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Series Code: PU
Program Code: PU000004S
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00:01 What do the mysterious images of Daniel and Revelation mean? When
00:07 will the antichrist appear and make his final move? How can I 00:12 be ready for the final events of earth's history? You'll be 00:16 amazed and encouraged by what the Bible reveals. Join us as 00:20 Pastor Brian McMahon leads out in Prophecy Unsealed. 00:29 Our title is Revelation's 1000 Years. And I want to start with 00:35 a prayer tonight. Dear Father in heaven, we're so grateful again 00:39 to come together and to be able to study your word. Whether we 00:43 have joined at home or whether we have driven afar or maybe 00:47 just around the block, we're so grateful again to be in a place 00:51 where we can peacefully and studiously look at the future 00:55 through your word. And we know we're studying solemn topics 00:59 tonight, serious information and we cannot understand it unless 01:02 your Holy Spirit is with us. And so may you be our teacher. May 01:06 we be your students. In Jesus' name, Amen. 01:10 Well friends tonight again we're discussing a fascinating time 01:15 period called the millennium. We humbly ask the question what 01:19 does the Bible really have to say? The word millennium itself 01:24 can be interesting. Where does it actually come from? Well it 01:27 comes from a Latin word or two Latin words actually. 01:30 Milli means 1000, annum means year. The church that ruled 01:34 during the time of the dark ages for over a 1000 years spoke 01:37 Latin in their services and when they came to this subject they 01:40 gave it a Latin term. Now that term is carried over into the 01:43 English but it simply means 1000 years. And what exactly is going 01:47 to take place during that time. The 20th chapter of Revelation 01:51 basically can be divided into three different parts. As it 01:54 opens up it speaks about what is going to happen to Satan, the 01:57 devil, at the beginning of the 1000 years. In the middle of the 02:01 chapter it speaks about the saints and where they are during 02:03 the 1000 years and at the end of the chapter, it concludes by 02:06 telling things that happen at the end of the 1000 years. And 02:11 so the questions that come up are these: The Christians will 02:14 ask well what happens after Jesus returns. What is the 02:17 condition of the earth during the 1000 years? What happens to 02:20 the devil, where is he during that period of time? Is there 02:23 anyone on earth during the 1000 years? And when does God make 02:26 the earth new? All of that is important information and we're 02:29 going to answer it in our study tonight. So let's go 02:31 to Revelation chapter 20 verse 1 and see what the Bible says. 02:35 It starts out by saying: And I saw an angel come down from 02:38 heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain 02:42 in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, 02:44 which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him, how long friends? 02:48 A 1000 years. There it is. There's the 1000 years first 02:51 mentioned for us. Verse 3 says: And cast him into the bottomless 02:55 pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should 02:59 deceive the nations no more, till the 1000 years should be 03:02 fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 03:05 Now this is very intriguing to me because it says the devil is 03:10 going to be shut up, remember that term, shut up, because 03:12 we'll see it elsewhere in the scriptures tonight. But it says 03:15 here he's going to be shut up at the beginning of the 1000 years 03:16 and he shall deceive the nations no more. Now that means that 03:20 tonight he is out there deceiving the nations, right? 03:23 And it says that at the end of the 1000 years he'll be loosed 03:27 a little season. Now how long is that little season. We 03:29 actually don't know because the word for season there is kronos, 03:35 it's where we get our English word chronology from. It simply 03:37 means time or delay. So there'll be a short time or a short delay 03:41 at the end of the 1000 years where the Devil will have some 03:44 more freedom and we're going to talk tonight what's going to 03:46 happen at the end of that or during that 1000 years and at 03:50 the end of that time what is that freedom all about. We'll be 03:52 talking about that before our study is over. So let's go to 03:56 verse 4 now. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and 04:00 judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that 04:03 were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, 04:05 and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither 04:08 had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; 04:11 and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. So 04:15 notice that if Satan is bound for that 1000 years, it says the 04:19 saints or the redeemed, the saved, they're going to be 04:21 living with Jesus for the same period of time, 1000 years. 04:25 And it says in verse 5: But the rest of the dead lived not again 04:30 until the 1000 years were finished. This is the first 04:33 resurrection. Now remember from our last study there was no 04:36 punctuation when the Bible was originally written. Punctuation 04:39 was added centuries and centuries later. And it would 04:42 have been nice if they'd put parentheses around the words 04:46 but the rest of the dead lived not again until the 1000 years 04:49 were finished. Why would that have been helpful. Because when 04:52 you put parentheses around something, what, in effect are 04:55 you doing? You're breaking from the flow of thought just for a 05:00 moment, you're adding a little bit of extra information and 05:03 then you're coming back to the original thought. And that's 05:05 what John is doing here. He's breaking from his flow of 05:08 thought and he's adding the phrase, but the rest of the dead 05:11 lived not again until the 1000 years were finished, and then he 05:14 comes back to the point he was making at the beginning of the 05:16 chapter, this is the first resurrection. Now we know that's 05:19 the case because without understanding it that way we 05:22 would have the first resurrection at the end 05:23 of the 1000 years. And we've already studied more than once 05:26 in our seminar that the first resurrection happens when Jesus 05:29 comes. So we'll see this a little bit more clearly as we go 05:32 through the rest of our study tonight. So yes, verse 5 says 05:36 the rest of the dead will live at the end of the 1000 years. 05:40 Now when it says the rest of the dead now that's very important 05:43 because that means there must be another kind of dead, right? 05:46 So the Bible speaks about two kinds of dead. And we're going 05:50 get also into that in our study. Now let's go on if we can to 05:54 verse 6. It says: Blessed and holy is he that has part in the 06:01 first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, for 06:05 they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with 06:08 him a 1000 years. Now Bible students let me ask you a very 06:10 logical question. If there is a first resurrection then that 06:15 would strongly imply that there must at least be what? A second 06:20 resurrection, sure, or God would not be numbering them here. 06:21 So, we have two resurrections and the Bible speaks about two 06:25 different deaths. You have a first death and what the Bible 06:28 calls a second death. And understanding that there are two 06:31 resurrections and understanding that there are two different 06:33 types of death give us some great insight to what is going 06:36 on during the 1000 years. It really lays the foundation for 06:39 what we're talking about here. So let's go to John 5, which is 06:42 a repeating of our last study. It helps to repeat some verses 06:46 so we anchor them in our minds where they are in the Bible. So, 06:49 it says in John 5:28: Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, 06:53 in which all that are in the graves, so where are