Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Turning the World Right-Side Up Msg 915 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

Turning the World Right-Side Up Msg 915 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:01
Speaker 1: In your worship folder, you will find an outline for
0:04
Speaker 1: the morning Message, which we will turn to Revelation twenty
0:11
Speaker 1: to find the basis of that message. And as you
0:14
Speaker 1: do that, you might place the outline here in the
0:16
Speaker 1: crease of your Bible. As we complete our reading, Revelation
0:20
Speaker 1: twenty introduces to us the Coming Kingdom age. I'll be
0:27
Speaker 1: reading for you the first ten verses. Then I saw
0:31
Speaker 1: an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of
0:34
Speaker 1: the Abyss and a great chain in his hand. And
0:38
Speaker 1: he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of Old,
0:41
Speaker 1: who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for
0:45
Speaker 1: one thousand years. And he threw him into the Abyss
0:50
Speaker 1: and shut it and sealed it over him, so that
0:54
Speaker 1: he would not deceive the nations any longer until the
0:58
Speaker 1: thousand years were completed. After these things, he must be
1:02
Speaker 1: released for a short time. Then I saw thrones, and
1:08
Speaker 1: they sat on them, and judgment was given to them.
1:14
Speaker 1: And I saw the souls of those who had been
1:16
Speaker 1: beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of
1:19
Speaker 1: the word of God, and those who had not worshiped
1:23
Speaker 1: the Beast or his image, and had not received the
1:27
Speaker 1: mark on their foreheads and on their hand, and they
1:32
Speaker 1: came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
1:38
Speaker 1: The rest of the dead did not come to life
1:40
Speaker 1: until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.
1:47
Speaker 1: Blessed and Holy is the one who has a part
1:49
Speaker 1: in the first resurrection over these. The second death has
1:52
Speaker 1: no power. But they will be priests of God and
1:57
Speaker 1: of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
2:03
Speaker 1: When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released
2:06
Speaker 1: from his prison and will come out to deceive the
2:10
Speaker 1: nations which are in the four corners of the earth,
2:14
Speaker 1: Gog and Magog to gather them together for the war.
2:19
Speaker 1: The number of them is like the sand of the seashore.
2:23
Speaker 1: And they came up on the broad plain of the
2:25
Speaker 1: earth and surrounded the camp of the Saints and the
2:30
Speaker 1: beloved City. And fire came down from heaven and devoured them.
2:36
Speaker 1: And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the
2:41
Speaker 1: lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the
2:45
Speaker 1: false Prophet are also, And they will be tormented day
2:51
Speaker 1: and night forever and ever. I'd like us to join
3:06
Speaker 1: our hearts in prayer together. If you will bow for
3:09
Speaker 1: just a few moments. Please, this is your opportunity to
3:13
Speaker 1: bring before the Lord. Whatever it may be that weighs
3:18
Speaker 1: heavily upon you. Could interrupt your time of worship. It
3:24
Speaker 1: could be stealing from you the impact of the next
3:29
Speaker 1: few minutes we're going to be spending together. Psalmist Rights,
3:35
Speaker 1: cast youre a burden upon the Lord, and he will
3:38
Speaker 1: sustain you. He will never cause the righteous to be moved.
3:43
Speaker 1: So do that now, our Father. In a world that
3:54
Speaker 1: is not as it should be, or as we would
3:58
Speaker 1: long for it to be, we find ourselves embedded, entrenched.
4:08
Speaker 1: It's impossible to live a life and not live it
4:11
Speaker 1: on this planet in a culture that is moving in
4:15
Speaker 1: the opposite direction of your holiness and truth, in a
4:23
Speaker 1: world that is fraught with wars and the rumors of such,
4:29
Speaker 1: In a world where pain and heartache, affliction, grief and
4:35
Speaker 1: death plague us. We find ourselves today it seems as
4:45
Speaker 1: though there's always something to deal with, and we who
4:51
Speaker 1: gather are no exception. Some come in the backwash of
4:57
Speaker 1: a deep time of sorrow, perhaps even tragedy. Heartaches have
5:05
Speaker 1: a way of siphoning our concentration and interrupting our best thoughts.
5:14
Speaker 1: Help us, our Father, to draw upon you in the
5:16
Speaker 1: next few moments for relief, give us courage to face
5:22
Speaker 1: the weak that will unfold, bringing surprises, the unexpected events
5:28
Speaker 1: that are sure to impact us. We come as mere people,
5:36
Speaker 1: just human beings. Though we are in your family, many
5:42
Speaker 1: of us, we are nevertheless very human, subject to failure, disappointment,
5:52
Speaker 1: and as a result, our Father, we bring all that
5:55
Speaker 1: with us today. We pray that you would, therefore, minister
6:01
Speaker 1: greatly bring us fresh hope, especially those who have lost
6:07
Speaker 1: their hope. We thank you to day for one another.
6:11
Speaker 1: We set shoulder to shoulder in this place, one of
6:13
Speaker 1: the few places on earth where there is really no status,
6:18
Speaker 1: no rank, no place for sophistication or pride. All ground
6:25
Speaker 1: is level at the foot of the cross, and that's
6:30
Speaker 1: where we are to day, our Father, And as we
6:36
Speaker 1: will hear from our orchestra, we we know that we're
6:39
Speaker 1: all prone to wander and prone to leave the God
6:43
Speaker 1: we love, and so our Father, until your son returns
6:48
Speaker 1: as reigning king, hold us close, keep us strong, give
6:54
Speaker 1: us calm in the midst of the storm, and encouragement.
6:59
Speaker 1: Though many things are around us could steal that from us. Now, Lord,
7:05
Speaker 1: you've given us our work, our occupation, and from that
7:08
Speaker 1: we've earned a wage, and from that wage we now
7:12
Speaker 1: have the pleasure of giving to your work. We ask
7:16
Speaker 1: for you to be honored in our gifts and the
7:20
Speaker 1: reasons for it. As we express our worship in this
7:25
Speaker 1: tangible way today in the name of Jesus Christ, do
7:30
Speaker 1: we pray? Everyone said, what in the world is wrong?
7:41
Speaker 1: Why is it always something? How come things aren't like
7:48
Speaker 1: they ought to be? Remember when you were younger and
7:52
Speaker 1: you were thinking, when I get older, they'll be like
7:55
Speaker 1: I want them to be, rather than the way I
7:58
Speaker 1: have to accept them living in this home, and you
8:03
Speaker 1: only made it worse, or we all have. There's just
8:07
Speaker 1: something really wrong with the whole mess, and, at the
8:12
Speaker 1: risk of sounding pretty oversimplified, in my analysis, what's wrong
8:17
Speaker 1: is sin. Sin spoils everything, everything around us, everything inside us,
8:26
Speaker 1: everything about us. Sin spoils everything that's what's wrong. Sin
8:36
Speaker 1: pollutes our skies. Sin adulterates an otherwise great marriage. Sin
8:44
Speaker 1: makes us physically ill and emotionally weak. Sin causes sewage
8:52
Speaker 1: to be dumped into otherwise beautiful streams and rivers. Sin
8:59
Speaker 1: brings wars and rumors of wars. Sin creates and cultivates
9:06
Speaker 1: corporate greed. Sin uses an excellent mind to devise an
9:14
Speaker 1: ingenious tax fraud. Sin prompts darling little children to disobey.
