Participants: Ivor Myers (Host), James Rafferty (Host), Yvonne Lewis, Jason Bradley
Series Code: SISS
Program Code: SISS000069A
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00:29 Revelation chapter 20... whew!
00:32 basically, we are finished... 00:35 I mean we've got... 00:36 probably two or three more programs including this one 00:39 but just because we're almost done, 00:42 doesn't mean... we don't have some important significant 00:46 material here that we still need to cover, 00:48 and Revelation 20 is one of those chapters 00:50 well, it can take you in the wrong way or in the right way... 00:53 in the wrong direction or in the right direction, 00:55 it's a really important chapter to understand 00:57 because basically Revelation 20 is sewing everything up, 00:59 it's a further explanation 01:02 of something that we've read already in Revelation 19... 01:06 the Beast... the False Prophet thrown into the Lake of Fire 01:09 the Lake-of-Fire process is explained in Revelation 20. 01:12 It's not that Jesus just returns the second time... 01:14 and He takes His people home... 01:16 and throws those guys in the Lake of Fire, 01:17 there's a process that takes place 01:19 between the second coming of Jesus 01:21 and the Lake-of-Fire experience 01:23 and that process is described as the 1,000 years... 01:26 the 1,000 years and an investigation into the books 01:29 and that's what Revelation 20 tries to explain to us. 01:32 It's really a good chapter... it's really a good chapter 01:35 in helping us to understand how God closes all of this up. 01:37 God's going to give us some time to figure it all out, 01:40 1,000 years' worth of time 01:41 so, Yvonne, would you like to pray for us 01:43 and we'll get right into it. 01:45 Sure, "Lord God, we just thank you again 01:48 for just being such a great God 01:51 and so loving and kind and merciful 01:53 and we just pray right now for your Holy Spirit, 01:56 we pray that He will guide us into all truth 01:59 and that we will be able to apply the truth that we learned 02:04 in this Book, thank you Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. " 02:07 "Amen. " 02:08 So again, I just want to say that for our Viewers... 02:13 when we read here that Christ comes, in Revelation 19, 02:17 and it says, in verse 20, "And the beast was taken, 02:21 and with him the false prophet 02:22 that wrought miracles before him, 02:23 with which he deceived them 02:25 that had received the mark of the beast, 02:26 and them that worshipped his image, 02:27 These both were cast alive into a lake of fire 02:29 burning with brimstone. " 02:30 When we read that, sometimes people will ask me, 02:32 "Well, I thought that happened like... after the 1,000 years... 02:36 well, it does, 02:37 Revelation 19 is just taking us all the way down 02:40 past the 1,000 years 02:41 without an explanation of the 1,000 years. 02:43 Revelation does this often, Daniel does it also, 02:46 it goes all the way through the end and then backs up 02:49 and kind of gives us an enlargement 02:51 of some of the details that we just passed over. 02:53 So Revelation 20, now, 02:55 is the enlargement on the details that take place 02:58 from the 2nd coming of Christ 03:00 until the Lake-of-Fire experience 03:02 so Revelation 20 could be fit right in between these verses 03:05 back here in Revelation 19, verses 18 and 19, 03:07 you put this whole chapter right in there... 03:10 this is all going to take place 03:11 before the Beast and the False Prophet 03:13 are thrown into the Lake of Fire. 03:14 All right, let's start in Revelation 20 verse 1, 03:17 Jason, let's read 03:18 and let's read it all the way to verse 6. 03:22 Okay, "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, 03:25 having the key of the bottomless pit 03:26 and a great chain in his hand. 03:28 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, 03:31 which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. 03:34 And cast him into the bottomless pit, 03:37 and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, 03:39 that he should deceive the nations no more, 03:41 till the thousand years should be fulfilled: 03:43 and after that he must be loosed a little season. 03:47 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, 03:50 and judgment was given unto them: 03:51 and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded 03:54 for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, 03:57 and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, 04:00 neither had received his mark 04:02 upon their foreheads, or in their hands; 04:04 and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 04:07 But the rest of the dead lived not again 04:09 until the thousand years were finished. 