When the Thousand Years End: Satan’s Final Rebellion

But we are in Revelation chapter 20 tonight, as y'all probably already know,

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

and we're actually picking up tonight in verse 7 of chapter 20.

This is where we're starting our adventure already. We're diving deeper.

We're in verse 7, and we're actually talking tonight about the return of Satan

during the millennium, right?

So we already know from last week that at the beginning of the millennium, what happens to him?

He's bound, right? And to the abyss, right? He is like, you know,

a thousand years. And so here's where we pick up.

Here's the return of Satan. It says, when the thousand years are completed,

Satan will be released from his prison.

And remember, we've talked over the last few weeks that numbers throughout all

the book of Revelation are never symbolic. So this is talking about a literal

1,000-year reign of Christ during the millennial kingdom.

And so after that time was complete, Satan will be released from his prison.

And as we talked about before, Satan and his demon hordes will be imprisoned

in the abyss for the duration of the millennium, in which the Lord Jesus Christ

is going to rule with unopposed, get this,

unopposed sovereignty here on earth.

And they will not be able, they'll not be permitted to interfere in the affairs

of the kingdom in any way.

In other words, there'll be no supernatural enemies to Christ's kingdom in any way.

Satan's, you know, his binding will end though.

That's where we pick up tonight when the thousand years are completed and he's

released from his prison. And what is he going to do?

He's going to lead a final rebellion of sinners.

I think it's in order probably for me to review just a little bit tonight.

I think some people, if you've never really studied and read the Bible all the

way through and looked at all the different passages, even in the Old Testament

and the New, sometimes we miss part of this. So I'm going to kind of review this part.

Scripture teaches that no unsaved people will enter this millennial kingdom.

Now, let's step back just a minute. We have had the rapture of the church.

And at that point, when the church is raptured before the tribulation,

right, then the bodies of those who are dead in Christ from the church will

be raised and we will have our glorified bodies.

Also notice that during the tribulation, if you remember, there will be people

who get saved throughout all the tribulation.

In fact, there will be many martyrs for their faith And those that are martyred

for their faith during the tribulation will also be raised here to when Jesus

comes at his second coming to have their glorified bodies as well.

So you got the church with the glorified bodies living in the kingdom.

You have got the tribulation martyrs. And you've also got another group which

is risen here at the millennial.

You know who it is? The Old Testament saints.

They will also have their glorified bodies. But do you know who won't have their

glorified bodies in this millennial kingdom?

Those who make it through the tribulation alive that are saved. They're Christians.

They got saved in the tribulation. But at this point, if they made it through

alive, they will have just their earthly bodies.

They won't have their glorified bodies like we will.

And so with that thought in mind, I want you to know, I'll repeat this again,

according to scripture, no unsaved people will enter the kingdom.

In other words, everyone that goes into the millennial kingdom will be Christians.

But that one group that survives the tribulation, that comes to faith in Christ

during the tribulation, that never, you know, they don't die for their faith,

they just live through it,

they will enter that kingdom in their earthly mortal bodies. Okay?

I think that's important to note. But all will be saved because all the enemies

of Christ will be eradicated at Armageddon, right?

And only the redeemed from among the Jewish and the Gentile survivors of the

tribulation, that's those that came through it, that got saved,

that didn't die, will go into the kingdom in their normal physical bodies.

And we talked a bit about this last week, but the perfect environmental and

social conditions of the millennium.

Coupled with the length and lifespans we talked about last week,

that actually in Isaiah 65 20 talks about this of those that are physically

alive here now the church we're in our glorified bodies the old testament saints

in our glorified bodies the

tribulation martyrs in our glorified bodies so we're not

going to ever die right we're we in fact we don't

we're freed from sin and all of it but these who are

live through the tribulation they are still physically alive in

their mortal bodies and guess what throughout all

this millennium all this peaceful reign it's like

it's utopia if you could ever imagine it christ is reigning on earth all things

are done justly right all of that and people are going to live longer you look

back in isaiah there 65 it talks about it i mean easily 100 years lifespans

are going to increase through that time.

And people are going to do something across the thousand literal years.

They're going to have kids, right? They're going to have children.

In fact, a whole bunch of children to repopulate the earth because it's been

wiped out, except for the believers that were left here, right, who survive.

And so they will have children throughout this millennial kingdom.

And though the initial inhabitants, in other words, the parents of those kids

of the millennial kingdom that survived the tribulation will all be redeemed.

In other words, they're all saved.

They'll still possess a sinful human nature because that's like us today, right?

We're all saved, but we still possess a sinful human nature.

