The Millennium

well welcome back to our study of the Apocalypse The Book of Revelation we are getting near the end but the Book of Revelation gets more exciting as you go so we have three sessions left and we are three chapters from the end but we're really finally getting to the exciting part of this book I shouldn't say finally it's all been exciting but this is more exciting okay let me say a prayer for us and we'll Dive Right In Lord thank you for bringing us together we're grateful that we have the ability to gather and we do pray for the leaders of our nation and the leaders of our world father we know that all of these events move to your will despite what it seems sometimes but I pray that you would turn the hearts of our leaders toward you that we might be a beacon of peace and Justice in the world I pray father that you would give us Faith to trust you in every circumstance I do lift up the cares of this group that anxieties grief healings Lord we lift up our our problems and our difficulties to you and I pray for your peace we also lift up our praise for the many many blessings you showered on us we love you and we thank you in Christ's name amen well here's our number for questions if you want to text us during class whether you're online or here and just text your questions in we'll answer as many as we can sometimes questions we want to go a lot deeper and build more context around them so every Friday at soespeak.com there's a podcast where we dive into some of these questions a little bit more deeply so let's recap Where We Are if you remember the basic structure of the Book of Revelation this is just a this hopefully helps frame it up for you chapters one through three were introduction to this Revelation from Jesus Christ to John who's on the island of Patmos he's imprisoned he's on a penal colony basically for preaching the gospel and so he gets this vision from an angel sent by Jesus to tell him the things that are going to happen so chapters one through three are letters dictated by Jesus there is you look at chapters one through three there's all these red letters I mean it's Jesus speaking to seven churches some people think it's seven literal churches probably true some think it's seven ages of the church throughout all of history maybe true some think that it's uh seven different kinds of churches that exist today and every time may very well be true and certainly though there are lessons to be learned for all Christians of all times from hearing what Jesus had to say so you get letters to the churches then chapters 4 through chapter 19 are what are known as the tribulation what is the Tribulation the tribute relation is basically a set of God judging evil in the world it's it's the time of God judging the gods of this world and the evil powers of this world from all time how do Christians understand the tribulation well the key question is when will those things happen well some Christians have thought that all those events the Seven Seals being opened the seven trumpets being blown the seven bowls being poured out in other words all these cataclysmic events happening that those were all talking about the destruction of Jerusalem back in 70 A.D by the way I'm painting with a broad brush the preterist view has many nuances and I'm not going into that I just want to give you the basic idea that those things happened in the past well but some Christians particularly those the reformers in say the 1500s John Wesley and Calvin and arminius and zingli and those you know the Protestant movement particularly in that area they said wait a minute I think all those cataclysms and all that tribulation is a whole map of the whole church age from the first appearance of Christ and the resurrection till the second coming still others said no they were futurists they said chapters 4 through 19 haven't happened yet they're going to happen in a seven year period in the future so they're called futurists and then finally there's a symbolic school of thought that says wait a minute maybe these because you know Seven Seals seven trumpets and seven bowls of Wrath and seven judgments three times over well that sure sounds very symbolic maybe it's telling you something that came true many times in history so that's the basically chapters 4 through 19 are the tribulation and the big division amongst Christians is well when did that happen or when will it happen we get to chapter 19 and you uh end up with the battle of Armageddon so the tribulation ends with the second coming of Jesus and destroys the armies of the earth that the Antichrist has set up and it says I saw the Antichrist this is the very end of chapter 19 and the kings of the Earth with all their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army and I didn't show you this part but Jesus is coming from heaven with the Heavenly Army and what happens is the Beast was captured the Antichrist and within the false prophet and these two were thrown into the Lake of Fire that burns with sulfur think hell and the rest were slain by the sword that came out of the mouth the word of God the truth of the Gospel who was sitting on the horse and so you see the end of the tribulation is the coming of Christ and the destruction of the enemies of Christ okay so then as chapter 20 opens up chapter 20 is in my view undoubtedly the most hotly debated chapter in the Bible uh maybe Genesis 1 but certainly in the New Testament Revelation chapter 20 has had more debates for 2 000 years and so my goal is to take the Millennium which we're just we're going to read the first 10 verses together then we're going to break it down and talk about what in the world is this talking about and how have Christians understood it so we're done with the tribulation okay and we're going to move into what happens after the tribulation so let's begin by reading chapter 20 verse 10 verses and see what happens next then chapter 20 opens then I saw this is another Vision that John is happening so the Book of Revelation is a series of Visions you'll see that phrase then I saw many times he said then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit that word bottomless pit is Abyss and so uh what is an abyss we use that word to talk about say you're standing on the edge of a volcano and you look down and you literally cannot see the bottom of it and so it's a pit that if you were in there you couldn't get out you couldn't climb out you don't even know how deep it is it's we would just call that an abyss a bottomless pit obviously it has a bottom but you know the idea of a bottomless pitch can't get out and so that's what an abyss is and so he sees this uh Angel and he has the key to the bottomless pit as though it were a prison as though it were a place you would put someone and they couldn't get out of the bottomless pit he sees the dragon who's the dragon that ancient serpent what is that referring to Garden of Eden who is the devil and Satan and he bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the abyss and sealed it so that Satan could not get out of the Abyss so Satan is imprisoned or bound at this point for one thousand years and the Latin word for a thousand years is Millennium and so you're gonna I'm gonna use the word thousand years in Millennium interchangeably but that the Latin word for a thousand years is Millennium he said so they bound him for a thousand years threw him into the pit shut it and sealed it over so he might not deceive the Nations any longer because what does Satan do Satan is the deceiver he's the accuser he's the liar so he couldn't deceive the Nations any longer until the thousand years were ended after that he must this is an interesting little word here why must he be released for a little while and so the idea is it's not a matter of he escapes from prison but there's something in the plan of God that he is going to be released at the end of the Thousand Years well let's go on then I saw Thrones so Satan's in the pit then I saw Thrones and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed I Saw The Souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God this would have meant a lot to first second century Christians because the primary method of killing Christians and was just cutting their heads off okay you're accused you aren't going to worship the gods you're a Christian Zoop off with your head and so those who had not worshiped the Beast or its image the Antichrist and had not received the mark of the beast on their hands or their forehead so what are we talking about here we're talking about people who were Christians Believers during the tribulation however long and whenever you think that happened right because we have four views of when when the tribulation happened but basically those who were Christians who were persecuted who were killed during the tribulation they come to life and reigned with Christ so you're talking about reigning with Christ for a thousand years the rest of the Dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended so this is called the Thousand-Year reign of Christ this is the first resurrection blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection meaning you've been faithful even to the point of death and Christ has raised you up to rule with him over such the second death has no power but they will be Priests of God in Christ and they will reign with him for a thousand years so you've got Satan being bound you've got Christ ruling for a thousand years with the Saints and when I say Saints I mean the holy ones I mean Christians with those who were faithful even to the point of death during the tribulation they come alive and they reign with him for a thousand years and when the thousand years are ended Satan will be released from his Prison from the abyss and he will come out to deceive the Nations that are at the Four Corners of the earth Gog and Magog to gather them for battle their number is like the sand of the sea so basically Satan comes out goes out into the world deceives the rulers says you guys need to come fight against God you need to serve me so he goes and deceives the rulers of the whole world that's the four corners of the earth Gog and Magog which is a reference to the Book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament and their numbers like the sand of the sea and they marched up over the broad plane of the earth and surrounded the camp of the Saints Believers in Christ and the Beloved City most would say Jerusalem but fire came down from heaven and consumed them and the devil Satan who had deceived them was thrown into the Lake of Fire and sulfur were the Antichrist and the false prophet were and they will be tormented day and night forever okay so that that 10 verses is the millennium that word Thousand-Year Reign Millennium occurs six times in the entire New Testament and they're all here so what that says is you don't have a lot of when it comes to interpreting what does it mean you don't have a lot of things to go grab and say well over here it says this and over there it says that because that idea only appears here in the New Testament but it's a big deal so how have Christians understood what is the Millennium and I know it's going to sound a little funny but the way Christians have divided over this is by answering a question remember the difference of opinion over the tribulation was when did it happen or when will it happen right this the big question is does Jesus come before or after the Thousand-Year reign that sounds odd doesn't it so but that's how this this thing divides up so let's talk about the millennial views what do I mean by that the millennial views are how have Christians how do you understand when and what is this Thousand-Year reign of Christ and does it happen before does Christ come back for this for a second coming before or after so first view is called pre-millennialism pre meaning before Christ will return before the Thousand-Year reign he will fight the battle of Armageddon he will reign on Earth for one thousand years he will defeat Satan's final Rebellion when he's LED out of jail and then final judgment happens which will be next lesson and then the creation of the new Heaven and the new Earth so pre-millennialists take the Book of Revelation in a chronologically linear way right tribulation happens chapters 4 through 19 Jesus comes back in chapter 19 we do the battle of Armageddon then we have the Thousand Years then Satan is let out and then you have judgment and then you have new Heaven and new earth so pre-millennialists say well if you just read this and these