Good to see all of you here this morning
and I encourage you if you will
to open your Bibles to the book of
Revelation.
As we continue in chapter 20.
Going to begin with a word of prayer and
then we’ll get into our study.
Our gracious Father in heaven,
we come before your throne. We bow before
you in boldness.
Grateful for the ability to approach your
throne.
Grateful for the tender love and mercy
that you have shown upon us.
Grateful for the sacrifice of your Son who
purchased
our redemption and made us holy in the
blood of the Lamb.
Lord, we pray that as we open the words of
Scripture this morning,
that the things that we read will be
understandable to us,
but also that we might apply them to our
lives,
that we might pattern our daily walk after
the example that you’ve left
for us in Scripture. We ask that you
forgive us when we sin and fall short
of your glory. We pray for the families
that are grieving over the loss
of loved ones.
We pray for those that are struggling with
illness.
We pray for those that are caring and
giving care towards those
who are struggling. Lord, we pray that you
be with all those who are
who we are mindful of throughout our days
and throughout our lives.
All this we pray and ask in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Chapter 20, you have a series of pictures.
As John is in the vision,
he is seeing the things dealing with the
judgment of the great city,
the harlot, the dragon, the beast,
that is the sea beast, the land beast.
He’s seeing things pertaining to all of
these matters,
which all occurred in chapter 16.
But he’s seeing the culmination,
he’s seeing the detail of those things.
Now, when you come to chapter 20,
it is important to remember that when you
read what John sees,
unless John tells you,
and this is what it means, you’re supposed
to see what he sees and
ask what it means. You’re not supposed to
go,
~ that looks like something I’m familiar
with,
therefore that’s what it means.
And most importantly, as you go into the
Old Testament,
you see the visions, you see the pictures,
and what the Old Testament prophets
understood and declared those things to
mean.
And we’re going to see some of that this
morning as we get into our study.
In chapter 20,
verse 1, you have, and we’ve talked about
this last week,
this is just a little bit of review.
~ you have the one who had the keys.
To the bottomless pit. All right.
We’re told that Christ is the one who has
authority over these things.
We’re told in chapter 9 and in verse 1.
Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a
star fallen from heaven to the earth.
To him was given the key to the bottomless
pit,
and he opened the bottomless pit,
and smoke arose out of the pit like the
smoke of a great furnace.
So the sun and the air were darkened
because of the smoke of the pit.
Then out of the smoke locusts came upon
the earth and to them was given power
as the scorpions of the earth have power.
They were commanded not to harm the grass
of the earth or any green thing
or any tree, but only those men who do not
have the seal of God on their foreheads.
~ there’s a lot of times where people see
this picture of this bottomless
pit and they go, ~ that’s that’s where all
the things of of hell and all
all the bad things are stored.
Except when the bottomless pit is open in
chapter nine,
what comes out of it?
The smoke and out of the smoke come these
locusts,
and are they part of Satan’s work?
Or are they part of God’s work?
They’re part of the judgment. They’re part
of the partial judgments that
God is releasing as a as a making the
point that Rome
needs to repent. And so you have a picture
here
of God’s authority from chapter 1,
chapter 9, and chapter 20.
God always has authority over these
things.
And the picture is.
That which God has authority of over
Satan’s use of Rome,
it’s going to go down in the bottomless
pit,
it’s never coming back up. It is never
going to return to be a threat
to the church again. Chapter 20,
verses 2 and 3, he laid hold of the
dragon,
the serpent of old, who is the devil and
Satan,
and bound him for a thousand years,
and cast him into the bottomless pit,
and shut him up, and set a seal on him so
that he should deceive
the nations no more.
Till the thousand years were finished,
but after these things he must re be
released for a little while.
We made the point that the picture of a
thousand throughout the book
of Revelation is the idea of completeness.
God is going to end Satan’s use of the
nation
of Rome as a tool against God’s people,
and he’s going to do it forever without
end and without exception.
