End of Life, End of Times: The Necessity of the Messianic Reign Revelation 20:1-6 Part I

What we looked at a week ago was the triumphant return of Jesus Christ to the earth. Jesus said numerous times that he would come back and indeed someday that glorious event will happen. After Revelation 19 comes Revelation 20.

The Chronological Flow of Revelation and the Return of Christ

For the most part, Revelation follows a chronological order. We saw this with the three judgments of God's wrath, the seal judgments come first, followed by the trumpet and then the bowl judgments. The book of Revelation also puts the return of Christ at the end of the tribulation in chapter 19.

What we saw last week is that when he returns, he is going to defeat the Antichrist and false prophet and throw them into the lake of fire. But in Revelation 20, we read something that follows the return of Christ and that is something that may surprise us.

As I already mentioned earlier in the service, it's the 1 ,000 year reign of Christ. What we read is this glorious event that will take place in the future. This reign precedes the forever reign of God on the earth known as the eternal state or what we might call heaven in Revelation 21 and 22.

So scripture describes an intermediate period between Christ's return and the forever period where God lives with believers on the new earth. At this time, I'm gonna read this passage and you're welcome to turn there with me to Revelation chapter 20.

We'll be reading verses one through six and all of this is John's vision as he sees and this is what he says. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain and he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan and bound him for 1 ,000 years and threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the 1 ,000 years were ended.

After that, he must be released for a little while. Then I saw thrones and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also, I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands, they came to life and reigned with Christ for 1 ,000 years.

The rest of the dead did not come to life until the 1 ,000 years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. Over such, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and they will reign with him for 1 ,000 years.

What this passage describes is that when Jesus returns, Satan, who just ruled the world through the Antichrist, will be bound for 1 ,000 years. And at the end of this period, he will gather the unbelievers who are on the earth, all the unbelievers on the earth, and he's gonna gather them for one final battle, the battle described in verses seven through 10 of Revelation 20.

But at this time, as this passage says, Christ will finally defeat him. Now, if you think about it, the world we live in now is such a mess because God, in his wisdom, lets Satan run free. But once Christ returns, his time will be over.

He will be bound and during this period, when Christ reigns, there will be a glorious period of peace and prosperity as he rules from his throne in Jerusalem. If you think about it, our world has been after world peace for thousands of years.

I've been reading a book recently that focuses on the events of World War II and they were at, the United Nations was formed. Before that, in World War I, it was Woodrow Wilson's 14 points that he developed to fight for world peace, where he wanted to have the League of Nations.

These efforts, as we know, have failed because there's war after war that takes place and this has been the story of world history. About 70 to 80 of world history has had a war going on at some time.

But it won't be this way during the 1 ,000 year reign of Christ. This will be a period of peace and prosperity as Jesus reigns from Jerusalem. And what the text says is that some believers will be on the throne and given the authority to judge.

And I take this to be the church. The church is included in this authority. The text says in scripture that we will reign with Christ and that is indicated here. At this point, we will have glorified bodies and we will reign on the earth for 1 ,000 years.

The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6, 2, concerning our reign, he said, do you not know that the saints will judge the world? Have you ever read that verse and you wonder what in the world is he talking about?

I think he's talking about the fact that we are gonna reign with Christ during the millennium. This will take place during the millennial reign of Christ. And what we also read above is that those martyred during the tribulation are going to be raised from the dead at Christ's second coming and they also will glorify bodies and reign with Christ.

Now, as we have just read this and the interpretation, it doesn't seem difficult. It seems pretty straightforward, cut and dry, that there will be a 1 ,000 years between the second coming of Christ and the eternal state.

Now, this is what I believe. This is what our church has believed since 1881. And many down through church history see this the same way as we do. However, there are two other views that other Christians hold to in the present and down through church history.

These two views are known as amillennialism and postmillennialism. Okay, let me give you a brief description of what these views say. Amillennialism believes there will be no literal millennium. Okay, so no 1 ,000 year reign of Christ.

But the reign described in the passage that we just read is referring to Christ's reign in heaven right now and one day he will reign in the eternal state. Okay, we say amen in the last part, but not he's gonna reign, yes, in the eternal state, but we say no to what's before that.

Now, the postmillennial position is similar. They believe in no literal 1 ,000 year reign, but they defer from amillennialism in that they think this earth is going to get better before Christ's return.

Okay, so the difference between amillennialism and postmillennialism is that amillennialism thinks things are gonna get worse and then Christ is gonna come back. Postmillennialism thinks things are gonna get better and then Christ is going to come back.

