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Perhaps the twenty-four elders representing the church Revelation 4: And judgment was committed to them: They lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years: These saints reign with Jesus for the same period of time that Satan is bound a thousand years. They administrate the kingdom of Jesus Christ over the earth, reigning over those who pass from the earth of the Great Tribulation to the earth of the Millennium. Who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus All those who overcome in Jesus will rule and reign with Him Revelation 2: Why does John only mention the Tribulation saints?
They are specifically mentioned so as to encourage them, while not implying others will be left out. This is special vindication for Tribulation saints. So, these martyrs are literal, but also representative of all that give their lives in faithfulness to Jesus. Beheaded is actually a broader word than we might think.
But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. This is the first resurrection: This first resurrection is the granting of resurrection life in resurrection bodies to all those dead in Jesus.
The rest of the dead: Those who do not have part in the first resurrection are not blessed, they are under the power of the second death , and they are without privilege. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth — those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
The two events are separated by this 1, year period because the rest of the dead are not given their resurrection bodies until the thousand years were finished. If the first resurrection is a singular event, it argues well for a post-tribulation rapture, because it implies that all saints receive their resurrection bodies at the same time, immediately before the rule and reign of Jesus Christ.
If the first resurrection is an order or class encompassing previously dead believers who are at once with the Lord , the raptured church already in heaven , and saints from the Great Tribulation, then the idea fits in a pre-tribulation framework. Donald Barnhouse says of the phrase first resurrection: Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.
Satan will be released: For the thousand years of the direct reign of Jesus over this earth, Satan was bound and inactive. But after the thousand years are over, he will be released and successfully organize many people of the earth in another rebellion against God. If Jesus has reigned so wonderfully for a thousand years, then why will the earth rebel? In this we see more of the important reason God has for the Millennial Kingdom and allowing this final rebellion.
For all of human history, man has wanted to blame his sinful condition on his environment. Did you see the family I came from? Did you see the neighborhood I grew up in? But at the end of the 1, years, man will still rebel against God at his first opportunity. This will powerfully demonstrate that the problem is in us , not only in our environment. Gather them together to battle: Who will these rebels be?
They will be those who survive the Great Tribulation, enter into the Millennial Kingdom, and their descendants.
Buy Revelation 20 (Daily Bible Study - Revelation): Read Kindle Store Reviews - www.farmersmarketmusic.com Satan, Sin and Death are Finally Eliminated A. Satan bound for a thousand years . 1. (Rev ) A nameless angel comes to bind Satan with a great chain.
These are prophetic enemies of Israel in Ezekiel 38 - 39 , but the battle described in those chapters of Ezekiel seems to be distinct and different from this final battle. John seems to borrow the term and use it as a symbol. Seemingly, the battles described in Ezekiel 38 - 39 take place before the return of Jesus, perhaps right before or during the tribulation. This final battle clearly takes place at the end of the thousand-year reign of Jesus.
They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city: Either way, the strategy of this vast Satanic army is clear: Fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them: The fight is over before it begins. At this point, God finally deals with the devil and his followers forever.
Cast into the lake of fire After this aborted battle, Satan is then judged and tormented forever — together with the beast and the false prophet , who were cast into the lake of fire at the beginning of the thousand years Revelation The presence of the beast and the false prophet in the lake of fire after a thousand years argues against annihilationism.
In eternal punishment, a thousand years is just the beginning. Is this really eternal punishment? Yes it is; the words mean exactly what they appear to mean. Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.
And there was found no place for them. I saw a great white throne: Great in status, power and authority; white in purity and holiness; and a throne in kingly sovereignty. And Him who sat on it: The Bible tells us that the Judge is Jesus John 5: The earth and the heaven fled away: Earth and heaven flee from this throne, but there was found no place for them. There is absolutely no hiding from this throne. No one can escape the judgment that it represents. Many — even most — Bible scholars believe that Christians will never appear before this great white throne. The idea is that we are spared from this awesome throne of judgment because our sins are already judged in Jesus at the cross.
However, Christians will have to stand before another throne — the judgment seat of Christ. Therefore, when we pass from these bodies to the world beyond, we must each give account according to what he has done, whether good or bad. This describes a judgment of works of believers. At the judgment seat of Christ, what we have done will be judged. Our motives for what we have done will be judged. Paul presents essentially the same idea in 1 Corinthians 3: In that passage, he makes it clear that what we have done, and our motive for doing it, will be tested by fire, and the purifying fire of God will burn up everything that was not of Him.
We will simply be rewarded for what remains. Sadly, some will get to heaven thinking they have done great things for God, and will find out at the judgment seat of Christ that they really did nothing. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened.
And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Kindle Cloud Reader Read instantly in your browser. Product details File Size: John Neely April 1, Publication Date: April 1, Sold by: Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a customer review.