9:24
Speaker 1: Sin corrupts the legal system, prompting courts to make wrong
9:31
Speaker 1: and sometimes outrageous decisions that when we sit at home
9:36
Speaker 1: and read about the decisions in our newspapers, we shake
9:40
Speaker 1: our heads and cluck our tongues. What's wrong? How comes
9:47
Speaker 1: stuff like that happens? Why is it so messy? Why
9:53
Speaker 1: is it always something? Well, if we just boil it
9:59
Speaker 1: down to simple answers set forth in the Bible, which
10:03
Speaker 1: I know, I know is not acknowledged and not recognized
10:07
Speaker 1: by this crazy world we live in. If you bought
10:10
Speaker 1: it all down, there are three answers. First, Satan is
10:16
Speaker 1: alive and well on the planet. We believe, according to
10:22
Speaker 1: the scriptures, that he is a real being. He's not
10:26
Speaker 1: a figment of imagination. He is a living being, supernatural
10:33
Speaker 1: created originally by God as the highest of God's creations. Lucifer,
10:39
Speaker 1: son of the Morning, who out of pride overthrew or
10:44
Speaker 1: attempted to overthrow the authority of God, that he was
10:48
Speaker 1: cast out of heaven before there ever was on earth,
10:51
Speaker 1: and with him came a third of the angelic beings,
10:55
Speaker 1: who then became his emissaries or demons. So we believe
10:59
Speaker 1: there is a and we believe he has his demons,
11:02
Speaker 1: and we believe that the whole world lies in the
11:06
Speaker 1: lap of the wicked one. One. John five nineteen calls
11:10
Speaker 1: it power. The whole world lies in the power of
11:15
Speaker 1: the evil One, lies in the grip of the evil one.
11:20
Speaker 1: Everything about us is painted by the touch of Satan.
11:25
Speaker 1: The culture, the direction, the system, the thinking, the actions,
11:31
Speaker 1: the motives. Satan touches these areas because he is alive
11:38
Speaker 1: and well on the planet. He may be invisible, but
11:41
Speaker 1: he is very influential. He is very persuasive, and he
11:47
Speaker 1: is very effective, winning more often than he loses for
11:52
Speaker 1: the time being. Second, things are like they are because
11:58
Speaker 1: Jesus is not authority on the earth. Remember that he
12:06
Speaker 1: may reign over all things, but he has relinquished. He
12:11
Speaker 1: has allowed Satan to have his way in many ways
12:18
Speaker 1: on this earth, so much so that Paul calls Satan
12:22
Speaker 1: the god of this age in Second Corinthians, chapter four.
12:28
Speaker 1: I think James Russell Lowell is correct when he said
12:31
Speaker 1: truth is forever on the scaffold. Wrong is forever on
12:34
Speaker 1: the throne. Because Jesus is not enthroned, mere human beings
12:41
Speaker 1: who don't know Jesus are, And when that happens, power corrupts.
12:48
Speaker 1: Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Jesus isn't in charge, and because
12:54
Speaker 1: he's not, the world is upside down. Third, because unrighteous
13:02
Speaker 1: people are in the majority, and usually in authority. Unrighteous
13:11
Speaker 1: men and women are in the majority and often in
13:17
Speaker 1: the authority. In authority, I did not say ignorant people.
13:22
Speaker 1: Many of them are very bright, very well educated, very
13:26
Speaker 1: competent as far as the system of the world is concerned.
13:30
Speaker 1: I did not say insincere people. Most of them are
13:35
Speaker 1: very sincere. I didn't say inexperienced people. Those in authority
13:41
Speaker 1: are often broadly experienced, widely traveled, and lettered women and men.
13:46
Speaker 1: I didn't say lazy people. They're often diligent, hardworking, determined, driven.
13:53
Speaker 1: Even I said unrighteous, their hearts have not been changed.
14:01
Speaker 1: Proverbs is an interesting book. When you look up the
14:03
Speaker 1: word righteous, you will find it mentioned dozens of times.
14:08
Speaker 1: Proverbs twelve five says the thoughts of the righteous are just,
14:13
Speaker 1: but the counsels of wicked, of the wicked are deceitful.
