Good morning! Please turn in your Bibles to Revelation 20.
We come into worship this morning with what may be a once-in-a-lifetime alignment of circumstances, at least as far as a church calendar goes.
It’s the first Sunday of Advent, when we begin focusing on Jesus’ coming into the world.
It’s also the fifth Sunday of November, and at Glynwood, we observe communion on fifth Sundays.
Aaaand… it’s the seventh Sunday of our study through Revelation, where we just so happen to be talking about Jesus’ Second Coming.
All on the same Sunday.
What are the odds?
In one service, we’re talking about the first coming, the second coming, and the sacrament that connects both of them.
So let’s talk about the middle.
Sometimes the middle is great. The middle of an Oreo is the best part. A juicy, center cut steak is where all the flavor is. There are people who crave being in the middle of the action, the center of attention.
But there are seasons in life when the hardest place to be is the middle.
Not the beginning, not the end—just the in-between.
Middle school is the perfect example.
You aren’t a little kid anymore, but you aren’t a teenager yet.
You’re too old for recess, but too young to drive.
You’re stuck between who you were and who you’re becoming.
And everything feels awkward and uncertain.
There’s those seasons of being between deployments— when you’ve left one thing behind but the next thing hasn’t started.
There’s the loneliness during the time between the death of a believing spouse and the day you’ll see him or her again.
There’s the long stretch between your prayer and God’s answer.
And spiritually, the Bible says we’re living in the greatest “in-between” of them all.
Christ has come—that was the First Advent.
He lived, died, rose again, ascended, and now reigns.
That’s the “already.”
But Christ is coming again—the Second Advent.
The day when every wrong is made right, every tear wiped away, every enemy defeated, and every believer welcomed home.
And right now…
we are caught between those two Advents.
We live in the tension between what Christ has already accomplished
and what He has not yet completed.
And Revelation 20 is written for people who feel that tension.
It’s written for Christians in the in-between—
to remind us in the end, Jesus gets His victory,
in the end, the Church gets her homecoming,
in the end, the devil gets his due,
and in the end, God gets His day in court.
I want to go ahead and read Revelation 20. We are going to read all of it. And as we read, I want us to read it with the awareness of the good things that “not yet” in order to give us hope and peace and endurance for the “in betwen” we are experiencing now.
[Read, Pray]
Before we walk through the rest of Revelation 20, let me say a quick word about this “thousand-year reign,” the millennium. Christians have understood it in three main ways.
• Premillennialism says Jesus returns before a literal thousand-year earthly kingdom.
• Postmillennialism sees the gospel transforming the world, leading to a long age of peace, and then Christ returns.
• Amillennialism understands the thousand years symbolically—referring to the whole period between Christ’s resurrection and His return.
Since some of you may wonder where I personally land: the amillennial view makes the most sense to me. I believe Christ’s reign began with His resurrection, when Satan’s power was decisively broken and Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father. And if that’s true, then the millennium isn’t a literal thousand years—it’s the entire church age. I believe Christ is reigning right now, and has been ever since He ascended to heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
You might say, “But wait a minute—Revelation talks about Satan being bound for a thousand years, and it sure doesn’t feel like he is bound.” And you’re right. It doesn’t. But Scripture doesn’t say he’s bound from all activity; it says he’s bound from deceiving the nations. In other words, he’s restrained, the word the Apostle Paul uses in 2 Thessalonians 2.. The gospel is going out. People from every tribe and tongue and nation are responding to Christ. The kingdom is expanding. Satan is limited in a very real way from stopping that.
But Revelation 20 also describes a day when Satan is permitted to wreak havoc on the nations one final time before Jesus returns. His influence will surge briefly before the final judgment—but it won’t change the outcome.
I also believe Christ returns once—visibly, gloriously, decisively. Some Christians believe Jesus will return in two stages: first to rapture the church, then again after a time of tribulation. But as I read Scripture, I don’t find much support for two separate comings. Which means the church will be here through all the ups and downs of history, including that final surge of evil. We endure, we witness, and we remain faithful until Jesus comes.
Now, faithful, Bible-loving Christians disagree on the details. And that’s okay. Because every view—every single one—ends in the same place: Christ victorious, Satan defeated, the dead raised, and judgment certain.
