Revelation 20 - The First Resurrection and the Second Death
Unveiled Hope: The Reigning Christ of Revelation • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 39:47
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· 44 viewsSharing in Christ's resurrection means sharing in His victory
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Introduction
Introduction
Here in Revelation 20 we have come to what is perhaps one of the most difficult and hotly-contested passages of all the New Testament—the description of what is called “The Millennium”:
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
Someone once joked that “The millennium is a thousand years of peace that Christians like to fight over”. And the three major branches of end-times doctrine all take their names from a term that shows up only here in this passage—a difficult chapter in a very difficult book. So right out of the gate we need to remind ourselves that there are good, honest, Bible-believing Christians who differ widely on the interpretation of these verses, but all of them are still within the walls of the great shopping mall of Evangelical Christianity.
We can start with a very brief sketch of the three main interpretations of this passage. The premillennial position, held by men like Elton Ladd, C. I. Scofield and John MacArthur, is the “majority report” among evangelicals today. It teaches that the Second Coming of Christ will take place after the end of future seven-year Tribulation period, when Christ will set up His kingdom with a re-built Temple in Jerusalem, and will reign there for a literal one thousand years. So, from this perspective, we are currently living in a world where Satan is unbound, and that he was indeed “the prince of the power of the air”, and that (as J. Vernon McGee used to say) evangelism in this present age was like “trying to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic”—that a few people might get saved, but for the most part trying to evangelize the nations is a lost cause, because Satan is currently deceiving them.
The amillennial position, held by teachers like Augustine, R.C. Sproul and Sam Storms, says that the “thousand years” described here in these verses is not a literal one thousand orbits of the earth around the sun, but represents the reign of Christ over the world during the church age from Pentecost to the Final Judgment. In this understanding, Satan is presently “bound” in his ability to stop people from hearing and believing the Gospel, but there will not be any specific time of universal acclimation of Christ as King—the Church itself is the kingdom, but it is an invisible kingdom, not of this world. This is often referred to by theologians as the “Two Kingdom” view—the kingdom of this world will go one way, and the Kingdom of the Church will go another way.
The postmillennial view, held by men like Jonathan Edwards, Ken Gentry and Philip Matheson, is similar to the amillennial position in that it says that this “thousand years” represents the age of the Church from Pentecost to the Second Coming. But the postmillennial view suggests that the Gospel will grow in influence and power throughout the nations (like leaven through a lump of dough, or a mustard seed growing into a tree) until the time comes when (as the Christmas carol puts it) “when with the ever circling years / comes round the age of gold / When peace shall over all the earth her ancient splendors fling”. And after a long period of peace and righteousness and holiness established by the Gospel, Christ will return in the Second Coming. (Imagine, for instance, what our nation would look like if every single member of the Federal government became a born-again Christian?!?)
We have taken the perspective throughout this series that there is good reason for us to read the majority of the Book of Revelation as taking place in the events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. But here in Chapter 20 John begins describing for us events that go far beyond that first-century focus. At the end of Chapter 19 we see the Beast and the False Prophet (Rome and apostate Judaism) defeated and thrown into the lake of fire. And here in the first three verse of Chapter 20, the Dragon that energized the Beast and the False Prophet is himself captured and thrown into the pit.
So if this book was written to tell the churches suffering under Nero about things that were going to happen soon, and if this thousand years were meant to be a literal thousand orbits around the sun, that would mean that the Millennium of Christ’s reign ended sometime around the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D.!
The number “one thousand” is used in a symbolic sense in many places throughout the Bible, so it is at least plausible that it is used symbolically here—in the most symbolic book of the New Testament! The Psalmist (Ps. 50:10) says that YHWH owns “the cattle on a thousand hills” (not to suggest that someone else owns everything from the 1,001st hill on!) God promises in Joshua (Joshua 23:10) that one soldier will put a “thousand enemies to flight”, and Peter writes (2 Peter 3:8) that with the LORD “one day is as a thousand years, and one thousand years as a day”.
And there are numerous places in the New Testament that speak of Satan being “bound” already. In Matthew 12:29, for instance, Jesus says that He is the one who “binds the strong man” (Satan) and “plunders his goods” (the nations). In John 12:31, Jesus said about His impending crucifixion, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out”. And Paul writes in Colossians 2:15 that in Christ’s death, God “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in [Christ]”.