14:18
Speaker 1: Here's another one twenty nine to two. When the righteous increase,
14:22
Speaker 1: the people rejoice. But when a wicked man rules people
14:27
Speaker 1: grown example Iraq, classic example of an unregenerate man in
14:37
Speaker 1: charge of a country, and the people have been groaning
14:41
Speaker 1: for years under that regime. Before the world can be
14:47
Speaker 1: turned right side up, the righteous must somehow become the
14:54
Speaker 1: majority and be in authority. All of this to say,
15:02
Speaker 1: as you turn with me to Revelation chapter twenty, that
15:08
Speaker 1: is exactly what will occur in the future. Kingdom age
15:15
Speaker 1: commonly called by theologians. The millennium. Ile is the Latin
15:22
Speaker 1: word for a thousand. Annum is the word for a year.
15:27
Speaker 1: Put the words together, millennium, one thousand year. The reign
15:33
Speaker 1: of Christ, which will come immediately after He has returned
15:38
Speaker 1: to this earth, judged the wicked and introduced the Golden Age.
15:47
Speaker 1: The Golden Age, military forces will be disbanded, all armaments
15:54
Speaker 1: and the machinery of warfare will be melted down and
15:58
Speaker 1: turned into implements of peace. Poverty will end, Prosperity will
16:05
Speaker 1: be the watchword across every continent. There will be peace.
16:10
Speaker 1: Wrong will no longer rule the land. Justice will no
16:14
Speaker 1: longer be asleep or ignored. That's the Golden Age. It's
16:21
Speaker 1: the age that poets write about and prophets predict. It
16:27
Speaker 1: will not happen in our age, but it will happen
16:31
Speaker 1: after the Tribulation, the time of judgment on the earth.
16:35
Speaker 1: Let me clarify something. When you and I, as Christians,
16:39
Speaker 1: are taken off the earth at the Rapture, it leaves
16:42
Speaker 1: only unsaved on the earth. Makes sense, They're left behind,
16:49
Speaker 1: as you've read in the popular series of books, left behind,
16:54
Speaker 1: with believers gone to be with the Lord. Many of
16:57
Speaker 1: these unbelievers will come to no Christ, and they will
17:01
Speaker 1: begin to live their lives, and it will be dreadfully
17:04
Speaker 1: difficult for them to carry out their life of Christ
17:07
Speaker 1: under the regime of the one who will be in
17:10
Speaker 1: charge of the world called the Beast and the false Prophet. Now,
17:14
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the tribulation will be only unsaved,
17:19
Speaker 1: some of whom will come to Christ. When Christ returns
17:22
Speaker 1: to the earth, he will judge all of the unsaved
17:24
Speaker 1: and remove them, leaving only believers to start the millennium.
17:30
Speaker 1: Got it so, at the beginning of the tribulation, only
17:33
Speaker 1: the lost, some of whom come to Christ at the
17:37
Speaker 1: beginning of the Kingdom Age, only believers, many of whom
17:42
Speaker 1: later who will be born to those believers will turn
17:45
Speaker 1: against the Lord. But that's later on in my message.
17:49
Speaker 1: Let's not jump there before we develop the thought of
17:52
Speaker 1: the Golden Age. Now, what's needed for this to happen?
17:55
Speaker 1: What kind of world do? What kind of equation do
17:59
Speaker 1: we need to have a world at peace? First of all,
18:02
Speaker 1: we need Satan bound and removed. Second, we need Jesus
18:06
Speaker 1: reigning as the supreme monarch. Third, we need the righteous
18:12
Speaker 1: God's righteous people who are in a glorified state without
18:16
Speaker 1: a sin nature, ruling over the cities, the counties, the states,
18:23
Speaker 1: the countries, the continents of the world. And that's exactly
18:26
Speaker 1: what will happen in this Golden Age yet future. And
18:31
Speaker 1: we're going to read of all three right here and
18:34
Speaker 1: first in the focus of John's camera lens is Satan.
18:41
Speaker 1: John says I saw an angel chapter twenty verse one.
