I have a title that I believe
will be of some interest to many of us. What is the millennium? I remember being a boy, I heard
a lot about the millennium. Everybody's heard about it. Everybody's
heard about this thousand year reign of Christ. Well, what is
the millennium? What does the scripture say the
millennium is? There are three main ideas, theological
ideas about the millennium. First, there's the premillennial
idea. Those folks believe that there's
going to be at some point seven years of great tribulation. And
after that time, Christ will physically return to the earth. And he'll reign on a throne in
Jerusalem for 1,000 years. His people will reign with him.
And this is all prior to his second coming. Somehow then he'll
come again. I'm not sure how that's supposed
to work. But anyway, that's the idea. And during that time, there'll
be 1,000 years of peace over the whole earth, because Christ
is reigning. The prince of peace is reigning. And that idea centers
around an earthly kingdom, where God's people will reign with
Christ. They're going to have authority on this earth. But
you know, the Bible makes it pretty clear that that's not
going to happen. There's never going to be an earthly kingdom.
Our Lord is king, isn't he? But his kingdom is not of this
earth. He's not going to have an earthly kingdom. It's a spiritual kingdom.
Well, second, there's the post-millennialists. They believe that Christ will
establish a spiritual kingdom on the earth. And he'll do it
through the preaching of the gospel. And there'll be what they call
a thousand year, just like a golden period of the gospel being preached
on the earth. And almost everyone on the earth
will believe. And that will be Christ's spiritual
kingdom. Most people on earth will be
believing him. Then shortly after that thousand years is over,
Christ will return again. But the Bible seems to make it
clear that most men, or it does make it clear, so it seems to
make it, this is not actually what the millennium is, because
the Bible makes it clear that most men will never believe the
gospel. On earth, at any given time,
those who believe Christ are called a remnant, just a small
number. Well, third, there's the all-millennialists. They believe that Christ reigns
as Lord and King and Savior right now. He already reigns. And they
believe this 1,000 years is a figurative time. It just means a long time,
but an exact time, a time that God has set a beginning and an
end to it. And they believe that this time of the millennium,
this 1,000 years, this figurative time period, began when Christ
ascended back on high, sit down at his father's right hand in
glory, and it will continue until Christ's second coming. And during
all that time, from the time of Christ's ascension to his
second coming, that God's elect from all over the world shall
be saved through the preaching of the gospel. Men will go out
in obedience to our Lord's command and go out into all the world
and preach the gospel. And as they go out and preach, all of
God's people from every nation will believe Christ. It's not
all men or most men will believe, but all of God's elect will believe.
And with that set time that God has appointed, when that set
time is up, all of God's elect have been brought to faith in
Christ, then our Lord will return a second time. And he'll judge
the world in righteousness. He'll glorify his people, bring
them to be with him forever. And he'll judge and damn the
unbeliever in righteousness. That's the awe, millennials.
That's what most of us would be. Because that seems to match
the rest of scripture. This 1,000 years, I firmly believe,
is not a literal 1,000 years. And I believe that mostly because
very few numbers in scripture are literal, aren't they? And
especially in prophecy, none of them are literal. They're
all figurative. We saw this earlier in the book
of Revelation. There's not going to just be 144,000 people in
glory. That's a figurative number. We
know that that's not an exact number because our Lord says
a number no man can number. There wasn't just 70 weeks from
when, from Daniel to our Lord's birth. That was a figurative
number of weeks. And this thousand years is a
figurative number. It just means the gospel age. The millennium is the gospel
age, the age that we're in right now and will continue until Christ
returns. And so often when people talk
about the millennium, they're trying to figure out the millennium,
exactly how long it will last and exactly when it'll end. So
they are going to know when Christ will return and the events surrounding
his return. And I strongly warn you, don't
fall into that trap. Just don't fall into that trap.
The believer is not taken up with the things and the events
and the views or whatever it is, even the exact moment of
our Lord's return. And the Bible is not written
to tell us those things. If that's what you're using the
Bible to do, you're not going to find out because the Bible
is not written to tell us those things. The Bible is written
for one reason, just one, to reveal Christ the Savior. That's
the reason the Bible is written. The Bible tells us who we're
looking for. Not when he's going to come,
not the events around it. We're just looking for him. We're
not looking for kingdoms. We're not looking for events.
