August 03, 2024
The Battle of Armageddon results in total destruction. The earth resembles a vast battlefield – a desolate wilderness.
The chaotic scene before John resembles Palestine during the Exile:
Jeremiah 4:23-26 - I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone. I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying. I looked, and there were no people; every bird in the sky had flown away. I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its towns lay in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger.
It is now that the concluding activities of the earthly Day of Atonement find their true meaning. After the High Priest cleansed the Sanctuary of all the accumulated sins, his final act was to lay his hands on the scape goat – transferring the sins to the animal – who was then permanently removed from the camp.
In the same manner, after Christ completes his work in the Heavenly Sanctuary, he will come a 2nd time in power and authority and he will bring with him all the sins of the redeemed. He will place them on Satan who will be declared guilty of every sin he has caused the righteous to commit. Just like the scape goat was banished to an empty wilderness, so Satan will be confined/imprisoned on an empty and desolate planet:
Revelation 20:1-3 - And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He 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.
Is Satan physically chained to earth? No. He is chained by circumstances. He has had no access to Heaven since his banishment and he can’t tempt anyone on earth because there is no one to tempt. The wicked are dead and the redeemed are in heaven. He just gets to wander around muttering to himself for 1000 years. Or maybe he’ll organize a dodgeball game with his demonic forces…… At any rate he will have lots of time to consider his choices.
John’s vision now pivots from earth to heaven:
Revelation 20:4a - I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge.
In Matthew 19 (28), Jesus promised his disciples that one day they would sit on thrones and judge the 12 tribes of Israel and in 1st Corinthians (6:2-3), Paul foretold that the righteous would judge the world, even angels.
This period of judgment relates to the question concerning God’s fairness. At the beginning of his rebellion, Satan accused God of being arbitrary and unfair. He cast doubt on God’s character and his dealings with the beings he had created. During the 1000 years God puts himself on trial by giving the redeemed access to the historical records. In those pages they will to read their own story. They will also be given the chance to have their questions answered regarding why the lost are lost. They will see that God did everything possible to save them, but that in the end the lost chose to be lost. At that time God will “bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts” (1 Cor. 4:5).
Revelation 20:4b-6 - And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
Here we see the fulfilment of promises made long ago (also see 1 Peter 2:9 and Revelation 3:21):
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 - For 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, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After 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.
Hebrews 11:35-40 - Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated -- the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
At the conclusion of the 1000 years, there will be no doubts concerning God’s love and all questions concerning his justice will be answered. The redeemed are now ready to witness God’s executionary judgment on the wicked.
Satan is now released from his confinement and the wicked are resurrected. Has Satan changed? Nope! He picks up where he left off - He still wants God’s throne. He sees an opportunity to dethrone God and he gathers the wicked from the 4 corners of the globe – Gog and Magog. Their numbers are like the sands of the sea.
By using the names “Gog and Magog” John brings to mind the prophecies found in Ezekiel 38 and 39 that depict the utter destruction of Gog and Magog, the enemies of God’s ancient people.
Revelation 20:9-15 - They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Ellen White (GC - The Controversy Ended) - At the close of the thousand years, Christ again returns to the earth. He is accompanied by the host of the redeemed and attended by a retinue of angels. As he descends in terrific majesty, he bids the wicked dead arise to receive their doom. They come forth, a mighty host, numberless as the sands of the sea….
Every eye in that vast multitude is turned to behold the glory of the Son of God. With one voice the wicked hosts exclaim, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord!” It is not love to Jesus that inspires this utterance. The force of truth urges the words from unwilling lips. As the wicked went into their graves, so they come forth, with the same enmity to Christ, and the same spirit of rebellion….
Christ descends upon the Mount of Olives….. As the New Jerusalem, in its dazzling splendor, comes down out of Heaven, it rests upon the place purified and made ready to receive it, and Christ with his people and the angels, enters the holy city.
Now Satan prepares for a last mighty struggle for the supremacy. While deprived of his power…. the prince of evil was miserable and dejected; but as the wicked dead are raised, and he sees the vast multitudes upon his side, his hopes revive… He will marshal all the armies of the lost under his banner, and through them endeavor to execute his plans….. Yet, true to his early cunning, he does not acknowledge himself to be Satan…. He represents himself as a redeemer, assuring them that his power has brought them forth from their graves, and that he is about to rescue them from the most cruel tyranny…..
In that vast throng are multitudes of the long-lived race that existed before the flood…. There are kings and generals who conquered nations, valiant men who never lost a battle, proud, ambitious warriors whose approach made kingdoms tremble….
