Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: Throughout church history, scholars and great people of God have been divided on eschatology. That’s just a fancy word for the study of the end times. Specifically, people disagree on one major point of doctrine: the millennium.

That’s our subject today on *Thru the Bible*. Our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, leads us through Revelation chapter 20, the only chapter in the Bible that specifically teaches on the millennium. Before we jump in, Greg Harris is here, and we’ve got some time to share some of the great things that are happening as we take the whole Word to the whole world.

Greg Harris: That’s right, Steve. We're going to talk about a newsletter article written by our good friend Ray Allery, who has served the Lord all over the world and always been part of *Thru the Bible*. He now works with us, and we love working with Ray. He was with me and some other team members on a trip to India, and he wrote a newsletter article about it.

What we like to do is encourage you to get our newsletter. Don't worry, we're not going to ask you for money or put your name on a mailing list. We just want you to have this great ministry information. It's a very rich resource. It has great teaching from Dr. McGee, responses from around the world, why study the different books of the Bible, and then what's going on globally.

Steve Schwetz: I'm fully a digital guy, but the one thing I want in the analog world and paper is the newsletter. I love it because it’s the exact size of my Bible. It fits inside nicely, and I use it as a point of prayer. I tuck it in until I get the next one, and then the next one fills in that spot. I would suggest if you're not doing that now, that maybe you consider it.

Greg Harris: That's a good point. I've known Steve a long time, and he is an electronic guy. He doesn't like a lot of paper. So that says a lot that he loves the *Thru the Bible* newsletter. It's very beautiful as well. The covers always have a wonderful quote from Dr. McGee, and they’re beautiful. You could actually cut the cover out and frame it. It's really a beautiful piece. We hope you'll take advantage of that. You can just call 1-800-65-BIBLE or email us at biblebus@ttb.org and say, "Please mail me your newsletter. Here's my address." That’s how easy it is.

Steve Schwetz: Now, the India Bible Quiz. The interesting thing about India is they don't do anything small because there are a lot of people in that country. It's the world's most populous country now. Give us a little detail. Give us some of the numbers on the Bible Quiz. This has just been fascinating to me and the way they do this. This is intense.

Greg Harris: It's mind-boggling to my tiny little brain. They had 103,000 participants. It's a quiz, so what they do is pick one book of the Bible, and the listeners listen to Dr. McGee's teaching for the better part of a year, about eight or nine months. Then they have to take a 100-question test. This year it was on the book of Proverbs.

They do the testing at the same time. It was 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. in 4,500 locations at the exact same time. Across either 15 or 17 different languages. Just think about the logistics of prepping this. I think it was George Phillips, our Malayalam producer and now full-time on staff with us, that created the questions. I would be afraid to take that test. Out of 100,000, five people aced it.

Steve Schwetz: I know, because years ago you presented to the national winners. You and I were together, and I thought they're going to have 200 or 300 people, and they said five people. I would be afraid to take the test as well. People might say, "What does this have to do with *Thru the Bible*?" First of all, what it's doing is introducing people into Dr. McGee's systematic style of teaching, and then they want more, and then they become *Thru the Bible* listeners.

Greg Harris: The other thing I like about it is going to the book of Proverbs. Notice we said Proverbs, not the book of John. A lot of these people, I'd love to know the numbers of the 100,000 people that participated. I bet there was a measurable percentage that were not open to Christianity, not believers, and probably Hindu and Muslim would be the largest religions represented in that 100,000, and they're taking a test on the book of Proverbs.

Ray wrote in this article, I happened to be there at the church service, and he wrote about this church service in New Delhi. I had a chance to bring a message from the Word on behalf of *Thru the Bible*. They were very welcoming. At the end of the service, they started inviting up members of this congregation in New Delhi that had been participants in the Bible Quiz.

Ray is a guy that everybody loves. He never met a stranger. Children love Ray. I have to admit to being a little jealous because I got to present to a few of the adults, and then they said, "Okay, you gotta share, Greg. Let the other team members." Ray goes up there, and I think this was probably the youngest member of the 103,000. Eight years old comes up, gives Ray a big hug. That's an image I will never forget. There are a lot of young people that take the Bible Quiz. That's another really exciting thing about this ministry. We hope you'll get the newsletter and you'll read all about it. There are pictures, there's a lot of information, and we think you'll be encouraged.

