Sermon Tone Analysis

| *The Coming Earthly Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ \\ (Revelation 20:1–10)* |

 

Revelation 20:1-10 (KJV) 1 /And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.

This is the first resurrection.

6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

/

*Intro.

*

·         Imagine a world dominated by righteousness and goodness, a world where there is no injustice, where no court ever renders an unjust verdict, and where everyone is treated fairly.

·         Imagine a world where what is true, right, and noble marks every aspect of life, including interpersonal relations, commerce, education, and government.

Imagine a world where there is complete, total, enforced, and permanent peace, where joy abounds and good health prevails, so much so that people live for hundreds of years.

·         Imagine a world where the curse is removed, where the environment is restored to the pristine purity of the Garden of Eden, where peace reigns even in the animal kingdom, so that “the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them” (Isa.

11:6).

·         Imagine a world ruled by a perfect, glorious Ruler, who instantly and firmly deals with sin.

·         Humanly speaking, that description may seem far-fetched, a utopian fantasy that could never be reality.

·         Yet it accurately describes conditions during the future earthly kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

·         The restored and radically reconstructed earth of the millennial kingdom will constitute paradise regained.

·         The thousand-year reign of the Savior over the earth is the divinely planned and promised culmination of all of redemptive history and the realization of the hope of all the saints of all the ages.

·         The millennial kingdom is called by many names in Scripture.

In Matthew 19:28

Jesus calls it “the regeneration.”

Acts 3:19 describes the kingdom as “times of refreshing,”

While verse 21 of that chapter calls it “the period of restoration of all things.”

The apostle Paul refers to it in Ephesians 1:10 as “an administration suitable to the fullness of the times.”

The Bible’s teaching on the kingdom is not confined to the New Testament.

The kingdom is an important theme throughout Scripture; it is the goal toward which all of redemptive history progresses.

In the words of John Bright, “The Bible is /one/ book.

Had we to give that book a title, we might with justice call it ‘The Book of the Coming Kingdom of God’ ” (/The Kingdom of God/ [Nashville: Abingdon, 1953], 197; italics in original).

Among the many Old Testament passages that speak of the earthly kingdom are Deuteronomy 30:1–5; 2 Samuel 7:12–16; Psalm 2:6–12; Isaiah 2:2–4; 11:1–10; 12:1–6; 24:23; 32:15–20; 35:1–2; 60:10–18; 65:20–22; Jeremiah 3:14–18; 23:5–6; 30:3; 31:35–40; 33:14–18; Ezekiel 34:23–24; 36:16–38; 37:15–28; Daniel 2:44–45; Hosea 3:4–5; Joel 3:18–21; Amos 9:11–15; Micah 4:1–8; Zephaniah 3:14–20; and Zechariah 14:9–11.

God’s kingdom may be broadly defined as the sphere in which He reigns.

In its universal, eternal sense, God’s kingdom encompasses everything that exists, because God is the sovereign ruler over all of His creation.

David declared that truth in Psalm 103:19: “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.”

Historically, God has mediated His rule on earth through His people, first through Adam and Eve, then Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, the judges of Israel (including Samuel), and the kings of Israel and Judah.

In the present era, God mediates His rule politically through human governments (Rom.

13:1–7) and spiritually through the church (Acts 20:25; Rom.

14:17; Col. 1:13).

In the millennial kingdom, the political and religious elements of God’s temporal, earthly rule will be reunited in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Though not an exhaustive description of the earthly kingdom, this text caps off all the biblical revelation about the Millennium by revealing four essential truths about it: the removal of Satan, the reign of the saints, the return of Satan, and the revolt of society.

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The Removal of Satan

/And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season./*.* (20:1–3)

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The first matter for the King’s attention as He sets up His kingdom is the confinement of the chief rebel.

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The removal of “the god of this world” (2 Cor.

4:4), “the prince of the power of the air … the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (Eph.

2:2), will dramatically change the world.

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By this time, God will have destroyed all human rebels.

Those who survived the Tribulation judgments will have been executed at Armageddon (19:11–21) or the goat judgment (Matt.