We're looking for a person. We are if we know him, aren't
we? If we know him, all we care about is that he will return. And the message of revelation
is the message of the whole Bible. Christ wins. He is the successful,
conquering, victorious savior who shall, without any doubt,
save his people from their sins. And none of them can ever perish
because Christ has defeated every enemy. Christ is the believers
salvation. So he is who we're looking for.
You know, this, uh, this idea that Christ is going to reign
in Jerusalem, he's going to give all his people important government
jobs. They can have them. I'm not interested in earthly
kingdoms. I'm not interested in big houses
or streets of gold. And you're not either. If you
know him, all the believers interested in is Christ. I just care about
seeing him when he returns. I don't care about all the events.
My heart's desire is to see him face to face. Now, our text this
morning tells us what's going to happen during this millennium,
this representative thousand years. Chapter 20 begins the
seventh and last vision in the book of Revelation. There's been
this. We looked at six of them. This
would be the seventh. And each one of those visions has given
us a history of man's time on earth. And it showed us how Christ
from different views, how Christ has always been winning through
what he has done and what he still is doing through his people
and for his people. Chapter 20 starts with the whole
gospel age that begins with Christ's incarnation. And it will end,
we'll see this in just a few weeks, it will end with the glory
in heaven that's seen in New Jerusalem. So here's the first
thing about the millennium that I want us to see. We see Christ's
dominion over Satan during this millennium. Revelation 20, verse
1. And I saw an angel come down
from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great
chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon,
that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him
1,000 years and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut
him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations
no more, till a thousand years should be fulfilled, and after
that he must be loosed a little season." Now this angel that
came down, John saw, is the angel. He's the messenger of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one who can lay
hold upon Satan and bind him. This is Christ himself. He came
down from heaven and he appeared as a man so that he might bind
Satan. See, this is speaking of the
first coming of our Lord. And not speaking of a second
coming, it's speaking of his first coming. If you want a real
Christmas message, here it is. Here's why Christ came. Here's
his incarnation. And part of the reason why he
came was to bind Satan, to take away his power. And that's exactly
what he did. Now, how did Christ bind Satan? How did he take his
power away? Well, there are several times.
First, remember the wilderness of temptation. Our Lord was out
there for 40 days and Satan came and tempted him with all the
things of this world and everything he could tempt him with. And
our Lord triumphed over him, didn't he? How did he triumph
over him? With the Word of God. And every
temptation, all our Lord did was quote the Word of God. Satan
went away. He came to the Lord, but he found
nothing in him. He found nothing in common. He
found nothing that he could get a foothold on. Satan's power
was bound at that time by the word of God. Then look at John
chapter 12. Second, Christ bound Satan at
Calvary. When he fulfilled the prophecy
of Genesis chapter 3, and he crushed the serpent's head. John
12 verse 31. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all unto me. That word men is in italics.
It's been added by the translators. He didn't draw all men unto him.
He drew all unto him. Who's the all? It's all that
the Father gave him in the covenant of grace. He draws all his people
to him. Well, when did that take place?
How is it that he draws all his people unto him? At the cross,
verse 32. And our, well, verse 31 says,
now, as the judgment of this world come, now shall the prince
of this world be cast out. Here's how he's cast out. And
I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all unto me.
This, he said, signifying what death he should die. The Holy
spirit draws all of God's elect to Christ through the preaching
of Christ, crucified through Christ, lifted up and preaching
and Satan, He can't do anything about it. He's powerless. He's
cast out. He cannot stop it because of
the sacrifice of Christ. Christ sacrificed, crushed his
head, crushed his power and put him out of business. And then
thirdly, Christ bound Satan at his ascension. Look back at Ephesians
chapter four. When Christ ascended on high,
and sat down at the throne in the right hand of the father,
he received the victory. Ephesians 4, verse 8. Wherefore,
he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive
and gave gifts unto men. When he ascended up on high,
he led captivity captive. He took that captivity away from
Satan. He bound his power, and he gave
gifts to men. Now, what gifts did he give to
men? Well, he goes on to tell us that he's talking about the
gift of preaching, the gift to preach the gospel. That's how
God saves his people. He blesses his servants to preach
his gospel, to call out his sheep, to call them to repentance and
faith in Christ. And there's nothing Satan can
do to stop the power of that preaching, to stop that preaching
from reaching God's sheep, because our Savior has rendered him powerless.
