Auto Transcript
Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.
Summary
We are called to stand firm in the conviction that Christ is victorious and his return is certain. Drawing from Revelation 19–20, we are reminded that King Jesus will return not as a humble servant but as a conquering King, and because of his victory, we have already won.
Key Lessons:
- Christ’s judgment on those who reject him will be inescapable and indiscriminate — no one can evade his righteous wrath at his return.
- Satan’s power is being incrementally restricted and will one day be completely bound during the thousand-year reign of Christ, proving that his defeat is certain and God’s plan is unfolding on schedule.
- The saints will reign with Christ during the millennium — resurrected, glorified, and given roles of judgment and priesthood — which should transform how we live today.
- We are called to watchfulness and purity now, living as if Christ could return today, refusing to be deceived by the spirit of antichrist that is active in the world.
Application: We are called to put on the whole armor of God, limit the influence of distracting media and deceptive voices, pursue personal purity, and keep the gospel going to those still outside of Christ — because we are on the winning side and others need to know it.
Discussion Questions:
- How does the certainty of Christ’s return and ultimate victory practically change the way you make decisions this week?
- In what ways has Satan used fear, deception, or distraction to keep you from the word of God, and what steps can you take to resist that?
- What does it mean to you personally that you will reign with Christ — and does that truth affect how you view your current suffering or faithfulness?
Scripture Focus: Revelation 19:17–21 teaches that Christ’s judgment on his enemies is inescapable, indiscriminate, and results in ultimate damnation. Revelation 20:1–6 reveals Satan’s binding and the millennial reign of Christ with his saints, culminating in the first resurrection and the blessing that the second death has no power over believers.
Outline
- Introduction
- The Great Supper of God: Inescapable Judgment
- Christ Defeats His Formative Enemies
- The Millennial Kingdom of Christ
- The Binding of Satan
- Blessing for the Saints: Reigning with Christ
- Watchfulness in the Last Days
- Don’t Quit — You’ve Already Won
Introduction
Let’s take our Bibles and turn to Revelation 19.
Hopefully you use a paper Bible. If you don’t, you should start. If you use your phone, there are too many distractions. The algorithms want to sell you something, or you get a popup. Leave it home. Shut it off on Sunday morning. Leave it in your car and use a paper Bible. Amen.
Not too many amens on that one. How come?
All right, I think we need to pray.
Father, we thank you this morning that you brought us here on this summer day. We thank you, Lord, that we do have the word of God in our hands. I pray, Lord, that we would always be ready to receive it and read it and study it and meditate upon it so that Lord, it transforms our mind. We would definitely know what your good will is, your acceptable will is, your perfect will is.
Lord, I pray that we would have a good view of ourselves too. We would never want to be transformed or pushed into the mold of the world. The world wants to push us into its mold. That’s for sure. Lord, I pray that your word would so capture our mind and the truth would so wash our mind and soul that we would know when we are being duped. We would know when we are being deceived, that we are being led down a path that is not helpful for the Christian life. It may not be sinful, but it’s not helpful. It’s not profitable.
Help us, Lord, to lay those things aside as well as our sin. Lord, as we approach the word of God this morning, please make us ready to receive it. Continue to build our knowledge and understanding of the last days and the end times so that Lord, it would bolster our faith. We would never give up and we would know that we were always on the winning side with Christ.
I pray this in your name. Amen.
This morning as we’re looking at the word of God, I wanted to start out with just thinking about opera. I’m not a fan of opera. I don’t know if you are, but it’s really because I don’t understand some of the things they’re saying most of the time because it’s in Italian or French or something else.
But there is one kind of famous opera today that everybody knows about. It’s “Turandot.” “Nessun Dorma” is that famous one, which Nessun Dorma does mean “none shall sleep.” The backdrop of that particular opera is that someone who wanted to seek the beautiful yet coldhearted princess Turandot’s hand in marriage.
Any suitor would have to solve three riddles. Of course, not too many people would step up to the plate because if you didn’t solve it, you would be beheaded. Failure meant death by beheading. But this one person stands up named Calaf in this opera and succeeds in answering all three riddles.
However, Turandot is horrified and begs her father to save her from marrying a stranger. But Calaf, the prince—she doesn’t know who he is—then offers her a deal. He says if she can discover his name before dawn, he would willingly be executed.