And the reign that postmillennialists believe is that as things get better, as Christ is reigning, there's this period of peace and prosperity that is on the earth. Now, as you think about postmillennialism, this is an interesting thought, but very unlikely.

The world is not getting better. I mean, look around you. Think about this, for example. Could you imagine the mainstream media ever being pro-Christian? I mean, that's just an impossibility. There's a bias in our culture, and not just the mainstream media, but academia, Hollywood, it's everywhere.

There's a bias against Christians in this country and in this world that's not gonna go away until Christ returns and Satan is removed. As long as Satan is here and he's not bound, this is gonna go on.

Now, I need to say this. I respect the Christians who hold these two positions, but in this sermon, I want to show you why they are problematic and unbiblical. More importantly, I want to show you why there must be a millennium, and I think there is a very strong case when we look at the evidence from the testimony of Scripture from the beginning of the Bible to the very end.

In the remainder of the sermon, I will be jumping around to different passages, so you don't need to turn to anywhere specific, but I encourage you to write down where I take us. This sermon is titled The Promised Rain Fulfilled.

There's a lot of information to go through, so this sermon is gonna take two Sundays, and you should be grateful for that because if you have plans this afternoon, you will be able to make it to them.

So we're gonna do about half today and about half next Sunday. So why the millennium is what we're gonna be looking at, and here's our big idea. God fulfills all his promises, including the messianic rain of his Son for 1 ,000 years.

God fulfills all his promises, including the messianic rain of his Son for 1 ,000 years. And we're gonna look right now at the major themes, the fulfillment of major themes. They're promised in the Old Testament, and then they're fulfilled in the millennium.

The Creation Mandate and the Reign of the Saints

The number one reason why I hold to a premillennial, okay, I mentioned amillennialism, which means no millennium. Postmillennialism means the things are gonna get better. Premillennialism, that's the title of it, the position that we hold to here.

The reason I hold to premillennial position is because there is a biblical theological theme from the beginning of the Bible to the end that promotes it. At the beginning of creation, the Lord planned that mankind would be sub-rulers under his authority.

Genesis 128 says, "'And God blessed them, and God said to them, "'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it "'and have dominion over the fish of the sea "'and over the birds of the heavens "'and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'.

"'Once Adam and Eve sinned, "'they were no longer able to rule God's perfect world, "'but were kicked out of the garden. "'Instead of ruling under God's authority, "'we rule on our own and rebel against God.

"'We try to run our life our own way, "'and things go haywire. "'They go out of control. "'God's perfect design is that he rules "'and we rule under his authority. "'As Christians, we submit to his authority in this world, "'but a day is coming when the Lord will dwell with us "'and we will rule with him under his authority.'".

Revelation chapter five, verses nine and 10 describe this rain. And they sing a new song saying, "'Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, "'for you were slain, "'and by your blood you ransomed the people for God "'from every tribe and language and people and nation.

"'And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, "'and they shall reign on the earth.'". The question is, when will this be? Will this rain take place in the eternal state that goes on forever and ever and ever where God is with his people?

Or will it take place after Christ's second coming during a 1 ,000 year period before the eternal state is ushered in? To believe in the latter, one believes in two rains. And I believe that Isaiah 65, as we read in the call to worship, that's describing the two rains, the new heavens and the new earth, which is the eternal state that goes on forever and ever and ever.

And then Christ's reign from Jerusalem, the Jerusalem that's there right now, that takes place for 1 ,000 years. My argument is that there will be a 1 ,000 year reign of Christ after Christ's return and before the eternal state.

And the main reason is this, and this is why I think so many people get it wrong. The main reason is Israel. I heard one author say, if you get Bible interpretation right, you get Israel right. If you get Israel right, you get the end times right.

I think that's a very good quote. God makes numerous promises in Scripture to his ancient covenant people. Throughout the Old Testament, he made many promises to Israel, and his plan is to win in human history through this vehicle.

It is common for people to say, what is the point of the millennium? Why don't we just go straight to the eternal state? What's the point of this 1 ,000 years? It doesn't make sense to us. And if you're not following the Bible from beginning to end, you'll miss it.

What we must see is that Scripture demands that a literal millennium be there, and I'm gonna show you that. The 1 ,000 year reign of Christ will be the time when he will reign over the world in a period of peace before the final rebellion where Satan gathers his armies for one last battle.

At this point, evil will be defeated once and for all, and Christ and his people will have won over Satan and the world that is so opposed to God. One reason holding to a literal millennium is important is that it is the best view that displays God winning in human history.