04:12 This is the first resurrection. 04:13 Blessed and holy is he 04:17 that hath part in the first resurrection: 04:20 on such the second death hath no power, 04:22 but they shall be priests of God and of Christ 04:25 and shall reign with him a thousand years. " 04:27 Okay, we're going to start in verse 6 04:29 and we're going to work backwards... 04:30 so verse 6, the reason why I want to start there 04:32 is because verse 6 identifies for us 04:35 that this is the first resurrection 04:37 and we know the first resurrection takes place 04:39 at the second coming of Jesus... 04:40 So this event now, again, is building on Revelation 19, 04:45 it's taking us to the second coming of Jesus 04:47 and it's telling us that the first resurrection 04:49 is going to take place then and those who are... 04:51 who partake in the first resurrection, 04:53 are blessed and holy 04:55 and the second death 04:56 which is the death of the Lake of Fire 04:59 the second death will have no power over them, 05:01 they will live and reign with Christ though for a 1,000 years 05:05 so before the second death... 05:07 before the Lake of Fire takes place, 05:08 a thousand years is going to go by, 05:10 there's going to be a thousand years, 05:12 now we know that during that 1,000-year period 05:15 God's people are going to be in heaven... 05:17 that's where they're going to be with Christ... with God 05:19 and we also know from verse 4 05:22 because we're going backwards now, 05:23 we also know from verse... well verse 5 05:26 that the rest of the dead... that is... 05:28 those who do not partake of the 05:30 second resurrection... they're dead... 05:32 they don't live again until the thousand years are finished. 05:34 So, in 2nd Thessalonians it says 05:37 that they're consumed by the brightness of His coming. 05:38 So the rest of the dead are dead... 05:41 those who are in the first resurrection... 05:44 those who are the saints of God, 05:46 those who didn't worship the beast or his image 05:48 according to verse 5... verse 4... 05:49 they live and reign with Christ for a thousand years 05:52 and they live and reign with Christ 05:53 and they also are given thrones of judgment. 05:56 Now, what that means is... they get an opportunity 06:00 to figure out... in a thousand years 06:03 why certain people aren't there. 06:07 What's going on... 06:08 they get to sit in judgment with Christ 06:10 and they can figure out... 06:11 "Well, how come so and so is not there?" 06:13 and how come you decided this and how come you decided that 06:16 and what is it... they get to look at all of the evidence 06:19 during that thousand years 06:20 so they get all their questions answered 06:22 for example, I have a question 06:24 that I want to find out about and that is 06:26 we know that this war... this conflict began in heaven 06:30 it began before it came to this earth with Lucifer. 06:33 Well, what did God do to try to convince him that he was wrong? 06:38 How did God interact with him and like, "Hey, wait a minute... 06:42 what about this... what about...?" 06:44 I want to see all that, I want to see how God relates... 06:46 because I don't think God was like, "ah... " 06:48 I think God was like, "Wait a minute... " 06:49 and tried to show... "Don't, no, don't do that... 06:52 don't do it... " you know what I'm saying? 06:53 Because sometimes we think, 06:54 "Well, why can't Lucifer be saved?" 06:56 "Why can't the devil be saved?" 06:57 Well, there's got to be a reason, we know. 06:59 Ivor: We get to review the evidence in heaven. 07:00 James: Yes! 07:02 Ivor: Sounds like there was a tape running 07:04 and in heaven we get to see the tape. 07:05 "Oh, this was all caught on camera, by-the-way. " 07:08 So, we're in heaven... and the books... 07:11 He's showing us the evidence of all that happened, 07:14 we get to see it, our questions are answered 07:17 why are some people not here and... 07:20 why are some people here? 07:21 Hmmm... Hmmm... 07:23 "What is he doing here?" Right? 07:27 That's what Stephen is going to say about Paul, right? 07:30 Yes. "How did he get here?" 07:32 That's right. 07:33 "Whoa, Nebuchadnezzar, what's he doing here?" 07:36 Kings of Judah might be wondering about that. 07:38 Yeah. 07:40 Some of God's people. Yeah, yep. 07:41 So, that's what this judgment is about, 07:44 right, it's God opening the record to show... 07:47 and He does this for a reason. 07:50 See, in the book of Daniel chapter 8... and... 07:54 maybe we should cover... 07:55 at least touch on this a little bit. 07:57 Daniel 8... the Bible says that a judgment was set 08:01 and the books were opened, okay, so... 08:03 James: Daniel 7... 08:04 Ivor: Daniel 7... Daniel 7... 08:06 judgment was set... books were opened 08:08 and it says that there were thousand... 08:10 thousands around the throne of God. 08:12 Well, these aren't saints because 08:14 that judgment is something that occurred 08:16 at a very specific time before the second coming of Jesus. 08:19 Right, so you've got these angels 08:21 that are around the throne, 08:23 this judgment is for the angels 08:25 right, God is allowing the angels 08:27 who can't read the heart like God can. 08:30 Right, so He's allowing the angels... 08:33 I mean, just imagine, God's like, 08:35 "All right angels, I'm bringing those guys up here" 08:37 the angels are probably like, 08:38 "Whoa, so... we're sure about this Lord? 08:42 and we trust you, we trust you... " 08:44 God says, "I'm going to show you the books... 08:46 I'm going to allow you to see why those who are lost are lost 08:50 and why those who are saved are saved. " 08:52 Hmmm... hmmm... 08:53 At the end of that judgment, the angels are like, 08:56 "All right, just and true are thy ways O God, we're ready, 08:58 let's go get them... " right. 09:00 They know who to get because they're getting 09:02 everyone whose names are written in the books. 09:05 Okay, so that's the righteous... the angels, 09:07 in the millennium, he said, 09:11 "I'm going to take the saints through the same process, 09:12 I'm going to allow you now to see the books. 09:15 I'm going to allow you to see if I've made any mistakes. " 09:18 At the end of that judgment, what do they say? 09:21 "Just and true... we got you, Lord, 09:24 just and true are thy ways, 09:25 the people that you left out, you left out for a reason. " 09:28 We will find that when we get to the end of the millennium 09:31 the books are opened one more time. 09:34 This time... is for the wicked. 09:36 The wicked are going to look at the books 09:38 and guess what they're going to say? 09:39 "Just and true... " 09:41 all right, when everything is said and done 09:43 there'll be not one dissenting voice... 09:47 not even from Lucifer himself, 09:50 and it is this time that every knee bows... 09:53 and every tongue confesses that Jesus is Lord... 09:56 in all the universe... there's no... 09:57 "you're right, everyone agrees, everyone agrees... 10:00 we agree on the judgment, 10:01 we agree on the judgment, we agree on the... " 10:02 no one can every again in the future say, 10:05 "You know, maybe God was wrong" why? 10:08 Because they would have heard the confessions 10:11 of the wicked themselves... of Satan himself, 10:14 that's the purpose of it. 10:16 The judgment is designed to... 10:19 pause... 10:20 James: Clear the name of God. 10:22 Ivor: Clear the name of God 10:23 so that sin will not rise again a second time. 10:25 Yeah. 10:27 No one will be able to say, 10:28 "Maybe God didn't do enough to save 10:30 this person or that person" 10:31 no, it's going to be all seen 10:33 and God will be vindicated, yeah. 10:37 So what you have... in Revelation chapter 20 10:39 when you have this picture 10:41 in these last three verses that we read, 10:43 I'm seeing verses 6, 5 and 4, 10:45 going back now to verses 1, 2 and 3, 10:48 it fills out what's taking place here, 10:50 because what happens here is, 10:51 you have this symbolic representation, 10:54 you have an angel coming down from heaven 10:56 and it says that he has a key of the bottomless pit 11:00 and a great chain in his hand, 11:02 okay, and he lays hold of the dragon, 11:04 that old serpent which is the Devil and Satan 11:06 and bound him for a thousand years, 11:07 and cast him into the bottomless pit, 11:09 and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, 11:10 that he should deceive the nations no more, 11:12 till the thousand years should be fulfilled: 11:13 and after that he must be loosed a little season... 11:15 and you're like, "What, what does that all mean?" 11:17 that seems very strange, 11:21 see it's only as we understand the next three verses 11:23 that these first three verses can be understood, 11:25 because this isn't a literal chain. 11:27 There was a story in the gospels about a demon-possessed man, 11:31 and it says they had pieces of chains that they had broken... 