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Summary
We are reminded that history is moving toward a decisive victory in Jesus Christ, as revealed in Revelation 20 and Romans 9–11. This passage teaches us that God’s sovereign plan encompasses the conversion of Israel, the literal reign of Christ, and the final defeat of Satan—all pointing to one word: victory.
Key Lessons:
- God’s promises to Israel are irrevocable—the nation will be nationally converted in their land during the millennium, fulfilling the Abrahamic, Davidic, and New Covenants.
- The millennial reign of Christ will be unlike anything in human history: no poverty, no curse, no wars, universal knowledge of God, and Christ ruling from David’s throne with perfect justice.
- Satan’s release after the thousand years exposes the utter depravity of the human heart—even under a perfect environment, unregenerate people will follow Satan rather than Christ, proving that salvation is entirely dependent on God’s grace.
- The final defeat of Satan is total and effortless for God—fire descends from heaven, and Satan is cast forever into the lake of fire, where all who followed him will also suffer eternally.
Application: We are called to repent and trust Christ alone for forgiveness before it is too late, and to live for him daily with seriousness and urgency—laboring diligently while watching and waiting for his return.
Discussion Questions:
- What does the national conversion of Israel teach us about God’s faithfulness to his promises, even when people are disobedient for generations?
- If a perfect environment during the millennium still cannot change the unregenerate heart, what does that reveal about our own need for God’s grace in everyday life?
- How does knowing the end of the story—Satan’s final defeat and Christ’s eternal victory—change the way you live and share your faith right now?
Scripture Focus: Revelation 20:1–10 (the millennium, Satan’s release, and final defeat); Romans 9–11 (God’s sovereign dealings with Israel and the promise that ‘all Israel will be saved’); Isaiah 11 (the curse lifted from nature during Christ’s reign); Daniel 2 (the stone kingdom that crushes all others).
Outline
- Introduction
- Victory: The Theme of Revelation’s Final Chapters
- The First Three Points Reviewed: Binding, Blessing, and Resurrection
- The Fourth Purpose: Israel Will Be Converted
- Romans 9: God’s Sovereign Freedom in History
- Romans 10: Salvation by Faith, Not Works
- Romans 11: God Has Not Cast Off Israel
- The Prophets’ Hope: Israel Restored to the Land
- The Fifth Purpose: The Reign of Christ
- The Sixth Purpose: The Final Defeat of Satan
- Satan Gathers the Nations for the Last Battle
- God’s Effortless Victory: Fire from Heaven
- The Lake of Fire: Satan’s Eternal Doom
- The Call to Repent and Live for Christ
Introduction
Okay, this morning we’re back in Revelation this week and next week. Let’s take our Bibles and turn to Revelation 20. You may want to put your hand also in Romans 9 through 11 this morning.
Romans 9:9, 11, and 12. But Revelation 20 is what we’re looking at this morning. Let me have a word of prayer before I continue.
Father, we thank you today for bringing us together. Pray, Lord, as we bow before you in worship that our minds would be attentive to receive your word.
The word of God transforms our mind in a way that it moves our will to do what you say you want us to do. We would obey your spirit, and Lord, each day of our life we would desire to give you praise from our lips, from our heart. We want to glorify your name wherever we go, to be usable vessels in this world with the time you give us so that we can shine the light and be the salt of the earth.
Lord, this morning as we approach your word, there are things in it we really don’t know, but we want to know more. Holy Spirit, please illuminate our understanding so we understand your plan more fully and realize that we are just passing through this earth. We’re sojourners in a foreign land, and we’re heading home.
Lord, that’s what Revelation is really about. We’re heading home, and we’re trusting in the God who brings us there. We pray this morning that we would give the honor to the Lord Jesus Christ for taking care of our salvation, for the Holy Spirit bringing us to repentance and faith to trust in Christ as the only way to be saved. We pray that the word of God would transform us to be more like Christ every day. I pray this in your name.
Amen.
When I was over in England with my wife, just a couple months ago, I got to go to the Winston Churchill War Museum, which I thought was an awesome place. If you ever go there, you have to go there. There’s a lot of stuff to read, so if you have little kids, forget it. It’s not going to go over well.
Winston Churchill was an interesting figure in history because he was called the wartime prime minister of England during the Second World War. While he was there, Germany under Hitler was bombing London and dropping bombs. It was burning, and Winston Churchill got on the airways and gave many famous speeches.
On one particular occasion when things were really tough and looking very bleak, he got on the airways and said in his English accent, “We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be.
And they ask me what is my aim? And I say I can answer it in one word. Victory. That is my answer.”
Of course, they won. The odds against them were tremendous, and they won.