things happen in the order that they're written down you see what I'm saying what if chapter 19 happens before chapter 20 and that happens before chapter 21. if that's the case then this is the way it works Jesus comes back before the millennial ring now you're probably sitting there thinking duh that makes so much sense that's why most people in the west are pre-millennialists all right because you can look at the text and take it in a chronologically literal way millennialist post meaning Jesus Second Coming is after the Thousand Years reign it says we currently live in a time of the spread of the gospel and if we go do what Jesus told us to do remember Matthew 28 go into all the world and Make Disciples of all the nations teaching them to obey everything I told you and baptizing them in the name of the father Son and Holy Spirit if we go do that then what is happening is the gospel is spreading throughout the world and as people actually their lives change as they follow Christ this will lead to a period of peace on Earth the thousand years they look at the number a thousand and they say boy that is an awfully symbolic looking number because it's 10 to the third power oh my goodness that's just begs to be interpreted symbolically right and you remember the Psalms and the letter of Peter talk about with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day the idea of a thousand years is sort of like 40 days or 40 years or seven it's a number that's imbued with significance and typically symbolically a thousand is the exact amount of time that God has appointed to fulfill his Divine Purpose remember three is a Divine number so 10 times 10 times 10 is the number of creation physical beings this is the appointed time for God to accomplish his plan on the earth some would say well I think that's a literal thousand years and others would say I think it could be 2462 years in other words it's symbolic of God accomplishing his plan so post-millennialists say the gospel is bringing peace to the Earth and after the appropriate time of the kingdom of God spreading on the earth then Jesus comes back so you are in the Millennium now you are in the time period where Christ is beginning to rule on the earth what does it mean by rule the gospel is spreading and it's not the kingdom of Satan anymore the kingdom of God is spreading do you remember Jesus when he was here talked about the kingdom of God is here kingdom of God is among you the kingdom of God is like these are all coming from the gospels I want to connect this so it makes sense the kingdom of God is like a little leaven that you put into some yeast and next thing you know it's in all the yeast is this is the idea that post-millennialists will say well duh Jesus said the gospel is going to conquer the world if you will and so we're in the Millennium and when it's done Jesus will come back so that's what post-millennialism is Jesus comes back after the rule of Christ third view there are only three all millennialism all Millennial just means not a thousand years and it's more symbolic it says we currently live in a non-literal millennium encompassing the whole time between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ there's no literal reign so for example I guess I'll go ahead and tell you this now so if you're a millennialist what do you think about this whole idea of Satan was bound Christ rules for a thousand years and then Satan is released again all millennialists think Satan was bound at the cross in other words the resurrection of Christ Satan Was Defeated at that point and his power was circumscribed and so all the time the gospel is increasing Satan is effectively bound he's defeated and so when you get to the end think tribulation think battle of Armageddon that's God saying You must be released and now it's time for final judgment so all Millennials just says that reign of Christ is the reign of the Gospel from the first coming to the second coming okay if you have questions we can ask we're going to spend a couple of lessons talking about these Concepts but this is how these are the views basically that Christians have had for 2000 years about the Millennium and they divide based on the question when does Christ come back before after or wrong question right pre-millennial post-millennial or a millennial I don't even understand the question questions okay why would God release Satan after imprisoning him for a thousand years or more or less right great question okay so the fact I pointed out the idea that the text is very interesting the text says he must be released when it says must that means it's according to a plan well who's running this show ever since chapter one who's running the show even when the the Antichrist is out there persecuting Christians who's actually judging the world Christ God is running this show the whole point of Revelation is despite what you see in the kingdoms of the earth God is Sovereign over all of this so if he must be released that means that there's a part of God's plan that requires that for his plan to come to consummation there are a number of ideas why must he be but the key idea is God has said it to be so okay is the length of a thousand years in Revelation the same as a thousand years today yes okay so first of all that question is a thousand years then same as a thousand years today in terms of the word yes and I'm assuming the questioner is making the astute observation that back in Genesis chapter 1 as God creates the Earth in seven days and so you get this question of well wait a minute does the Hebrew word for day there actually mean 24 hours and people argue about that people don't argue about it here in other words yes a thousand years is a thousand years there's no argument about the terminology so if it's a literal thousand years it means a literal thousand of our years in this universe in this time frame if it's symbolic of God's appointed time then it could be any number of years but I assume that's what you're referring to and that's very good connection to make but no there's no there's nothing thought to be symbolic about the word year just about the number one thousand good question Okay so I've beheaded Martyrs coming back to life does that mean that there's no realization of death or Heaven and Hell until