11:34 you can't bind the devil with chains... with literal chains 11:38 so, this can't be literal chains, 11:40 this is a "chain of circumstances" 11:42 in other words, what's happening here is 11:45 when Jesus comes the second time, 11:47 remember, all the armies of the earth are gathered, 11:49 and the birds... the fowls of the earth 11:50 are called to feast on them, they all die, 11:52 they're all slain by the brightness of Christ's coming, 11:55 the righteous are resurrected and they're taken to heaven, 11:57 so this world becomes the habitation of devils, literally, 12:00 Babylon literally becomes the habitation of devils 12:03 the prison of... the cage... 12:04 the prison of every unclean and hateful bird 12:06 so this becomes the prison house of Satan 12:08 so when it says, "he's cast into the pit... " 12:10 in... the word actually here is "abussos" the bottomless pit, 12:15 it means... it's the same word that's used in Genesis 12:17 to describe this world before 12:19 God added to it the birds and the trees 12:22 and the vegetation and made it beautiful... 12:24 it's the earth in a state of darkness and desolation 12:28 and that's... Yvonne: The abyss... 12:30 James: Yeah, the abyss... the earth in that state... 12:33 so Satan is imprisoned in the sense that verse 3 says, 12:37 "He's not going to be able to deceive the nations 12:39 until the thousand years are finished... 12:40 because the rest of the dead don't live again 12:41 until the thousand years are finished... " 12:43 he's imprisoned on this earth 12:44 in a state of darkness and confusion 12:47 with no one to tempt because the wicked are dead 12:49 and no one to tempt because the righteous are in heaven. 12:52 Ivor: Let's go to Jeremiah chapter 4, Jeremiah chapter 4 12:55 and verse 23... Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 23 13:01 beginning... yeah, beginning with 23... 13:03 James: 23 and 27... yeah. 13:06 Ivor: Yeah... I'll go ahead and read it. 13:09 Okay, so it says, "I beheld the earth, 13:12 and lo, it was without form and void... " 13:14 Man, that sounds just like Genesis, right? 13:17 Except, He's not talking about what happened in Genesis, 13:20 here's why... it says, 13:21 "and the heavens, they had no light. 13:23 I beheld the mountains... " wait a minute... 13:25 there were no mountains in the Genesis account right? 13:27 Hmmm... hmmm... 13:28 "I beheld the mountains, and lo, they trembled, 13:30 and all the hills moved lightly. 13:32 I beheld, and lo, there was no man, 13:35 and all the birds of the heavens were fled. 13:36 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a... " what? 13:40 "wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down 13:43 at the presence of the LORD and by his fierce anger. " 13:46 James: There we go. 13:48 Ivor: "For thus saith the Lord... 13:49 for thus has the LORD said, 13:51 The whole land shall be desolate; 13:52 yet will I not make a... " what? 13:54 "Full end. " 13:56 Okay, so, this desolate place is a wilderness, 13:59 now, the reason why that's significant is because 14:01 let's go back and re-cap the entire book of Revelation, 14:04 okay, we saw that the book of Revelation 14:06 was based on the pattern of the Sanctuary. 14:09 Seven churches... first part of the book, 14:11 unfolding at the seven candlesticks. 14:13 The seven seals... unfolding at the Table of Shewbread. 14:16 The seven trumpets... unfolding at the Altar of Incense. 14:19 That's Revelation 1 14:21 all the way to Revelation 11 basically, 14:23 in 11, we have a veil that is opened... a door that is opened 14:29 that brings us into the Most Holy Place. 14:31 James: The Ark of the Covenant. 14:33 Ivor: That's right, The Ark of the Covenant, 14:34 that brings us to the Day of Atonement, so remember... 14:37 in the Old Testament... everyday people would sin... 14:39 people sinned... they would take their animal, 14:41 their lamb... they would lay hands on the head of the animal 14:45 okay, and confess the sins... 14:47 their sins over the head of the animal. 14:48 The animal was killed... the sins from that... 14:52 that they had committed would transfer to the animal, 14:55 that blood was transferred to the Sanctuary. 14:58 the Sanctuary was becoming defiled 15:01 by the sins of the people. 15:02 James: Through the blood that was transferred... 15:04 the blood represented the life that was given 15:07 in place of the sinner. 15:08 Ivor: Exactly, so on the Day of Atonement, 15:11 that's when the High Priest moved into the Most Holy Place 15:14 because he was going to do a work of atonement... 15:16 the final work of atonement 15:18 and so, I don't know if I've explained this before 15:21 maybe we have in this Program 15:23 but I think it's a good time to explain it. 15:26 The process of atonement in the Old Testament, 15:29 is... much... we go through that process 15:31 every week in our houses, 15:34 okay, when you want to clean your house, right, 15:37 because that's what God wants to do... He wants to cleanse us, 15:39 when you clean your house every day... 15:41 you get your stuff and... 15:43 "all right good my house is clean... " 15:45 you've clean the kitchen... 15:46 you take the garbage and what do you do? 15:48 Yvonne: Take it out. Ivor: You put it outside right? 