God is going to end Satan’s use of this
persecution method
and method of turning his people against
him.
And the complete destruction of that use
of Satan using Rome
is pictured here by the fact that it’s
shut up for a thousand years.
But the reminder to the Christians is that
doesn’t mean you don’t have
to deal with Satan anymore.
That doesn’t mean that Satan’s never going
to find another tool to use,
never going to find another government to
use,
never going to find another persecutor to
use.
That’s not the point. The point is that
when God defeats Rome,
he defeats them entirely. Never again
to be utilized by Satan.
This picture is not new. The sealing up in
the in the ~ bottomless pit,
that is somewhat unique to Revelation.
But the picture of God dealing with a
nation so that they never again become
a threat to his people is not new.
You see it over and over and over again in
the Old Testament.
Now, the second picture. So the first
picture is we’re supposed
to understand that Satan’s use of those
who
are persecuting the Christians in the form
of the nation of Rome is done.
The second picture is a picture of
Of the condition of the saints.
But more so than that,
their complete and utter victory.
So if one was a picture of their complete
and utter defeat,
that being Rome’s, this is a picture of
the saints’ complete and utter victory.
Okay, so notice chapter 20, verse 4.
I saw thrones and they sat on them.
The judgment was committed to them.
Then I saw the souls of those who had been
beheaded for their witness
to Jesus and for the Word of God,
who had not worshipped the beast or his
image,
and had not received his mark on their
foreheads or on their hands,
and they lived and reigned with Christ for
a thousand years.
Now, as John sees the next picture,
John is looking at the thrones.
He saw the thrones in chapter four.
He saw the thrones in chapter 5.
He saw the thrones as he witnesses this
and he looks
and the thrones are present.
And he says, I saw them,
and I noticed that judgment was committed
to them.
They had authority. I saw the people
who were alive in Christ, whose dwelling
place is in heaven,
and they weren’t dead.
They weren’t bloodied, they weren’t
martyred,
they were alive.
But he goes to include another category.
He says, here are the ones who are on the
thrones,
and together with them are the ones who
were martyred.
Now, what happens to a person who’s
killed?
Just in the literal sense of the word,
the physical sense, what happens to a
person who’s killed?
They die. Their body dies. It decays.
Goes back to the earth. You return to the
dust and the soul returns to who?
God who gave it.
But John in the vision sees the people who
had been martyred for Christ,
and are they dead?
No, they’re resurrected back to life.
Notice the picture. He says, Then I saw
the souls of those who had been beheaded
for their witness of Jesus and for the
word of God,
and skip the parenthetical descriptions of
what they had not done
in and they lived and reigned with Christ.
The Christians who had been killed by the
devil,
the Christians who had been killed by
Rome,
the Christians who had been killed by the
dragon,
the Christians who had been killed by the
land beast and the sea beast.
John says, I didn’t see them dead.
I saw them alive. I saw them alive again,
is actually what the passage says.
And they’re reigning together with those
who were already alive.
You’re not supposed to get out of this.
Here’s how
the resurrection when we die and when this
life is over occurs,
and here’s what it’s going to be like.
You’re not supposed to get that out of
this.
And the reason is because that’s not the
picture John’s been seeing all along.
You go back to Revelation chapter 6,
and what happens to these same Christians?
Who had been killed for the testimony of
Christ.
In Revelation chapter 6, as that fifth
seal is open,
John sees these same Christians who’ve
been martyred by Rome,
and they’re not sitting on the throne at
that moment in time.
They’re not reigning at that moment in
time.
They’re given robes and told to do what?
Rest. Rest for a little while.
Well now John sees them again.
They’re not huddled over,
they’re going, Well, let’s let’s just keep
waiting.
Whenever you’re ready, Lord. We’ll just
keep waiting.
We’re resting. No. He says they’re
raining.
