Roche Coleman Ministries: The Infusion Broadcast

Dr. Roche Coleman: Because so often we believe that we are powerless. But I want to let you know if you have the Spirit of God indwelling you, if you have trusted in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, if he is your substitutionary atonement, I want to let you know that you have the power in God. You have the authority by the blood of Jesus Christ. You have the right to walk in obedience, and you have the victory in Christ Jesus, and we give him glory for that.

Guest (Male): Thank you for tuning in to the Infusion Broadcast with the Roche Coleman Ministries. Dr. Coleman's been systematically taking us through the Book of Revelation, and we're in the last volume now on God's final judgment and victory. He clearly explains the events which are yet to take place in the world and after the time of the tribulation and the destruction of Babylon. He brings us to chapter 20 today to break down the events leading up to the millennium and outlines what this period will entail. Let's listen as he brings the first part of the message on the Millennial Kingdom.

Dr. Roche Coleman: Revelation chapter 20. I'm reading from the New American Standard translation today. Revelation chapter 20, beginning at verse 1. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And 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 threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him so that he would not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed. After these things, he must be released for a short time.

Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus Christ and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.

Blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. Father, we love you. We thank you for your mercy, for your grace, for your compassion, and your kindness. Lord God, we ask that you be with us as we look into your word today. Open our eyes, our understanding, and give us, Lord, just a supernatural view of what you're doing. Lord God, for what you do, we'll be certain to give you praise. Rise up, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered and let those who hate you flee before your presence. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

At the United Nations in New York, there is a granite wall that has this inscription written on it: They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Right at the bottom, they have the word Isaiah. That inscription was placed there in the 1950s, but it was not until 1975 that somebody included the word Isaiah.

Isaiah is the biblical reference from which this quote comes. It is the prophet Isaiah who prophetically pronounced that one day there would be a time of eternal peace, tranquility, that the nations would no longer study the art of war. There would no longer be hate, anger, or animus between individuals. The United Nations, which has come together to be that governing body that's trying to force peace in the world, eliminate poverty and hunger and all of the anguishes of the world, use this phrase as their motto.

The most intriguing thing about it is that they were not willing to identify the source of the quote. There was not a willingness to give glory to God for the quote, and there is an attempt to do this in their own efforts. Tragically, they will not accomplish this because only our God can bring about peace, eliminate war, poverty, and the anger and animus that exists among humanity.

In Revelation chapter 20, what we see is our God ushering in this element of peace, this unprecedented peace, and it's during this Millennial Kingdom. In Revelation chapter 20, beginning at verse 1, what we're going to see first is the binding of Satan. This is God's first work here where he is going to bind Satan, and he's going to begin to bring in this thousand-year reign.

The Bible lets us know in the first verse that John is writing, and he says, "I saw." He's going to repeat in verse 4 what he saw and in verse 11 what he saw. But what he sees here first is this angel that's descending down from heaven. This angel that's descending down from heaven has something that's very interesting. He has a key in one hand and a chain in the other hand. This angel is descending as one with power and one with authority.

This angel is coming as one who has a level of control, and he is coming to utilize that control in the realm where God has allowed him to be serving. It's important that we understand something as it relates to angels because angels have been given this intriguing responsibility by God. God has given angels the authority to work because God himself, that's God the Father as well as the Son, they are monarchs. They are the true rulers.

As a result, the angels are the ones who handle the maintenance of the kingdom. The angels have oversight over demonic forces. They have the key. It is the angels who function as the guardians, we're going to see here, of the abyss. Not only that, we're going to see that the angels are the ones who have the responsibility of the binding and the loosening of dark forces. They have the chain.

This angel comes, the Bible tells us here, and as he descends, he is going to seize someone when he comes. Who is the person that he seizes? I'm glad you asked that question. The Bible is very clear here. Verse 2 denotes the entity, and it's worth underlining in your text. First, he's called the dragon. After he's called the dragon, he's called the serpent. After he's called the serpent, he's called the devil, and then Satan.

These four different titles given to the arch-enemy of God: dragon, serpent, devil, and Satan, they all characterize the activity of none other than Satan. He's the adversary, he's the slanderer, he's the slick, slithering, whispering serpent in the Garden of Eden. Then he's like this beastly dragon who unleashed havoc upon the earth, especially during the tribulation period and, as we're going to see also, after the Millennial Kingdom.

John, as he's writing, gives this fourfold analysis of this entity, and he's demonstrating that the angel with the key and a chain is going to seize someone. Krateo is the Greek term; it is forcibly taking power over. Not only does he seize, then sphragizo, he's going to also seal where he placed the devil. This is very important. Why? Because it demonstrates that the angel, a singular angel, has more power and more authority than Satan.

I want to let you know we give too much credit to the devil. For those of us who know the true and living God, for those of us who serve God, we should understand that our God is all-powerful, and he has relegated the seizing, the binding, and the sealing of the abyss to an angel, demonstrating that that is something even beneath our God. But it shows the power of the Lord God that we serve.