Steve Schwetz: Greg, let me pray for us as we begin our study. Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for the way you use something like a Bible Quiz to draw so many people to faith in Christ and exposure to the wisdom that's found throughout the entire Bible, but particularly in the book of Proverbs. We pray that that effort would draw many people to you and bear much fruit. Lord, we pray now as we turn to Revelation 20 that you would bless the teaching as it goes out. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

We're off to Revelation 20 on *Thru the Bible* with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now friends, as we come today to this 20th chapter of Revelation, we're dealing with the millennium in relationship to Christ, to Satan, to man, and to the tribulation saints, to the resurrections, to the earth, and to the Great White Throne. We need to recognize that. Unfortunately, a great many men in the past, including the late Dr. B.B. Warfield, one of the greatest minds that the church has ever had, thought chapter 20 just wasn't worth considering because of the fact that the millennium was only mentioned there and the thousand-year period. Since it was just mentioned there, he didn't feel like that it was very important, and he just practically dismissed it altogether.

Unfortunately, it's true that the millennium is mentioned only in this chapter. When somebody says, "But it's mentioned it's a thousand years," let's not deal with semantics. Millennium comes from the Latin word that means 1,000. So let's don't argue about semantics. Millennium means a thousand years, anyway you slice it, you'll come up with the same thing because it's 1,000 years. You could call a person a chiliast who believes in the millennium, and chiliasm was the way the early church spoke of it because *chilia* in Greek means a thousand also.

I hope we all understand we're talking about the same thing. As a result, there have arisen three very definite schools in the area of the interpretation of the 20th chapter. I've referred to this before; I come back to it. The first school is post-millennialism. It assumed that Christ would come at the conclusion of the thousand years. In other words, man would bring in the kingdom by the preaching of the gospel.

This was an optimistic view which prevailed at the turn of the century. At that time, it looked like there might be a great worldwide turning to Christ and the world would be converted. But that viewpoint has become obsolete. It could not weather the first half of the 20th century, which produced two world wars, a global depression, the rise of communism, and the atom bomb with which worldwide destruction is imminent. Therefore, post-millennialism is as dead as a dodo bird.

Another view, I should say, is amillennialism. "A" in the Greek means you don't believe in a millennium. It has become popular really only in recent years as it largely has supplanted post-millennialism. It holds out no false optimism, and it has for the most part emphasized the coming of Christ. Its chief weakness is that it spiritualizes the thousand years, as it does all the book of Revelation. It fits the millennium into the present age.

In fact, Dr. Warfield's interpretation was that the millennium was going on in heaven while the tribulation is going on down here on the earth. My friend, that is something, I tell you. I think that in heaven they've got a millennium going not just for a thousand years, but from eternity to eternity. I never could see that, but nevertheless, that is a viewpoint. It fits the millennium into the present age, and all of the events recorded in Revelation are fitted into the facts of history like pieces are fitted into a crazy quilt. Frankly, I think the results are just about the same: you come up with a crazy quilt.

Premillennialism, on the contrary, takes Revelation 20 at face value, as it does all the book of Revelation, applying the literalist interpretation unless the context instructs otherwise. We had an example of that back in chapter 19, where it says that out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus when He comes goes a sharp two-edged sword. I've been asked, "You mean a literal sword goes out of His mouth?"

I think the Scripture makes it very clear that the Word of God is the sword. Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, Paul says. With that kind of instruction, I don't see how we could misunderstand what He's talking about. But you do have to have a scriptural reason for your interpretation. I don't think you can just spiritualize on any basis whatsoever, and of course, that is the present custom today, and it's the popular method.

Let us say, and I think it's obvious, that I am premillennial, and I'm also pre-tribulation as you can see. The reason is I think that's what John is teaching here. If you disagree with me, you and I can still be friends. If you want to be wrong, that's your business, not mine. So let's not get angry and heated and argue about this. Let's just each one of us state our position, and each one of us will think the other's wrong, of course.

