The Judgment of the Living

Transcript

GR 2052
10/07/2018
The Judgment of the Living
Revelation 20:1-3
Gil Rugh

It is a great privilege bestowed upon us to be the children of God, to know the living God, the God who has created all things, who rules over all things, who is bringing all things to the conclusion that He has appointed, and that’s what we’re studying in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ given to the apostle John. This is the climax of God’s revelation, to man. About 95 A.D. God spoke, for the last time, His word to be recorded, to complete what He would entrust down through the ages to us. As the last of God’s revelation, you can expect that it serves a crucial purpose in pulling together what has been revealed before, particularly as has to do with God’s purposes and God’s plans for the future. This last revelation doesn’t change anything that has been said before, but it clarifies, adds to it, and organizes it for us. How gracious God is, and remember the Book of Revelation was given, not to confuse people, not to cause us to wonder what’s going to happen, but to explain to us. That’s why there’s a blessing promised to those who read, who hear and who live in light of the truths that are here. How sad it is that for many people the Book of Revelation is a closed book, too confusing or it’s misunderstood. It’s not that difficult we’ve seen. It’s not an original book in that sense. There are hundreds of references and allusions to the Old Testament prophecies. No direct quotes, but it’s based upon what God has revealed and prophesied and promised. Now He’s pulling it together and giving us an organized unfolding.

We are at the end of Revelation 19 and the beginning of Revelation chapter 20. You might put up the chart. This is something I created this week and, if you’ve been here, it’s fixed in your mind. I hope when you’re trying to go to sleep at night, all you can see is that chart. Simple as it is, it unfolds God’s plan, particularly for the nation Israel. We’ve come to the end of the church age, we’ve come through the 70th week of Daniel. The 70th week of Daniel is that which is covered in Revelation chapters 6 to 19. It was prophesized in the Old Testamen, particularly the Book of Daniel gave us the details of this 490-year period. At the end of that Christ will return to earth, and we noted in Revelation 19 and related passages, He will come fully visible to the world, so there’ll be no question. He said, “it’s like the lightning will flash across the sky, and the world will see the sign of His coming, the Son of Man descending in the clouds,” so we don’t have to have any wonder. Has Christ come as promised and prophesized? No, obviously not, and when He comes, He will come to set up a kingdom on this earth over which He will rule with His people, including you and I as believers.

It is a very important portion of Scripture when we come to Revelation, chapter 20. Why don’t you turn there if you haven’t already? Revelation, chapter 20, let me just read the first three verses which is all we will be covering this morning. “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand and he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.” This is the first phrase in the eternal kingdom promised to Israel in Scripture of the Old Testament, so this is not new. But this is the first time, the only time in Scripture, that we are told that there is a thousand year period at the beginning of what the Old Testament prophesized as an eternal kingdom that will never end. Six times, beginning with this reference in verse 2 of Revelation 20 down through verse 7, it is said “A thousand years . . . a thousand years . . . a thousand years.”

Now some do not take this as a literal time-period, but we approach the Scripture in a normal literal fashion. It says a thousand years. Some will say, well Peter wrote, that “one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.” Yes, it doesn’t say that one day is a thousand years or a thousand years is one day, but from God a thousand years is a long time for us, for God it’s nothing. He’s eternal, that’s the point, but here when He says its a thousand years, we’ll talk more about this not only today but in our next study as well. Now Christ comes to set up a kingdom here, and it will be for a thousand years. Verse 3, “Then Satan was thrown into the abyss, they shut it sealed it over him, he would not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed. After these things, he must be released for a time,” and at the end of verse four just so you see the picture, there are “those who came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” Now we’ll talk more about the details of this in our coming studies, but this thousand-year period, is the first part of the eternal kingdom.