18:47
Speaker 1: The angel is not named, but he has the responsibility
18:50
Speaker 1: of carrying the key to the Abyss. The abyss is
18:56
Speaker 1: a temporary place of incarceration the demons in the Abyss,
19:03
Speaker 1: which we visited earlier in our study of Revelation, we
19:06
Speaker 1: saw demons coming out here. This angel comes with the key,
19:11
Speaker 1: so apparently there is a ceiling of it opened only
19:16
Speaker 1: by the use of this key, if you will. And
19:20
Speaker 1: he has the key in his hand, and he has
19:22
Speaker 1: a great chain in his hand. Now the chain obviously
19:25
Speaker 1: is symbolic, because you don't chain a spirit being. But
19:30
Speaker 1: it's the picture of being bound. Verse two, he the
19:34
Speaker 1: angel laid hold of the dragon, the serpent, the devil,
19:39
Speaker 1: even Satan. Now the binding is real. Satan will be bound.
19:47
Speaker 1: He will no longer have influence over the earth as
19:50
Speaker 1: he has had throughout our lifetime and the lifetimes of
19:53
Speaker 1: our parents and ever since Adam and Eve fell in
19:57
Speaker 1: the garden. Now the angel has said to lay hold
20:01
Speaker 1: of the dragon. This is one who has a beastlike nature,
20:07
Speaker 1: pictured in Revelation twelve times as a dragon. And in
20:11
Speaker 1: case you don't know who that is, he then says,
20:13
Speaker 1: he's the serpent that would take you to Genesis three,
20:16
Speaker 1: the garden of Eden, where Satan first appeared to Eve
20:20
Speaker 1: and Adam. Remember, and he didn't first appear as a
20:23
Speaker 1: snake on his belly. The crawling on the belly was
20:28
Speaker 1: the result of the curse. There was something attractive, dazzling
20:33
Speaker 1: and beautiful, as Lucifer made himself into a very attractive
20:38
Speaker 1: being that would cause Eve to be curious and to
20:42
Speaker 1: listen to his appealing words as he encouraged her to
20:46
Speaker 1: eat of the forbidden fruit. The word serpent takes us
20:49
Speaker 1: all the way back to Genesis three, deceitful, tempting. The
20:54
Speaker 1: third word, which is his title, is the devil. The
20:58
Speaker 1: word means slanderer, our accuser. He's been doing that as
21:03
Speaker 1: long as there have been believers on the earth. So
21:06
Speaker 1: this angel lays hold of the slanderer, even Satan fifty
21:11
Speaker 1: three times in the scriptures, this evil one is called Satan.
21:16
Speaker 1: It means adversary, one who opposes and please observe. The Angel,
21:24
Speaker 1: without a fight, without any wrestling, without any struggle, simply
21:29
Speaker 1: seizes him and binds him for a thousand years. Notice
21:35
Speaker 1: what he does with h verse three. The Angel threw
21:38
Speaker 1: him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it
21:44
Speaker 1: over him, why so that he would not deceive the
21:49
Speaker 1: nations any longer until the thousand years were completed. And
21:57
Speaker 1: John adds and will develop it at verse seven through nine.
22:01
Speaker 1: After these things, he must be released for a short time.
22:04
Speaker 1: But let's not go there yet. Not Unlike Sodom Hussein,
22:10
Speaker 1: who after reigning as the dictator over the country of Iraq,
22:17
Speaker 1: was found later in a spider hole and finally was
22:22
Speaker 1: incarcerated and placed in a cell, Satan will be removed
22:28
Speaker 1: from his role of authority and will be reduced to
22:34
Speaker 1: a prisoner in the Abyss for this period of time.
22:40
Speaker 1: There will be as a result, the reigning of Christ
22:45
Speaker 1: on the earth. Notice the end of verse four, they
22:48
Speaker 1: came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
22:52
Speaker 1: Into verse six, they will be priests of God and
22:58
Speaker 1: of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
23:02
Speaker 1: Now I come to those reigning third, but let me
23:04
Speaker 1: just deal with Jesus reign second. Here first and foremost
23:10
Speaker 1: that is in chapter order is the binding of set
23:13
Speaker 1: So he's removed to turn the world right side up.