Now, let me read something here that I have written that I feel is rather important. It says first of all, there can be no millennium until Satan is removed from the earthly scene. I think that's obvious. You couldn't have an ideal state down here as long as Satan is running loose. In the second place, the curse of sin must be removed from the physical earth before a millennium can be established. The desert's to blossom as the rose.

I live here in California, and if you live along the coast in California, the desert blossoms like the rose. But none of us talk about eastern California—that is, we don't like to talk about it—because it's a desert, and it's not blossoming as the rose, I can assure you. In the third place, the resurrection of the Old Testament saints must take place at the beginning of the thousand years.

Daniel, I think, made that very clear in the 12th chapter of the book of Daniel: that after the tribulation—you see, they're not raised before the great tribulation; they'd have to stand around and wait for the millennium. So there's no need for them to do that. So the Lord's not going to raise them until the tribulation is over. We're told that in Daniel 12:1: "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people." Now this is Israel we're talking about.

"And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." So that you have here the great tribulation period, then the resurrection of the Old Testament saints.

Also, we have the resurrection of the tribulation saints. They are to be raised; we'll see that as we go in here. Actually, only Christ can raise the dead, so He must come for that purpose. In the fourth place, the tribulation saints are included in the resurrection of the Old Testament saints. We'll get to that, and they reign with Christ during the millennium.

Finally, the millennium is the final testing of man under ideal conditions. This is the answer to those who say that there's nothing wrong in man which circumstances and conditions cannot change. Man is an incurable and incorrigible sinner. Even at the end of the millennium, he's still in rebellion against God. The rebellion in the human heart and the depraved nature of man is impossible for any man today to comprehend. You and I do not realize what terrible sinners we are.

You know, if you and I could see ourselves as God sees us, we couldn't stand ourselves. But we think we're pretty good, don't we? And that we're very nice people. I guess some of us are. Now, the millennium is the final testing of mankind before the beginning of the eternal state. The millennium is God's answer to the prayer, "Thy kingdom come." When you pray the so-called Lord's Prayer—of course, a prayer which He never prayed because it says "forgive us our trespasses," He never prayed that prayer, I can assure you—that prayer says "Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven." That's the kingdom that He's going to establish here on earth that's called the millennium. This is the kingdom that was promised to David. God took an oath relative to its establishment. This is the kingdom predicted in the Psalms and in the prophets. All of the prophets spoke of this kingdom; not a one of them missed it, the minor prophets as well as the major prophets. These are but a few of the manifold Scriptures that we could bring forth to give. Actually, the theocratic kingdom was the great theme of all of the prophets in the Old Testament. This is the kingdom, the theocratic kingdom, that's coming here upon this earth.

Now, let's come to the text. I'm reading in my translation: "And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and locked and sealed it over, that he should deceive the nations no longer until the thousand years should be finished: after that he must be loosed for a little time."

You'll notice that the thousand years is mentioned two times in verses one through three. Actually, it's mentioned six times in the 20th chapter. There are those that like to say, "Well, after all, the millennium is only mentioned in one chapter." Yes, but God mentioned it six times. How many times does He have to say a thing before it becomes true? He mentions it more than He mentions some other things that people emphasize today and think are important just because they occur once or twice in Scripture. Here six times the thousand years is mentioned, and always in relationship.

Here it's in relationship to the devil and Satan. We don't misunderstand who he is. He's put in the abyss, and I've dealt with that before. There are some expositors that separate this section from the millennium, that is classifying it as the closing scene of the Day of Wrath. This view takes the edge from the sharp distinction that there will be on earth at the removal of Satan. You see the difference it makes?

His incarceration and total absence from the earth changes conditions from darkness to light. He's the god of this age. He's the prince of the power of the air, and his power and influence in the world is enormous. It's beyond the computing of any IBM machine. His withdrawal makes way for the millennium, and with him loose, there could be no millennium. So you see, we see the millennium in relation to Satan: he has to be removed from the earth scene.

Men talk about bringing peace on this earth and about producing prosperity and all that sort of thing, and it'll finally be headed up in the Antichrist, and he'll not be able actually to accomplish that, although for a while it will look as if he's going to do it. But you see, long as Satan is abroad in this world, you can't have a utopia down here. You can't have an ideal situation with him loose. Satan's power is reduced here for an ordinary angel becomes his jailer and leads him away captive.

