Chapter 20:7-15
The whole grand narrative of Scripture has unfinished storylines and missing pieces without the millennial reign of Christ. The 1000 year reign of Jesus living and ruling in justice and peace puts the finishing notes on His plan for redemption, the covenants He made with Abraham and David, as well as the original plan He had for creation. We can be confident that God will complete everything He has planned. Similarly, we can be confident that He will deliver on every promise and Word spoken. As someone who has covenanted with Jesus, I sure am glad to read in Scripture that He fulfils His covenants literally and completely as opposed to changing terms halfway through to a spiritual fulfilment thus letting Him off the hook.
One of those unfinished narratives and questions is; would humanity follow Jesus if He was living on earth and with no interference from the devil? In other words, if the serpent wasn’t in the garden would Adam and Eve or their descendants still have sinned? The answer displayed in this chapter is yes.
Although in the millennial reign believers are in their glorified bodies, there will be people that survive the Tribulation and enter into that 1000 years in their human bodies. These people carry on creating families and children and by the end of the 1000 years, there is a mind-boggling chain of events where satan gets released for a little while and leads a rebellion against Jesus and God.
Think about this for a moment. Even when for the last 1000 years He has reigned in perfect justice and worldwide peace, with total provision, healing and joy, satan is still able to find people who willingly go along with him to attempt to overthrow Jesus. This is the ultimate proof that the plan of salvation had to be that He would come the first time to remove evil from within us so that when He came the second time to remove evil from the world, He didn’t have to remove us with it.
Or as Leonard Ravenhill would say, “Jesus did not come into the world to make bad men good. He came into the world to make dead men live!”
But why let the devil loose if He is only going to lead a rebellion and get millions more killed and lead them into perdition? Because free will is of absolute importance to God and before He starts eternity, He wants to offer one more time the ability to reject Him if you wish.
And reject Him they do. So many that John cannot even give a number. John refers to it as another God, Magog moment. All the nations surround the Holy City to destroy the Lord and His anointed but instead, they are all consumed by fire from heaven. The devil who deceived them is forever done away with after this. Thrown into the Lake of fire, he joins the antichrist and the false prophet forever.
After this John saw the Great White Throne of Judgement. On the judgement seat? None other than the Lord Jesus Himself (John 5:22). At this point in time, no one is on earth and there is about to be new heavens and a new earth. There are good arguments either way as to whether or not they are new because they are renewed by fire or new because they are destroyed by fire (2 Peter 3:10).One thing is certain, all humanity from Adam to the last person born in the Millennium will be standing at this Great White Throne of His Judgment.
There He opens the only evidence permitted. The book of works and the Book of Life. Those who are in Christ have already been judged at the Bema seat 1000 years prior (2 Cor 5:10), but those not in Christ are judged by their works and no one comes close to providing the evidence needed to gain entry into heaven and have their name written in the Book of Life. Therefore, anyone whose name is not found in the Book of Life is thrown into the Lake of Fire for eternity. Although that is heart-wrenching to think about and devastating to ponder, a recurring theme in the book of Revelation is that Jesus is perfect justice and we can have faith in His sovereignty over judgement.
What is more encouraging is that in this same judgement death and hell are also thrown into the Lake of Fire and the last enemy will have been defeated for eternity (1 Cor 15:26).
Hallelujah!
Here’s what we can live from these verses:
- Jesus is Going to Fulfil All of His Promises. Jesus is the Author and Finisher (Heb 12:2) and He is the God of the Amen (Rev 3:14). He will accomplish the complete fulfilment of the covenants He made with Abraham, David and Israel so we can have confidence that He likewise will also fulfil His covenants with us, His Bride. Today, let’s live in bold confidence that “God is not a human who lies or a mortal who changes his mind. When he says something, he will do it; when he makes a promise, he will fulfil it (Num 23:19).
- Not Everyone Chooses God. Free will is of absolute importance to God and not everyone chooses Him. Even when they are living under His perfect peace, justice and joy, there are those who willingly reject Him and His Kingdom. This is why today we can be thankful that not only has Jesus delivered us from sin but also from the power of sin. No longer are we slaves to the old man of rebellion but we live as new creations in Christ Jesus.
- Death and Hell Will Be Thrown Into the Lake of Fire. Death and hell will one day forever be done away with. The last enemy will no longer plague the new heavens and the new earth and we will spend eternity with and in God, no longer taunted by death. There will be no death in us, around us, in creation or anywhere in all of the universe. Death will be dead.