Picture That John sees is to emphasize
that while
Satan, the sea beast, the land beast,
Rome, the great city, the great harlot had
the capability to take their lives
in the physical perspective.
They never had any authority over their
souls.
Matthew chapter ten. Jesus will tell his
apostles,
his disciples, as he’s about to send them
out,
do not fear who?
The one who can kill your body.
Rather fear him who can destroy both body
and soul in hell.
Jesus said there’s somebody you should
fear,
and it’s not Satan, and it’s not his
servants,
and it’s not the false teachers,
and it’s not the Jews, and it’s not the
Romans,
and it’s not a government, it’s the Lord.
And these people who had kept their
testimony,
who had not bowed to Satan,
who had not named the name of the beast,
who had not had the name of the beast
written on their forehead or on their
hand,
who had said, You can take my life,
but you can never make me profess
allegiance to Caesar.
When John sees them in chapter 20,
they’re not the worst for wear.
They’re reigning on thrones for a complete
amount
of time. Now notice the picture again.
He says they lived and reigned with Christ
for a thousand years.
So, question read the passage really
carefully.
How long did Christ reign in the verse?
The verse actually doesn’t tell us
anything about how long Christ reigned.
Think about this way. Jotham co-reigned
with another king in the Old Testament.
And for a period of time, Jotham reigned
with the other king.
Does that tell you how long the other king
reigned?
No, it only tells you about the time that
they shared a reign.
The verse, in spite of how it’s always
been read to us by
Those who are Calvinists and those who
believe
in dispensational premillennialism don’t
tell you anything about the length
of the reign of Jesus Christ. It doesn’t
say Christ reigned for a thousand years.
Believe it or not, the book of Revelation
never says anywhere that Christ reigned
for a thousand years.
It says that the Christians, those who
were alive and sitting on thrones,
and those who had been martyred and were
now alive again,
reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
That says nothing about how long Christ
reigned.
Now, how long are we told in all the way
back in 2 Samuel chapter 7,
all the way forward through the reign of
David,
all the way forward through the history of
Israel and prophecy concerning
the Messiah?
How long are we told that Christ is going
to reign?
Without end. Forever.
The picture here is that Satan
is vanquished in his use of Rome for a
complete perfect amount of time.
And the Christians he thought he had
defeated,
even they were reigning during the same
period of time.
He didn’t defeat them at all. This,
by the way, this picture’s consistent if
you go back to Revelation chapter
11 and the two witnesses. The two
witnesses that were killed and they were
left
in the street and they were dead in the
street for three and a half days
for an impartial temporary period of time,
but then God resurrected them up.
The point is, Satan thought he won.
Satan thought he killed some of God’s
people.
Satan thought that he was victorious over
them.
He didn’t accomplish anything.
Because here they are reigning for a
thousand years.
Now notice, he says, but the rest of the
dead did
not live again until the thousand years
were finished.
Notice that this resurrection.
That John sees in verse four only
applies to the martyrs.
It doesn’t apply to everybody.
It doesn’t apply to the unfaithful.
It doesn’t apply to those who are still
alive.
It doesn’t apply to those who are still
reigning.
It only applies to the martyrs.
As if to say, here’s the Lord’s army.
Here’s Satan’s army.
Satan kills a third of the Lord’s army.
Then when the battle’s over, the whole of
Lord’s army’s back.
Nobody’s dead. Nobody lost.
Those who were martyred,
those who gave their lives for the
testimony of Christ,
Satan didn’t have any power over them.
Satan didn’t defeat them.
Paul over in First Corinthians chapter
fifteen will tell us
For those who are Christians and their
loved one who’s also
a Christian passes away? As Christians,
why do you mourn for those who have died
as if you have no hope?
He’s admonishing the Christians who have
had loved ones who are Christians perish.
And he says, why do you act and behave as
though that they have no hope?
Why do you live as though there is no
resurrection?
