Revelation 20 Explained: Satan Bound, the Millennium & Final Judgment

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, it's good to have everybody in for us. My wife is pointing, she's got Margaret, our bookkeeper, right up close. We're going to get Margaret on camera for a change, because she's the one you all hear from every time you send a contribution, and she is just such a tremendous help to the ministry. There she is! We're just so thankful for Margaret. She came on the scene just when we needed someone, and she just literally does all of our book work, and gets everything ready for the auditors and the accountants, and keeps everything straight with the tax people. So we just thank the Lord for Margaret every day. Those of you when you get those little notes after your contribution, now you know where it came from. Now I think we're ready to go back and continue on in our studies in Revelation. We're in chapter 20, and we're going to look at the onset of the final thousand years of human history, which we call the Millennium, and it's the Kingdom. Now it's kind of unusual that all through the Old Testament we've had all these references to the Kingdom that's been promised to Israel, and when Christ came on the scene and offered Himself as the King of the Kingdom, there was never a time frame associated with it, and even as the Apostle Paul makes reference to it, and the coming of the Antichrist and all those things pertaining to the end of the age, nobody until we get to Revelation puts the time frame of a thousand years upon the Kingdom, and consequently it's called the Millennium. Now whenever we refer to the Kingdom as only being a thousand years in length, when on the other hand all the Old Testament references speak of it as being forever and ever and without end and so forth, don't feel that the Scripture is contradicting itself, because the thousand year reign of Christ is really just an introduction into the Eternal. I'm convinced that even though the millennial reign will end and there will be a complete change in the Creation and the Universe and all that, yet when we enter into Eternity it's going to be on pretty much the same basis as the Kingdom. There's going to be nations again, Christ is going to be ruling and reigning I think from the New Jerusalem, and so don't let that thousand year concept throw a big curve at you just to say, well my land, I thought the Kingdom was to be forever. Yes it will be forever, but the thousand year reign will have to be another time of testing, because as we come into the Kingdom, remember that it's only believers. The Gentiles who believed during the Tribulation under the 144,000's preaching, and the remnant of Israel will be saved. They come up and become then the flesh and blood people of the Kingdom Age, and they will have children. They will have all kinds of children for a thousand years. You want to remember there is no death to speak of, and there's no sickness, no disease, it's going to be much like it was in the Garden of Eden, and so it's going to be a tremendous population explosion for this thousand years. Now you want to remember, the people who came in the front end as believers will have children, but they will still have the Adamic nature. Now the believers are safe for eternity, but their children are going to be born with Adamic natures, but as we're going to see now in Revelation 20, the first thing God does is locks up Satan. Now without Satan on the scene to test these Adamic natures, there is no real rebellion, there is no sin, and so the Adamic nature just sort of lays there inoperative, because there's nobody to activate it. So for a thousand years it's going to be glorious, it's going to be the utopia that everybody is looking for, but it is also a dispensational period of time. Now I know it's a word that some people don't like, but nevertheless you have to look at the fact that when Adam and Eve came out of the Garden, didn't everything change? All the circumstances changed. They now had to work by the sweat of their face, or by the brow as I like to put it. They had weeds and thistles, they had sickness and disease, and war and famine, and the curse fell. Now they didn't have any of that in the Garden, and so it was a whole different set of circumstances. It was a period of time that God was dealing totally differently than He did when they were in the Garden. I always like to remind people that when you come out of the Ark, Noah and his three sons and their wives come off the Ark. Aren't all the circumstances totally different than they were before? Totally! Even to the point now that God is going to establish human government to put a restraint on murder and crime and what have you. On top of that He gave mankind permission now to kill and eat, and eat the flesh of these animals. They never had that permission before, so it was a whole different set of circumstances. Well then you see later on He calls Abraham up out of that whole population of pagan people, with no more knowledge of God left on the earth. It just seems as though everyone has gone under the pagan influence that began at the time of Abraham. A difference? Absolutely! Everything is different. God is going to turn His back on all the other nations of the world, and He's going to deal with the one little nation that comes from this man, Abraham. Then after about 500 years God's going to give that little nation yet a different set of circumstances, and what was it? The Law. This had never been before. Never had the human race had anything written for a criteria of behavior. But now God gives Israel the Ten Commandments, and the ritualistic law, the priesthood, and the temple. That had never happened before, and so Israel comes under the Law. A period of time where God has distinctively told the nation of Israel how to operate. Now as we saw in previous lessons, as Israel came up through their history, what did they do with that glorious prospect? They blew it. They dropped the ball. They rejected their Messiah. They rejected that promised Kingdom, and God did something still different. He opened up the windows of heaven, and what we call the grace of God. And now all we have to do in this age of grace is believe the Gospel. That's all. Believe the Gospel, and God does everything else, unheard of, all through those previous thousand years of human history. Now the age of grace has ended, and God is going to pour out His wrath in that final seven years of dealing with the prophecy of Israel. But here