The entire city is drawn into this drama and no one is allowed to sleep. Of course, Nessun Dorma means “none shall sleep” so they can find out the suitor’s name. Then of course he would be revealed and everyone is in panic and fear because they want to find out who it is. If they don’t, they could be tortured for it. The setting of this particular opera is in ancient China.
The prince Calaf sings alone through the night and he is sure that in the morning at dawn, it will not be his death, but it will be something different, a better outcome. For the prince, fear doesn’t have the final word. Instead, he believes beforehand that for him, it will be his victory. So he sings “Vincerò”—that famous opera—and what does that mean? It means “I will win.” A voice of carrying one’s convictions into determination through uncertainty and struggle of life, that in the end he would win.
Now when you come to Revelation chapter 19, all the way to the end of the book, especially the one who has heeded the admonition of Revelation 1:3—and let me remind you it says, “Blessed is the one who reads and those who hear the word of the prophecy and those who heed the things that are written in it because the time is short.”
The person who does this develops a deep conviction. Even though life is filled with uncertainty and struggle, because of the word of God, because of his faith and trust in Jesus Christ, he is certain that in the end he will win. He is certain that it is not a matter of if Jesus is coming again. The Lord Jesus is coming the second time, but he is not coming as a lowly servant as the first time. He is coming to earth as a king with his people to conquer his enemies and establish his kingdom.
Jesus Christ is a Lord and King like no other that has ever ruled the earth. Now it is his turn. This is the day of the Lord. King Jesus will reign with glory and power. Because of his victory, we win. We know we win. You’re confident that you are on the winning side. In fact, you already won.
“He is coming to earth as a king with his people to conquer his enemies and establish his kingdom.”
We’re just waiting out the time.
There are four things King Jesus will immediately fulfill when he returns to the earth because this is in the backdrop of Revelation chapter 19, which has to do with the fulfilling of prophecy. The first one I already covered is that Jesus will come to conquer as king, but that is developed further in Revelation. I want you to notice this morning beginning in Revelation 19:1-17.
The Great Supper of God: Inescapable Judgment
The second one that Jesus will immediately fulfill in this prophecy is that Jesus will judge all who reject him. Notice in verse 17 that his execution of judgment is first of all inescapable.
Notice how it is written in Revelation 19:17: “Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, ‘Come and assemble for the great supper of God.’”
What we have here is that this angel with the radiance of the sun extends an invitation to the ravens and to the buzzards and to the flesh-eating fowl of the mid heavens. Why does he do that? Because this is the messianic banquet.
It is a feast on the sinners. The carrion birds—the sinners will be the great banquet. These carrion birds are the ones that eat decaying flesh of dead bodies.
And so we see that it’s set up like that. His judgment will be inescapable.
“His judgment will be inescapable. There’s nowhere to run.”
Indiscriminate Judgment on All Classes
There’s nowhere to run. Secondly, in verse 18, his judgment will be indiscriminate.
Now, the reason for the invitation is that God’s birds will strip the bodies of his enemies, and the bodies of a multitude will cover the land. And to the victor, to the one who wins the battle, goes not only the spoils of war, but the grim task of removing the dead corpses.
The enemies of Christ will become food for the birds.
When the nations of the earth challenge the Son of God and he treads the wine press of his wrath, every soldier, every king, every captain, every general, along with all classes of people will die.
Now, if you notice, there will be a deadly silence that reigns over the hills and valleys that surround Megiddo during this battle. In verse 18, notice how specific it is. It says, “So that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and those who sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free men, slaves, small and great.”
So no one will elude God’s inescapable and indiscriminate judgment.
“No one will elude God’s inescapable and indiscriminate judgment.”
Nobody can get away.
Christ Defeats His Formative Enemies
That’s the first thing the Lord will do immediately. A second thing is that Jesus will defeat and doom all his formative enemies.
There’s a little bit of difference between enemies and formative enemies. These are the enemies behind the enemies. These are the puppet masters that are pulling the strings.
Notice that when we see this in scripture, the warrior Jesus will seize and condemn his enemies.
Notice in Revelation 19:19: “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army.” We have to ask the question: who’s the one sitting on the horse? If you go back to Revelation 19:11, in the middle of the verse, there’s a white horse, and he who has sat on it is called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judged and wages war. So we know that immediately it’s talking about Jesus Christ.
In this particular passage of scripture, Jesus will seize these enemies and he will condemn them. Also, this warrior Jesus Christ will slay all supporters of his enemy.
