think of the
word being martyred. But all of them have been smitten
whether physically or not physically, by the Spirit of God in regeneration. All of them have. All of God's
people. John saw that those at some of
the thrones judgment was given to them, and all of them that
God was pleased to call out of darkness have been called out
and smitten by the Spirit of God. The word beheaded ones are
actually the same word as witness in this verse, Acts 1.8, but
ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon
you, and ye shall be witnesses, martyred, beheaded." Same word. Same word. You shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem and Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost
part of the earth. All believers are actually martyrs. All of them have been made by
the grace of God to bow, have surrendered their life to Christ
who is their life. 1 Peter 2.24 says, "...who his
own self bare our sins in his own body and on the tree, that
we, being dead to sins, martyred, smitten, beheaded, dead to sin,
should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed."
These also that John saw, they had not worshipped the beast,
neither his image, neither had received his mark in their foreheads
or in their hands. The name of Almighty God has
been written upon their foreheads. They have the mind of Christ.
God has saved them by His grace. John saw. He saw the means of
God calling out His own. Preacher's throne's judgment
was given to him. And he saw the result of them.
All of them were smitten. All of them were brought down.
All of them were made to bow. There were all witnesses. You
shall all be witnesses. You shall be witnesses. You shall
be martyrs. You shall be beheaded unto me,
both in Jerusalem. And then lastly, the blessing
of his calling. The last part of verse 4 says,
And they lived and they reigned with Christ a thousand years. Here is the result. They lived. John saw. He saw the means. He
saw that entire span. When Satan was bound from the
birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, he came down until the final
judgment over the latter part of this. This is what he saw.
He said, I saw the thrones. I saw those that sat on those
thrones that judgment was given unto Him and all of them that
were brought down. Here was the blessing of all
that God brought down. They lived. This word lived here
is the word that's used. Turn over to John 6.57. You talk
about an amazing passage of Scripture. John 6.57. It says, As the living Father
hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me,
even he shall live by me. A thousand years. As the living
Father, the word where they lived in Revelation 20, verse 4, they
lived. The same word they lived there
is the same word here. The living Father. The One who
is life. As the living Father hath sent
me, the Lord said, and I lived by the Father. Now think of who
is saying this. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself, God Himself is saying this. It's the Lord Jesus, the
Son of God Himself. As the living Father has sent
me, and He said, and I live by the Father, though God Himself,
here He speaks as the Son incarnate. He lived His life as the Incarnate
One in absolute dependence upon His Father as our representative. He lived perfectly, in obedience
perfectly before Almighty God as our federal head, trusting
His Father, depending on His Father. As the Living Father
has sent me, He said, I live in dependence As a man, the God-man,
I live by the Father, obeying the law perfectly. So, he that eateth me, even he
shall live by me. The living Father, the Son Himself
who lives by the Father, and He said, he that eateth me shall
live by me. They are all the same word. These,
John said, They lived. They lived. And they reigned
with Christ. The Scripture says in 1 Thessalonians
5, 10, who died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we should live
together with Him. Same word, lived. Now, turning
back and closing, I want to give you something that is a great
blessing. and a great comfort for all that
have died in the faith. John said, I saw. I saw thrones,
and they that sat upon them, judgment given unto them. And
I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness
of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped
the beast. neither his image, neither had
received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands.
And they lived and they reigned with Christ a thousand years." What is the state of present
or departed saints? John says they lived. that are still on this earth.
Now, I'm reading about John, John the Apostle. I'm reading
about Paul. I think about different ones
that have been in this world and have walked through for a
moment, just a fleeting moment, just a vapor. They were just
here. And all of a sudden, they were here and gone. They were
gone. But they had a good witness. and they died in the faith. And
all of them that died in the faith, the Scripture says, they
live. We see right now you that believe. You see through a glass darkly.
And you know what they do? They see Him face to face. We see by faith, and they see
Him as He is. They look upon Him right now. We are troubled on every side,
and they have no more tears. But though we are still in this
world of affliction, they are no more alive in Christ than
we. Galatians 2.20 says, I'm crucified
with Christ. Paul says, nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. Same word. And the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God
who loved me. and gave Himself for me." They
lived and they reigned with Christ a thousand years. They ruled
as kings. Revelation 1, 6 says, "...and
hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father. To Him
be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Revelation 5.10
says, And hath made us unto our God kings and priests, and we
shall reign on the earth. Now, those two Scriptures that
I just read, and hath made us kings and priests, and also,
and hath made us unto our God kings and priests, both Scriptures,
The word kings in both of those scriptures is actually interpreted
kingdom. He hath made us a kingdom of
priests is what it actually says. A kingdom that reigns with Christ. They reign victoriously by the
blood of Christ. What is a priest? Just in the
simplest terms, a priest is one that is able to approach God. A priest. One that can approach
Him. Accepted. He has made us a kingdom
of those that can approach Him in peace by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Though we approach Him by faith,
by the Way Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, those departed
saints are always in His presence. They are able to approach Him.
They live because He lives, because He is life. They reign because
Christ, having bound Satan for a thousand years to deceive them,
has brought them in. to His marvelous light. They
reign because their God is God Almighty and has made us unto
our God, kings and priests. He has made us a kingdom of priests. John said, I saw the means of
God calling His own. I saw the result of God calling
His own. They were all smitten. They were
all beheaded. They were all witnesses. They
were all martyrs. Whether physically or not, God
brings them all down. They're dead to sin. John said,
I saw the blessing of it. They reigned with Him. They lived. They lived. And they all lived
and reigned with Christ a thousand years. May Almighty God be pleased
to bless the preaching of his gospel to our heart today, for
Christ's sake and for our good.