15:51 Outside of the house or whatever... 15:53 is your house clean now? 15:54 James: You take your dirty clothes 15:55 and you put them in the laundry hamper... 15:57 get lots of soap... 15:59 Ivor: Yeah, yeah, so everything is clean, 16:00 now, is your house clean? James: No... 16:02 Ivor: When you think about it, is your house clean? 16:04 James: Well, it's clean... it's clean but... 16:06 Ivor: But... is the garbage still... 16:08 it's still there, it's still there... 16:10 James: Your dirty clothes are still there in the wash... 16:13 Ivor: Or the garbage bags are still outside, 16:16 you're like, "Okay, my house is clean... " 16:19 when the sinner went to confess his sins, 16:22 guess what? His sins were forgiven 16:24 but in a sense... 16:25 they were kind of like... still there 16:28 because they had been transferred 16:31 but not completely taken away, 16:34 so, one day of the week comes that day... 16:38 where the garbage truck is going to come 16:43 and if you don't get all your garbage out 16:46 to the front of the house, what will happen? 16:50 You are stuck with the garbage. 16:53 James: With the smelly, stinky garbage. 16:55 Ivor: But praise God because of that divine garbage... 16:58 I mean the garbage truck comes, right, 17:02 and takes that garbage out into a desolate place 17:07 and once that's done, guess what? 17:09 You never think about that garbage again, 17:11 ever... you're not like... 17:13 "You know, I remember... " 17:14 no, the memory of it is forgotten 17:16 before that, you're remembering, right, 17:18 same thing with this process. 17:19 James: Perfect illustration. 17:21 Ivor: On the Day of Atonement, Christ says... 17:23 because every other day... "Okay, my sins are forgiven" 17:25 but you know what? They're just... 17:27 they're piling up in the Sanctuary, 17:29 on the Day of Atonement, 17:30 the High Priest goes into the Most Holy Place 17:32 and he does the final work of cleansing 17:34 what he does... is he gathers all the sins 17:37 and he exits the Sanctuary 17:39 and he lays hold on this animal called the scapegoat, 17:44 he transfers the sins to that animal 17:47 and that animal is sent out into the wilderness... 17:51 into a desolate place, what's happening? 17:54 That animal will now bear the sins of God's people 17:58 out into a place uninhabited. 18:01 that's what the Bible says 18:03 and here's what I love about it, 18:05 you see, Jesus said that He's... 18:07 He will take our sins and cast them... where? 18:11 Into the depths of the sea 18:13 well, guess how they're going to get there? 18:14 Somebody's taking them there. 18:17 Hmmm... Hmmm. 18:18 Somebody's taking them there, 18:19 when He comes out of that Most Holy Place 18:21 and lays hold on the dragon 18:24 guess what's being transferred to him? 18:26 All the sins of His people... and those sins 18:32 Satan's going to take them right into the sea... 18:37 James: The deeps... Ivor: The deeps. 18:39 James: I think it's really important, though, 18:40 to remember that in the Day of Atonement, 18:42 before the scapegoat, there was the Lord's goat. 18:44 Ivor: That's right. 18:45 James: And you see, the scapegoat didn't shed any blood 18:47 because the Bible says, 18:49 "without the shedding of blood there's no remission of sin... " 18:51 so the Lord's goat will come through first and be sacrificed 18:55 and that made the "blood atonement" 18:57 that was actually the atonement that was for the sin. 19:00 Ivor: Yes. 19:01 James: Everything that we're talking about right now 19:03 was experienced by Christ, 19:04 Christ took our sins into the depths... 19:06 into the deeps first... 19:08 so he actually makes the atonement... 19:10 the final atonement was first typified by the Lord's goat 19:14 and then the responsibility for all of those sins 19:17 was placed upon the scapegoat, 19:19 now, the scapegoat doesn't shed any blood. 19:21 Ivor: Yeah, and so Satan is not making an atonement for us... 19:23 James: Right, very important. Ivor: He's simply... 19:25 James: Bearing responsibility... Ivor: Exactly. 19:27 James: Yeah, that's why the scapegoat never... 19:29 his blood was never shed... 19:31 because there's no atonement without shedding of blood, 19:33 that's what Hebrews 9 tells us, 19:35 "there's no atonement without shedding of blood" 19:37 and so, his blood was never shed but he is responsible 19:40 and that's what's taking place in Revelation 20, 19:42 he is... he is going to bear responsibility 19:46 for all the sins that he's caused... 19:48 all of the people of the entire world ever to commit 19:51 and that's what we're seeing 19:53 when we're seeing these books opened, 19:54 so, he's laid hold of... like the Day of Atonement... 