Light on the Hill

Guest (Male): In your study of the scriptures, you've probably noticed the millennial reign of Christ spoken of quite often. But what is it and when will it occur? Let's discuss today on Light on the Hill.

We have a great program in store for you today on Light on the Hill as we move on to chapter 20 in our study through the book of Revelation. After the rapture of the church, the seven-year tribulation, and the return of Christ, we're told that Jesus will reign in his kingdom. The great thing is if you're a believer, you will rule and reign with Christ. What will it be like and when will it occur? Pastor James Kaddis is here with some answers.

James Kaddis: Revelation chapter 20. Of course, I have said this before, I will say it again, and I’ve got to tell you, I always sort of make a big deal about this when I bring this up because it's important. It's one of these things that I really love emphasizing because if we take the time specifically to emphasize it and to really flush it out, then hopefully it will encourage you to think about it completely differently.

Here is a thing with the book of Revelation: you are not going to understand the book of Revelation well unless you take the time to understand the Old Testament. I keep saying this, I think it's really important. If you don't have an understanding of the Old Testament, you are going to have an extremely difficult time understanding the book of Revelation. Without the Old Testament under you, it's going to be difficult, which is why we spend a lot of time stopping and slowing down a little bit and going over a bunch of things because it's really necessary that we do that.

I think that there's a lot of questions that oftentimes come up regarding these issues that will not get answered, and oftentimes cannot get answered, if we do not spend the time to look at and really understand the parallels between the Old Testament and what happens in the New. As a matter of fact, I'll give you a great example of this as we've been going over the plagues that we read about in the book of Revelation. Literally, every one of the plagues that we read about in the book of Revelation have a very stunning association or commonality that exists between what we read about in the book of Exodus and what happened when the children of Israel were released from their bondage in Egypt.

But the process that it led to with respect to the Pharaoh and what happened there, and what's even more interesting is when you stop to reflect upon some of what a lot of people might call an anomaly, but in reality they were a commonality, they weren't an anomaly that really exists between some of the finer aspects of what Moses went through when he confronted the Pharaoh and what had happened there. As a matter of fact, it's really interesting when you look at the journey of the children of Israel and you examine that just a little closer, especially when you start that journey somewhere in the neighborhood of the Genesis 40 area where you start looking at how Jacob and his children ended up in Egypt.

Then it really becomes an astonishing picture when you drive the parallels between that and what you actually read about in the book of Revelation. So this is all very interesting stuff. It's all very eye-opening stuff. And again, understanding it and bringing those commonalities in are really critical to coming to the right eschatological view. Now when I say eschatological, what I mean is your view of the end times. If you are going to have a healthy view, which I believe the only healthy view of end times is God's view, the one that he expresses in the Bible.

So if you are going to have a healthy view of end times, then you are going to have to have a healthy understanding of the Old Testament and this is so critical, especially when we get into the subject here that we're going to get into and that is the issue related directly to the subject of the resurrection. I guess that's the best term to use, the subject of the resurrection and the subject of the millennium. I was going to use another term that kind of danced around that issue, but the resurrection is the best way of putting it because I know what happens here.

There are people oftentimes talking about when they go through a passage like this and other passages that there are multiple resurrections. And yes, there are in a way, but they're all part of one or the other, two different resurrections in a specific context. I'll explain it in just a second and you guys will know exactly what I'm talking about and it will keep you from conflating things, it will keep you from misappropriating things, and it will certainly help you to develop a much better awareness of what awaits for us in the future and what's actually coming.

What's really interesting is if you want to understand what the Bible is talking about when it discusses the subject of the resurrection here in Revelation chapter 20, then you have to understand farming culture that was actually created by biblical precedent that was established for us in the early Old Testament. You might look at me kind of puzzled when I say that, but you'll understand exactly what I'm talking about in just a second because it will make all the sense in the world to you when we have this discussion.

So let's get into this. This is Revelation chapter 20. Very good stuff has happened so far when you really think about what's happened. Two of the unholy trinity, for lack of a better term, have already been dealt with. We know what the Holy Trinity is. We always talk about the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit is God, the Son is God, and the Father is God. That’s probably the most simple and broken down explanation of the Trinity that I can find.

But of course we also have a very unholy trinity when we stop for a moment and we consider what exists there and we're going to read about that unholy trinity and how they were dealt with and what God actually did in doing so. Look what it says here in verse 20 of chapter 19. It says, "And the beast was taken with him, the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone."

So our unholy trinity that we see here that's being dealt with is Satan himself. We know when the Bible refers to the term beast, the Bible defines what that term actually means. So Satan himself is part of this unholy trinity. Of course, the second part of this unholy trinity is going to be the false prophet and the third part of this unholy trinity which helps to make the destructive scenario that we read about in the end times are those who worshipped the image, those who actually chose to say we will bow down to the world system and thus help propagate it in many ways.

So God has already dealt with them, one of them not so permanent, but his permanent elimination is coming. The other two have pretty much been thrown down the shoot for lack of a better term, they're in a very bad place here. Now let's get right into this in verse one of chapter 20 because we are in a place where the world has experienced substantial victory, incredible victory. All of the tribulation is now done. We know that Christ has already come back, the second advent oftentimes is what it's referred to. Christ has already come back after the tribulation.

This is something that's really important that we understand, and now we're moving into a new phase. We're moving into a new section here and that's where we leave off when we get into chapter 20. Verse one says, "And I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years." Now this is really important because I want to stop and talk about this.

There is so much terrible teaching that's out there right now that is using all kind of metaphorical assumptions. They're taking words that are being used like dragon and bottomless pit. Of course bottomless pit is that word that comes from Abusso. There are so many different ideas that people have on this because they do not take it literally when in reality we are talking about a very literal thing that's happening here. Satan himself is being cast into a bottomless pit. That bottomless pit is referred to in the original language as Abusso.

We will get into this in a second because it's really important. By the way, this is spoken of in Matthew believe it or not. Again, it's all over the Bible. We can see parallels of this, but it says this in verse three: "And cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season." We've got a lot to talk about here. One of the things that we talk about is the idea that Satan is put into this pit.

With respect to this pit, it is a temporary holding place for Satan. When we talk about temporary, we're talking about a thousand years and then at one point he will be released. Now we ran into this with the women's study and I'm going to be very graceful how I say this because it came up as a question. In the women's study it came up with a question, and for those of you that are asking about me referencing the women's study, I don't go and teach it. In some of the things that were being taught this time around, I would have loved to because it was a prophecy thing, but I didn't.

But I did come in a few weeks to answer some questions that came up in the women's study. And one of the questions was that there was a general assumption being communicated that when the devil was thrown into the bottomless pit that it was the devil and all of his demons. So I had to get asked about that question because there was some confusion that was being taught about that. I want to make myself very clear. What you are reading here is literal. The devil is not being thrown into this pit with all of the demons, it's the devil alone and there are no demons being thrown into the pit.

But let me just make myself very clear. Based on what we read in the Old Testament, and the New Testament for that matter as well, we know for a fact that there is a pit. I believe it's this one specifically that already houses a huge amount of these demons. A huge amount of these fallen angels and so Satan is going to be bound up in this same pit that he has never been in prior to this time. So when people always talk about Satan being bound up in this pit and God also throwing up a bunch of demons in it, they don't get that from the book of Revelation.

If they don't get that from the book of Revelation, that means they don't get it from anywhere else. There are a bunch of demons that are already in there. Now some of you might say, "Well James, does that mean that there might still be demons floating around during the millennial reign?" Yes, it's very likely. Will we see them active like we see them today? No way. Why? Because they'll be void of their commander-in-chief. Their commander-in-chief will not be there to direct them, to guide them, and I will just tell you this right now. An overwhelming majority of the demons or fallen angels are already in the pit even to this moment.