23:17
Speaker 1: You got to have his influence off the earth. Second,
23:20
Speaker 1: you got to have Jesus reigning, and he will literally
23:24
Speaker 1: reign in bodily form and his throne, his place of
23:29
Speaker 1: authority will be the city of Jerusalem. The focus of
23:34
Speaker 1: the world will again return to the Holy Land. Jesus
23:39
Speaker 1: will reign as king of kings and Lord of lords
23:46
Speaker 1: will not take the time to turn now. But the
23:48
Speaker 1: profits of the Old Testament are full of comments regarding
23:52
Speaker 1: this age that is yet to come. There will be
23:55
Speaker 1: international peace, There will be a productive earth agriculturally. There
24:01
Speaker 1: will be health, There will be relief, there will be prosperity.
24:05
Speaker 1: There will be a longer span of life as people
24:09
Speaker 1: exist in this quote perfect environment. John Phillips, in his
24:16
Speaker 1: book Exploring Revelation, writes this every man will have all
24:23
Speaker 1: that his heart can desire. There will be no prisons,
24:26
Speaker 1: no hospitals, no mental institutions, no barracks, no saloons, no
24:31
Speaker 1: houses of ill repute, no gambling dens, no homes for
24:35
Speaker 1: the aged and infirm. Such things belong to a past
24:39
Speaker 1: and lesser age. The bloom of youth is on everyone's cheek,
24:44
Speaker 1: for one will be a stripling at the age of
24:46
Speaker 1: one hundred years. Cemeteries will crumble as relics of the past,
24:53
Speaker 1: and tears will be few. The wolf and the lamb,
24:57
Speaker 1: the calf and the lion, the cow and the bear,
25:00
Speaker 1: the child and the scorpion are all at peace. Jesus
25:07
Speaker 1: has come, and the millennium is here. The Golden Age
25:11
Speaker 1: so frequently heralded by prophets of Israel's past has dawned
25:17
Speaker 1: at last, and the earth is filled with the knowledge
25:21
Speaker 1: of God. Jesus is Lord, and he rules the nations
25:26
Speaker 1: with a rod of iron. His reign is righteous, and
25:31
Speaker 1: the nations obey. Phillips has a little fun as he concludes,
25:37
Speaker 1: one can picture a schoolboy reading an ancient book sometime
25:41
Speaker 1: during the second half of the millennium. Say Dad, he asks,
25:48
Speaker 1: what is an intercontinental ballistic missile? To which Dad replies,
25:54
Speaker 1: go ask your mother. Some things never changed, do they?
25:59
Speaker 1: The mother being questioned will answer, I don't know. Some
26:03
Speaker 1: kind of cabbage. Maybe, go and ask your dad. What
26:07
Speaker 1: a day that will be to us? It seems fantasy land,
26:15
Speaker 1: almost to the edge of foolishness. Our life is shaped
26:21
Speaker 1: by war, fighting, infighting, struggles, grudges, revenge, road rage, flying
26:31
Speaker 1: off at the handle, turning against the things that are right,
26:35
Speaker 1: frivolous lawsuits, and on and on. It's gotten to the
26:38
Speaker 1: place where we're hardly surprised. In that day, there'll be
26:45
Speaker 1: none of that. Legal corruption will be unheard of. It
26:51
Speaker 1: will be swift and fair, as Jesus rules with a
26:55
Speaker 1: rod of iron. Sexual perversion will be a thing of
26:59
Speaker 1: the past. Physical afflictions no longer a plague, national and
27:04
Speaker 1: civil rebellion, even personal prejudice and emotional conflicts will be
27:11
Speaker 1: faded memories. But keep in mind I remind you of this.