After our Lord's death and burial and resurrection, when he ascended
back up on high, he told his disciples, go out in all the
world and preach the gospel. And those few uneducated, unconnected
politically men went out and turned the world upside down. I mean, they just uttered like
a wildfire spreading throughout the entire world, not just Israel,
but every nation. And Satan was powerless to stop
it, because the gospel declares the victory of our crucified
Savior. Now, most people in all nations
didn't believe, like the post-millennials believed, but people from every
last one of those nations were saved. And the gospel came there. God's the one who saw to it.
So nobody could stop it. Satan's power was bound. And
the same thing goes on today. This is how the gospel reaches
all of God's sheep. We don't have to worry one of
God's sheep is going to perish. The same thing. This is the gospel
age. The gospel is still going out
in all the world, isn't it? And God's sheep are going to
be saved by it. See, this is all speaking of
Christ's first coming, what he is still accomplishing for his
people through his church right now. And the point of all that
is this, we are not waiting on the second coming of Christ so
that Satan will be bound. Brethren, he's bound already.
He is bound already. See, isn't that good news? Once you see that, now all that
scripture makes sense, doesn't it? Now this bottomless pit that
the Savior threw Satan down into, this bottomless pit, The word
means an abyss. It's an abyss that can be locked.
It's got a lid on it. It can be locked and unlocked
by God. If you look back at Revelation chapter nine, we've seen this
abyss earlier. Revelation chapter nine, verse
one. And the fifth angel sounded,
and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth, and to him was
given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless
pit, and there arose smoke out of the pit, a smoke of a great
furnace. And the sun and the air were
darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit." See, this is the
pit that the Lord threw Satan down into. It's an abyss. It's
got a lid on it. And God's the one that's in control
of this thing. He's got the key to it. He decides when he's gonna
lock it and unlock it. And Satan is bound in that pit,
in that abyss. Now, that does not mean that
Satan is powerless. Doesn't mean that at all. Matter
of fact, just the opposite is true. Satan has a lot of power,
doesn't he? He has a lot of power. But that
power is bound inside of the boundaries that God has set for
him. Satan's like a fierce lion on a chain. That lion is fierce. He rules everywhere he can go. But he can only go as far as
the chain will let him. That chain is just like it's set to
a stake, set down on the ground. And that lion can go in a circle. But that's all he can do. He
can go no further. Inside that circle, that lion
rules. If you don't believe me, just
step inside the circle. You'll find out. But outside of that
circle, He has no power. Now, he can roar. He can scare
you half to death. He can look scary. But outside
of that circle, he is powerless to harm anyone. That's what this
abyss means. And Satan's going to be in this
abyss. He's going to be on this chain
with these set bounds where he can go no further during this
whole millennium, during this whole gospel age. And he's going
to roar. He's going to sound frightening.
He's still going to be the accuser of the brethren, but he will
never be able to stop the church from preaching the gospel. It'll
never be able to stop the gospel from going out into reaching
God's elect to save them, to bless them, to give them faith
in Christ, to call them ever closer to Christ. Now this binding
of Satan can only be the work of our Lord and Savior, Ken.
That's why I said this angel is Christ himself, because this
job of binding Satan is way too big for us. Look how John describes
Satan. First, he describes him as the
dragon. A dragon is a fire-breathing
beast. He rebels against God. He has
control over the minds of men. Well, only God, who has all power,
can bind this enemy, this fierce dragon. Then John calls him the
old serpent. Satan's been around a long time.
He's the old serpent. And we have proof positive. The first time we ever see him,
we're powerless against him. He came and easily deceived Eve,
didn't he? That's the old serpent, deceived
her. And he still deceives people today with his lying wonders
and things. Only God who sees everything
as it is and cannot be deceived can bind this old serpent. Then
he calls him the devil. And the word devil means slanderer
or false accuser. You know, Satan is a liar. He's a slanderer because there's
no truth in him. Our Lord said when he speaketh
a lie, he speaketh of his own. For he's a liar and he's the
father of it. He's the father of lies. And
he slanders. He lies on God to men. He comes
and whispers in men's ear. If God not said, you shall leave
every tree of the garden. Oh, look what you've done. God
can't love somebody that's done what you've done. Look what a
sinner you are. God can't forgive a sinner like
that. Oh, not like you. He's lying on God to men, isn't
he? And he tries to lie on men to God. He told the Lord, he
said, you touch, touch Joe's body. He'll curse you to your
face. He only worships you because you bless him. He only worships
you because you set this hedge about him. I can't touch him.
You touch his body. He'll curse you to your face. Only Christ, who is the truth,
can bind this liar, this slanderer, and put him away. And then John
calls him Satan. That means the accuser. That's
what the word means, the accuser. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He accuses us to God all the
time. But every one of those accusations is a false charge.
