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This is the 16th message in our series on the Book of Revelation—and some of you will
be relieved to know that we have just two more to go after today. But there’s an illustration
that I have been using every single week of this series to tattoo on our brains the difference
between our earthly life and our eternal life. Over and over again I have said that our earthly
That’s not a phrase I came up with on my own. I first heard it about 20 years ago when
a student who had recently graduated from college showed me a watch that had been given
to him as a graduation present. It had those words engraved on the back: Live for the line.
I asked him what that meant, and he said to me, “This life is just dot on the timeline
of eternity. And my friend gave me this watch to remind me to use the time that God gives
me to live for the line.” And it just stuck with me; I’ve never been able to get that
image out of my mind.
Maybe it’s because I’ve always thought a lot about life after death. Even when I
was very young the inevitability of death, and the endlessess of life after death just
freaked me out. And I’ve never felt more relief, or more joy, than I felt on the day
I became a Christian, because, for the first time, I knew I was going to live forever.
And the gift of eternal life was something I thought everybody would want as much as
I did. I shared with others how they could live forever, and it blew my mind that most
of them didn’t seem all that interested. And then I would hear others share the gospel
and stress how following Jesus can give us a better life now, and I would see people
respond to that message, and I would think, “Doesn’t everybody think about life after
death as much I do”? I have learned that, no, most people are more present-oriented
than they are future-oriented. And there’s nothing wrong with that; we’re just wired
differently.
But even if you are someone who more of a dot-minded person than a line-oriented one,
there are times when you can’t help but think about life after death, right?
One of my closest friends recently had a heart attack, and his heart actually stopped beating
in the emergency room. It took an electric shock to bring him back. I asked him, “Did
you see Jesus, or a bright light?” He said, “No, I got gipped.” But that experience
has changed his perspective, as you can imagine. A near-death experience does that to us. It
reminds us that we are mortal, and it makes us wonder what is on the other side of that
door every single one us must walk through. The death of someone we know personally can
also jolt us into thinking about eternity—especially if they are about our age. Some time ago Robin
was asked to visit a young widow. Her husband had just died in a tragic accident, and she
had no answers for the questions that haunted her. Robin asked her what she wanted to know,
and she said: “I want to know where my husband is. I want to know if I’m going to see him
again. I want to know what happens to us after we die.”
Sooner or later, we all ask that question: What happens after we die? It’s one of the
most uncomfortable, and yet one of the most important, questions we’ll ever ask.
And it’s a question that God is happy to answer. After all, He is the One who planted
eternity in the human heart, Ecclesiastes 311, NLT says. He doesn’t want us to guess
or speculate about life after death. He wants us to know what to expect.
And here in chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation, He pulls back the curtain on just the first
1,000 years or so after Christ’s return to this earth, which is just the beginning
of the beginning of the rest of your life. This chapter is going to show us what will
happen to both those of us who do and those of us who do not follow Jesus after we die.
Now, if you were here last week you may remember that chapter 19 ends with the battle that
will take place between the armies of heaven and the armies of the antichrist when Jesus
comes back. Every single person who fights against Christ will be killed, and chapter
19 ends with both the antichrist and his false prophet being thrown alive into the fiery
lake of burning sulfur.
And now chapter 20 is going to tell us what the apostle John saw next in his vision of
the future. Verse 1: And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the
Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. The Abyss is the bottomless pit where demons
live. It’s where the antichrist will emerge from.
It’s where those scorpion-like creature who will torture people for five months during
the fifth trumpet judgment will come from. It’s where the legion of demons that Jesus
cast out of a man begged not to be sent. This angel is holding the key to that dark
dungeon, as well as a large chain, the type that was used to bind the hands and feet of
prisoners.
Verse 2: He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound
him for a thousand years. 3He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him,
to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After
that, he must be set free for a short time.
Notice the verbs that describe what John saw this angel do to the devil.
Seized. Bound.
Threw. Locked.
