Bible Story Rev: Chapter 20

Introduction

Would you open in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 20 as we engage in the seventh in a series of eight lessons on the book of Revelation? Perhaps the most controversial chapter in the Bible is Revelation 20, but it ought not to be. Let us read now this great chapter. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him 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, till the thousand years should be fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed a little season.

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. On such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

And they went up on the breadth of the earth and compassed the camp of the saints about in the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are the beast and the false prophet, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. And I saw a great white throne in him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw 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 were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead that were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Thus reads the 20th division of the book of Revelation. You remember in the previous studies, the beast of the sea and the beast of the land, those friends empowered by Satan have been overthrown, and those who worshipped and served them no longer are being blessed. It would do no good to bind them if the source of their power were not also bound.

1. The Binding of Satan by the Power of Truth

And thus Revelation 20 speaks of the shackling, the binding, the fettering of Satan by the power of truth. As Jesus said in John 12 31 concerning his death, now is the Prince of this world cast out. Or as Mark 3 27 affirms, he has entered the strong man’s house and spoiled his goods. Hebrews 2 14 tells us that through death Jesus destroyed the power that the devil had over death. For in 1 Corinthians 15 we read, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, the strength of sin is law, but thanks be unto God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus Christ triumphed over the devil by living and dying sinlessly. And Revelation 20 speaks of the revival, the resurrection of the cause of Christ, though it seemed defeated and dejected and overthrown by the Roman emperors at the end of the first century.

2. A Thousand Years: A Term of Completeness

Writing to beleaguered oppressed saints in the midst of their tribulation, he writes and tells them if they will hold to God’s unchanging hand, if they will identify with Christ and his death and suffering, they too shall be victorious. And the second death, ultimate eternal separation from God, would hold no power or sway over them. There are those who really stumble over the phrase one thousand years. But in 2 Peter 3 8, we learn that one day is as a thousand years with the Lord, and a thousand years is one day. God doesn’t count time as we do. And you might remember that John received the dramatic vision, the apocalypse, the panoramic view called Revelation, while on the Isle of Patmos at the end of the first century.

And in the first chapter of this book, he was told, John, what you see right in a book. So Revelation 20 is a part of that which John saw in dramatic production before his eyes upon the stage of life. God pulled the curtain, and Revelation 4 1 says there was a door open in heaven. And John is able to see in dramatic incident in Oriental imagery in figurative expression in signs and symbols, Revelation 1 1, the matters that pertain to eternity and divinity. And he saw, as he was there on the Isle of Patmos, this great drama, and he said, a thousand years expired. Now we know John didn’t sit there a literal one thousand years. That’d make him pretty old, wouldn’t he? He had lived a lot longer than history tells us that he did, and died a natural death at the end of the first century, John chapter 21.

John saw in dramatic production the equivalent of a thousand years. I remember a few years ago, I sat in my living room one Sunday night and saw on a TV program in 45 minutes the woman in the story aged from 19 years to 90 years. What if I told some African native who’s never even seen television that in 45 minutes I saw a woman age from 19 to 90? He’d say that’s impossible, but I saw it in a dramatic production. John, what you see right in a book. And just as the terms seven and twelve both are terms of perfection in the apocalyptic literature of the first century in the book of Revelation, so 1,000 or any derivative thereof is a term of completeness or perfection or wholeness.

3. The Devil Bound by the Blood and the Word

John simply means I saw the devil absolutely, completely, thoroughly bound by Revelation 12 11, the blood of Christ and the Word of God. And so today, when we preach the gospel, when men are delivered from the power of Satan to the power of Christ, Acts 26 18. When they come out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the marvelous light of the Son of God, Colossians 1 13, 1 Peter 2 9 and 10, we have the devil bound. Every time I teach the truth to a sinner, and that sinner obeys God, the devil is to that extent bound. And he can only roam in areas where the truth does not abound. And thus, when a community is saturated with truth, with godliness, with purity, with the gospel of Jesus Christ, the devil is hindered in that community.

But he still has power. It’s much like the great illustration of a watchdog with his chained. The periphery of his work is the extent of the length of the chain. You stay outside that chain’s length, and that watchdog, that terrible animal that could in fierceness uh devour you, has no power over you. And that’s the whole point of the book of Revelation. If you’ll overcome Satan and sin and self, you can come over to live with God. The victory we have in Christ, the triumph of truth. The gospel is God’s power to save Romans 1.16. And as long as we abide in that realm where the gospel’s power is augmented, the devil and his power has no sway in our life. This is divine imagery that John beheld.

He is not speaking of a literal thousand years. Sometimes people say, when did that thousand years take place? Is it past, present, or future? That’s a misunderstanding of the imagery and impact of the book of Revelation. He’s talking about an incident here. He’s talking of the power of truth that overwhelms the power of evil. In verse 2, he refers to that old serpent, the dragon, the devil, Satan, the great enemy of our soul, 1 Peter 5, 8 and 9. And we can resist him steadfast in the faith and thus resist the devil and he’ll flee from us. First Peter 5:9, James 4, verse 8. And Revelation 20 is but a depiction of the triumph of truth through the death of Christ. We have many passages that speak of this.