Now he’s he’s not admonishing us to not
care,
to not show emotion, and to not grieve.
He is admonishing us to remember in our
lives and in death.
That we are those who belong to God.
And if Christ reigns, and if Christ lives,
and if Christ is resurrected, then those
who perish in this life are not gone.
Now, as you consider
a number of different passages,
we’re we’re not going to go into all of
these as details,
but in in detail, but what you’re supposed
to be getting out of this picture
is this. Here’s the picture of Satan,
he’s gone.
He’s defeated in his use of Rome entirely.
Here’s the Lord’s people, and every single
one of them that was threatened.
If you don’t bow the knee to Rome,
you’re going to be killed, is alive and
well.
They’re good to go. No problem whatsoever.
He says, but the rest of the dead.
Well, who are the rest of the dead?
Well, the rest of the dead are the ones
who weren’t faithful.
Those are the ones who didn’t tie for the
cause of Christ.
They died as a result of the judgment.
He says, the rest of the dead did not live
again until the thousand years were
finished. This is the first resurrection.
Be careful when you get in Revelation
chapter
20 to not sort out in Revelation chapter
20 how the final day of judgment’s going
to occur.
Mostly because final day of judgment is
not in consideration at all.
It’s not a picture of the final day of
judgment.
It’s a picture of
Of Satan’s use of this persecuting power
of Rome.
And jo John is going to let the Christians
know this isn’t the last enemy you’re
gonna face.
The evil that comes at you in this world
is not going to be over when Rome
is judged. It’s going to live again.
It’s going to come after you again.
The church is going to face the
persecution from governments again.
But that doesn’t mean God didn’t entirely
defeat Rome.
Okay? He says 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.
Here’s the picture.
God’s people are completely victorious.
Satan’s people are completely destroyed.
There’s your picture. Now another picture.
Verse seven.
Catch up here. ~ only the wicked,
~ the second resurrection, only the
wicked,
while the righteous reign, the unforgiven
do not share in the victory
of the righteous. So this picture of the
second resurrection is going
to be a picture that says, Listen,
this resurrection is for the saints.
Okay? Now, when a 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.
All right, so yo, wait, wait, wait,
hold on. Who are these people?
Where do they come from? What what nations
are this?
I I don’t remember any nation,
Gog and Mag. You gotta read Ezekiel.
Okay? Ezekiel chapter 38.
Ezekiel’s going to prophesy concerning Gog
and Magog.
Round numbers, okay, just just give it a
conservative estimate.
This picture from Ezekiel is an army of
six hundred
and thirty plus million people.
630 million soldiers is how the picture is
in the Old Testament. And here,
what John’s doing is saying, Let me go
grab a picture from the Old Testament.
You already understand what this means.
You see, in the Old Testament,
in the book of Ezekiel, God told the
Israelites who were in the middle
of Babylonian captivity, who were about to
see Jerusalem fall.
Who were going to be told by all of the
false prophets that Jerusalem’s never
going
to fall. Jerusalem’s going to be fine.
And yet God, through Ezekiel, says,
no, Jerusalem’s going to fall.
You’re going to be judged. You’re going to
go into captivity.
And then I’m going to judge Babylon.
But in the end of this prophecy of
Ezekiel,
Jerusalem’s restored. God brings his
people back.
And it’s once again a land flowing with
milk and honey.
It’s once again a land ruled over by
David.
It’s a picture of the Messianic age.
And God says, I’m gonna bring you back and
I’m gonna bring you back
to such greatness, but here’s the thing.
Doesn’t mean you’re never gonna face
another enemy again.
It doesn’t mean that the nations of this
world won’t s rise up and
try and defeat you. What I’m telling you
is there’s not an enemy that can.
So he pictures a group of nations gathered
together that come
against God’s people in Ezekiel chapter
38,
and they’re of such force, they’re of such
number that they cannot possibly
be defeated.