So for all these reasons, and keeping in mind that we must tread with humility and respect for the godly convictions of different Bible-believing Christians here, I would suggest that the “thousand years” in view here is not a literal passage of time, but is a symbolic number meant to represent the reign of Christ in the Church Age, from Pentecost to the Second Coming, and it is a time when Satan is indeed “bound” and unable to deceive the nations to prevent people from hearing and believing the Gospel.
And so, if that is the case, then this chapter is meant to lay out for us the victory of Christ over all things. And what I want to demonstrate for you this morning from this chapter is that
Sharing in Christ’s RESURRECTION means sharing in His VICTORY
Sharing in Christ’s RESURRECTION means sharing in His VICTORY
This is what I believe John is saying down in verse 6:
Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
Revelation 20 is about “the first resurrection” and “the second death”. he is writing to believers who are facing terrible persecutions and death in the coming years, and wants to show them here that since they belong to Christ by faith, they will be victorious over all of it! I take the term “the first resurrection” here as a reference to Jesus’ resurrection—He is the “firstborn from among the dead” (Colossians 1:18), and in 1 Corinthians 15:20, Paul writes
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Those who have put their faith in Christ for their salvation are said to participate with Him in His resurrection:
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
And so, Christian, if you share in Christ’s resurrection, Revelation 20 says that you will share in His victory. If you have Christ’s resurrection, that means
I. You have Christ’s victory over SATAN
I. You have Christ’s victory over SATAN
This is what we see in the first three verses of the chapter—Satan is bound and imprisoned during the age of the church. It means that
His DECEPTIONS are over (Rev. 20:3, 8, 10)
His DECEPTIONS are over (Rev. 20:3, 8, 10)
Three times John refers to Satan deceiving the nations—the word literally means that he causes them to “wander” (it’s the same root word in Greek where we get the word “planet”—literally, a “wandering” star). Formerly Satan was able to lead the nations astray through false gods and goddesses—Rome, for instance, was stuffed full of worship of all the Greco-Roman pantheon as well as the worship of Caesar himself. But within only a century or two of the events of Revelation, those gods and goddesses (and Caesar worship itself) had been totally discarded, and in fact the entire Roman Empire became the Holy Roman Empire—completely converted to Christianity! Today all of those ancient gods and goddesses of the nations—Baal, Marduk, Apollo, Zeus—names that used to strike terror and fear into the hearts of the people that followed them—are nothing more than historical curiosities that no one seriously believes in anymore. And even in places where Satan’s deceptions still exist, those false gods can’t hold on to their followers! Every day there are more people from Muslim and Hindu and Buddhist backgrounds who are slipping the grasp of the false gods of Allah, Krishna and Buddha and coming to faith in Jesus Christ!
Not only are Satan’s deceptions over, but
His PERSECUTIONS have failed (Rev. 20:4)
His PERSECUTIONS have failed (Rev. 20:4)
All of the martyrs that Satan has killed for their faith have not stayed in their graves—they are alive and reigning with Christ!
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Verse 4 is the fulfillment of the promise that God made to the martyrs back in Revelation 6:9:
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.
Notice who sits on the thrones here in Chapter 20? Those who had been beheaded (“those who had been slain”) for the testimony of Jesus (“for the witness they had borne”) and for the word of God (“slain for the word of God”)—the parallels between Rev. 20:4 and Rev. 6:9 indicate that the martyrs who died under Nero’s persecution and the persecution of apostate Judaism (they had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark) would not be defeated by death! The churches of Asia Minor could face the persecutions and tribulations and trials and executions coming their way because they had the promise from God that if they shared in Christ’s resurrection by faith, all of Satan’s persecutions of them would fail! They would live again in Heaven and reign with Christ!
Christ’s victory over Satan means that his deceptions are over, his persecutions have failed, and
His FORCES are defeated (Rev. 20:7-10)
His FORCES are defeated (Rev. 20:7-10)
In verses 7-10 we read that at the end of the thousand years, Satan is briefly allowed back on the scene, just long enough for him to deceive the nations into one last act of rebellion against the reigning Christ—and it ends in utter, complete and unavoidable defeat:
And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
The reference to “Gog and Magog” goes back to Ezekiel 39:1-6, where God judges Gog, the king of the nation of Magog, and declares that Gog’s armies will be utterly destroyed by fire:
You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your hordes and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. You shall fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands, and they shall know that I am the Lord.