27:16
Speaker 1: You'll need to remember it later. The heart of those
27:21
Speaker 1: children born to the believers will not be redeemed, and
27:29
Speaker 1: there will apparently be large families and the pleasantries of
27:35
Speaker 1: home life as families grow and learn together. Remember, Satan
27:42
Speaker 1: may be gone, Jesus may be reigning, but the heart
27:46
Speaker 1: of humanity is not changed, even in a perfect environment.
27:52
Speaker 1: We'll see that in spades in a moment. Let me
27:55
Speaker 1: give you the third factor for this Golden Age to
27:58
Speaker 1: be complete. Satan is bound, Jesus reigns, and now the
28:03
Speaker 1: righteous rule under Jesus authority. John now sees a panorama
28:11
Speaker 1: of God's resurrected saints from this era. Yet future, you
28:17
Speaker 1: and I will be reigning with Christ. We are the
28:21
Speaker 1: armies who return with him. Chapter nineteen, verse fourteen, and
28:26
Speaker 1: that seems to be the antecedent to chapter twenty verse four.
28:31
Speaker 1: They will reign. Notice verse four. I saw thrones and
28:36
Speaker 1: they set on them. Best to connect that back to
28:40
Speaker 1: the believers who returned with Christ at his second coming.
28:45
Speaker 1: We will be glorified. We will have new natures. We
28:49
Speaker 1: will be without an old sin nature. We will have
28:52
Speaker 1: access to heaven and earth, just as Jesus in his
28:55
Speaker 1: post resurrection body. We will be able to see as
29:00
Speaker 1: he sees, judge as he would judge. We will be
29:05
Speaker 1: obedient to the nth degree. There will not even be
29:08
Speaker 1: in us, who have been glorified by then the possibility
29:13
Speaker 1: of disobedience. So our reign with him and our rulership
29:17
Speaker 1: will be fair and just just as his is. You see,
29:22
Speaker 1: the important thing to remember is that the curse over
29:24
Speaker 1: the earth is now removed. As the earth will blossom
29:30
Speaker 1: like a rose. Even the desert will be green again.
29:34
Speaker 1: The nation Israel will be fully restored to her land,
29:38
Speaker 1: and gentile nations will again worship the King of kings,
29:42
Speaker 1: and physical emotional well being will lead to a happier
29:46
Speaker 1: existence and longer life. First Corinthians six 's two says
29:50
Speaker 1: we in fact will rule yet future. So we're the
29:54
Speaker 1: ones pictured in verse four, along with the tribulation saints
29:59
Speaker 1: who have been read erected. Follow it along. I saw
30:02
Speaker 1: the souls who have been beheaded verse four. Because of
30:05
Speaker 1: the testimony of Jesus and the word of God. Those
30:08
Speaker 1: who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and
30:10
Speaker 1: had not received the mark on their forehead and on
30:13
Speaker 1: their hand, they came to life and reign with Christ
30:17
Speaker 1: for a thousand years. So it'll be us where that
30:20
Speaker 1: they in verse four, and it'll be the tribulation saints.
30:24
Speaker 1: By the way, the end of verse five tells us
30:26
Speaker 1: that this is the first resurrection, the coming back to
30:31
Speaker 1: life of those who have been killed during the time
30:36
Speaker 1: of the Tribulation. There's even a blessing offered verse six.
30:40
Speaker 1: Blessed and holy is the one who has part in
30:43
Speaker 1: the first resurrection over these. The second death has no power.
30:47
Speaker 1: You see, when you're in a glorified state, there's no
30:50
Speaker 1: more death, no such thing as death in heaven. But
30:54
Speaker 1: they will be priests of God and of Christ, and
30:56
Speaker 1: they will reign with Him for a thousand years. Now,
31:00
Speaker 1: you've listened very faithfully, and you look interested. So I'm
31:05
Speaker 1: going to continue for just a little a little while longer. Here. Well,
31:09
Speaker 1: this lasts forever. This Golden Age sounds like the kind
31:12
Speaker 1: of thing we would want to go on forever and ever,
31:15
Speaker 1: obviously know the reason is that six times in seven
31:20
Speaker 1: verses the words the thousand years appear. Look closely into
31:26
Speaker 1: verse two, a thousand years, same at the end of
31:29
Speaker 1: verse three, until the thousand years were completed into verse four.