And so that's the difference here. That's why this can happen is because they

still possess that sinful nature, even though the parents are saved.

And as all parents have done since the fall, they are going to pass on that

sin nature to their offspring.

All those children that are born throughout the millennial kingdom,

which last how many years?

1,000 literal years. And each successive generation throughout the 1,000 years

will be made up of sinners in need of salvation.

Just like today, nobody's born. Just because your parents are Christians doesn't

mean your kids are, right? Everyone has to come to faith in Jesus Christ,

and they have to be drawn to the Lord.

And so everyone comes to faith in Christ on their own. They don't ride in on

their mom and dad's coattails.

And so many will come to saving faith, though, in the Lord Jesus Christ, obviously.

But amazingly, despite—I want

y'all to get this tonight—despite the personal rule of Christ on earth,

despite the most moral society

the world will ever know many others

will love their sin and reject him romans 8 7 talks about that even the utopian

conditions of the millennial kingdom will not change the sad reality of human

depravity and as they did during his incarnational presence on earth,

when Jesus came here to earth in flesh, right?

Sinners are going to refuse the grace and they're going to reject the lordship

of the king of all the earth.

Because then when all this happens, you realize the millennial kingdom,

there really will be a king reigning.

That's Jesus. He's the king of kings and Lord of lords. I better hope you're

not saying no kings then, because the king of kings will be reigning.

But yet there are some people that, you know, no, I can't have a king over me, right?

And so, but it's not surprising since even the perfect conditions,

think about it, to the Garden of Eden, it was perfect. was not sufficient to

keep sinless Adam and Eve.

In other words, they hadn't sinned. They were created perfect,

right? From rebelling against who? God.

And so just think about tonight. The issue regarding salvation is never lack of information.

Romans 1, 18 and 20 tells us that. We're without excuse, right?

You know what it is, the issue of regarding salvation?

It's love of sin. You know why we sin?

Because we love it. That's why we sin. And those who openly rebel, guess what?

Will face swift judgment. And that's according back in Revelation 2,

27 tells us that, Revelation 12, 5, Revelation 19, 15,

Psalm 2, 9 points to this as well, including the withholding of rain on their land.

Zechariah tells us about this in Zechariah 14.

In other words, but enough unrepentant sinners will be alive after that thousand

years have passed, literally a thousand years at the end of the millennium for

Satan to lead a worldwide rebellion.

And when Satan is loosed, which is where we pick up tonight,

he's going to provide the cohesive supernatural leadership, if you will,

needed to bring to surface all the latent sin and rebellion that's left in the universe.

And he'll pull together all the rebels, actually revealing the true character

and intent of those Christ-rejecting sinners and making it evident to all that

God's judgment of them is just.

Satan's desperate wickedness, y'all, and violent hatred of God.

You'd think after a thousand years, maybe he'd have thought about it a little

bit, but it's gotten even worse, right?

It's even deepened for him, and imprisonment hasn't done him any good.

When he's released, he will immediately set about.

Actually putting together his final act of rebellion. And that leads us to the

next portion tonight. That's the revolt of society.

That's here on earth living that utopian dream, y'all.

Because, I mean, after all, how could it get more perfect than Jesus Christ

being the king reigning here on earth?

Everything, like I said, it's just all the stuff's working like it should.

I mean, righteousness is being prevailed. It's being executed everywhere. But listen to this.

It says, Satan will come out to deceive the nations, which are in the four corners

of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war.

The number of them is like the sand of the seashore. In other words,

you can't count it. There's so many.

And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of

the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.

And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone,

where the beast and the false prophet are also, and they will be tormented how long?

Day and night, forever and ever. That's Revelation 28 through 10.

So at the end of this thousand-year imprisonment, Satan will come out to deceive

the nations. That's what we see.

And as we've already talked about, Satan's imprisonment cannot alter his God-hating nature.

In fact, he will hate Christ more than ever.

And we also talked about Satan will find fertile soil in which to sow his seeds

of rebellion right here on earth.

Many unsaved, not all, but many unsaved descendants of those who entered the

millennial kingdom in their physical bodies will love their sin and reject Christ.

They'll be as unmoved by the peace, the joy, and righteousness of the millennium

that's reigning as sinners were by the devastating judgments of the tribulation.

Do you remember how many times throughout the tribulation.

God has asked and has shown and even had angels preaching the gospel,

all this happening and people still wouldn't repent.

God gave them chance after chance to be saved throughout the book of the tribulation.

And so they still refuse.

