Sunday, October 5, 2003
Title: Millenneum
Text: Rev. 20:1-10; Isaiah 65:20-25
Introduction
1. A little girl had been listening while her mother’s friends were talking about how Jesus was going to be coming back soon.
A. After a period of time, the child’s mother noticed that she hadn’t seen her little girl in awhile...
So her mother went to looking for her.
She finally found her up in the top floor of the house looking out a window
She asked her daughter what she was doing
she said, "Mommy, I heard you say that Jesus might come back today,
and I wanted to be the first to see Him.
See, I took a bath and put on a clean dress."
B. Well, Jesus hasn’t come back yet...
but He it could be today...
are you ready?
2. Well, we have certainly covered a lot of territory in the last several weeks.
A. We’ve covered from before the beginning of time...
we’ve talked about the Rapture....
what many people refer to as the 2nd Coming of Christ
we’ve talked about the Tribulation...
with the 7 seals...
and the 7 Trumpets...
and the 7 Bowls...
of God’s judgment upon sinful man...
And last week, we talked about Parousia...
or Christ’s TRUE 2nd Coming...
And Christ’s 2nd coming is the EVENT that begins the Millennium...
the 1,000 year reign of Christ...
Let’s read about it in our text:
3. Rev. 20:1-10; Isaiah 65:20-25
Body
1. Satan is bound
A. Satan’s greatest fear is finally realized.
Satan’s greatest fear is the 2nd Coming of Christ...
which we talked about last week.
and with the 2nd Coming of Christ...
satan’s time of lies and deceit...
His time of roaming to and fro seeking whom he may devour (job 1:7)
his time of tempting and twisting and seducing comes to an end.
Satan is bound and cast into the Abyss.
where he remains for 1,000 years.
B. With Satan bound, that sets up the beginning of the 1,000 years of peace and bounty that we call the millennium.
with Satan bound, there is no incentive toward evil...
it will be easy to live a righteous life...
temptations will be few and far between...
this will be in stark contrast to what life was like under the leadership of the anti-christ...
2. And during that same time, Jesus Reigns as King
A. We mentioned last week, that at the 2nd Coming of Christ
He wasn’t coming to die for our sin...
He wasn’t coming to be pushed around...
He was coming as KING...
He was coming as Conqueror...
And if there was any doubt that Christ conquered, I would think that the results of the Battle of Armegeddon would speak for themselves!
And after the battle, Jesus will establish His earthly Kingdom.
this will be the kingdom that the early disciples were longing for before Christ died on the cross.
This will be the kingdom that the mother of James and John was hoping that Christ would establish when she asked Jesus to let her sons sit on the right and left. Matt 20:21
B. This 1,000 year reign of Christ has been described beautifully in Scripture and in song
Isaiah 2:4 says, "They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." (NIV)
Christ will compel all people and nations to live at peace one with another.
This will be a time of peace and prosperity
it will be a time of little sickness and little death...
no longer will young children die...
no longer will people be considered old when they are 80 or 90...
even when they are 100, Scripture tells us that they will be like a young child.
let me read that verse to you again:
"Never again will there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not live out his years;
he who dies at a hundred
will be thought a mere youth;
he who fails to reach a hundred
will be considered accursed.
Isaiah 65:20 (NIV)
undoubtedly, there will be people who live their entire lives in the millennium without tasting death.
crimes like murder, theft, rape, and so on will be non-existent
the earth will be furtile...
crops will be abundant...
The lion will lay down with the lamb...
Isaiah tells us: The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:6-9 (NIV)
C. And yet, this 1,000 year reign of Christ will not go on forever...
this is not yet heaven...
this is not yet eternity...
it may SEEM like heaven on earth...
but eternity in heaven is yet to come
(stay tuned in the weeks ahead for that)
3. Near the end of this millennium period, Scripture tells us that Satan is loosed "for a short time"
A. Satan doesn’t escape from his prison by his own ingenuity...
or his craftiness...
he is allowed by Christ to be set free.
B. To be honest, I have struggled with this thought for the last couple weeks...
why would Christ allow satan to have freedom?
Scripture tells us that satan is effective in the short time...
Scripture says that he goes out to the 4 corners of the world...
and that he is able to decieve a great number of people...
"In number they are like the sand on the seashore"
But Scripture doesn’t tell us why...
so anything we say would be conjecture...
but after giving it much thought...
I will give you my conjecture...
take it for what its worth...
certainly not Scripture...
but perhaps based on Scriptural truth nonetheless.
C. I believe that Christ needed to ensure that these followers that all step into line during the millennium are there for the right reason...
that they choose to follow Christ...as Lord and Savior...
instead of following Him because of the prosperity...
I guess you could compare it to the Garden of Eden...
why would God allow the serpent to tempt Adam and Eve?
Because He wanted it to be their free choice...
there will be babies born during the millennium...
the will be others who follow Christ because He is a good Man and a good Leader...
but will they make Him Lord of their life?
the loosing of Satan will allow that choice to be made.
And as I mentioned, there will be many people who are swayed by the great deceiver.
D. But, in quite a contrast to the Battle of Armegeddon, this battle will occur almost instantly will little bloodshed.
Scripture says that as the forces of Satan gathered around to do battle with the forces of Christ...
that a "fire came down from heaven and devoured them"
pretty quick and relatively bloodless compared to what we studied last week.
At this point, Satan will be cast into the "burning lake of sulfur" along with the beast and the anti-christ.
where Scripture says, "they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever"
Conclusion
1. The millennium will give us a little taste of "heaven on earth"
but it won’t be heaven...
it will be a time of great peace...
great prosperity...
very little suffering...
very little sin/temptation...
2. So how do we apply this to our spiritual lives today?
First of all, it goes back to the fact that it seems awfully easy to serve the Lord when times are good.
But we need to be very attentive...perhaps even more attentive when life seems to be going our way...
That’s what is going to happen during the millenneum...
but Scripture tells us that many will be led astray by satan at the end of the millennium...
truth be told...even today, many are led astray when life is good...
and that’s just the way it happened in the Garden of Eden...
if anyone had it great it was Adam and Eve...
living in paradise...
3. So when life is tough...
when the burdens seem to be more than you can bear...
certainly you should turn to Christ...
But, when life is easy...
the burdens are light...
that’s when we should be even more concerned about our relationship to the Lord.
4. Maybe you are here this morning and the Lord is speaking to your heart...
Jesus is telling you that you have had it good...
He has richly blessed your life...
but you have been just going with the flow...
you have been just enjoying the good life...’
you have been enjoying the blessings...
but you have pushed the One who brings those blessings to the back burner...
then you need to come to Christ today...
5. When life is bad, you need to come to Christ...
when life is good, the need is even greater...
and you NEED to come to Christ.