He placed Satan in this abyss, and the Bible tells us for how long. He says a thousand years in verse 2. We're going to see this phrase "a thousand years" repeated. He's referencing this thousand years at least six times in this text. He's letting us know that this is a literal thousand-year term that Satan is going to be bound, and God is doing this to bring the serpent into subjection to his authority so that he can usher in his Millennial Kingdom.

It's important that you hear this now because so often we believe that we are powerless. But I want to let you know if you have the Spirit of God indwelling you, if you have trusted in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, if he is your substitutionary atonement, I want to let you know that you have the power in God. You have the authority by the blood of Jesus Christ. You have the right to walk in obedience, and you have the victory in Christ Jesus, and we give him glory for that.

There's something else we must understand after the Lord does this and he throws him into the abyss and he shuts it, verse 3, and seals it. He tells the purpose for all of this. He says so he will not deceive, verse 3, the nations any longer. Satan has been doing his deceptive work, and so the Lord brings it to an end. For 1,000 years, the Lord says there will no longer be the deceptive work of Satan.

Satan is placed in this abyss, this bottomless pit the scripture talks about. This bottomless pit has been saved and reserved for all of the dark forces. If you recall in Luke chapter 8, verse 31, it is Jesus, and he's preparing to cast those demons out. Those demons are imploring Jesus. They're asking him, "Do not force us to go into the abyss." The dark, sinister forces understood that they could be cast there, and they would be trapped there, and they didn't want to go there.

This is a literal place, but our Lord has authority even over that because he has the key to even death and Hades. After we go through Revelation and we see all of this taking place and he explains to us what's happening here about this thousand years, he says it's going to be for just a short period of time he's going to be released. Look at the end of verse 3. He says after these things—what things? Satan has been seized, bound, and sealed in this abyss—these things are going to happen, and he will be released for a short period of time.

God will give the enemy another opportunity to ply his trade. God is going to release him after the thousand years to do his deceitful work one more time. But it's important that we understand something as we go into verses 4 through 6 in chapter 20. In chapter 20, verses 4 through 6, it is here where we're going to get more information about this Millennial Kingdom.

The whole concept of the Millennial Kingdom is a hotly debated internal argument. In Christian circles, there are various individuals who debate about the views of the Millennial Kingdom, and there are three primary views. Briefly, I want to hit them very briefly. I don't want to bore you with a lot of theology and a lot of technical terms, but I want to briefly at least introduce you in case you have not. For some, you already know, so bear with me.

Number one is the post-millennial view. Post-millennialists believe that the Lord returns not before, not during, but at the conclusion of the thousand years. Post-millennialists don't believe that the Lord will return before, but it's only at the conclusion of the Millennial Kingdom that the Lord will return and establish an eternal kingdom.

The second view is what is called the amillennialists. They negate the millennial theory and view that is clear here in scripture. They believe there is no such thing as a thousand-year reign. They spiritualize the text, and they see this as only being symbolic, that this is not a literal thousand years. They say there is no thousand-year reign where God will return in the form of Jesus Christ, set up his kingdom, and rebuild the temple. They don't believe in the millennial reign at all.

Then the third view, which is the correct view, I hope you would agree with, and this is the view I would hold to, is the premillennialist view. I'm convinced that there will be a literal thousand-year reign of our Lord and that our Lord will return at the conclusion of the tribulation, after the defeat of the false prophet as well as the beast, and the Lord comes and establishes his kingdom and then he's going to reign for a thousand years.

One of the things I want you to do is I want you to look at the chart on the screen, and this chart is going to outline to you the entire eschatological picture in a succinct manner. You're going to have to walk with me. Some of this is your first time seeing it, so bear with us. But if you look, you see OT, that's the Old Testament before the cross there. You see the Old Testament prophets, the writings, the Psalms, the entire Old Testament.

There are prophetic pronouncements that one day Jesus Christ would reign, that there would be this Millennial Kingdom that would come to fruition. They have written about it. This is why I challenge individuals: please study the Old Testament. There are so many individuals they neglect the Old Testament, they jump over it, they run to John, and I'm saying you have missed the story. There is no doctrine in the New that does not have its origin in the Old.

You need to have a grasp of the Old Testament writings and understand them. So in the Old Testament, the prophets have written: the minor prophets, they have all prophetically pronounced—Zechariah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, the list goes on, Amos—they have all looked toward what Christ would do. Then what we have is the cross there. That cross represents Jesus coming and dying a substitutionary death on Calvary's cross.

After the cross, we have the church age that begins, and it's represented in Revelation chapters 2 through 3. That's where we get the letters to the seven churches. This is representative of the church age. We believe at the conclusion of the church age, the believers, those in Christ Jesus, will be—the Greek term is harpazo—we will be caught up, raptured out, and we will go to be with the Lord.

Then the tribulation period will begin. That is chapters 4 through 19 in the Book of Revelation. It is in those chapters where we saw the judgments. We saw the seal, the trumpet, and the bowl judgments taking place in the Book of Revelation. All of these judgments are happening because the Lord is allowing his wrath to be unleashed for this period of time, but the church is already out.