“The warrior Jesus will seize and condemn his enemies. There’s no match for his strength.”
Remember that Satan had a particular goal in mind to reach his goal. He must deceive the whole world and get the whole world to worship him. Now that he has successfully accomplished that, his final goal is to get the kings of the earth and the nations of the world to come together to battle.
We saw this earlier in Revelation 16 where it says there to gather them for the war of the great day of God the Almighty.
The persuasive power of the demonic trinity—Satan, the antichrist, and the false prophet—works together. Satan is the one who’s energizing those two on the earth.
This demonic trinity convinces the world leaders and their armies to the greatest military campaign of all time. That campaign is the battle of Armageddon.
Consequently, the valley of Armageddon is actually the valley of Jezrael in scripture. There, nations led by Antichrist and their God-hating forces will gather against Jerusalem and the Jewish people and God’s people to destroy them.
What’s the outcome of that war?
In verse 20, we see the outcome of the war. But before I look at that, the outcome of the battle is quite different than Christ’s enemies were led to believe.
The language of chapter 19 describing the outcome makes use of a verb that linguists call a divine passive with the implicit subject being Christ. In other words, Christ is the one acting here.
The tables are turned against Christ’s formative enemies.
What does Christ do?
The Capture of the Beast and False Prophet
The capture of Christ’s enemies will be an ultimate capture.
In verse 20, notice that the beast is captured. It’s an ultimate detention. It says, “And the beast was seized.” Let me just stop there. The beast is the antichrist.
The beast is a human being that is energized by Satan, and so he is captured.
Now if you notice also in verse 20, the word there means to hold firmly or to hold with considerable measure of force. This shows that the conquering Christ has the extreme advantage over his enemies.
There’s no match for his strength. His enemies can’t even elude capture.
Second, the one who’s captured is in verse 20. With him, the false prophet is captured. Who is this false prophet? Remember, he’s the one who performed the signs in his presence by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who had worshiped his image.
So we see the beast, the antichrist, and now the false prophet are captured. This is before the war that the Lord is eliminating the ones who are the puppets of the real enemy behind these two. The real enemy behind these two is Satan himself. These are two human beings that have been energized by Satan to do all this dastardly work in the world.
Remember, the mystery of iniquity has been working, is working today, and will definitely be working in the end time.
Now notice in verse 20 that their army will be destroyed. It says in verse 21, “And the rest were killed with the sword which came from his mouth, the mouth of him who sat on the horse.” We see the powerful Lord Jesus Christ who by a word called existence into view, called the earth by his word and it was created. Now by a word he eliminates these two and their armies.
“By a word he called existence into view — and now by a word he eliminates these two and their armies.”
Here’s a picture of the coming Christ coming with power, coming with might. The beast and the false prophet make war with him and Christ seizes them and casts them into the lake of fire.
There is so much carnage in the war. The vultures come and have a feast on the bodies of those who were killed in the battle. So there’s not only ultimate detention, there’s ultimate disgrace.
In verse 21, notice it says, “And all the birds were filled with their flesh. They were gorged with the dead bodies that were strewn from the word that came out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ.” It just took a word. There’s really no battle.
For the human being to be eaten by animals is a worse curse on the human being because it degrades humanity. On top of that, to remain unburied was the ultimate humiliation.
Ultimate Damnation: The Lake of Fire
The Lord is humiliating his enemies and destroying them completely. But notice also that there will be ultimate damnation.
This military imagery here goes beyond the sentence of death to the very execution of that sentence, which includes a present demise and a future eternal demise.
Now look at verse 20.
It says, “And the beast was seized and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in the presence by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.”
So this lake—they’re thrown alive. They don’t die, these two. They’re thrown alive and they’re thrown right in. They bypass the great white throne judgment and they go right into the lake of fire, which is the final hell. The temporary place is hell, and the lake of fire is the permanent place. The lake of fire is the eternal abode of all lost ones, both angels and men.
The state of unbelievers in the lake of fire is not a good one. There are no parties there. There are no buddies there. They don’t have any control there.
It is a place where there is the smoke of torment, a fire that is not quenchable. It is a state of weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The weeping is that of mourning. The gnashing of teeth is that of being angry at God for eternity.
So it’s a place of unholy associations. It’s a state of suffering—the wrath of God eternally. All unbelievers and demonic forces will be cast into it.
“It is a place where there is the smoke of torment, a fire that is not quenchable — the wrath of God eternally.”
It’s a place you don’t want to be. It’s a place you do not want to end up in.
The Millennial Kingdom of Christ
But that brings me to the fourth thing that Jesus will immediately do: he will return to the earth and bring with him the long-awaited earthly kingdom.
So that begins chapter 20.
But we see next when the Lord comes. I have to say a few words about this. When we have the millennial kingdom of Christ mentioned here, the fact of the coming visible kingdom of God on this old earth—though it will be refurbished at that time—was originally common knowledge of all Christians.
Back in the third century, actually, Christians were called chilists from the Greek word “chiloy,” which meant a thousand. Chillism is another form of the word referring to Christians that you will find in ancient texts.
What it means is that they believe in a literal thousand-year reign of Christ. I submit to you that the Bible does teach that there will be a visible kingdom of Christ in which he will reign on the earth for a thousand years after he returns, referred to as the millennial kingdom. During this period, he will reign over the earth in a physical sense.
The millennium really comes from two Latin words: “millie,” meaning thousand, and “annum,” meaning year. It takes from that expression that appears actually six times in just Revelation 20.
Now some people have believed that the millennium is somehow a symbolic term referring only to a long period of time. I do not believe that.
I believe what we are talking about here in scripture is a literal period of time.
I’ll not go into all the back and forth arguments. I don’t have time to do that. But here I just want you to see the text for itself.
The placement of the apostle John in this section of scripture is significant.
It comes after the account of the appearing of Christ and the overthrow of antichrist.
This means that the thousand years is to be calculated beginning from the return of Christ and will lie between the first resurrection of believers and the great white throne judgment in Revelation 20:11-15 and the second resurrection of unbelievers.
Those who interpret this passage of scripture in this way are called premillennialists.
I am a premillennialist.
I believe that’s what the Bible teaches.
Even the prophets point in that direction, meaning that Christ will come before the thousand-year reign of Christ. He comes and then he sets up his kingdom. An easy way to think about it is that Jesus will bring the kingdom with him when he comes to the earth. In other words, the kingdom cannot be ushered in until Christ himself comes and establishes it.
Jesus will return visibly. He left visibly. He will return visibly.
He will come suddenly and powerfully to destroy his enemies, which you have been seeing already in chapter 19. The kingdom of God will be on this earth for a thousand years. At that time, Jesus will reign on the earth in Jerusalem, which will be his earthly headquarters.
“Jesus will bring the kingdom with him when he comes. The kingdom cannot be ushered in until Christ himself comes and establishes it.”
That was also the central headquarters of antichrist.
That becomes important because after Jesus wins the battle, Satan will be removed from the earth for a period of a thousand years. The effects of sin’s curse will be lifted during that thousand years.
Both believers from the Old Testament and Christians from the present age will be resurrected and will reign with Jesus over the earth during that particular time.
Now in Revelation 20, there are going to be around six things to think about when you think about the literal reign of Christ. But today, I just want to look at two of them if I have time.
Notice the first one: Remember, the Lord eliminates the antichrist. He eliminates the false prophet. And who’s behind those two? Satan.
The Binding of Satan
So we have the binding of Satan in verse number 1 through three of Revelation 20.
Satan’s Abodes and Increasing Restriction
The first thing is that Satan has to finally be bound before Christ can reign on his throne. This is the plan of God, and that’s what we really see in Revelation 20. Look at verses one and two of this passage.
“Then I saw the angel coming down from heaven holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil, and Satan bound him for a thousand years.”
Don’t forget as we read a passage like this that we cannot make a mistake of who they’re talking about here. The Bible gives every word possible that describes him from the beginning till now. Lucifer was the highest created being in the sphere of angelic beings in heaven.
But then Lucifer had a moral fall from heaven. Theologians really consider that there are six different abodes that Satan has been occupying since that time. The first one is at the throne of God. We see that in Ezekiel.
Once Lucifer fell, his name was changed to Satan. The second abode was the garden of Eden where he tempted Eve and the whole human race falls into the curse of sin, which the Lord Jesus Christ has to redeem us from.
Then there’s a third abode, and that’s the present abode right now: the abode of Satan in the atmospheric heavens. Scripture mentions in Ephesians 2 that he is the prince and power of the air. It also mentions elsewhere that Satan is in the heavenly places, that he is restricted to those realms by God.
In other words, he’s on a long chain and God is continually restricting his activity until he gets thrown into the abyss first. In fact, the Bible often tells us that Satan is the prince of this world, that he is the god of this age. Peter describes him as a roaring lion, an angel of light.
In other words, he comes as a great counterfeit. Many times he tries to counterfeit God himself. He counterfeits God’s plan. He counterfeits God’s purpose. Often he takes the word of God and he just twists it a little bit, just a little bit in order to convincingly deceive people. And he does a good job at it.
When Jesus Christ was at the cross, Satan was judged and rendered disabled to deceive the nations as he once did. Jesus’ sacrifice of atonement on behalf of sinners was completely accepted by the Father. It was satisfying to the Father and it was effectual to take care of sin and to defeat Satan.
But that doesn’t mean the plan of God had finished yet because God will finally through incremental steps take care of this enemy forever. Jesus rising from the dead is the crowning point of victory for every one of us. Now Satan, being limited—not yet bound, but limited—he is just more limited than before in his power and his ability.
“Jesus’ sacrifice of atonement was completely accepted by the Father — effectual to take care of sin and to defeat Satan.”
The Gospel’s Power Over Satan
So now we can preach the gospel, but we know that the gospel light shines in the darkness of men’s hearts.
It enlightens them to the truth that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. Even though there are millions of religions, he is the only way.
And that’s what we preach today. Even though he tries to keep people from hearing the message, that message is more powerful than him. It penetrates down to the dark recesses of the human heart.
And people actually get saved.
He actually saved us and we became born again into the kingdom of God.
And scripture tells us that now judgment is upon this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. What is the devil about? In Hebrews, it tells us that through death, he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
That’s what Satan wants—to keep people afraid of everything. He binds them in that. He captures them in that sphere of fear. It’s a powerful tool in his box.
But the gospel of Jesus Christ can liberate anyone from the fear of death and free them to know that death has really no authority over a believer’s spirit.
“The gospel of Jesus Christ can liberate anyone from the fear of death. Eternal death has no authority over believers.”
Eternal death has no authority over believers anymore because they are in Christ.
So Satan has been cast down to the earth.
We see that God will limit Satan to this fourth abode. This confinement will bring two results: Satan’s access to heaven is removed completely and he no longer can stand before God and accuse the brethren. The second result of Satan being cast down to the earth is that he is now full of wrath.
The Bible keeps saying that he has a short time. He only has a short time to do things. And so that’s the tribulation that precedes the second coming and then the millennium of Jesus Christ.
Satan is going to be a very smooth deceiver. He’s going to get the whole world to follow him. He’s going to get all the nations of the world to follow him. He’s confined to the earth, and he unleashes his anger upon the earth.
Satan Confined to the Abyss
But his leash has been getting shorter and shorter and shorter. And his boundaries have become more and more restrictive. So what God is doing is hemming him in until we get to this place where it will be the fifth abode of Satan.
And notice in verse one of Revelation 20: “And I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.”
Now, anybody who has the keys of anything has authority to open that or close that. Just like you have keys to your house or keys to your car, right? You can open and close it because you own it. It’s your property.
See, the Lord has authority to do this. But he uses an angel to do it. And he takes that key, he opens the abyss, and then a great chain to bind Satan himself.
And remember, the abyss is a temporary holding place for demons. That’s not a permanent place for demons. It is a temporary place that holds them until God is ready for final judgment.
Now notice in verse two of Revelation 20: “And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, the devil, and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him so that he would not deceive the nations any longer. Notice, until the thousand years were complete. So after these things, he must be released for a short time.”
So God is laying out for us, I believe, in sequential order what’s going to take place. The first thing is the binding and removal of Satan’s activity from the earth.
“The first thing is the binding and removal of Satan’s activity from the earth — and only God can do that.”
And he is confined to the abyss, a spiritual prison. And only God can do that.
And Satan will be confined to the abyss. And even for him it will only be temporary. And scripture tells us exactly how long it will be: a thousand years.
So we get this repetition of thousand years, that it’s not just a long period of time. It is a long period of time, but it is a thousand years. So we don’t make that mistake.
He prowls around like a roaring lion now, seeking someone to devour. He still deceives believers. That’s why we need to put on the whole armor of God to stand up against his wiles and deceptions.
He traps believers by deception. He doesn’t want you to know the word of God. He wants to keep it from you.
He also deceives those who dwell on the earth. He has a worldwide mission to deceive people and keep them from the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and from the word of God.
However, he will not succeed.
The devil is active and influential on the earth at the present time in this present age. That means though that the period where he is bound completely must be a future period.
And this means the millennium hasn’t happened yet. Some people believe it has or we’re in it now. So the binding of Satan didn’t happen yet. That’s something that is coming.
We’re looking forward to the second coming and then the millennium. The thousand-year reign of Christ will happen sometime in the future. It will happen. It seems like we’re awful close to it happening.
So Satan will be bound completely in this way and be held in the abyss for a thousand years. And then in Revelation 20:3, he’s released after that for a short period of time and that’s it for him. He doesn’t break out. He can’t break out.
“He can’t break out. He’s kept in there by God and released only at the proper time.”
He’s kept in there by God and released only at the proper time. See, that’s what happens.
Blessing for the Saints: Reigning with Christ
But there’s also blessing for the saints, even though the binding of Satan means something for the saints.
Now notice in verse four. If we ask the question, what’s in it for the saints? Well, in Revelation 20:4, there’s blessing in it for the saints. It says, “Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them.”
Just in that first part of the verse, we see that there are really two groups that are going to be represented. The first group is all the saints—the enthroned ones must be those who have already risen from the dead and been judged. Only those who fit the description would be the lamb’s bride, the church, and the warrior king’s army.
In other words, those who accompany Jesus at his return are going to be the Old Testament saints, the twelve apostles, the saints of the present age, and the redeemed ones of all ages. Not only will Christ reign, but his saints will reign with him. They will reign with him for a thousand years.
When the Son of Man receives the kingdom, he will share the kingdom with the saints. That’s already been spoken of in Daniel 7. The Bible is telling us that a dreadful kingdom, the kingdom of antichrist, will be superseded by a permanent kingdom led by the Son of God and populated with the people of God.
That becomes the hope of believers—that we are going to be on this earth with the Lord, reigning with him.
But there’s a second group also that’s with the Lord. Notice what it says in the middle of verse four. It says, “And I saw the souls.” Now, that’s interesting because the word “souls” is not the word for resurrection. This is one who is in the presence of God but doesn’t have a body yet.
Notice what it says: “And I saw the souls of those who had 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 and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand, and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”
These souls that were under the throne of God didn’t have bodies yet. Here they get a body. They’re the last group of people that are resurrected to go into the millennial kingdom. These are the enthroned martyr saints, the very privileged group of people in the millennial reign of Christ.
What are they privileged to do? Well, the blessing of the saints will be to reign with Christ. Notice in verse four: “And I saw thrones and they sat on them and judgment was given to them.” Could you imagine that?
“When the Son of Man receives the kingdom, he will share the kingdom with the saints. We are going to be on this earth with the Lord, reigning with him.”
That’s not a new thought in scripture. Didn’t the Apostle Paul tell the Corinthian church, “Hey, you guys, you need to take care of the matters of the church with church people and not take your matters to the world. Don’t drag your matters before a human court.” Amen.
In Corinthians it says, “Don’t the saints will judge the world?” So saints have a capacity to judge with discernment, especially when they have resurrected bodies—perfect bodies, perfect minds.
We can’t understand that now. I wish I had a perfect mind. We have leaky minds, and it seems like the older you get, the leakier they get.
But nonetheless, these are going to have perfect bodies and minds, and they’re going to be with Christ on the earth. They’re going to be given the opportunity during the millennium to judge others. That judgment will be the right kind of judgment. There’ll be no corruption there. There’ll be no sin in these people.
Another thing is that they have an opportunity in verse four to reign with Christ. It says, “And they will reign with Christ for a thousand years.” Jesus is going to be the king and he’s going to reign from Jerusalem, and we are going to have some part of that kingdom reign.
Do you believe that you’re going to reign with Christ someday on this earth? I don’t think we often think about or wrap our minds around that. It should transform your mind if you believe that. It should change the way you live if you believe that.
It also tells us there’s a privilege of them in verse six—that they will be priests of God, meaning intercessors or mediators for Christ while on the earth. They will join Christ in ruling over the earth at that time in history, and the saints will share his royal status as well as his priestly status.
I really think that’s exciting to even think about that.
The Martyr Saints and Their Reward
And these martyred ones, even the ones who were not killed but part of this group, they’re diehard loyalists.
They don’t receive the mark of the beast. They didn’t fall under his deception. And we’re talking about a deception that has never been in the world. This is like the extreme deception.
They didn’t fall under his economy or his government. They kept faithful to the Lord in the tribulation.
These are some staunch special force saints right here, willing to die even if they didn’t die.
Not all of them died.
But they all stood firm against the world’s philosophy and the trends that pounded them and pressed them upon them. And they did not give in. Why didn’t they give in? Because they knew they won.
That’s why they didn’t give in. They were convinced of that truth.
“They didn’t give in because they knew they won. They were convinced of that truth.”
So the promise of rule was given by Christ to the saints and those who remained faithful.
Amen. All saints—those who persevere during the Old Testament and the New Testament and the church age and the tribulation period—will be present during the final period of history.
So it becomes a blessing to you and me.
A blessing every day that I can think about and know that I’m going to be there because of what Christ has done, not because of what I’ve done, but because of what he’s done and how he keeps you.
He keeps you saved. He sanctifies you and makes you like Christ every day. He’s doing that.
And so that is a privilege to be a believer.
The First Resurrection
But there’s a second blessing that comes to the saints here in scripture in verse four and verse six. Notice what it says in verse four: “Then they came to life.”
The last part of the verse says, “and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” What does that mean? The blessing of saints resurrected.
That’s the blessing. They were raised from the dead. They came to life. That literally means they lived again.
It doesn’t assume a spiritual resurrection here. We’re looking at a physical bodily resurrection here.
Yes, we’re raised spiritually when we become born again, but this is a physical bodily resurrection that we can live with and reign with Christ on this earth.
What’s a resurrection anyway? You remember when you die, your body goes to the grave. Your soul, if you’re a believer, goes into the presence of God.
If you’re not a believer, it goes to hell, which is a temporary place.
Therefore, in the resurrection, the soul again comes together with a new body—a body that cannot die, a body that cannot sin, that doesn’t even know what sin is, a body that cannot be tempted. There is no temptation anymore for them.
That’s what takes place here. They come to life.
“A body that cannot die, cannot sin, cannot be tempted — there is no temptation anymore for them.”
The Bible refers to this as the first resurrection.
Now, if you’re a premillennial, and I hope you are, and if you’re not, I hope you’re coming this way, there are two separate bodily resurrections.
This is the first resurrection. Who’s part of the first resurrection?
Christ is the first fruits.
The church at the rapture.
And the tribulation saints.
The Second Death Has No Power
So another blessing that we see here in Revelation is that they are not subject to the wrath of God in the lake of fire.
Look at Revelation 20:6. It says, “Blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power.”
Now what’s the second death? The second death is eternal death. Remember, even those who didn’t believe in Christ will be raised from the grave and given bodies that can no longer die.
See, they will be separated from God in the lake of fire for eternity. That’s the second death. And believe me, the second death has everything to do with God not being there in his mercy and his grace. But he’s there in his wrath.
See, the second death is eternal separation from God forever.
And here’s the blessing for the saints: that the wrath of God doesn’t fall on them in the second death. And why is that? Because they were part of the first resurrection. They are reigning with Christ in the millennium.
They don’t have to fear the wrath of God upon unbelievers because they are believers.
And that is a blessing, is it not?
“The wrath of God doesn’t fall on the saints in the second death — because they were part of the first resurrection.”
So the encouragement and hope in difficult times is recognizing that God will give complete victory in the physical and spiritual realms and bring all people to their proper eternal abodes.
See, the question is, will you be part of the first resurrection?
Because if you’re not, there’s only two resurrections.
The next resurrection we’ll see in the latter part of chapter 20 is the great white throne judgment where a person is cast into the lake of fire in conscious torment with resurrection bodies that cannot die.
Watchfulness in the Last Days
Knowing these things should make you watchful. It should make you ready. Amen. That’s what it should do. That’s why Revelation is written to make us ready and watchful.
Since Satan’s strategy will be deception, we should be very watchful about whom we listen to and whom we give access to our minds. Such as the social media sites and the AI outlets and Grok and ChatGPT and all those other things, our own cell phones are getting to us. They’re controlling us slowly.
What I was thinking the other day? I think I’m going to start, hopefully you’re meeting together with your family and eating at least one meal a day. If you’re not, maybe you should start doing that too. During that time, no cell phones. Put it on airplane mode and leave it. Don’t let it control you because it is controlling you, whether you like it or not or believe it or not.
