The Devil Chained, The Saints Reign Revelation 20:1-10 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
In this chapter we find three main things, two of which we will study today. We find the chaining of the devil for a thousand years and we find the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ and his saints. In the next lesson we will study the white throne judgment.
Chaining the devil 1-3 – an angel comes from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit [which is in the center of the earth, that’s why it has no bottom] – it is a compartment that is locked – thus there are three locked compartments in the heart of the earth – Rev 1:18 hell and death [which used to be called Abraham’s bosom Lk16, as long as Abraham and the Old Testament saints were there] – these give up their dead at white throne Revelation 20:13 – and then there is the bottomless pit
The angel comes with a chain – this is going to be some kind of chain when you consider that chains and fetters couldn’t hold a man possessed with the devil Mark 5:3 – Jude 6 calls these chains “everlasting chains” and 2 Peter 2:4 calls them “chains of darkness” – and they are strong enough to hold him
He gets the devil v.2 [12:3] and binds him 1,000 years – so all these prayers about binding the devil are ineffectual – he’ll be bound here – the 1,000 years are what we call “the millennium”
He’s cast into bottomless pit
He’s shut up – incarcerated but also silenced
He’s sealed – the Lord sets a seal upon him – when the Lord seals something it will not be opened until he opens it Ephesians 1:13
He deceives the nations no more till the 1,000 years are up – this is very interesting because he cannot be responsible or blamed for man’s rebellion during the millennium [Isaiah 26:10, 65:20] – in other words, not to defend the devil, but he gets blamed for a lot more than he causes and his lack of influence during the millennial reign of Jesus will make this abundantly clear
Then he’s loosed for a little season – to lead the final rebellion against Jesus at the end of the millennium
Reign of the saints 4-6 – John sees thrones – they are the ones in Matthew 19:28, Revelation 2:26, Luke 19:17, 19 – notice that the church age saints sit with the Lord in judgment over the world 1 Corinthians 6:2
He also sees the resurrected tribulation martyrs – they were be beheaded [like John the Baptist] – they were martyred for their witness of two things despised by the world: Jesus and his word Revelation 6:9 AND they were killed for something they didn’t do [they did not worship the beast and his image and they did not take the mark] – these live AND reign with Jesus 1,000 years
Notice church age saints are among those who reign, 2 Timothy 2:12, Romans 8:17 conditioned on suffering with Jesus
The rest of dead live not till the 1,000 years are ended – so the first resurrection is up to the beginning of millennial reign of Jesus
Benefits of being raised in the first resurrection are these: 2nd death has no power over you AND you get to reign as kings and priests with the Lord in the earth for 1,000 years Rev 5:10 – 1 Pet 2:5, 9 we are a royal [kings] priesthood [priests]
Release of Satan 7-10 – Satan loosed out of his prison – and returns to deceive the nations [12:9] – he gathers them together in innumerable multitudes to battle the Lord and his saints – the reference to Gog and Magog takes you to Ezekiel 39-39 and these point to Russia
They gather against the camp of the saints and the beloved city [Jerusalem Psalms 132:13 Ezekiel 48:35] – when they are gathered, fire destroys them instantly [like Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10 and the captains of fifty in 2 Kings 1, and Sodom & Gomorrah in Genesis 19]
The Devil is cast into the lake of fire forever with the beast and false prophet