Now in connection with the return of Christ, and the establishing of His kingdom, there is judgment to take place, and I want to focus on the judgment of the living at the second coming of Christ, that seven-year period. Down there, the 70th week, that seven-year period at the end of the church age. You see Christ came down from heaven but He didn’t come to earth. He called the church, all believers on the earth at that time to meet Him in the air, and the bible says we will be “caught up to meet Christ in the air,” and then we’re taken to heaven, and we saw a little bit of that in chapter 19 with the picture of the wedding feast. The wedding of the time, the bridegroom comes to the bride that he has been committed to, takes her to the father’s house. There, you have the actual wedding ceremony, if you will, and then there is a return to earth, a return to the bride’s house and there is the wedding feast. We saw that in chapter 19 where we’re told the marriage of the Lamb has occurred. Now, blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast, and really coming back to earth at the end of that 70th week, we go into the millennium and that is, down here where Christ comes back. We will come back as His bride, and we will go in to the thousand years and that will be the wedding feast.

Now what has happened here, all true believers were removed from the face of the earth, so you start this seven-year period with not one believer on the face of the earth, but during this time the gospel has been there. Bibles have been there, literature, perhaps people who heard the gospel. Through this seven-year period there are going to be many people who come to trust Christ, Jews and Gentiles. The prime focus of this period has been to prepare Israel to respond in faith to Christ as their Messiah and Savior, but there are also Gentiles who are saved; we’ll talk more about that in a moment.

Now what happens during this time then, you have a mixture. There have been people saved, but there are multitudes who have not trusted Christ during this seven-year period. When Christ comes back to set up His kingdom, there has to be a judgment of those who are alive at this point, in time. What He’s going to do is sift out the believers from the unbelievers, and only the believers will go into this kingdom. These living believers, saved here, they’re in physical bodies. They trusted Christ during this seven-year period. They will be rewarded here, given the privilege of going into the kingdom in their physical body, and they will be repopulating the earth, as we will see.

The others will be condemned to the fires, to Hades and then ultimately at the end of the thousand years to the final sentencing in hell. What I want to do with you is look at the passages dealing with the judgment of the nation Israel and then the judgment of the Gentiles. At this period of time, the return of Christ to earth, those who are alive have survived the 70th week. Remember at Armageddon, millions of soldiers evidently have died but there are people all over the world who weren’t at Armageddon. Armageddon, remember, was the assembling of the armies of the world for that final series of conflicts that we looked at in our last study. Now, people from all over the world who have survived all the judgments of the tribulation--billions have died, remember, in that seven-year period but people have survived and among the survivors are those who have trusted Christ and those who have not so they must stand before Christ and be sifted out.

I have a slide on the judgment of the living at the Second Advent, so we could put that up. It’s just to help you follow along. This is the judgment of the living at the Second Advent. I have the Scriptures here. The time of the judgment is the Second Advent of Christ to the earth to set up His kingdom, so that’s at least seven years away, because we have to have the Rapture. We have to have the signing of covenant between the western world leader and Israel that marks the beginning of those seven years, so we’re at least seven years away from the coming of Christ to earth. Now don’t go out and say Gil said Christ is coming to earth in seven years, we are at least there. I don’t know how far away we are, but we’ve looked at some events that seem to indicate that we’re moving close.

Let’s go to some of these verses. We will not do all of them here. Ezekiel chapter 20 is going to take this verse from the Old Testament. Ezekiel chapter 20 and God’s talking to the nation Israel through the prophet Ezekiel. Remember Ezekiel’s at Babylon, the Babylonian Captivity has taken place, and Israel is under the judgment of God. God has revealed through him some of what is going to place, and He talks about a coming time when there will be the kingdom established. Come down to verse 33, “’As I live,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm with wrath poured out, I shall be king over you.’” You note the declaration of His power, His sovereignty and His wrath. That entire seven-year period was a time of the wrath of God, and now that wrath will be poured out on some who have not believed during those seven years. You see the consequences of that.

He says in verse 34, “I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered,” and this is addressed particularly to the nation Israel, as the context in Ezekiel makes clear, “with a mighty hand with an outstretched arm with wrath poured out.” His wrath for Israel has been for them to be finally be brought to their knees. It’s that resulted in the death of many-many Jews, and sadly, even at this final point, there are Jews who have been stubborn in their unbelief. So, when we talk about all Israel will be saved, there will be a national conversion, but not every single Jew in the world will have trusted Christ, and that’s what this judgment is for, “I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you.” Remember what happened after God brought them out of Egypt into the wilderness. Because of their unbelief, all the men over 20 were going to die, they couldn’t go into the land, so that’s what’s happening here.