Every single enemy of Christ’s reign that has been deceived into thinking they can defeat Him will someday be utterly defeated, just as completely as King Gog’s army of Magog was defeated in the Old Testament. As Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10
so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Sharing in Christ’s resurrection means that you have Christ’s His victory over Satan, and it means
II. You have Christ’s victory over DEATH (Rev. 20:11-15)
II. You have Christ’s victory over DEATH (Rev. 20:11-15)
Look at verses 12-13:
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.
The day is coming, beloved, when every single person who ever lived throughout human history will stand before Jesus Christ to answer for what they have done. Every. Single. Person. That means you. And it is clear here in these verses that someday you will be called to stand before that Throne, in the presence of the One before whom earth and sky flee away. And what will you say on that day when the book of your life is opened, and you are called to answer for your deeds?
Your only hope on that day is that you share in the resurrection of Christ by faith, isn’t it? That you have trusted in His death to pay the penalty of your sins, and that you have been freed from the penalty and power of sin—that you have been “raised to walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4), and that the life that you lived on earth was lived “through faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave Himself for you” (Gal. 2:20). In other words, sharing in Christ’s resurrection means that you have His victory over
The SPIRITUAL death of SIN (Rev. 20:2-3)
The SPIRITUAL death of SIN (Rev. 20:2-3)
When those books are opened and your deeds are examined, Christian, what will be found is the works that Christ has done through His life in you! That is your only hope on that Day—not your own deeds, but the righteous deeds of Christ living through you! He is your victory over the spiritual death of sin!
And not only so, but having Christ’s victory over death also means that you have His victory over
The PHYSICAL death of the GRAVE (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)
The PHYSICAL death of the GRAVE (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)
As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The grave can hold no more terror over you, Christian, because you are sharing by faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ! The grave is nothing more than your portal into endless life in the presence of Christ, reigning with Him in victory and wearing the pure white robes of His righteousness—the spiritual death of sin has no power over you, the physical death of the grave cannot terrify you, and the “second death” has no power over you—you have victory over
The ETERNAL death of HELL (Rev. 20:15)
The ETERNAL death of HELL (Rev. 20:15)
In Revelation 20:15 we read
And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
This is the Second Death (Rev. 20:14)—the eternal death of separation from God, and the eternal punishment for sin for all of those who refuse to come in faith for salvation to Jesus Christ. Christian, if you share in the resurrection of Jesus Christ—if you have repented of your sin and come by faith to Jesus trusting in His death and resurrection to deliver you from the penalty and power of your sin, then your name is written in that Book! You belong to Jesus Christ, and that means that the “Second Death” has no power over you!
Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
Sharing in Christ’s resurrection means sharing in His victory over Satan, and His victory over death—and it means that
III. You REIGN with Christ in victory (Rev. 20:6)
III. You REIGN with Christ in victory (Rev. 20:6)
John writes that when you share in His resurrection, you are blessed—you are happy in Him, and you are holy in Him! And because you are holy in Christ—because you wear the pure white linen robes of His own righteousness, there is for you
No fear of DEATH (Heb. 2:14-15)
No fear of DEATH (Heb. 2:14-15)
One of Satan’s most fearsome weapons is to cause his victims to be terrified of the thought of death and the judgment that follows. But the writer of Hebrews says that Jesus delivered us from that fear:
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
When you share in the resurrection of Christ by faith, Satan’s power to terrify you with the grave is broken! Because you have the promise that Jesus Christ is the “firstfruits of the resurrection”—you will not stay in the grave any more than He did! Death remains a terrible, dark enemy, to be sure—the thought of it still haunts us, still clutches at our hearts to intimidate and dismay us—but it can never enslave us to fear any longer, because Jesus Christ has conquered it! Jesus makes this beautiful promise to you, Christian, in John 8:51;
Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
Think of it—when on that day Death comes for you and opens its jaws to take you, you will never even see it! You won’t see the appalling presence of Death come for you; all you will see is your Savior, who defeated Death for you! And someday you will stand by as your Savior throws that grim spectre of Death into the Lake of Fire forever, and you will spend all eternity rejoicing over the death of Death itself!
