The End Times Revelation 20 Trinity Presbyterian Church

The End Times: Revelation 20 Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA) Adult Sunday School Fall 2016

Review of Millennial Views �Historic Pre-Millennialism • The Return of Christ is before the Millennium. Christ will reign on earth, from Jerusalem, for 1, 000 years. Historic, because this is the premillennial view found in early church.

Review of Millennial Views �Dispensational Pre-Millennialism • The Return of Christ is before the Millennium. Dispensational, because it teaches that God has different purposes for different peoples (Israel/Church).

Review of Millennial Views �Post-Millennialism • Christ will return after the Millennium, when the Church has triumphed in the world. Millennium is (usually) not a literal thousand years, but a period of special triumph at the end of history.

Review of Millennial Views �Amillennialism • There is no literal one thousand year reign; the millennium is the church age followed by the return of Christ. The millennium is the gospel age between the first and second comings of Christ.

Premillennial View �Revelation 19 -20 describe events chronologically • Rev 19: 11 -21 – a description of the return of Christ • Rev 20: 1 -10 – a description of events after Christ’s return

Premillennial View of Satan’s Binding & 1000 Years �The binding of Satan is complete • The binding of Satan = the complete exclusion of any activity of Satan among the nations during the one thousand years

Premillennial View of First & Second Resurrections �First and Second Resurrections (Rev 20: 4 -6) • Believers will be bodily resurrected at Christ’s coming (1 st resurrection) • At the end of the millennium, unbelievers will be bodily raised to be judged and cast into the lake of fire (2 nd resurrection) �Both resurrections are bodily resurrections

Summary of Premillennial View �Christ returns to subdue the nations �Satan is bound and the Millennium starts �The physical resurrection of believers will coincide with the binding of Satan �The saints will reign with Christ on the earth

Summary of Premillennial View of Rev 20 �The 1, 000 years on earth is a period of unprecedented blessing on the earth �The nations will be united in obedience to Christ

Summary of Premillennial View of Rev 20 �At the end of the millennium, there will be a little season of Satan’s rebellion �The second resurrection will occur: unbelievers will be raised to be judged by Christ and consigned to everlasting punishment

Some Reminders �The apocalyptic genre of Revelation • Highly symbolic and figurative language �The non-consecutive structure of the book • Revelation is structured according to a series of visions that repeat/recapitulate the same events from different perspectives • Revelation “consists of parallel descriptions of the period between the first and second comings of Christ” (Hendrisken)

Support for a non-consecutive reading �Revelation 19: 11 -21 describes Christ’s absolute triumph and destruction of the nations that are opposed to him. This victory is final and Christ’s enemies are wholly destroyed. • If the nations have been destroyed in Rev 19, why speak of the binding of Satan so he can no longer deceive the nations (Rev 20)?

Support for a non-consecutive reading �The end of God’s wrath • Revelation 19 speaks about the end of God’s wrath, but then Rev 20 records the further outpouring of his wrath and judgment

Support for a non-consecutive reading • “Just as the vision of Rev 19 describes the return of Christ, the complete destruction of all of the nations, the last outpouring of God’s wrath at the close of the present period of history, so the vision of Rev 20 closes with a description of the return of Christ at the close of the millennium, the complete destruction of all the nations, and the last outpouring of God’s wrath at the end of the age. The parallels between these visions…are so pervasive and compelling as to yield but one likely explanation: they are describing the same period of history, the same episodes and the same conclusion at the end of the age. ” – Venema

Overview of Revelation 20: 1 -10 �Revelation 20: 1 -3 • Satan is bound for a thousand years �Revelation 20: 4 -6 • The saints come to life and reign with Christ during the thousand years �Revelation 20: 7 -10 • The last battle

The Binding of Satan (20: 1 -3) �Verse 1: John saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding a key and great chain (symbols that the angel is equipped to carry out God’s will) �Verse 2: The angel seized the ‘dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan’ and bound him for 1, 000 years �Verse 3: Satan is cast into and shut in the pit so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years is ended.

The Binding of Satan (20: 1 -3) �Key question: What is the nature of Satan’s binding? • Premil: the binding of Satan implies the complete restraint of Satanic activity; therefore it can’t be describing this present age (1 Peter 5: 8; Ephesians 2: 2) • Is there any biblical evidence that the binding of Satan is about the current limitation of Satan’s activity in the world?

The Binding of Satan (20: 1 -3) �The era) history of redemption (The OT era & the NT • In the OT the nations were deceived, and after the first coming of Christ, the gospel is preached to the whole world (Matthew 24: 13), and the nations are being discipled (Matthew 28: 16 -20) • Rev 20: 1 -3 is describing what has happened as a consequence of the first coming of Christ and the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2)

The Binding of Satan (20: 1 -3) �Amillennial view: Satan is bound so that the gospel may spread among the nations • Because Satan is bound the gospel powerfully and effectively goes forth to claim the nations for Jesus Christ (Luke 13: 29)

The Binding of Satan (20: 1 -3) �Matthew 12: 22 -29 • Pharisees accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul (prince of demons) • In response, Jesus says that no kingdom divided against itself can stand • He then claims that his power to cast out demons is a demonstration of the power and presence of KOG