Just like God entered into judgment with the ancestors of these Jews, God is going to enter into judgment with that generation that will be alive when Christ comes back. There are some who are not going to be allowed to go into the kingdom, just as there were those who were not allowed to go into the land in the day of the illustration here. “I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.” The rod the shepherds used, they would use it to count their sheep and separate out the sheep and the goats as we’ll see, that’s the picture here. “I will purge from you the rebels and those who transgress against Me. I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn,” so wherever these Jews have been scattered, they have been brought to meet Christ, their Judge. “I’ll bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Thus, you will know that I am the LORD.” They’re not going into the kingdom, the capital of which will be Jerusalem, so this is a sifting judgment for the nation Israel. You can read Malachi on your own.

We’ll come over to Matthew chapter 13 and so many of you have studied Matthew, and we’ve done it on other occasions. Matthew chapter 12 is a dividing line. The rejection of Israel in Matthew chapter 12, their continued refusal to believe in Christ as their Messiah, closes the door on their opportunity. Christ says they are guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. They have rejected the One who is the Prophet, the Priest and the King. One greater than the temple is here, and you’ve rejected Him. One greater than Jonah is here, a Prophet, you’ve rejected Him. Someone greater than Solomon is here, the Prophet, the Priest, the King. You have rejected Him, so it’s like, and He uses a picture here, verse 43 “an unclean spirit goes out of a man,” so a man has been possessed by a demon. The demon leaves for whatever reason. It doesn’t find any place to settle in, so he says I’ll go back to where I came from and, verse 45 he goes and he takes along with him seven other spirits, because he finds that house is empty. A picture here of unbelieving Israel. These seven spirits come, and the latter state of that person is worse than the first, so Christ came as their Messiah, offered Himself as their King, their Redeemer, they rejected Him in their self-righteousness, in their persistent rebellion, and you note the application of that.

“This is the way it will be with this evil generation.” You’re going to be worse off and Israel has experienced something of that down through the last 2,000 years under the judgment of God to this day, and the worst is yet to come. The 70th week of Daniel and you’ll see here, at the close of chapter 12 verses 48, 49 and 50. Who’s My mother, My brothers, My sisters? Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven, he is My brother, sister and mother. Preparing the way for God reaching out beyond the borders of Israel now. The nation has been rejected. Not finally, God has to keep His Word but they are under judgment, so you come to chapter 13 and Jesus began to teach in parables. Now the parables are stories, but they are not clear teaching like He used to give, and verse 10 “the disciples said, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’ Jesus answered, ‘To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, to them it has not been known.’” You see the change here, the kingdom of heaven, the mysteries, this truth concerning the kingdom, I am now going to unfold truth that has not been revealed before, but it’s hidden from them. They won’t understand it. The purpose of these parables is to hide truth from unbelieving Israel, so down you go and then you have the different parables here.

We’ll jump down toward the end. We’ve worked through these parables on other occasions. Come down to verse 41, “The Son of man will send forth His angels. They will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,” so the picture of good seed being sown in the world. Verse 38, the field is the world. You see now we’re reaching out beyond Israel, the field is the world, the field’s not the church. Some who don’t take the bible literally have said, “well we ought to have—” the reformers got into this, some of them. The church can be made up of mixed people, believer and unbeliever, because that’s what Jesus said, there are tares in the field, but the problem is we don’t watch what the Scriptures says. The field is the world, and then they’ll come a time when Christ comes to set up His kingdom. It’ll be at the end of the age, we have in verse 40, at the end of the verse, “so it shall be at the end of the age.”

Here’s what happens, “the Son of Man will send forth His angels. They will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, will throw them into the furnace of fire, in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” If you have any spiritual hearing you better, listen. Now you see where we’re carried to when Christ is coming to set up His kingdom. There are going to be those who will be removed so they can’t go into the kingdom. They’ll be cast into the furnace of fire, and the righteous, those who have been cleansed by faith in Christ in His finished work, go into the kingdom. Down in verse 49, “so it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, throw them into the furnace of fire, in that place there’ll be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Again, the sifting out, the same thing that was prophesized in Ezekiel 20, sorting out among the Jews.