God has allowed Satan to rule this world, this world, for thousands of years. The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 5 .19 that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. The Lord has done this to serve his good purposes.

We must understand that. God works all things for the good of those who love him. But for the first time in the history of the world, God will reign through Christ on the earth without any opposition from Satan, as he will be bound during this period as Revelation 20 verse two says.

The Abrahamic Covenant and the Land Promise

Where do we see signs that there will be a millennium in Scripture? The answer is everywhere. And I'm not even kidding, everywhere. Let me give you a brief survey of where I see that a millennium is necessary.

Several hundred years after the flood, the Lord called Abraham to be the vehicle through whom his purposes would be accomplished in the world. Genesis chapter 12, verses two and three, this is what the Lord said to Abraham.

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. And him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

So the Lord promised to Abraham, he promised seed, he promised land, and a blessing to him and others, his offspring. And when we went through Genesis a while back, we saw this together. God promises to Abraham in Genesis 15, five, he said, look toward heaven and number the stars.

If you are able to number them, then he said to him, so shall your offspring be. The Lord promised that he would be faithful to Abraham's offspring to prosper them over the long haul. One of the ways the Lord promised to be faithful to them is through the land promise.

The Lord tells us specific geographic dimensions of the land. He told Abraham in Genesis 15, 18, that his offspring would have the land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.

The Euphrates River is located in modern day Iraq. And the river in Egypt is a river bordering Southwest Israel and some believe the river in Egypt is referring to the Nile. The question we need to ask is, did Abraham's offspring ever have this full land from the river Euphrates to the river in Egypt?

Did they? And the answer is, no, they did not. If you don't think there will be a future millennium, your viewpoint depends on them having this land at some point in history. All Christians agree that God does not lie, Titus 1, 2.

And since God cannot lie, he must fulfill this promise to Abraham's offspring. Many who did not believe in a literal millennium say that the land promise was fulfilled in the time of Solomon, at the height of Israel's kingdom.

The text that is cited is 1 Kings 4, 21 -24. That text says that Solomon ruled from the Euphrates to the border of Egypt. Solomon's reign was his rule over these other kingdoms that surrounded the kingdom of Israel.

There are two problems with seeing this as the fulfillment of the land promise in the Abrahamic covenant. Number one, Solomon did not have the entire land promised. And that's obvious. His kingdom was the most powerful and he ruled over other kingdoms.

They were sub-regions under him. This means that Israel did not have absolute rule over the whole land. This whole land would not be called the nation of Israel. There were other nations that he oversaw.

The second problem has to do with duration. The Lord promised to Abraham that his offspring would have the land forever. Genesis 17, eight says that. That they would have it as an everlasting possession.

What we will learn in a bit is that forever means that another foreign kingdom will never again have possession of the land. We know that in the time of Joshua, Israel finally attained parts of the promised land.

But as the later prophets explain, Israel was taken into captivity first by the Assyrians in 722 BC and later by the Babylonians in 605 BC. Israel lost the land to foreigners and they were taken to a foreign land.

Does this sound like the Lord fulfilled the promise that they would have this land forever? Of course not. When Israel entered the land, they partially fulfilled the land promise. But for God to keep his word, we cannot say that the Lord up to this point has fully kept his word.

That will come in the future. And this is where the future 1 ,000 years comes in. We can see how the Abrahamic promises fits into this. The Lord will fulfill his land promise to Israel and Christ will reign over the area from the Euphrates River to the River of Egypt.

Israel will be the superpower of the earth and all the nations of the earth will be under the authority of this kingdom. That's what the Bible's telling us. And I mentioned the kingdom above. The kingdom is another major theme in scripture that I believe finds its fulfillment during the millennium.

The Davidic Covenant and the Two Kingdoms

The Lord promised a covenant with King David known as the Davidic Covenant. Okay, so we already saw the Abrahamic Covenant and now we're seeing the Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7, verses 12 through 16.

In this promise, the Lord established the kingdom of David forever. This does not mean that David himself would reign on the throne forever. Of course, he died. But rather, one of his offspring would.

We know from the history of Israel that after David, his offspring, down to the exile in 605 BC, reigned on the throne. The Lord told David in 1 Kings 2, verse four, that as long as his descendants kept the law, they would not lack a man to sit on the throne.

We know from the history of Israel that the wickedness of some of the kings and the people led to the throne being ripped from Israel. The Davidic dynasty temporarily came to an end. But as I mentioned above, the Lord keeps his promises to his people.

The Lord told David in 2 Samuel 7 that his throne would be established forever. The forever promise in 2 Samuel 7, verses 13 and 16. The book of Daniel gives us insight as to what the Lord means by this forever throne.

Okay, so we already talked about the exile. So the exile means that this has not been fulfilled. But let me explain what forever means. Daniel chapter two, verses 44 and 45. This is what that text says.

And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.

What this text says is that no earthly kingdom will come after the Messianic kingdom. So as we carefully read the Bible, what we notice is that the text of scripture describes two kingdoms. The Messianic kingdom, which is the Davidic reign.

And it's called the Davidic reign because God promised it to King David and his descendants would reign on the throne forever. And the one who would reign on the throne forever is known as the son of David, Jesus Christ.

Are you following me here? So that's the first kingdom. And then there's the second kingdom, which is the eternal kingdom. This is where God dwells with man forever and ever on the earth with no end. The Apostle Paul gives us a picture of these two kingdoms in 1 Corinthians 15, 24.

Once Jesus defeats Satan, after his 1 ,000 year reign, he will deliver the kingdom over to God the Father. However, the eternal state described in Revelation 21 and 22, a sermon that's a few weeks down the road, is also described as a kingdom in Revelation 22, verses three and five.

So the kingdom transfers from the Messianic reign, the 1 ,000 year reign of Christ as a fulfillment of the Davidic covenant, to the eternal reign of God, which goes on forever and ever where God dwells with man.

The eternal state after the millennium brings humanity back to where they were in the Garden of Eden before the fall. Okay, so the 1 ,000 year reign of Christ does not bring us back to where we were before the fall.

And we saw that today, by the way, in the text we read at the very beginning of our service. You notice how people die there? That can't be described in the eternal state, Isaiah 65. People die in the millennium, because some people, as I mentioned last week, will not have a glorified body in the millennium.

And if you don't have a glorified body, you can still die. So you can see here, as I've showed you, that not only is the Abrahamic covenant fulfilled during the millennium, the 1 ,000 year reign, but so is the Davidic covenant.

The millennium fulfills the land and offspring promise to Abraham and the throne promise to David. I know this is probably hard to follow. This might be worth re-listening to, but I'm giving you this important information here.

The Kingdom Question, Israel's Restoration, and the New Covenant

To give further evidence that there are two stages of the kingdom, after Jesus' resurrection, right before He ascends to heaven, the disciples ask Him about the kingdom. And I shared this with you two Sundays ago, but I will repeat it because it's worth repeating.

You have to understand that when Jesus came to the earth, He preached the kingdom. Yes, He preached the gospel, but He also preached the coming kingdom. The Lord emphasized the gospel and repentance because only those who come to faith in Jesus Christ will be residents of His kingdom.

That is why Jesus said, "'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'". Matthew 3, 2. Christ came first to put an end to sin, and He is coming again to gather His people to reign with Him. And the ones who will reign with Him are the ones who have repented.

As Hebrews 9 .28 says, and Revelation 5 verses 9 and 10 say, "'When Jesus finished His redemptive work "'and was about to ascend to His Father in heaven, "'the disciples asked Him this question.'". And this is what the disciples asked Him.

Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? They asked Him this in Acts 1 .6. The disciples are very specific in their question. They do not say, will you now bring in the eternal kingdom?

Since we know that all those promises to Israel are spiritualized and fulfilled in the church. A sermon I explained that a couple weeks ago. And there really is no literal future kingdom for Israel. No, what the disciples say is, will you reign over Israel in the land on the Davidic throne?

That's what they're asking. That's what the Jewish leaders down through history believed. And that's what they're asking Him. And you notice how Jesus responds? He does not correct them. He responds, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.

So in other words, Jesus says, you're right. Your understanding of this Davidic kingdom is right. That Christ will reign on the throne in Jerusalem for an extended period of time. They didn't know that it was 1 ,000 years at this point because that was not yet written.

But they knew that there would be a kingdom on the earth before the eternal state. And Jesus says, you're right by not correcting them. And then Jesus tells them, it's not here yet. That's His response.

There's a future kingdom coming for Israel. And we know that for the most part, from the first century on, Israel had largely rejected their Messiah. The Apostle Paul describes a hardening that has come upon Jews in Romans 11 .25.

But this hardening will not last forever. In the future, the people of Israel will receive Him. As Romans 11 .26 says, all Israel will be saved. The Lord is going to preserve Israel through the tribulation to believe in His Son.

And we looked at that supernatural preservation the last couple of weeks. The Bible is so specific that we know the proportion of Jews that will be saved in the end. Zechariah 13 .8 says that two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive.