The Binding of Satan (20: 1 -3) �Matthew 12: 28 • “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. ”

The Binding of Satan (20: 1 -3) �Matthew 12: 22 -29 • The presence of the kingdom confirms that Satan has been bound so that he can no longer prevent the plundering of his house • The same Greek word is used to express the restraint placed on Satan as in Revelation 20 • According to Mt 12, Satan was bound during Christ’s first coming

The Binding of Satan (20: 1 -3) �Luke 10: 1 -18 • Jesus sent out seventy (seventy-two) disciples, two by two, to proclaim the kingdom • The disciples return with joy, reporting “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name” (10: 17) • In reply, Jesus said, “I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. ”

The Binding of Satan (20: 1 -3) �Luke 10 & other Gospel passages • The coming of the kingdom is a realization of the plundering of Satan’s house and the release of those captive to sin and demons.

The Binding of Satan (20: 1 -3) �John 12: 31 -32 • “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. ”

The Binding of Satan (20: 1 -3) �John 12: 31 -32 • Jesus speaks about the “casting out” in judgment of the ruler of this world (Satan) • The crucified Christ will then “draw all people” to himself • Parallel with Rev 20: the kingdom of Christ will be realized through the binding of Satan and the gathering of the nations through the gospel

The Binding of Satan (20: 1 -3) �Conclusion: If we interpret Scripture with Scripture and allow clearer passages to interpret more obscure passages, then there are good reasons to understand the binding of Satan as a symbolic picture of Satan’s influence in the world being restricted so that the gospel will powerfully and effectively go forth to the nations in this present age.

The One Thousand Years �Literal or symbolic? • Two thoughts about a literal reading � #1 Much of the book of Revelation is highly symbolic and not to be read in a literalistic way � #2 No other passage in the Bible speaks of a literal 1, 000 year period in history

The One Thousand Years �One thousand years as symbolic • 1, 000 is a perfect cube of ten (a number of completeness) • Deuteronomy 7: 9 – the Lord is a ‘faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments. ’

The One Thousand Years • Psalm 50: 10 – the Lord says, ‘For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. ’ • Psalm 84: 10 – the psalmist says, ‘For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere’ • Psalm 90: 4 – ‘For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past…’

The One Thousand Years �What do we make of the one thousand year reign of Christ? • In light of the symbolic use of numbers in Revelation, and in light of the use of ‘a thousand’ in the Bible, the one thousand years is a non-literal, extended and full period of time in God’s plan.

Summary of Revelation 20: 1 -3 �A representation of the period of history between the time of Christ’s first and second comings. Satan has been bound so he can no longer deceive the nations. The millennium is now – the extended period in which Christ’s kingdom is advancing by his Spirit and Word. The nations are being “undeceived. ”

The Saint’s Reign with Christ (20: 4 -6) �Premillennial view: a description of the bodily resurrected saints with Christ on earth during the millennium �Amillennial view: a description of martyred saints in heaven right now

The Saint’s Reign with Christ (20: 4 -6) �What is the location of the scene that John sees? Heaven, not earthly Jerusalem • John sees thrones (20: 4) � In Revelation, “thrones” (47 x in Revelation) are in heaven, except three occasions referring to the throne of Satan or Beast (Rev 2: 13; 13: 2; 16: 10) � Revelation 3: 21: “He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne. ”

The Saint’s Reign with Christ (20: 4 -6) �Who are the saints John sees? Martyred believers with Christ in heaven • “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. ”

The Saints Reign with Christ (20: 4 -6) �John is answering the relevant and pastoral question: Where are the martyrs who have died for the sake of the gospel?

The Saints Reign with Christ (20: 4 -6) �What is the first resurrection? • “They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. ” • Premillennial view: the physical resurrection of believers at the beginning of the millennium � The second resurrection is bodily, so the first must also be a bodily resurrection

The Saints Reign with Christ (20: 4 -6) �Amillennial (and postmil) view: the first resurrection is a spiritual reality

The Saints Reign with Christ (20: 4 -6) �Support for first resurrection as a spiritual reality • #1 A two-stage resurrection view contradicts the teaching of Scripture that the resurrection of the just and unjust will occur at the same time � Daniel 12: 2: “And as many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting contempt. ” � John 5: 28 -29; Matthew 26: 27; 25: 31 -33; Acts 24: 15; 2 Corinthians 5: 10; 2 Thess 1: 6 -10; Rev 20: 11 -15

The Saints Reign with Christ (20: 4 -6) • #2 The NT does speak of the believer’s non- physical resurrection in Christ �Believers are raised with Christ in a spiritual sense, and that is the ground of their expectation of a future bodily resurrection �Ephesians 2: 5 -6: God made us “alive together with Christ…and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” �Colossians 3: 1: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ”

The Saints Reign with Christ (20: 4 -6) �Parallel to Revelation 20: 4 -6 • John 11: 25 -26: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? ” Rev 20: 4 -6 is the realization of that.

The Saints Reign with Christ (20: 4 -6) �The rest of the dead • The unjust and unbelieving who remain subject to the second death (eternal punishment).