Every last one of them. I'm not saying we didn't do it.
I'm saying they're a false charge. Because Christ has made his people
not guilty. Christ has already paid the penalty
for that. No charge Satan brings against
any of God's elect will ever stick, because the blood of Christ
has washed us white as snow. The sacrifice of Christ took
away Satan's power to accuse those who believe Christ. So
it's only Christ who can bind this enemy, because it's only
Christ who can make his people not guilty. You see, Christ our
Savior has already bound the strong enemy. We don't have to
worry about him. He's already bound this enemy.
We're not waiting for it to happen when Christ returns. We already
enjoy that right now. Now, during this whole gospel
age, this whole millennium, Satan is bound by God. He's bound by
that chain. There's hard limits, just like
the ocean. You go here, no further. You
can't go any further. But John makes this statement.
He says that at the end of this millennium, the end of the gospel
age, He'll be loosed for a little season. During this time, apparently
at the very end of the gospel age or the end of this millennium,
right before Christ returns, is the way it makes this sound,
Satan will be loosed for a little season. And during that time,
false religion will seem to rule the world. I mean, Satan's not
gonna cause the whole world to fall into just open, ugly sin. That's not where the battle is.
It's in false religion. During this time when Satan's
loose, false religion will just seem to rule the world. Its influence
will be spread everywhere. And religious zeal will be across
the whole world. Now, not zeal toward Christ.
Not zeal toward righteousness, not zeal toward forgiveness,
but zeal toward self, zeal toward self-righteousness. This will
be the time, I think, that Amos told us about. I think this applies
to many different times, but this is the preeminent one. This
time where Satan's loose for a little season. There's going
to be a famine of bread, a famine of spiritual bread. And you go
from sea to sea, from coast to coast, and you won't be able
to find it. Could that be today? Could that be this time Satan's
been loose for a little season? I don't know. We don't know,
do we? But we don't have to know. We do not have to know, brethren.
This is all we have to know. Even at that time, when Satan
is set loose for a little season, God's elect will be saved. He's
not going to be able to touch any of them and take any of them
away from Christ, ever. Satan will never be able to touch
their soul. Wherefore, Paul said, 2 Thessalonians
2, comfort one another with these words. Comfort one another. We
don't have time to read it now, but I'll give you a homework
assignment this afternoon. Read 2 Thessalonians 2. It won't
take you very long. It ends up that Paul's talking
about this right here. Christ wins. His saving power
will reach all of his people, even though false religion spreads
across the whole world. Wherefore, comfort one another
with these words. All right, that's what Satan's
doing during the millennium. Now, what will God's people be
doing during this millennium? Well, you know what they're going
to be doing? They're going to be worshiping God wherever they
are, whether they're on earth or whether they're in heaven.
They're going to be worshiping Christ because he's the king,
the Lord of heaven and earth. Verse four. And 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 and
for the word of God, and which did not worship 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. This is what's going to be going
on in heaven during the millennium, during this whole gospel age.
God's people will be worshiping him. Wherever you find them,
they will be worshiping Christ. And here's how they're described,
how you can tell who they are. Now, those ones in heaven that
John saw, they weren't in bodies. They were in souls. Now, often
people, we lose a loved one, one that we know or have very
good confidence, knew the Lord, trusted Christ, believed in him.
And they died. The Lord calls them home. Well,
their body's still here. We take that body and we bury
it. We have a funeral service, a memorial service. And people
wonder, where's my loved one? Where did he go? Where did she
go? She's with the Lord. How is she there? How is he there?
John says they're there in a soul. What body are they clothed with?
We don't know. And we don't have to know. Why is it, I mean I
know why, this is a hypothetical question, why is it that we get
caught up just wondering and wondering and wondering, trying
to find out stuff that doesn't matter? It doesn't matter what
kind of body they're clothed with, it simply doesn't matter.
You know what matters? They're with the Lord. I promise
you, they don't care what kind of body they're clothed with.
They're with the Lord. Everyone who died in the faith,
John said, I saw them as a soul with the Lord. Now, they won't
be that way forever. When the Lord returns, he's going
to bring them with him. They'll be joined in their resurrected
bodies at that time. But right now, their souls are
with the Lord. This matter of the idea of soul
sleep, is just the dumbest thing I've ever heard. They're with
the Lord. That's what the word of God says,
and that's all we have to know. See, this is written for our
comfort. To be absent from the body is to be present with the
Lord. Well, then that's just fine,
and that's just fine. I heard Brother Tom Harding say,
you know, one time, a lot of people think, I'd like to be
here on earth when Christ returns just to see what that's going
to be like. Tom said, I don't. He said, I
want to die now and go be with the Lord to see this mystery.