Sealed. When Jesus returns, Satan will be captured
and restrained and locked in the cellar of the spiritual world, and the lid will be sealed
to guarantee that he will not come out again until his thousand-year sentence is completed.
So the day that Jesus returns is the day that this world will finally become demon-free.
No longer will anybody be victimized by devil physically, emotionally, relationally or spiritually.
Now, there are some Bible students who think that the thousand-year period described here
is symbolic of what is happening in the world right now. They believe that, right now, at
least in some sense, Satan’s activity is being restrained by God.
They point to passages like Mark 3:27, where Jesus explained His ability to drive out demons
by saying, “No one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up.” The verb
“to tie up” in that passage is the same verb that is used here in verse 2, where the
angel “binds” Satan for a thousand years. Or they point to Luke 10:18, where Jesus told
his disciples who had just seen demons submit to them in His name that He saw Satan fall
like lightning from heaven. Or they point to John 12:31, where, right
before going to the cross, Jesus said: “Now the prince of this world will be driven out.”
Those are some very convincing passages, but the rest of the New Testament reveals that,
even though the cross was where Jesus won His victory over the devil, the sentence won’t
be fully carried out until Christ returns. In the meantime…
Satan is still called the ruler of the kingdom of the air in Ephesians 22.
And he still commands spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms, Ephesians 612
says. He still has the ability to take people captive
to do his will (2 Timothy 2:26), as he did to Judas in Luke 223 and Ananias and Sapphira
in Acts 53. He has the ability, 2 Corinthians 43-4 tells
us, to blind people’s minds so that they cannot see the light of the gospel.
He can masquerade as an angel of light, 2 Corinthians 1114 says.
He can impede missionaries, according to 1 Thessalonians 218.
He is so active in certain cities that he is said to live in those cities, and even
to be enthroned in those cities, Revelation 213 says.
He is a like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, 1 Peter 58 warns us.
It’s true that Jesus bound Satan temporarily, but the tragic reality is that he is not bound
right now.
But when Jesus comes back, he will be bound—for a thousand years—which may or may not be
literal, but in either case, it will be a good long time.
And what will happen on this earth during that period of time? Look at verse 4: I saw
thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the
souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because
of the word of God. They 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
a thousand years.
John is looking through a zoom lens at those Christians who will have been martyred during
the Great Tribulation, but we know from other passages of Scripture that the group that
“comes to life” when Christ returns is made up of every follower of Jesus Christ
who resists the anti-Christ influences that are present in every generation.
That phrase “came to life” is a translation of a single word that almost refers to physical
life. He is not talking about a person coming to life spiritually when they become a Christian;
he is saying that those who had been physically dead started breathing again. Did you know
that that is exactly what will happen to every true Christian when Jesus comes back? If we
die before the return of Christ, we will come to life again—physically—when He returns.
So does that mean that our soul will sleep until that day?
I saw this cartoon of Lazarus talking to his sisters Mary and Martha after he had been
raised from the dead by Jesus. They’ve just told him he was dead for four days, and he
says: “Four days? Boy, time sure flies when you’re dead!”
Is that the way it’s going to be for us? When we die we’ll fall asleep, and then
when Jesus returns we’ll wake up feeling like no time has elapsed?
Absolutely not! The “souls” that John sees in the early part of verse 4 are the
same souls of martyred Christians that, back in chapter 69-11 are under the altar of God
in heaven, and they are not sleeping. They are very much awake.
Listen, if there is a time gap between your death and the return of Christ, you will not
be “sleeping” during that time. Your body will sleep, but your soul will not.
Jesus said in John 1126: Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Not even for
one millisecond will you be dead. In Matthew 1028 Jesus said those those who
kill the body cannot kill the soul. When the thief on the cross begged for mercy,
what did Jesus say to him? “I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in Paradise”
(Luke 23:43). In Philippians 123, Paul said that he knew
it was necessary for him to remain alive, but he said, quote, “I desire to depart
and be with Christ, which is better by far.” Why is it better? It is better
because to
be away from the body is to be at home with the Lord, 2 Corinthians 58 says.