25:41–46).

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The ringleaders of the worldwide rebellion, the beast (Antichrist) and the false prophet, will have been thrown into the lake of fire (19:20).

The final step in preparation for the kingdom will be the removal of Satan and his demon hosts, so that Christ reigns without the opposition of supernatural enemies.

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As it frequently does in Revelation (cf.

vv. 4, 11; 6:1, 2, 5, 8, 12; 7:2; 8:2, 13; 9:1; 10:1; 13:1, 11; 14:1, 6, 14; 15:1; 16:13; 17:3; 19:11, 17, 19; 21:1), the phrase /kai eidon/ (*And I saw*) indicates chronological progression.

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The location of this passage in the chronological flow of Revelation is consistent with a premillennial view of the kingdom.

i.

After the Tribulation (chaps.

6–19)

                                                              ii.

Christ will return (19:11–21)

                                                            iii.      and set up His kingdom (20:1–10),

                                                            iv.

which will be followed by the new heavens and the new earth (21:1).

v.

Thus the millennial kingdom comes after Christ’s second coming but before the establishing of the new heavens and the new earth.

vi.

Amillennialist Anthony Hoekema has to acknowledge that, taken at face value, the chronology of Revelation supports premillennialism.

He writes/: Let us assume, for example, that the book of Revelation is to be interpreted in an exclusively futuristic sense.…

Let us further assume that what is presented in Revelation 20 must necessarily follow, in chronological order, what was described in chapter 19.

We are then virtually compelled to believe that the thousand-year reign depicted in 20:4 must come after the return of Christ described in 19:11./

(“Amillennialism,” in /The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views,/ ed.

Clouse, 156)

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The identity of the *angel* whom John saw *coming down from heaven* to bind Satan is not disclosed, but he may be Michael the archangel, the great adversary of Satan (12:7; cf.

Dan.

10:13, 21; 12:1; Jude 9).

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Whoever the angel is, he possesses great power.

He is sent to earth with a specific agenda: to seize Satan for the thousand-year duration of the kingdom, bind him, cast him into the abyss and seal it, and then release him at the end of the thousand years.

#. /Abussos/ (*abyss*) appears seven times in Revelation (cf.

9:1, 2, 11; 11:7; 17:8), always in reference to the temporary place of incarceration for certain demons.

The abyss is not their final place of punishment; the lake of fire is (Matt.

25:41).

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Nevertheless it is a place of torment to which the demons fear to be sent (Luke 8:31).

The prisoners in the abyss are among the most vile and evil of all demons and include the “spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah” (1 Pet.

3:19–20).

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Those demons, who attempted to corrupt the human race by cohabiting with human women (Gen.

6:1–4), will never be released (Jude 6).

They will be transferred directly from their temporary incarceration in the *abyss* to their permanent place of punishment, the lake of fire (cf.

Isa.

24:21–22).

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Other demons sentenced to the *abyss* will be released at the fifth trumpet judgment to torment sinners (9:1–12).

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The *key* given to the angel by God signifies his delegated authority (cf.

9:1); he has the power to open the *abyss,* and then to shut it after casting Satan inside.

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The metaphor of binding demons with a *chain* also appears in Jude 6.

This *chain* is a *great* one, because of Satan’s greatness and power as the highest created being (cf.

Ezek.

28:14).

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The angel *laid hold of* Satan, who is unmistakably identified by the same four titles given him in 12:9.

i.

First, he is called *the dragon,* a title given him twelve times in Revelation (cf.

12:3, 4, 7, 9, 13, 16, 17; 13:1, 2, 4; 16:13).

It emphasizes his bestial nature, ferociousness, and oppressive cruelty.

ii.

The title *serpent of old* hearkens back to the Garden of Eden and Satan’s temptation of Eve (Gen.

3:1–6; 2 Cor.

11:3).

iii.

/Diabolos/ (*devil*) means “slanderer,” or “malicious gossip” (1 Tim.

3:11; 2 Tim.

3:3; Titus 2:3)—an appropriate title for the “accuser of our brethren” (12:10).

iv.