The abyss is a better description of the prison than is the bottomless pit. In either case, it's not the lake of fire. We're going to talk about that a little later. "After that he must be loosed for a little time." Now here's where I have a problem, and I mean a real problem. Why is he loosed after God got him in the abyss and chained?

I never shall forget the answer that the late Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer gave when he was asked why God loosed Satan after He once had him bound. His reply, I think, is significant. He says, "If you tell me why God let him loose in the first place, I'll tell you why God let him loose in the second place." That's the answer. Why did God let him loose? God's got a great purpose back of it, and it is that great problem of evil. Why has God permitted it? I believe that God is working out a tremendous program, and that's the mystery of God that is yet to be revealed to us.

It is going to be revealed someday, and all that He's asking me to do, and you for that matter, is to walk by faith. Will you trust God that He's doing all right? I remember my dad took me with him one time in a trip, and we were in a buggy. He had a buggy and a horse. A storm came up; it’s out in West Texas. I'm just a boy and I want to tell you I was frightened. The wind was blowing; it was a real storm, and we were getting wet. I never shall forget my dad put his arm around me and he said, "Son, you just trust me." And I did. I just snuggled right up to him and trusted him, and we got through the storm.

My earthly father, he's gone; died when I was 14. I haven't had an earthly father for a long time, but I've had a heavenly Father now for a great many years. Through the storms of life and all these problems that come up, I don't know why. I wish I had the answer to give you, but I don't. I read a book the other day, the title was interesting: *The Problem of Evil*. When I finished the book, we still had the problem of evil. It didn't solve it, I can assure you that. That fellow took him about 200 pages to say what I can say in just one sentence: I don't know the answer to the problem of evil. He didn't either.

I say to you we're going to get the answer someday, and we walk by faith. Now God has him incarcerated for a thousand years because you couldn't have a millennium without that. Now we have the saints of the great tribulation reign with Christ a thousand years. I'm going to read from my translation again: "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and whosoever worshiped not the wild beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead or upon their hand; and they lived again."

You see, they're raised from the dead. These are tribulation saints. Many are going to die for Christ in that period. "They lived again and reigned with Christ one thousand years." So the tribulation saints are going to trade in three and a half years for a thousand years, and I would say they're getting a pretty good deal if you ask me. But that three and a half years was rugged and terrible.

Now let me continue to read: "This is the first resurrection." In case you think that this is not the resurrection of the saved, He'd have you know that the first resurrection includes the church. Actually, I should go back and say Christ is the first fruits. Then the church is raised. Then the Old Testament saints, and then the tribulation saints. All of these constitute the first resurrection, and that's the resurrection of the saved.

The resurrection of the lost is a separate resurrection altogether, and we're going to see that when we get to it. Again, may I say that this is a rather naive notion that somehow or another the way the world's going to end, why, Jesus will come, and it's a simple thing, and the dead are raised, and He puts the good guys on one side, the bad guys on the other, and then they move into eternity, and that's it. My friend, God has a program, and He follows a very definite program. He always has in the past, and He moves intelligently. Now we're going to have to wait until next time to go into this that I've just read, but we will do that. We're in this very important section. Until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Schwetz: Don’t you love that reminder from Dr. McGee that God has always had an intelligent plan and that He will always follow it? In our next study, we're going to learn that even in the ideal circumstances of the millennium, mankind—this is hard to believe—mankind will still rebel against God. It’s crazy, isn't it?

If we can help you find a Bible study resource by Dr. McGee, please let us know. You can do it by calling 1-800-65-BIBLE or visiting ttb.org or dropping us a note through our app or by emailing us at biblebus@ttb.org. When you're in touch, would you tell us how you listen to *Thru the Bible*? Is it on our app or maybe your favorite radio station, YouTube, Alexa, whatever it is, we really do like that information because it helps us be good stewards of the money that you so faithfully give to us. So thanks in advance for your help. I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'll see you here on the Bible Bus next time.

Ride the Bible Bus for five years and you'll be amazed at what God teaches you from His Word about what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. It's a blessing that keeps on going. That's what we believe at *Thru the Bible*.