Victory: The Theme of Revelation’s Final Chapters
We know there was divine intervention going on there too. They couldn’t have won without the Lord. When we come to Revelation, as I said last week, there is a victory in the air.
Everywhere you look, especially these last chapters—19, 20, 21, and 22—there’s a victory in the air.
In conjunction with the second coming of Christ and his literal reign on the earth, they point to one thing: victory.
“In conjunction with the second coming of Christ and his literal reign on the earth, they point to one thing: victory.”
The First Three Points Reviewed: Binding, Blessing, and Resurrection
Today, as we continue in Revelation 20, we’ll see the next three things to look for when we think about the literal reign of Christ on the earth. We’ve already covered the first three, and I’ll say them rapidly. The first one was the binding of Satan.
The second one was the blessing of the saints. The third one was the saints resurrected. Now if you look in Revelation 20:4, it says, “I saw thrones and they sat on them and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who have been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God.
And those who had not worshiped the beast or his image or had not received the mark on their forehead or on their hand and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”
Right there we see that the saints are resurrected. Now there’s something very interesting in that last verse and the next one: the first resurrection includes all saints of all ages. That means in Corinthians Christ is the first fruits, and then the rapture of the church is taken up and resurrected, and then the tribulation saints would be all part of that resurrection and reigning with Christ.
The first resurrection will happen before the thousand-year literal reign of Christ, and the second death will have no power over those who are raised in the first resurrection. You want to make sure that you’re part of the first resurrection because there’s only two resurrections.
“You want to make sure that you’re part of the first resurrection because there’s only two resurrections.”
There’s one before the thousand-year reign of Christ, and then right after that, there’s one after that thousand-year reign of Christ. That will be a resurrection to judgment, and that is a resurrection you don’t want to be part of.
The Two Resurrections
The second resurrection will be the resurrection of unbelievers, or as the Bible describes them, the wicked. The second resurrection will happen after the thousand-year reign of Christ.
Here’s the picture: there are two resurrections separated by a thousand years.
In Revelation 20:5, notice that “the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.” During that thousand-year reign, Satan is bound and held in the abyss for a thousand years.
During that time, the saints are blessed because God gives them the authority to judge and to rule with him in the thousand years. The church will be with him. If you’re a believer, you’re going to be with the Lord at this time.
“There’s two resurrections separated by a thousand years.”
It’s a very exciting time to think about.
The Fourth Purpose: Israel Will Be Converted
And when we think about those things, we know that this second resurrection of believers who will stand before God at the great white throne judgment—which we’ll look at next week—God will judge them accurately from the records of works that he has been keeping. God keeps accurate records and he’s going to be fair and righteous in his judgments. He will leave no sin unpunished, and those who have not been found written in the Lamb’s book of life will be cast into the lake of fire.
Now we’ll look at that next week. The fourth thing which today I want you to look at and consider—some theology I’ll be giving you this morning—is that during this time Israel will be converted. The nation of Israel will be converted.
Now, if you think about it, isn’t Israel in the news all the time? Why is this nation given so much trouble? Well, according to Revelation, it’s because Satan is against that nation and he moves the nations of the world against them. He’s behind it. He’s the one pulling the strings.
So Israel is always going to have trouble until Christ comes, right? But we see in this time in the tribulation, the Lord calls them back to himself. All right? We’ll see some things, but in Romans 9, 10, 11, some interesting things are communicated that I think I want you to see this morning.
Let’s look at Romans 11:26 first. This is the verse that I think the Apostle Paul was completely stunned by. It says this in verse 26 of Romans 11: “And all Israel will be saved just as it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion. He will remove unrighteousness and ungodliness from Jacob.”
Just that verse alone is a verse that I believe threw the Apostle Paul off completely. That’s why he ends that whole section of scriptures giving glory to God, because God’s ways are unsearchable. Unless God tells us what he’s doing, you don’t figure it out.
I think Paul thought he figured it out when he came to that verse. The Spirit of God was writing through him, and he says, “Wow, something amazing is going on here.” So the testimony of the Apostle Paul is very significant when we think about what’s going to happen to Israel.
I think that kind of statement really did shock him, but he was talking about the national conversion of Israel in their own land. They would turn from sin and they would believe in Jesus as their Messiah.
Now, today there are individual Jews getting saved, but they’re not getting saved in their land nationally. They’re dead in their land. They’re secular in their land right now.
In every Israelite’s mind who believed in the scriptures and who believes in Messiah, the question would come up in their minds: Does not the fact of the choice and unique position of Israel mean that Israel as a nation is done? They’re done because they’ve rejected Jesus Christ the Messiah when he came.