Or as Tony Campolo liked to say, ‘God didn’t put me on the planning committee—He put me on the welcoming committee.’
So however we understand the details of the millennium, the message of Revelation 20 is unmistakable: evil’s reign is temporary, and Christ’s reign is certain.”
POINT I: JESUS GETS HIS VICTORY (vv. 1–3)
Before we ever read about Satan’s last stand, we see Satan’s power shattered.
20 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
What I love about this scene is how utterly un-dramatic it is. Satan gets bound for a thousand years. Who does the binding? Not God the father. Not Jesus the Son. Not even the Holy Spirit.
An angel. Only two angels are named in Scripture— Michael and Gabriel, and this isn’t either one of them. Just some rando, nameless angel, acting on the authority of the king of kings and the Lord of Lords.
And with one key and one chain, the enemy of our souls is thrown into the abyss and shut in.
The point is clear:
Satan is scary, but he is not sovereign.
He roars, but he does not rule.
It might feel like he’s on the loose, but he is never off the leash.
When Jesus died and rose again, the power of the enemy was broken.
Colossians 2says that through the power of the cross and His resurrection from the dead, Jesus made us alive, forgave our sins, canceled our debt, disarmed the spiritual forces of this present darkness “and put them to open shame by triumphing over them.”
We live in a world where Satan still lies and tempts, but he does so as a defeated foe—restrained, limited, and ultimately powerless to stop the spread of the gospel.
We live between the Advents, but we don’t live in fear. Christ has already won, and that victory carries us through the middle.
There is a second beautiful truth that sustains us during this in-between time. After Jesus gets His victory,
POINT II: THE CHURCH GETS HER HOMECOMING (vv. 4–6)
Before John shows us the final rebellion of Satan, he shows us something every believer needs to hear: the saints living and reigning with Christ.
Notice how John describes them in verse 4: “the souls of those who had been slain.”
Not bodies yet. Not resurrected flesh.
Souls — alive in the presence of Jesus.
John calls this “the first resurrection.”
And in verse 6 he says, “Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection… over such the second death has no power.”
This is one of those places Scripture answers the deep question we all wrestle with at some point:
What happens to a believer when they die?
According to John’s vision, there’s no such thing as “soul sleep” until the bodily resurrection.
Our souls are the most fully alive part of us — the part that is, according to Dallas Willard, even now capable of union with Christ.
It’s not that your soul sleeps until the body is raised.
If anything, it’s the opposite.
Your soul is not unconscious.
You aren’t in some cosmic DMV line.
You are alive with Christ.
You are reigning with Christ.
You are secure in Christ,
joyful in Christ,
vindicated in Christ,
finding your rest in Christ.
And one day, at the last trumpet, you will receive a physical, glorified, incorruptible body — a body that finally catches up to where your soul has been the whole time.
With Christ.
Here’s the thing: while we wait between two Advents, we are going to attend a lot of funerals. And one day, we will be the guest of honor at one of them.
But at every graveside, remind yourself: if your loved one is in Christ…
Death can’t touch them.
Satan can’t claim them.
Judgment can’t condemn them.
They have received their homecoming.
And one day, so will you.
POINT III: THE DEVIL GETS HIS DUE (v. 7-10)
After showing us Christ’s victory and the church’s homecoming. John shows us something sobering: evil gets one last gasp.
Verse 7 says, “When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison.”
That’s a hard verse. Why would God ever allow Satan loose again?
But understand—this is the “Devil Went Down to Georgia” moment of Revelation.
Do you remember the song? The devil comes swaggering in, confident and sure of himself, and he says,
“You play a pretty good fiddle, boy, but give the devil his due…”
Well, in the song it only takes one verse, one “chicken in the bread pan pickin’ out dough,” and the devil bows his head.
That’s Revelation 20. Satan swaggers, God tunes up, and the devil gets his due.
Look at the pattern:
Satan is released (v. 7)
. He deceives the nations again (v. 8)
He gathers them for battle (vv. 8–9)
And then… look at verse 9:
9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, Re 20:9.
Fire on the mountain, run boy run.
The text describes: a massive buildup, a global coalition, an appearance of strength…
And then God ends it in one instant, with zero struggle—
without Jesus even leaving His throne.
And verse 10 tells us the end:
Revelation 20:10 (ESV)
10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
This is God’s final word on evil.