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There's a problem loading this menu right now. Learn more about Amazon Prime. Get fast, free shipping with Amazon Prime. Get to Know Us. At one time he himself had been a Millennarian, although it was always spiritual blessings for which he longed. Swete summarizes Augustine's position: The City of God Augustine spiritualized the whole idea of the Millennium.
Millennarianism is by no means extinct within the Church; but it has never been the universally accepted belief of the Church, this is the only passage in the New Testament which unequivocally teaches it, its whole background is Jewish and not Christian, and the literal interpretation of it has always tended to run into danger and excess. It is a doctrine which has long since been left behind by the main stream of Christian thought and which now belongs to the eccentricities of Christian belief. The Chaining Of Satan Revelation The abyss was a vast subterranean cavern beneath the earth, sometimes the place where all the dead went, sometimes the place where special sinners were kept awaiting punishment.
It was reached by a chasm reaching down into the earth and this the angel locks in order to keep the Devil in the abyss. It was the abyss which the devils feared most of all. In the story of the Gerasene demoniac the request of the devils was that Jesus would not command them to leave the man and to go out into the deep, that is, the abyss Luke 8: The seal is set on the chasm to ensure the safe-keeping of the prisoner, just as the seal was set on the tomb of Jesus to make sure that he would not escape Matthew The Devil is to be kept in the abyss for a period of a thousand years.
Even the way in which the word thousand is used in Scripture warns us against taking this literally. Thousand is simply used to describe a very large number. At the end of the period the Devil is to be let loose for a little time. Swete suggests that the reason for the final loosing of the Devil is this.
In a period of peace and righteousness, in a time when the opposition, so to speak, did not exist, it might easily happen that people came to take their faith unthinkingly. The loosing of the Devil meant a testing-time for Christians, and there are times when a testing-time is essential, if the reality of the faith is to be preserved. The Privilege Of Judgment Revelation In the first resurrection only those who have died and suffered for the faith are to be raised from the dead. The general resurrection is not to take place until after the thousand year reign of Christ upon earth.
There is special privilege for those who have shown special loyalty to Christ. Those who are to enjoy this privilege belong to two classes. First, there are those who have been martyred for their loyalty to Christ. The word used for the way in which they were killed means to behead with an axe, and denotes the most cruel death. Second, there are those who have not worshipped the beast and have not received his mark on their hand or on their forehead. Swete identifies these, as those who, although they were not actually martyred, willingly bore suffering, reproach, imprisonment, loss of goods, disruption of their homes and personal relationships for the sake of Christ.
In the ancient Church in the days of persecution two terms were used. Martyrs were those who actually died for their faith; confessors were those who suffered everything short of death for their loyalty to Christ. Both he who dies for Christ and he who lives for Christ will receive his reward. Those who have been loyal to Christ are to receive the privilege of judgment. This is an idea which occurs more than once in the New Testament. Jesus is represented as saying that, when he returns to sit on the throne of his glory, his twelve apostles will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel Matthew Paul reminds the litigious Corinthians that the destiny of the saints is to judge the world 1 Corinthians 6: Again we do not need to take this literally.
The idea symbolized is that the world to come will redress the balance of this one. In this world the Christian may be a man under the judgment of men; in the world to come the parts will be reversed and those who thought they were the judges will be the judged. The second death has no power over them. Physical death for them is not a thing to be feared, for it is the gateway to life everlasting. The Latin for priest is pontifex, which means a bridge-builder. The priest is the builder of a bridge between God and man; and he, as the Jews saw it, is the one man with the right of direct access into the presence of God.
Those who have been loyal to Jesus Christ have the right of free entry into the presence of God; and they have the privilege of introducing others to Jesus Christ. The Final Struggle Revelation At the end of the thousand years the Devil is to be loosed, but he has learned no lesson; he begins where he has left off.
He will assemble the nations for the final attack on God. A final attack on Jerusalem by the hostile nations is one of the standard pictures of the last times in Jewish thought. We find it especially in Daniel The Sibylline Orders 3: But here we come on a picture which etched itself deeply, if mysteriously, on Jewish thought, the picture of Gog and Magog. We find it first in Ezekiel There Gog of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and of Tubal, is to launch the great attack upon Israel and is to be in the end utterly destroyed.
It may be that originally Gog was connected with the Scythians whose invasions--all men feared. The rabbis taught that Gog and Magog would assemble themselves and their forces against Jerusalem, and would fall by the hand of the Messiah. The hostile armies under the Devil's leadership come up against the camp of God's people and against the beloved city, that is, Jerusalem; the hosts are consumed with fire from heaven, the Devil is cast into the lake of fire and brimstone to share the fate of the beast and of the false prophet, and the triumph of God is complete.
Now comes the final judgment. God, the Judge, is on his great white throne which symbolizes his unapproachable purity. It may be that some will find a problem here. The regular picture of the New Testament is that Jesus Christ is judge. In Paul's speech at Athens it is said that God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world by Jesus Acts In 2 Timothy 4: