Summary: The Bible is clear that there are only two choices when we are confronted with the one true God. Sadly, those choices have been muddied by modern American Christianity. For example, does God hate? For the last 80 years or so the theme of much of the pr

Purpose: To describe the glorious reign of Christ.

Aim: I want the listener to understand the consequences of following or not following Christ.

REVIEW:

1:1-20 I. John’s Vision of the Past "the things which you have seen"

2:1-5:14 II. Christ’s Vision of the Present "the things which are"

Ch.6-22 III. John’s Vision of the Future "things which will take places"

6-7; 12-14 A. Satan’s war against God’s creation: the first six seals

8-11; 13:11-18; 15-18 B. The wrath of God: the seventh seal

Ch.19-20 C. The worship of God

19:1 1. A description of worship "salvation...glory...power"

19:2-6 2. Four reasons to worship God "true and righteous"

19:7-10 3. The Believer’s eternal union with Christ "marriage of the Lamb"

19:11-16 4. The King appears "He will rule them"

19:17-20:3 5. The King acts

Vs.17-18 a. The expectation of the King’s victory "great supper of God"

Vs.19 b. The intent of the King’s enemies "war against Him"

Vs.20-21 c. The defeat of the King’s enemies "birds will filled with their flesh"

Vs.1-3 d. The binding of the King’s rival "bound [Satan] for a thousand years"

INTRODUCTION: You haven’t been feeling well for a long time. You finally decide to visit the doctor. He examines you and orders some tests. Two weeks later you arrive for your follow up visit with your doctor. He enters the room and opens a folder with your medical records. He begins by saying that there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that you have a fatal disease. You will soon die. The good news is that there is a cure. There are side effects, but the cure works every time. Now you have a choice to make. Take your chances with the disease or trust the doctor’s cure. Every one of us has to make a similar decision about sin problem and Christ’s cure.

Just before the Jews were to enter the Promised Land, Moses laid out the good news and the bad news for the people.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 "See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days ... (NAU)

The Bible is clear that there are only two choices when we are confronted with the one true God. Sadly, those choices have been muddied by modern American Christianity.

For example, does God hate? For the last 80 years or so the theme of much of the preaching about Jesus Christ has shifted away from an emphasis on the holiness of God and the complete sinfulness of man.

Richard Lovelace wrote: "The whole church was...avoiding the biblical portrait of the sovereign and holy God who was angry with the wicked every day and whose anger remains upon those who will not receive His Son. Walling off this image into an unvisited corner of its consciousness, the church substituted a new god who was the projection of grandmotherly kindness mixed with gentleness and winsomeness of a Jesus who hardly needed to die for our sins. Many American congregations were, in effect, paying their ministers to protect them from the real God.... It is partially responsible not only for the general spiritual collapse of the church in this century, but also for a great deal of [evangelistic} weakness; for in a world in which the sovereign and holy God regularly employs plagues, famines, wars, disease, and death as instruments to punish sin and bring mankind to repentance, the idolatrous image of god as pure benevolence (love) cannot really be believed, let alone feared and worshiped in the manner prescribed by both the Old Testament and New Testament." [1]

The book of Revelation, though, clears away the fog that has settled on much of today’s Bible teaching.

The book of Revelation is not as much about the future as it is a book about the One who holds the future. We learn more about the holy nature of Jesus Christ in this book than we do any other book of the Bible. Maybe that is why Revelation is the only book in the Bible that has a promise of blessing for us if we read it. Revelation 1:3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. (NAU)

Today’s text makes it clear what is really true about following or not following Christ without sugar coating anything. We will begin by looking at:

LESSON:

20:4-6 6. The results of following Christ

The last time we were studying Revelation we learned that God put Satan under lock and key and he would not be allowed out for one thousand years. During that time Jesus rules the earth and enforces world-wide peace. From these verses we get a snapshot of this time and it shows us three things about following Christ.

Vs.4b a. Persecution now "beheaded...not received the mark"

These followers of Christ paid for it with their lives as well as their livelihoods. Those who didn’t receive the Beast’s mark could not buy or sell. They had to love Jesus enough to risk being homeless and hungry. Do we love Christ that much?

Vs.5, 6b b. Eternal life later "death has no power"

The statement "This is the first resurrection" in verses 5 & 6 refers back to verse 4. The first resurrection does not refer to first in order, but first in importance.

We know this because before this resurrection there was:

-the resurrection of Christ (1 Cor. 15:23),

-the resurrection of those who are Christ’s when He raptures the church (1 Thess. 4:13--18),

-the resurrection of the two witnesses whose bodies will lie in the streets (Rev. 11:11), and

-the resurrection of tribulation saints who are described here (see also Dan. 12:2a). In other words, the first resurrection includes the resurrection of Christ and of all true believers, though they are raised at different times. It occurs in several stages.[2]

So, in a way, there are only two resurrections: the first resurrection is only for believers and that happens in several stages; the second resurrection is only for unbelievers. Jesus called it the "...resurrection of judgment" (John 5:29). We will learn more about that judgment in verses 11-15.

