REVELATION 20:7-10

LESSON 1 PART F

THE RULE OF THE MESSIAH

RELEASE AND DOOM OF SATAN

When?  Satan’s release will occur immediately at the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ.

Why?  Satan will be released to:

* Demonstrate to man that a perfect environment does not change man’s problem.

* Illustrate the incurable wickedness of Satan who returns immediately to his deceptive ministry.

* Justify eternal punishment.  It will show that man, even though exposed to righteousness for an extended period of time, when given the opportunity to accept Christ, will reject Him.

Where?  Satan will be cast into the lake of fire where he will be tormented day and night forever.

In this brief moment as all of history flashes before us – Man is absolutely guilty!

It is the old  story of satanic hatred to God, and man’s frailty told out again; but this time under the most favorable circumstances, so far as man is concerned.

 Therefore his sin is absolutely inexcusable.

* MANKIND WAS TESTED IN THE GARDEN OF DELIGHT man broke through the one only prohibition laid upon him.

* MANKIND WAS TESTED under CONSCIENCE (PRE-FLOOD), corruption and violence filled the Earth, and the scene had to be cleared by the deluge.

* MANKIND WAS TESTED under the restraining influence of divinely appointed (POST-FLOOD) GOVERNMENT man went into idolatry, thus turning his back upon his Creator.

* MANKIND WAS TESTED under ISRAEL LAW; he cast off all restraint and crucified the Lord of Glory.

* MANKIND WAS TESTED under GRACE (CHURCH) in this present dispensation of the Holy Spirit, he has shown himself utterly unable to appreciate such mercy, has rejected the gospel and gone ever deeper into sin.

* MANKIND WAS TESTED under the PERSONAL REIGN (MILLENNIUM) of the Lord Jesus Christ for a thousand years, and Satan leads the whole world astray moments after his release.

* MANKIND WAS TESTED AND FOUND GUILTY AT EVERY LEVEL!

THREE PRACTICAL LESSONS

GOD KEEPS HIS WORD.  If God keeps His Word about the Kingdom, He keeps His Word about today.  Even though today may seem miserable and difficult, God says, “My presence goes with you, and I’ll give you rest.”  “All things work together for good to those who love God,” and “I keep My Word.”

EXTERNAL CHANGE IS POWERLESS. A change on the outside makes no change on the inside.  People often feel that if somehow the outward circumstances can change, they’ll be different on the inside.

SEEING JESUS IS NOT ENOUGH. Christ’s visible presence on Earth is not ultimately the answer to sin.  He must reign within our lives. Again the multitudes follow only for gain but not for change of their wills.

APPENDICES

A SUMMARY OF OLD TESTAMENT MILLENNIAL PROMISES

How’s this compare  with the Old Testament promises?  Harry Ironsides traced it like this:

ISAIAH: (V 6).  This is the kingdom described in such glowing terms by Isaiah, who throughout his entire prophecy sees, through faith’s telescope, the glorious time when Israel and Judah shall be one people in their own land, restored in soul to God, dwelling in peace every man under his own vine and fig-tree, and the glory of the Lord covering the Earth as the waters cover the sea.  He tells

 how even nature itself shall respond to Messiah’s rule, and the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.  The brute creation too shall be delivered from the curse.  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all God’s holy mountain.  The lion shall eat straw like the ox.  The lamb shall lie down with the lion, and “a little child shall lead them.”  All nations will then ask the way to Zion; and Jerusalem shall become the metropolis, not only of a rejuvenated Palestine, but also of the whole Earth.

JEREMIAH: takes up the same happy strain, and foresees the God of Israel sending “fishers” out into the sea of the nations, fishing out His people no matter where they may be hidden, and bringing them back to the land of their fathers.  He sees the city built again and inhabited by a peaceful, happy nation under the reign of the righteous Branch whom God has promised to raise up unto David, and “in his days, Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”  Then they shall no longer need to “teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know Him, from the least to the greatest of them.”

EZEKIEL: adds to the wondrous story, and tells of the Spirit being poured out from on high, and describes the services of the regenerated Israel, a priestly nation, through whom the law of God goes forth to all the lands of the nations.  He depicts the millennial Temple, and even tells us how the land is to be divided among the

tribes, and does not close his remarkable book until he can say, “The name of the city from that day shall be Jehovah-Shammah-THE LORD IS THERE.”

DANIEL: All the visions of Daniel’s companion-apocalypse conclude with the bringing in of the fifth universal kingdom; and this he tells us is the Kingdom of the Son of Man, which is to displace every other, and is to stand forever.  This is the Stone cut out without hands that falls upon the feet of the Gentile image and grinds it

to powder, and then becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth.  This is the Kingdom conferred upon the Son of Man by the Ancient of Days, when the bodies of the beasts (symbolizing the four great empires that have borne rule over all the civilized Earth) shall be cast into the burning flame.

HOSEA:  shows how Messiah would come in lowly grace. But He is rejected by Israel, would go and return to His place until they acknowledged their sin, and would seek His face, when He will return to restore their souls and to ransom them from the power of the grave, bringing in everlasting righteousness, and making them a blessing to all Nations.

JOEL: sees the great tribulation in all its intensity, but beholds the glory that shall follow, and predicts the outpouring of the Spirit, not on Israel only, but on all flesh.

AMOS:  bears witness to the gathering again of the outcasts of Israel, and their re-settlement in their land under Jehovah’s perfect rule.

OBADIAH, who wrote the shortest of all the prophecies, though he speaks chiefly of  judgment upon Edom, declares triumphantly, “The Kingdom shall be the Lord’s.”

JONAH: alone of all the prophetic brotherhood, seems to have no reference to that day of Jehovah’s power; yet we may learn through him how wonderfully God will own the testimony of Hebrew missionaries in the beginning of the Kingdom Age, as they

go forth to spread the gospel among those who have not heard His fame, nor seen His glory.

MICAH:  joins with Isaiah in describing the time when “the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and all Nations shall flow to it,” when “the law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”  Then “the Nations shall beat their swords into plowshares and their pears into pruning-hooks, and shall learn war no more.”

NAHUM: predicts the judgments that shall befall the enemies of Jehovah in the day of His preparation; while Habakkuk, standing on his watch-tower, sees the coming King bringing in the glory.

ZEPHANIAH AND HAGGAI: point onwards to the restoration of Israel, and through them the blessing of the whole world, when the Lord their God is enthroned in the midst of them, and they serve Him with one consent.

ZECHARIAH:  the prophet of glory, gives minute details that no others have touched upon, and even tells of the provision to be made for children’s playgrounds in the restored capital of Palestine, for he says, “The broad places of the city shall be full of boys and girls, playing in the broad places thereof”(literal rendering).

He sees every spot in Jerusalem holy to the Lord, and all Nations wending their way thitherward from year to year to keep the feast of tabernacles.

MALACHI:  completes the series and announces the soon-coming of the King, heralded by the prophet Elijah, to tread down the wicked and sit as a refiner of silver to purify the sons of Levi, and to make His name great from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same.

Thus “to Him give all the prophets witness,” not only that through His name remission of sins is now to be proclaimed among all nations, but that He is to reign in righteousness over all the World, when He comes the second time to claim the inheritance which is His by Divine fiat, as Son and Heir of all things.  Then will all the earth rejoice, for the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the tongue

 of the dumb shall sing, the lame man shall leap as the hart, sorrow and sighing shall flee away, and the Lord alone shall be exalted for a thousand glorious years!

SEVEN TRUTHS FROM REVELATION 20

The following seven truths are not what you are likely too ever hear except from the only book that tells always and only the truth, The Word of God!

Note these and mark them with me:

First, Satan is Stoppable/Vulnerable Revelation 20:1-3

WE CAN OVERCOME HIM BY:

* The Way of Goodness [a fruit of the Spirit] Rom 12.21

* The Word of God I John 2.14

* The Walk of Faith I John 5.4

* The Blood of Jesus and the Word of our Testimony Rev 12.11

Second, Suffering is valuable Revelation 20:4-6

* SUFFERING FOR JESUS partners us with the Holy Spirit Romans 8:17-24

* SUFFERING FOR JESUS is God’s plan. Philippians 1:29 For to you it has  been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

* SUFFERING FOR JESUS allows us an intimate sharing with Christ’s

sufferings Philippians 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,

* SUFFERING FOR JESUS strengthens our walk in the Lord. 2 Thessalonians 1:4

 so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure,

* SUFFERING FOR JESUS prepares us for future service for the Lord in Heaven. 2 Timothy 2:12 If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.

* Share in it I Peter 4.13

* Wait through it I Peter 5.10

Third, People are so deceivable /gullible Rev 20:7-9

Beware Mt 24:4-5, 11,24

CHRIST’S COMING AND THE LORD’S PRAYER

Turn to Matthew 6, the Sermon on the Mount.  NOTICE V.10. Familiar words in our Lord’s giving the disciples prayer! THY KINGDOM COME!

WHAT KINGDOM IS THIS?  We know it’s not the universal/providential/sovereign rule of God – THAT IS NOW.

DAVID SHOUTS – PS. 103:19 Thy Kingdom ruleth over all.

PAUL AFFIRMS – EPH. 1:11 God works all things after the counsels of His will.

We don’t pray for that which already is.  No, the key is in the clause that qualifies all three petitions – AS IN HEAVEN – SO ON EARTH.

SO, WHAT IS THE PETITION CHRIST SOUGHT TO EVER BE ON THE HEARTS AND LIPS OF HIS OWN PEOPLE – US, CHRISTIANS?

THY KINGDOM COME – THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH LIKE IT IS IN HEAVEN.  Do you realize that sin and rebellion exist on earth in a way not to be dealt with like any other?  Christ must come to put this rebellion down.  AND FOR THAT, WE PRAY!

LISTEN TO THE DISCERNING ADOLPH SAPHIR in his very able and spiritually helpful treatment  of The Lord’s Prayer.  Commenting on the clause “Thy kingdom come,” he says, “The petition refers primarily and directly to the Messianic Kingdom on earth, of which all Scripture testifies.  The King of this Kingdom is the Lord Jesus, the Son of David; the subjects of it are Israel and the Nations, –

the chosen people fulfilling the mission which, according to the election of God, is assigned unto them, of being the medium of blessing unto all the Nations of the Earth; the center of the Kingdom is Jerusalem, and the means of its establishment

 is the coming and visible appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ.  When we pray ‘Thy Kingdom come,’ our true meaning is, ‘Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly! ”

Referring to the same petition in the Prayer, Ellicott finds that “Historically, the prayer had its origin in the Messianic expectations embodied in the picture of the ideal king in Isaiah 11:1-6; 42:1-7; Daniel 7:14.  It had long been familiar to all that looked for the consolation of Israel.  Now the Kingdom of God, that in which He manifests His sovereignty more than in the material world or in the common course of history, had been proclaimed as nigh at hand.  The Teacher of the prayer knew Himself to be the Head of that Kingdom.

This distinction is also supported by the Greek text of the Prayer.  In each of the petitions concerning God’s name, Kingdom, and will, the Greek verb is not only in the emphatic position but also aorist imperative in form, thus indicating “single or instantaneous” action.  Thus, in harmony with all Old Testament prophecy, the prayer

 taught by our Lord suggests not only that His Kingdom is to be prayed for, but also that its coming to the “Earth” will be a definite crisis in history, not a long and gradual process of evolution.

This brief discussion may well open with the penetrating words of a great Jewish-Christian scholar:

“Is not such a consummation of history a necessary postulate of our thought?