Come over to chapter 24, of Matthew. We’ve been in this; remember the first part of chapter 24 here is a condensed version of what is elaborated in Revelation chapters 6 to 19, the 70th week of Daniel. Jesus telling His disciples what will take place leading up, to His return to earth and the establishing of His kingdom and then He breaks it down in verse 15, to two divisions. “In the middle therefore, when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place. Then you have to flee.” Why? Verse 21, “then they’ll be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now nor ever will be,” and we’ve seen this. That seven-year period is divided into two divisions. For the first 3½ years, it’s relatively good for Israel, their temple is rebuilt and in operation. The Antichrist has acted as their friend.

In the middle of that period it changes with the casting out of the devil from heaven in Revelation chapter 12 and so on as we’ve looked at, so “unless that tribulation, that seven-year period was cut short, no one would survive” verse 22 says, “so therefore, if anybody tells you Christ has come don’t believe it.” Why? Because “false prophets, false Christs, false teachers are going to come and say Christ has come.” I periodically get material in the mail, announcing to me that the Messiah is here. I’ve kept some of it in my file. He’s living in India or someplace and soon to be revealed to the world. He said don’t believe that stuff because, what? Verse 27 says “as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

Note verse 29, “but immediately after the tribulation of those days,” so we follow the order here. After the tribulation, which we just studied about in Revelation, the tribulation Jesus has just talked about, you’ll have the signs in the heavens. Verse 30, “then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. All the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.” This will not be a secret event. The whole world will see it.

“Then He will send forth His angels with a GREAT TRUMPET. THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds so now then, He says when you see these signs,” the things He’s told them about, about the tribulation, is primarily for the Jews His disciples listening, and for believers that will come following them. Those that will be alive then. This will be some of what will be, being studied as you move toward that end of that tribulation that’s going to begin to open the Jews eyes, to what the Old Testament prophets said and now what Christ said.

“When you see these things recognize He’s near, right at door. I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” You know if you just take Scripture simply as it comes. What generation is He talking about; some people take this generation, and say, “well that’s the generation Christ was talking to so, He must have come spiritually.” You just undo everything; He’s said He’ll come so visibly every eye will see Him. Has that happened? No, they say well this generation, meaning His disciples, so then, they say, “well He’s talking about 70 A.D and that’s when He came in judgment and that’s when the kingdom begins and.” No. What did He say? “When you see all these things,” verse 33, what things, the things He talked about in the first 28 verses of this chapter, “the tribulation the judgments.” Verse 15 “when you see the Abomination of Desolation spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, then there’ll be great tribulation. Truly, I say to you,” verse 33, “when you see all these things, recognize the time’s near.” Things are going to come together for believers here, and particularly believing Israel, that generation that sees the events of the tribulation will not pass away. It’s going to happen in their lifetime. It doesn’t mean every one of them will live but you know the idea. It’s not now, it’s short, it’s near. “Heaven and earth will pass away My words will not pass away.” We need to be careful we don’t make alterations in God’s word, it is eternal He gave it. It will happen as He gave it, that’s the point, heaven and earth will pass away. My words will not pass away, when all’s said and done, we’re in eternity and the eternal kingdom is going on, God’s word will have been demonstrated to be true, and then you have the picture here, of the day and hour no one knows.

“The coming of the Son of Man” verse 37 “will be just like the days of Noah. In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah enter the ark. They did not understand until the flood came and took them away, “so it will be when the Son of Man comes. “They’ll be two men in the field; one will be taken one will be left. Two women will be grinding, one will be taken one will be left.” Now some have misunderstood and taken this to be the Rapture in verse 36 to 41 but it just doesn’t follow the time line. What’s He illustrating? His coming to earth to establish the kingdom. What happened in the days of Noah? Well they weren’t ready, for the judgment that God had promised through Noah. Remember Noah was a preacher of righteousness, for a hundred and twenty years, preaching about the coming flood of judgment, and the world did not believe so what, they were swept away in judgment. Only Noah and his family were left after the flood to go in to that new earth. The same earth but it had undergone some radical changes and everybody but Noah and his family had been taken away in judgment, so I take it that the ones taken here are taken in judgment.

Like Christ said in Matthew 13, the angel will come and take the wicked away so the righteous can go into the kingdom “so therefore” verse 42,”be on the alert” you don’t know when your Lord is coming. This is to Israel; there’s been no revelation of any significance about the church yet. Paul said in Ephesians 3 that the church was truth revealed specifically through him. Two references to the church in Matthew but no explanation. No details here, so He’s talking about Israel here. The church has not been revealed yet. When we get to Acts chapter 1, the disciples are still talking about, when are You going to establish the kingdom, and the church will be established in chapter 2 because the kingdom is yet future even to today, so judgment there.

You come into chapter 25. Now you have parables told, the ten virgins, the parable of the talents and then the sheep and goat judgment, and the ten virgins, and the talents, the ten virgins in Matthew 25, and the talents, so that takes us down through verse 30, refer to the judgment of the Jews, who are alive at the second coming of Christ. The kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins who took their lamps, went out to meet the bridegroom. Note they are not the bride. This is the pattern of the wedding, the oriental wedding where the arrangements were made the betrothal took place, but then the bridegroom would come at a time and get his bride, take her back to the place he had prepared. There the marriage is consummated the wedding takes place if you will. That’s why Revelation 19 uses the past tense, when Christ is ready to come to earth we are told the bride has made herself ready, the wedding has already occurred, so blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast, which will be the kingdom, so here these virgins, five foolish five prudent.

The picture is being ready. The five who were wise virgins had enough oil, because they were getting ready for whenever he came. It talks about their preparation, being ready. The five foolish didn’t take enough oil, so it’s nighttime, the announcement is made the bridegroom is coming. Well, those who are not ready have to go get oil, so that’s the application. Down in verse 10, “while they were going away to make the purchase the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast.” He’s brought his bride, now we’re ready to go in and celebrate the wedding feast. The door was shut. When the others come he said what, verse 12, “truly I say to you I do not know you.” You note “they’re crying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’” Remember in the Sermon on the Mount, “Jesus said, ‘many will say to Me in that day, Lord, lord, we did many mighty works in Your name.’ He said, ‘depart from Me cursed ones, I never knew you. Here, truly I say I don’t know you. Be on the alert then, you don’t know.’” A warning to Israel, when He comes, there will be Jews not ready in spite of everything that has gone on. In spite of the terrible suffering, the nation has gone through, the millions of Jews who have died among those survivors. There are still those who did not believe. They’re going to be closed out of the kingdom. We saw what would happen. They’re “cast into outer darkness.”

You have a parable of the talents. Talents are money, and here you have the slaves of the master entrusted with the responsibility, and those who function responsibly with the amount that’s been entrusted to them, are rewarded. Down in verse 21, “His master said to him,” each one is given a different amount, but they are responsible for what the Lord has given them, “Well done good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” You’re going into the kingdom, and part of what they will do is rule and reign with Christ, as we’ll see as we proceed in our future study at Revelation chapter 20. Then the same with another one who had received less but he had been faithful. Then there’s one who didn’t do anything with what was given him, and he said he didn’t because you know, he knew the master was a rather severe master as he view him, so down in verse 30. “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth,” so here these two parables picture for Israel, you better be ready. Just because you’re a Jew doesn’t mean you’re going into the kingdom. Only believers experience God’s redemption and His salvation, and only believing Jews will be going into the kingdom. The rest will be cast into outer darkness.

When you come to chapter 25 verse 31, we come to the Gentiles. You’ll note He says, “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory,” so this is the time we’re talking about, nothing’s changed there. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne,” and it is a throne of judgment. “All the nations will be gathered before Him,” so now we’ve moved from the Jews to all the other people, all the other nations.