Satan’s defeat is complete, irreversible, and eternal.
And that’s good news for weary Christians living in the in-between. Evil does not get the last word. God does.
POINT IV: GOD GETS HIS DAY IN COURT (vv. 11–15)
Now the scene shifts from the battlefield to the courtroom.
John says in verse 11, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it.”
Scholars refer to this as the “Great White Throne” Judgment. It is the ultimate, final judgment of every soul. Notice:
There’s no jury. You aren’t tried before a jury of your peers. That’s where we’ve always gotten in trouble as a human race. We compare ourselves to other people. At the Great White Throne judgment, the standard is God’s Son.
There are no appeals. No loopholes. No technicalities.
Only the holy, pure, righteous judgment of God.
Verse 12 says, “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.”
Notice that—books (plural). And this is so important, because this idea of being judged “according to what they had done,” what’s recorded in those books— is terrifying for a lot of people.
We often imagine judgment day as a movie of our life—every deed replayed.
And some of us feel terrible. “Oh my God (and I don’t say that to be irreverent. I say it because on that day, God is the only one anyone can appeal to). Everyone I ever cared about is going to see every awful thing I’ve ever done about.
On the other hand, some of us are going to feel great. Finally! God’s gonna let everyone can see all the great things I’ve done for him!
Both groups are right. Every act of obedience, every act of rebellion, every moment of faithfulness, every moment of selfishness—God sees it all.
But beloved, don’t miss this— our deeds aren’t the end of the story.
John says, “Then another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.” (v. 12)
The best and the worst news of Revelation is this:
You are not saved by the deeds that are in the books.
You are saved because your name is written in the Book.
If your name is in the Book of Life—written by the Lamb who was slain—then everything in the books has already been answered by the cross.
If your name is not in the Book of Life, then verse 15 says, “He was thrown into the lake of fire.”
It is the most sobering verse in the chapter, because so many people are going to protest— “but look at the books! Look at the deeds! Anyone can see there’s more good than bad in there. I never killed anybody! I never robbed a bank! We always put an extra $20 in the offering plate at Christmastime! I even volunteered in the nursery, once.
The best news and the worst news we can get on Judgment Day is that God isn’t looking at the books.
He’s looking at the Book.
Revelation 20:15 ESV
15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
God’s day in court ends with His people safe in His hands, and his enemies are separated from Him forever.
RESPONSE TIME:
Church, as we bring this in for a landing, there is only one question you need to consider from Revelation 20.
And it’s not whether you are premillennial, postmillennial, or amillennial.
It’s not whether there’s a rapture, then a tribulation, then the return of Christ.
And it’s not whether you have enough deeds written in the books to tip the scales in your favor.
The question Revelation 20 presses on your heart is this:
Is your name written in the Book of Life?
Because on that day, God will not ask to see your end-times charts.
He won’t check the consistency of your theology.
He will not weigh your good deeds against your bad deeds.
He will open the Lamb’s Book of Life…
and He will look for your name.
If you have repented of your sins, He will find it.
If you have trusted Jesus as your Savior, He will find it.
And when you die, your soul will be united with Christ forever — and at the resurrection, your body will follow.
If not, Scripture says a lake of fire awaits.
This is not your pastor trying to scare you.
This is God’s Word pleading with you:
Come to Jesus.
invitation
COMMUNION
Church, before we leave this moment, we come to the Table of the Lord — and I want you to see that Communion is not an add-on to Revelation 20.
It is exactly where Revelation 20 leads us.
Because Communion is the meal God gives to people who are living in the middle —
between the First Advent and the Second,
between Jesus’ victory and Jesus’ return,
between the already and the not yet.
Paul said, “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”
Communion looks backward — and forward — at the same time.
It looks back to the cross:
to the moment when the Lamb who was slain wrote your name in the Book of Life with His own blood.
And it looks forward to the day His people receive their homecoming:
when death has no power,
when evil has no voice,
when judgment has no fear,
and when the Church sits down at the wedding supper of the Lamb.
This table is for people in the in-between —
people who are not yet home,
but who know where home is,
and who know Who is bringing them there.
So as we take the bread and cup today, do it as people whose future is secure,
whose names are written,
whose Savior is coming.
Let’s pray and prepare our hearts for the Lord’s Supper.