At the conclusion of the tribulation, we believe this is where the Lord will return, and he will establish his Millennial Kingdom. That's what we pick up here at Revelation chapter 20. In chapter 19, we've already seen what has happened. There has been havoc that has been unleashed on the earth from the seal, the trumpets, and the bowl judgments. There's been so much destruction, but also we see in Revelation 19 that the Lord has defeated with just a word his enemies at the Battle of Armageddon.

All of those enemies of the Lord are defeated with a word. What does the Bible tell us? Look here in the text, Revelation 19:20. We see that the beast was seized along with the false prophet. What does the false prophet do? He performs signs and wonders. By the way, in case you haven't been with us, the beast is none other than that entity called the antichrist. They are seized, Revelation 19. They had deceived those who received the mark of the beast on their hand and on their forehead.

Remember, we saw that the mark of the beast was the only thing that allowed people to trade and have commerce during the tribulation period, and so now there's a consequence for receiving a mark. They had deceived them, and they are thrown in the lake of fire as well, as we're going to see eventually. But right now, the beast and the false prophet are thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone.

They are punished. They precede Satan by over a thousand years getting to the lake of fire, and we're going to see Satan is going to get there after the millennial reign. This is important because this is going to outline one of the key aspects of the Millennial Kingdom. So we see the three views: post-, amillennial, and the premillennial view. We believe in the premillennial view.

Now we're going to look at some of the conditions of this millennial period. The millennial period is something that's going to be glorious. Every time, the believer should be excited. They should be excited about Revelation chapter 20. There are a lot of people who avoid Revelation. They don't read the book. There are a lot of people who don't want to read it because they are afraid that it's going to somehow cause a level of fear and consternation.

Let me tell you something: you need to read the Book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 1, he said there is a blessing. Anybody in here want a blessing from God? Anybody logged on, you want a blessing from God? According to the Book of Revelation, he says for the one who reads, hears, and obeys, there is a blessing for you just by reading and obeying the book.

This is why it's so important that we read the text. He said there is a blessing for you, and we should be immersed in the word of God because God will bless us just by being in his word. The verses you're reading today and what you're listening to, you are going to receive a blessing from God just by receiving, hearing, and obeying these words.

If you look at the conditions now of the Millennial Kingdom, it's so important. One of the first things that's going to characterize this Millennial Kingdom, this thousand-year reign, is going to be none other than righteousness and justice. I love that because I don't know about you, but I look around this world, and there is nowhere where I can get righteous and just judgment.

When you go to the court system, if you can afford to pay the proper representation, you can get some justice. It might be illegal, but you can get it. You can buy justice. But not in the millennial reign. When Christ is reigning on the throne, he's going to bring in a true righteous reign, a rule that is not characterized by nothing that's false or fake, nothing that can be purchased with money.

It is going to be only by the power of God that one will receive this type of righteousness. The Bible is clear that there's going to be this righteousness that's going to come forth. In Psalm 45:6, he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom." In Isaiah chapter 9, verses 6 through 7, he says, "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders; and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."

There will be no end to the increase of his government or peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness. Anybody glad about that one day? In Hebrews chapter 1, verses 8 through 9, he says, "But of the Son he says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of his kingdom.'"

One day, God will usher in a kingdom and a period where it will be righteousness and holiness. It will be a time where we can celebrate God in purity and without all of the hindrances of sin. God is going to do that for us. This is why we must understand that we are not in the current place of the kingdom, not now. Why? Because Jesus Christ is not ruling as King.

What is he doing? Jesus Christ is our intercessor. The Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 1, chapter 8, and in chapter 12 that Jesus Christ is making intercession on our behalf to the Father. He's not reigning on his throne. Furthermore, we see the activity of Satan that's happening in this world right now. What does the Bible say in 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8?

He says Satan goes about like a roaring lion, prowling, seeking whom he may devour. In Ephesians chapter 2, verse 2, he talks about the prince of the power of this air who is now working in the sons of disobedience, that he is currently doing that work in the world now. So we know we're not in a millennial reign, and the Kingdom of God has not come.

Guest (Male): What an incredible time of peace and tranquility that will be for a thousand years, Dr. Coleman. And as you said, only God can eliminate poverty, war, hatred, sin, and all of the chaos in our world. Thank you for reminding us once again of God's incredible power and that he promises to sustain us through life. Friend, if you have any questions about what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please email us at info@rochecolemanministries.org or call us. Our number is 346-386-4621.

You'll also find our ministry resources at rochecolemanministries.org, and I'd like to particularly recommend Dr. Coleman's book, Jonah: God's Second Chance through Resurrection. It's a message of hope, and maybe you or someone in your life would benefit from it. I hope you'll order a copy today. As we close, our impact thought is: make certain God has written your name in the Book of Life. This is an extremely serious matter, and I hope you'll make sure of this beyond a shadow of a doubt.