Revelation
20
The Millennial Age
The twentieth chapter of Revelation has been
the major battleground of the various
basic competing systems of biblical
eschatology. In general, the way in which this
chapter is interpreted seems to determine how
the entire Book of Revelation and,
to a large extent, how biblical prophecy as a
whole is interpreted. It is in this chapter
that the record appears of a thousand-year
period when Satan is bound and the world
is ruled in righteousness by Christ and the
people of God. But the question is
whether,
and to what extent, this record should be taken
literally. Is this thousand-year period
exactly 1,000 years, or is the number merely a
symbolic number? Is Satan literally
imprisoned and powerless during this time, or
is he bound only in a relative sense
by the liberating power of the gospel? Is
Christ to reign in a direct sense over the
earth, on a literal throne, or is this only a
figure of speech referring to the eventual
conversion of the world to righteousness
through the work of the Church and the
preaching of the gospel? Although there are variants within each
system, the three
major approaches to eschatology are as follows:
(1) Premillennialism, which
takes a fully literal approach to the interpretation of
this passage. Premillennialism teaches that Christ’s personal return to
the earth in
glory, as described
in ch.19, is followed by the literal binding of Satan in Hades
and a literal
thousand-year reign of Christ and the resurrected saints on the earth.
(2) Postmillennialism, which takes a partially literal approach,
teaching that there
will be a literal
period of Christian righteousness on the earth. Christ’s reign,
according to this
teaching, will be spiritual, through His Church, which will have
won the world to Him
through its worldwide ministry of evangelism and teaching
under His Great
Commission. His personal return to earth will be at the end of
the millennium, when the new earth is
established.
(3) Amillennialism,
which takes a fully spiritual approach, equating the Millennial
Age with the Church
Age. Christ’s kingdom was established in a symbolic sense
on the earth when
Satan was defeated and bound by the Lord’s substitutionary
death, resurrection,
and ascension, and with His personal return to earth scheduled
at the end of this
Church Age for a general judgment. As
pointed out in the
Introduction to this
commentary, and as consistently followed throughout its
expositions, the
only proper interpretation is, in our judgment, the fully literal
approach. This
necessarily entails the premillennial position, as defined above.
Further reasons for
taking this approach, especially with reference to the pivotal
question of the
millennium itself, will be developed in this chapter.
The Reign of
Christ on Earth
The narration of ch.
20 follows directly from that of ch. 19, beginning
with the
conjunction “and.” It is a
continuing record of actual events, and the chapter
division here is almost misleading. In
fact, the emphasis on a literal succession
of future historical events in this Revelation
record is pointed up by the use of
this conjunction (Greek kai)
to begin almost every verse in chapters 19 and 20.
The chapter structure and content surely have
the appearance, at least, of a
straightforward record of real events. (The Revelation Record – Henry Morris)
This chapter is one of the most controversial chapters
in the Bible, not because it
contains anything essentially complex, but
because it touches on a subject of
preconceived bias. Now is the time when Satan will be taken,
bound and put into
the bottomless pit (abyss) where his influence
will not have any effect on the
Tribulation Saints who have lived through the
seven years of Tribulation.
Can you imagine a life where Satan isn't around
to temp anyone? Do you
think that the 1000 year millennium will be a
time of paradise? That nothing
bad will happen? No one will enter into the 1000 year
millennium unless they
are a believer. Most will live for the entire
one thousand years and will procreate
and have
children. Yes even the curse on the animals is lifted and the wolf will
lie down with the lamb and will live in peace
with each other. But human nature
is what it is. The children of those Saints
will still have to be taught about Jesus,
even though He will be with them constantly.
Many will not accept Him.
Remember, the heart is very wicked and
unfortunately, that is the nature of man.
Many of those children will be rebels and with
a tremendous population explosion
during those one thousand years, there will be
probably billions of people at the
end much like it is now. However the unbelievers
at that point will be as "the
number
of whom [is] as
the sand of the sea", v. 8.
(discoverrevelation.com)
1 “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key
of the bottomless
pit and a great
chain in his hand.” And I saw an angel come down from heaven;
coming down out of heaven. The usual mode of introducing a new vision (compare
ch.4:1, etc.). On account of ch.1:18, some have considered this angel to be Christ
Himself; but this is incorrect. As in ch.12:7-9, an angel is the immediate agent in this
expulsion of Satan
(vide infra).Having the
key of the bottomless pit; the abyss; as in
ch.
9:1-2, 11; 11:7; 17:8. In all these places the word signifies the present abode
of
Satan and his angels, whence they direct their operations
in hostility to
God, not the place of their final punishment (see v. 10).
In Luke 8:31
the word has exactly the same meaning; while in the only
remaining place
where it is used in the New Testament, viz. Romans 10:7, it
stands for
the place of abode of the souls of the dead. Having the
key of the abyss
therefore informs us that power is given to this angel over
Satan during the
time of this world’s existence. And a great chain in his hand; literally,
upon his hand, as if lying
on it and hanging from it; the chain evidently
symbolizing the power of the angel over the inhabitants of
the abyss, and
the purpose with which he now comes, viz. to restrain the
power of Satan.
This "angel" is not
Jesus Himself but is a ministering spirit that Jesus has given authority to.
This angel comes from heaven
(near the throne). We can assume from this that Jesus has
turned the key to the
bottomless pit over to this specific angel and has given him power
and authority for this job.
This "great
chain" in this angel's hand, shows the power God
has given him over the devil
for this task, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore
until the thousand years were
ended. The key shows authority, and the
chain depicts
imprisonment and binding.
Before the millennial kingdom begins, Satan is bound in the Abyss.
When he bound the devil for
the thousand years, the angel put him in the abyss, not in the
burning hell. This burning
hell was reserved for his final punishment.
Here we see the devil
spoken of as the dragon which
we read about in a previous lesson. We also see him recognized
as the serpent. You see, he
was the one who deceived Eve in the garden. The devil will not be
here on the earth to harass
the Christians until the millennial thousand year reign of Jesus is over.
(discoverrevelation.com)
Apparently this event will
follow immediately after the destruction of the assembled
armies. With all the
human rebels and their leaders vanquished, only the demonic
hosts remain opposed to the
will of the conquering Lamb of God. Now they also
must be dealt with and the
decision is to bind them in Hades for the time being,
along with all the other
spirits of rebellious men and angels already there.
As previously noted (see on ch. 9), various groups of fallen angels had long ago
been locked in various
compartments in the great cavity at the center of the earth.
There were still legions of
evil spirits free to do their master’s bidding, however,
and they had been especially active
during the years of the tribulation. They had
long feared being cast into
the abyss (translated “deep” in Luke 8:31), but finally
the dreaded time had come for
them also to join their fellows in Hades (note
Matthew 8:29). Although
these malevolent spirits are not mentioned specifically in this
passage, the binding of Satan
necessarily assures that all those under his command
will be put away as well. The angel who accomplishes this mission is
not identified
by John except that he has the
key of the bottomless pit. There is a possibility that
the angel is Christ Himself,
once again assuming the form of an angel (note on ch.8:3;
10:1). Christ had
uniquely claimed to have the keys of Hades (ch.1:18) and it would
be fitting for Him to dispatch
Satan there directly and personally. On the other hand,
He had on at least one
occasion (ch.9:1) given the key to another angel, and there does
seem a contextual intimation
that “Him
that sat upon the horse” (ch.19:21) and the
“angel come down from heaven” (ch.20:1), being mentioned in
two successive
verses, are probably two
different persons. If the angel is not Christ, it may possibly
be the great angel Michael,
who had long been a particular enemy of Satan’s (Jude 1:9;
ch.12:7). He and his angels
had cast the Devil and his angels to the earth at the middle
of the tribulation; it would
be appropriate for them now to thrust them all the way to
Hades. In addition to the keys to the abyssal pit,
the angel held a great chain in his
hand; with which to “bind
the strong man” (note Mark 3:27). This chain is obviously
not a physical chain, since a
spirit could hardly be restrained merely by a chain of iron.
Whatever its nature, it will
suffice to keep the Devil restrained in Hades throughout
the millennium. (The Revelation Record – Henry Morris)
2 “And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is
the Devil, and Satan,
and bound him a
thousand years, 3 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 he laid hold on the dragon, that old
serpent, which is the Devil, and
Satan. These titles are an exact
repetition of ch.12:9 (which see). And
bound him
a thousand years,
and cast
him into the bottomless pit. The
abyss, as we have seen
(on v. 1), is the present abode of Satan; the
act of binding, therefore, is now over.
This fact opposes the interpretation which makes “the thousand years” yet
in the future. When, then, did this binding take place?
Only one answer can
be given. It was when Christ bruised the serpent’s head by
His act of
redemption. Thus, “Christ was manifested that he might destroy
the works
of the devil” (I
John 3:8); “Now shall the prince of this world be cast
out.” (John
12:31); “The prince of this world hath been judged”
(John 16:11). Satan is the strong man bound (Matthew 12:26,
29).
Next, what is meant by “for
a thousand years”? The best interpretation
seems to be that this phrase expresses a quality, and does
not express a
period of time. That such a method of employing numbers is
usual in the
Apocalypse we have frequently seen (see on ch. 1:4, “seven;”
ch.13:1, “ten,” etc.).
Here, therefore, as in ch.7:4, “one thousand” signifies
“completeness.” Satan is bound
for a thousand
years;” that is, Satan is completely
bound. In Ezekiel (from which the
following part of the vision is certainly derived) a similar
use is made of the
terms “seven years” (Ezekiel 39:9) and “seven months” (ibid. v.12). But, again, in
what sense can Satan be said to have been “completely”
bound by our Lord’s work
of redemption? The answer is — In relation to the godly.
The purpose of this
sentence is that which is one great purpose of the whole
book, viz. to encourage
the struggling Christian. Thus this sentence assures
Christians that, for them, Satan
has been completely bound, and they need not despair nor
fear his might (compare
“loosed,” infra).
The chapter thus describes, not a millennium of the saints,
but the overthrow of Satan. Before the picture of the war
and the
overthrow, the saints are invited to behold the complete
security of those
who have not worshipped the beast nor his image; just as
the vision of
Christ victorious introduced the seal visions. 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 shut [it] and sealed [it] over him,
etc. It is possible that there is here a reference to the
death and burial of
Christ (Matthew 27:66). Satan met in reality that fate
which he was
able, in a shadowy and temporary form, to inflict on Jesus
— he was bound
and shut up in the abyss, and the abyss was sealed over
him. Satan was thus
bound “that he might
deceive the nations no more,” etc.; that is, Satan, in his
character of the deceiver
(compare ch.12:9) of the world, is thus limited in his
power by the
binding which has been described. The nations; in the sense of the
world, not the ungodly world. And after that he must be loosed a little
season. Omit “and.” “A little time” (μικρὸν χρόνον
–
micron chronon) is the
exact phrase used in ch.6:11, where it certainly means the
period of this
world’s existence. Such also is its meaning here. “He must be loosed”
signifies that Satan is, in regard to the ungodly, allowed
to work his will
during this period. The thousand years’ binding, and the
loosing for a little
time, describe two events which occur contemporaneously.
While the
godly need have no fear, because even in this world Satan’s
power as
regards them is completely limited by Christ’s act of
redemption, yet in
another sense, as regards the ungodly, Satan is loosed and
obtains power
over them. The chief difficulty in this interpretation lies
in the words, “after
this.” But it must be remembered that the “thousand years” do not
express
a period of time, but the quality of completeness.
Therefore the loosing of
Satan must not be supposed to take place in a period
subsequent to the
period of the binding. The seer wishes to describe the
devil in a twofold
character, subordinating the second to the first. He thus
says, “By Christ’s
redeeming work Satan is bound and fettered in regard to you
faithful
Christians; but there is also a second subordinate fact to
remember, that at
the same time he is powerful in his natural sphere, among
his own
adherents.” The binding of Satan in one direction being
immediately
followed by a display of power in another, and the former
fact being
expressed by the chronological symbolism of being bound for
a thousand
years, it is part of this chronological symbolism to
express the second fact
as taking place after the first, though a
subordination of the secondary to
the primary effect is really what is intended to be
conveyed.
The seal indicates God's
authority and guarantee that Satan will not be released until a
thousand years have passed.
During the Millennium (Latin for "one thousand years")
Satan will not be able to
tempt or deceive the nations. Any temptation to sin during
the Millennium must come from
within those people who are born after the kingdom
begins. It must be assumed
that all of Satan's demons or fallen angels are also
imprisoned at this time
(Isaiah 24:21-23). Christ will reign on earth without
opposition, and His kingdom
will be characterized by righteousness, peace,
and love (Isaiah 2:3-4;
11:3-5; Daniel 7:14; Zechariah 14:9). However, after
the thousand years Satan will
be released for a short while (v.7-9).
At the end of
the thousand years, Satan will
once again be released to deceive the nations. He
will find many unsaved
descendants of those who lived through the millennium.
There will be a very large
number as we are told in v. 8 as they will be like the sand
of the seashore or a vast
uncountable multitude. Satan's deceptive
way of getting
those sinners to revolt
against God is not revealed, but it will fit into God's plan
when He destroys those rebels.
These rebels will come from the four corners of the
earth and is also known as Gog and Magog. The first mention
of Gog and Magog
was in Ezekiel ch.38 and 39
(which I suggest reading), and is mentioned here in v. 8).
(discoverrevelation.com)
v. 2 - There is no doubt as to
who is being bound. It is the dragon, the persecutor of Christ and of
God’s people (ch.12:17).