And the actual strategy though, and the method of Satan's deception is not revealed

to us specifically here in the text, but we do know this, it will succeed in

duping or deceiving, if you will,

the unregenerate people of the world into revolting against the Lord Jesus Christ

and his rule and his reign.

In fact, his deception will fit, though.

I want y'all to get this. Don't ever lose sight of this. It will fit within

God's purpose, which, as we've talked about earlier, is to manifest his justice

when he destroys the rebels.

Satan's actions, I want y'all to know this tonight, are always under God's sovereign control.

And his gathering of these wicked rebels is going to be no exception to that.

Satan will collect the deceived nations from the four corners of the earth.

And that's just an expression.

You know, it's not talking about a flat earth, like say in four corners.

Some people try to use that verse. Oh, well, it's flat. No, it's just simply

an expression referring to those four main points on the compass, right?

North, south, east, west, all over the world. the rebels will come from all over the globe.

And after all, that thousand-year millennium, just think about it,

that's repopulating the earth, right?

And people are going to live all over the world again.

And John gives these enemies of the king of kings a symbolic title.

Do you remember what it is in this passage?

Gog and Magog, naming them after the invasion force that will assault Israel

during the tribulation. If you remember, it talks about it in Ezekiel 38 and 39.

And some believe that Ezekiel 38 and 39 actually described this battle at the end of the millennium.

But there are, I think, some significant differences if you look at those passages

there in Ezekiel that argue against equating those two events together.

Because Ezekiel 39, verse 4 and verse 17, actually, when you look at it,

Ezekiel 39:4

describe the invaders perishing on the mountains of Israel.

But according to Revelation 20, verse 9, the rebels at the end of the millennium

Revelation 20:9

will be destroyed on a broad plain. Remember reading that a while ago?

Also, the language of Ezekiel 39, it seems to be describing the same event that

was depicted in Revelation 19, just in the last chapter, verses 17 and 18.

But finally, the events of Ezekiel 38 and 39 actually fit chronologically.

You know, we're before the description of the millennial temple that's given

in chapters 40 and 48 of Ezekiel.

And I want to put that, just saying that, to put it in perspective a little

bit, But while the battle depicted here tonight in Revelation 20,

Revelation 20:7–10

verses 7 through 10, takes place when?

After the millennium.

And so that name Gog appears to be used in Scripture.

It's really like a general title for an enemy of God's people.

You remember, you probably heard this, the Septuagint. You know what that is? Yeah.

The Septuagint, it uses it to translate Agag in Numbers 24, verse 27,

and in Ezekiel 38 and 39, I was mentioning those passages earlier,

that the name Gog describes the final antichrist of the tribulation.

Most likely, then, Gog is used here in verse 8 to describe the human leader of Satan's forces.

Because you know he's always corrupting, he's always deceiving,

and he has some sort of human agent that he uses as well, right?

And so some believe that the people known as Magog may be the descendants of

Noah's grandson, of that same name, by the way, if you look back in Genesis chapter 10 in verse 2.

Genesis 10 · chapter mention

And then those descendants, though, of Noah's grandson later became known as

the Scythians, and they inhabited that region that was north of the Black and Caspian Seas.

And so others actually, if you look at different scholars and others,

identify them with the people who live further south in Asia Minor.

Whoever the historical people known as Magog may have been, this term here tonight

in this passage is used to describe the sinful rebels.

In other words, from all nations who will gather together for the final war in human history.

In other words, this is it. This is the final war, the final battle.

And amazingly, John saw, look back at the text, that the number of the rebels

will be how many? like the what?

Like the sand on the seashore. Again, that's a figure of speech used in scripture

just simply to describe a vast, uncountable multitude of people, right?

And the ideal conditions, don't lose this, the ideal conditions of health during

the millennial kingdom,

prosperity, people are going to be healthy, they're going to live longer,

they're going to have prosperity, they're going to have safety,

and they're going to have peace.

All of that will prevail during the millennium.

If you couple that with the long lifespans, like I mentioned several times,

of those inhabiting that kingdom, those who actually survived the tribulation

alive, they'll be in their physical mortal bodies, remember, those will.

They're going to enjoy a longer life.

And vast numbers of these people are going to join Satan in his final act of

rebellion against God Almighty.

But you know, you think about the tribulation for a second.

You think about all the judgment of God that has fallen on the earth,

all those things that happened, all the bowl judgments, all that.

You can imagine that the earth's topography will have drastically been reshaped

by those catastrophic events of the tribulation.

In fact, that's going to allow the rebel forces to actually come up on that

broad plain, as it says here, right in the text, of the earth and actually surround

the camp of the saints, it says, and the beloved city.

Perlimba, it's used six times, it means camp, six times in Acts to describe

a Roman military barracks, okay?

And the saints here will be encamped,

Perimbala, around the beloved city of Jerusalem, which, by the way,

is the place of Messiah's throne, and it's the center of the millennial world, right?

They're coming up against Jesus, and they'll be enjoying, all those there in

that kingdom will be enjoying the glorious presence of the Lord Jesus Christ when the attack comes.

But I noticed something similar to Armageddon. Does anybody see it?

Jesus Christ is in the dock.

Jesus ain't messing around, is he? I mean, like Armageddon, a thousand years earlier by this time,

the battle that happens here, the final battle of human history,

will in reality, Brother Ronnie, just be an execution. It won't be a battle.

As the rebel forces moved in for the attack, what does it say in this passage?

Fire came down from heaven and devoured them. I mean, wow, they will be swiftly,

instantly, and totally exterminated.

Wow. I mean, devour, devour.

Sending fire down from heaven is often the way that God judges sinners throughout Scripture, right?

Satan's forces here will be physically killed.

They'll be devoured. and their souls will go into the realm of punishment awaiting

their final sentencing y'all to eternal hell which will take place shortly by

the way in verses 11 through 15 of chapter 20,

but notice this their evil leader is he going to escape his fate nope look at

what it says there in the text the devil who deceived them was thrown where.

Lake of fire and brimstone, and there he's going to join who?

His cronies, the beast and the false prophet, who by that time,

I don't know if y'all noticed this, by that time, they will have been in that

place of torment for how long?

A thousand years. These were two men on earth who were agents of Satan.

They had been thrown into the lake of fire, and it tells us here they're still burning.

They're still suffering eternal torment, that those two humans are still there

after a thousand literal years, I mean, if nowhere else in the Bible,

which I think there are plenty of places in the Bible that refute the false

doctrine of annihilation.

Hell is a place of both mental and physical torment, and those sentenced to

that terrible place, according to Scripture, And as we see here,

even in Revelation, we'll be tormented day and night.

There'll not be a moment's relief for how long? Forever and ever.

Scripture explicitly teaches that hell, Eastwood, is eternal.

The same Greek phrase translated forever and ever is used all the way back in

Revelation 118 to speak of Christ's eternity.

The same Greek word.

In fact, of God's eternity even in chapters 4 and chapter 10 and 15 of Revelation

and in chapter 11 of the duration of Christ's reign forever and ever.

It's the same great word.

And unbelievers will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence,

it says in Scripture, of the holy angels and in the presence of who? The Lamb, it says.

And that's Jesus. and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever,

they have no rest day and night. That's Revelation 14, 10 and 11.

So Jesus actually taught that the punishment of the wicked is as eternal as

the eternal life of the righteous.

Now today, in fact, Matthew 25, 46, you can look there. Today,

some people may sit back and think, but yeah, shouldn't the punishment fit the crime?

And it's because we don't understand. Somebody who says that does not understand

how serious an offense it is to sin against the sovereign of the universe.

They don't understand what they've done. and

the reality is forever and ever

is the only fit punishment for rebellion

against the sovereign of the universe it's a crime that's never atoned for it's

oh ever ever for all eternity for all eternity and he also taught jesus i mean

also taught that hell is a place of unquenchable fire Remember in Mark 9, verse 43,

Mark 9:43

where he actually says in Mark 9, 48, where their worm does not die.

2 Thessalonians 1, 9 teaches that the destruction of the wicked in hell stretches

throughout all eternity.

And if you want to go deeper on that topic, there's a guy by the name of Richard L.

Mayhew, which I thought had an excellent article. It was called Hell,

Never, Forever, or Just for a While.

And it was from the Master's Seminary Journal, and I can get you the info if

you'd like it, but I believe that particular issue was published back around

maybe close to 2000, something like that, but just a great article.

But it's totally devoted to the topic of eternity, the eternality of hell.

Believers, though—,

are already citizens of God's kingdom, blessed to be in fellowship with the

king, but a glorious future inheritance awaits them.

Imperishable, it says in 1 Peter 1, 4, and undefiled, which will not fade away. Amen?

It'll not fade away. So I don't know, tonight I may have thrown some new information

your way. I don't know how many of you have actually studied,

you know, Revelation before or looked at all Bible prophecies and all that.

But I don't know, but you may have heard some new information or maybe just

something that popped out at you tonight.

But I thought that was just, to me, that's one area there when we learn after

that thousand years that the false prophet, the Antichrist, they are still burning

in hell forever and ever.

Also, the numerous times Jesus mentioned the eternality of hell forever and ever.