Vs.4a, c, 6 b. Blessing forever "Blessed and holy"

These thousand years of Christ’s reign on earth, or the Millennium, is described to us so definitely and precisely that we must conclude that it refers to a literal reign by Christ and a literal thousand years.

This is important because it fulfills many OT predictions.

The Millennium is important because it fulfills Old Testament prophecy

#1 There will be peace on earth.

Isaiah 2:4 And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war. (NAU)

#2 There will be a time of great prosperity

Zechariah 8:12 ’For there will be peace for the seed: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things. (NAU)

#3 There will be a time of long life without pain or sickness

Isaiah 65:20 "No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will be thought accursed. (NAU)

#4 Creation’s curse will be removed

Isaiah 65:25 "The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain," says the Lord. (NAU)

#5 The nations will worship Jesus in Jerusalem

Isaiah 2:1-2 ... Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the Lord Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it. (NAU)

Isaiah 56:7 Even those I will bring to My holy mountain And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples." (NAU)

The Millennium also fulfills a promise that was made to Mary: Luke 1:30-33 The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." (NAU)

When the New Testament opens, we find John the Baptist preaching, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mtt. 3:2). Later, when John the Baptist was imprisoned, Jesus too preached, "the gospel of the kingdom of God" (Mark 1:14). During this time of Jesus’ early ministry while his disciples had no understanding of His destiny on the cross, they too announced, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mtt. 10:7). At the time of these early announcements of the Kingdom of God, there was no detailed explanation given about what this kingdom was to be like. We do know that God’s kingdom is coming and that we should pray for it to come. Matthew 6:10 ’Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. (NAU)

Notice that believers are happy and holy BECAUSE they are with Christ: "reigned with Christ" (Vs.4c) "reign with Him" (Vs.6c). We not only will be with Christ, we will rule with Christ. It just doesn’t get any more intimate than that! Paul said 1 Corinthians 6:2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? ... (NAU)

Revelation 2:26 ’He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; (NAU) Jesus has the power to give eternal life to whomever He decides to give it to. John 5:21 "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. (NAU)

Jesus gives us life if we give Him our lives. Matthew 10:39 "He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it. (NAU)

If you are following Christ, you will continue to follow Christ if you have really given your heart to Him. 2 Timothy 2:12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; (NAU)

Vs.7-10 7. The results of NOT following Christ

Vs.7-8 a. Foolish decisions "come out to deceive"

What is "Gog and Magog"?

"GOG: The leader of a confederacy of armies that attacked the land of Israel.Described as "the prince of Rosh, Heshech, and Tubal," .... Ezekiel prophetically describes Gog and his allies striking at Israel with a fierce and sudden invasion . According to Ezekiel’s prophecy, Gog will be crushed on the mountains of Israel in a slaughter so great it will take seven months to bury the dead .

"The vision of Gog and Magog that appears in the Book of Revelation is essentially a restatement of the prophecy of Ezekiel, although it places the events of this prophecy in the future

"MAGOG The descendants of Magog , possibly a people who lived in northern Asia and Europe. The Jewish historian Josephus identified these people as the Scythians, known for their destructive warfare. Magog may be a comprehensive term which means "northern barbarians." The people of Magog are described as skilled horsemen and experts in the use of the bow and arrow . The Book of Revelation uses Ezekiel’s prophetic imagery to portray the final, apocalyptic encounter between good and evil at the end of this age. ’Gog and Magog’ symbolize the anti¬-Christian forces of the world." [4]

Without Christ’s work in a person’s heart, the mind can be controlled by satanic influence. 2 Timothy 4:1-4 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. (NAU)

God’s wisdom seems stupid to those who don’t know Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:18-20 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside." Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (NAU)

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord." (NAU)

Vs.9-10 b. Eternal death "fire...devoured them"

Why would God allow Satan out one last time? (1) It proves that men are totally depraved. Only the followers of Christ are left alive when the Millennium begins, but many children are born during this time and they all must make their own decisions to submit to Jesus as Savior and Lord. A perfect environment, much like what Adam and Eve had in the Garden of Eden, does not keep them from sinning. Man’s problem is a heart problem, not just a need for a little help. (2) It proves that a thousand years of torture does not cure Satan’s desire to oppose God. Outside of Jesus Christ, sin is incurable.

CONCLUSION: "On the top of a hill in a Midwestern state stands a courthouse so situated that raindrops falling on one side of the roof travel by way of the Great Lakes into the Atlantic, while drops landing on the opposite side find their way through the Ohio and Mississippi to the Gulf. Just a breath of wind one way or the other may determine whether a single raindrop will end up either in the Gulf or in the Atlantic. Even so, one single decision is enough to determine man’s destiny, either heaven or hell. Have you made the right decision?" [5]

Luke 3:16-17 John answered and said to them all, "As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (NAU)

Jesus will either immerse you with the Holy Spirit or else He will immerse you into fire.

There is no in-between.

[1]Dynamics of Spiritual Life" Downers Grove, Ill; InterVarsity Press, 1979, pp.83-84J

[2]Adapted from: MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Re 20:5). Nashville: Thomas Nelson

[3]From Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary) (Copyright (C) 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers

[4]From Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary) (Copyright (C) 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers

[5]Submitted by Terry Parker of St. Ann, Missouri