after the tribulation good question so this goes back to the age-old question of what happens after you die and the scriptures are not entirely clear on that not because the scriptures don't understand it not because God hasn't made up his mind it's just that it doesn't give us a definitive answer so one of two things happens by and large when you die if you're a good guy you go straight to heaven and the other view is when you die good guy bad guy good girl bad girl you go to sleep I mean that's just the the metaphor that's used in other words next thing you know you wake up in Judgment Day right but a lot of time has passed by it's as though you were asleep different parts of scripture will give you an indication of those two views and you could argue either one this passage would argue more for the you go to sleep after you die so that's probably the best way to answer that is that passage and this scenario would be an argument that you would make to see you go to sleep afterwards and you are raised when Christ said it's time to be raised good question okay so we got the three views but before we go and uh kind of explain those a little bit more and answer your questions I just want to tell you here's the history of these views throughout the life of the church broadly speaking so in the very earliest Church there are debated views but generally speaking a pre-millennial view um held sway in other words in the early church when they read the book of Revelation they read it as chronologically linear tribulation second coming of Christ thousand year reign Satan acts up gets thrown into the lake of fire then we have judgment in other words they read it in a pre-millennial way Satan Christ comes back before the Thousand-Year Reign but by about the fourth Century so this is in the first couple of centuries from about 480 to 1600 A.D for a long time because Augustine in his reading of this said no wait a minute I think that it makes more sense that thousand years is symbolic because every other number like that is symbolic in the Book of Revelation and so he read it in an all-millennial way meaning there's a real Millennium but we're in it and it spans all the way from the first coming of Christ to the second coming of Christ and the Millennium the reign of Christ on Earth well that's us preaching the gospel so that every people's hearts turn over from being reigned by ourself or being ruled by Satan now we owe our allegiance to Christ so Augustine very influential espoused the non-millennial approach and it by and large dominated the church for 1200 years in the 1700s there was a pietist movement what does pietist mean pietism basically is think of it as the way we use the word piety means that you actually in in a good way so think about the pietus movement being a Holiness movement meaning that your faith must Express itself in the way you act think Ephesians 4 1 live your lives in a manner worthy of your calling think that Jesus saved you to be holy and blameless before him so the paiatus movement with the Puritans really began to have an emphasis on hey your faith has to be more than just your faith and you go into the Anglican Church at that time right in England and you go through the rituals and you go out and it makes no difference in your life and so the paiatus movement was hey wait a minute if you have faith it's going to change the way you live well the Puritans ushered in a period of post-millennial thought and probably the most famous person who uh saw this was Jonathan Edwards great revivalist preacher in the 1700s and so what they believed was look if we will do what Jesus told us and preach the gospel people's hearts are going to be changed their lives are going to be changed and the culture and the world and governments are going to get better and so they thought the Millennium was indeed spreading the gospel of Christ and that Jesus would come when peace had reached the Earth and so this is an era of many revivals great reformations and great preachers and so you can see that they saw post-millennialism as a our job is to usher in the second coming of Christ in the 1800s you get what's called a dispensational movement this class is not about dispensationalism so I'm not going to do it very much Justice I'm going to just talk about dispensationalism in an eschatological way meaning just what it affect how it affects the end times but in the 1800s guy named uh John Nelson Darby uh in England came up with a way of interpreting the scriptures this is Christian so I'm not talking you know uh heretical ways of looking at the scripture or anything like that but he had a way of looking at the scriptures that had the idea was of there were seven dispensations in Biblical history hence it's called dispensationalism but it a couple of interesting little twists when you get to the end when you get to Revelation and so the movement began among the Plymouth Brethren which came to America in the 1800s later 1800s they brought a specific form of premillennialism known as dispensational premillennialism this is the Theology of the Left Behind series this is the dominant view that view didn't exist until the 1800s and I'm just I'm not saying that's a good thing or a bad thing I'm just wanting you to know that's not the premillennialism of the early church it's a little more recent understanding but it is the most popular way of looking at it okay so now let's go through some charts so I think this will help make the Millennium make more sense and make these views make a little bit more sense and then there are all kinds of details to fill in but I'll see what questions you have before I just start filling in the details so there are three views pre-millennialism Jesus comes back then there's a thousand year reign post-millennialism there's a thousand years of the Gospel sort of Conquering the Earth if you want to think about it that way and then Jesus comes back after and there's all millennialism which is like no no that the thousand years is totally symbolic and it's the whole age between the first and second coming of Christ flavors of premillennialism so there are three views but there's what's called historic premillennialism this is what the early early early church read and if you read the book of Revelation in a chronologically