It is the same old serpent who had tempted Eve (II Corinthians 11:3).
It is the Devil (“accuser,” “slanderer”), the originator of
sin (I John 3:8). It is Satan (“adversary”),
the wicked prince of darkness
who has tried by every means to destroy the work of Christ (Mark
1:13). He had been identified
before by all four of these names (ch.12:9), where he also had been
acknowledged as leader of a
third of the created angels, who had followed him in his rebellion
(ch.12:4). But now he is
finally to be bound. Here is the first
explicit reference to the “thousand
years.” The most obvious reason for
taking this term literally is that there is nothing in the context
to indicate otherwise.
The word “thousand” or “thousands”
is used frequently in the
New Testament, but never
before in any kind of symbolic sense. Occasionally it is used
in an indefinite way, for the
purpose of conveying the idea merely of a large number rather
than that of a precise count,
but never in such a figurative sense as would be required by
the amillennial
view. If the latter interpretation is followed (that is,
if the millennium
corresponds to the Church
Age), the “thousand years” has
already become almost two
thousand actual years. Furthermore, this period is said to be “a thousand years” no less
than six times in this passage
(vs. 2-7). It is as though the Holy Spirit wanted us to know
as emphatically and plainly as
possible that Satan was to be bound, and Christ and the
saints to reign on earth, for
a real chronological period of a thousand years!
Furthermore, the “binding” of Satan hardly squares
with the nonmillennial
viewpoint.
For the two thousand years of Christianity, it would
seem that Satan has been more
active than in all previous history, attempting, often
very successfully, to hinder and
thwart the preaching of the Word and the strengthening
and spiritual growth of God’s
people. “Be sober, be
vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour” (I Peter 5:8). This warning surely gives
no suggestion that Satan is presently bound and
powerless. Neither are his wicked hosts,
with whom we must “wrestle” constantly (Ephesians
6:11-13) in order to “stand against
the wiles of the devil.” (The Revelation Record – Henry Morris)
v. 3 - Somewhere deep in the
center of the earth a prison cell has been reserved for a special prisoner,
a cell in the remotest
recesses of the bottomless pit. The Greek word for this central cavity is
ἀβύσσος -
abussos, meaning literally “without depth” or “bottomless.” Modern translations call it the “abyss,”
but “bottomless” is a more
precise derivation. Located at the very middle of the earth, one could
not fall any deeper down, and every boundary is a ceiling. It seems that
such a place will be Satan’s
confine during the millennium,
as far removed from human beings as is possible to be on this planet.
He who is the father of lies
(John 8:44) and the deceiver of the whole world (ch.12:9) will be
absolutely shut off from
exercising his wiles (Ephesians 6:11) for a thousand years.
Not only
will he
be hurled to the center of the
earth, but he will be shut up in his cell, with its entrance invincibly
sealed so that he cannot even
direct his own demonic hosts while so restrained. These latter will
presumably likewise be bound
in appropriate compartments of Hades or the abyss, as will the
spirits of lost men and women,
there to await the judgment of the great day. A central cavity
no more than ten miles in
diameter could easily confine the spirits of all the fallen angels and
of all lost humanity through
the ages, even if each spirit still required as much space as a human
body. It is doubtful
whether such a cavity could ever be detected by scientific measurements
made by geophysicists on the earth’s
surface, but the Bible says it is there.
Eventually, toward
the close of the millennium,
Satan “must” be released for a brief period, apparently because
the people born during the
millennium must be tested. Incidentally, this is further proof that
the binding of Satan is more
than a relative semi-restraint on his power by virtue of Christ’s
victory over him at
and powers (Colossians
2:14-15) but if this is all that is meant by the millennial binding of the
Devil, then what is the
meaning of his subsequent unleashing? Is the victory at
become defeat again?
Such an idea is preposterous. In the meantime, with Satan bound for
a
thousand years, the world will
be freed from its most virulent source of evil. The awful physical
trauma through which the earth
had just passed during the seven years of its tribulation will
not only have purged it of its
human and demonic corruption but also, in considerable measure,
of its natural
deformities. Thus it will be prepared to serve appropriately as the
physical setting
of the great millennial
messianic kingdom.
The violent earthquakes and upheavals will have
leveled all the polluted
cities of a sinful world, the better to facilitate the erection of new, clean,
peaceful communities at the
beginning of the millennium. These great land movements will also
have eliminated the great
mountain ranges and islands of the world, filling up the ocean depths
and restoring gentle, globally
habitable topography and geography all over the world, as it
had
been in the antediluvian age, before the cataclysmic
upheavals of the great Deluge. As Isaiah
the prophet had foretold, “Every
valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be
made low: and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain” (Isaiah 40:4).
This reversal of the
topographic upheavals of the Flood, however, will not send waters over the
continents again, since much
of the waters of the oceans will already have been re-elevated above
the atmosphere, restoring in
some measure the antediluvian “waters above the firmament.”
(Genesis 1:7) The worldwide drought of the first half of
the tribulation, the cataclysmic
splashdowns of bodies from the
heavens during the trumpet judgments and the intensified
solar radiations of the bowl
judgments will all have contributed to the translation of vast
quantities of water vapor far
into the skies. Quite probably, the
immense tectonic movements,
eruptions, and landslides may
also have trapped vast quantities of water beneath fresh sedimentary
and volcanic deposits,
reinstating in partial degree the primeval pressurized reservoirs of “the
great
deep” (Genesis 7:11), facilitating the birth of
copious artesian springs, including one which will
feed the vast river emerging
from the millennial temple in
(I recommend Ezekiel 47 – Spurgeon Sermon – Waters to Swim In – this
website – CY – 2015)
Thus the seas of the
millennial world will be relatively narrow and shallow once again, as in
primeval
days. Furthermore, the
restoration of the vapor canopy should, in large measure, restore the globally
pleasant warm climate of the
antediluvian period to the earth again. (A short cut to what modern
Progressives are so upset
about in their theoretical “climate
change?” - CY –
2015) No longer will
great atmospheric movements
generate violent rainstorms, blizzards, hurricanes, and tornadoes, because
the uniform temperatures of
the global greenhouse will inhibit air mass movements of more than local
extent. In the
original world, the only rains were gentle mists, from localized daily
evaporation and
precipitation (Genesis 2:5),
keeping the world everywhere at comfortable temperatures and humidities,
and supporting an abundance of
plant and animal life in all regions of the globe. There were no deserts
or ice caps or uninhabitable
mountain heights. It was all “very good” (Genesis 1:31). The cataclysm of
the great Flood
destroyed
that beautiful world, but
the global upheavals of the great tribulation WILL
RESTORE IT, at least in measure. For example, note Joel’s prophecy: “Fear
not, O land; be glad and
rejoice: for the Lord will do great
things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the
wilderness do spring, for the
tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do
yield their strength.
Be glad then, ye children of
former rain moderately, and he will cause to
come down for you the rain, the former rain, and
the latter rain in the first
month” (Joel
2:21-23); see also Hosea 6:3, and Zechariah 10:1).
The redistribution of earth’s
topography and restoration of its vapor canopy will soon result in an
elimination of many, if not
all, of its wastelands and deserts: “The wilderness and the solitary place
shall be glad for them; and
the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. . . . for in the wilderness
shall waters break out, and
streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and
the thirsty land springs of water” (Isaiah 35:1-7; note also
Isaiah 30:23; 32:15; 51:3; Ezekiel 34:26;
36:33-35; etc.). Somehow there will also come a great healing
of the lands and waters of the earth.
Before the great Flood, the
soils were rich in all needed nutrients, and the drinking waters all came
pure and fresh from artesian
springs fed from deep underground reservoirs. The destruction of these
deep fountains and the
devastating land erosion of the great Flood largely destroyed God’s primeval
terrestrial ecology, leaving
the lands depleted and waters polluted. Originally all animals, as well
as man,
were to derive nourishment only
from plant foods (Genesis 1:29-30), but under the far more rigorous
conditions of the postdiluvian
environment, God authorized man to eat animal flesh as well (Genesis
9:2-4). Evidently for
the same reason many animals also had to become carnivorous. These conditions
were further aggravated during the long centuries after
the Flood, with the lands becoming further
impoverished and the waters
further contaminated, requiring increasingly great expenditures on
fertilization and
purification. The traumatic upheavals of the tribulation period had
brought these
conditions to a climax, with
devastating famine conditions and with terrestrial waters so depleted
and poisoned that all the
animals of the sea had perished. Had
such conditions been allowed to
persist much longer, all life
on earth would soon have become impossible.
In some marvelous way,
however, God will use the
physical convulsions of that awful
period of purging to cleanse the lands
and waters of the earth as
well as its moral and spiritual climate. Possibly the tectonic and
volcanic
upheavals, and perhaps even
the atmospheric bombardments, will implant new supplies of needed
nutrients and trace elements
in the soils. Even the multitudes of dead animals and plants in the lands
and oceans, as well as the
skeletons of the millions of dead men and horses at Armageddon and
elsewhere, may well become
fertilizing agents for the lands as their remains are scattered far and wide.
The unprecedented global earthquakes
and eruptions will trigger vast and violent landslides
and showers of dirt and rocks,
entrapping tremendous volumes of ocean waters beneath
great overburdens of solid
materials which will rapidly become pressurized, lithified,
and
partially sealed. This
will likely produce at last two important effects. In the first place,
the sea bottoms will be raised
to higher elevations than at present, compensating for the
great losses of water caused
by the restoration of the atmospheric canopy and by the
entrapment of vast volumes
beneath the huge landslides and rock showers. The entire
crust itself will, to some
unknown extent, have shifted and slipped over the earth’s
mantle, rearranging the
various continental plates to a more nearly uniform distribution
of land and sea surface areas,
but with relatively greater land areas than at present.
Second, this extensive
rearrangement of topography and formation of large pressurized
subterranean water pockets will
facilitate the development of a new terrestrial system of
springs and spring-fed rivers,
the waters of which will be purified by the processes of heating
and percolation. “I
will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys:
I will make the wilderness a
pool of water, and the dry land springs of water” (Isaiah 41:18).
Whether or not the ocean
population of fishes and other marine organisms will somehow be
replenished is
uncertain. The second bowl judgment (ch. 16:3)
had caused the death of
“every living soul . . . in
the sea,”
so that at least those fishes requiring a marine environment
had apparently been eliminated
from the so-called food chain. The third bowl judgment had
similarly affected the fresh
waters, except that no reference was made to death of fresh-water
organisms (ibid. v. 4) so that probably many of
these had survived, and they would be more
important for the future
millennial economy. In the description
of the great millennial river in
that every thing that liveth, which moveth, withersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and
there shall be a very great
multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they
shall be healed; and every
thing shall live whither the river cometh” (Ezekiel 47:9). This
river
will emerge from the new
temple (ibid. v.1) and may well
contain health-giving minerals acquired
from source beds deep under
the city. Perhaps also it may be artificially purified and fortified
as it issues from its spring
in the temple, using the knowledge and ingredients obtained from the
accumulated research of the
greatest minds of the ages, now redeemed and perhaps
instructed
by Christ
Himself. The scenario inferred in the
foregoing is bound to be incomplete and may
well be incorrect in many
respects. Further study and research on these fascinating possibilities
are in order, but the most
important point is to realize that GOD IS somehow going to revitalize
this tired old planet and make it ready for the glorious
order to do all this, the god
of this present age, the old dragon, Satan, must be completely
restrained from continuing his
nefarious and baleful influence over the earth. He must be
bound, and then the dominion
usurped by him can be unbound. “No man can enter into a
strong man’s house, and spoil
his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then
he will spoil his house” (Mark 3:27). “Because
the creature [better translated as “creation”]
itself also shall be delivered
from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the
children of God” (Romans 8:21). (The Revelation Record – Henry Morris)
4 “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
had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands;
and they lived
and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
And I saw thrones,
and they sat upon
them, and judgment was given unto them. This
describes the
position of Christians in this life. They sit upon thrones; that
is, they reign with
Christ. Judgment is given unto them; that is, by their conduct in the world the
world is judged and condemned.
John continually thus describes the Christian’s
position; and
such a picture is specially applicable for his purpose here, which is to
portray the glory of the Christian calling, and the
certainty of the Christian’s hope.
The redeemed have been made kings, and reign (ch.5:10). So
also Paul says we are
“blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).
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 had received
his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands. This is a
special reference to the martyrs made with the object mentioned above, viz. that
of
encouraging Christians in their warfare. The class here described forms part of the
whole body of Christians
alluded to in the first part of the verse (compare ch.6:10;
12:17; 19:10; also ch.13; 15:2). In the same way the souls
referred to in ch.6:9
are those existing during the period of this world,
which we have here understood
to be denoted indirectly by the “thousand years.” And they
lived and reigned with
Christ a thousand years. “The thousand years”
adopted in the Textus Receptus,
is
found in B and others, but omitted in א, A, and others. “They lived and reigned with
Christ” in
complete and perfect assurance, as in v. 2, and for the reason given in there,
viz. that, Satan was bound completely. This living and
reigning must not be limited to
the period after the death of the martyrs (though it is
doubtless true in this sense also),
notwithstanding the fact that John sees them here after
their death. It is as though he
would say, “You Christians sit upon thrones and reign with
Christ; yea, even those
who suffered shameful deaths shared this perfect safety and
exaltation, though to the
eyes of the world they were so afflicted and degraded.” They
lived is described in v. 5
as the “first resurrection.”. “He that heareth
my Word… hath everlasting life, and
shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death
unto life” (John 5:24);
“We have
passed from death unto life” (I John 3:14).
Many of the writers do not
believe that this thousand years is a literal time. I personally do.
They believe that this is
spiritual, and that Jesus bound the devil when He defeated him
on the cross. If that were so,
who is this terrible thing that has been nipping at my heels
all the time that I have been
working for God. The devil is real. Just as he brought trials
and tribulation (with
permission from God) on Job, Christians are allowed to go through
tribulation here on this earth
to make them strong. Believe me; the devil is not locked up
now. In the scripture above,
we find that the martyrs and those who refuse to take the
mark of the beast will reign
with Christ right here on this earth. Christians, from all
generations, will live here on
this earth during the millennium and will rule and reign
with the Lord Jesus. We will
rule with Christ during those years but we will not be
equal as we will reign as His subordinates.
Won't it be wonderful to reign with the
martyrs like Stephen? The thrones represent the administration of
the messianic
kingdom. Those whom John sees
come to life are the Tribulation martyrs, who
refused to worship the beast.
Christ will rule through three classes of kingdom
administrators:
Only believers will enter the
Millennium at its beginning (John 3:3 - 5).
God's promises to
Abraham (Genesis12:2-3) and
David (2 Samuel 7:16) will be fulfilled (Luke 1:31-33;
Romans. 11:15,29). After the
Millennium, Christ will deliver the kingdom to God the
Father and will then be
appointed Ruler forever (I Corinthians 15:24-28).
(discoverrevelation.com)
Four times in this chapter,
John says: “And I saw” (vs. 1, 4, 11-12), thus stressing that he
was an eyewitness of these
amazing events which are to come. Immediately after he saw
the beast and the false
prophet cast into the lake of fire and Satan cast into the bottomless
pit, he saw a vast array of
thrones waiting to receive their kingly occupants. Then, as he
watched, “they” sat upon them and
the authority to act as rulers and judges was assigned
to them. But who are these kingly judges, and who are
they to judge? In terms of the
narrative just preceding,
there can be only one answer as to the identity of the judges.
They are the same saints, dressed
in fine white linen, appropriate not only for the wedding
feast but also for judicial
robes, who comprised the armies accompanying Christ as He
returned to earth (ch.19:8,
14, 19). All those who had been redeemed by His blood,
resurrected from the grave, raptured into His presence, and evaluated for their rewards
at
His judgment seat will
apparently be assigned individual thrones of authority and judgment,
unless they are deemed
undeserving of any reward at all (1 Corinthians 3:11-15). This
remarkable situation is
promised in many Scriptures, both directly and in parables. “Do
ye
not know that the saints shall
judge the world?” (1 Corinthians 6:2-3). “Judgment was given
to the saints of the most
High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom”
(Daniel 7:22). The twelve apostles have already been
assigned their own specific jurisdiction.
“When the Son of man shall sit
in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of
in proportion to faithfulness,
according to the parable of the pounds (Luke 19:11-27) and the
parable of the talents
(Matthew 25:14-30). Even in the
introduction to the Book of Revelation,
this future role of the saints
is implied: “[He] loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own
blood, and hath made us kings
and priests unto God and His Father” (ch.1:5-6; 5:9-10).
Furthermore, such authority is
to be executed rigidly, conforming to the “iron scepter” principle
already noted (see ch.2:26-27)
under the direct command of Christ Himself (ch.19:15). In fact,
as the verse under discussion
plainly says: this reign of the saints will be with Christ. Nor will the
tribulation saints be forgotten
in this assignment of jurisdiction, even though they were not
among those resurrected and raptured at the beginning of the tribulation. They
are, in fact,
accorded very special
recognition, in view of the unique circumstances which they have
suffered. They had
maintained a faithful witness for the Lord Jesus and the truth of His
Word under some of the most
severe difficulties ever experienced. All official or semi-
official toleration of
Christianity by the governments of the nations had been withdrawn
soon after the rapture, and
those who dared to accept Christ had very soon faced fierce
persecution everywhere.
Many had been slain even in the early years of the tribulation
(ch.6:9). Then a
systematic extermination of believers had become the official policy of
the world government when the
beast acquired total power at the middle of the tribulation.
Those who refused to worship
the beast and receive his mark had been relentlessly hunted
and executed. John now saw the “souls” of all these who
had died for their faith, just as
he had seen the souls of some
of them under the heavenly altar near the beginning of the
tribulation. As each had
been martyred during the tribulation, the soul of each had been
translated to the heavenly
temple, there to await this moment.
Finally now, they also
participate in the glorious
resurrection of the dead. They “lived”! This simple
declaration
is the climax of all their
sufferings, and far more than compensates for all they had endured a
s they witnessed for Christ
and His Word. They had cried “How long?” and now their blood
had been avenged
(ch.6:10). The statement that they “lived” can only refer to the
resurrection
of their bodies. Amillennialists like
to interpret this as referring to a resurrection of the soul at
the time of conversion, but
this is obviously a case of forced exegesis. Souls do not die and,
hence, cannot be resurrected.
The souls of these martyrs all along had been very much alive
and aware and able even to speak,
but now their bodies also “lived again” (v. 5), so that they
also could reign with
Christ. The resurrection thus includes the resurrection of Christ as the
first-fruits, then the
resurrection of those who had died before His second coming in the air,
and finally the resurrection
of those who die between the time He comes to the air and the
time He finally returns to
earth. Thus will these tribulation
saints also be installed on
millennial thrones with
appropriate spheres of authority, there to reign over the earth with
Christ for a thousand
years. In ch.5:10 the throng assembled at the heavenly throne had
anticipated this coming
privilege and responsibility, singing: “Thou hast made us unto our
God kings and priests: and we
shall reign over the earth.” The
declarative statement in this
verse of the millennial reign
of Christ and His saints is sparse in details concerning the nature
of that reign and conditions
in the world at that future time. Such information has already
been provided, however, in
previous passages of both Old and New Testaments, so is not
repeated here by John.
One very vital item of information is given here for the first time,
namely, the duration of this
period. That bit of information is given here no less than six
times, in fact, so there
should be no doubt that this wonderful future “dispensation,” also
known by some as the “mediatorial kingdom,” will endure for a thousand
years. The period
will apparently be initiated
by an event known as the judgment of the nations, described in
Matthew 25:31-46. Its
chronology is clearly just following the tribulation. “Immediately
after the tribulation of those
days . . . they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds
of heaven with power and great
glory” (Matthew
24:29-30). Then, in the next chapter,
the narrative part of this
great Olivet discourse continues: “When the Son of man shall
come in His glory, and all the
holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne
of His glory: And before Him shall
be gathered all nations [or, “Gentiles,” which is
the
same Greek word, ἐθνῶς - ethnos]: and He shall separate them one from
another, as a
shepherd divideth
his sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:31-32). The account in
Revelation has given us the
further information that, before this assumption of His
glorious earthly throne,
Christ had already slain the armies massed at Armageddon
and resurrected His
tribulation martyrs. Thus the only ones left on earth are those
followers of the beast who
were not in the armies at Armageddon and who had not
already perished in the
plagues, as well as those who had managed somehow to escape
the beast’s executioners while
still refusing to receive his mark. These are evidently
the goats and the sheep,
respectively. These will all be gathered
to His throne from the
ends of the earth by the holy
angels (Matthew 24:31). There will not be too many,
though that exact number is
unknown. “Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty,
and maketh
it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants
thereof . . . Therefore hath
the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are
desolate: therefore the
inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left” (Isaiah
24:1-6). Superficially
the basis of the judgment of these survivors of the tribulation period
may seem legalistic, but
actually it is very realistic in the context of the tribulation. Those
who were adjudged as “goats”
had refused succor “to the least of these my brethren,”
when they had suffered for
lack of food or drink or clothing, or were even languishing
in prison, no doubt awaiting
execution, either because they were afraid to help or because
they agreed with their
persecutors, or both. Both attitudes characterized people who
either had, or would have, if
the beast’s minions had reached them, received the dread
“mark” of the beast.
Consequently, in view of the dire warning of ch.14:9-11, they must
be condemned. No doubt,
they, like their compatriots at Armageddon, will then be slain,
with their souls dispatched
for a time to Hades. Ultimately, these must depart into
“everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). The “sheep,”
on the other hand, had been both
compassionate and courageous, rendering such help as
the could to these persecuted “brethren”
of the son of man, at the risk of their own lives.
Such people would undoubtedly
have refused the mark of the beast if his emissaries had
reached them, and thus had
exhibited that attitude of faith toward their Creator and His
Word which either had resulted
in their acceptance of Him as their Lord and Savior or
would have as soon as the true
gospel of Christ was made known to them.
The immediate
destiny of these, however, was
not departure to heaven, but to “inherit the
kingdom
prepared for you
from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Eventually, of
course, their great faith,
which had manifested itself in such gracious and courageous
works, like the great men and
women of faith catalogued in Hebrews 11, would assure
also their entrance into “life eternal” (Matthew 25:46). The “brethren”
of whom the
Lord had spoken could only be
the persecuted tribulation martyrs, both Jew and Gentile,
Jesus said: “. .
. my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it” (Luke
8:21).
Jesus called His disciples “my
brethren” (Matthew 12:49; John 20:17), but never the Jews,
as a nation.
Prophetically He said: “I will declare thy name unto my brethren,
in the midst
of the church will I sing
praise unto thee” (Hebrews 2:12). The “goats,”
no doubt, at this
time are composed almost
exclusively of Gentiles (hence the “judgment of the Gentiles”),
since the nation
with the final result of its
complete national conversion at the glorious return of Christ
(Zechariah 12:10; 13:1; Romans
11:26). These redeemed of
this time “inherit the kingdom,” and
thus enter the millennium, ready to enjoy the
fulfillment of all God’s
ancient promises to their fathers. From
each nation, with
at the head, will thus come a
remnant to rebuild their devastated countries. Even though
the initial population of each
nation will be small, the conditions and incentives will be
present to encourage large
families, and the populations will grow rapidly. Furthermore,
antediluvian
longevity will be restored. “There shall be no more thence an infant of days,
nor an old man that hath not
filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old;
but the sinner being an
hundred years old shall be accursed” (Isaiah 65:20). This may be
accomplished partially by the
restoration of antediluvian climatological and
agricultural
conditions and partially by
new technologies developed by millennial scientists. In fact,
scientific and technological
research will thrive as never before, as mankind seeks as never
before to fulfill its primeval
commission to “subdue the earth” (Genesis 1:28).
will be the chief nation of the world during the
millennium. “And many nations shall come,
and say, Come, and let us go
up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the
God of Jacob; and He will teach
us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for the
law shall go forth of
Other nations will be expected
to honor
shall come to pass, that every
one that is left of all the nations which came against
Jerusalem shall even go up
from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts,
and to keep the feast of
tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all
the families of the earth unto
upon them shall be no rain” (Zechariah 14:16-17). A
great temple will be established
in
again, complete with priestly
orders and sacrificial animal offerings. The worship will not
be mere ritual, however, as it
often was in pre-Christian
sacrifice shall come and take
of them and seethe therein and in that day there shall
be no more the
Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.!” (Zechariah 14:21).
Such animal sacrifices had
been, of course, set aside after the death and resurrection of
Christ, for “He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever”
(Hebrews 10:12). During the
Christian dispensation, the
gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ needed
no animal sacrifices either as
evidence of faith or as aid to faith. In the millennium,
however, it will be
different. It will be easy to believe in Christ – in fact almost
impossible
not to believe. No longer
will one suffer ridicule or persecution if he takes a stand for Christ,
nor will he ever be led astray
by evolutionary teachings in the schools or by overt temptations
to sin by his peers. In every dispensation, salvation is offered
only by the grace of God on
the basis of the substitutionary death of Christ for sin. Before His
first coming people had
given evidence of their faith
in God’s promised redemption by offering sacrificial animals
in atonement for their
sins. In that case, the sacrifices had served both as a significant aid
to faith and as a testimony to
their faith. Even in the Christian age “faith without works
is dead” (James 2:20), but that
faith is exercised in THE PERSON AND FINISHED
WORK OF CHRIST as confirmed and recorded in
the Holy Scriptures of the New
Testament. In the Millennial Age, with the glorified
Christ and His resurrected and
reigning saints personally
present and with Satan and his hosts out of the way, there will
be no room whatsoever for
intellectual doubt as to the deity of Christ and the truth of
His Word. Nevertheless,
salvation will still require a personal faith and commitment to
Christ and, more than ever,
the genuineness of such faith must be evidenced by works.
It may well be that this is at
least part of the reason for the reinstitution of animal sacrifices.
In the days of His
humiliation, it requires strong faith to believe in His coming
glorification.
In the days of His glory, it
will be difficult to remember and believe in His humiliation and
death, and yet it is still as important
as ever that men and women understand and believe
that they are sinners and can ONLY BE SAVED THROUGH THE SUBSTITUTIONARY
DEATH OF CHRIST for their sins. Thus, the animal
sacrifices will be a memorial and
reminder of the great saving
work of Christ, and thus will also serve both as an aid and
evidence of faith. (The Revelation Record – Henry Morris)
5 “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the
thousand years were
finished. This is the first resurrection.” But the rest of the dead lived not again
until the thousand years
were finished; should be finished. Omit
“but;” omit “again.”
It is important
to notice the omission of “again;” the rest of the dead lived not
until, etc. The best
explanation of these words seems to be that the “rest of
the dead” refers to those Old Testament saints and others (such as
godly
heathens) who were in the world before Christ’s act of
atonement — “the
thousand years” (see on v. 2, above) — had been accomplished. They
could not be said to have lived, in the high sense
in which John uses the
word, not having known Christ; for “in Him was life” (John
1:4; 5:40,
etc.). But by Christ’s redeeming work, these were placed on
a level with
Christians (compare Luke 7:28, “John the Baptist: but he that is
least in the
these all, having obtained a good report through faith,
received not the
promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that
they without
us should not be made perfect”). This is the
first resurrection. These
words refer both to the reigning of those mentioned in v.
4, and to the
living of those in v. 5 (vide supra). This “first resurrection” is the
spiritual rising with Christ, which is a consequence of His
redeeming work.
It is to be noticed that John nowhere makes use of the
phrase, “second
resurrection,” though he does use the words, “second
death.” Both the
“first resurrection” and the “second death” are spiritual
operations.
The first part of v. 5 is a
parenthesis, and comes chronologically after v. 11.
A parenthesis is defined: A
qualifying or amplifying word, phrase, or sentence
inserted within written matter
in such a way as to be independent of the
surrounding grammatical
structure. The first resurrection is the
resurrection
included in v. 4. It has three
principal phases:
·
The resurrection of Christ (the first-fruits –
ch.1:5; I Corinthians 15:23);
·
The resurrection of the church (the dead in Christ – ibid.; I Thessalonians 4:16); and
·
The resurrection of Old Testament and Tribulation
saints (v.4;
Isaiah 26:19; Daniel
12:2). The rest of the dead (unbelievers) will
be raised in the second resurrection,
described
in vs. 12-13.
The first resurrection is a
resurrection to life (John 5:28-29), whereas the second resurrection
is a resurrection to
death. The second death is eternal punishment in the lake of fire (see
vs.14)
discoverrevelation.com)
The “rest of the dead,” of
course, refers to the unsaved men and women whose souls are
imprisoned
in Hades. This statement (that they “lived not again”) makes it crystal
clear
that
the “resurrection”
of which these verses speak is a bodily
resurrection. At the end of
the
millennium, Hades delivers up these spirits so that they also live again in the
body (v.13).
Their
souls had never ceased to have conscious existence (see for example, Luke
16:23, as
well
as here, ch. 6:9-10). So the phrase “live
again” would be quite meaningless except in
terms
of the body. The resurrection of the
unsaved will be the “resurrection unto damnation,”
which
was distinguished as a separate resurrection from the “resurrection
of life” by the Lord
Jesus
Christ in John 5:29. He also implied that “the resurrection of the just” was
a distinct
event
(Luke 14:14). Here, finally, it is revealed that the “first resurrection” precedes
the
second
by a thousand years. This resurrection
of the souls of the tribulation martyrs thus
completes
the first resurrection. In the final sentence of this verse, the word “is” appears
in
italics (KJV) indicating its absence in the original. The sense of the
sentence is simply,
“This
completes the first resurrection.”
The word “resurrection” in Greek is
anastasis - meaning literally “standing again.” It is used forty
times in the New Testament,
and
always refers most naturally to a bodily rising from the dead (John 11:24; Acts
4:33).
There
is certainly no warrant for taking it to mean something else in this passage.
The “first resurrection” does occur in more than one stage, according
to I Corinthians
15:20-23. The
resurrection of the dead began with Christ Himself, as the “firstfruits
of them that slept,” followed immediately by “many bodies of the saints”
which
“came out of the graves after His resurrection” (Matthew 27:52-53).
Next comes the
rapture,
when “the
dead in Christ shall rise” along with the living saints (I
Thessalonians
4:16-17).
At the middle of the tribulation the two witnesses rise (ch.11:11) and now
finally
all the rest of the tribulation martyrs.
(The Revelation Record
– Henry Morris)
6 “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.”
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; over these the second death hath
no authority. The
first words describe the state
of those who have part in the
spiritual resurrection with Christ (see on v. 5). The second clause gives to the
oppressed Christian
the culminating reason for patience and perseverance. The
“second death” is the spiritual death of the
lake of fire (v. 14). Priests of God, etc.
(compare ch.1:6; 5:10). A thousand years; in
complete and everlasting
security (see on v. 2, et seq.). We may in
this place briefly indicate some
of the other interpretations which have been given to this
reign of. the
saints for a thousand years, or, as it is generally styled,
the millennium.
(1) The literal
interpretation of a future reign on
earth of Christ with his
saints for a thousand years. According to this view, there
is to be a first
resurrection of the dead (either of the holy dead or of all
the dead), then
the period of a thousand years, during which Satan will be
bound, and the
saints will reign; then finally the ultimate punishment of
Satan — the
casting into the lake of fire. Some limit the locality of
this reign to a
particular spot on the earth (e.g.
ungodly. The objections to this theory are:
Some place
the millennium in the future, others in the past. Of these
latter some
specify the first thousand years of the Christian age, others
the
thousand years from the time of
period,
the number and class of the believers who shall be partakers of
its glory, the condition in which they are to
live, the work in which
they are
to be engaged, the relation in which the exalted Redeemer
is to
stand to them,” are all subjects for disagreement.
teaching
of the Bible, and unlike the spiritual nature which our Lord
Himself
assumed after His resurrection.
conceive
of them as living in the world in its present state, and a large part
of which
is inhabited by the ungodly.
between
the saints in such a case and the ungodly. If Satan is bound during
this
period so that he can deceive the nations no more, whence comes the
evil which
exists among the ungodly portion of the world?
the
Apocalypse.
this view,
but is in positive opposition to it, in such points as a continuance
of evil
after Christ’s second coming; the existence of an interval between
His coming
and the judgment instead of a sudden coming to judgment
(compare
John 6:40, “I will raise him up at the last day”).
(2) The spiritual
.interpretation, which makes the
thousand years
expressive of the whole Christian age. This seems to a
certain extent true,
since what the thousand years signifies does have its
effect during this time
in the reign of the saints. But it seems inexact, since it
makes the thousand
years symbolical of a length of time, instead of a quality
attached to an
action. What is meant is not that Christ bound Satan during
the period of
the Christian age (though, as we have seen, there is a
sense in which he is
so bound as regards believers), for, on the contrary, he
goes about like a
roaring lion; but that he bound and overthrew him
completely for all
Christians by His redeeming work.
We Christians are the blessed.
You can easily see that the wicked dead have no part
in this resurrection. We
believers in Christ (the redeemed) are not subject to death
because we have life (which
Jesus breathed into us), when we were born again.
We will never
die. This
second death mentioned here is for the lost. Not only
will the Christians reign on
this earth with Jesus for a thousand years, but we will
live for all
eternity in heaven with Jesus, because we have eaten of the Tree of Life
which is Jesus Christ our
Lord. What is the Millennium? Christ's 1000 year reign
upon David's throne is the
fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham,
and to David, but its more
than that. It is the final proof of the
incorrigible nature
of man's sinful
heart. Christ
is present in
of all ages in resurrected
bodies administer the kingdom righteously under His
direction. All evil is
prohibited and punished immediately. Even Satan is locked
away so that he cannot in any
way influence mankind. (discoverrevelation.com)
No matter which stage of the
first resurrection one may participate in, he is thereby assured
that his future life will be
one of blessedness and holiness. He may have experienced the
pains of death, but these will
all be forgotten in the glorious resurrection, and he will
never
die again. The awful second death which
awaits the unsaved at the “second” resurrection
annot touch him any more than it
could the body of the risen Christ (ch. 1:18). (The
Biblical formula is:
·
born Once, DIE TWICE!
·
BORN TWICE, DIE ONCE! - CY – 2015)
On the other hand, the obverse
side of this fifth of Revelation’s beatitudes suggests that
the second death does
have the “authority” in the case of all those who do not participate
in the first
resurrection. Their future is one of misery and
corruption, forever, in the lake
of fire, rather than one of eternal blessedness and holiness in the fellowship of
CHRIST!
Not only will the saints reign
with Christ a thousand years, but also they will be His priests
(ch.1:6), thus directing both
the civil government and spiritual instruction for the millennial
populations. Christ is High Priest, as well as King of kings,
and all the resurrected saints
will exercise varied religious
and political functions under His supreme command throughout
the millennium, in accord with
the faithfulness of their service in this present life.
The detailed manner and
variety of these administrations is yet to be revealed. The resurrected
saints have their citizenship
in heaven, not on earth (Philippians 3:20), and it is likely that once
they have been awarded the heavenly “mansion” prepared for them by Christ
(John 14:2-3),
they will never again reside
on earth – at least not until their heavenly city descends from heaven
to the renovated earth at the
end of the millennium (ch. 21:2). Presumably at
proper times,
they will appear on earth to
exercise prescribed duties with respect to their earthly charges.
For example, the resurrected
apostles of the Lord have been promised that they will be assigned
earthly thrones from which
they will judge the twelve tribes of
also that the resurrected King
David may be placed over the entire nation of
37:24-25; Jeremiah 30:9; Hosea
3:5). Some will be assigned jurisdiction over ten cities,
some over five (Luke 19:17,
19). Apparently there will be a hierarchy of authority assigned
to the saints in either civil
or religious duties or both. It may appear
at first that the hosts of
resurrected saints, including
all the redeemed of all the ages, will so far outnumber the
depleted population of the
earth at the beginning of the millennium, that there will be more
“kings and priests” than
“subjects.” Although the Scriptures give very little specific information
about this intriguing topic,
there are a number of factors at least to be considered. In the first
place,
not all the saints will
receive a reward. Many will “scarcely be saved” and “shall
suffer loss”
(I Peter 4:18; I Corinthians
3:15), so that the opportunity they might have had for fruitful service
in the millennial age will be
given to others (Luke 19:24-26). Thus there may even be many of
the raptured
and glorified saints who will still themselves need some measure of supervision
and guidance during at least
the first years of the millennium. Those who had attained a
higher state of spiritual
knowledge and effectiveness in the days of their flesh may well
serve as teachers and leaders
for those who died as “babes in Christ,” at least for the
early
years when the human
population on earth is still low.
Furthermore their ministries will be
needed for all those who had
died while still too young (many even still in the fetal state)
(What do you
think has happened to the millions and millions of aborted children whom
those not
present in the millennium, have thought were just “a blob of
tissue?”
– CY –
2015) to have even reached the so-called “age of
accountability.” They must surely be
allowed to grow to maturity
somehow, both physically and spiritually, and many of the
more mature saints may well
have assignments to train and tutor these. Possibly the Lord
may assign many of these
specific duties to godly redeemed women in the heavenly
city.
There is no way to know
precisely how many resurrected saints will be there in heaven in
these glorious days to come
during the millennium, but a reasonable guess might be about
4 billion. This is
roughly equal to the present population of the world and is ten percent of
what seems to be a plausible
figure for the total number of men and women who have lived
since Adam (probably about 40
billion). Since the large majority of people die in an unsaved
condition (Matthew 7:13-14),
the ten percent figure seems at least reasonable. Whatever the
number may be, it will
undoubtedly be much larger than terrestrial populations at the beginning
of the millennium.
However, the conditions favorable to human fertility and longevity will
have been restored, as
discussed earlier, and it will not take many years before God’s primeval
command to “fill
the earth” (Genesis 1:28; 9:1) will be essentially accomplished, with
numbers
of people like “the
sand of the sea” (v. 8). There will by that time be such
an abundance of
people on earth as indeed to
provide adequate challenge for all the saints, both those who were
prepared for such
responsibilities at the beginning of the thousand years and those who had
required further training
during its early years. There is one
other intriguing possibility. There
exists “an
innumerable company of angels” (Hebrews 12:22) and these were
created to be
“ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be
heirs of salvation” (Hebrews 1:14).
This
relationship presumably will continue forever, since there is no intimation in
Scripture that it
will
be changed in the new earth. Many of
these angels have rebelled against God, following
Satan,
and these will all be consigned to everlasting fire (Matthew 25:41).
Those who had
remained
faithful to their calling, however, and who thus will still be subservient to
the will
of
Christ, will probably also be under the direction of those who will “reign
with Him.”
This
is likely the meaning of the rather cryptic reference in I Corinthians
6:3. “Know ye
not that we shall judge angels?
how much more things that pertain to this life?”
(The
Revelation Record – Henry Morris)
Gog and Magog
One of the most amazing
commentaries on the fallen human nature to be found in all the
Word of God is right here in
this passage. After one thousand years of a perfect human
environment, with an
abundance of material provisions and spiritual instruction for everyone,
no crime, no war, no external
temptation to sin, with the personal presence of all the resurrected
saints and even of Christ
Himself, and with Satan and all his demons bound in the abyss, there
are still a multitude of
unsaved men and women on earth who are ready to rebel against the Lord
the first time they get a chance. (The Revelation Record – Henry Morris)
7 “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be
loosed out
of his
prison,” are finished; that is,
the power of the devil having been
in
principle completely overthrown by our Lord (see on preceding verses),
Satan is still permitted to wage war and exercise sway on the earth.
“His prison” is
the “abyss”
of vs. 1, 3 (compare also v. 3).
Satan and his demons will be
imprisoned in the abyss for a thousand years while Christ
rules with unopposed
sovereignty. They are not permitted to interfere in the affairs
of the kingdom in any
way. All those who initially went into
the kingdom were
without doubt redeemed sinners
who had turned to Christ in faith. The bad news
is that they still will
possess a sinful human nature. That sin nature is passed on to
their children, grandchildren,
etc. Thus each generation born in the
millennium will
have need for salvation. Many will come to salvation but amazingly
despite the most
moral society
the world will ever know, a great number will
love their sin and reject Him.
When Satan is loosed, he
provides the leadership needed to bring the latent sin and
rebellion to the surface of
those unrepentant sinners. This act of rebellion will start
immediately when he is
released.
(discoverrevelation.com)
Note that Satan does not
escape from his prison. The Lord Jesus Christ is on the throne of
the cosmos, with all power in
heaven and earth belonging to Him. Even though the saints
are reigning with Him, it is
His authority which they exercise, and Satan is firmly
bound
in his prison, utterly
helpless to interfere. Even though King David, in his resurrected
body,
may have been assigned
immediate jurisdiction over
David, Jesus Christ, actually
rules over the whole world from the throne of David in
and will do so for ever (11:15; Isaiah 9:7; Luke 1:31-33; Isaiah 2:2-4; Micah 4:1-4).
He will
be in absolute control,
ruling all nations with a rod of iron (Psalm 2:6-12). And yet, according
to v. 3 of this chapter,
Satan must be loosed a little season. During the wonderful Millennial
Age,
any crime and overt
wickedness will have been rigidly prevented. Although ample time will be
provided for such flagrant
sinners to repent, they likely will be exposed to capital punishment if
they have not done so by age
100 (Isaiah 65:20). Furthermore, everyone will be well exposed to
the truth concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ as their Creator, Redeemer, and King. (Isaiah 11:9;
Jeremiah 31:34 – CY –
2015) They will probably be able to see
Him personally if they wish,
as well as the glorified
saints who are more directly accessible to them as their own kings
and priests. They will
be well instructed in the necessity of substitutionary
sacrifice for
salvation from sin, as
each nation must regularly send delegates to
memorial animal sacrifices, (talking about that not constitutional phrase – separation
of church and state” – the loudest squawkers of today
and now will not have
to worry
about this if they
continue their current trend as the will be LONG GONE! – CY – 2015)
keeping ever before them the
remembrance that, long ago, their great King in
Himself borne their sins in
His own body as He died on the tree of
(I Peter 2:24). And yet, with all these privileges, with
every possible incentive to believe on
His name and to love and
serve Him, there will still be multitudes who will reject Him in their
hearts. These will not
be those who first enter the millennium, of course, but will come from
the generations of those who
follow them. These, for the most part, will refrain from overt
acts of sin and rebellion,
but this restraint for many will be one of fear, not love. To men and
women who have been born and
raised in such an ideal environment, so that all
they have ever
known is peace, prosperity
and righteousness, the stories told them about the former
ages
by their parents and by
their heavenly rulers and teachers will sound increasingly fanciful
as the centuries go
by. Soon those ancient times will begin to seem glamorous,
with their
supposed freedom and
excitement, and many in the younger generations will begin inwardly
to resent the constraints
under which they must live.
Even though Satan is bound, and there
re no external temptations to
doubt God or to disobey His will, they are not innocent, like
Adam
and Eve in the garden. Their hearts are naturally “deceitful and desperately
wicked”
(Jeremiah
17:9), simply by virtue of genetic inheritance, and they must consciously
accept
Christ
as personal Savior if they are to be saved just as their ancestors did.
With so little
contact
with overt sin and with provision of every material need to easily available, this may
be even more difficult for them than it had been for their forebearers. It is apparently for
such
reasons that the Devil, and presumably all his hosts, must be released for a
little season.
All
these millennial generations, all of which are living, must also be confronted
with a clear-cut
choice.
Will they trust their great Savior and King in
have the opportunity, choose sin as their life-style and Satan as
their god? This will be
MANKIND’S
LAST AND GREATEST TEST! In
former ages, men had used their
environmental
problems, such as poverty, pornography, war, intellectual pressures, and
sickness
as EXCUSES FOR REJECTING CHRIST? But with
all these suppressed
for
almost a thousand years, there is no more excuse but their own sinful hearts, and
these must be exposed. (The
Revelation Record – Henry Morris)
8 “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 shall go out
to deceive the nations which are in the
four quarters of
the earth, Gog and Magog; four corners. The
signification of “Gog and Magog” (vide infra)
shows in what sense “the
nations” is used. It is in the limited sense of the ungodly of the
world, not
in the wider sense in which the expression is used (without
any qualifying
clause) in v. 3. Magog in
Genesis 10:2 is mentioned among the sons
of Japheth who were the ancestors of the northern nations
(compare Ezekiel
38:15 and 39:2). Hence the name Magog
is used to denote the northern
tribes, whose invasion of
B.C. 630-600. From Ezekiel 39, it seems that Gog was originally a leader
among these tribes; and from Ezekiel 38:16-17 it seems that Ezekiel took
these names to be symbolical of all the foes of the people
of God. Jewish
tradition makes use of these names to indicate those
nations who were
expected to war against
by the Messiah. Hence the employment of the terms hero by
John as
denoting the ungodly people of the world, amongst whom
Satan still
exercises his power, though that power is limited to these,
and he is
completely bound as regards true believers. To gather them together to
battle: the number
of whom is as the sand of the sea; to the war; the
article points definitely to the war of ch.19:19 and 16:14.
It is a
prolonged war, not a battle, because lasting
throughout life. The vastness
of the hosts of Gog and Magog is alluded to in Ezekiel 38:3, 16. This is
in conformity with our Lord’s teaching: “Many
are called, but few are
chosen” (Matthew
22:14; compare also 7:14).
In Genesis 10:2 we find Magog was a son of Japeth, Noah’s
son. The name Magog
can mean “the place of Gog,”
and so quite possible refers to
the
ancestor of the Scythians,
who also originially inhabited the
is commonly associated in the Bible with
two other sons of Japheth – Meshech and
Tubal (epecially
Ezekiel 38:2). Meshech
clearly is preserved in the name Muskovi
(the former name of
monuments as the Tibareni,
and probably has been preserved in the modern Russian
city of
which modern “
Japheth, Magog, Meshech and Tubal, can be
considered as the progenitors of
the modern Russian peoples. (The Genesis Record – Henry Morris)
In
news headlines today, being October 1, 2015,
gotten
ISIS,
but against those Syrian natives against
Gog and Magog: The use of these names here
and in Ezekiel 38-39 has confused some
readers. A thorough reading of
the two passages will reveal that the events are not the
same. The one thing these
events have in common is that both national entities (Gog
and
Magog) are driven by the spirit of
rebellion against God. In these two cases, God uses
the same names because of the
deceptively satanic spirit that motivates them both. They
will muster their forces from
one corner of the globe to the other and will march on
But there will be no battle.
No call to arms. No defensive strategy or late night
negotiations or propaganda
campaign or deploying of gigantic nuclear weapons.
The four quarters of the earth
refers to the entire globe. Gog is used as a title
for
an enemy of God's people, not
a particular person. Magog seems to be the term
used here to describe area
where the sinful rebels of all the nations come from that
gather together for the last
war in human history. The number of
these rebels will
be like the sand of the
seashore which is a figure of speech used in the bible to define
a vast and uncountable
multitude. Consider how when Joseph sent for his father and
family that a total of 70
people came to
millions who God lead out of
will go into the millennium
and there will be 250% more time for procreation. There
will probably be many billions
of people at that time so Satan could have a huge
gathering that will join
together for that final battle. "the number of whom [is] as the
sand of the sea." (discoverrevelation.com)
Satan has always been the
great deceiver and even a thousand years in the bottomless pit
will not change either his
character or goals one iota. Once again, even after all his defeats,
he will set out to destroy
God, using the same old strategy of deception to enlist his human
allies. This time, his
prospects are actually greater than they have ever been, because the
human population will have
reached its highest number in history. Mankind will finally,
as a result of a thousand
years of longevity and perfect environment, “fill the earth,” and
the population will be
practically innumerable, like the sand of the sea. But even the old
Devil may be surprised at his
success. He will find the various nations much as he had
known them for thousands of
years, but more ripe for his deceptions than they had ever
been before. Certain of
the nations had begun to neglect their duty to go to
for the feast of tabernacles,
for example, and had been punished by a serious drought
in their lands.
dispatches his demonic
emissaries once again to the human kings of the earth, he will
be delighted at his quick and
wide success (compare ch.16:13-16). No doubt, the
demonic surge will be
resisted by the resurrected saints serving as kings and priests
to the nations, but not even
they will be able to stem the wholesale defections of the
world’s multitudes, eager for
a chance to escape the bondage of righteousness. The
age-old deceptions will again
accomplish their deadly mission and gullible masses
will soon return to the
evolutionary faith of their fathers, rejecting all the incontrovertible
proofs that God is Creator
and Savior, preferring to hope that the universe itself is the
only eternal entity, out of
which had emerged both God and Satan.
Needing human
leadership for his
demon-possessed armies, Satan will find the most receptive minds
and hands among those ancient
enemies of the Lord, Gog and Magog.
course, had been completely
destroyed just before the millennium, but the great
northern kingdom of Magog had again become strong and prosperous, like the
other
nations, and was ready to
take the lead once again in opposing God.
Magog, grandson
of Noah and second son of
Japheth, had founded the great kingdom north of the Black
and
seems to have been faintly
preserved in the name of the ancient nation of
Similarly, Magog’s brothers, Meshech and Tubal, who also migrated into these northern
regions, are probably still
slightly recognizable in the names Moskva (
Tobolsk. There is
little in the Scriptures about the histories of these people, except
Ezekiel 38 and 39, and not
much light yet from archaeology. But everything that is
known does point to the
complex of peoples who would become the progenitors of
the great Russian empire of
the latter days. The two key chapters describing
invasion by God and Magog and their cataclysmic destruction have already been
discussed in ch. 6. Because of
the reappearance at this point in Scripture of the
striking names Gog and Magog, it is not
surprising that many commentators
interpret this section of
ch.20 as the same event narrated in Ezekiel 38 and 39.
However, the two have
practically nothing in common except the names. In Ezekiel
the armies attacking
by a great earthquake and
volcanic eruption, in Revelation by fire from God out
of
heaven. In Ezekiel, the destruction is followed by a
seven-month burial and a seven-
year bonfire of
weapons. In Revelation, it is followed by the renovation of the earth
and the last judgment. We have already noted the reasons for
believing that the events
in Ezekiel 38 and 39 occur
near the beginning of the tribulation period and thus must
have taken place over a
thousand years earlier than the battle of Gog and Magog
described here. Even
though most of the Magogites (or Russians) had been
destroyed
during the tribulation, with
their great commander Gog buried with his armies in
even before the tribulation,
there had been a godly remnant who had been spared, the
same as in the other
nations. The descendants of these,
however, had multiplied rapidly,
so that
its ancestral name of Magog. One can suppose that after several generations
the younger
Magogites had begun to rankle over the history of the
destruction of their forebears, and
especially to resent the
Israelites, both because it was in
destroyed and because the
Israelites now occupied the premier place among the nations.
The armies of the other
nations had been destroyed in
now their descendants also
began to share the same resentment. But
the new Magogites
and their new Gog were the readiest of all to rebel. Therefore
Satan and his demons will
use them to organize and lead
one last army against the Lord.
(The
Revelation Record – Henry Morris)
9 “And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and
compassed the
camp of the
saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down
from God out of
heaven, and devoured them.” And they went up on the
breadth of the
earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and
the
beloved city; over the breadth. “They went up” as an
army to attack the enemy
(compare Judges1:1). Either we must render the camp…
even the beloved city,
or else we must
understand the camp as a defensive outpost placed around or
near the city.
In Acts 21:34 the same word is rendered “castle.” “The beloved
city” is evidently
God, of which it is always a type in the Apocalypse
(compare ch.3:12; 21:2,10).
The description plainly portrays the Church militant here
on earth. And fire came
down from God out
of heaven, and devoured them. “From God” is omitted in
A, a few cursives, and Primasius,
but
appears in א, B, P, l, 7, and
most cursives
and versions; but these authorities vary in the position of
the added clause. So in
ch.
11
fire devours the enemies of the two witnesses. This sentence is
introduced
in connection with the description of Gog
and Magog, following the account of
Ezekiel, where the same
punishment is FORETOLD (see Ezekiel 38:22; 39:6).
It is probable, therefore, that nothing more definite is
intended than to convey
the general idea that God aids and protects His Church even
while on earth. He,
as it were, gives the enemies of His people a foretaste, while here on earth, of their
future punishment of THE
These enemies of God here come
against Jesus and the saints. In fact, they surround the saints.
The "beloved city"
here mentioned is
down from heaven (from God)
and devours them. Again like in the
battle of Armageddon
before the millennium started,
this battle too will in all reality be an execution. As the rebel
forces moved in to attack,
they are swiftly and totally exterminated. They will be physically
killed and their souls will go
into the realm of punishment awaiting final sentencing to the
eternal hell that will shortly
take place. (discoverrevelation.com)
The narrative does not say
how long a period of time will be occupied with this final
rebellion, only that it
begins after the thousand years. The pace of the record at least
suggests that it all
transpires quickly. Once Satan is released, his deceptions will find
quick and ready acceptance in
disobedient minds and hearts throughout the world.
Gog and Magog will send their
agents everywhere, as will Satan, probably through
the mechanism of
demon-possessed men and women. During the millennium no
weapons of warfare will have
been allowed (Micah 4:3), but it will no doubt be a
time of unprecedented
scientific and technological advance, so it may not
take long,
once circumstances allow, for
the rebels to devise means by which they think they
can quickly conquer the great
capital,
with David and the
apostles. In great multitudes they will
swarm from every direction
to surround the “camp of the saints” as well as the city
of
“camp” is
also translated “castle” or “army,” and refers to an organized structure or
system for military
defense. These “saints” are the same who had come
from heaven
with Christ to reign with Him
on earth. Evidently, when the dimensions of the human
rebellion reach global
proportions, all of the redeemed and reigning saints will join their
Lord at the beloved city of
the great King. Presumably the people of
faithful to their Messiah
this time, perhaps also godly remnants from the other nations
as well. All who are
faithful to the Lord, whether people in their natural bodies, resurrected
saints, or holy angels, will
be gathered together in or near
miles in all directions,
perhaps even above them in hovering aircraft, the innumerable
multitudes of Gog and Magog, instigated and
energized by the great Adversary of the
ages, will prepare one final
great assault on Christ and His saints.
And now, finally, after
ages of grace and patience
and mercy, God’s long-suffering comes to an end.
When mankind
is so quick to rebel against
Him even after a thousand years of an all-but-perfect world,
providing every material
blessing and even the personal presence of Christ Himself, there is
nothing else that the Lord
can do to encourage and draw men to receive Himself as Savior.
With all the greatest gifts
of His love repudiated, and with multitudes choosing to follow
Satan instead, God will finally RING DOWN
THE CURTAIN! Suddenly it
will seem
that the very heavens are on
fire. “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an
oven; and all the proud, yea, and all
that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day
that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither
root nor branch” (Malachi 4:1). A falling ring of fire will
surround the holy city and the
legions of the saints,
radiating outward in all directions until every last unregenerate human
being is engulfed and burned
to death in the descending and surging sea of flames. This is
but a foretaste of what will
shortly become the rebels’ eternal fate after their bodies are
resurrected and cast into the
lake of fire. In the meantime, their disembodied souls will
commingle for a brief
interlude with the raging demons of Satan, whose last and greatest
effort to dethrone God has
terminated in abject failure. Even after their release from the
pit and their easy seduction
of the multitudes on earth, these principalities and powers of
darkness will still find
themselves confused and powerless IN THE PRESENCE OF
THE GREAT KING! Perhaps for a very brief moment all these lost
spirits, both human
and demonic, will look to
their master Satan for some desperately brilliant stroke of
diabolical cunning which can
deliver them all from the terrible fate which seems about
to overwhelm them
forever. If so, they will realize
soon enough that they have been
merely the willing dupes of
the great deceiver, who had in turn DECEIVED HIMSELF
MOST OF ALL! (The Revelation Record – Henry Morris)
10 “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of
fire and
brimstone, where
the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be
tormented day and
night for ever and ever.” And they
shall be
tormented. The last clause shows
that this is the final judgment and
punishment of the devil. Thus
at this verse is completed the whole series of
visions commencing at ch.12.,
in which are set forth the origin and
progress of the influence of evil, and the final
termination of the conflict
between God and His Church on the one hand, and the devil
and his
adherents on the other. It
remains now only to shadow forth the surpassing
glory of the saints IN THEIR EVERLASTING HOME, and thus to bring
the book to a conclusion. This, therefore, is the theme of
the remaining
chapters. (On “the devil that deceiveth
them,” see on v. 3; and on “the lake
of fire and brimstone,” see on ch. 19:20.) Shall be
tormented (compare
Matthew 8:29, “Art thou come hither to torment us before
the time?”).
The beast and false prophet
have been waiting for Satan in the lake of fire and brimstone
for the last one thousand
years. Now their deceiver joins them.
There will not be a moment's
peace for them all the rest of
eternity. (discoverrevelation.com)
Here is the final end of the
primeval cherub, the highest angel of all, the rebellious “son of
the morning” who wanted to exalt his own throne above God’s
throne. The great
blasphemer, the idol, the
false god, the breaker of God’s rest, the rebel against his father,
the murderer from the
beginning, the robber, the great adulterer, the father of lies, the
coveter of divine worship,
the one who is the very antithesis of the holy and gracious
God, the Devil, will finally be cast
forever into outer darkness. The
great deceiver is gone!
He had deceived the whole
world, beginning with Adam and Eve, and even after a
thousand-year confinement in
Hades he had still been able to deceive the vast Millennial-Age
populations. He had
deceived a third of God’s innumerable company of angels into following
him in his cosmic
rebellion. BUT NOW HE IS GONE! And if he had never realized
it before,
he surely must have realized
as he was hurtling toward the lake of fire, that he had deceived
himself first and most of
all. God indeed was all He had said – ETERNAL,
OMNIPOTENT
AND THE CREATOR! The
cosmos was not the ultimate reality after all; God,
in Christ,
had created space and time
and all things, and therefore HE WAS AND IS KING FOR
EVER! For a thousand years Satan’s two greatest
human accomplices (the beast and the
false prophet) had already been tormented in the lake of fire and,
as he himself plunges
into the fiery lake, he no
doubt will see them there.
HELL IS TORMENT, not
annihilation! It is the place where these evil men are,
not were, even a thousand years later.
Their bodies and souls had
been “destroyed” in hell, but they are still
there. And SO WILL
SATAN and so will his
angels, and so will all unsaved men and women FROM
EVERY
AGE, the
antediluvians as well as the millennialites, continue
in the lake of fire, in
conscious torment, day and night, forever (ch.14:11). (The Revelation Record – Henry Morris)
11 “And I saw a great white throne, and 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 a great white throne.
And I saw; introducing a
new phase of the vision (v. 1, etc.). A throne is
seen as in ch.4.2; it is great, perhaps,
by comparison with those mentioned in v. 4; white, because
this is the color of purity
and all heavenly virtues (compare ch.1:14; 2:17; 3:4,
etc.). And Him that sat on it,
from whose face the earth
and the heaven fled away; and there was found no
place for them. The true reading, “before
the throne,” in the following
verse makes it clear that God the Judge is here intended.
Perhaps from
Matthew 25:31 and John 5:22 we must infer that God the Son
is meant.
The destruction of the world is complete — “no place is found
for
them;” they are annihilated. Such an event is nearly always
portrayed in the
description of the last judgment in the Apocalypse and in
the New
Testament generally (compare ch.
16:20).
This is JUDGMENT DAY! Now John describes the terrifying scene set
before him. He
sees the Judge who is seated
on His throne of Judgment and all of the accused standing
before Him. The verdicts
handed down from this throne will be equitable,
righteous and
just. We also remember Ecclesiastes 12:14, which promises, "God
shall bring every
work into judgment, with every
secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil"
as well as Romans 2:5-6, where
Paul speaks of the day of God's wrath "when His
righteous judgment will be
revealed. God will give to each person according to
what he has done". It is a fearful thing
even to imagine standing before God
"from whose face the
earth and the heaven fled away", and have nothing but your
own wicked works to show for the time on earth the Almighty had given you. On
that day the words of Paul the
apostle will come true: "Now we know that
whatever the law says, it says
to those who are under the law, so that every
mouth may be silenced and the
whole world held accountable to God"
(Romans 3:19). The final word, of course, will be God's. This vision follows
those of the Second Coming and
those of the Millennium, immediately preceding that
of the new heaven and new
earth. The use for the earth is over. The earth, heaven, and
everything in them are under
control of God, and if He tells them go they will have to.
This is an amazing, incredible
statement that is describing the un-creation of the universe.
The earth was reshaped by the
tribulation judgments, restored during the millennial kingdom,
now God will create a new
heaven and a new earth as it states in II Peter 3:13. "Nevertheless
we, according to His promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness"
(discoverrevelation.com)
Now, before the amazed John a
vision is unfolded of an even grander scene than any he had
ever witnessed before.
In fact, the spectacle is so blindingly glorious that the very earth itself
disintegrates before it. The
fire which had fallen from heaven to consume the multitudes
following Gog
and Magog seems to be nothing less than the unveiled
glory, the pure,
white-hot energy, of the CREATOR IN ALL HIS INEFFABLE
BRILLANCE!
Now that same cosmic power penetrates
the very atomic structure of the earth and its
atmosphere, and they are
vaporized in a gigantic holocaust that brings this present world
to an end. This is the cataclysmic fire foretold by the
Apostle Peter: “But the heavens
and the earth, which are now, by the
same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire
against the day of judgment and
perdition of ungodly men. . . . But the day of the
Lord will come as a thief in the night;
in the which the heavens shall pass away with
a great noise, and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the
works that are therein shall be burned
up. Seeing then that all these things shall be
dissolved, what manner of persons ought
ye to be in all holy conversation and
godliness, looking for the hasting unto
the coming of the day of God, wherein
the heavens being on fire shall be
dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat?” (II Peter 3:7, 10-12). The very elements (Greek στοιχεῖα - stoicheion –
a word properly referring to
the fundamental components of matter, the very
“dust of the earth” out of
which all things were made in the beginning) will be
“melted”
(Greek λυθήσεται – luthaesetai – loosen;
dissolve - translated “melt”
in 3:10, with respect to the
elements, but “dissolved” with respect to “these things”
in v.11 and with respect to “the
heavens on fire” in v. 12). The
elements of the earth
are to be dissolved in the
intense heat of the divine fire and all of man’s “works” on the
earth will also be burned up
(Greek katakaio, καυσούμενα – kausoumena - wholly
consumed).
The agelong
effects of God’s great curse on the ground (Genesis 3:17) must be purged from
the very elements before the
earth can be renewed for its eternal purposes. The great beds
of fossils and other
testimonials of an age-long reign of sin and death must all be burned
away. The atmosphere likewise will “pass away,” because its structure is
inseparably
intertwined with that of the
earth. This is the same word used by Jesus in Matthew 24:35:
“Heaven and earth shall pass away.” An even more graphic term is used here - “The
earth and the heaven fled away.” It is as though the sin-cursed earth quails
before the
advancing glory cloud of the
divine fire and runs away, disappearing in A GREAT
EXPLOSION OF LIGHT AND SOUND
AND FERVENT HEAT. This should
not be understood, however,
as an actual annihilation of the earth and its atmosphere.
By the principle of
mass/energy conservation, nothing is ever actually annihilated,
except by a miraculous act of
God, in God’s completed creation (Hebrews 1:3;
Colossians 1:17). The
phenomenon may well be one of mass/energy conversion,
with the “matter” of earth
structure converted into “energy” (heat, sound, or light).
This same energy will be available
for reconversion into the materials of the renewed
earth, with all the contaminating effects of sin and the curse purged out
of it. On the
other hand, it may be simply
that the solids and liquids of the earth will be dissociated
and vaporized by the intense
heat. In either case, the solid earth and its
atmosphere will
disappear and scatter their
elements and energies out into space so that their former “place”
in the cosmos is bare and
empty. But then John sees the cause of their flight. The awful
fire was merely a prologue, a
field of divine energy advancing ahead of the mighty Creator
of the universe ascending His
great throne of judgment. There is no rainbow above this
throne (compare ch.4:3),
speaking of grace in the midst of judgment. There is no sign of a
Lamb on the throne, once
slain in substitution for sinful men (contrast ch.
5:6). Here is seen
only the great throne of
divine justice, blinding in its whiteness. No human figure can be
discerned there, no incarnate
Son of man. It is rather an awesome Presence, none other than
the triune Godhead, the
Creator and King and Judge of the universe, “who
only hath
immortality, dwelling in
the light which no man can approach unto” (I Timothy 6:16).
No explanation has been given
concerning the inhabitants of the millennial earth, except
for the rebels who were
devoured in the fire. The camp of the saints and the beloved
city with its occupants had
surely been preserved through the conflagration that
destroyed the Magogites, but then the earth itself had been burned
up. These saints
do not appear at the great
white throne, and nothing further is said concerning them
until after the new Jerusalem
descends to the new earth. Since at that time all the
people of God will be in the
heavenly city, it is quite likely that ANOTHER GREAT
RAPTURE will have taken
place just before the dissolution of the earth. The godly
Israelites in the beloved
city as well as those from other nations who had remained
true to the Lord during the last
rebellion, thus demonstrating the genuineness of their
faith in Christ, must have
been “caught
up to meet the Lord in the air,” translated to
the new Jerusalem still
suspended high above the terrestrial atmosphere. Those saints
who had already participated
in the first resurrection and rapture, before the millennium,
will already have shared in
the blessings of the heavenly city, but now there will be a
host of new inhabitants,
coming out of the Millennial Age. Before
the blessings of the
holy city are described,
however, the tragic events at the great white throne must be
revealed to John and
recounted for our own admonition, for multitudes from our
own age will assemble there. (The Revelation Record – Henry Morris)
12 “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 I saw (see on v. 11) the dead, small and great, stand
before God; the dead, the great and the small, standing before the
throne.
ALL
THE DEAD, GOOD AND BAD as in Matthew
25:31-33. This is the
general resurrection; what John might have called the
second resurrection,
with regard to the godly, who have once before risen to a
life with Christ
(see on v. 5). Now, those who
would not voluntarily share in the first
resurrection ARE COMPELLED TO SHARE IN THE SECOND!
And the books were
opened. Omit the article (compare the description in
Daniel 7:10). And another
book was opened, which is the book of life.