the dead? 06:56 They're in the graves. Shall hear his voice and shall come 07:00 forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; 07:02 and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of 07:05 damnation. Now the resurrection of life, that's the first 07:08 resurrection. The resurrection of damnation, that's the second 07:12 resurrection. So here Jesus speaks about two different 07:15 resurrections. Now he doesn't tell us how much time is between 07:19 the two. We have to go to Revelation 20 to get that 07:21 information. But he does tell us that there are two. And I think 07:25 the key point here before we move on folks is to know that we 07:29 are given a probationary period in this life and that 07:34 probationary period is to make sure that we absolutely 07:39 positively do not come up in the second resurrection because 07:44 those that come up in the second resurrection they'll be lost for 07:45 eternity. There's no hope for them whatsoever. We want to be 07:49 sure absolutely that if we were to die before Jesus comes back 07:53 we would be in that first resurrection. Now we're going to 07:56 put it up on the screen here and use some graphs tonight to make 07:59 it more clear at what we're illustrating from the millennium 08:01 We have a 1000-year period of time and when you have a time 08:06 period you have to know when does it begin? Because if you 08:10 don't know when it begins you won't know when it ends. So, the 08:13 Lord has made it very easy for us by framing that 1000 years 08:17 with two events. I like to call them bookends, right? By 08:21 bookending it by the first resurrection and the second 08:25 resurrection. What that means is the millennium falls between 08:30 those two great events. And when you know that that the 08:34 resurrection at the beginning is for the righteous and the 08:36 resurrection at the end is for the wicked. The one the Bible 08:39 says the beginning is blessed and holy so the one at the other 08:41 side would be for the unblessed and the unholy. We want to make 08:45 sure again that we want to be in the first resurrection. Now if 08:50 you could take all the human beings folks that have ever 08:53 lived, are living now and ever will live they'll fall into four 08:57 categories. You see them. Righteous living, righteous dead 09:00 wicked living and wicked dead. Every human being will fall into 09:06 one of those four categories. Knowing what those four 09:08 categories are or what happens to them at the time of Jesus' 09:12 second coming really helps us to understand the 1000 years. So 09:16 let's look at the first two groups, the righteous living and 09:18 the righteous dead. By going to a familiar passage 09:21 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 starting in verse 16. Here it 09:25 says: The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout 09:28 with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and 09:32 the dead in Christ shall rise first: So there's the righteous 09:36 dead spoken of. Then we which are alive and remain shall be 09:38 caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in 09:41 the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. So there is the 09:46 righteous living spoken of. So we have now and answer to John 09:50 chapter 14 where Jesus says I'm going away, preparing a place 09:53 If I go away and prepare a place I will come again and receive 09:57 you. We know that the 1000 years cannot begin before this event 10:03 Why, that we call the second coming. Because it says during 10:05 the 1000 years that the saints reign with Christ. And the only 10:10 way they can reign with Christ is if they are with Christ and 10:14 Jesus comes and gets them at the time of the second coming. So, 10:17 the 1000 years does not begin until they are with Jesus. So, 10:21 we just linked the first resurrection with the second 10:24 coming of Jesus. So keep in mind the Bible says in Revelation 1:7 10:28 that every eye is going to see him, right? Nobody is going to 10:31 wake up because they overslept and say, Oh I missed the event. 10:35 Everyone is going to know when Jesus comes back. So yes John 14 10:40 tells us, Jesus is speaking, he says I'm going to go away and 10:42 prepare a place and the whole purpose of the resurrection is 10:45 to take us to that place that the Father has prepared. It's 10:49 the first resurrection that makes that possible. So, let's 10:53 now go on. What is going to happen at the resurrection for 10:56 the other groups of people. No, excuse me, first of all, we're 11:00 going to talk about something else that's going to happen. 11:01 What's going to happen at the resurrection for those first two 11:04 groups? Well let's find out here in I Corinthians 15:51. Behold I 11:08 show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep. What does Paul call 11:11 death here? A sleep, sure. We shall all be changed in a moment 11:15 in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet 11:19 will sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we 11:22 shall be changed. Now again why would we have to put on 11:26 something if we already had it? If we already had immortality 11:29 if we had an immortal soul already dwelling in us we 11:32 wouldn't be putting it on at the second coming, would we? So, it 11:36 says in verse 53: For this corruptible must put on 11:38 incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when 11:41 this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal 11:44 shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass 11:47 the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory 11:51 Think of it friends of all of the thousands of graveyards all 11:54 over this world, millions upon millions of believers coming up 12:00 out of those graves from all of human history. Can you imagine 12:04 what a glorious event that is to contemplate to think of that 12:06 resurrection during that day. When that happens friends the 12:09 righteous will meet Jesus in the air. They will go to heaven to 12:12 be with Jesus. They're going to go in through those beautiful 12:14 pearl gates that God has prepared for them and we are 12:18 going to be with Jesus in heaven So, those are the first two 12:22 groups, the righteous living and the righteous dead. But what 12:24 about the others, what about the lost? What happens to them when 12:26 Jesus comes. They must be destroyed because it says the 12:30 the rest of the dead did not live until after the 1000 years 12:33 were finished. You'll find that there are many Christians who 12:35 believe that during the 1000 years there are going to be 12:40 people here on earth, right, celebrating this wonderful 12:42 paradise and so on. It simply is not true that they're going to 12:46 have a second chance during the 1000 years. You're going to see 12:48 why. Let's go take a look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and 12:53 verse 7. It says: And to you who are troubled rest with us, when 12:55 the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty 12:59 angels. We know that's the second coming. In flaming fire 13:02 taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not 13:06 the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Well that doesn't sound 13:08 like a second chance to me, does it to you? Of course not. And it 13:12 says in 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 8: And then shall that 13:16 Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the 13:18 spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the, what folks? 13:23 Brightness of his coming. So against, those that are not 13:27 covered with the righteousness of Jesus, they'll be destroyed 13:30 when Jesus comes back. That's why the Bible says blessed is 13:33 the pure in heart for they shall see God. What a beautiful 13:38 privilege it's going to be to see Jesus when he comes. But 13:42 the Bible clearly states in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 13:43 1-3 that the wicked will experience sudden destruction 13:47 when Jesus comes. So that's what happens to the wicked living. 