Rev 20:1-6 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. (2) And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, (3) 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. (4) And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (5) But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (6) Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Good morning! It’s a beautiful but hot day in Culpeper, Virginia! I love starting my day with the Lord and gleaning from His Word! There’s nothing like it! When do you do your Bible reading? Some like to end the day, some read segments throughout the day. I’d love for you to share what your schedule is for your devotional time.
Today we are going to cover the Millennium Reign of Jesus! How exciting is this topic!! Did you know that there are three common beliefs of His Millennial reign?
- Amillennial is the concept there won’t be a literal reign. The thousand years are symbolic and they believe Satan is currently bound. How can Satan be bound at this moment? Look at all the bizarre evil works occurring right now!??? Saint Augustine held to this view, and so does the Roman Catholic Church, and even some Baptists. We know that Satan is definitely not bound today because of: 1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: So exactly where does it say in Scripture that Satan is bound? We will see this at the beginning of the Millennium in Revelation 20:1-3!
- Postmillennial is the belief that Christ returns after the Millennium. There’s a problem with this belief, however: 1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; and Mat 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. The Bible teaches a great apostasy and falling away before His return, despite the fact that technology currently contributes to the spreading of the gospel! The Millennium is to be a thousand years of peace with Jesus ruling. How can He return afterwards if He is already on earth?
- Premillennial is the belief that Christ returns at the end of the Tribulation before the thousand year Millennial period. I believe this view is accurately depicted in the Bible.
In today’s Scriptures, John sees an angel come down from heaven to bind Satan for 1,000 years. Have you noticed that the word bottomless pit is used a total of eight times in the Bible? (Luke 8:31, and seven times in Revelation: Rev 9:1-2, Rev 9:11, Rev 11:7, Rev 17:8, Rev 20:1 and Rev 20:3.) Luke 8:31 calls it the deep and all the verses in Revelation call it bottomless pit; but the same Greek word is used, which is abussos, for all eight verses.) Jude 1:6 speaks of angels which rebelled with Lucifer against God (one third in Heaven). Not all angels are chained. It appears that only the worse of them are. Note that the demons in Luke 8:31 were afraid to go to the abyss.
We see in Revelation 20:2 that God wants us to know He is most certainly speaking about Satan here. He calls him “that old serpent” from Genesis 3. He will be bound and sealed in the bottomless pit for a thousand years and released for a little season. Why!!!??? We see in Revelation 20:7 that Satan will go out and deceive “the nations” from all four corners of the world! This will be Armageddon 2.0! Stay tuned for more of this on your next visit.
Jesus will rule from Jerusalem. The judgment of those surviving the Tribulation will take place; the saved will be placed on His right hand and the unsaved will be placed on his left hand. (Matthew 25:31-34). The saved will be welcomed into Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom. The unsaved, however, will be judged and sent to everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:41-46).
Revelation 20:4 reveals to us that John is seeing thrones and those who sit upon them giving judgment. The saints will be judging the world, according to 1Cor 6:2. We will be understudies, if you will, of King Jesus and He will be our example of how to rule and reign. The second group John sees are those who died during the Tribulation. If you recall, Revelation 15:2 describes this group as a sea of glass with fire, having harps of God; they are rejoicing around the throne of God! Revelation 20:5 states that the rest of the dead (the unsaved) lived not again until the thousand years were finished. John shows us that this is the first resurrection. Those who died in Christ (were born again) have the first resurrection and the second death has no power. Rev 1:5-6 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, (6) And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. and Rev 5:9-10 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; (10) And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. We shall reign on earth with Christ.
When we enter the Millennium, there will be survivors from the Tribulation. The only difference will be that there won’t be anymore political powers. We will have One Great Monarch, King Jesus! With Satan being bound, his sinful influence won’t be present. However, people will still have a sin nature, despite all the perfection they will be experiencing! The Bible teaches us in Hebrews 9:27 that men will receive judgment after they die. Can you believe that people will actually be choosing to sin despite living in a world of peace and harmony under the Lord’s reign?! We also read that during the Millennium, the animals will be tame, as seen in Isaiah 11:1-10. The Prince of Peace’s influence will be so penetrating that even the animals will be peaceful. I look forward to hugging a lion around the neck 🥰 It will also be a time of longevity according to Isaiah 65:19-25. As well, it will be a time of worship according to Zechariah 14:16-21. There is a return of the Feasts for Israel where they will be looking back to their Messiah and what He has done for them. This will be similar to what communion is to us: a time of remembrance and contemplation.
So, again, why release Satan at the end of the Millennium? Even though people will be living in a perfect world, they will have a sinful nature (Jer 17:9). They will still have a choice between right and wrong; whether to serve the Lord or Satan. You have to realize that with Satan out of the picture, mankind really has only one choice of whom they will serve during the Millennium. Although Satan’s massive evil influence is not present, the wicked heart is still within the unsaved who are born during this timeframe. King Jesus is right there amongst them but yet they will choose to sin. It always boils down to choice. This will result in nations which will be ready to turn against King Jesus and follow Satan when he is released. We will cover more of this in our next post.
Philippians 2:10 says that every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Friend, you either bend your knee now and go to Heaven or on that day of His Second Coming, which will take you to Hell. It’s up to you; it’s your choice! So with that in mind, I want to be sure that anyone who reads the posts on this blog can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are going to Heaven. Have you received Christ as your Saviour? If no, your sins are not covered by His sacrificial offering of Himself. You have not been redeemed by His blood. It is no coincidence that God has placed you here for such a time as this so that you may be saved if you are not already. Please click here and the link will open up in a separate tab to You Can Be Born Again and Know It!
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