This book has been frequently referred to (ch.3:5; 13:8; 17:8). The idea is
not
uncommon throughout the Bible (compare Psalm 69:28; Daniel
12:1;
Luke 10:20). And
the dead were judged out of those things which
were written in
the books, according to their works. Both the godly and
the ungodly. “The books” show
fully why certain names are selected and
inscribed in the “BOOK OF
LIFE!” Here is enforced
again the lesson
with which the Apocalypse opens in the epistles to the
seven Churches,
viz. that the reward will follow according to the works
(compare ch.2:5;
3:15, etc.).
The "dead" are
those who are spiritually dead because of their rejection of Christ. They
will stand in their
resurrected state before Jesus to be judged by Him. The books contain
the record of every unsaved
person's life. Each unsaved person is judged in accordance
with his works (Romans
2:6,16), which clearly show that each one is a guilty sinner
(ibid. ch.. 3:9-19) deserving of eternal
death (ibid. v.23; 6:23). These statements
immediately call our attention
back to the words of the Lord Jesus: "What you have
said in the dark will be heard
in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the
ear in the inner rooms will be
proclaimed from the roofs" (Luke 12:3). And
"There is nothing hidden
that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed
that will not be known or
brought out into the open" (ibid. ch.8:17)
Remember that the Christian
dead have already won their victory. Those are
judged by Jesus at the Bema
Seat. Now is this final fearful scene, where these
include all unbelievers who
have ever lived. This is the resurrection of judgment
and they stand before Christ
now at the White Throne Judgment. The
scope of the
scene is chilling. The great
mass of these unbelievers before God's throne includes
everyone from presidents and
kings, to paupers. There is no partiality with God as
ALL WILL NOW FACE
JUDGMENT! "Books" is plural here. There are books
which contain a
person's every thought, word and deed. Nothing will be
hidden.
Think about the fact that God
knows the secrets of one's heart. God
has kept perfect,
comprehensive and accurate
records of every person's life (deeds), and those will be
measured against God's perfect
and holy standard. Those who didn't accept
Jesus
will have to stand or fall on
their deeds. Of course, they will all fall if they didn't
accept Him, because scripture
clearly tells us that "all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) The Book of Life
is the Lamb's Book of Life
where the names of all
believers are written who have accepted, believed and followed
Christ. The Christian's sins HAVE
BEEN DONE AWAY BY THE BLOOD OF
JESUS! Those
Christians all have their names written in the Lamb's book of life
and will not
taste of THE SECOND DEATH!
(discoverrevelation.com)
The terms “dead”
and “death”
in these verses refer to the body rather than to the soul.
The latter, of course, had
continued its conscious existence in Hades during all the
centuries when the body was
dead. As noted before, the term “resurrection”
also
applies only to the
body. Those who were “dead in Christ” (I Thessalonians
4:16)
had all been resurrected from
the dead before the millennium, but the “rest of the dead
lived not again until the thousand years
were finished” (v.5). That
was the first
resurrection, this is
the second resurrection. Over these will also
prevail a second
death (vs. 6, 14).
But for one awful hour they must stand before God for judgment.
This will be the “resurrection
of damnation” spoken of by Christ (John 5:29).
Actually the word “damnation” is a translation of the Greek word κρίσεως - kriseos –
which is normally and
properly translated “judgment” (see, for example, the next verse,
ibid. v.30, “my
judgment is just”). Thus this passage in John 5:29 says that the
first
resurrection will be unto
life, the second unto judgment. Those who have believed
on Christ unto salvation will
not appear for judgment at the great white throne at all.
“He that heareth
my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life,
and shall not come into condemnation [same Greek word, κρίσιν - but is passed
from death unto life” (John 5:24).
God has books in heaven, so that no deed or
word of any man or woman who
ever lived has been lost. These books may be in the
form of scrolls as used in
John’s day; or bound pages as in our day, or some other type
of book about which we know
nothing. Possibly they will consist of something analogous
to modern videotapes.
If man can use electronics to preserve sights and sounds, there is no
question that God, who created all forms
of electromagnetic energy in the first place,
CAN
CERTAINLY DO IT, and far more efficiently at that. No unsaved man or woman should
ever take comfort in the fact
that certain of their ungodly words and deeds were performed
in secret. “For
nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid,
that shall not be known and come abroad” (Luke 8:17). Evidently the record of all these
works of every individual
will not only be shown to God, but also will be displayed to
everyone else, so that all
will know that God bases His judgment on the true facts.
God would not need books of
records Himself, of course, since He is omniscient,
so that these books
apparently are mainly for a testimony to all His creatures.
(There would be nay-sayers and those who question God’s ability if there were
no
records – “These
things thou has done, and I kept silence; thou thoughest
that I
was altogether such an one as
thyself: BUT I
WILL REPROVE THEE AND
SET THEM IN ORDER BEFORE THINE
EYES!” – Psalm 50:21 – CY – 2015)
There is also another book,
which is not a book of records of works but THE BOOK
OF LIFE! In this book had once been inscribed the name
of every child ever conceived
and who, therefore, had been
granted “life” by God. Sadly,
however, multitudes during
their lifetimes (whenever it
became evident that they had irrevocably rejected God’s
provision of salvation for
them through Jesus Christ) had had their names “blotted out
of the book of life” (ch.3:5; Exodus 32:33; Psalm 69:28). This book
will also be opened,
as the resurrected dead stand
before the awful Majesty on the shining throne.
Then judgments
will be pronounced, one after
another, as each stands before God for A REVIEW OF HIS
LIFE! If
each were to take an hour, the tribunal scene would last perhaps five million
years,
(assuming 45 billion people
to be judged). But this is nothing in the scale of eternity. This
judgment is to be based on
works, so all of man’s works must be reviewed, and reviewed
fairly, in light of
opportunity and motivation. “And that servant, which knew his lord’s
will, and prepared not himself, neither
did according to His will, shall be beaten with
many stripes. But he that knew
not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be
beaten with few stripes. For unto
whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much
required: and to whom men have committed
much, of him they will ask the more”
(Luke 12:47-48). God’s
punishment, in each case, will be carefully meted out in
PERFECT JUSTICE! (The Revelation Record – Henry Morris)
13 “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death
and hell
delivered up the
dead which were in them: and they were judged
every man
according to their works.” And
the sea gave up the dead which
were in it. It is difficult to decide upon the exact signification
of this clause.
(1) It may be
inserted in order to show the universal nature of this
resurrection, although it may not, in conjunction with the
next part of the
verse, constitute a strictly logical classification of the
dead.
(2) The sea being
a type of the ungodly nations, the sentence may mean
those spiritually dead, but living on the earth at the time
of the judgment.
The next clause seems to support this view.
And death and hell
delivered up the dead which were in them; death and
Hades (see ch.1:18;
6:8). As in ch.6:8, the two — really one — are
mentioned separately, the latter being looked upon as the
guard house of
those whom the former has seized. This clause, taken in conjunction
with
the preceding one, may mean — From the ungodly nations,
those
physically living but spiritually dead were called up for
judgment, and also
those who were actually dead, having been seized by death
and Hades.
And they were
judged every man according to their works.
A solemn
repetition of v. 12
(which see).
Those who are lost wait in
torment in a place of punishment until judgment day. The terrible
thing is that they are aware
that they will be thrown into the lake of fire on judgment day.
These are all of the
unbelievers though all ages who have died. They will be raised up by
Christ for judgment called the second resurrection.
Before the sea was uncreated and
disappeared out of existence,
it gave up the dead that were in it. The sea may be
mentioned as it is seemingly
the most difficult place from which dead bodies could
be resurrected. But God will
summon new bodies for all who perished in the sea
throughout history. Death symbolizes all of the places on land
from which God
will resurrect new bodies for
the unrighteous, unrepentant dead. As
the next scene
in this courtroom drama
unfolds, the lost will be summoned to appear before the judge.
Since their deaths, their
souls have been tormented in a place of punishment, now
the time has finally come for
them to be judged and sentenced. (discoverrevelation.com)
When “death” overtakes a man,
his body decays and goes back to the dust. However, in
most nations his body is
first buried in some kind of tomb, and this was true of the nation
of
essentially as synonyms in
Scripture, as in I Corinthians 15:55, “O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory?” However, when the body dies, the soul descends
into Hades
(the word for “hell” here is Hades; see
discussion on ch. 1:18). In most cases, the
body had
been claimed by “death,” that is, by a tomb in the
ground. Many, however, have drowned
in the sea, so their bodies
were never in the ground. Many also have had their bodies cremated
and their ashes
scattered. But wherever they are, God is able to call the atoms all back
into
place, presumably in the same
form as when they died. Bodies will emerge from both land
and sea and, as they come,
the great pit of Hades will also disgorge all its imprisoned souls,
enabling them to reenter
their former bodies. One other reason for
the initial reference to
the sea here is probably the tremendous numbers of people who had been drowned long
ago in the waters of the great
Flood (Genesis 6:17). The
Flood had destroyed the first
cosmos (II Peter 3:6); now
the fire had destroyed the second cosmos (ibid.
v.10) each
slaying multitudes of
sinners. It is possible that the souls of those who had perished in
the final conflagration had
never reached Hades proper, since the physical earth had
been dissolved soon after
their own destruction. This possibility is intimated by the
reference to “the
dead” in v. 12, right after the holocaust. Thus, first there may
be a
reference to those who died
in the fire, then to those in the Flood, finally to all others
buried in graves, with Hades
then emptying out all its lost souls when the great fire
dissolved its walls. In any case, every unsaved man or
woman through the ages, from
every nation of every time,
rich or poor, mighty or insignificant, educated or ignorant,
all will be raised in their
old bodies of flesh to stand before God in judgment. This
resurrection will not, like
the first, be a resurrection unto life, however – that is, the
bodies will not be immortal,
like those of the saints in the first resurrection, but will
be the same old mortal
bodies, still subject to pain and death. Paul says that “death
is
swallowed up in victory” at the time when “this mortal shall have put on immortality,”
but that God
gives “us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I
Corinthians 15:54, 57).
Those who refuse to follow
Jesus Christ obviously will not share in His victory.
There, in
an aching, trembling body of
flesh, every man will have to watch his deeds in the flesh
displayed to the whole
creation so that both he and every other man must finally
acknowledge that his
condemnation is just. Some may protest, as their evil works
are reviewed, that they have
also done many good works, even many religious works.
“Many will say to me in that day, Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
and in thy name have cast out devils? and in
thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I
never knew you: depart from me, ye that work
iniquity” (Matthew 7:22-23). Since they have rejected God’s grace and His
offer of
forgiveness and salvation
through personal faith in Christ, and have chosen instead to
offer their own meritorious
works in payment for salvation, God will indeed judge them
by their works. But it is “not by works of righteousness which we have
done” that He
can save us, since the
measure of righteousness is Christ Himself, and “all have sinned,
and come short of the glory of God” (Titus 3:5; Romans 3:23). None have attained
God’s standard, and therefore
“they were condemned every man according to their works.”
(The
Revelation Record – Henry Morris)
14 “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This
is the second
death.” And death and hell were cast into the lake of
fire; death
and Hades (see on v.
13).
in accordance with Paul’s teaching. “The last enemy that shall be
abolished is death” (I
Corinthians 15:26, Revised Version). Death and
Hades, though in
reality abstractions, are here personified. This is the
second death. Add [even] the
lake of fire. John has not used the
phrase, “the first death,” but he has alluded to the fact.
The first death is
the actual death of the body, and which is the natural
result of that
spiritually dead state into which, since the Fall, man is
born, and which is
therefore, as it were, his normal state. In a similar manner,
the first
resurrection is the risen spiritual life of conversion;
while the second
resurrection is the resurrection of all men, and the
bestowal of eternal life
upon the just.
The result of a judgment
according to works can only be condemnation, so “death and Hades,”
that is, everyone whose body
had been dead until the second resurrection and whose soul
had been locked in Hades, are
cast into the lake of fire. There they will remain forever,
with the Devil and his angels
(Matthew 25:41), as well as the beast and false prophet,
who had already been judged
and condemned a thousand years earlier (v. 10: ch.19:20).
The exact character and
location of the lake of fire have not been revealed in the Scriptures,
but there is no reason to
question the physical reality of its fires. There are more than
twenty references in the New
Testament alone to these fires of hell, most of them in
statements of the Lord
Jesus Himself, with no indication
in the context that they are
figurative fires of some
kind. If, indeed, they do symbolize something else, no
explanation is given anywhere
as to what they designate. The warnings are given with
such urgency as to leave no
doubt that they should be taken with all seriousness. At
the very least, one would have
to conclude that the reality, whatever it might be, is
every bit as fearful and
tormenting as actual fires would be, so that no one should take
any comfort in the thought
that they might not consist of real fire.
The location of this
final and everlasting hell of
fire cannot, of course, be on this present earth, since the
present earth is to be
dissolved (II Peter 3:10). It also seems highly unlikely that it
will be on the new earth,
since that will be an earth “wherein dwelleth righteousness”
(ibid. v.13), and a fiery cauldron tormenting billions of
unrepentant sinners forever
would surely seem out of
character anywhere on such an earth. Furthermore the lake of
fire had been in existence
even before the millennium, in order to receive the beast and
the false prophet and yet it
obviously survives the vaporization of the earth at the end
of the millennium. There are Scriptures which at least intimate
that it may be located
in some far corner of the
universe, almost infinitely removed from the new earth and its
holy city. Jesus spoke
of apostate “children of the kingdom” who would
finally be
“cast out into outer darkness: there
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12).