linear way this is what it looks like so you have the Cross of Christ you have the church age which we are in This Is Us we're smiling because the tribulation hasn't started yet and then you will have and by the way how do the four views of the dis of the tribulation fit with the millennial views they mix and match but futurists and pre-millennialists are like married I mean basically if you're a futurist you're probably a pre-millennialist if you're a pre-millennialist you're a futurist and so when you read it chronologically literally you've got the church age then you have seven years right of tribulation chapters 4 through 19. then you have chapter 19 second coming of Christ right then you have the Thousand Years of Christ reigning on Earth with the Christians that were killed in that Great Tribulation right and then you have Satan right gets uh loosed so Satan is loosed and Satan dies so he's gone and then you have judgment and you have eternity new Heaven and new earth so this is what's called historic premillennialism and so you have the resurrection of the Dead happens here only those who were in the tribulation happen in the Millennium that's just the way the text read it right it says those who had been beheaded or those who had been killed for the testimony during the tribulation came alive reigned with Christ for a thousand years and then next week you'll see the judgment and the debt are raised and all kinds of things happen that's historic premillennialism that is the way the early church thought and if you just read the book of Revelation and you say one chapter happens after the next chapter this is what you will come up with historic premillennialism but since the 1800s dispensationalists have a couple of interesting twists on this they are pre-millennialists so you we're going to add some stuff but you still have the cross of course this is a Christian view you still have the church age right and this is still us here we're still smiling because the tribulation hasn't happened dispensationalists are the ones that came up with a rapture of the church that the church leaves before the tribulation okay that's not something you'll find in the early church but the Rapture is unique to a dispensational understanding of this then you have the tribulation seven years then you have the second coming of Christ that's chapter 19 right Armageddon second coming of Christ then you have a literal thousand year reign you have uh the resurrection and final judgment and you go on into eternity so it's really like historic premillennialism it's just reading it in a chronologically linear way with a couple of exceptions one you've noticed is we've got the Rapture thrown in here that's a new modern feature but notice Israel is in this picture because historic premillennialism understood the scriptures as you have a covenant between God and the Jews Israel and Jesus fulfilled that Covenant and made a New Covenant whether you're Jew or Gentile or any whatever you are you can now be part of God's chosen people called the church called Christians or the Saints does that make sense that makes a lot of sense because that's pretty much what the scriptures say and it's called a replacement kind of theology in other words God finished the Covenant with Israel and started a new covenant Jesus said this is a new covenant in my blood and this is for everyone not just Jews anyone who places their trust in Christ can become a Christian right okay so that's historic premillennialism dispensationalists say not so fast because the Covenant with Israel hasn't been completely fulfilled in other words when you go back to Abraham it talks about the idea basically I'll short I'll just shorten this a little bit when you look at the Old Testament it says the Jews were promised a lot of things they were promised that the Messiah would come they would be a blessing to the whole world and that they would would be lifted up and brought back together and they would rule in other words they you know that's why they thought that the Messiah was going to throw off the Roman Legions and that they were going to have a kingdom again well they don't have a kingdom and they haven't had a kingdom Jesus fulfills it the early church said well he fulfilled that everything that you've been promised and the kingdom is if you will trust in the Messiah you now live eternally with him and this is the kingdom That Never Ends right but dispensationalists say no God's actually going to make that come true in a very literal way so here's a twist so if the church is gone who are the Christians in the tribulation church is gone now that's not historic but dispensationals say all the Christians are gone so who are these people that are getting raised up that got beheaded during the tribulation ah I'm glad you asked because you remember it talks about there are a hundred forty four thousands early in the book it says in the tribulation Jesus says but wait a minute hold everything stops and he says go mark my people and there were a hundred forty four thousand twelve thousand from each tribe oh that's just too good all right so most ways of looking at it is well that's as symbolic as you get right 12 000 12 tribes God's people those are the Christians but if you're dispensationally go they're gone the Christians all got raptured and the fact that they use the 12 tribes means that what God is going to do during this tribulation is the Jews that are alive are going to believe in Jesus and become Christians there's I don't want you to misunderstand dispensationalism they're not saying Jews are going to Heaven by being Jews they're saying that during the tribulation they're going to come to Jesus Christ they're going to accept Jesus as the Messiah so you got a bunch of Jews Israel who become Christians during the Great Tribulation and the Antichrist kills them and oppresses them and the church is you know off with Christ right as they've been raptured so who comes to life during the millennium Jews who have come to Christ now God finally fulfills the Covenant of Abraham and Israel in the form of Jewish people who have become believers they rule with Christ for a thousand years whereas everybody else waiting this is the Fulfillment of the promise to Abraham this is what the dispensational view and