In other words, an Israelite would be thinking either God must have broken his promises to Israel, or that Jesus of Nazareth is not the promised Messiah.
Romans 9: God’s Sovereign Freedom in History
These are the issues that the Apostle Paul deals with in Romans 9 and 10. Let me give you an overview of these chapters. While you’re there, you may want to look up some verses that are mentioned.
The first thing is this. In chapter 9, he’s saying this about God: God’s free. God is not bound by anybody’s counsel.
In other words, God on the scene of human history moves people as he wills. He chooses certain individuals to be special examples of his power to judge either unbelievers or believers.
If you notice in Romans 9:15, it says, “And he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” In other words, I’m free to do these things because I’m God.
Then he says in verse 18 of chapter 9, “So then he has mercy on whom he desires and he hardens whom he desires.”
Chapter 9 is really not talking about the call of salvation, but it’s talking about the history of salvation. God is the general director of history dealing with certain purposes of salvation. Even if people may not understand God’s dealings, it is for them to be silent and to simply acknowledge God’s freedom as the freedom of the potter over the clay.
Romans 9:21 says, “Does not the potter have right over the clay to make from the same lump vessels of honor and another of common use?” Then he goes on to say in verse 24, “Even us whom he has called not among the Jews only but among the Gentiles.”
So he’s saying: listen, God is ever free to do as he chooses, but no one could say God is not righteous in his actions and in his dealings with people.
“God is the general director of history. Even if people may not understand God’s dealings, it is for them to acknowledge God’s freedom.”
Romans 10: Salvation by Faith, Not Works
That’s why he writes Romans 10, and look to the next chapter. This chapter is about God’s action being ever righteous.
When God makes decisions, he is making decisions based on his own character and his own righteousness. In other words, God’s freedom is not random.
It has just ground for treating Israel as he has done throughout history.
Israel has a will to be saved by keeping the law. Yet God says to them, “I’ve appointed justification by faith before the law when Abraham believed me and it was counted to him for righteousness.” So you’re trying to work your way to get saved and be right with me, and the law will condemn you in your sin and not save you. I say, “Come by faith in believing my plan.” And that plan would be Jesus Christ, and I will forgive your sins. I will make you right with me, and I will bring you to heaven.
Aren’t those two things still going on?
Because people, when you ask them, “Are you going to go to heaven?” they say, “Oh, I’m a good person.” I’m glad you’re a good person, but that’s not going to save you.
That cannot save you. You need someone else’s righteousness to save you. And that’s the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Now, God has commanded that way to be saved. It’s possible to do it. Romans 10 says if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you’ll be saved. He’s made it that way.
“You need someone else’s righteousness to save you—and that’s the righteousness of Jesus Christ.”
Jews and Gentiles can get saved that way today. If I confess the Lord Jesus Christ, then I repent of my sin and I trust him and I live for him. That’s all part of the package of salvation.
But Israel has refused that message.
They were disobedient and they were guilty and they deserve punishment to overtake them. That’s why in Romans 10:21, look at what it says about Israel.
Romans 10:21: “But as for Israel, he says, ‘All day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.’” If the scripture left it right here, then we may be able to conclude that Israel is done with as a nation.
But see, here’s an amazing thing. That’s not where it stops.
Romans 11: God Has Not Cast Off Israel
Paul continues to deal with God’s dealings with Israel in Romans 11.
Let’s move over to that one. God’s action is ever a blessing to other people in Romans 11. In other words, God has not cast off his people but only set them aside for a time. Look what it says in verse 1 of chapter 11: “I say then, has God rejected his people?”
May it never be is the answer.
“For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.” Paul is talking about himself. So God’s dealings with Israel brings blessing to all people. To the remnant who will get saved and believe in Jesus, they will attain pardon before God. To the rest of the worldwide world, they will have a chance to receive the gospel.
The gospel goes out to both Jew and Gentile, everybody. And then Israel, when at last, will be spiritually renewed in their land.
The hardening which has come upon Israel has befallen them only in part and only until the full number of the nations will come in. Look at Romans 11:25. It says, “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery.”
God is unveiling something that was hidden so that you will not be wise in your own estimation. A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Who’s hardening Israel? God is hardening Israel because it’s part of their plan. They get saved, but it’s also part of their plan that they’re not cut off as a nation and they’ll be saved in their land.
Notice in verses 23 and 24 of chapter 11. He talks about the original olive tree, which would be the roots that would be Israel. He says, “And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. And if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree and were grafted contrary to nature into the cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?”
In other words, this is where Paul says in verse 26, “And all Israel will be saved.” So it’s God’s plan that right now Israel is partially hardened.