19:57 scapegoat was laid hold of 19:58 he's sent into this desolate place 20:01 and for a thousand years he's in the agony and torture 20:04 just contemplating everything he's done 20:07 without being able to do his favorite thing 20:09 and that is... tempt people to sin 20:11 and to get back at God... 20:13 he can't do anything to get back at God 20:15 and then that thousand years ends 20:17 and when that thousand years ends, 20:18 you have, what we call... 20:20 what the Bible calls, "the second resurrection" 20:21 see, there are two resurrections, 20:23 there's a resurrection of the righteous 20:26 and then there's a resurrection of the unrighteous 20:28 and so, verse 7... Jason, can you read that for us, 20:30 verse 7... and let's read all the way down here to verse 10. 20:35 Okay, "And when the thousand years are expired, 20:39 Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 20:41 And shall go out to deceive the nations 20:43 which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, 20:46 to gather them together to battle: 20:50 the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 20:53 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, 20:57 and compassed the camp of the saints about, 21:01 and the beloved city: 21:02 And fire came down from God out of heaven, 21:05 and devoured them. " 21:07 Ivor: Let us pause right here. James: Okay... 21:08 Ivor: Because... two things... 21:10 first of all, what's happening here 21:11 is... at the end of the thousand years, 21:13 the reason why Satan is loosed out of his prison 21:16 is because... the righteous... I'm sorry, the wicked 21:20 are brought back to life. 21:21 "The rest of the dead live not again... " 21:23 so now they've come back to life, so, 21:25 people think, "Oh it's going to be... 21:27 a thousand years of peace on the earth 21:29 because the nations are not going to be deceived by Satan. " 21:31 The nations are not deceived by Satan because 21:34 the nations of the righteous are in heaven, 21:36 the nations of the wicked are dead on earth, 21:39 that's why there's a thousand years of peace 21:42 so when this resurrection happened, 21:44 happens... Satan is again able to gather them 21:49 under his deception, probably like, 21:51 "I rose you from the dead" but he gathers them 21:55 and now what's happening... this is kind of because... 21:58 this is again like, from verse 8... 22:01 it's kind of going kind of chronologically... and then... 22:05 James: It stops... and goes back again... 22:08 and now explains to us again... 22:10 so it's just like what we read in 19... in verses... 22:13 in verse 7, 8 and 9, 22:14 you have the resurrection... thousand years expired... 22:17 Satan goes out to deceive those who have been resurrected 22:20 gathers them together against the city of God... 22:24 they go up on the breadth of the earth... 22:26 they compassed the... 22:27 they surround the camp of the saints... the New Jerusalem 22:30 Ivor: So the question is, wait a minute... 22:32 where did the New Jerusalem come from? 22:34 right, how did this... 22:35 we have to go to Revelation 21 right, 22:39 just go over to Revelation 21 and look at verse 2. 22:43 It says, "I John saw the holy city, 22:46 new Jerusalem... " doing what? 22:49 "coming down from God out of heaven... " 22:51 okay, so, we just got that piece... 22:52 so let's go back to chapter 20 22:54 and so now we know that at the end of the millennium, 22:57 as the wicked are resurrected at the same time 23:02 the new Jerusalem is coming down from heaven, 23:07 right, to earth... 23:09 by-the-way, that new Jerusalem is Mount Zion 23:12 "on the sides of the north" 23:13 remember what Lucifer's thing was? 23:16 "I will ascend... " 23:18 "they went up on the breadth of the earth... " 23:19 "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; 23:21 I will be like the most High" 23:23 he wanted... this is his final attack, if you will, 23:26 on the sides... against the sides of the north. 23:29 James: And that's Hebrews chapter 12 verses 22 and 23, 23:34 just for reference for that. 23:35 Ivor: Yes... yes. 23:37 James: So, it's coming down and then stop... 23:40 verse 10 describes that they come around 23:43 and that the fire from heaven, verse 9 and 10 23:45 devoured them... but then, verse 11 goes back, 23:48 verse 11 describes more details again, 23:52 so he starts in verse 11, in the first phrase there, 23:56 "And I saw... " so Jason read verse... 23:58 Ivor: Wait a minute, before you do that, 24:00 just look at verse 9 24:02 and I want you to notice this because we're putting... 24:04 we're these pieces together, "And the devil... " 24:06 so, give me another name for the devil 24:08 in the book of Revelation. 