And it’s doing me too, not just you.
Not everybody who claims to be a person of truth can be trusted. Many talk about belief in God, but sometime promote principles contrary to the word of God and give liberty to sin and distort biblical truth and the character of God.
There are many evidential signs that actuate the fact that we are living in the end times. There are noticeable signs that people who we thought were believers have departed from the faith.
There is a Laodicean condition blatantly noticeable in the organized church. In other words, church becomes a circus atmosphere.
There is a spirit of lawlessness everywhere. There is the letdown and breakdown of the nuclear family and the general dismay for the marriage institution.
There’s a significant move of our nation away from the God of the Bible and truth, which manifests more in sexual perversion, deviant behavior, insane views and practices, and extreme unrighteousness. And even the world, who knows nothing about God and doesn’t believe in God, says that’s crazy.
There is an attack on children because Satan wants to get them early. There is a mindset in our country of a death cult: abortion, genocide, organ harvesting. This is craziness.
And who’s behind it all? Satan’s behind it all.
When we live in continual readiness for the Lord’s return, we will be more equipped to recognize the impostors and enemies of Christ. So we also need to be ready.
And what did the Lord say to his disciples? “You too be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
That’s why we always believe in the imminent return of Christ. I don’t know when he’s coming, but he could come today. But I want to live as if he’s coming today, even if it takes a hundred years for him to come. That’s the point: I want to live holy and godly before him.
The person who wants to be ready for the Lord’s return will endeavor to live a pure life.
“I want to live as if he’s coming today — even if it takes a hundred years. I want to live holy and godly before him.”
They won’t want to do anything that would make them ashamed if Christ were to return today. Believers who are living a pure life and keeping in touch with God in prayer and fellowship and regular Bible study and hearing the word of God and wanting to put the word of God into practice really are in possession of the anointing of the spirit of God. They’re being sanctified by the spirit of God to keep them from being deceived by the spirit of antichrist, which is alive and well today.
And even it says in 1 John, we know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself. Why? Because just as he is pure. If we’re going to be like the Lord, there has to be a purity in our life that reflects that.
Stay Awake and Keep Your Clothes
And by way of admonition in my closing, back in Revelation 16, you don’t have to turn there. Just listen to what I’m saying. I’m going to read it to you. It says there, “Behold, I am coming like a thief.
Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.
And they gathered them together in a place which in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
So that while the world is assembling together for the campaign of Armageddon, the Lord challenges his own to press on to the end, to stay awake and keep your clothes.
Now the picture of a person who remains awake and fully clothed while in the heat of the battle—that person stays in a state of readiness before Christ. There has to be some background to understand that.
And the background is this. As a priest kept watch in the temple, an officer of the temple used to go around every watch with a lighted torch before him. If any of the watchmen did not stand up and say, “Oh officer of the Temple Mount, peace be to you,” and it was manifest that he was asleep, he would beat him with his staff and had the right to burn his clothes.
If his clothes got burned, he would be naked and everyone would know that he failed to watch.
It was very crucial that watchfulness would be taken seriously in light of impending doom and the second coming of Christ.
“Watchfulness must be taken seriously in light of impending doom and the second coming of Christ.”
Don’t Quit — You’ve Already Won
In short, the message to the faithful is don’t give up. Don’t quit when you’re so close because you’ve already won.
You’ve already won. Believers in Christ know they won. But those outside of Christ don’t know anything yet, but they need the gospel.
That’s the job of the church: to get the light of the gospel to them because Satan wants to deceive them.
“Don’t quit when you’re so close — because you’ve already won. That’s the job of the church: get the light of the gospel to them.”
Amen. Let’s pray.
Lord, thank you for the incredible word of God. I just ask you, Lord, today that as we think of the things taught in Revelation, it would surely put a fire underneath us.
It would change how we live. It would give us eyes that examine what’s really going on in our heart and life. And we would make those changes with the power of the Spirit of God and the word of God transforming us.
So Lord, as we look for your coming, we would want to live a pure life. Whether we’re in public or private, we would be the same.
And we would be servants on this earth and vessels that the Spirit of God can flow through because we don’t want to grieve him or quench him. We want to be usable as servants of God on this side of eternity.
So bless us in that way and keep us mindful of what’s really going on so we are watchful and careful. Amen.