There are 14 million Jews in the world today. So there will be millions of Jews who believe in their Messiah to reign in a restored Israel in the future. Zechariah 12 .10 says that they will look on the one whom their forefathers had pierced when Jesus returns on the day when He returns to the Mount of Olives.

We know the precise location Jesus is returning to because Zechariah 14 .4 tells us so. And in Acts chapter one, Jesus tells us, or sorry, the angels tell the disciples as Jesus ascends to heaven, they tell the disciples that He's gonna return in the same way He went up.

He left the earth from the Mount of Olives and He's gonna come to the earth on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Isn't it incredible how specific the Bible is? We see this future for Israel playing out before our very eyes today.

The ethnic people of Israel being preserved is one of the most extraordinary aspects of world history. God has providentially preserved His people and maintained their ethnic background because He has a future for them.

Think about all those other people from history who were joined into another people group. Not so with Israel. They have been supernaturally preserved. Once Israel went into exile in the seventh and sixth centuries BC, there are numerous passages that describe the bright future that God has for them.

And you'll notice that the prophets wrote during the exile, and they wrote for a lot of reasons, but one of the reasons they wrote is to remind Israel that God is not done with you, that this kingdom that has been promised to you forever is still coming.

Amos 9, verses 11 through 15, this is what the prophet says. In that day, I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name, declares the Lord who does this.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the plowmen shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him who sows the seed. The mountains shall drip sweet wine and all the hills shall flow with it.

I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and drink their wine and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.

I will plant them on their land and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them, says the Lord your God. And then Jeremiah 31, verses 35 through 37, this is what the Lord says.

Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar, the Lord of hosts is his name. If this fixed order departs before me, declares the Lord, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.

Thus says the Lord, if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the Lord.

So you see those glorious promises and these are just two of numerous promises that God makes to his ancient people, Israel. We see from these verses that the Lord is not only going to save Israel in the future, as the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 11, 26, all Israel will be saved, but he's also going to restore them to the land and establish their kingdom once again.

This rebuilt Israel will be better than anything they had historically. This will happen after they experience the new covenant promise where the Holy Spirit enters their hearts. And this happens when they believe in their Messiah.

And as we trace the biblical themes of the Abrahamic covenant, the Davidic covenant, and the new covenant, as we just saw in Jeremiah 31, we can see that there needs to be a time where all of these promises are fulfilled.

Jesus said in Matthew 5, verses 17 and 18, that everything will be fulfilled precisely the way the Old Testament prophets said it would. The millennium will be that time and place where these prophecies finally reach their fulfillment, their complete fulfillment.

And it's interesting, if you were to survey, and maybe you don't follow what's going on in the larger church, and that's okay. But for those of you who do, if you survey the broader church, locally, nationally, I would say especially nationally, even some places around the world, there doesn't seem to be any interest in fighting for the millennium, for the importance of seeing this.

God cares about this. I mean, the passages I just read to you, I'm not making this up. It's in the Bible. It's very clear. And what I showed you a couple weeks ago is that the church is not Israel. These promises are not for us.

We do, in a sense, share with Israel in these promises, as we will be reigning with Christ, as I already showed you. But there needs to be sight to see that indeed there will be a 1 ,000-year reign of Christ.

There needs to be for God to keep His promises. God's character is on the line, and we must see that. And every promise that God makes, He keeps. Now, that being said, next week in the second half of our sermon on the millennium, we're gonna look at opposing views and their issues.

And I wanna show you the problems that are there and what I stress at this church is that we need to read the whole Bible consistently, from the beginning of the Bible in Genesis to the end of the Bible in Revelation.

And there's a lot of places where there's a lot of inconsistency in the way they're reading the Bible. And I wanna show you that next week. And I'm so grateful for the heritage we have at Eureka Baptist Church that we all came into, that they valued this consistent understanding of the reading of the Bible.

And I wanna show you that next week. So at this time, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna close this in prayer. Father in heaven, what a wonderful God you are. You keep your promises, Lord. You cannot lie, and you are going to keep your promises to your ancient covenant people, just as you are going to keep your promises to your beloved church.

And may everyone here have eyes to see what is here. May we be gentle, though. May we treat others with respect, Lord. I don't wanna hit people over the head who don't share these same convictions that we do.

May we be gentle and understanding, but also, Lord, to be firm in our conviction of what the Bible clearly teaches. And so my prayer, Lord, is that we would see this, and Lord, all of this should lift our eyes to you as we see what a wonderful God you are, that you keep your promises, and we can trust that.

And your plan for world history is so incredible, and we should not minimize that, but we should see it and believe it. And so this is my prayer. And I ask this in Jesus' name, amen.