Satan consults with his angels, and then with these kings and conquerors and mighty men. They look upon the strength and numbers on their side and declare that the army within the city is small …. and that it can be overcome…..
At last the order to advance is given…. Satan, the mightiest of warriors, leads the van…. Kings and warriors are in his train, and the multitudes follow in vast companies, each under its appointed leader. With military precision, they advance over the earth's broken and uneven surface to the city of God. By command of Jesus, the gates of the New Jerusalem are closed, and the armies of Satan surround the city….
Now Christ again appears to the view of his enemies. Far above the city, upon a foundation of burnished gold, is a throne…. Upon this throne sits the Son of God, and around him are the subjects of his kingdom. The power and majesty of Christ no language can describe, no pen portray. The glory of the Eternal Father is enshrouding his Son. The brightness of his presence fills the city of God, and flows out beyond the gates, flooding the whole earth with its radiance….. (see Isaiah 6:1-8)
The redeemed raise a song of praise that echoes and re-echoes through the vaults of heaven…. And angel and seraph unite their voices in adoration. As the redeemed have beheld the power and malignity of Satan, they have seen, as never before, that no power but that of Christ could have made them conquerors. In all that shining throng there are none to ascribe salvation to themselves, as if they had prevailed by their own power and goodness. Nothing is said of what they have done or suffered; but the burden of every song, the key-note of every anthem, is, Salvation to our God, and unto the Lamb.
In the presence of the assembled inhabitants of earth and Heaven the final coronation of the Son of God takes place. And now, invested with supreme majesty and power, the King of kings pronounces sentence upon the rebels against his government, and executes justice upon those who have transgressed his law and oppressed his people….
As soon as the books of record are opened, and the eye of Jesus looks upon the wicked, they are conscious of every sin which they have ever committed. They see just where their feet diverged from the path of purity and holiness, just how far pride and rebellion have carried them in the violation of the law of God. The seductive temptations which they encouraged by indulgence in sin, the blessings perverted, the messengers of God despised, the warnings rejected, the waves of mercy beaten back by the stubborn, unrepentant heart — all appear as if written in letters of fire.
Above the throne is revealed the cross; and like a panoramic view appear the scenes of Adam's temptation and fall, and the successive steps in the great plan of redemption….
And now before the swaying multitude are revealed the final scenes — the patient Sufferer treading the path to Calvary; the Prince of Heaven hanging upon the cross; the haughty priests and the jeering rabble deriding his expiring agony; the supernatural darkness; the heaving earth, the rent rocks, the open graves, marking the moment when the world's Redeemer yielded up his life.
The awful spectacle appears just as it was. Satan, his angels, and his subjects have no power to turn from the picture of their own work…. all behold the enormity of their guilt. They vainly seek to hide from the divine majesty of His countenance, while the redeemed cast their crowns at the Saviour's feet, exclaiming, “He died for me!” ….
The whole wicked world stand arraigned at the bar of God, on the charge of high treason against the government of Heaven.
They have none to plead their cause; they are without excuse; and the sentence of eternal death is pronounced against them..
Satan sees that his voluntary rebellion has unfitted him for Heaven. He has trained his powers to war against God; the purity, peace, and harmony of Heaven would be to him supreme torture. His accusations against the mercy and justice of God are now silenced. The reproach which he has endeavored to cast upon Jehovah rests wholly upon himself. And now Satan bows down and confesses the justice of his sentence….
Notwithstanding that Satan has been constrained to acknowledge God's justice, and to bow to the supremacy of Christ, his character remains unchanged. The spirit of rebellion, like a mighty torrent, again bursts forth…. He rushes into the midst of his subjects, and endeavors to inspire them with his own fury, and arouse them to instant battle. But of all the countless millions whom he has allured into rebellion, there are none now to acknowledge his supremacy. His power is at an end. The wicked are filled with the same hatred of God that inspires Satan; but they see that their case is hopeless, that they cannot prevail against Jehovah. Their rage is kindled against Satan and those who have been his agents in deception, and with the fury of demons they turn upon them….
Fire comes down from God out of Heaven. The earth is broken up. The weapons concealed in its depths are drawn forth. Devouring flames burst from every yawning chasm. The very rocks are on fire. The day has come that shall burn as an oven. The elements melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein are burned up. The earth's surface seems one molten mass — a vast, seething lake of fire….
Satan's work of ruin is forever ended….
While the earth was wrapped in the fire of destruction, the righteous abode safely in the holy city. Upon those that had part in the first resurrection, the second death has no power. While God is to the wicked a consuming fire, he is to his people both a sun and a shield.