4. Seven Basic Premises in Premillennialism, Every One False

But the doctrine of premillennialism is built upon Revelation 20. And yet, not one mention is made of Jerusalem, of Christ on earth, or of any of the necessary things that the premillennialist must hold. That’s simply a false doctrine that teaches Christ will come back to this earth and reign a thousand years in Jerusalem on David’s throne at the end of the world. There are seven basic premises in premillennialism, and every one of them is false. First, it teaches that Christ is coming back to earth to set up his kingdom. 1 Thessalonians 4 says that we’ll meet him in the air when he comes again, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Secondly, premillennialism teaches that Christ will reign from Jerusalem. But not one word mentioning Jerusalem is found in Revelation 20. Then they teach that he will sit on David’s throne. But he was raised to reign, Romans 15 12, and in Acts 2 30, on the day of Pentecost, Peter said 1900 years ago, that God raised Jesus up to sit on David’s throne. He’s been seated on David’s throne ever since.

And the fourth teaching of premillennial doctrine is that the law of Moses will be revived and will be the ruling standard. But Jesus said that the word he spoke would judge us in the last day, John 12 48. And he nailed the old law, the law of Moses, to the cross, Colossians 2 14 to 17, and said, Don’t let anyone ever again condemn you in regard to a Sabbath day. The everlasting covenant sealed in the blood of Christ, Hebrews 13 20, is that which shall stand till the end of the world, Matthew 28 20. And then the fifth, and perhaps the most oppressive of all premillennial theories, is that this age will feature a carnal warfare, referred to as the Battle of Armageddon, as a prelude to the millennium.

Jesus said the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, 2 Corinthians 10 3 and 4. He said, My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, then would my servants fight? John 18 36. He is the Prince of Peace, Isaiah 9 6. And it is the gospel of peace, Romans 10 15, that gives Christians peace passing understanding. Philippians 4 7. The very idea of a carnal combat in which Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace and the lover of all men, who shed his blood that even his enemies might be saved. Luke 23 34. The very idea of teaching that he would lead in carnal combat against the host of wickedness. We wrestle not with flesh and blood, Ephesians 6. We take the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, Ephesians 6.17, which is quick and powerful, Hebrews 4.12, and with that we slay the denizens of hell.

5. The Church Embraced in God’s Eternal Purpose

And the sixth theory, which is the most obnoxious to New Testament Christians, that belongs with the doctrine called premillennialism, is that the church was simply a substitutional afterthought method to replace the kingdom in the first century. Since the Hebrews would not accept Christ’s kingdom then, premillennialists teach, God simply postponed it until later, and instead gave the church. That’s blasphemy. It’s worse than sacrilege. For in Ephesians 3 21 we read, Unto God be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end, amen. And we read in Ephesians 3 9 through 11 that instead of being an afterthought or substitute, the church was embraced in God’s eternal purpose. It wasn’t something he just thought of as an accident to replace the rejection of the Jews of the first century.

Premillennialism is truly inconsistent with Bible teaching. Jesus said, Upon this rock I will build my church. Matthew 16, 18. Paul said he purchased the church with his own blood, Acts 20 28. The very idea of teaching that Christ purchased with his blood something that was simply an afterthought, some incidental something to replace or substitute for the kingdom. In fact, the church and the kingdom are the same thing. The first time Jesus mentioned the church, he called it his kingdom too. Matthew 16, 18 and 19. And thus any doctrine that devaluates the church of our Lord, which is the fullness of him that filleth all in all, Ephesians 1 22 and 23, which is his body, the church, over which Christ rules as head, that in all things he might have the preeminence.

6. The Gospel of the Second Chance

Colossians 1 18. Anything that devaluates the church of the Lord is a blasphemous doctrine. And last of all, the seventh premise of premillennialism, which is also false, is the statement that during this thousand year reign Satan will be literally bound. During this time, sinners will have another opportunity to accept the Lord. This is called the gospel of the second chance. Question, how could a literal chain bind a spiritual being? Secondly, if the devil is literally bound, then that would be the time for men to become Christians because then they’d have no opposition. But God is no respecter of persons, Romans 2.11. And just as today men have to take a stand against evil when they stand for Christ, so shall it ever be. The gospel of the second chance wars against this plain statement.

Conclusion

Today is the day of salvation. Today, if you’ll hear his voice, harden not your heart. 2 Corinthians 6 2, Hebrews 3 15. Jesus said in the first century, and this would last till the end of the world, go preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be condemned. Man shall ever have the power of choice. And the idea of teaching that Revelation 20 affirms that one day men will have no opposition to truth. They couldn’t keep from being saved, is tantamount to the deepest religious error man ever taught. We still must choose this day whom we’ll serve. Joshua 24:15. And whosoever will, let him come, Revelation 22:17. And we have to open the door and let the Lord in to our hearts, Revelation 3:20 and 21.