I'm not doing it tremendous justice but fundamentally they're saying that thousand year reign why do you even have a thousand year reign we got to go back and finish out what God promised to Abraham and now the Jews who became Christians in the tribulation just they will reign where are they going to Reign from Jerusalem we're going to have a new Temple yes we are and so in other words we're going to have a little Old Testament action going in the sense that we're going to finish out this promise to Abraham then Satan gets released and Jesus destroys him I mean just like the text says and then everybody gets raised for final judgment okay does that make sense it's still premillennialism it's still just reading things it just throws Israel into the mix and says God still has to finish up what he's doing two versions of dispensationalism there's classic dispensationalism there's Progressive dispensationalism and I don't want to get into that unless you have questions or maybe we'll do it on the podcast but bottom line dispensational premillennialism says Israel has a place a role and a place to play that explains something very interesting given that this is the most popular View historic premillennialists don't have any heartburn against Jewish people but they're like you need to become a Christian just like anybody else I mean none of us have any hope without being a Christian dispensational though says wait a minute the Jewish people are still special to God now they're not going to heaven without accepting Christ they don't believe that but they're saying well wait a minute the Jewish people are still special and have you noticed that that Christianity in the west which is largely dispensational has a great political fondness for Israel this is why I mean there may be other reasons but this is fundamentally why think about in uh we're still a little bit of History early 1900s Balfour foreign minister Arthur Balfour he's the foreign minister of England uh in World War one and that's when the Jews were saying we need a Homeland because you know they've been scattered they didn't have the land of Israel and Balfour said it's the policy of the British government that we need a Homeland for the Jews why in the world would he say something like that well nobody in the church before has ever said anything like that I mean it's like well we appreciate you guys and we'd love for you to have a home but that's not that big because by that time this was a dominant way of looking at the scriptures and so it's like wait a minute God's not done with the Jews they need to become Christians but they're still special to God and then you get World War II and then you get people going to Israel and even today Christian leaders who hold to a dispensational pre-millennial view still see Israel in a very favorable light because God's not finished with the Jews does that make sense that wasn't real clean but you get the general idea that's part of I think that's a large part of the reason why you see so much support in the West for Israel because there is this belief in this view that God's not through with Israel yet they still have a role to play question so what is the difference between the hundred and forty four thousand Jews who become Christians during the tribulation and current Messianic Jews good question here here's probably the best way I can think of to answer it the term Messianic Jew and Christian are the same thing and I know we use uh well Terry then why do we use two different words that's a very good question but fundamentally what a Messianic Jew is I was raised Jewish whether religiously or or culturally or whatever and I believe that Jesus is the Messiah the Son of the Living God and remember Messiah and Christ are the same word messiah's Hebrew Christ is Greek same word so they basically believe what do you believe Jesus is the Christ the son of the Living God so a Messianic Jew is a Christian but who had a Jewish background and so when you see Messianic Jewish congregations they're Christian congregations you would be welcome there it's we worship Jesus Christ as the son of the Living God died for and they believe what you believe but they still inculcate some of the Jewish cultural elements that they grew up with does that make sense they don't think they're saved by following the law of Moses they are Christians but we use that name in our culture to say well these people were culturally religiously or ethnically Jewish they are Jewish in some way and they have believed that Jesus is indeed the Messiah for you and me we're called Messianic gentiles right like we're not Jewish but we also believe Jesus is the Christ the son of the Living God so that's probably the easiest way to explain it they they are Christians good question so does the country of our cult Ure testify against the all Millennial View uh that's a good question the current trajectory of our culture very much testifies against the post-millennial view meaning things are going to get better better better there's going to be peace peace peace on Earth does the gospel goes and then Jesus is going to come back everybody looks around and goes hmm you know either we're not doing a good job probably the case are we doing what we're supposed to be doing or maybe post-millennialism isn't the right way to understand it very few post-millennialists around anymore remember when they came as in the 1700s with the revivals and think think John Wesley Reviving the Anglican Church think you know just think about Jonathan Edwards and the great revivals of Christianity just powerful preaching of the word and people becoming Christian and their lives changing then that's when the post-millennial view became the most uh prominent not very prominent anymore a millennial is actually gaining in prominence and the reason is because all Millennial doesn't require that the world is getting better it just says the Millennium is when the gospel the kingdom of God is in the world and that's now and so Satan is bound at the cross here we are for a quote symbolic thousand years it's been 2 000 so far who knows what it'll be whatever God's appointed time is and then Satan will be released and you call that the tribulation right and then he will be destroyed you call that Armageddon and then the end goes on so a millennialist is actually gaining because of the idea that maybe we should take this a little more symbolically so the two predominant views today are dispensational pre-millennialism because we do like the Rapture and amillennialism which says hey this whole thing seems a little more not untrue just true in a in a not so linear way but true true true true so that's a good question post-millennialism is definitely on the decline so is the rapture only in the dispensational pre-millennialist view that is correct historic when I say this what I mean is I probably shouldn't even use the word historic premillennialism anymore because anybody that's pre-millennial now thinks dispensationally about it I just wanted you to know that because you're going to hear it say that well premillennialism is how the early church understood it it's got to be the right way there's truth in that the earliest Church they argued about it it wasn't unanimous but largely they read it chronologically but they didn't have a Rapture and they didn't have the Jews reigning in the thousand years so that's that's historical premillennialism what you have now is with a few additions to it so yes today dispensational premillennialism is when you say premillennialism that's probably what you mean in America today so do the dead in Christ experience the millennial reign well okay so in this View no I mean it's just as cut and dried it's like the text says the people that were beheaded in the tribulation for their testimony came to life and Rule with Christ for a thousand years and then everybody's going to be raised later but you got a Rapture so your as Christians are already raised and in heaven but they're not ruling with Christ two different groups of people that the ruling in the thousand years are those Saints from the tribulation period and that's just following the text in a very literal way okay so post-millennialism won't spend much time I can tell you guys don't believe it um but it fundamentally post-millennial basically says that you've got the church age that's us but we're sad because and then you have the tribulation in the Millennium kind of all happening together in other words Satan is fighting but the gospel is fighting back and we're spreading the gospel and there's this big spiritual battle in the world and that's what we're doing right now and when the time is right Jesus comes back the second coming of Christ after this time period of the Gospel spreading it's just that simple does that make sense but for that to be true would mean that the gospel is winning in the world and admittedly it does not appear that way at least when you look at the news and so that's why people think well maybe this isn't the right way to think about it okay all millennialism all millennialism says it's sort of like making a smoothie you just throw everything in there and hit the button right all millennialism says everything's happening whenever you want it to be happening all right and I mean that literally in this sense is that all Millennium says it's all symbolic but it's teaching you a real truth and the truth is there's going to be a time of tribulation and that time of tribulation is going to be all the way from when Christ was raised until the second coming of Christ when he defeats it it's happening now it'll happen in the future it's happened in the past and if you look at it you go well yeah I mean you've had persecution of Christians today and in the past and probably in the future so tribulations going on from the whole time but the reign of Christ is also going on the whole time because you know what Satan got restrained he got bound at the cross I'll tell you why here's here's the determining uh evidence for this there's a lot of evidence but I'll give you the one that's most compelling in Matthew chapter 12. told he was healing people and he cast out a demon this is in Jesus ministry Matthew 12. he casts out a demon and so the Jewish leaders come and they said you know what we don't think you're from God we think you're casting out demons by Satan's power well that was rude and so what did Jesus say Jesus said that makes no sense at all guys think about it if you were going to cast out Satan's demons why in the world would Satan do that that doesn't make any sense at all but here's what you guys need to be thinking about suppose if I can cast out Satan's demons that must mean I have bound Satan I'm strong enough to tie him up and he tells this little Parable he says if someone wants to rob a strong man's house you can't just go in and Rob it you have to tie up the strong man first and then you rob his house what's Jesus saying I'm robbing Satan's house I'm kicking his demons out of people what does that tell you where do you think Satan is I'm more powerful and I have bound Satan Satan operates at Mike okay so what happens as Jesus is raised from the dead and Satan is defeated he's basically said you're bound now the gospel rules not you you can't hold on to these people they're mine all they have to do is trust in me you're saved by God's grace through faith and Satan says no they're doing bad things and Jesus says doesn't matter they're mine not yours you can't hold on to them anymore their record of sin is no longer held against them because I took it this making sense so you read that and you go sure looks to me like Satan was bound by Christ's Resurrection so we are in the Millennium meaning that this is the rule of Christ on Earth anyone can come to Christ and Satan cannot hold them back if you turn your heart to Jesus Christ and you say I surrender to you Jesus said I'll pay your mortgage on your soul I'll pay the debt that you owe I'll wash away all your sins Satan no longer has the power to hold you and so we are in the Millennium and then Christ will come at the second coming okay that's basically all millennialism it says it's all happening at the same time it's all happened many times there have been persecutions of Christians all through the time there's been the gospel saving people all through this time so does that make sense it doesn't read Revelation in a chronologically literal way reads it in a very symbolic way okay question oh lots of questions if if Satan is bound is he no longer a lion crouching at the door if