How do we know it? Because the Bible all over doesn't just imply it, it actually tells us this. And we get direct evidence of it based on even interactions that we see with Jesus. Let me remind you of one very specific story that's really important to bring up, and that's the story of the Gadarene man who was of course demon-possessed. Jesus has a confrontation with the man and the demons actually identify themselves as not just being a single demon but there's a whole ton of them. They're possessed in this guy and what ends up happening is as Jesus is getting ready to cast these demons out of this man, the demons ask to not be thrown and locked up into the Abusso.

They asked to not be thrown into in essence the bottomless pit. And so instead Jesus allows them to go into all those pigs that were being farmed which was contrary to the law of God to raise up pigs or to eat pigs. So it would make sense that Jesus would have the demons go into the pigs and what do the pigs do? They shove off to their death. It's a very vivid picture of a lot of very powerful principles and concepts. But you need to understand that these were demons that were asking Jesus, begging Jesus to not be thrown into the pit, which means they all know about the pit.

They're fully aware of what happened when it came to that pit. Which by the way in that passage that is not the only place where the bottomless pit is actually mentioned. It's mentioned all over the Old Testament. And by the way, if you really want to understand a little bit more about the history of Satan and what led to him falling, you can of course get into the passages that we gain the most insight and understanding from on that. And of course that's going to be Isaiah chapter 14 and Ezekiel chapter 28.

If you ever have a hard time remembering those passages, just remember Isaiah and Ezekiel. All you have to do is remember Isaiah and Ezekiel and then after that you can get it pretty easily. Why? Because if you can think Isaiah 14, then you just double 14 and it gives you Ezekiel 28. That was the mental hook that I created when I memorized that, but it is interesting because you gain a lot of insight into the fall of Satan. And then it also gives us a lot of insight into many of the things that we already know.

So when somebody comes to you and teaches you that the Lord here locks up the devil and all of his demons, that is not an accurate statement that's being made here. What we see record of is we see record of the Lord locking up the devil. Now there's another interesting piece of terminology that exists here and that is of course till the thousand years should be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season. So at the end of the millennium, what will happen is the devil will be released from the bottomless pit to come out and when that ends up happening, he is going to deceive all of the people around him.

And in essence there will be another rebellion against God and that's when it's all going to be over. That's when God is going to destroy the heavens and the earth. There is going to be a new heavens and the earth. And by the way if you struggle with the subject of global warming, I'm here to tell you right now you should believe in global warming. It's very true, it's very real, and it hasn't started yet but it will start and it will happen and when it does it's going to be ugly. I won't even call it climate change, I'm calling it global warming because God will destroy the world with fire!

So that's some real warming and it's just something that I want you guys to be keenly aware of. Now there's another thing that we have to stop and run into. So now that we're clear on the bottomless pit, we have to talk about what people refer to as the millennium. By the way, where we get the term millennium from is a very simple word: mil meaning a thousand, annum meaning year. So that's where we get the word millennium and of course this has a Latin root. That's where this originates from.

We know that in the original translation was Greek, but after that we saw Latin translations that emerged from this and that's what gave us the insight that we needed to be able to develop in better creating other translations later on. I'm oversimplifying it, but that's where we get it from. By the way, that's also where we get the word rapture from. Because actually the Greek word for rapture in a passage in First Thessalonians chapter four is the word harpazo. But in the Latin Bible that word is rapturus which then is where we get the word rapture from.

So when people say rapture's not in the Bible, they're actually wrong. It is believe it or not and that's where we get that word from. We get it actually from an original language term and it kind of carried over into English when we have a discussion regarding that. There's another word that describes the rapture believe it or not and this is a word that nobody will ever associate with the rapture because on a normal basis they're incorrectly taught about it. But there is one word that's also used that describes the rapture and that is the word that we get the word apostasy from, apostasia.

A lot of people think apostasy means turning away from God, it means rebelling against God. Actually no it doesn't, the word apostasy means departing or a departing. So that also refers to the word rapture as we understand it when you look at Second Thessalonians chapter two verse three. And it's not people turning away from God, it's actually a departing which is referring to the rapture which makes a whole lot of sense when you look at it in context. So what we are talking about here when we talk about the millennium, we are talking about this thousand-year period.