There is no reason for you to fear that death will separate you from the love of God for
even an instant. No, the soul of a Christian never dies. At the moment your physical body
dies, your soul, your spirit, will be at home with Christ in Paradise, where it is better
by far.
But as great as that experience will be, it will get better than that when Christ returns
to this earth—because that is when your physical body will be raised from the dead.
That’s what the last sentence in verse 4 of Revelation 20 is describing.
It’s talked about in greater detail in 1 Thessalonians 415-17, where Paul writes: According
to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the
coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. (That’s the
way the New Testament writers describe the physical aspect of the death of Christians.
The body falls asleep. The soul does not.) Paul goes on to say: 16For the Lord himself
will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet call of God (remember, in Revelation, Christ’s return is announced by the blowing
of the 7th trumpet), and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After that, we who are
still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Not just our soul, but our body
as well.
1 Corinthians 1551-54 describes the changes that will occur in our bodies when they are
raised from the dead. Paul says: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—52in
a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. (Might that be the 7th trumpet
of Revelation?) For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and
we will be changed. 53For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the
mortal with immortality. 54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and
the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has
been swallowed up in victory.”
You see, our victory over death is incomplete until it includes our body as well as our
soul. And
when Christ returns, your body, whether it was alive or dead one minute earlier, will be more alive than ever—better, stronger,
faster than it was before. This is, John says in the last part of verse 5, the first resurrection.
OK, but what about those who choose not to follow Christ? What will happen to them during
those thousand or so years after Jesus comes back? The answer is in the first part of verse
5: (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.)
That phrase “come to life” means the same thing in verse 5 as it did in verse 4. It
refers to a physical resurrection. Those who die before Christ’s return having chosen
not to follow Him will be raised from the dead, just as Christians are, only it will
be a thousand years later.
Does that mean that their souls will sleep? No, it doesn’t. Hold your place here and
go left in your Bible to Luke 16 (p. 730)—because there Jesus tells a story that reveals what
happens to the soul of a non-Christian after death. Start reading in verse 19: There was
a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At
his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what
fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The
rich man also died and was buried. 23In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and
saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, “Father Abraham,
have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,
because I am in agony in this fire.” 25But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that
in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now
he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you
a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot,
nor can anyone cross over from there to us.”
Did you see that word Hades in verse 23? That’s the place where the souls of those who do
not follow Christ go after they die, prior to the physical resurrection that is talked
about here in Revelation 205. Jesus says that it is a place of agony, a place of torment,
a place where there are flames—and it is inescapable. Once you are there, you can’t
get to Paradise.
And the reason we know that this is describing the interim between a person’s death and
the return of Christ is because of what Jesus says next. Look at verse 27, where the rich
man answered, “Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28for I have five brothers.
Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.”
29Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.”
30 “No, father Abraham,” he said, “but if someone from the dead goes to them, they
will repent.” 31“He said to him, “If they do not listen
to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”
Please notice: The rich man’s brothers are still alive. If there was such a thing as
soul sleep, when that man woke up in Hades his brothers would not still be alive on earth.
You see, the word of God tells us that, when our body dies, we immediately go either to
Paradise or to Hades. And which one we go to depends upon whether or not we choose to
follow Jesus during our earthly life.
Now, go back to Revelation 20 (p. 872), and look at what John says about those whose bodies
are raised from the dead by Christ upon His return. Verse 6: Blessed and holy are those
who share in the first resurrection.
Why are they blessed? Well, for one thing, they’re not in Hades.
But they’re also blessed, John says, because the second death has no power over them.
What’s the second death? Look down at the middle of verse 14: The lake of fire is the
second death. It’s a blessing to avoid that.
And, third, those who have a part in the first resurrection are blessed, John says in verse
6, because they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand
years.
Question: Where will they—or I should say, where will we—reign?
The answer is in Revelation 5:10, which says: They will reign on the earth.