24:10 James: Satan... the dragon... 24:11 Ivor: The dragon... right 24:12 "the devil that deceived them 24:14 was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, 24:15 where the beast and the false prophet are, 24:17 and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. " 24:20 We've discussed, "forever" but I want you to notice 24:22 the three powers that are destroyed together, 24:25 the Dragon, the Beast, the False Prophet. 24:29 Remember, remember the 7th king? 24:31 This is the same king that goes into perdition, 24:34 and the same... he's now... here is the 8th... 24:38 Hmmm... 24:40 See, here they are again... Dragon, Beast, False Prophet... 24:42 they all come back together 24:44 and God says now, they all go into the fire. 24:46 Hmmm... hmmm... hmmm... 24:49 Okay, verse 11. 24:50 So, verse 11, " And I saw... " 24:52 we're going now to Revelation 24:53 where God is opening and expanding to us 24:56 the details that took place or take place 24:59 between the time the city comes down 25:02 and the time the fire devours. 25:03 So, between that time... 25:05 the city comes down and then we read verse 11. 25:08 Jason, read verse 11 and 12. 25:09 "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, 25:13 from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; 25:16 and there was found no place for them. 25:18 And I saw the dead, small and great, 25:20 stand before God; and the books were opened: 25:22 and another book was opened, 25:24 which is the book of life: 25:25 and the dead were judged out of those things 25:28 which were written in the books, according to their works. " 25:30 James: And verse 13... 25:31 Jason: "and the sea gave up the dead which were in it; 25:34 and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: 25:37 and they were judged every man according to their works. " 25:40 So, these verses now are giving us all the details, 25:43 it's talking about the second resurrection... 25:44 everyone is resurrected from the sea, from the earth, 25:46 from wherever they are, the grave... 25:48 "hell" is actually... 25:50 that word there in Hebrews is actually "the grave" 25:52 it's not actually... like a burning place 25:54 because they're cast into the Lake of burning Fire... 25:56 which is... you know... hell... 25:57 and it says the books were opened and no place was found... 26:00 and the Book of Life was opened. 26:01 Hmmm... 26:03 Now we talk here... in the Bible 26:05 we're talking about books but we know in our day and age 26:08 that most good books are turned into DVDs or movies. 26:11 This is God's way of explaining to us... this is a video, 26:14 this is... the cameras are rolling... 26:17 and so you have this video of the Plan of Salvation 26:21 that culminates in the cross 26:22 and in that contrast to that video 26:24 you have the history... 26:26 the exact history of every single person in the human race 26:29 except for those who put their trust in Christ 26:32 because their sins have gone beforehand to the judgment 26:34 and they've been blotted out. 26:35 So our lives are pictured in this video reproduction 26:39 just like they are in Hebrews 11. 26:41 In Hebrews 11 you have a record of the saints of faith... 26:45 and there are no mistakes revealed. 26:48 Read Hebrews 11 sometime, it talks about Abraham, Moses... 26:50 it never mentions their missteps... 26:53 Ivor: It's DD TV... Divine Definition Television. 26:59 James: If we have faith in Christ, 27:01 our sins are covered... 27:03 but this... their sins cannot be covered 27:05 and when they see their lives in contrast with the Lamb, 27:08 the torment is overwhelming 27:10 and then it culminates with this fire, 27:13 what we have here is 27:15 we have the ultimate consequences of sin, 27:16 there's a punishment for sin 27:18 and each one is punished according to their works 27:21 so, we'll talk about that a little bit more 27:23 when we come back we'll look at... 27:25 we'll contrast this with Romans chapter 2. 27:27 Romans chapter 2 27:29 really helps us to explain these verses right here and how it is 27:32 that each one receives according to their works. 27:34 There's a punishment that's in harmony with... 27:36 there's the "wages of sin" 27:39 is basically what we're talking about here. 27:41 We're not going to have time to finish all this right now 27:43 because we're running out of time 27:44 but we really do need to finish this up 27:46 because this is a really important part 27:47 of the big picture 27:48 and then we'll just have a couple more 27:50 sessions where we... 27:52 where we'll close out with Revelation chapters 21 and 22. 27:54 That sounds good. 27:56 So we're almost done. 27:57 Whew! |
Revised 2017-05-23