He uses the same analogy as is used here,
is to say their force and their number is
like all
of Israel’s descendants as promised to
Abraham.
You remember how Abraham was promised to
have descendants?
As the stars of heaven, as the sand of the
sea,
without number.
And God says, Satan, when he comes back,
he’s gonna come back, he’s gonna try
again.
And he’s going to try with another nation
and another nation and another nation.
So many a attackers against the Lord’s
church that you won’t be able to number
them.
But watch the picture. 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.
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 in
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.
This picture’s not hard. It’s pulled
straight from Ezekiel.
God has said, I’m going to restore
Jerusalem.
I’m going to restore my city. I’m going to
restore my people.
They are going to live and reign.
They’re not going to have any more tears.
They’re not going to have any more crying.
They’re going have all of the blessings
that I had promised to them
as my covenant people. Picturing the
Messianic age.
And then he says,
and Satan’s going to come with at them
with everything he’s got.
And I’m gonna tell you how it’s gonna turn
out.
He’s gonna lose again. Because he’s always
gonna lose.
Because it doesn’t matter how many people
are arrayed against God’s people.
Because they’re always arrayed against
God.
So
John takes the picture. And he says,
Yep, we spent all this time talking about
Rome.
Rome’s gonna be defeated. And Rome’s gonna
be cast in the lake of fire.
Rome’s never coming back. But don’t you
think that means Satan’s done?
But don’t worry, because God can do it
with every single
other person Satan uses against you.
So many so that you can’t even count them.
But I’m going to give them enough l ~
enough credit here in the book to tell
you for one sentence they’re destroyed.
That that’s how concerned John is in the
vision with every tool that Satan uses
after Rome. They’re done. They’re
destroyed.
And they will be again, and they will be
again,
and they will be again.
picture is this.
Christians win. And the Christians always
win.
Now, for the dispensationalists and for
the Calvinists,
they have a much harder problem with this
passage.
You see, because for a Calvinist,
once you’re saved, you’re always saved.
And since they believe that the rapture
will have occurred,
that the tribulation will have occurred.
And that all those on earth post
tribulation during the thousand year reign
are all Christians, are all saved people,
and are all faithful. Can you have anybody
who’s unfaithful if all the people
of the earth are faithful? Then where did
the 600 million army come from?
Because according to a Calvinist,
once you’re a Christian and once you’re
faithful,
and once you’re chosen by God,
you can’t ever become unfaithful.
So if post-tribulation during the
thousand-year reign,
there is no one who is not faithful.
Will there ever be someone who’s not
faithful if you hold to Calvinist
doctrine?
No. There never will be.
So where did the army of 600 million come
from?
You see, when you let the Calvinists read
the passage and interpret
the passage and misread the passage and
insert a whole bunch of things into
it that don’t exist in the passage,
you’re gonna have real problems.
Like, for instance, when they say,
see, Christ reigned for a thousand years.
No. The Christians reigned with Christ for
a thousand years,
is what the passage says. The passage says
it twice.
Passage never says Christ reigned for a
thousand years.
Christ was reigning before this beast ever
came up.
Christ was reigning before the vision ever
started.
Christ was reigning and has been reigning
since he went to the cross
and was resurrected and ascended back to
the Father.
And that’s consistent with Daniel 7 and
the vision that all of this comes out of.
Now, verse 11.
We read, Then I saw a great white throne,
and him who sat on it, from whose face the
earth and heaven fled away,
and there was found no place for them.
Say, mm, see, it’s gotta be. It’s gotta be
the end of time.
Heaven and earth are gone.
They fled away. They’re no more.
Throne, judgment, opening of books must be
the end of time.
No. You see, you really need to be careful
about consistency in
the book of Revelation. Because if you’re
gonna hold a Calvinist feet
to the fire going, wait a minute,
that’s vision, that’s a vision not
intended to be understood literally,
physically. That’s a vision,
that’s a vision. This one we’re gonna take
half of it and understand
it to be literal.
And half of it we’re gonna ignore and say
it’s figurative,
and then we’re gonna jump right back in,
say in chapter twenty one, it’s visionary
again.
They’re going to look at you and go,
now how are you supposed to understand
this book?
Because that doesn’t make any sense at
all.
You’re right. It wouldn’t. But let me
share
a picture from which this picture comes.
Turn back to Daniel chapter 7.
Daniel chapter seven.
And I saw in the night vision,
verse seven. And behold, a fourth beast,
dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong,
had huge iron teeth. It was devouring,
breaking in pieces, and trampling the
residue with its feet.
It was different from all the other beasts
that were before it,
and it had ten horns. I was considering
the horns,
and there was another horn, a little one,
coming up among them, before whom three of
the first horns were plucked
out by the roots.
And there in this horn were eyes like the
eyes of a man and a mouth speaking pompous
words. I watched till thrones were put in
place,
and the ancient of days was seated,
his garment was white like snow,
and his hair of his head was like pure
wool.
His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a
burning fire,
a fiery stream issued and came forth from
before him,
a thousand thousands ministered to him,
ten thousand times ten thousand stood
before him.
The court was seated and the books were
opened.
Daniel says, I saw in the vision as the
fourth beast came up,
and he was devouring, and he was
blaspheming,
and he was speaking pompous words,
and as I looked,
Court in heaven started. But notice,
I watched then, because of the sound of
the pompous words which
the horn was speaking. I watched till the
beast was slain and the body destroyed
and given to the burning flame.
As for the rest of the beast, they had
their dominion taken away,
yet their lives were prolonged for a
season and a time.
I was watching in the night visions,
and behold, one like the Son of Man coming
with
the clouds of heaven.
He came to the ancient of days,
and they brought him near before him.
Then to him was given dominion and glory
and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom the one which shall not be
destroyed.
When does the judgment scene of Daniel
seven occur?
Answer When Jesus Christ was hung on that
cross,
was put in that grave, was resurrected and
ascended back to the Father.
He is ascending with the clouds to the
Father,
not to earth. He’s not descending.
He’s not returning in the picture.
He’s not coming back from heaven.
He is going to the Father.
To do what? To receive a kingdom.
At the point in which Daniel’s vision
says,
I saw the fourth beast defeated.
Because I saw God reigning.
It’s when Christ takes the throne.
Now
Verse 15 says, I, Daniel, was grieved,
and my spirit within my body, and the
visions of my head troubled me.
I came near to those who stood by and
asked him the truth of all this.
So he told me and made known to me the
interpretation of these things,
those great beasts which are four are four
kings,
which arise out of the earth. But the
saints of the Most High shall receive
the kingdom and possess the kingdom
forever and ever.
Even for ever and ever. He says,
Then I wish to know the truth of the
forced beast,
which was different from all the other all
the others,
exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of
iron and its nails of bronze,
which devoured, broken pieces,
and trampled the residue with its feet,
and the ten horns which were on its head,
and the other horn which came up,
before which three fell, namely that horn
which had eyes and a mouth which spoke
pompous words,
whose appearance was greater than his
fellows I was watching and the same horn
was making war against the saints and
prevailing against them until until
the ancient of days came and a judgment
was made in favor of the saints
of the most high, and the time came for
the saints to possess the kingdom.
It looked like the fourth beast was
winning.
Until God said,
~ no, I established a kingdom for my
people.
In John chapter one, sorry, in Revelation
chapter one,
John will tell the Christians.
I, John, verse nine, both your brother and
companion
in the tribulation and kingdom
and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the
island called Patmos for the word
of God and for the testimony of Jesus
Christ.
Question. Was John already in the kingdom?
Yeah. Which means according to Daniel
chapter seven.
Battle’s already over. Victory’s already
happened.
John says, it looks like Satan’s alive.