“A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in—then all Israel will be saved.”
They’re in unbelief. But what God is going to do is he’s going to bring them to a place where he’s going to bring them back to their land. They’re in their land right now, 1948, right? But in their land, they’re still in unbelief. So where are all these things going to happen? They haven’t happened yet. They’re going to happen, though.
The Apostle Paul is confessing his belief in the full conversion of Israel and explains that from it the greatest and most blessed effects will flow to the rest of mankind. Where he says in verse 12 of chapter 11, “Now if their transgression is the riches of the world and their failure is the riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be?”
And then to verse 15: “For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” In other words, God’s going to raise Israel to life spiritually. And he’s going to raise them to life to give testimony to the great things God has done.
In fact, when Jesus was teaching his disciples, he said something very significant that I already mentioned. I don’t have time to mention it right now, but I’ll read the passage. Jesus said this: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather you together as children the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings and you were unwilling.
Behold, your house is being left to you desolate, which it is right now.
Then he says this: ‘For I say to you, from now on you will not see me.’ And then he says this: ‘Until you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”‘”
In other words, when they get in the land, they’re going to realize the Antichrist is not the real Christ. He’s an impostor. He’s false. So they turn and they start believing in Jesus. They start believing in the real Messiah and they call him back. That’s all part of God’s plan.
The Lord Jesus Christ is really saying that the house of Israel shall not always remain a desert. Not forever shall it remain under the judgment with withering soul and languishing heart. But a time shall come when Israel shall recognize its Messiah, receive him with joyful song and glad acclaim.
Being therefore converted, they will devote themselves to the Messiah with a whole heart and greet him as their divine king. That’s what they will do.
Remember, even the disciples after Jesus rose from the grave thought to themselves in Acts 1: “Well, Jesus rose from the grave. I guess the kingdom is coming, right?” And so they asked Jesus this specific question: “Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
Jesus didn’t say no. He didn’t say yes. This is what he said to them: “It’s not for you to know times and epochs which the Father has fixed in your own authority. But go into all the world and preach the gospel.”
That’s our job now—to preach the gospel. But he didn’t say the kingdom wasn’t coming. He didn’t say that. And where did the disciples even get that idea from to even ask Jesus that question? May I suggest to you that they grasped it from the message of the prophets?
Their question was: “When will you restore the kingdom to Israel?” That’s what we’ve been waiting for all this time. Did it happen after the Assyrian invasion and then the Assyrian crisis? No. Did it have to happen after the Babylonian crisis? No.
Did it happen here when they asked this question of the Lord? No. When will it be restored? There is coming a day in the future when the Lord Jesus Christ will return in power and glory and restore the great theocracy that was lost and reign on the throne of David.
The Prophets’ Hope: Israel Restored to the Land
See, in other words, the prophets are dealing with what went wrong with the nation and the people are thinking we are so miserable, full of people. It’s over for us.
But the prophets say, “No, it’s not over. There’s something that’s going to happen over here.” The prophets speak to the need of the people. And what’s the need of the people back then? When you read the prophets, it’s hope.
There’s something going to happen over here. That’s what prophecy is about.
It’s not only telling an immediate context of something, but something future. Something’s going to happen over there. The prophets are meeting your greatest need—to realize that there is coming a day when the people will be restored to the land, the theocratic government will be restored again, God will be blessing you anew, and the kingdom will be restored to Israel.
See, we have to understand that’s the framework in which the prophets actually operate.
If you ever read the prophets, if you’re reading through the Bible, you’ll see that in the beginning of the prophecies, man, this is like judgment and thought. Then you get to the end and God is saying, “No, I’m going to bless you. I’m going to give you hope. I’m going to give you a future.” That’s the message of almost all the prophets.
“In the beginning of the prophecies it’s judgment—then God says, ‘I’m going to bless you. I’m going to give you hope. I’m going to give you a future.’”
You can’t get away from that message.
Even Ezekiel describes the final gathering of the Jews from the nations of the earth, restored to the land, all 12 tribes united under David the king.
Well, if the purpose of the tribulation is to call Israel back to God, then the millennium period, the thousand-year reign, will be the time when Israel will be restored to the land. In other words, Israel’s rebellion and dispersion throughout the world did not disqualify the nation from the covenant promises of the Abrahamic covenant, the Davidic covenant, and the new covenant that I will give you a new heart and take away your stony heart and give you a heart of flesh.
See, God doesn’t hold back on his promises.
“God doesn’t hold back on his promises. Israel’s unfaithfulness would not cause the Lord to be unfaithful to his own promise.”
Israel’s unfaithfulness would not cause the Lord to be unfaithful to his own promise that he gave to the nation throughout the scriptures. When Israel is restored to the land in the millennium and brought back to her land, this geographical nation of Israel will be cleansed of her sins. She will be granted a new heart of worship and obedience and she will enjoy living in peace and prosperity under the rule of the Davidic king.
And who is the Davidic king? Jesus Christ is the king. Do they have that now? Have they ever really had that? No.
So either this doesn’t mean anything or something’s going to happen in the future.
That’s the first purpose of the millennium: Israel being restored back to their land and God fulfilling his promises to her. All right, saying all that, let’s go back to Revelation.
The Fifth Purpose: The Reign of Christ
Revelation 19:16. The second purpose of the millennium is the reign of Christ.
The reign of Christ speaks of victory. It will be victory for Israel and the whole world. When Christ reigns, it will be victory for everyone.
Brethren, I want to mention something: there is coming a day in the future when the Lord Jesus Christ will return in power and glory and restore this great theocracy. He will reign on the throne of David.
He will restore Jerusalem. Then Christ will rule and reign like no other earthly Lord or King before him.
“There is coming a day when the Lord Jesus Christ will return in power and glory, reign on the throne of David, and restore Jerusalem.”
He’s never done that before. He’s never reigned on the earth from the throne of Jerusalem as promised in the Old Testament.
He will reign in perfect wisdom. He will execute justice and righteousness upon the earth like no other Lord or King has ever done, including King David and King Solomon.
He will be unlike any other king anyone has ever known. He will be the king that the world has been looking for since the beginning of time.
Ten Characteristics of Christ’s Millennial Reign
He will be that king like no other king before. And if you notice in Revelation 19:16 where the translators made sure that they put this in bold print, it says, “And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”
See, that’s important for us to realize that our Lord Jesus Christ will be in a very unusual time, a time that really no one could actually wrap their mind around, but this is what will happen. And there are really several things that will take place when Christ comes to reign on the earth. Let me just give you 10 of them quickly because it’s going to be an incredible time.
The first thing is this: the curse that has been on the earth because of sin will be removed. I’m not going to look up all the scriptures on these. It’ll be removed. Also, the curse will be lifted from nature, from animals.
In fact, Isaiah 11 says this. Listen to what it says: “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with a young goat. And the calf and the young lion and fatling together, and a little boy will lead them, and the cow and the bear will graze. Their young will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like an ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of cobras and the weaned child will put his hands on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in my holy mountain.”
That’s something different and that’s something that’s never happened before. So it’ll happen in this period where Satan’s bound and Christ is reigning.
Now, the third thing is during Christ’s reign, the Bible says the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the water covers the sea. It’s going to be a different day in the whole world. Well, if you want to know the knowledge of God, you’ll get it.
And then a fourth thing is the curse will be lifted from human bodies. In fact, without reading a passage, Isaiah 65 says if you’re 100 years old, you’re considered young.
“During Christ’s reign, the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the water covers the sea.”
So people are going to be living for hundreds of years, thousands of years. They’re going to be living in the millennium, the thousand years, and then it’ll be the eternal state where you live forever with a resurrected body. But could you imagine that 100 years and you’re just a kid, you’re just young? I’m 900 years old, but that’s what’s going to happen.
See, everything is going to be different because Christ is reigning there. There’s no curse.
Number five: during the millennium reign of Christ, there will be no more poverty. I have verses for all this but no time to give them right now.
Six: Satan will be chained and bound during the reign of Christ. Already mentioned that.
Seven: Jerusalem will be the center of worship and knowledge for the whole earth. They will come to Jerusalem to worship. All the nations will come. And the reason why there will be a millennial temple is because some of those nations that are going to come and worship God are not believers. So they have to be ritually cleansed to come and visit with the Messiah. That’s why there are sacrifices in the millennial kingdom. That’s one of the reasons.
Also, number nine: all Israel will know the Lord. They’ll be saved.
And then number 10 is Christ will reign on David’s throne and Christians, the saints will reign with him.
So you see that the millennial period is for the purpose of showing that Christ can reign, that he can subdue his enemies and bind his great enemies like Satan. He can rule as it says in Revelation 2:9. He will rule with a rod of iron.
And the reason why he rules with a rod of iron is because in the millennial period, not everybody will be saved. Not everybody will be saved.
The Sixth Purpose: The Final Defeat of Satan
That’s something that is astonishing, but it is true. So that brings me to my sixth reason for the millennium, and it’s this one: Revelation 20:7-10. What is this one? It’s not the defeat. It’s the final defeat of Satan.
It is the final defeat of Satan. Now if you look at verse seven of chapter 20, it says this: “When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison.”
So he’s bound there. He’s kept there. He can’t tempt anybody. He can’t deceive the nations anymore. He couldn’t do any of those things for a thousand years. He’s out of the picture.
So when the thousand years are over, Satan will be released. And according to scripture, he is not allowed to be released until God says so.
The Lord is in control of all things. In fact, Christ is still reigning on the throne at this time. He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings forever. And in Satan’s fifth abode, which is the abyss, the temporary place for demons, God will loose him from his imprisonment, and Christ will release Satan, give him freedom again.
And look what it says in Revelation 20:3. Just go back to verse three: “And he threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over so that he would not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed. And after these things, he must be released for a short time.”
The question would come to our minds: why must he be released?
“Satan is not allowed to be released until God says so. The Lord is in control of all things.”
Can’t we just say it’s over, it’s done? No, you can’t.
See, there must be a must about Satan’s release. And what is it that Satan’s released? What’s the necessity?
Why Satan Must Be Released
Why not just end it? Well, here’s the first reason. The first reason is sorting out the millennial believers from the unbelievers.
Satan will be used by God to accomplish a final sorting out of the millennial believers from the unbelievers, the sheep from the goats, right? It will be a test of the heart.
During the millennial period, not all people will be saved. Some people have given lip service to Christ and obeyed him because he was the king in a kingly office, but in their heart they never believed.
“Satan will be used by God to accomplish a final sorting out of the millennial believers from the unbelievers—a test of the heart.”
And so they will not be saved.
It will be a test of the heart. Satan will come and what will he do? He will do the same thing he’s always done.
He’ll tempt these people to believe what his plan is all about.
The Utter Depravity of the Human Heart
And he will deceive them again and he will get people to worship him and follow him. We’re going to see that in a minute. But could you imagine that he’s released to do that? But here’s the second reason why he’s released: to reveal the utter depravity of man’s heart.
This second reason would reveal how wicked man is in his heart.
Now, let me remind you that during the millennium, under the reign of the Lord Jesus, there will be perfect peace. There will be universal prosperity. There’ll be plenty of food. There’ll be absolute justice for everyone and no wars.
See, the kingdom of Christ will include everything that is good for humanity. Everything. So in other words, there’s not much to complain about. Things are good. Things are better than ever in human history.
But even in that, here’s the thought: a perfect environment does not produce perfect people.
“A perfect environment does not produce perfect people. If people are not connected to Christ, they still have wickedness in their heart.”
If these people are not connected to the one reigning on the throne—that’s Jesus Christ—they still have wickedness in their heart.
So the horror of that thought is that people will still want to follow the devil and not repent and refuse to trust and follow Christ.
In fact, the Bible says this happens after God’s done a great thing. In Revelation 9:21, it says this is when the Lord was pouring out judgment but giving them time to repent. And in chapter 9, verse 21, it says: “And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.”
Now, if you think of that, how hard it is for someone to be saved. They did not turn because their heart was depraved and dark.
How radically depraved are we as people? Utterly incapable of choosing and doing that which is acceptable to God apart from divine grace.
We were all born spiritually dead. The Bible tells us we can’t respond to God unless divine grace moves us to respond to him. We’re dead.
And in the millennium, in that thousand-year reign, Satan is bound and man’s heart is still dead. It’s not easy to wrap your mind around, but mankind is really hopelessly lost.
Man’s salvation is always and wholly dependent on the grace of God and Christ’s redemptive work on the cross.
“Man’s salvation is always and wholly dependent on the grace of God and Christ’s redemptive work on the cross.”
Apart from that, no one can be saved. No one could be made right with God. So Satan’s release will make plain the fact that neither the design of Satan nor the waywardness of the human heart will be altered or changed by the mere passing of time. In other words, if God gave humanity another million years, they would still remain depraved and corrupt in their own heart and would not follow God. But in fact, they would follow Satan.
See, human depravity on its own will never choose Christ, but actually will flock to Satan.
That’s hard to believe. I know it. But it’s the truth. God doesn’t hold back the truth.
Satan Gathers the Nations for the Last Battle
Now look at Revelation 20:8 because Satan is now released. And what does he do? Look what it says in verse 8. “And will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for war.”
And the number of them was like the sand of the seashore. Could you imagine that?
I say to myself, “Wait a minute. Christ just got done reigning for a thousand years and Satan is able to gather a multitude that can’t even be numbered. War was still in their heart.”
