Welcome to a Revelation of Jesus. The topic of this video is the events revolving around the thousand years mentioned in Revelation 20. In the previous video, we looked at the final events that will occur before the Second Coming of Christ. In the midst of the Great Tribulation, Satan himself enters the fray, personally directing the final assault on the followers of Jesus by fully possessing a man who is identified in Revelation 17 as “the beast.” Along with a deceptive, miracle-working American political leader who is called the “false prophet,” they will gather “the kings of the earth and their armies” to carry out “the battle of that great day of God Almighty” (Revelation 16:14), seeking to “cause all who refuse to worship the image of the beast to be killed” (Revelation 13:15).
But Jesus will return to earth on a rescue mission to save His followers. “And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast, and… these two were cast alive into the lake of fire… And the rest were killed… and all the birds were filled with their flesh” (Revelation 19:19-21).
—
Although the beast is a manifestation of Satan, this is not his final end; as a spirit being, he can abandon the body of the beast, and he would still like to find other ways to continue his war against God and the followers of Jesus. But he will not be allowed to do this. “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, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while” (Revelation 20:1-3).
For a thousand years after the Second Coming of Christ, Satan, the originator and key instigator of sin, will be bound in the bottomless pit. In video 30, we saw that the bottomless pit, also translated “the abyss” in other versions, was first mentioned in Genesis 1, referring to the chaotic, formless condition of the earth before creation. It also refers to the place where demons can be confined when they are cast out of people.
—
For example, in Luke 8:31, a legion of demons who were inhabiting and tormenting a man from Gadarenes begged Jesus not to send them to the Abyss. In Mark’s version of the story, the demons begged Jesus not to send them “out of the country,” and Mathew wrote that they begged that they could go into a herd of pigs. Comparing these three accounts, it is evident that the abyss is a place of confinement where demons are not permitted to possess and torment anyone. Jesus described this condition when demons have been cast out of a person: “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none” (Matthew 12:43).
With these scriptures in mind, it is obvious that the abyss or bottomless pit where Satan and his demons will be chained is simply the earth in its chaotic condition following the catastrophic events associated with the Second Coming of Christ. Satan will be “chained” in the sense that he will not be permitted to leave the earth, and there will be no one there to tempt; the rebellious will be dead, and God’s followers will be in Heaven.
—
The chaotic earth is pictured in Jeremiah 4, where it is compared to the pre-creation condition of the earth, “without form and void” (Genesis 1:2) “I beheld the earth and indeed it was without form and void, and the heavens, they had no light. I beheld the mountains and indeed they trembled, and all the hills move back and forth.
I beheld, and indeed there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled, and the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the Lord, by His fierce anger” (Jeremiah 4:23-26).
Isaiah paints a similar picture: “Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste… The inhabitants of the earth are burned… The earth is violently broken, split open, and shaken exceedingly… In that day the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones…. They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit and will be shut up in prison; after many days they will be punished” (Isaiah 24:1,6,19,21,22). The “many days” refer to the thousand years that Satan is chained to a depopulated earth.
—
During that time, the redeemed will be with Jesus in heaven, where they will “reign with Him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6). “Then [John] saw thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge. [He] also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years… This is the first resurrection” (Revelation 20:4,5).
John saw the martyrs for Christ raised to life in “the first resurrection.” If this were the only Bible passage about the resurrection, we might be confused, because at first glance it may appear that only “those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus” are resurrected. But looking more carefully, we see that John first gives a general overview of all who will live during the Millennium—“I saw thrones and those seated on them were given authority to judge” (Revelation 20:4).
But then the vision focuses in on the martyrs—“I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus,” in other words, the martyrs throughout history. It then focuses even more on those who were killed during the Great Tribulation—“They [who] had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark.” This is reminiscent of the judgment portrayed in Revelation 6, in which the martyrs are given an “honorable mention” because of the special devotion that they have displayed.
—
We can fill in some of the details by letting the Apostle Paul clarify what happens at the Second Coming of Christ. “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). “In Christ all shall be made alive, but each one in his own order… those who are Christ’s at His coming… for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:22,23,52). The first resurrection of those who belong to Jesus is comprehensive; all of the dead in Christ from every era will rise together.
In Revelation 20, this is called “the first resurrection.” There is also a second resurrection, which takes place after the 1000 years. “The rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished” (Revelation 20:5). Jesus Himself mentioned these two resurrections. “The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live… 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” (John 5:25,28,29).
To summarize, those who rise from the grave in “the first resurrection” along with Christ’s followers who are alive at His coming, “who have not worshiped the beast,” will “live and reign with Christ a thousand years.” After the thousand years are over “the rest of the dead” will be resurrected.
—
What is the purpose of this special thousand-year reign? We might consider this to be an orientation to eternal life. God at the resurrection will “transform our lowly bodies that they may be conformed to His (that is, Jesus’) glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). But there is no indication that He is going to download new minds. Many of us will be woefully lacking in the basic concepts and principles of heaven. Considering how warped our minds have been by the life and environment of sin we have experienced, and how little we really know about loving the Lord with all our heart and our neighbors as ourselves, a thousand years is not really such a long time to learn all that we will need to know to carry out the “job description” that God has prepared for us. Fortunately, we will have a universe of angels as well as God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to teach us what it means to “reign with Christ”!
A major part of our preparation will be to thoroughly learn how disastrous sin has been and how important it will be to make sure it never raises its ugly head again. We will gain this understanding through the work that we will do during the thousand years. “Judgement was committed to them” (Revelation 20:4). Paul fills in the details. “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?… Do you not know that we shall judge angels?” (1 Corinthians 6:2,3). Apparently, “the saints,” that is, the resurrected believers, will be given the opportunity to examine what Daniel and Revelation call “the books.”