Satan is bound should we still be praying for protection from the evil one if Satan is bound what's causing the tribulation great questions so that all hinges on the question what does it mean for Satan to be bound and so the scripture uses metaphors for this so Satan is Unbound here when you see the whole world turn against God and you see the great ending right maybe you can be a millennial and be a futurist and say I think this happens over and over but I also think there's going to be a seven year time and a real person who's going to be the Antichrist fine but the idea is that Satan what does it mean for Satan to be bound in this time period if you think of Satan to be bound as he can't do anything then you would say I don't know about that it does seem like there's evil in the world Paul said our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces in the Heavenly Realms think about Satan being bad well let me give you a great example so we have a my wife has a dog and our dog is Rowdy all right and so sometimes I have to take care of the dog uh when she's gone and the dog and I you know we have a relationship and so when I go out to work in the yard I can't take the dog with me because the dog will take off right it's not a well-trained dog and so this dog will take off so I have two choices I can put the dog in the crate and lock her up and then I go out and work in the yard for a few hours well that's not kind and so I want a better way to bind this dog so what do I do ah so I went down to PetSmart and they got this little screw that goes into the ground and you just attach a little leash to it and she is circumscribed and how far she can go haven't found anything to keep her from barking but at least I know she's not running away and so you could say Satan is bound in that he's put in prison and he can't act at all that doesn't seem to be the case but I want you to think about Satan being bound he's been put on a rope and he's only allowed to do what he's permitted to do does that make sense it's like my dog it's like you are free we're in a 20-foot radius yeah and that's pretty much what you got and so my dog is chained up is put on a leash if these are metaphors for it that's probably a little better way of thinking about Satan being bound Satan is not cannot do whatever Satan wants to do but Satan is active in this world and the demons are indeed active in this world and Satan is always trying to deceive the nation so really good question it kind of comes down to what do you mean by Satan being found now to be fair I'm going to go back to the dispensational view when is Satan bound here if you read it in a chronologically literal Satan is bound at the beginning of the Thousand Years where are we oh all the way back here we're not smiling anymore we're frowning because Satan is not bound so that is a fundamental disagreement as to when does Satan get bound if you think the Millennium starts in the future he's not bound at all right now he can do whatever he wants to and that's one of the reasons people do see that pre-millennialism makes sense to them if you're a millennial however you would say no he's bound here and actually things could be much worse if he weren't restrained and in fact in the future when he is released what happens the whole world follows him and we have a mega battle so there is a difference in opinion on those two views Around The Binding of Satan very good question it's just a disagreement I mean you have to take one or the other and it might sway you as to which view that you have question so are you calling the dog Satan I would never go that far Antichrist Maybe false prophet possibly but no no not Satan at all but that's a good way to think if you're an all millennialist that's how you think about Satan being bound if you say that isn't convincing to me Terry I'm going to say a dispensational pre-millennialist and I don't think he's bound at all yet fair enough there are different opinions based on how you're understanding this that makes sense I mean Christians don't always agree and these are both Christian points of view these are not heretical points of view okay seriously so did Satan have free reign before Christ in this View good question yes Satan would have had free ER Reign before the time of Christ but if you look at the Book of Job for example and then we're just getting clues here right but the clues you get from The Book of Job is Satan comes up said I've been going to and fro amongst the Earth and God says would you see job he's a faithful man and Satan says not really if you let me have him for a little bit he won't be what does that tell you Satan can't do anything he wants and and God said okay go ahead I think you're wrong and I'm going to show you and I'm going to show Christians for the next four thousand years and so God permits that to happen so there's a sense when you say Satan is Unbound Satan still isn't God Satan still is under God's sovereignty but yes this view would hold that people were more barbaric and the world think think Genesis 6 guys I mean you get an ugly little world right before the flood and Noah you just get every thought of humanity was evil all the time that's Genesis 6 and the world had become so evil it was abhorrent to God okay that's Satan doing his worst so that would be the view of this point of view very good question okay so we'll pick up some of these additional questions because next time I want to do a bit of a recap of this but I want to move on and say well then what's the Judgment all about who's getting judged and so next time we'll talk about what's called the last part of chapter 20 chapter 20 is not very big but you can argue a lot and so you got 10 verses about the Millennium and then you have a few more verses about what's called the Great White Throne judgment two big questions there who in the world is getting judged in this judgment and secondly why are people being judged by what they have done interesting questions but time doesn't permit us to answer tonight in the meantime come by my house dog will be bound up in the front yard

Channel: Crossings Community Church

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Id: HKs70GCVVqk

Length: 59min 54sec (3594 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 27 2023