He used similar terms with
respect to the usurper without a wedding garment: “Bind him
hand and foot, and take him away, and
cast him into outer darkness; there shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 22:13). The same judgment was meted to
the “unprofitable servant” (Matthew
25:26-30). In Jude’s epistle, the false
teachers
are said to be “wandering
stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever”
(Jude 1:13). Peter says
such people are those “to whom the mist of darkness is reserved
for ever” (II Peter 2:17). These two expressions (“blackness”
and “mist”) are translations
of the same Greek word, both
expressing the concept of an impenetrable cloud. The same
word is translated “darkness”
in II Peter 2:4 and Jude 1:6, both speaking of the chains
now binding the fallen angels
awaiting the judgment. This “outer darkness” in some
way must correspond to the “everlasting
fire” into which the Lord Jesus also indicated
the unsaved would ultimately
be cast (Matthew 25:41). The Apostle
Paul says that all
those “that know not God, and that obey
not the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ. . . shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord, and from the glory
of His power” (II Thessalonians
1:8-9).
The term “destruction” here does not
connote “annihilation,” but rather “death”
in the sense of bodily death
(compare I Corinthians 5:5) or “ruin.”
The word
“from” (Greek ἀπὸ
- apo) is significant, carrying a strong sense
of “away from.”
That is, the
ungodly will be sent into their condition of eternal ruin in some location
far away from the location of
God’s personal presence, where His glorious power is
specially manifested. Since this location is on the earth, in the new
Jerusalem (ch.21:23),
the conclusion must be that the unsaved are removed from there as far as possible.
All of these specifications
seem to point to the likelihood (though we cannot be certain
at this time) that “hell”
(Greek γέεννα - gehenna),
or “the lake of fire,” will be located
on some far-distant
star. A star, after all, is precisely that, a lake of fire. There are
indeed, stars and galaxies
that, although “burning,” do not give off light in the visible
part of the spectrum, so that
they consist of both “fire” and “cloudy darkness.” One
might even suggest a “black
hole,” if and when such objects are actually proven to exist,
would fit the
description. Wherever the lake of fire may be, there is still the
question
as to whether resurrected
physical bodies can burn forever in a cauldron of real physical
fire. It is possible,
of course, that the fire will immediately consume these bodies, so
that they will actually go
through a physical “second death” similar to their first death,
leaving their disembodied
souls to suffer forever in the lake of fire. That souls can
actually suffer in some way
in a fiery environment is indicated by the testimony of
the rich man in Christ’s
parable. “And in [Hades] he lift up his eyes, being in torments . . .
And he cried and said, . . . send
Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water,
and cool my tongue; for I am tormented
in this flame” (Luke
16:23-24). It seems
that the souls in Hades (as
well as those in
form of spirit body which
resembles their respective earthly physical bodies. Even
disembodied souls seem to be
recognizable in terms of their earthly identities. Note
the remarkable descriptions
of the dead in Sheol in Ezekiel 31 and 32, as well as
Isaiah 14.
That being so, such spirit
bodies also may possess spirit senses and are capable of
experiencing feelings
analogous to those they possessed in the flesh. We obviously
have little understanding of
such things, having no instrumentation with which to
measure degrees of pain or pleasure
experienced by persons who are without their
physical bodies but who still
retain the spirit/soul identities associated with those
physical bodies. We can
only infer that such things are real on the basis of these and
other Biblical
intimations to that effect. This is another
possibility. Just as the
resurrected physical bodies
of the saints will be living forever, perhaps the resurrected
bodies of the unsaved will be
dying forever. That is, their physical
bodies will not be
consumed by the fire, but
will eternally remain in a state of being consumed! This
seems
almost unthinkable, except
for the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself seems to have
issued this dire
warning. Three times (Mark 9:43-48), He spoke of the awful danger of
being “cast
into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm
dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” Gehenna, translated “hell”
in the above and
other passages, received its
name in reference to the valley of Hinnom, outside
Jerusalem.
Into this valley in ancient
times were cast the dead bodies of criminals, as well
as all
the city’s refuse. The terrible contents of the valley were
continually being eaten of
worms and were also frequently
set on fire, so that the valley indeed often had the
appearance of a lake of
fire. The Lord Jesus seemed plainly to be saying that in THE
ULTIMATE GEHENNA the bodies of its inhabitants would be unconsumable bodies,
everlastingly being consumed
by undying worms and burned by unquenchable fires.
We have no idea how
such a thing could be possible. The Lord will see to it, however,
that the glorified
resurrection bodies of the saints will be fully physical bodies, no
longer subject to pain or death,
“according
to the working whereby He is able even to
subdue all things unto Himself” (Philippians 3:21). If He can do the one, He
can
surely do the other, making
the unglorified resurrection bodies of the ungodly
eternally subject to pain and death. If this should prove
to be the correct understanding
of this dread prospect, it is
indeed appropriate to equate the lake of fire explicitly with
the second death! Whatever the exact meaning of all these
sobering warnings may be,
it is obvious that those who die as lost sinners face A TERRIFYING FUTURE!
If these should all be mere symbols, the
reality must be still worse. No wonder Jude
urges that many should be
saved “with fear, pulling them out of the fire” (Jude 1:23).
(The Revelation Record – Henry Morris)
15 “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life
was cast
into the lake of
fire.” And whosoever was not
found written in THE
BOOK OF LIFE was
cast into the lake of fire; and if any was not, etc.
This is practically a reiteration of what has been twice
before solemnly
asserted (see vs.
12-13).
The second death is eternal
punishment in the lake of fire, experienced only by the unsaved.
Once this final judgment
occurs, there is no further need for either death or hell (Hades)
(ch.1:18; 6:8, Isaiah 25:8; I
Corinthians 15:26,55). An eternal
separation is now made
between those who
have life and
those who have "death" (“everlasting
contempt!” Daniel
12:2; John 5:29). It
does not mean these places are thrown into the lake. It means the
inhabitants of these
places. This final hell is described as
the lake of fire. It may already exist
but presently is not occupied
until the beast and the false prophet is cast into it. They don't
arrive there until the end of
tribulation. Those who
die in their sins in this world WILL DIE
A SECOND
DEATH IN ETERNITY! They will be sentenced to the lake of fire
forever
at the great White Throne
Judgment. Whether this fire is symbolic,
the reality it represents
will be even more horrifying
and painful. The Bible also defines hell as
TOTAL DARKNESS which not only separates the
unbelievers from the light, but from
each other as well. What is written in these last two verses should drive
each of us to
continue to spread the gospel
as long as there is breath in your body. I cannot bear to
think of anyone I know going
to this terrible place of torment. And
that's it. In a ball
of celestial flame, the
rebellion is over. There will be no repeat of the plagues of the
Tribulation, nor of the
judgments of the Great Tribulation. Once and for all,
HUMAN
REBELLION WILL BE
WIPED OUT OF EXISTENCE! And once and for all, it
will be crystal clear to a
watching universe that THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION
OF JESUS CHRIST
IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL for making the unrighteous
human heart into A RECEPTACLE OF
GOD’S HOLINESS! The Millennium will
prove that even the best of
conditions, a thousand years of peace, prosperity, safety,
long life, health, abundance,
cannot change the wickedness of the unredeemed human
heart. ONLY
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST CAN DO THAT! Awesome
is the Word –
It probably is not humanly
possible to meditate on these awesome truths for extended
periods of time. Who can long
ponder the lake of fire, an eternal place of torment,
possibly billions of
unredeemed souls, A DIVINE PERSON "from
whose face the earth
and the heaven fled
away,"
or fearsome books of judgment that seal the fate of the
unsaved? And yet our Lord tells us of
these awesome events. Why? TO GIVE US
EVERY
Remember, no believer in
Christ will stand before God at the great white throne. That
terrible spot is reserved only
for those who have rejected Christ as Savior, who have
decided to crown themselves
king, and who have refused to accept Jesus Christ as their
true Lord. Do not make that terrible mistake! Instead,
place your faith in the Lord Jesus
and ask Him to forgive your
sins; then you will be ready "to stand before the Son of Man"
at the judgment seat of
Christ. (Luke 21:36) One thing is certain: You will stand in
one place
or the other. Hell or Heaven.
Make sure its the latter. And don't think that you can choose
not to believe there is such a
thing as heaven or hell. It makes no difference. Everyone will
be judged and assigned to one
place or the other. As on earth, it is the same there, ignorance
is no excuse of the law! Sometimes,
when I am with a group of people who I feel are lost,
I cry for hours. I am not a
crier, but I remember this Scripture. It is so easy to
get your name
written in the
Lamb's book of life. In Romans 10:9-10, IT WILL TELL YOU
HOW!
.
in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved."
mouth confession is made
unto salvation."
You see, Jesus must be our Lord
as well as our Savior. If you truly believe, you will repent
and be baptized. If your name
is not written in the book of life, DO NOT DELAY! DO
IT TODAY!
(discoverrevelation.com)
Not only are lost men and women
condemned by the record of their works but also by the
absence of their names in the
Lamb’s book of life. One can speculate that beside each
person’s name as entered in
the book at time of conception will be recorded the time of his
“age of accountability,” the
date of his conversion to Christ as His Savior, and evidence
demonstrating the genuineness
of that conversion. However, if there are no entries for
the last two items by the
time that person dies, the entire record will be blotted out (ch.3:5),
and an awful blank will be
left in the book at the place where his name would have been.
Exhibiting this blank spot in
the book will be the final and conclusive evidence that the
person being judged must be
consigned to the lake of fire. As already
pointed out, there
will be degrees of punishment
in hell, just as there are degrees of reward in heaven, both
being based on works in light
of opportunity and heart motivation. With all the unsaved
alike being cast into the
burning lake of fire and brimstone, it is not yet revealed as to the
means by which the more wicked will be made to
suffer there more than the less wicked.
Exactly what is meant
by the “many stripes” and the “few stripes” of Luke 12:47-48, and
how it will be “more tolerable” for
In one sense, wickedness
generates its own suffering. Among the last words of the Bible
are these: “He
that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be
filthy still”
(ch.22:11). Men and women will have to live with themselves and their own
sinful, yet
unrequited, lusts and hatreds FOREVER! After all, THAT IS WHAT THEY
PREFERRED
TO THE LOVE OF CHRIST! This consuming evil will surely torment them in
proportion to
its intensity. It may also be that the resurrection bodies
designed for them by God at the
“second resurrection” will be designed with individual nerve systems whose
sensory responses
are graduated in proportion
to the degree of punishment appropriate to the individual, so that
the actual pains of hell will
be felt differently by each one. Or it may be that some other
graded system of punishment
will be used of which we have no inkling at this time. God is
surely able to inflict His
punishments in PERFECT JUSTICE, INDIVIDUALLY
TAILORED! We do not have very much specific information
on this subject in the Bible,
but we do know this much:
every unsaved man and woman will spend eternity in conscious
suffering in the terrible
lake of fire, the second death. These
same ungodly men and women
today scoff at such a notion,
even using it as an excuse for rejecting Christ. “How could a
God of love,” they say, “send someone to
such a horrible fate in retaliation for a few years
of sin and rebellion on
earth?” They forget, however, that God has already suffered
all
these pangs of hell Himself,
in substitution for them, when Christ died on the cross. In fact,
He suffered infinitely, as
the sinless One made sin for us, THE AWFUL SEPARATION
FROM GOD which is the
essence of hell, to deliver them from suffering eternally that
same separation. No
matter how great or numerous the record of their sins in God’s books
may be, the mere
record of their names in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world would
be MORE THAN SUFFICIENT TO SAVE THEM
from the lake of fire and
reserve for them AN UNDEFILED INHERITANCE IN
HEAVEN in the presence of the
Lord (1 Peter 1:3-5).
God loved them and Christ died
for them, to give them
forgiveness and eternal life. But they
did not desire Him nor His
love nor His presence.
They preferred to continue in their sins, independent of
God and
His will. There is no punishment that could possibly
balance such a crime as this. To
despise the loving care of
their Creator and the infinite suffering of their Savior for them
is to strike at the very heart
of God and the purpose of their creation. This infinite sin
will continue forever in
their hearts, so they will actually suffer less in hell than if they
were forced against their
will to spend eternity in the presence of the One whom they
have spurned and hated. Finally, we should remember that the authority
for these fearful
warnings is none other than Jesus Christ, the One who has the keys of Hades and death
(ch.1:18). Whether we
can fully understand the ways of God or not, THERE IS
NO
EXCUSE FOR REJECTING THE GOSPEL AND THE TEACHINGS OF THE
LORD JESUS CHRIST! He is not only:
·
the Creator of
all things (Colossians 1:16) and
·
the Judge of all
men (John 5:22)
·
but is the only
man who has conquered death Himself.
When He warns of everlasting
fire and outer darkness and the undying worm, we can
be sure He is telling us
things as they really are. Furthermore, even the Book of
Revelation has come from Him
(ch.1:1, 11) and He is Himself the Judge who will send
the unsaved to their second
death in the lake of fire. The most tragic and
foolish mistake
that one could ever make would
be TO IGNORE HIS WARNINGS AND REJECT
HIS WORD! “For
the wages of sin is death; but THE GIFT OF GOD IS
ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD! (Romans
6:23).
(The
Revelation Record – Henry Morris)
"Excerpted text Copyright AGES Library, LLC. All rights reserved.
Materials are reproduced by
permission."
This material can be found at:
http://www.adultbibleclass.com
If this exposition is helpful, please share
with others.