Satan gathers the nations by deception for the final battle against the saints and Christ in Jerusalem. In fact, he brings up Gog and Magog here, and those were the kings of the northern lands which Ezekiel mentions. Back in Ezekiel, the prophet saw what happened there—God intervened on their behalf and delivered them.
Scripture brings this up because God intervenes again. He comes and destroys the coalition of nations so that all will recognize that he is God and that he has the authority over all nations, over all peoples, over all spirits, and there is none like him. There never was and there never will be the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at the last part of verse 8. It says, “And the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.” Look at verse 9. “And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city.” Here it is again—his hatred towards the camp of the saints and the beloved city.
So here they are. They’re saved in the land. The Lord just got done reigning and now Satan is able to gather the nations against God and his people. How wicked is that?
Here’s the picture: Satan gets all the nations of the world to come against Israel. We are there with Christ after the millennial reign.
Satan gathers the nations who didn’t believe in the Messiah, who didn’t trust in Christ even during the great perfect reign that he had on the earth. They rebelled against Christ. They followed Satan anyway. And that just proves apart from God’s grace and mercy, we are without help and without hope.
“Apart from God’s grace and mercy, we are without help and without hope.”
In other words, the fact that you’re saved is not a mere decision you made to come to Christ because you felt good that day or because you were just moved emotionally.
You came to Christ because God has been working on your stony heart and chipping away at it, bringing you to a place where you actually see what’s really going on. He opens your eyes. He gives you a heart of flesh to believe.
Then you turn from your wickedness and your sin and your rebellion that you now realize you’ve committed against God. It’s not that you do it for just sin itself, but because of your rebellion against a holy and just God where you say, “I’m guilty. I deserve your wrath. I deserve your punishment.”
And then you cry out, “Lord, save me. Lord, save me. Woe is me. I’m undone. I cannot help myself. I know you’re the answer. I know you died in my place. I know you took my wrath for me. I know that you rose again to give me eternal life. I know that you’re the only way, truth, and the life. I trust you as my Lord and Savior.”
And Jesus says, if you do that, I will in no wise cast you out. That’s exactly what God came to do. He came to save us. And that’s the only way you can get saved.
You repent. You turn to the Lord for forgiveness of sins because he paid the price for you and he removes your sin from you forever. So it never can come up against you and condemn you. See, that’s victory in Jesus. That’s victory in Jesus.
So what happens in Revelation 20 verse 9? Satan will make a mad attempt to capture the camp of the saints.
The term camp in Revelation 20 refers to a place where the people of God found protection and blessing with their God. In the Old Testament, when God’s glory was there and the tabernacle was there, it was called the encampment of God. God was in the midst of them. So that means they were protected.
We have the same thing going on here—God is in their presence. Christ is reigning on the throne. And look at Revelation 20:9.
God’s Effortless Victory: Fire from Heaven
It says, “And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints, the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and what? Devoured them.” Isn’t that amazing?
Is there really a battle? No, not really. In verse nine, God blasts fire to devour the nations.
Fire came down from heaven and devoured them.
So Jesus by his word consumes them completely.
“Is there really a battle? No. God blasts fire to devour the nations. Jesus by his word consumes them completely.”
In fact, when Paul was writing about this same instance in 2 Thessalonians 2, he used the word—at least the old King James used the word, and then the NIV picked it up and the NLT picked it up: “Destroyed.”
Destroyed is a good word because it means to make of no effect. To render utterly helpless, to bring to an end, to annihilate, to bring to nothing.
It also included something else in my study. This word in Thessalonians—destroyed—the Greek word includes something else. It means destruction by replacement.
And this is what the rest of the passage says: “Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming.”
In other words, he’s going to come and replace the kingdoms of the world with his kingdom.
And that is it. In fact, the prophet Daniel has been saying this the whole time. Daniel records, “In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed.”
When this kingdom comes, it says it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but itself will endure forever. It will crush the iron and the bronze and the clay and the silver and the gold. That means all the kingdoms of the world are represented by those metals.
“And the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future.”
Daniel already said that this stone, cut not by human hands, comes and crushes all the other kingdoms of the world and the kingdom of God takes over.
Just imagine: for King Jesus, no carnal weapon is required. No military power is necessary to affect the overthrow and doom of Satan and his enemies.
Satan’s savage and pitiless and cruel reign will be met with a crushing doom at the coming of the real Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, brethren, it’s done.
It’s over.
The rebellion will end and God will destroy the unbelievers. There’s no battle. Only fire descends from heaven as described in this passage. And also, this is not new to the prophets.
Ezekiel tells us, “And I will send fire on Magog and those who inhabit the coastlands in safety, and they will know that I am the Lord.” The reason why God does it like this is so the people of the earth will know that he is the Lord. He is God. There is no one like him.