Christian, if you share in the resurrection of Christ, you reign with Him in victory—in Him you have
No fear of JUDGMENT (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
No fear of JUDGMENT (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
When you stand before Him on that great Judgment Day and all of the deeds of your life are opened up, all there will be written in that book will be the deeds of Christ in and through and for you!
Surely that is part of what Paul means when he writes in 1 Thessalonians
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ lives through you here in this life so that when you appear before Him at His coming, you will be found entirely blameless before Him! Spirit, soul, body, mind, intellect, heart—all of who you are will stand before Him holy and blameless and righteous because of what He has done for you!
And beloved, if these things are true of you—if you will reign with Christ in eternity, victorious over death, victorious over judgment, then how can you have any fear of what this world can do to you? There is no fear of death, no fear of judgment, and
No fear of MAN (Hebrews 13:6; Acts 4:16-19)
No fear of MAN (Hebrews 13:6; Acts 4:16-19)
Hebrews 13 tells us that we can live free in this life because Jesus Christ has sworn never to leave us or forsake us,
So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
Beloved, this is what we need in this hour—the same thing that the believers in the churches of Asia Minor needed when this book was written. We need to see the victory we have through Jesus Christ, so that we will have the same boldness that the Apostles had in Acts 4—the Sanhedrin (the ruling body of the Jewish religious leaders) tried to place an injunction against Peter and john’s preaching the message of salvation through the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
But what did Peter and John do? Did they meekly comply with the ruling authorities, and stop preaching? Did they go home and hide because “the government says we aren’t allowed to preach”? Did they shut down their ministry because they didn’t want to be punished?
We read their reply in the next verses:
But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
The threat of opposition and punishment had no power over men who shared in the victory of Christ’s resurrection!
God grant that His Church today see that there is nothing that this world’s authorities can do that will stop the proclamation of the Gospel! Satan cannot deceive the nations any longer—he will someday get one more shot, but he will utterly and completely fail! By His death, burial and resurrection, Jesus Christ has broken into Satan’s kingdom, hog-tied him and thrown him in the corner, —and has given you the run of the place! You declare this Gospel, Christian, and people will get saved!
When you proclaim this Gospel, there will be persecution—but the worst that persecution can do is put you into your grave. But in Christ the grave is only the doorstep into your eternal dwelling with Christ, reigning in righteousness with Him! So go and proclaim the resurrection of Christ to a dying world! And go in the victory won for you at the Cross—death has no more sting, the grave has no more victory, and there is “no power of hell or scheme of man that can ever pluck you from the hand” of your Savior, Jesus Christ!
BENEDICTION
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to Him forever and ever! Amen.”
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
What are the three major understandings that Christians have held about the “thousand years” described here in Revelation 20? How does our understanding of the nature of the “millennium” shape the way we live and worship and minister in our time?
What are the three major understandings that Christians have held about the “thousand years” described here in Revelation 20? How does our understanding of the nature of the “millennium” shape the way we live and worship and minister in our time?
Colossians 1:18 calls Jesus “the firstborn from the dead”, and 1 Corinthians 15:23 He is called the “firstfruits” of the resurrection. What does it mean to “share” in Christ’s resurrection? Read Romans 6:1-11. What does this passage tell you about the way you “share in the resurrection of Christ?”
Colossians 1:18 calls Jesus “the firstborn from the dead”, and 1 Corinthians 15:23 He is called the “firstfruits” of the resurrection. What does it mean to “share” in Christ’s resurrection? Read Romans 6:1-11. What does this passage tell you about the way you “share in the resurrection of Christ?”
How would the Christians in the churches of Asia Minor be encouraged by the fact that Satan’s ability to deceive the nations was going to be “bound”? How does that thought give you courage to share the Good News of the Gospel with someone this week?
How would the Christians in the churches of Asia Minor be encouraged by the fact that Satan’s ability to deceive the nations was going to be “bound”? How does that thought give you courage to share the Good News of the Gospel with someone this week?