comes that final thousand years. But it's still in time. It's still going to be 12 months a year, 365 days a year for a thousand years. Men are still going to be working, and marrying, and having children, but it's going to be under the perfect absolute rule of Christ. And that's why it's called the millennial reign, the thousand year reign. So in order for this to be a special time again, Satan is locked up to give all these new generations the same opportunity that Adam and Eve had. Now when Adam and Eve were in the Garden, didn't they have it good? You know I've always made the comment, and everybody smiled, and I don't say that to be funny, but really could Eve have possibly wished for a better husband? No, he was perfect in every which way. There was no sin. On the other hand, could Adam have possibly wished for a better wife? No, everything was perfect. They lacked nothing. They were never hungry, they were never uncomfortable, they had the most beautiful environment you could imagine. So when the tempter comes along in order to activate that free will that God gave man from creation on, what did they have to have? A choice. They had to have a choice. Now with God being so benevolent, what did the choice have to be? Well you can follow the adversary, or you can remain true to God, and so that's exactly what happened. Satan comes into the scene, and like I've already said, he couldn't tempt Adam with a more beautiful wife, and he couldn't tempt Eve with a nicer husband. So what does he have to use? He had to use the only thing left that Adam and Eve still didn't have, and that was to be like God. And you see that was Satan's whole downfall in the first place. He said, I will be like the Most High back there in Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14. And so now Satan brings the same ploy to Adam and Eve. Well yeah you've got it perfect, you've got it good, but wouldn't you like to be like God? Wouldn't you like to have the power that He's got? That appealed of course to the human intellect, and Eve succumbed to it, and then Adam. Now when you get to the Kingdom economy, you're going to have the same thing. For a thousand years these people are going to have it so perfect, the perfect environment with no sin, no sickness, no pain, but they're going to have to show that that old Adamic nature has been able to make a choice. And so Satan has to be released. Well now we're going to see all that in Revelation chapter 20, and that when Satan is released to activate the free will of these new generations of children born of believers, and then the end result. Now let's just start right with verse 1, and I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and he had a great chain in his hand, and God knows what to use to bind a spirit being like Satan. Verse 2. And he laid hold on the dragon, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, as he had been doing for six thousand years, until the thousand years should be fulfilled. Now that's the first time in Scripture that we have this delineated time of a thousand years, and when the thousand years should be fulfilled, after that he must be loosed a little season. As he is bound and this perfect thousand year reign of Christ comes in, then he has to be loosed for a little season. Now we've already covered the material and the physical aspects of this thousand year reign of Christ, so now let's come all the way to the end of the thousand years down in verse 8. Jump all the way down to verse 8, and now he's going to go out and deceive the nations, which are in the four quarters of the earth. From one end of this planet to the other, including all the nations that were in that first rebellion at the Tower of Babel, Gog and Magog, he'll gather them together to battle almost a second battle of Armageddon, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the bread to the earth, and they compassed the camp of the saints about in the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. Now what happened? Well after the end of this thousand years, Satan is released for a little while. We don't know how long it's going to take. In God's timing it could be several years, but it's going to be a while. But in that short period of time, Satan is going to deceive the multitudes of these people with the lie. Granted you've had it good, but wouldn't you rather be like God? And they're going to fall for it. As their rebellion mounts, then of course God moves in, and they're just simply zapped off the scene, and they're done for. And the millennium comes to its end. Now come on down to verse 9, and they went up on the bread to the earth, and they compassed the camp of the saints about in the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. I mean they're gone. They're wiped off the scene. Now when you come into verse 10, and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the antichrist and the false prophets, those two men who were the religious leader as well as the political leader, are still there, and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And so we know that there is no annihilation, it's a continuing thing, and don't ever believe somebody that says, well they won't stay there very long, they'll be burned up. No that's not what the Scripture says. It says that after a thousand years the antichrist and the false prophet are still there, and now Satan joins them. Now it's interesting to note that these are the only three personalities that go to the lake of fire without going before the Judge at the Great White Throne. Now the Great White Throne will be that place where all the unbelievers of the ages will be brought before Christ the Judge. No chance for salvation, He's no longer the benevolent Savior, but He's going to be the stern, righteous, fair, and just Judge. Now let's move on to verse 11. I saw a great white throne, now this is after the thousand years have been consummated, the antichrist and Satan and the false prophet are already at the lake of fire, and now we're going to deal with all the lost people, beginning from Genesis chapter 3 on up. I always start with Cain as I think is the first of the lost people. Verse 11. Genesis 3. I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. Well maybe if we've got time, let's go back to II Peter and see what John is referring to here in the Book of Revelation, because I think Peter describes it so graphically. II Peter chapter 3, and I think we can jump down to verse 10. But the day of the Lord is the beginning of