Now I think that this is important because what we have to do here is we have to clear up some very significant misconceptions that exist regarding the millennium. There are several views regarding this millennium. We have the first view that I'm going to describe to you. And what I call our view, this is the view of Calvary Chapel Signal Hill, is what is called the premillennial view. There's lots of other ways of putting it, some people oftentimes don't even use the word premillennial, but I'm just going to make it very simple. We have what is called the premillennial view.

This is the picture of what the premillennial view is. It's very simple, it's what the Bible tells us. It's very obvious and it's very in front of us. And the idea here is that the second coming comes pre to the millennium. So the second coming, the end of the rapture is prior to the millennium. And then of course what happens is the millennium takes place. It is a literal period of time and of course that is when we end up becoming ruling and reigning with the Lord and there's a lot that's going on there. We're going to talk about that today.

Guest (Male): Well, there is the first of three views: the premillennial viewpoint, which we embrace. And in a moment, Pastor James will talk briefly about another view. This is Light on the Hill. To hear this message again, visit lightonthehillradio.com or oneplace.com. It's also available through the Light on the Hill app. Light on the Hill is made possible through the generosity of our listeners. If the Lord is leading you to support this ministry, please visit lightonthehillradio.com to donate or you can give through the Light on the Hill app.

I also want to mention the new book written by Pastor James. It's entitled "The Last Book: A Guide to Revelation Part 1." As the world heads toward its final chapter, the Bible has already revealed every detail. The book of Revelation is God's message of warning, hope, and promise to prepare us for what's coming. In "The Last Book," Pastor James takes us through Revelation chapters one through ten and shows us why we must live wholeheartedly for God, anchored in truth and awake to the times.

You can order a copy today at lightonthehillradio.com or Amazon. If you hunger for more Bible prophecy, you may want to seek out Pastor James's videos live or on demand. Many of them relate to current events and Bible prophecy. You can access them at jameskaddis.com. You can also send us your questions about Revelation and Bible prophecy through the website lightonthehillradio.com. We hope to hear from you soon! Okay, let's get into the amillennial view for a few moments.

James Kaddis: Let's talk about this. This is the second view of the millennium and this is what's called the amillennial view. Just so that you know, when we talk about a-millennial, it means not millennial. Like if you used the word atypical, then that actually means it's not typical. So when we use the term amillennial, it basically means that you do not believe in the millennium. You do not believe that the millennium actually exists.

In order for you to do that, what you actually have to do is you have to take away the necessity for a literal interpretation of the thousand years and you have to take that and you have to believe that it is somehow and some way metaphorical. The problem with that is it's crazy. In my opinion, look, there are some good people that carry this view and I'm not going to sit down and put down anybody who might have this view, but I am telling you this right now: it doesn't make sense.

First and foremost, I want everybody to understand this. There is no exception to the number of years that's used anywhere else. In other words, when you have numbers that are taken literally, even people that are amillennialists who don't believe in the millennium take a lot of the other numbers literally. Like for example, at what point do you stop and say the two witnesses that are spoken of in chapter 11, are those actually two or does that mean something else? You have to really start asking yourself questions like that.

How about 7,000 people in verse 13 of chapter 11? That’s another example of where something like that happens. Or how about this: the four angels that we read about in chapter seven of Revelation? Are they no longer four? At what point do we take these numbers and do we switch them around? There's a lot of passages like this, right? Or the four angels in chapter eight? There's lots of groups of angels we read about, four angels even in the Old Testament, lots of different parallels there, which we talked about.

What about the 144,000 Jews that we read in chapter seven? What does that mean? Are they now something that doesn't even exist? And by the way, I got more information for you on that. How about the 42 months that we read about in chapter 11? Or how about this: the 1,260 days? What about those? If you stop to reflect upon it, does that mean they all of those are now metaphorical? It doesn't make any kind of sense.

Guest (Male): Much more could be said about that and will be on our next edition of Light on the Hill. Pastor James Kaddis will also discuss the third viewpoint, post-millennial. This program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.