13:51 They are going to experience sudden destruction. Let's go to 13:55 Isaiah 13 verse 9, one from the Old Testament here. It says: 13:59 Behold, the day...cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger 14:03 to lay the land, say it out loud what does it say? Desolate. Now 14:09 remember the word desolate because we're going to see that 14:11 also in another text tonight. And speaking of the Lord: and he 14:14 shall, do what to the sinners? Destroy the sinners thereof out 14:19 of it. So it's very clear when Jesus comes the sinners are 14:23 destroyed and the land is laid desolate. Let's keep reading 14:27 here from Isaiah 13 verse 10: For the stars of heaven and the 14:32 constellations thereof shall not give their light. Now here's 14:37 some special information given by Isaiah, that's going to help 14:41 us understand Revelation chapter 20. It says: The stars will not 14:44 give their light, it says the sun shall be darkened in his 14:47 going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 14:50 So it says the light of the stars will go out. The sun will 14:53 be darkened it will go out and even the moon which gives of 14:55 course a reflected light even it will not shine. It's going to be 14:59 a dark day for sure. Verse 11: And I will punish the world for 15:02 their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause 15:05 the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the 15:08 haughtiness of the terrible. Again this verse makes it so 15:11 that at the second coming there is no second chance. There is 15:14 not another opportunity during the 1000 years to be saved 15:18 friends. We have every day an opportunity to serve the Lord. 15:22 Would you say amen? Every day we get up and we take breath into 15:26 our lungs is the time to say Lord, I want to serve you. Lord I 15:29 want to be a Christian. I want to be pure in my heart. God 15:35 gives us that every single day and those decisions that we make 15:37 every day in this life will of course settle where we spend 15:42 eternity. So then what do we find? We find the righteous go 15:44 to heaven. The wicked living are slain. What about the wicked 15:49 dead. We've already actually read about them in Revelation 20 and 15:51 verse 5. It says: But the rest of the dead lived not again 15:55 until the thousand years were finished... So because the 15:58 wicked dead are already dead, they simply remain dead till the 16:04 1000 years are complete. So let's just take a little review 16:08 now about the events when Jesus returns. A little overview is 16:11 always helpful. We know that the believers are going to be 16:14 resurrected at that time. They receive immortality their bodies 16:19 are changed. The wicked living are consumed by the spirit or 16:22 the breath of Jesus, it says. His very presence consumes them. 16:26 And it says: The wicked dead are going to remain in their 16:30 Revelation 20 verse 5 and of course the believers ascend to 16:34 heaven with Christ, 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 16. 16:37 How could there be anybody alive on planet Earth when after that 16:43 happens, folks? This sets up the question: How many people are 16:48 alive on planet Earth after Jesus comes and takes the church 16:52 away? How many? Zero, absolutely The idea that the 1000 years are 16:57 a time of prosperity and peace and it's a paradise is 17:03 absolutely false. What people have done is they've made the 17:04 mistake, friends, of taking a few verses that talk about what 17:08 is going to happen at the end of the 1000 years and they misapply 17:11 it and they put it at the beginning of the 1000 years. And 17:14 the Bible simply is not telling us that there's going to be a 17:17 great paradise at the beginning of the 1000 years. Think of it. 17:21 It says in Revelation that when Jesus comes every mountain and 17:24 island are going to be moved out of their places. The seven last 17:28 plagues have fallen. It says the oceans are turned to blood and 17:30 the fresh water is turned to blood and we're going to get 17:32 into this on another study. But it says the sun scorches the 17:36 earth and the hail comes down and ever hailstone the weight of 17:40 a talent. The earth is going to be decimated and that's what it 17:42 told us there in Isaiah 13. It said the earth would be desolate 17:46 So they make that mistake unfortunately but we're going 17:50 to study it out in its correct way tonight. It says that the 17:54 devil is going to be chained when Jesus comes back. What are 17:57 the chains that bind the devil? Remember now we're looking at a 18:02 book of the Bible of Revelation that is highly symbolic, right? 18:05 We would expect the chains to be a symbol. You know the Bible 18:09 says we wrestle not against flesh and blood which means 18:12 we're not fighting against that which is physical in nature. 18:15 How many have ever seen the devil actually walking around 18:19 you know in some kind of physical form? We don't do we? 18:22 The devil is a spiritual being right? He's an angel, fallen 18:28 angel but he's still a spiritual being. So we can't expect then 18:31 friends to tie a spiritual being with a literal rope or chain 18:36 that you'd buy down you now some kind of hardware store or 18:41 whatever. So no, can you tie an angel's hands behind his back? 18:44 Of course not. So when it says that Satan is bound with a chain 18:48 we have to look at it with the symbolism in which it was 18:52 intended. Remember that the books of Daniel and Revelation 18:55 have highly symbolized words in them. The beast is a symbol. The 19:00 dragon is a symbol and they have meanings behind them. But look 19:02 at this one from 2 Peter 2 verse 4. Speaking of chains it says: 19:07 For if God spared not the angels that sinned but cast them down 19:11 hell, and the word there hell simply means a place of outer 19:14 darkness, and delivered them into chains of darkness. So 19:18 again chains here is used symbolically in that they are 19:22 constrained to a certain point in an area of darkness next to 19:25 what they had been in the glory of heaven. And it says they're 19:28 reserved unto judgment. So here we see chains are used 19:31 symbolically. It's the same in the book of Revelation. We've 19:34 got righteous living, righteous dead, wicked living and wicked 19:36 dead. Now follow along with me. The righteous living they're 19:40 caught up to meet the Lord in the air and they go to heaven to 19:41 be with Jesus when Jesus comes. The righteous dead, they're 19:44 resurrected, caught up to meet the Lord in the air and they go 19:46 to heaven to be with Jesus. We've got the wicked living 19:48 they're slain by the glory of the Lord, they're dead. The 19:51 wicked dead are already dead so they remain dead. So when you 19:55 think about this then let me ask you a question again. When the 20:00 church is taken away who does Satan have to work with? 20:03 Basically nobody, right? How much power does a king have 20:07 without a kingdom? No power whatsoever. How much power does 20:11 Satan have with no one to tempt, no one to destroy, no one to 20:15 work with. All he has is his evil cohorts the other evil 20:18 angels. So the devil can only be affective to work when he has 20:23 people to do his bidding. And it is the devil's work to deceive 20:26 people but now there are no good people there anymore, they're 20:30 taken away. There are no bad people, they're slain, they're 20:33 dead on the ground and so Satan would love to continue his 20:36 sinister work but he can't. He's bound for a 1000 years. So to 20:42 put it plainly friends the circumstances that God places 20:46 him in bind him in that he cannot escape those 20:50 circumstances for 1000 years. The great chain with which Satan 20:56 is bound is the condition that God places him in that he cannot 21:01 change till the 1000 years is over. And you know we use that 21:05 figure of speech the same way today. If you want to do 21:07 something but circumstances do not allow you to do it you might 21:11 say Oh, I'm all tied up today. My hands are tied in the matter. 