Sermon Tone Analysis

Textual Idea – John provides a snapshot of the reign of the King Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.

Sermon Idea – People need to understand the reality of the reign of King Jesus.

Interrogative – What happens when King Jesus reigns over the earth?

Transition w/ key word – The text highlights four essential truths regarding the reign of the King, the Lord Jesus Christ.

1.

The removal of Satan - vs. 1-3

2. The millennial reign of Jesus Christ & the Saints vs. 4-6

3. The return of Satan & the revolt of society - vs. 7-10

4. The righteous judgment at the Great White Throne - vs. 11-15

Introduction – If I asked you to describe a perfect world here on earth, what would that look like?

What would life be like in Utopia?

People passionate about golf would say there is free golf on the most beautiful, pristine & exquisitely manicured golf courses in the world to enjoy.

People who like to shop might say there are shops of every kind, you have plenty of resources to buy what you’d like and it would all be on sale and fit perfectly!

People who like to eat might say there are restaurants galore with all your favorite foods, perfect service, perfect meal and no waiting in line and the best part there are no calories to consider!

People who like to build things would find all the materials they want and plenty of space and tools to build.

Hunters & fisherman might describe the perfect ranch where the deer & wild game are big and beautiful and a fishing hole where the fish are always hungry.

Everyone is in great shape and there are no hospitals, doctors or medical tests because there is nobody sick!

The variety of visions for Utopia are only limited by the imagination and interests people have.

There’s always a happy ending to the movie where the boy and girl fall in love and live happily ever after!

Did you know that roughly 190 miles northwest of here, about 83 miles almost due west of San Antonio, in just about 3 hours, you could go see it?

There is actually a town named Utopia Texas.

Karl Burkli of Zurich, Switzerland, one of the early Swiss Socialists, had moved to Texas in 1855 to take part in an endeavor to found a utopian self-sustaining community named Utopia.

However, the project didn’t succeed and Burkli moved back to Switzerland.

The town is small, with only 3 square miles.

According to the US Census of 2000, there were 241 people or 81 people per square mile.

There are no beaches or lakes Utopia, but the town is on the banks of the West Sabinal River.

The median family income is around $35,000/year.

Here in the Coastal Bend, we often have a gulf breeze that makes the heat somewhat bearable.

Land-locked Utopia doesn’t have that advantage so as I like to say about Texas in General, Utopia Texas has two seasons, hot & hotter.

I’m sure the people of Utopia Texas are for the most part, fine, friendly neighborly Texans, & it’s a nice small Texas town, but I’m not sure it can live up to the hype associated with the name Utopia.

The word Utopia is defined as “An imagined perfect place or state of things.”

If we think about a perfect world, we would want to see peace among the nations, we would want to see harmony among humans and animals alike, we want to see people in good health and enjoying life, perfect climate conditions, not too hot, not too cold, just right.

There would be no crime, no injustice, no evil, no corruption & no calories haha.

Sounds like a fairy tale or I’m trying to describe Heaven.

But Heaven is different.

I’m talking about perfection here on earth and what that would look like.

Thankfully we don’t have to guess.

The Prophet Isaiah, roughly 750 years before the birth of Jesus Christ described Utopia for us in Isaiah 11:1-10 (Read).

In our continuing study through the book of Revelation,

(Textual Idea) John provides a snapshot of the reign of King Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.

(Sermon Idea) We need to understand the reality of the reign of King Jesus.

Interrogative – What happens when King Jesus reigns over the earth?

Transition w/ key word – The text highlights four essential truths regarding the reign of the King, the Lord Jesus Christ.

(We’ll read the text as we work through the chapter).

Review & Background - It’s important for us to recall what has taken place as God brings the world to an end.

The rapture of the churches pictured in chapters 1-3 takes place between chapter 3 & 4 which is described in detail in 1st Thess.

4:13-5:4 & 2nd Thess.

2:1-12 when the Holy Spirit who lives within believers is removed & the church is “harpadzo’d” - literally raptured or snatched out of the way.

