His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): Welcome once again to His Perfect Love with Pastor Matt VanderVen, online at hisperfectlove.org. We are the radio ministry of Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. Today, we return to Revelation with another study in Chapter 20. Satan and his cohorts, the demons, are very much active today, seeking to kill, destroy, and deceive. But Chapter 20 tells us there is coming a time when they will be locked up and sealed in the Abouso for a time. Let’s hear more about it now.

Matt VanderVen: As we keep reading, we see he doesn't want them to deceive anymore. In 1 Peter 5:8, Peter tells us clearly that Satan is a lion on a leash, but he is seeking to destroy or devour as many as he can. How long is he going to be put in that Abouso for? A very specific period of time. It says until the thousand years are finished.

Last week, I was talking about Augustine, and I went back and looked it up. Constantine and this came right about 300 AD. I went back to the Etal and started going into my library. I was looking at this and I said, "Was it really Augustine?" Augustine would not have understood enough to tell Constantine. How did this start? Actually, I found it was a guy by the name of Tyconius.

He was in the late 300s, and he was a champion of spiritualizing what we read in Revelation, what we call the millennium now. He went and met and talked with Augustine, and he said, "Hey, you have a poor interpretation of Scripture. This is really the truth." From that point forward, the denomination began teaching the entire book of Revelation, and the millennium specifically, as allegorical. It immediately began putting it under attack.

Why? It didn't stop there. Even in the Reformation, there were theologians, even reformed theologians today, who will often teach that the millennium is spiritual, allegorical, and not literal. There is no need to say that Satan is only bound in a spiritual sense. What is the point of that? Then Jesus maybe only rules in a spiritual sense. No, we have no reason for that.

We covered so many scriptures. The earthly reign of Christ and His people on the earth is clearly and plainly taught in the Old Testament scriptures. We looked at Psalm 72, Isaiah 2, and Isaiah Chapter 11 last week, as well as Jeremiah 23, Luke 1, Matthew 5, and Luke 19. I went and put it into a program called Logos because I was just curious how many times this is actually mentioned in Scripture.

It might be surprising to some of you this morning. The millennium is referenced over 400 verses. It counts it for you. You can literally put in the syntax search it, and it is literally listed 400 different times in 20 different passages in the Old Testament. This is not something that is a small topic meant to systematically just skip over.

No, God has a lot to say because it is all about Christ's rule and reign personally over planet Earth, which Satan doesn't want you to know about. If you can live a life today for you and not for Him, it is a beautiful distraction to take your heart and mind off of Christ Jesus and put it onto whatever your desires would be. Satan is really good at what he does. He is brilliant at deception.

I believe there are really three reasons why the millennium is important and to culminate all of this in our passage here and why God is spending so much time in these passages to talk about it. The first one is the millennium is important because it will demonstrate Jesus's victory and worthiness to rule all nations. It describes how God certainly received the gift, the sacrifice on Calvary. It was accepted to God, and because of that, He comes as a conquering King, and He is worthy as a conquering King.

The second thing that it speaks to is the millennium is important because it displays the eternal depravity of Satan. It really does. He continues his evil as soon as he is released from his incarceration. The minute he is released from that Abouso, he tries to get right back at it again, and we will look at it here. Not today, but we will look at it if the Lord tarries.

The third reason the millennium is important is because it shows the strength of the city of God and God's new order. It is finished. It is complete. It is going to happen. I'd like to read a quote to you this morning with some of our time. We're going to transition to communion here, but I want to spend a few moments just reading Spurgeon. I love this quote by him. It is really poignant and perfect.

"Let us rejoice that the Scripture is so clear and so explicit upon this great doctrine of the future triumph of Christ over the whole world. We believe that the Jews will be converted, and they will be restored to their own land. We believe that Jerusalem will be the central metropolis of Christ's kingdom. We also believe that all nations shall walk in the light of the glorious city, which shall be built at Jerusalem. We expect that the glory which shall have its center there shall spread over the whole world, covering it as the sea of holiness, happiness, and delight. For this, we look with joyful expectation to the coming of Messiah Jesus."

Wow, I mean, doesn't that just capture it all right there? You start to understand why it is so important. Look at verse four: "And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years."

So he says, "And I saw the thrones." This is John. He says, "And they sat on them." Who is the "they" sitting on these thrones? That’s a good question. Perhaps it is the 24 elders that we were introduced to in Revelation 4:4. But where were those thrones? Where was Chapter 4 in Revelation? Was John looking down at the earth, or was he looking up at heaven? Remember, in the Greek, after these things, he was looking up in heaven. So those thrones were in heaven, not on earth.

Psalm 122:5 actually describes thrones on earth. So we know that this has already once been prophesied about. Maybe it’s the martyrs? No, that can't be right because they're mentioned as a separate group. "Then I saw." It can't be them. How about the apostles? Maybe Matthew 19 or Luke 22 speak of that. Or maybe it’s the saints, the hagios, the Greek term meaning the body of Christ as a whole.

Maybe that is speaking of Revelation 2 and 3, or 1 Corinthians Chapter 6. It says that judgment was committed to them or given to them. Maybe this is like judging angels or something, because again, 1 Corinthians 6 talks about that. But I believe in my study of Scripture, and you be Bereans, I really believe that these are the saints ruling over the earth. When he talks about the thrones, remember how it says that we are heirs and co-heirs.

I really believe these thrones are pointing to the hagios, the saints ruling over the whole earth. It says from these thrones that they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. It makes sense to me. The saints reign with Jesus for the same time period that Satan is bound. They manage the kingdom of Jesus Christ and minister to Him. That’s you and that’s me. That’s what we're going to be doing during that thousand-year millennial reign.

Now you know why Satan wanted to allegorize this, because look at the hope. We know exactly what we're going to even do when we come back with Jesus. We're going to come back with Him and reign on this earth, and we're going to be ministers, every one of us. We're going to be priests, every one of us, and we're going to be serving Jesus and ministering to Him, to His kingdom, and all the nations of the world. You and I are going to be a part of all that. We're all going to have different roles and responsibilities, but we're going to do that. You know exactly what you're going to do in the future. You're going to serve Jesus. You're going to worship.

Now, why were they beheaded, those tribulation saints that were there? It tells us two reasons. You can look back at that. It says that they were beheaded for their witness to Jesus. That’s the first reason. And for the word of God, and it talks about those who had not worshiped the beast. This is important. All those who are overcomers in Jesus will rule and reign with Him, but the reason that they were beheaded was because of the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Your life is tattooed with the word of God on it. You may be the only epistle a man or woman ever reads. If you are a born-again Christian and Jesus lives in you, you are the fragrance of God. You have the fingerprints of God on you everywhere you go. You know what I'm talking about because some of us have been fortunate to be able to walk into a room, maybe we were invited to a party or a business meeting, and you walk into a room and you felt, "Wait a minute, this is cold."

Have you ever walked into a hospital room and you felt something is off here? It’s cold. And then there are other times that you can't explain it. You go into a home and maybe someone's getting ready to go be with the Lord. I love hospice nurses, such beautiful hearts. I've talked to hospice nurses in our fellowship where they've been a part of the privilege of serving over a thousand different families who have gone to be with the Lord.

They'll tell you the same thing I'm telling you. You can literally walk into a house and they can feel it. They're born again. They can discern it and feel it. It’s like going into a business meeting. There are meetings I've walked into, and I could tell there are believers in there. I couldn't tell you who they were initially, but I could sense the Holy Spirit in the room. I could sense it, and then I've gone other places where I almost felt like there was an oppression or a pushing down, almost like God wants to do something, but there's a lack of belief or a lack of desire of heart.

Nurses actually know this phenomenon. They actually call it a gut feeling. There’s a term for it in Pearson’s book that many nurses use as they're going through their RN degree and onward for nurse practitioners. It’s actually in the literature. It’s one of the things that they have looked at, and it talks about how they can turn around and use the idea of gut. They don't use the term like we would, "discernment," but they would use the term when they walk into a room and they tell you not to ignore that.

As a matter of fact, one of the things I was first taught in this program was, "Hey, when you walk into a room and you're taking care of a patient, if a patient ever looks at you and tells you, 'I'm going to die,' you don't dare walk away from that patient right then and there." You turn around and you ask an open-ended question: "What do you mean you're going to die?" If they say, "I can't explain it. I just feel like I'm going to die," they have come back and said to me how many times that is known in hospitals.

A person knows. They just can't explain it. They just know. They don't have a word for it. It’s literally in the literature. They don't have a way to explain it. It’s supernatural to them. To us, it’s the soul crying out, getting ready to go and be with the Lord or not. It’s very important. Why am I bringing all this up? Because when you look at these passages here and you start to look at Christ and the mark, those who didn't take the mark of the beast, those who were beheaded, the reality is every single person that’s a born-again believer is in essence tattooed with Jesus.

You have His word written in your heart. It’s written all over you. You can't escape it, which is why you could go somewhere and you could look at somebody and you immediately feel drawn to them, only to find out a few moments later that they're a born-again believer. They didn't even have to tell you anything. You just discern it.

You see, that’s why it’s important. Again, you might be the only Bible someone ever reads is your life. It’s not always what you say. Sometimes it’s what you don't say or what you don't laugh at. Well, they were beheaded for their witness to Jesus and, please don't miss this, the word of God. Jesus says that He lifts the word of God over His very name. How do you know Jesus? He's given you His word. That’s how you know who He is for certain.

Have you ever wondered why the Holy Spirit mentions the great tribulation saints here? I think it’s because He specifically mentions them to encourage them. He knows these men and women are going to go through this great tribulation. We will not. We will be raptured out, or we will die first, either way. But He knows who they are, and He even in the great tribulation wants to bring encouragement. He's acknowledging them, and that’s part of this section as well. They're going to suffer tremendously under Antichrist, but now they are in the authority of Jesus because Antichrist is destroyed.

The word beheaded there is actually an interesting word. *Pelekizo* is the Greek word here, and it was originally understood not just as removal of the head. When we think of beheaded, we think of chopping off the head with an axe. It actually means more than that. It’s more than just this idea of the removal of the head. It describes a horrible persecution under Antichrist. But again, don't miss why they were beheaded. Jesus Christ told us there would be a cost. There would be a cost every one of us would make if we made a decision to follow Him. It’s the witness to Jesus and the authority of the Scripture, the word of God.

That’s why I and the leadership here focus on the deity and sovereignty of Jesus Christ and His infallible word. We don't give an inch to compromise in that way. This is our instruction manual. What did 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tell us? All scripture is given by inspiration of God and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

If you were a soldier going into the battlefield, would you want to leave your armament back in the bunkhouse, or would you want to put on your armament and be thoroughly equipped for what you were going out to do as a soldier? That’s why Jesus told us, as Christian soldiers, do not entangle yourself in the affairs of this world. That’s real love. Don't get so caught up in the things of this world that you're not ready or you're not present. The battle is coming. The battle is here.

Look at verse five and six. We'll close with this. "But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years."

Let's just take this verse apart a little bit here. I have a question. When you read that, how many of you think "first" is the number, like the number one, like this is the first person or the first time? I hope nobody would say yes here because who's the first fruits of the resurrection? Jesus, right? Jesus. We shouldn't be saying Lazarus or Dorcas because they were resuscitated, not resurrected.

There's a difference. It’s certainly a reference to a numerical event or a type. Again, we look at Jesus. He's clearly our first example of someone that by number one was first resurrected. This is a type of resurrection. Jesus actually spoke about this in John Chapter 5:24-29. Jesus said very clearly that he described two resurrections. Everybody on the earth gets resurrected. Everyone.

"Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation." So, the resurrection to heaven and the resurrection to hell. What's the determining factor? Those who do good. The Bible tells us that none do good.

Does that make sense now why these words were chosen? All have fallen short of the glory of God. None have done good. Now you know why Jesus Christ, it had to be God's blood that washed us and cleansed us. It’s perfect because when we stand in Christ's blood, we have no sin, and all of our works and everything we've done is good because He's forgiven us past, present, and future, and He's blessed everything we've done thereafter.

But for those who stand in their own account and have rejected Jesus's imputed righteousness, they're found at the resurrection with not good works. We call those evil or bad works. So that’s what He's describing here. These two events are separated by a thousand-year period. How many of you remember 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4:16-18, where it talks about the *Harpazo*, the rapture of the church? That’s what you and I are waiting for.

The Bible says it’s going to happen next. We're going to be up with Jesus at the wedding feast of the Lamb for seven years while the great tribulation happens on earth. What happens before that? We hear a trumpet. Then what happens next? It says the dead in Christ are risen first. The resurrection. The first type. The dead in Christ are raised to their bodies. Where are their souls and spirits? Already with Jesus.