21:15 Are you really tied? No, you're saying symbolically that I'm 21:19 tied up in that I cannot do what I would like to do. Or have you 21:22 ever said this? I am bound and determined. Right? Are you 21:27 really bound. No of course not. But you're saying circumstances 21:30 have put me in a place that I cannot change, right? In the 21:35 same way, again the metaphors that we often use are no 21:37 than the Bible. So God has put him in this condition. Now what 21:42 is the condition of the earth during that time? You know that 21:44 the Lord has actually allowed a couple of his prophets to look 21:48 into the future and see the condition of the world during 21:51 the 1000 years. That's pretty exciting when you know that and 21:54 we're going to look into it right now. Let's start in Isaiah 21:57 chapter 24. Now something you can do as you follow along is 22:01 notice how closely Isaiah's language is linked to Revelation 22:06 chapter 20. Remember how opening night we talked about how 22:11 Revelation's phraseology its symbols are often borrowed 22:12 from the Old 22:14 Testament. Well here is an example of that if you go to 22:16 some of these texts in Isaiah. It says in Isaiah 24 verse 19: 22:20 The earth is utterly broken down the earth is clean dissolved, 22:25 the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro 22:28 as a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the 22:32 transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall 22:35 and not rise again. And it shall come to pass in that day, 22:39 speaking of the day Jesus comes, that the Lord shall punish the 22:42 host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the 22:44 earth upon the earth. Now notice where they're punished. They're 22:47 not punished way down in the earth. It says they're punished 22:51 upon the earth, and that's going to be very important for our 22:53 next study when we study about the fires of hell. So it says 22:57 he'll punish the host of the high ones that are on high. Who 22:59 are the host of the high ones that are on high? Ephesians 23:02 chapter 6 says that's Satan and his evil angels. So notice it 23:06 Satan and his evil angels and it says the kings of the earth 23:10 that's wicked humanity. They're both going to be punished in the 23:13 same place. It says they're going to be upon the earth. So 23:18 it's talking about a time when God is going to punish the evil 23:20 ones and the evil angels together. And they shall be 23:23 gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the, where now? 23:28 In the pit. Where else do we read about a pit. We read about 23:31 it in Revelation chapter 20 sure and it says shall be shut up in 23:35 the prison, and after many days they shall be visited. Where 23:39 else do we read about someone that was shut up, right? In 23:42 Revelation 20 verse 3 that says Satan was shut up. And it says 23:47 they'll be shut up for 1000 years and after that he'll be 23:51 loosed a little season. Here is says after many days they shall 23:52 be visited. How long do you think those many days are? 23:55 A 1000 years. And so just as it says they'll be visited at the 23:59 end of the 1000 years or at the end of many days, so Satan will 24:03 be released for a little time at the end of the 1000 years. 24:07 So we're going to notice how these two groups are linked 24:12 together, wicked humanity and the wicked angels. Very, very 24:17 interesting. But the trouble is most churches don't go into the 24:20 Old Testament so they miss out on this vital, vital information 24:23 There are about a 1000 references in Revelation 24:26 which are coming from the Old Testament. So we have to go 24:31 there to get that information. Now let's keep reading here. 24:33 In Jeremiah chapter 4 and verse 23. It says: I beheld the earth 24:37 so Jeremiah's looking at the earth and what does he see? 24:39 It says, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens 24:43 and they had no light. So again it's repeating something that we 24:47 learned over in Isaiah. Again it says God is going to put the 24:51 lights out for this world. But notice it also says that it's 24:54 without form and void. Where else do we read about something 24:57 being without form and void? In Genesis, right? But this is 25:00 not talking about what the earth was in the very beginning before 25:03 God made it something beautiful but what the earth is going to 25:06 be reverting to after the plagues have fallen and Jesus 25:11 has come and the earth is decimated. It goes back to a 25:13 type of without form and void which basically means dark and 25:17 desolated. Verse 24: I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they 25:21 trembled, and all the hills moved lightly, which means in 25:24 the original it means they moved back and forth. I beheld, and, 25:28 lo, there were how many people? No man and all the birds of the 25:33 heaven were fled. Why no man? Because the righteous they've 25:35 been taken away. The wicked are destroyed. There's no one left. 25:39 And it goes on: And I beheld and lo, the fruitful place was a 25:42 wilderness. Isaiah said the earth is desolated. And all the 25:47 cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and 25:49 by his fierce anger...thus hath the Lord said, The whole land 25:53 shall be, what again, desolate; so it's repeating it so we 25:57 understand that the earth is desolated at the time of the 26:00 time of the second coming. No wonder why God takes the church 26:03 away. Yet, he says, will I not make a full end. Why does God 26:07 not make a full end at the time of the second coming? Because 26:10 we have how many years to go? A thousand years to go through. 26:15 God makes a full end at the end of the 1000 years. And then in 26:19 verse 28 Jeremiah says: For this shall the earth mourn, and the 26:23 heavens above be black; because I have spoken it I have purposed 26:28 it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. So the 26:31 earth goes through what we might call a mourning period. It is 26:35 black, it is darkened, it is... it is mourning for what sin has 26:39 done upon it. God made this world beautiful in the beginning 26:43 didn't he? After every day of creation God said it is good, it 26:46 is good, it is good. At the end he said it is very good. 26:49 God made this 26:51 world beautiful but sin has wreaked havoc upon it and 26:54 finally, we see that it has been destroyed because of what sin 26:59 has done. And so now we see that God is going to take this world 27:02 and during the 1000 years, he's going to put it into darkness. 27:08 Satan has been spreading spiritual darkness for thousands 27:12 of years. God is going to put him and his other evil angels 27:15 in literal darkness for a 1000 years. You can just imagine what 27:20 that might be like for him. Jeremiah 25 verse 33 says: And 27:24 the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the 27:28 earth even unto the other end of the earth. Now again that's 27:31 exactly a repetition of what we read in those other verses. And 27:33 they shall not be lamented, What does that mean? 27:36 mean? Mourned over. Neither gathered nor buried. Why? There 27:40 is no one to do the work. Right? The righteous are gone. So you 27:43 can imagine friend; just let your mind picture of what the 27:48 Bible's describing for us here. the great and lofty cities, 27:51 broken down lying in utter ruin. The entire world absolutely 27:55 desolate. No one to mourn over the wicked. The righteous are 27:59 gone. The wicked are destroyed, and the wicked remain dead 28:03 during the thousand years and do you know that is a merciful act 28:08 on the part of God? They don't have to suffer during those 1000 28:10 years like Satan and his evil angels have to do. They remain 28:15 dead. They'll sleep of death for a 1000 years. So what goes on 28:17 during the millennium. Let's recap here. The righteous are in 28:21 heaven, the earth is desolated, the earth is described in 28:27 Revelation as a pit and unfortunately, Revelation uses 28:30 the term bottomless pit because when we think of a bottomless 28:33 pit, we