He has the last word.
He has the power to devour and put an end to all battles without lifting a sword.
He has the power to defeat his greatest enemies, both spiritual and human.
“He has the power to defeat his greatest enemies, both spiritual and human, without lifting a sword.”
Did you catch this when we were reading? Brother Bruce was reading the passage of scripture in Ezekiel this morning. In this battle, it will take seven months to bury the dead.
That’s all the nations of the world involved. It will take seven years to dismantle all the weapons of war. You think about what’s going on today with Iran and stuff like that. They have an endless supply of weapons. These things are not easy to store. We destroy all this stuff and then they’re still blowing things up. Like, what’s going on? We have so much weaponry in this world. Every nation does.
It’s going to take seven years to dismantle the weapons of war.
That’s an amazing thought.
The Lake of Fire: Satan’s Eternal Doom
All the other enemies of God are devoured by fire and God turns his sight on Satan and ends his fling with a fiery conclusion. Satan’s leash is further shortened and restricted to a place prepared a long time ago in eternity.
As it says in Revelation 20:10, “And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet also are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” I believe that we should really understand not only the bliss and joy of heaven but the torment of hell because it is a real place. The torment of the lake of fire is the final place.
But sometimes I think people think about hell as some kind of imaginary place. It’s not really there. People have their own opinions on whether they believe it or don’t believe, but it doesn’t matter whether you believe it or don’t believe. It is there. It’s a real place.
These things are real. The devil is real. The things that I explained to you and we see in this graph, they’re real things. These are going to happen today. There seems to be no line of separation between truth and error.
Separating what is true from what is not true in our minds is getting very difficult to do. We conclude sometimes this sounds like a fairy tale, but this is real and this is going to take place. It should frighten us like nothing else can because I think if there’s one subject in scripture that you can’t go to sleep once you think about it, it is hell and the lake of fire.
People next week I’ll be looking at the great white throne judgment. People will end up there too. They will end up there.
The confinement of Satan will be forever in the lake of fire. Christ’s victory over Satan will only be finalized when Satan is thrown into this last abode.
“Christ’s victory over Satan will only be finalized when Satan is thrown into this last abode—the lake of fire—forever.”
But here’s the thing, and I’ll mention that next week: everyone who followed Satan in any age in history will end up there also.
Because if you look at verse 14 of chapter 20, it says, “And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Now it should bring all of us to think: if this is the demise of unbelievers, of those who have not followed Christ, and if all unbelievers and demonic forces are cast into this place, then all unbelievers must suffer the same eternal penalty with the one they actually worshiped.
In John 8, he said to the nation of Israel, “You worship your father, the devil.” I’m sure that was a shock to them.
The Call to Repent and Live for Christ
So then, what’s the only solution for those who don’t know Christ? Repent and turn and trust Christ alone for forgiveness of your sins and eternal life. Come to Christ today before it’s too late.
That’s the first step in being ready to meet the Lord. Only those who follow Christ will be ready.
Nobody’s getting ready except believers are getting ready. God is bringing people to him, making clear in their minds where do they stand with God. If you were to die today, where would you go?
That’s something we must answer, not put it off. Are you living for Christ or are you living for yourself or for somebody else? Who are you living for?
Live for Christ so that you may meet him confidently and unashamed. Live that way.
I pray that this teaching from the word of God will make you watchful, that it will make you prayerful, that it will make you ready to meet the Lord at any time. That it will also, while you’re waiting for the Lord, cause you to labor diligently for Christ and not be lazy while you wait for his return because he is coming.
There’s one word: if you trust in Christ, victory.
“If you trust in Christ: victory. If you follow Satan: defeat.”
If you follow Satan, defeat.
Let’s pray.
Lord, thank you again for the word of God because it makes us sober. It makes us see your plan more clearly. It exposes our foolishness and our sinfulness. It exposes how unserious we’ve been about living for you.
I pray, Lord, you would change that today. Change that in the people’s hearts and all of us, Lord. Would we be people that wake up every day and want to live for you with all our heart and all our mind and with all our soul and all our strength.
Lord, we want to strive for that. I pray that the scriptures would so transform us that each day we would experience the peace of God that passes understanding, that you can only give us and no one could take away. And that the joy of the Lord would give us strength to know we know the end of the story.
We know the one who actually saves us and forgives us and makes us right with God. That should always bring joy to our heart. I pray for that for us, that we would live for you much more seriously than we have before and that we would do it with gusto.
Lord, thank you for the victories that you give us. I pray that we’d not take them for granted. I ask it all in Christ’s name. Amen.