It looks like Rome’s alive. Let me tell
you,
they’re already done. They look like
they’re going to win,
but they’re already defeated. How do I
know?
Because Daniel said, When the ancient of
days puts his saints in the kingdom,
They’re done.
It’s only a matter of details at that
point.
So, chapter 20, he says,
I saw the dead small and great standing
before God.
Now remember, Daniel 7 has a judgment
scene.
Revelation has a judgment scene.
Same judgment. Revelation’s just telling
you about Daniel’s judgment scene.
He says, I saw ~ I lost my spot.
I saw the dead small and great.
Standing before God, and the 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.
Then death and Hades were cast into the
lake of fire.
This is the second death.
Now, if you paid attention carefully,
you would have noticed
that the dead in the judgment scene were
the ones judged.
Right?
Notice, then I saw a great white throne
and him who sat on it from
the face from whose face the heaven and
earth sorry,
earth and heaven fled away, and there was
found no place for them,
and I saw the dead.
Pause for a moment and ask yourself,
back there in that last picture,
were there any dead Christians?
No. When John saw the Christians,
they were all alive.
This isn’t a judgment of the Christians
and all the people who’ve ever lived.
This is a judgment of all the people who
were dead.
And all those who were dead were those who
were judged
by God in Satan’s use of Rome.
John just saw the Christians, even the
ones who’d been martyred,
they weren’t dead.
They’re not described as dead.
They’re not part of this judgment.
He says, I saw them, all the ones God had
judged.
And they were judged based upon two
things.
Number one, their works, and number two,
whether or not their name was in the book
of life.
You say, Aaron, what’s the point of having
a judgment if all of the people
who are in the judgment are unrighteous
anyway?
If you remember back in Revelation chapter
seven,
judgment’s about to commence.
God’s about to start judging the wicked.
And before he does,
one great angel comes up from the rising
sun and says,
wait, wait, hold back the wind.
Don’t start the judgment until we’ve named
all the people of God.
Until we’ve put a mark on all the people
of God so that we don’t judge
the righteous in God’s judgment of the
wicked.
It’s a picture, as we’ve discussed before,
of Exodus, of the Passover, when the angel
of death comes on that last night
of their time in Egypt and passes through
the land of Egypt,
and the firstborn of everything dies of
every house where there was
no blood over the doorpost. The blood
said,
This one belongs to God.
And so the angel passed over. And so for
year after year after year after
year, generation after generation,
the Israelites were supposed to remember
that the Lord knows who belongs to him.
This judgment is a picture.
Thrones are seated.
Christians are reigning. The martyrs are
alive.
They weren’t damaged at all through the
battle,
through the torture, through the
persecution.
They’re all alive.
But in the proces.
God seats the throne, judgment commences,
let’s see, did we accidentally judge
anybody that belonged to God?
No, no, no, no, no, no, all the way to the
end.
Picture’s not about the final judgment.
It’s a reassurance that says, you got your
name in the Lamb’s book of life?
You’re not judged by this.
You’re not suffering in this. You’re
reigning.
You have nothing to fear.
In the last minute that we have.
You find death and Hades cast in the lake
of fire.
Some people struggle with that.
They’re like, see, death’s over.
~ Death and Hades came riding into this
picture in Revelation chapter 5
on a pale horse. They were a tool of
Satan.
And death and Hades and Satan’s use of
them is done.
He says they’re getting judged as well.
He says this is the second death.
That is to say, they were defeated as
I judged their nation, and they’re
defeated ultimately forever.
Anyone not found written in the book of
life is cast in the lake of fire.
Now, the lake of fire in Revelation,
it’s just another Old Testament picture.
It’s just another picture from Isaiah.
It’s a picture of God’s destruction
of his enemies and their complete and
total destruction.
Okay? We’re going to say a little more
about.
Heaven and earth passing away,
heaven and earth escaping away in our next
lesson.
But thank you for your attention.