How do you know that? Because you have scriptures like 2 Corinthians Chapter 5:8. "Absent with the body, present with the Lord." So we know that the souls and spirits are up there. Why did Paul spend so much time in 1 Corinthians Chapter 15:50 breaking this out for us when he tells us it’s like a seed of corn? We live in south-central Pennsylvania. We should get this better than pretty much most people in this whole northeast area because we have farms all around us.

We have wheat, we have soy, we have grains. What happens when you take a corn kernel? Do you eat the seed, or do you plant the seed, and then out of it comes corn? You shuck it and you eat it. Sweet corn is good. But you understand the point. Paul talked about how the seed, he says, "this corruption must put on incorruption." First, this mortal must put on immortality. How can the mortal put on immortality in the same tent? I can't.

That is why he gave the illustration that the body has to be buried. To God, He's good at puzzles. He's talking about the soul and spirit that goes to be with Jesus and that at that time, when the dead in Christ rise first, they get their glorified body. Why is that significant? Because when we come back for the millennial reign, which we're talking about in Chapter 20, how do we come back? In a glorified body to minister.

What about the people that are alive in the great tribulation? Are they in a glorified body at that point? No, they're not. So the first resurrection, because many of them have not received Jesus Christ, and those that did were mostly martyrs, and they went up to be with Jesus and they got a glorified body. Makes tons of sense. So you come down with a glorified body, but those who are on the earth don't. When do they get their glorified body?

We'll look at the passage again. "This is the first resurrection. The rest of the dead are not given the resurrection body till the thousand years are finished." Up until and during the first resurrection, there were different events and people included. This completes the first resurrection. The first resurrection is the granting of resurrection life in resurrection bodies to all the saints that survived the great tribulation.

Think about it. You and I are going to be raptured, caught up, as we read in 1 Thessalonians. So clearly the "first" is referencing a type, not like a number or a chronology like one, two, three. It’s the type, the first resurrection. So if there's the first, there naturally must be a second. The second resurrection in verse 14 was condemnation. The rest of the dead, those who do not have part in the first resurrection, are separated until after the thousand years is complete, and then there's the second death.

The first resurrection is not the event, but an order of a resurrection including all the righteous who are raised from the dead before the millennial kingdom begins. Then he closes this verse six, this passage, with what he began his gospels with in Matthew. When he brought the disciples up to the mountain and they went on the Sermon on the Mount, what is the first thing that Jesus taught them? It starts with a B: the Beatitudes, the blessings.

Look at how he concludes this section right here before he goes into how the satanic rebellion is going to be crushed. He gives a beatitude. Did you ever notice that before? This is a beatitude in this section of the Scripture. He said, "Blessed and holy is he who is part of the first resurrection." We actually get a blessing and a promise here. He says, "over such the second has no power." Because the second resurrection is to what? That great white throne judgment. What's that second resurrection? The lake of fire. Remember, the first and the second. It’s another way of saying that if you have not been born twice, you'll die twice. You’ll die both physically and spiritually. But if you have been born twice, both physical and born-again spiritual, as in John 3, then you only face one death, the physical, unless you're raptured. The second death has no power over you.

Guest (Male): Pastor Matt VanderVen on His Perfect Love. Thanks for taking part in today's study of Revelation, a book that comes with a blessing attached to those that read and study it. If you were blessed and encouraged by the Lord, we'd like to know. Email us while it's fresh on your mind there at our website, hisperfectlove.org. Be sure to include your prayer requests.

Also at our website, you'll find an archive of these studies in Revelation, making it easy to replay a message you enjoyed or catch what you missed on the radio. Again, we're at hisperfectlove.org and now at oneplace.com as well. Look for us wherever you get your podcasts, and we also have a free mobile app. This is a convenient way to listen to Pastor Matt on your mobile devices. Go to hisperfectlove.org for more information about that.

And if the Lord is leading you to support this ministry with a one-time gift or ongoing monthly support, you can do so through the website at hisperfectlove.org. Tomorrow and next week on His Perfect Love, we'll pause our study of Revelation so we can bring you Christmas-time encouragement. See you then. His Perfect Love is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore.