His Perfect Love

Matt VanderVen: If we take God literal at his word, we read in this chapter that we're going to come with Jesus Christ, we're going to reign with him, and it's going to be for a thousand years. This is not a simile, this is not a metaphor, this is not an allegory; this is a literal reign with Christ.

This is important. He even said that we're going to be priests, just as Peter said. You're a royal priesthood. He tells us that it's going to be a literal thousand-year reign. Not only once, but he actually says right in this chapter five different times.

Guest (Male): Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore presents His Perfect Love with Pastor Matt VanderVen. Revelation chapter 20 represents a turning point. We go from the age of man now to the age of the Messiah.

In the minutes ahead, you'll hear all about the millennial reign of Christ, a thousand-year period when we as believers will reign with Jesus. But as you may know, some don't take this literally. So what's the best way to interpret Revelation? Let's see together as we join Pastor Matt for today's message.

Matt VanderVen: Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.

If anybody's ever wondered about principalities and powers, the world, the flesh, or the devil—if you feel oppressed sometimes or you feel overwhelmed—yes, you have an enemy and yes, he's been prowling like a lion seeking whom he can devour. We just read that. Up until the time of the millennial reign, that's exactly what we're experiencing. But he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

But after these things, he must be released for a little while. And I saw thrones and they sat on them, and the 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 worshipped 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.

But the rest of the dead—the rest of the dead would be unbelievers—did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who is part of this first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, talking about the lake of fire and hell. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

You are all priests. You're a royal priesthood, a precious people. Peter tells us that, doesn't he? Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth—so there will still be people that can be manipulated or guiled—Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.

Think about the sand. There are still people, even when Christ is on the earth reigning righteously, who will be trying to kick against the goads, trying to kick against the pricks, just as when Jesus came to the earth the first time. But when God is reigning during this thousand-year millennial reign, there will be no havoc allowed by the enemy or by any of the nations. God will be reigning.

They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. Isn't that interesting? God doesn't tap you or me and say, "Guys, let's arm up, it's time to go fight this battle."

He doesn't even look at the angels and say, "Where's Angel Bob? He was so good against 185,000 back in Hezekiah's day against the Assyrians." We don't need to call Angel Bob. We don't know what his name was. What God does is he says, "I speak it and it happens." He says, "I call fire down," and it's devoured, judged, and brought an end to all evil, to all wickedness on the face of the earth, never to be seen again. Never ever to be seen again. Isn't that good news?

The devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. Remember, they were already cast there. That's hell as we understand it. And they were tormented day and night forever and ever.

Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books.

The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

How many people here this morning, before we go on to chapter 20 verse 1, believe that everyone's name from the foundations of the world is written in the Book of Life? It's only when humanity rejects Jesus that their name is removed from that Book of Life. Let me ask this: is there anybody who doesn't believe that? Is there anybody who believes that God has created some to go to heaven and some to go to hell, and he's sort of cooked the books and arranged these things?

I would just draw your attention while we're here. Look at Revelation chapter 13, verse 8. "All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Let's just take that in: from the foundation of the world. Last I checked, Jesus wasn't crucified from the foundation, but he was crucified on Calvary 2,000 or so years ago.

Something was from the foundation of the world. I encourage you to be Bereans and think about what he might be talking about. The book. Even before there was sin, God knew there would be sin. 6,000 years ago, before Adam and Eve ever sinned, God had already made a way, a plan, and a purpose to redeem all of humanity.

That is what a good father, a loving father, does. He realizes that he's going to create a propitiation, a substitute for all sin, so that my sin would be separated from me forever because of the sacrifice that was pleasing to the Father by Jesus Christ.

Now, some of you still may not be convinced. You might ask, "Pastor, how do I know it doesn't specifically say it in that order?" I'm glad you're Bereans. Turn to Revelation chapter 3, verse 5. If I told you I had a piece of paper and I held that piece of paper in front of you right now, and I wrote a bunch of names on it—let's say I went to this group in the front row and asked you to write your names here.

Then I went over here and asked you to write your name there, and so on. And I said, "Now, if you choose to reject me, I'm going to take your name off the list." He uses the term blot. "I'm going to blot out your name." My simple question for everyone here is: how do you blot out something that's not already there?

If I didn't give you a piece of paper and I didn't ask you to write your names on it, and then I said, "I'm going to blot out your name from this," blot out what? What are you talking about? I didn't write anything on the paper; there's nothing in there.

Look at Revelation 3:5. "He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life." That's the book we just read about that Christ describes as opened. Then all of our deeds are also included. That's not for the believer; it's for the unbeliever at the Great White Throne judgment. "But I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

I fundamentally believe that there is no doubt that before eternity, every human's name was written in a book. Then, as their season of life came, they have been given an opportunity—free will—to receive Jesus Christ or to reject Jesus Christ. Those who receive Jesus Christ, their names simply stay in the book because they're washed by the blood of the Lamb.

Those who have rejected Jesus Christ, he honors their free will because he's a gentleman and he never forces anyone. He says, "I give you what you want; I blot the name out." Therefore, they have to stand before Jesus at the lake of fire and account for their sin because they've rejected the one who can wash them and cleanse them from all unrighteousness.

This is what he's always been declaring, and this is why Revelation is such an important book to read. If we don't understand exactly what's going to happen, we start to think it's based on our works or all these other things. We forget that it is solely based on the work of Jesus Christ that began before the foundation of the world, but was carried out 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem on a hilltop called Golgotha, on a cross we know as Calvary.

That's why you and I are here, because we've been born again. We are now living in the Spirit, no longer living according to the will and the ways of the flesh. The sin nature no longer has power over us, according to Romans 6.

In chapter 20, verse 1, he says, "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven." I want you to think about that word "then." In Greek, the word kai can mean "and," or it can mean "then." "Then" is very appropriate here. It's so important because when we left off in chapter 19, Jesus returned with the body of Christ on white horses—you and I and the angels.

Next, Jesus alludes to the sharp sword John sees. He doesn't take it out of his mouth and use it like a weapon, but he speaks with it. It's the word of God, it's the truth, and it strikes the nations who've rejected righteousness and truth and pursued wickedness instead. It's protected those who are righteous and holy, but for those who reject righteousness and truth, it's judgment.

Finally, at the end of verse 20, the beast, the antichrist, and the false prophet are taken alive and put into a bottomless pit. When the Holy Spirit says "Then" as we read here in chapter 20, verse 1, it's a big deal. A lot has happened to this point. Effectively, what he is bringing us to is the end of the age of man with the return of Jesus Christ.

We already have read what culminates that second coming, or what causes that second coming of Jesus Christ where you and I come back with him. It is a specific group of people that will call out to Jesus. It is the Jewish people who have been living in the wilderness running from Antichrist. They say something very clear. They say, "Blessed is the name of the Lord."

The minute that is spoken by God's chosen people, Jesus mounts the horse, the angel army, and you and I all ride back to protect the Jewish people. Then we have a thousand years where he gives them new hearts, according to Jeremiah 31:31. "I will give you a new heart; you will partake of my covenant," the covenant you and I as born-again believers already partake of.

He begins to talk about this, and it is the end of the age of man. It introduces something that we know as the days of Messiah, or what's called the Messianic Age, theologically. It sounds beautiful, the days of Messiah. It sounds as though it should always have been.

Some of you may be asking where the rapture falls into this. The rapture happened in chapter 4, around meta tauta in the Greek—after these things. That takes place at the end of the church age, which is still part of the age of man. It's not until Christ's second coming that we move from the age of man to the age of Messiah. It's very important we don't miss this because God intended us to see this. The Jews and Jerusalem are at the center of all this.

This is why it's such an abomination when people try to replace Israel with the church today and say God has moved on. No, he hasn't. You are rewriting scripture. You are at best ignorant in your doctrine; at worst, you are intentionally watering down the gospel and saying something that Christ never said, which is called an alternate gospel.

We know Jesus is Messiah, but the Jews have not called out to Jesus as Messiah yet. The disciples, upon Jesus's first advent, thought that Jesus had come to establish a millennial reign. You read that in the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

That's why it's so important for our understanding, because if you have read the Gospels but you have never read Revelation chapter 20, you may not understand the full picture, or Isaiah for that matter. That is why Peter and the apostles were all confused so many times when Jesus declared three times, "I must suffer, I'm going to die, and I'm going to be resurrected." It fell on deaf ears.

It wasn't that they had a problem hearing; they were trying to reconcile the scriptures of Isaiah and the prophets that said Jesus Christ is coming to establish a millennial reign. This was not something that was argued about or debated. The whole debate about the millennial reign doesn't start until AD 300, well after the ascension of Christ back into heaven.

Even the Jews understood that Jesus was going to come for a thousand-year millennial reign. They expected it. As a matter of fact, they thought that when Jesus was coming the first time, he was coming to establish that kingdom on earth. Now doesn't it make more sense when you read Revelation 20 and you start to see what's going to unfold and how they were looking forward to it?

The second half of the book of Isaiah, beginning in chapters 39 and 40, is all about Jesus Christ coming and coming back—the first advent and then his return. This is essential because the very attack against the church in the first and second centuries was all about the humanity of Christ, the divinity of Christ, and attacking the millennial reign. They asked, "Did Jesus really mean what he said? Is he coming again? He came and he didn't establish the thousand-year millennial reign like we thought he was going to, so is Jesus really a promise keeper?"

That was intentional by Satan to create questions in the hearts and minds of the Jewish people and the Christians who were literally being martyred in the first century. If you can start to gradually erode the faith of people, they start to wonder if they are really saved if they're not keeping the law.

This was exactly what the attack was, even 30 years after Christ ascended into heaven. They wanted to disparage the hope of the Christian. They did it by attacking the humanity of Christ and his divinity, but don't miss the third one: the millennial reign.

This is very important to God's plan, and it's an attack when we try to move to amillennialism or post-millennialism and say we're living in the millennial reign. What we're essentially saying is Jesus got it wrong. That's the attack. If he can't get that right, how do we know he can really resurrect our souls?

It's always been a snare and an attack by the devil to take away the hope of the Christian and the faith that God has given us. It's important that we humble ourselves as children and recognize that the atonement that Jesus Christ has given the born-again believer is sufficient and it is forever.

Let's talk about premillennialism. I don't like to go into philosophies and ideologies, but what the scripture actually teaches here in chapter 20 is that an angel comes down from heaven, having a key to a bottomless pit, and binds the dragon for a thousand years. A thousand years is a millennium. That's exactly what it's saying.

If we take God literal at his word, we read in this chapter that we're going to come with Jesus Christ and reign with him for a thousand years. This is not a simile, a metaphor, or an allegory; this is a literal reign with Christ. This is important. He even said that we're going to be priests, just as Peter said. He tells us that it's going to be a literal thousand-year reign, and he actually says it five different times in this chapter.

Another teaching is amillennialism. Apologetically, it's important for everyone to understand this because I'm sure you're going to hear it. You walk into several churches today where people say, "Jesus has been saying he's coming back for 2,000 years. Do we really believe that anymore? Maybe he's not coming again and he's not going to reign for a thousand years."

Amillennialism believes that there is no literal thousand-year reign. It's all spiritual, as they would describe it. Basically, you go right from Christ's return to the new heavens and new earth. They almost negate all of chapter 20 of scripture and claim that nobody in the church actually believed this.

Except we have all the writings from the early church fathers. We're living in a day where all of it has been indexed and it's even searchable electronically. When I was in seminary, we had to go back and read the early church fathers and translate the language so that we understood the original meanings and the idioms of that day.

Before AD 300, you will not find a single reference negating the rapture of the church or a literal return of Jesus Christ and a millennial reign. It's only around the time of AD 300 that it's introduced by Constantine. It came from Augustine and Origen, and they started introducing this allegory.

This is important because if we don't study our history, we're doomed to repeat the same things over and over again. Constantine introduced what we know today as Roman Catholicism. He hijacked the Greek term katholikos, which means universal.

That term was used to define the church for the first 285 years. It meant universal. In our modern vernacular, we would say "non-denominational." We don't give our allegiance to a particular denomination; we give our allegiance to Jesus Christ. We believe all of God's word is holy and true.

He took that word "universal" and hijacked it, putting "Roman" in front of it because Rome was in control. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. He wanted to enact a way that he could force all civilians to convert to Christianity, and he wanted them to swear their allegiance to him. He did it in a very interesting way by saying, "We're really doing it for Jesus."

Guest (Male): That is Pastor Matt VanderVen on His Perfect Love. We're going through Revelation at the present time, and I'll remind you that you can hear the program again when you visit hisperfectlove.org. We're also at oneplace.com, and look for us wherever you get your podcasts.

We also offer a mobile app. This is a great way to take Pastor Matt's teachings with you on the go. You can learn more about the mobile app and start your download when you visit our website, hisperfectlove.org.

We can't thank you enough for your prayers for this ministry. Please pray that as God's word goes forth, lives will be greatly impacted for the glory of God and people would grow by his grace and love or even enter into a relationship with him. If you have a prayer request, please send that our way. You can email that to us through our website at hisperfectlove.org.

If you live in the Mechanicsburg, PA area, we hope you'll stop by for a visit. Just like you hear on the radio, Pastor Matt teaches verse by verse through the Bible here at Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. Sunday morning services begin at 8:30 and 10:30. We have a midweek gathering on Wednesdays at 7:00 PM.

We're located at 28 North Locust Point Road in Mechanicsburg, PA. Go to ccharrisburg.org for more information. Then join us next time when Pastor Matt will pick up where we left off in Revelation here on His Perfect Love.