think of what? A hole in the ground for which there is no 28:36 end, right? But that's not actually the meaning of the term 28:39 there. It is the word abussos. It's where we get our English 28:44 word abyss from and it literally means a place of darkness and 28:48 desolation. It is the same word in the Old Testament when it was 28:53 translated into Greek, from Hebrew to Greek, in Genesis when 28:55 it says without form and void it uses the word abussos, right? So 28:59 it's talking about a place of darkness and destruction and did 29:01 we not read over and over that the earth is desolated? Yes. And 29:05 did we not read over and over that it is going to be dark and 29:08 God's going to put the lights out? Yes. So it becomes abussos 29:11 it becomes in a pit-like state for the 1000 years and that 29:17 represents the earth and it represents a prison because 29:21 Satan is bound there. He cannot escape from it so it is a prison 29:26 for Satan for a 1000 years. He cannot escape from it. Okay so 29:33 let us go take a look at this incredible world, hail stones 29:39 coming down, all of that doing its work. You can imagine the 29:41 state of it. Satan is going to suffer during this time. It 29:45 would be an awful period for him A 1000 years in that condition. 29:49 He can't go anywhere. What does he have to do for those 1000 29:53 years. Just reflect on the results of his rebellion doesn't 29:56 he. Can you imagine the arguments that are going to be 29:58 going back and forth between him and those other evil angels 30:00 about who caused what and who is responsible for what. So 30:03 these angels that we know as demons will contemplate their 30:06 fall for 1000 years and they are in that cold, dark, desolated 30:11 condition that they cannot escape from. Bodies strewn all 30:15 over the place. Everyone in the whole universe friends sees an 30:19 object lesson here of what Satan's rebellion has brought 30:23 about. Because in the very beginning when Satan rebelled, 30:27 how is it that he deceived so many angels to come on his side? 30:30 He did it by saying that he had better ideas than God did. That 30:35 he had a better way of ruling then God did. He could set up a 30:39 better government than God had. Now there are some things that 30:42 can only be proven with time. Because if God had instantly 30:45 eliminated Satan because of his rebellion, because the Bible 30:48 says the wages of sin is what now? Death. If God had said 30:52 Satan you sinned and therefore you're going to have to die 30:54 the angels had never seen rebellion before. The angels had 30:59 never seen sin before. And so if God had immediately slain Satan 31:04 the angels would have said, Wow! That's what happens? Boy we 31:07 better fall into line too, or else we're going to get killed 31:09 just like Satan did. And they would have served God out of 31:13 fear and not from love because they had to. And God could only 31:17 take the service of love. And so because he could not demand it 31:22 but he had to reveal it over time he allowed sin to run its 31:26 course because what's happening friends is God is allowing the 31:29 great controversy between good and evil to run its course in 31:33 such a way that he doesn't just solve things for a period of 31:37 but God is solving it so that all eternity can go by and we 31:42 will never ever repeat this awful sin experiment. Right? 31:46 Because as the universe looks down upon this world which is an 31:52 object lesson because of its rebellion they see that Satan's 31:56 way did not bring extra happiness. It did not bring joy 31:59 to its inhabitants. It did not bring peace, it did not bring a 32:03 higher state of ability. In fact, the thousand years goes by 32:06 and the universe sees nothing but death and destruction and 32:10 pain and heartache, it will echo and it will reecho throughout 32:14 the inhabited universe, the wages of sin is death. And we'll 32:19 see that we would never ever, ever want to go through that 32:23 experiment again. What do you say, Amen? So God's handling the 32:28 controversy between good and evil that this conflict will not 32:32 arise a second time and we will see that Satan's way could never 32:35 have brought about happiness and that God was just in everything 32:39 he did. So now let's refocus to another group of people, God's 32:48 people. The saved or the righteous. Where are they? 32:51 They are taken to heaven at the second coming. Now think of this 32:55 incredible contrast. Satan and the evil ones are in perfect 33:00 darkness for 1000 years. God has the saints in absolute glory, 33:05 right? Oh friends, it pays to serve the Lord, Amen? In every 33:09 way this is just rich in the contrast of it all. How amazing. 33:13 At the end of time when we see that the experiment of sin 33:15 is over. We'll 33:17 see that Satan is totally unmasked and we're going to see 33:21 that the saints are up in heaven and what are they going to be 33:23 doing during that time? Let's go take a look. Revelation 33:26 20 and verse 4. What are the saints doing during the 1000 33:28 years? And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment 33:32 was given unto them, them being the saints or the saved, And I 33:35 saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of 33:37 Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the 33:40 beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark 33:43 upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and 33:45 reigned with Christ a thousand years. Now there's something 33:48 worth noting here friends, that this is a group of people that 33:52 made a conscious decision not to worship the beast or take his 33:57 image or receive his mark. Now that tells us right there that 34:00 this idea of a secret, silent, invisible rapture where the 34:02 church is going to be taken away before any kind of tribulation 34:05 cannot be true. Because here are a group of people that were here 34:08 and they did go through that time and they did stand faithful 34:12 to God during that final tribulation which we'll take up 34:15 on another night. Well you see here is a group of people and 34:19 they're going to be on thrones. Who are they going to judge? 34:21 Now let's go to 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 2. During the 1000 34:25 years, it's called the millennium, the righteous are in 34:28 heaven with Christ. They're setting on thrones. They're 34:29 participating in the work of judgment and Paul says in 34:32 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 2: Do Do you not know that the saints 34:34 shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you 34:38 are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? What Paul is 34:40 saying in essence is hey you've got big things in store for you 34:43 Learn how to judge properly because God is going to use you 34:47 in a future judgment. He says here in 1 Corinthians 6:3: Know 34:52 you not that we shall judge what Angels. Now that's not talking 34:57 about the holy angels. They have not sinned. They need no 35:00 judgment. It's talking about the wicked angels that did sin. How 35:03 much more things that pertain to this life? So here we find 35:07 that Paul said we're going to judge the world. Now that means 35:11 of course, those who have made this world the object of their 35:14 affection and their desire. So we realize that God is going to 35:19 take people that have lived in this world, they've gone through 35:22 the hardships, they've gone through the trials, they've gone 35:24 through all of the suffering. He's going to put them in a 35:27 place of judgment and actually allow them to have an insight 35:31 into what has gone on during all of these years. And God is going 35:36 say in essence, was I just? Was I fair? Did I do everything 35:41 right? Does God have to do that? No, he doesn't have to do that. 35:44 But does he do it? Yes he does do it. It's amazing. He says in 35:49 verse 5: Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord 35:52 come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of, what 35:55 Darkness. And further on it says And he will make manifest the 35:59 counsels of the hearts: right? Things that we could never judge 36:05 correctly but God knew about, and then shall every man have 36:08 praise of God. Why shall every man have praise of God? Because 36:11 we are going to see in that day that God did everything right. 36:17 And he was just and he was fair. In essence, we're going to have 36:22 an instant replay. Now those of you who have a sports background 36:27 you know about instant replay. Does instant replay change the 36:30 play? No instant replay doesn't change the play, it may change 36:33 minds but it doesn't change the play. The reason for instant 36:37 replay is to make sure that the umpire or the referee or whoever 36:41 is judging it got the call right And God is going to give us the 36:45 most amazing instant replay. The Bible speaks about books there. 36:49 Books in heaven. And God is going to allow us to take a look 36:52 at these. And he's going to ask us, did I do everything correct? 36:56 Did I do everything fair? Was I loving in how I handled things? 37:00 Have you noticed in the Bible friends that before God acts He 37:05 always investigates? Let me give you some examples of that. When 37:09 Adam and Eve fell God walked into the garden and he said Adam 37:13 Adam, where art thou? Did God not know? Of course, he knew. 37:18 But he investigated before he took action. What about when 37:21 Cain killed his brother Abel and he said to Cain, Cain where is 37:26 thy brother? Did God not know? Of course, he knew, but he 37:30 investigated before he took action. What about when it came 37:32 to the time of the Tower of Babel. It said God came down to 37:37 see the city. What was he telling us? He's showing us that 37:40 God does not act arbitrarily. He investigated before he took 37:44 action. Same with Sodom and Gomorrah. He said to Abraham, I'm 37:47 going to go down and look for myself. Why? Because he was 37:52 telling Abraham I'm going to investigate before I act. God is 37:55 showing us that he does things fairly and not arbitrarily. So, 38:02 yes, God is going to allow us to look into the books of record 38:04 He could do the judgment in a millisecond if he wanted to. But 38:09 you see right now folks the holy angels see behind the scenes. 38:13 They see everything right. They see what's going on. But we 38:18 don't have that accurate viewpoint. But during the 1000 38:21 years God is going to say, Do you have a question? Would you 38:24 like to have an insight into something that happened? What 38:26 if you were there and someone that you thought was a better 38:28 Christian than you wasn't there? Would you have a question about 38:31 that? Would you have a question about maybe why your life is a 38:34 certain turn? Why God allowed a certain thing. God is going to 38:37 say, Listen, I didn't cause that bad thing to happen. You see 38:40 that was caused by the evil one. But when you gave your heart 38:42 to me, I even took the bad things that happened and turned them 38:46 around and made them a blessing in your life. We're going to see 38:51 friends during the time of the 1000 years that God was at work 38:53 24 hours a day, seven days a week with one purpose. It was 39:00 the salvation of human beings. Amen. God was at work. And we're 39:02 going to...and when we finish it all, when God has allowed us to 39:05 look into all the things that we need to look in to he's going to 39:08 say did I get the call right? I'm going to say yes Lord. You 39:13 got the call right. It's just an amazing thing and when we see 39:17 that instant replay, when we see that if a person was not there 39:22 in heaven, it wasn't God's fault He's going to say did I send 39:25 them an invitation? Did I make appeals to them? Did I do it 39:31 through every which way that I could? I'm going to say yes Lord 39:34 you did. He's going to say is there anything more I could have 39:36 done for the salvation of that individual? No, Lord. You pulled 39:40 out all the stops. You were just and you were fair and that 39:44 person is not here because of a choice that they made. And when 39:48 we're finished all of that we're going to have this to say. 39:51 Revelation 15 and verse 3, it says: And they sing the song of 39:54 Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, 39:57 Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just 40:02 and true are thy ways, Amen, thou King of saints. Oh friends 40:07 we're going to know that God was just in everything he did. 40:10 Well now let's have another summary about what happens 40:13 during the 1000 years of the Millennium. The righteous are in 40:15 heaven. The wicked remain dead during that time. Satan and his 40:20 angels are bound on the earth. The earth remains desolate. Okay 40:24 so what happens at the end of the 1000 years? There's only one 40:29 group now that remains to be convinced of God's justice. The 40:33 angels in heaven they understand it. The 1000 years are for the 40:36 righteous. They understand it now. But God is so just friends. 40:41 He is so merciful he's even going to allow the unsaved to 40:46 understand why they were not saved. They need to be 40:50 resurrected though so that they can understand it and so now 40:52 let's look at the things that happen at the close of the 1000 40:54 years. Revelation 21 and verse 2 A solemn announcement is made 40:59 The capitol of the universe, the new Jerusalem is going to move 41:03 from its present location wherever that is down to this 41:08 world. Here it is: And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem 41:11 coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride 41:14 adorned for her husband. Now you know that's going to be 41:17 beautiful, right? And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying 41:19 Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, which means the 41:22 dwelling place of God is with people and he will dwell with 41:26 them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be 41:29 with them, and be their God. So God is saying, I want to be 41:33 right down here in this world preparing it for when he's going 41:36 make it brand new, but we'll talk about that in just a moment 41:39 So God is bringing the universe, excuse me, God is bringing the 41:43 New Jerusalem right down to this world. It's an immense city. 41:46 And it's an amazing city. There are dimensions given for that 41:50 city. Some say it's 1500 kilometers on each side. Some 41:56 say that's all the way around. But even if you take the smaller 41:58 measurement, that would be like 375 miles on one side. It's a 42:00 city roughly the size of the state of Oregon. That's a big 42:03 city right? And when you think about it every square inch of it 42:06 is beautiful and habitable. That's a lot of people to fit in 42:09 that city. That's for another night to talk about that. God's 42:13 people friends are in that city. So I want you to picture this 42:17 now in your mind's eye. The 1000 years are over. It's one of the 42:21 the most exciting moments in all of history when you really take 42:25 it all in. The 1000 years are over. The wicked will now be 42:31 resurrected. Let's go to Revelation 20 verse 5. A little 42:32 bit of review here. It says: The rest of the dead lived not again 42:35 until the thousand years were finished. So what's another word 42:38 for finished? It's over, right? This expired. In fact, in Acts 42:44 24 Paul says:...there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both 42:48 of the just and the, what else, the unjust, right? So we already 42:53 had the resurrection of the just That happened at the time of the 42:55 second coming. But now the one for the unjust, the one that 42:57 Jesus said was the resurrection of damnation. So we'll put our 43:02 graph up here on the screen again. We got a 1000-year period 43:04 of time. It's bookended by two resurrections, the first and the 43:07 second. The saved or the righteous come up in the first 43:09 resurrection. The unrighteous or the lost will come up in the 43:12 second resurrection. What event triggers them. The second coming 43:17 triggers the first resurrection. The holy city descending out of 43:19 heaven triggers the second resurrection. So now the city 43:23 comes down and what else takes place? Verse 7: And when the 43:29 1000 years are expired, what does expired mean? Finished 43:33 right? Over. Satan shall be loosed out of his what? Prison. 43:38 So what has the 1000 years been when it's desolate and dark. 43:42 It's been a prison, the pit has been a prison for Satan for a 43:46 1000 years. He's been chained by circumstances. No one to 43:51 tempt. There's been no light. Only cold darkness. At the end 43:55 of the 1000 years, it'll be lightened with the presence of 43:57 God. And it says that the wicked now are loosed. Now we enter 44:02 into that short season or that little season that's talked 44:07 about in Revelation 20 and verse 3. I'm going to ask you to try 44:11 to just keep him quiet there if you could please. All right. 44:15 Thank you. Now we enter into that little season called 44:19 Revelation 20 verse 3 that Revelation talks about. What is 44:21 Satan going to do when he loosed out of his prison. You think 44:24 he's learned any lessons there? Huh? Has he changed his 44:27 character during the 1000 years do you think? No not at all. 44:30 We're going to take a look here at what's going to happen. It 44:33 says in verse 8: And shall go out to deceive the nations which 44:35 are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog,...Now 44:38 don't get thrown off with that Gog and Magog because Gog was a 44:43 king of wickedness in the Old Testament. So Revelation is 44:45 picking up on that and making it a symbol, Gog being the king of 44:49 wickedness, which of course is Satan. Magog being all his 44:53 followers or the land of Magog, all of the wicked hosts there, 44:56 that's all that that's representing there. 44:58 Now there weren't any nations before the second resurrection, 45:02 but now the second resurrection has occurred and now Satan can 45:06 go out and deceive them and he can go out and tempt them. 45:08 Now it tells us in verse 8: ...to gather them together to 45:13 battle. What happens when they're finally resurrected? 45:16 Have the wicked changed at all? Has their character been 45:19 converted? Not at all. They were against God when they perished 45:23 and now they're against God again. The number of whom is as 45:26 the sand of the sea. John sees this vast number of people. It's 45:32 so large friends that the only term he can come up with is like 45:37 the sand of the seashore. That tells us where the majority are 45:40 going to be, right? That tells us where the broad road leads 45:43 to. Don't let anybody tell you dear friends that because of 45:47 numbers that they're right because numbers have really 45:51 never been in the right through all of history. So here we've 45:57 got thousands of millions of people coming up and John says 46:01 it's like the sand of the sea. They're lost but nevertheless 46:04 they're deceived and they think that they can overcome the city 46:09 by force. Now we don't know exactly how Satan deceives them. 46:12 But it can't be difficult. They listened to his voice when they 46:15 were on the earth before. They're going to listen to his 46:16 voice the second time. It means that whatever a person was used 46:20 to doing, they're going to go right back to doing it as well. 46:23 When my wife and I want to go on vacation...it's an 46:29 interesting thing when you have a husband and wife. Sometimes 46:31 you don't always see the same. And when we go on vacation we 46:35 sometimes, or when we think we're going to have vacation 46:37 sometimes we have different ideas about what vacation is. 46:40 Have you ever had that before, right? My wife likes one kind of 46:43 vacation and it's not bad to me but sometimes I want to go do 46:46 something different on vacation. And when my wife thinks vacation 46:51 I'll tell you what three things she thinks about. She thinks of 46:53 sun, sand, and surf. And here I am at the beach and I just reach 46:57 over and I grab sand and I look at that and I say what? Wow! I 47:01 wonder how many grains of sand are in there. Now I'm honestly 47:05 not this boring, right, but I mean I'm sitting there...that 47:08 would be a massive number. Only God could count that but boy 47:11 that would be a lot. And I'm looking down the shore and wow, 47:14 look at all that, wow, a lot of sand. Now many grains would that 47:17 be you know. That would be a lot. When the Holy City comes 47:20 down all the righteous are in that city. When the wicked come 47:25 up all the wicked are now gathered around that city. 47:29 At this moment in time every human being that has ever lived 47:38 is living now or ever will live meet together for the first and 47:44 the last time. They're all there All of humanity is there. You 47:51 have got the wicked outside of the walls. You've got the 47:55 righteous inside of the walls. We have no choice in that we 47:59 will be there but thank God we have a choice what side of those 48:03 city walls we are going to be on Amen? We don't have to be 48:07 outside of those walls with Satan because they are 48:08 rebellious. And it says they're going to go up on the breadth 48:13 of the earth and it says they compass, that means they 48:14 surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city. So Satan 48:17 gathers them around like they're actually going to attack the 48:20 city. Amazing. When you think of that city friends it says the 48:26 walls of that city are like a translucent gold. They're 48:29 actually going to be like transparent and the wicked will 48:32 be able to look in as far as possible and they're going to be 48:36 able to see a lot of the glory that that city has. Can you 48:40 imagine the regret in that day in those minds when they see 48:44 what they've missed out on. When they see that all those 48:48 excuses they made, right? All of those things that they did to 48:52 show themself to be against God. Now they find themselves outside 48:57 those walls and there are going to be people outside of those 48:59 walls that actually think that they should be inside those 49:01 walls. And on a night to come we're going to study, they say 49:06 Lord, Lord why am I outside of these walls. I thought I should 49:09 be inside. This is the real star- wars conclusion right here right 49:13 Did you see that TV show or you've heard that TV show called 49:15 Survivor. This is the real-time of the time of the survivors 49:20 those who are inside the city. And this is much more exciting 49:24 than any cheap Hollywood drama or any kind of fictitious movie 49:29 that Hollywood could make. This is showing the real conclusion 49:33 to the battle between good and evil that has raged for 49:36 thousands of years and God is finally bringing it to a 49:40 conclusion. Sometimes people's minds get so confused over the 49:43 fictitious that the real doesn't have an impact on them anymore. 49:48 This is the final moment in history when God is going to do 49:52 away with all of evil and wickedness forever friends and 49:55 I'm looking forward to that. What a momentous event. There's 49:57 coming a time when the hands of the history clock stop and God 50:05 has given this short time of probation for us. We can choose 50:08 to buy a house or rent a house. We can choose to live on the 50:12 east coast or the west coast. You know we can make these 50:15 kinds of choices to last for what 50, 60, 70 years but the 50:20 choice to serve the Lord, the choice to accept the gospel 50:25 message and be converted in our hearts, the choice to desire 50:28 to love Jesus 50:30 enough to keep his commandments The choice to follow Jesus' word 50:34 and be baptized as a sign that you want to be on his side. 50:37 These are not choices for 50, 60 or 70 years, friends. These are 50:40 choices that will 50:41 last for eternity. Amen? Eternity. Let us make those 50:46 choices friends. Let's prepare for the future. This is the main 50:50 purpose of life. It's amazing again as I said the people can 50:53 go through so many years of schooling just for this life. 50:57 When you ask them to come to a seminar, and I commend you for 51:00 being here and I commend all of you on television for watching 51:03 at home, but you ask them to come to something of a spiritual 51:08 nature and they say well I have no time for that. Oh I'm busy 51:12 now. It's amazing how Satan can confuse us into not making time 51:16 to get ready for Jesus. The walls again are transparent and 51:21 they're looking up at that and they see all of that and there's 51:23 going to be the biggest agony of regret that this world has ever 51:28 seen when they realize they've sold out cheap on eternity. 51:32 There'll be the greatest agony of sorrow and regret and I just 51:36 want you to grasp this in your mind friends that no matter what 51:40 trials we go through here, no matter what heartache we go 51:44 through here, no matter if somebody mocks you for your 51:47 faith, right, no matter if someone ridicules you for your 51:51 stance for Jesus. In that day, when you find yourself on the 51:55 inside of those city walls, whatever we go through now, it 51:59 will be worth it, amen. It'll be worth it folks. All throughout 52:03 the Bible there are only two classes: Wheat and the tares, 52:07 sheep and the goats, broad road, narrow road, good and evil, 52:11 truth and error, the saved and the lost. All of these ways but 52:15 there's only two sides and in that day again only two sides. 52:19 Those inside the walls and those outside the walls and I'm so 52:23 glad to note that we're going to be inside the walls by God's 52:27 grace. And I just wish I could paint this picture so 52:29 graphically that every single one of us would make that 52:33 decision in our heart that we will do everything to be inside 52:38 the walls on that day. Sometimes people are held back by 52:41 possessions, sometimes by jobs, sometimes by friends, even 52:46 ministers friend, can sometimes hold you back because they don't 52:52 want to do the things that they know they should do. And in that 52:55 day there'll be a lot of people outside those walls with excuses 52:58 oh, I did this or...I don't want to be outside of those walls 53:02 with a good excuse in that day because the best excuse ever 53:06 will not be good enough when we know that we could have followed 53:10 what the Bible says. But there's going to be something momentous 53:13 happen when they gather around that city. They look like 53:16 they're going to charge it, they're going attack it but all 53:20 of a sudden at a crucial moment Revelation 20 verse 11: And I 53:25 saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose 53:28 face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found 53:31 no place for them. And I saw the dead, small, and great, stand 53:34 before God; and the books were opened: And another book was 53:36 was opened which is the book of life: and the dead were judged 53:40 out of those things which were written in the books, according 53:41 to their works. So as Satan and the wicked advance upon that 53:45 city God stops them in their tracks. The great white throne 53:48 judgment takes place of Revelation 20:11-14 because God 53:52 does not just destroy the wicked without showing them why they're 53:56 lost. Does God have to do that? No. But does God do that? Yes. 54:00 And he's going to open the books and if they have any question 54:05 he's going to say is your name written here in the book of life 54:08 and they will say no. Then he'll say let me show you why it's 54:12 not in there. And another book is opened which is the book of 54:14 their life, the book of record. And after he reveals to them 54:19 an instant replay of things, it says the dead were judged out 54:25 of those things which were written in the books according 54:28 to their what? Their works. So God gives them in a miraculous 54:33 way the instant replay of their life. The history. They'll see 54:38 see how they rejected the Holy Spirit's many pleas. They 54:43 rejected the spirit's work to try to guide them into truth. 54:44 They could have come to a prophecy seminar, they could 54:48 have read that gospel tract that someone put in their hand. They 54:52 could have had their heart softened if they had allowed it 54:54 to be softened. They are going to see that they are justly 54:56 excluded from heaven and when they realize they are eternally 55:00 lost. They're going to realize there's no repentance for them 55:03 at that time but they realize that God was fair and God was 55:08 just and now at that moment in time friends, this verse will be 55:13 fulfilled. Philippians 2 it says in verse 10 that the name of 55:16 Jesus how many knees are going to bow. Every knee should 55:18 bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things 55:20 under the earth. And that how many tongues are going to 55:24 confess, friend? Every tongue that Jesus Christ is Lord, to 55:27 the glory of God the father. That is the moment when all of humanity and 55:32 I believe even all of the angelic hosts will bow the knee 55:36 and they will say God is love. Amen. God was fair. And then it 55:43 says in Revelation 20 and verse And fire came down from God 55:46 out of heaven and what did it do It devoured them. Now that is 55:49 our next study together. What is that fire all about that the 55:55 Bible speaks about and is this called the lake of fire all 55:58 about that, the Bible speaks of? That's our very next session 56:01 So yes fire comes down from God out of heaven. Revelation 20 and 56:05 verse 14 says: And death and hell were cast into the lake of 56:08 fire. This is the second death. So there is a first death called 56:11 a sleep and there is second death. What is the second death 56:14 all about? Once again our next study we're going to find out 56:18 exactly what that means. Verse And whosoever was not found 56:20 written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. So 56:24 this world now has a lake of fire to consume the sin and 56:29 sinner. He's destroyed Satan in that lake of fire. We're 56:33 going to study that in our next session together but Isaiah 56:36 called it God's strange act. Why is that? We'll find out. But 56:41 we're not going to end on that fire. We're not going to end 56:43 end on that but end on a much more positive note. When the 56:45 fire goes out what does God going to do for his people? 56:47 let's find out. Isaiah 65 and verse 17 and here it says: For 56:51 behold I create new heavens and a, what friends? A new earth. 56:56 Yeah. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, says Revelation 57:00 21:1; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away 57:03 and there was no more sea. So twice it speaks about it, once 57:07 the Old Testament, once herein Revelation and actually a third 57:10 time in Peter, but Peter adds something to it. He says in 57:14 2 Peter 3:13: Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look 57:17 for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth, what folks? 57:22 Righteousness. On aren't you looking forward to the time when 57:27 everybody does what is right. Oh isn't that going to be great? 57:28 God says we're not going to remember this old earth any more 57:31 He'll wipe it out of our memory. So what's going to happen at 57:34 the end of the 1000 years? Christ, the saints, and the city 57:37 descent. The wicked dead will be raised at that time. Satan is 57:40 loosed out of his dark desolate prison. The last judgment 57:43 concludes. Satan and sinners will be destroyed and again 57:47 that's our next subject. The earth will be cleansed and 57:49 renewed, he'll make a new heaven and a new earth. And then where 57:52 will God and the righteous finally, live. Now is fulfilled 57:56 this verse folks: Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit 57:59 the earth. Many think that they inherit it at the beginning of 58:03 1000 years and the Bible actually tells that they inherit 58:05 at the end of the 1000 years. They will dwell with God for all 58:10 eternity. 58:11 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2025-03-20