In Chapter 4-5, the church is pictured in Heaven worshipping the Lamb of God who holds the 7 sealed scroll, the title deed of the universe and Jesus unleashes the wrath of God upon the earth in the form of 7 seal judgments, 7 trumpet judgments, & 7 bowl judgments all getting more intense and progressively worse - yet people on earth refuse to repent!

The 7 year period called the Great Tribulation, under the rule of the Antichrist (the Beast), the false prophet under control of the dragon, Satan himself, and the utter rebellion against God & His righteous & just judgments takes place from Rev. 6-18.

Chapter 17 reveals the collapse of the world’s religious system to be replaced with worship of the Antichrist exclusively.

Chapter 18 is the collapse of the worlds economic system - the Bible calls this realm Babylon.

Remember Babylon refers to both an actual city called Babylon and a term for the world system & values overseen by Satan.

Chapter 19 we saw the resulting celebration & joy that breaks out in Heaven over the fall of Babylon.The marriage celebration of the Groom Jesus Christ and His 2nd Coming in Victory on a white horse, Jesus ensures the Antichrist & the False prophet are tossed into the lake of fire and battle of Armageddon is over quickly at the Word of the Lord.

This ushers in the reign of Jesus Christ in what we call the millennial reign of Christ for a thousand years right here on earth.

Let’s look at these 4 essential truths regarding the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.

1.

The removal of Satan - vs. 1-3

Explanation - The first item of business for King Jesus as He begins His rule & reign of the earth is the removal of Satan, who has been the chief rebel against God since eternity past.

He is called:

“The serpent” - (Gen.

3:1)

“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),

“The accuser of our brethren” (Rev.

12:10).

His removal will dramatically change the world.

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).

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.

The phrase “And I saw” indicates chronological progression.

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

After the Tribulation (chaps.

6–19) Christ will return (19:11–21) and set up His kingdom (20:1–10), which will be followed by the new heavens and the new earth (21:1).

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

The Latin terms for 1,000 years are combined in the word “millennium.”

The phrase 1,000 years appears 6 times in this chapter.

I’m not going to waste time here today discussing wrong views like “Amillenialism” - that the millennial reign is symbolic and not an actual 1000 year reign of Christ on the earth.

Or the other wrong view “Postmillenialism” - that the second coming of Christ comes after the millennial reign.

I don’t even know how that is possible based on the text we’ve studied so far!

(Slide) We don’t know the identity of this angel in vs. 1, but he could be Michael the Archangel who fought with Satan initially in eternity past (12.7),

contended with Satan over the body of Moses according to Jude 9, and came to Daniel’s aid in Dan.

10.

In any case, the angel has been given great power from Jesus Christ, (Jesus said He holds the keys 1:18 & has all authority in Heaven & on earth) so this angel having the key to the bottomless pit, the abyss, had to come from Jesus Christ who sent this with a great chain for express purpose of binding Satan & locking him up for 1000 years!

(Slide) “The 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).

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).

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).

The testimony of Scripture is that Satan is anything but bound in this present age, but will be during the coming earthly kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is only then that he will be incarcerated in the abyss, which will be shut … and sealed … so that he cannot deceive the nations any longer.

His activity in the world will not be merely restricted or restrained, but totally curtailed; he will not be permitted to influence the world in any way.

As will be explained later, that does not mean that the living people in the Millennium will not be capable of sinning & rebelling against God.

That brings us to another essential truth of the millennial reign of Christ…

2. The millennial reign of Jesus Christ & the Saints - vs. 4-6

Explanation - With Satan and his evil forces out of the way, Jesus Christ will set up an earthly kingdom of peace & righteousness; led by Jesus Christ Himself, the King of Kings & Lord of Lords.

There is no detailed description of the millennial reign of Christ here.

For that we must rely on the OT prophets of what it will be like, as in the passage I read from Isaiah 11 earlier.

John only focuses on the fact that we will rule with Christ here on earth; a promise introduced earlier in 5:10: “And have made us kings & priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.”

In chapter 5 it was presented to John as a future prospect, in chapter 20 it is presented as present reality.