Revealing the Revelation
Chapter 20 – “The Return of Christ”
April 4, 2010
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " Then they remembered his words.
Luke 24:1-8
Today is Resurrection Sunday. Welcome to the celebration of eternal life. We are here today to celebrate. We are here today to praise God! We are here today to rejoice! Because Jesus lives – we, too, will live eternally. It was great that Jesus died on the cross for us. He paid the penalty for our sins. Because of the cross we may be justified and forgiven for our sins – but if we didn’t have the ‘empty’ cross we would have just been the righteous dead. We would have been forgiven – but still dead! Paul said, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” (1 Corinthians 15:19) But Christ IS alive! Jesus lives! The cross is vacant! The tomb is empty!
Our cross is empty to signify that Jesus paid the penalty for our sins – and then conquered death by coming to life again. Because He lives – we have eternal life! That’s worth celebrating about!
Today we are in a unique place. We are positioned between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ. We are positioned so we can look behind and see what Jesus did when He was resurrected from the dead, and we can look ahead and see that we have an appointment for a resurrection ourselves. It is called ‘the first resurrection’. Let’s read about.
Revelation 20
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20
We have been studying this wonderful Book of Revelation for some time now. Last week I commented that after all this time of teaching and preaching on this book that it is interesting that we find ourselves exactly right in our timing to study the resurrection of the saints on Resurrection Sunday. I don’t know how many times, as I have prepared to preach on a chapter, that I looked at it and thought “How in the world can I get anything productive from this chapter?” But as I prayed for God’s leading, the Holy Spirit faithfully came and gave me the words to say. May that be true today. May the Holy Spirit lead us into truth.
As we come to this chapter, remember last week in chapter 19 we saw that the Beast was captured with the False Prophet and the two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. Yes, there is such a place. There is a place of separation for the wicked. The Beast and the False Prophet were cast into it. The rest of the world who had received the mark of the Beast and worshipped him were killed with the sword and went to that place we call Hades or the abode of the dead. They wait there until they are called forth at the Great White Throne Judgment of God.
We come now to chapter 20. An angel comes down out of heaven. He is a mighty angel. He is tremendously powerful. He seizes Satan and there doesn’t even seem to be a struggle. Satan is powerless in his hands. And let me remind you that Satan is no match for God. Satan can not stand in Jesus’ presence. As long as we stay sheltered under the umbrella of Jesus’ protection – we have nothing to fear from the enemy. “Greater is He that is in you –than he that is in the world” John says. (1 John 4:4) All Satan can do is to try and frighten you. There is a hedge of protection around the Christian. Every Child of God has a guardian angel to protect him. Nothing that happens to us happens without God’s permission. And every thing that happens to the Child of God, no matter how bad or how tragic it may seem, will be worked out for our good. So don’t fear Satan. Don’t fear the dark. Don’t fear the future. You are a child of God.
An angel seizes Satan and throws him into the Abyss, the bottomless pit, for a thousand years. He is locked up to keep him from lying and deceiving the nations for a thousands years. So, if you are keeping a timeline in your head, put this down as happening before the thousand year reign of Christ and just after the seven years of the Great Tribulation.
Then John sees thrones and on those thrones, which represent authority, are seated judges. Who are these judges? Apparently they are Christians who have died in the Lord and God appointed them as those who would be judging the world, perhaps making judgments during the thousand year reign of Christ.
Then John sees those who had been beheaded for their faith in Jesus and in the Bible. They had refused to worship the Beast or his image. They refused to take the mark on their foreheads or their hands. So they were beheaded. But now they came to life. They were resurrected! The Bible calls this the “First Resurrection”.
Let me ask you a question, ‘if this is the FIRST resurrection – how many resurrections were there before this?’ The answer is: NONE. The ‘first’ resurrection is the FIRST resurrection. Some people, to preserve their pet theory, call another resurrection “The Rapture”. Folks the rapture is a resurrection. Don’t twist the simple truth of God’s revelation in the Bible to fit what you want to believe. Change your beliefs to fit the Bible. The first resurrection is clearly after the Great Tribulation. And it will be preceded by something. Listen.
“in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”
1 Corinthians 15:52
Let me ask you another question. Are there any other trumpets after the LAST trumpet? The ‘last trumpet’ is the LAST trumpet! It is at the last trumpet that the dead will be raised.
To me, it couldn’t be any clearer. Christians better be prepared to go through some tough times. It appears to me that we will go through the Great Tribulation. We won’t suffer the wrath of God. The Christian is marked so he will not suffer the affliction of the wicked – but why would he even be marked if he was to be raptured out. He is marked and more than that – he is taken to a hiding place.
“The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.” Revelation 12:6
“The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach.” Revelation 12:14
I think the woman represents the Church – the believers in Christ that enter into the tribulation with faith. Those who come to faith in the seven years probably are those who have to face the beheading for their faith. The have to refuse to take the mark of the beast. Many of them will be killed for their faith. But for the last 3 ½ years of tribulation the Church will be in a protected place and taken care of. That’s very similar to what happened to God’s people when Moses led them from Egypt. The experienced the lesser plagues – but the last plagues, though they were there, the were spared them.
The good news is that those who die for their faith won’t be dead long. They will come to life – when? At the FIRST resurrection. And what will they do? They will reign with Christ during His thousand year reign. You are blessed and holy if you have part in the first resurrection. Let’s see what the blessings are. Some will be judges. Some will reign with Christ. Some will be His priest. The second death – or the second separation from God will not affect them at all.
I think we will stop right here. This is Resurrection Sunday. Next week we will continue from here – but right now I want you to know that there is a resurrection with YOUR name on it. It has been provided by Jesus. Through Him we have eternal life. Because of Jesus we have a glorious future for all eternity!
That first Resurrection, most of the faithful were faithless. They were hiding behind locked doors in fear. But when they saw the Resurrected Christ – it changed everything! It changed a frightened band of timid men and women into an unbelievably powerful force that changed the world!
Jesus wants to ‘rock’ your world. He wants to roll the stone away from the tomb in your heart. After Jesus had risen from the dead and most of His follower missed it – the angel said, “Don’t you remember how He told you everything?” Then they got it! They said, “Oh, yeah! That’s what He was talking about!” We will probably do the same thing at the second coming – the first resurrection. We will say, “Oh yeah! It was all right there!”
Folks, read your Bibles! Study the Scriptures. God wants to talk to you. God wants to prepare you for the coming events. Don’t miss it! And, first of all, prepare your hearts. Are you prepared if He were to come today? Are you prepared if we are to enter into seven years of tribulation today? All you have to do to be prepared is to make Jesus your Lord. You do that by praying a simple prayer like this:
Dear Jesus,
I confess I have been in rebellion with you since I was born. I have done things my way. I have called the shots. And I haven’t done a very good job of it. Please forgive me. From now on I want you to be my Lord. Give me the power and the will to obey everything you ask me to do. I want to live for you alone. I want to be your child.
“Lamb of God”