the tribulation all the way on through until we go into eternity. II Peter 3. which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are in it shall be burned up, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. Now then what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Looking for, and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved. In other words I'm beginning to believe more and more that this whole universe is going to be totally melted down and brought right back to the very God that created it in the first place. I think I've made reference to this one before. I read an article in a scientific journal quite a few years ago by a rather famous physicist, and the thrust of his article was that he thought that at some time in eternity past, he wasn't necessarily an adherent of the Big Bang Theory, but he had come to the conclusion that everything had come from an original source of light, and from that source of light all of the universe came into being. Well he didn't give God the credit for being the source of light, but I certainly did. Then when you came to the end of his article, he made an amazing statement. He said, I can foresee that at some way out distant time in the future, that same whole universe will come right back to that original source of light. I just about hit the ceiling and I read it to Iris, and I said, you see how close this guy is to the truth, and he probably didn't know it, but really I can envision that. You see with God nothing is impossible. He flung the universe out with a spoken Word, and He can call it back at His will. I think this is exactly what Peter is seeing, that it will all melt down and come right back to its original beginning. Now I was going to call a man that I have a lot of respect for, and I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I'm going to see what he thinks. I think the reason it's all going to have to be utterly redone is that Satan has touched everything that God has ever created. He has polluted the whole universe, and the only way we can go into an absolutely pure eternity without any of Satan's fingerprints on it, is that it all has to be brought back in and recreated. Now you can swallow that if you like, and if not why don't, but I think that's what it's going to be. Now verse 13. Ephesians 2. Verse 13b "...we according to his promise look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, that this whole new creation there will be nothing that has been tainted by the wicked fingers of the evil one, and it will be a righteous universe." Now let's just go back and compare that with Revelation chapter 21, and if John doesn't say almost the same thing, and I saw a new heaven, and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more seed. Well I think the reason for that being is that there's going to be billions and billions and billions of people in eternity. We like to think that Christianity is a rather small number, and it is, but have you ever stopped to think, and I think most of us if not all, are firm believers that infants who die down there in infancy, in that age of absolute innocency, they're God's harvest. Now you stop and think of the multitudes of infants that die. Even today in the third world, millions of them die while they're still infants. Then if you want to come into the abortion picture. If these aborted little ones are God's harvest, look at that multitude that will be brought into God's eternal state. So you see there's going to be billions upon billions of people in God's heaven. Now then don't ever get the idea that it's going to be crowded, because this new earth is going to be so huge. I think it's going to make Jupiter look like a playground marble. It's going to be huge, and if there is no ocean, then every bit of it will be habitable. There's going to be so much room, plus the fact that we as members of the Body of Christ are going to rule and reign across the heavens. Some day you may have a planet all your own to rule and reign over, but it's going to be fabulous. But whatever, we know that this new earth is going to be so huge that there won't be any massing together of our eternal stated bodies. We're going to have ample room, and the reason I say that is because if the New City, the New Jerusalem is going to be 1,500 miles long, 1,500 miles wide, and 1,500 miles high, it's going to take a tremendous planet to hold it and keep it in orbit. So don't you ever think for a minute that we're going to be a little bit cramped for room when we get to glory. Now let's come back again to chapter 20, and pick up again in verse 12. Ephesians 2. Now as this great white throne is set somewheres out in space, he sees the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life, and the dead, that is the lost all the way back to Cain up until the end of the thousand year reign that were lost, the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. Now I've stressed it on the program, and I've stressed it in my classes, and I don't know how many people really hear what I'm saying, but you want to remember that when Christ died, He paid the sin debt for how many? Just the believers, every human being that's ever lived. Hebrews tells me He tasted death for every man. Paul tells us in II Corinthians chapter 5 that if one died for all, then all were dead, and then he says in another place that you are forgiven all your trespasses. What does that mean? That means that Christ's death had paid the sin debt for every human being. So they're not going to come up here and be faced with the fact that their sin is what caused them to stand before the Great White Throne. The reason they're standing here as lost people is because they did not believe the Gospel. But even though their sins were atoned for, since they did not appropriate the grace and the love of God, and believe it for salvation, they're going to stand before Him now not only in unbelief, but also to give an account of every word and deed that they did in their life of rebellion. That's what the works are here, and there's going to be a lot of awful good people standing here before the Great White Throne. It's frightening. People who had no intention of missing heaven, but they just do not realize that you don't get to heaven by working your way in, and you don't get to heaven by what you do. We get to heaven by simply believing that Christ's death has done it all. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time, for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.