Did you know that? Did you know that, if you endure in faithfulness to Christ in this anti-Christ
world, you will not only go to heaven when you die, and receive a glorified physical
body when He returns; you will also reign with Christ on the earth for a thousand years—or
for whatever time period that number symbolizes! In Luke 1917, Jesus said that when He returns
He will put His servants in charge of many cities.
In Revelation 226, He says: “To the one who is victorious and does my will to the
end, I will give authority over the nations….”
Who has that authority right now? The devil does. He is the prince of this world. But
when Jesus comes back, Satan will be bound for 1,000 years and we who have been persecuted
and in some cases executed because of our allegiance to Jesus, we will be the ones in
charge.
The question is, in charge of whom? Who will we rule over? Well, this book doesn’t tell
us explicitly, but the argument can be made, and is by many scholars, that those who are killed by Jesus in the battle of Armaggedon
will not be all antichrist followers, but only those leaders and soldiers who fight
in that battle. You’ll have to go back and look at the last part of chapter 19 to form
your own opinion. But my best guess is that Jesus will not immediately execute justice
on every non-Christian when He returns. A great many will survive, by His grace. Once
again we will see Him delay His judgment. BUT a sign will be hung over this planet that
says, “Under New Management.” All of a sudden, non-Christians will be the ones who
don’t quite fit; they will be the ones who face pressure to conform to the ways of a
whole new world. And we will be the one who finally feel at home.
Now, there are multiple passages, most of them in the Old Testament, that describe what
this world will be like when it goes through a change in management. Let me just show you
a few of them: Psalm 728, 11 says that the Messiah will rule
from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth…. All kings will bow down
to him and all nations will serve him. Zechariah 1416 says: Then the survivors from
all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem (notice, there will be survivors) will go
up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty….
all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters
cover the sea. One more from Isaiah 6520: Never again will
there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out
his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth….
Doesn’t that sound great? We are going to be here on this planet when that happens.
We will be in immortal bodies ruling over a Satan-free planet for 10 consecutive centuries.
Now, why would Jesus allow those who chose not to follow Him to get in on the Millennium?
I can think of at least two reasons: First, to demonstrate His grace. Over and
over in this book we have watched the Spirit of Christ stretch out the timeline of the
last days to give unrepentant sinners more time to turn to Him. Even in the midst of
the outpouring of His righteous wrath He has made unexpected and gracious provisions for
people to repent. It is consistent with everything we have seen up to this point in the book
for Him to delay His judgment one more time. He is hopelessly in love with lost people,
and He will use all possible means to save as many as will let themselves be saved.
Second, if Jesus does allow unbelievers to enter the Millennium, He will do so to prove
his justice in judging those who, even in a Satan-free environment, persist in their
refusal to repent. On the day of judgment, nobody will be able to charge God with judging
people unfairly, because He will have offered them salvation so freely and so frequently
that they will no excuse for their unbelief.
Can you even imagine a person who lives during the Millennium rejecting Christ? Believe it
or not, a huge number of people will do exactly that. Look at verse 7: When the thousand years
are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8and will go out to deceive the nations
in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In
number they are like the sand on the seashore.
Who are these people? Well, they are NOT us. At that point we will be in glorified bodies,
and we will be incapable of defection. No, these are people in natural bodies—possibly
from among the survivors of the Battle of Armageddon (remember that Isaiah 65 says that
people will live very long lives during the Millennium)—or they may be descendants of
those people.
Whoever they are, they will conform to the demands of life in a Christ-ruled world, but
their hearts will be far from Him—and the first chance they get to side with Satan,
they’ll take.
Verse 9: They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s
people, the city he loves (that is, Jerusalem). But fire came down from heaven and devoured
them.
Just like the Battle of Armageddon, it will be over before it starts.
And this time, every enemy of Christ will die.
And, verse 10, the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur,
where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown a thousand years earlier. They
will be tormented day and night for ever
and ever.