—
In the next video we will study the great white throne judgment, in which “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” (Revelation 20:12). The books contain the records of the lives of those who are not a part of the first resurrection.
This does not mean that we will get to decide who will have eternal life—that will already have been decided by God, which is why they will have had a part in the first resurrection. But those who are given eternal life will have the opportunity to be fully satisfied that God’s judgment has been just and righteous. This will be analogous to the judgment that the angels have been given, as outlined in the seven seals. Jesus was found “worthy to open the book [of life] and to loose its seven seals” (Revelation 5:5) so that the “many angels around the throne” could “come and see” what is written when the seals were broken and the book was opened.
In like manner, we will be able to see for ourselves not just the behavior, but also the history and circumstances that have shaped the lives of those who rejected God. We will see how sin has ruined lives and marred the image of God in humanity, and will understand why those who were not granted eternal life could never be happy in a holy universe. No doubt there will be some surprises and even grief concerning those who were not a part of the first resurrection. In this work of judgment, all questions will be settled, “and God will wipe away all tears from [our] eyes” (Revelation 21: 4).
—
While the saints are busy with their orientation program in heaven, Satan will have a thousand years to consider the results of his rebellion. But chapter 20 continues, showing us that he is incapable of learning his lesson.
“And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 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. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are” (Revelation 20:7-10).
—
For 1,000 years, Satan will look upon the wreckage he has brought about. But at the end of the thousand years, he will have a chance to prove that he is still the same old unrepentant devil. “And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog” (Revelation 20:7,8). The essence of his prison is that there is no one on earth to deceive, no opportunity to bring grief to God by harming His children. But to paraphrase verse 5, “the rest of the dead [will] live again [when] the thousand years [are] finished” (Revelation 20:5). Satan’s release will take place when the unrepentant are resurrected, and he again has someone, here referred to as “the nations,” to manipulate.
“The nations which are in the four corners of the earth” are called “Gog and Magog.” In the first video of the Revelation of Jesus series, we saw that links between Revelation and the Old Testament are a powerful tool that allows us to find more details in an Old Testament passage about a word or phrase found in Revelation. The mention of Gog and Magog in Revelation 20:8 is a link to Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, which speak of “Gog of the land of Magog” and their allies, the leaders of a massive attack against Israel.
Although many commentators have speculated about an attack on Israel by earthly powers either just before or during the great tribulation, Revelation 20 makes it clear that the Gog and Magog scenario does not take place “until the thousand years are finished.”
—
Gog and Magog is the most massive alliance of all time, bringing together rebellious unbelievers “from the four corners of the earth.” Since the attackers are those raised up in the second resurrection, there will be people from every epoch of history and from every part of the world, in other words, not just from the specific countries mentioned by Ezekiel. He identifies “Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya… Gomer and all its troops, the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you” (Ezekiel 38:2-6). Ezekiel was naming distant lands that he had heard about, but from our vantage point, we could find thousands of peoples, kingdoms, and nations in our history books, along with many more who are absent from the annals of history.
Ezekiel tells us that they gather to attack God’s chosen people. “In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations and now all of them dwell safely” (Ezekiel 38:8).
—
Let’s compare Ezekiel with the scenario we already looked at in Revelation 20 to see how this will play out at the end of the millennium. “Satan…shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle… and they surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city” (Revelation 20:7-10). First of all, we see that Satan is gathering people from “the four quarters of the earth.” Since “the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished,” this confirms that the second resurrection has now taken place.
Gog and Magog are simply two of the names mentioned in Ezekiel 38 and 39 that allow us to see that there is a worldwide coalition of Satan’s followers.
They surround “the camp of the saints and the beloved city” (Revelation 20:9). This verse shows us that by this time, “the beloved city,” that is, the New Jerusalem, has descended from heaven, and the saints have returned to earth with it. They have not remained behind the massive walls of the holy city, but are outside in some kind of “camp,” peaceful and content in the knowledge that their Savior Jesus has everything under control.
—
Satan, in his narcissistic arrogance, believes that he can somehow mobilize his vast army to overcome the followers of Jesus. Ezekiel reveals his unhinged plan to attack the apparently defenseless saints: “Thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan; you will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages, I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates… You will come up against My people like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes” (Ezekiel 38:10,11,16).
Here we see God’s purpose in allowing Satan’s hopeless drama to play out. The “nations” of those who have lived lives of rebellion against God will have a chance to see the insanity of the one they have been following. They have been sleeping in the grave since they died, and have no clue as to what has been happening through the ages, and Satan has had one last chance to dupe them. “The prince of the power of the air” has always remained invisible, manipulating individuals and nations to do his bidding, with them thinking that they were following their own initiatives.
—
Now as the rebellious of all ages “surround the camp of the saints and the holy city” he is out in the open, and all of the unrepentant multitudes from Cain, the first rebel, all the way down to those who lost their lives fighting in the Battle of Armageddon, will have a chance to witness the impotence of the leader they have been following, and to catch a glimpse of the love, grace, and joy that fills the kingdom they have rejected.
This will happen when God Himself appears on “a great white throne” in the last phase of the final judgment. In the next video, we will look at this final drama as God totally and permanently eradicates evil.
—
If you were blessed by this video, I would appreciate it if you would like it, share it with someone, and subscribe to my YouTube channel; that really encourages me to keep on making more videos.
Besides the video series, I have also written a book called “A Revelation of Jesus” which has additional details.
Order the book “A Revelation of Jesus”
A Revelation of Jesus by David Lackey is available from Barnes and Noble (free shipping), Amazon, and many other bookstores.
ISBN-13: 978-1479603923