There is the nation Israel and then there are the nations, all the rest of us. They are gathered before Him. Again, billions of people have died we’ve had the slaughter of Armageddon on top of it, but round the world all these now non-Jews are gathered before Him. He will “separate them,” verse 32 “from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

A similar picture, remember in Ezekiel He caused them to pass under the rod, and they’re separated out. So here that picture dealing with Gentiles, because it’s a sifting judgment also, just like it was for the Jews. We’re going to sift out unbelieving Jews from believing Jews. Unbelieving Jews are cast into the furnace of fire. Believing Jews go into the kingdom. Now for Gentiles, we have sheep and goats, that’s why we refer to it as the sheep and goat judgment. Verse 33, “The King will say to those on His right, the sheep, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom, which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Those on His left, depart from Me cursed ones into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’”. You see the sifting out that will take place.

Here you come. You have lived in the last seven years of earth’s history prior to the establishing of the Messianic Kingdom, and you blew it. They missed it. How tragic is that in all the suffering and all the display of God’s wrath you continue to say no. As we saw in Revelation you get to the end of that period and it’s said that men blasphemed God, for bringing these plagues on them. How stubborn we are in our hearts to the very end. I will not bow. Recently, a rather well know scientist was near death, and he wanted to be sure. I am an atheist to my grave. I don’t want anybody making up a story I became a Christian on my deathbed. I mean how terrible. Here we are, now note how He explains here because these who have trusted Him see themselves as unworthy, but how do they demonstrate their faith in Christ. Important here because this verse is so misused.

Churches today are doing social programs because of these verses in Matthew. “For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited Me in, naked, and you clothed Me. I was sick, and you visited Me, I was in prison, you came to Me. The righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, feed You, thirsty, give You something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite You in and so on? When did we see you sick, in prison come to You?’ The King will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine’” and He’s talking about here the Jews. He’s addressing believing Gentiles here. “You did it to one of the least of My brothers.” Christ referring to the fact He is a physical Jew, descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You did it to Me. It’s treating the Jews with kindness, putting your life on the line for them. It is a demonstration that you have come to believe in the truth concerning Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel.

It has nothing to do with us today. That doesn’t mean you can’t take dinner to your unbelieving neighbor. Fine, don’t base it on these verses that’s where, we get into trouble. We just come and take verses, pull them out of context. What’s He talking about here; He’s talking about the judgment that will occur in connection with the establishing of His kingdom, people who have just come through the seven-year tribulation where for 3½ years the Antichrist and the peoples of the world have been focused on destroying every last Jew so that Gods prophesized kingdom could not be established. Any Gentiles that treated Jews with kindness demonstrated they had really placed their faith, not in anything Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount by their fruit you will know them. You’re not saved by what you do, but when you’re truly saved your life changes. You do what God says His children do.

Something not understood very well today. People still think they’re saved because yeah I believe in Jesus Christ. What is there in your life, if any man be in Christ, he’s a new creature a new creation, old things pass away and new things have come. You’re not saved by trying to clean up your life, but when you get saved, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in you, you’re a partaker of the divine nature and your life is cleaned up from the inside out. That’s what we’re seeing here, He takes this evidence because why, He just talked about the Jews. What they’ve come through, what a miserable time these believing Jews have had so it’s talking about--nothing to do with the church developing social programs, these kinds of things. The church is being overwhelmed. The truth of the gospel is being discarded by churches that call themselves evangelical and some of it takes place on this basis, and it’s a division so then we’re ready for the kingdom. There are other things going on, there’s resurrection and so on. We have to do that next week.

Come back to Revelation 20. We read these verses; you see what’s going to happen. Chapter 20, verse 1, an “angel comes down from heaven holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. The abyss is not hell. The abyss is a holding place for demonic beings. We saw that back in chapter 9 verses 1 and 2, other places but for time. “The fifth angel sounded,” chapter 9 verse 1, “I saw a star from heaven, which had fallen to earth,” referring to an angel here. The key of the bottomless pit was given to him. “He opened the bottomless pit,” and you note in your margin that literally is, the shaft of the abyss and there, demonic beings have been held. Now they’re going to be let out. Satan and his demons are going to be bound in that pit, that abyss for a thousand years. “Then he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old who is the devil, bound him for a thousand years.”

Can you believe that there are scholarly writers….one of their reasons for not taking this section of the word literally is—now just stop and think. Do you think a chain can bind a spirit being like the devil? You know I read this, I say I think I misread that or maybe it’s a misprint. God is incapable of making a chain that would bind the devil? I don’t think that’s a problem. He created the devil. He created the abyss that holds the demonic beings. He created the hell as their eternal destiny where they will be confined for eternity. What kind of nonsense is this that you make fun of the idea that you interpret this literally because you know you can’t have a chain and a key for a spirit being. Why not? God can’t do that, huh? He could create spirit beings but now He can’t confine them. He makes a chain for a spirit being. No problem. All right, we’ve dealt with that. He threw him into the abyss, shut it, sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years are completed. After this, he will be released for a short time. We’re going to talk a little bit about this tonight so I’ll save it for tonight.

There are some, and I have the quote from a commentator somewhere in this pile, that says you know that’s what happened, it’s already been done, when Christ came. He bound Satan so no longer…he’s no longer really deceiving the world, and you get this, and the thousand years aren’t a thousand years. They’re the whole period of time we’ve been living in since Christ came, because a thousand years is as one day and one day with the Lord is as a thousand years. Peter did write that, he did not say a thousand years is one day, or one day is a thousand years it’s a comparison. When you’re talking about time as we think of it, we think of a thousand years as a long time, but we don’t think, as one day, very long. You could say it’s going to take you a thousand years to have enough money to retire—you’ll say well thanks. If you say, it is going to take you one day you say I can do it, so that’s the point.

It’s not saying--here He keeps saying a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand years. This is the only place in the bible we’re told that the first phase of the eternal kingdom is a thousand years. God saved it until the end, and as we’ll look further into Old Testament passages, it helps explain some of those Old Testament passages that were hard to understand when you thought He’s going to come, there’s an eternal kingdom, but there’s sin in it. There’s death in it. Well this is hard to sort out. God now reveals there is, for His purposes, and we’ll talk about those purposes in our next study, a thousand-year phase at the beginning of that eternal kingdom. It’s the same kingdom Christ comes, He rules, there’s no break in His rule, but there is a break after a thousand years, and Satan is released, there is a rebellion, and so on, so God has unfolded.

You look at the confusion in world, the turmoil. Don’t worry about it. Is he going to get into that position, is he not going to get into it? Are they going to deal with the nuclear weapons here? We don’t fear it, do we? It’s all under control. We know where it’s going. These are days of salvation. These are days when God is offering His salvation primarily to Gentiles, but any Jew who choses can come to believe as well, but these days will conclude, and how tragic it would be if Lord shuts the door on your opportunity. We look at this and think how terrible it is, these people came right up to the brink of the second coming of Christ. Christ could come for the church before the day is over, He could close the door. He doesn’t say He’ll give you another opportunity. He says what? Today is the day of salvation. You say no thanks, I’ll think about it, and He may say that’s your answer. There is no tomorrow for you to think about it. We don’t want to pass by, why would you not trust Him today? If you won’t trust Him today, what makes you think you’ll trust Him tomorrow, and the more often you say no, the more your stubborn heart is hardened. That’s a serious matter. We’re told the word of God either softens a heart or hardens a heart so if you sit here, maybe you sit here Sunday after Sunday. Maybe you were raised in this church but that doesn’t mean you’re going to heaven. You will be sifted out in the judgment. Every knee will bow every tongue will confess. None of us will escape so we settle it now. We assure our future. How gracious God is. He’s got a free gift, forgiveness, salvation to all who believe.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for Your word. How gracious You are to give us a word to give us the Spirit. Lord enable us to know where this sin cursed earth, in turmoil confusion, rebellion against You immersed in all kinds of sin, and yet Lord we have the peace of heart, knowing You. Your peace stands guard at our heart, and nothing can take away what You have given us in Christ. Nothing can prevent the future you have promised us, from coming to full realization. Pray for any who are here who do not know the Savior. Lord, perhaps they hear this message week after week perhaps it’s the first time. I ask in Your grace that you might open their eyes, they might today place their faith in Christ, the One in whose name we pray. Amen.