What it is to be with your soul, be with the Lord. Because that's
all that matters. We're with him. And John saw
these people, these believers who died in the faith, he saw
them reigning with Christ. They're sitting upon thrones.
Now, that doesn't mean that they're sitting there judging and they've
got power over people and, you know, they can judge people and
damn people. That's not what that means. It means that they're
living with Christ. They're sharing in His glory.
There's just one throne. Christ sits upon it. But they're
reigning with Him. They're sharing in His glory. And the way they got there is
they all died. If we're going to go there, we've got to die
here. We've got to leave here and go be there. That's what
happened. They died. Some of them were martyred. Martyred
at the stake or beheaded or whatever. But they all died giving witness
to faith in Christ. That's what the word martyr means.
It doesn't exactly mean someone who's been killed. The word means
a witness. These all died doing what every
believer does, giving witness to faith in Christ. And by God's
grace, They were not deceived into following false religion.
That's what this mark of the beast is on their forehead and
on their hand. They weren't deceived into following false religion
because God gave them genuine faith in Christ. They believed
Christ. They looked to Christ. They followed Christ and they
were not deceived because God kept them from being deceived.
Satan, the deceiver, couldn't get to him. They were outside
of that circle, his chain. He couldn't get to him. And those
who have died and gone to be with the Lord, they're going
to remain there in heaven with the Lord. And what are they doing
there? They're worshiping Christ. They're
worshiping him the whole thousand years, the whole gospel age.
They'll be there with him, worshiping him until this set time when
Christ returns and they're brought back to be raised and resurrected
bodies. Now that's the saints in heaven.
Well, during this gospel age, What are the saints on earth
doing then? They're doing the exact same thing. Now we're doing
these sinful bodies, but we're doing the exact same thing. They're
worshiping God too. And they're living too. They're
living because they've been born again. And it's that new soul,
that new man that's been born again, who's worshiping Christ.
And while they're worshiping him, they're waiting on his return.
Verse five, But the rest of the dead live not again until the
1,000 years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.
On such, the second death hath no power. But they shall be priests
of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him 1,000 years. And
see, these people are living, aren't they? They're living in
hope. They're living on Christ. They've
been born again during this gospel age. That's what the first resurrection
means. They've been born again. This is God giving spiritual
life to his people during this thousand years, this gospel age.
He gives them life through the preaching of the gospel. He gives
them life by revealing Christ to them in the preaching of the
gospel. And when a sinner is born again by the power of the
Holy Spirit, That new man is holy and he's blessed. He is blessed of God. So the
second death, eternal death has no power over him. He can't die. He cannot because he's holy. He's righteous. And the second
death has no jurisdiction over him because Christ already died
for him, took his sin away and made him righteous in him. And
that man is blessed. And he's going to live this time
worshiping Christ. And he'll reign with Christ and
his spiritual kingdom during this whole gospel age. Here's
the point of the millennium. This is something I think we
can take with us. All of this is not written to
scare anybody to death. I keep telling us that all these
studies in the book of Revelation, these things are not written
to scare us to death and give us these wonderful, not wonderful
is not the right word, fantastic scene of all these beasts and
the heads. This is written for the comfort of God's people.
Isn't this comforting? To know our Savior wins. This
is written for our comfort. And it's written for our encouragement,
this gospel age. Let's not even think about eternity
for a minute. Let's just think about this gospel age. It's a thousand years. It's a
long time, but it's a set time. Well, let's spend that time,
however long God gives us in it, worshiping him, trusting
him, and preaching his gospel. Three score and 10. That's what
we got. Not very long, is it? Not very long in relation to
this thousand years of the gospel age. It's not going to last very
long, brethren. It's not going to last very long.
Let's spend the time wisely. Let's spend it wisely, worshiping
him, preaching his gospel. Then we don't have any understanding
of eternity. But just try to imagine. the glory of eternity with Christ. Three score and 10 doesn't compare,
does it? Three score and 10, not very long. Then let's spend
that three score and 10 in faith. We know how this thing's going
to end. It's going to end with us reigning with Christ, worshiping
him forever. That's the point of the millennium,
the gospel age. All right, hope the Lord will
bless that.