31:35
Speaker 1: Reigned with Christ one thousand years middle of verse five,
31:40
Speaker 1: one thousand years into verse six, beginning of verse seven.
31:46
Speaker 1: But would you believe that many I'm going to dare
31:48
Speaker 1: say most reject the thought of a literal thousand year
31:53
Speaker 1: reign of Christ. I happen to believe it means thousand years.
32:01
Speaker 1: But as I say among ministers today, I'm in the minority,
32:06
Speaker 1: believe it or not. I was so intrigued by that
32:10
Speaker 1: I decided to write down some answers that came from
32:14
Speaker 1: very fine authors who otherwise have pretty good insight. But
32:18
Speaker 1: when you get to this, it's like, there's no way
32:21
Speaker 1: that could mean a thousand years. So here are the
32:24
Speaker 1: creative answers they offer. This really is the period of
32:30
Speaker 1: time between Jesus' first and second advent Bethlehem and the
32:36
Speaker 1: second Advent. Well, they may be fair theologians, but they're
32:39
Speaker 1: bad mathematicians because as I add that up, that's over
32:44
Speaker 1: two thousand years and some change. Another one. The entire
32:49
Speaker 1: Book of Revelation is filled with symbolism. Therefore, any doctrine
32:54
Speaker 1: based on insisting upon a literal thousand year period is
32:58
Speaker 1: building on a weak foundation. Okay, here's the third. In Revelation,
33:05
Speaker 1: the idea thousand is never taken literally. Really, so I checked,
33:14
Speaker 1: and this is the only place thousand of peers in
33:17
Speaker 1: the Book of Revelation. It's never used alone anywhere else
33:21
Speaker 1: in the book. Here's another. These thousand years extend from
33:27
Speaker 1: the incarnation to Satan's final plunge into Hell. Again, the
33:32
Speaker 1: math is bad. Another most amazing of all I found
33:35
Speaker 1: the thousand years express no period of time. Oh okay,
33:46
Speaker 1: so we can't count on numbers because they're all symbolic.
33:51
Speaker 1: Will you allow me to flesh that out? What about
33:53
Speaker 1: the one hundred and forty four thousand in Revelation seventy four?
33:58
Speaker 1: What about the twelve thousand Revelation seven to five? What
34:02
Speaker 1: about the five months mentioned in Revelation nine five, or
34:07
Speaker 1: the forty two months mentioned in Revelation eleven and verse two,
34:12
Speaker 1: or the twelve hundred and sixty days mentioned in number
34:15
Speaker 1: in Revelation eleven, verse three. What about the number of
34:21
Speaker 1: elders twenty four. Maybe there were thirty, or maybe there
34:26
Speaker 1: were nine. Since it's all symbolically, maybe there weren't seven
34:31
Speaker 1: churches in Revelation two and three. Maybe there were seventy
34:35
Speaker 1: or three. I find it absurd when you get to
34:47
Speaker 1: a passage that mentions the number six times in seven verses,
34:53
Speaker 1: first of all to deny it, or to explain it away,
34:56
Speaker 1: or to spiritualize it. In fact, I have a fine
35:01
Speaker 1: set of commentaries that are excellent, from Genesis to Jude,
35:06
Speaker 1: but there is no commentary on Revelation offered by this
35:13
Speaker 1: particular brilliant scholar, and I mean brilliant. Because you get
35:19
Speaker 1: to Revelation, you're forced to deal with this kind of information,
35:24
Speaker 1: and I suggest it's best taken as it appears, rather
35:30
Speaker 1: than to try to turn it into some kind of symbol. So, no,
35:35
Speaker 1: this Golden Age will not last forever. In fact, we're
35:39
Speaker 1: told what will happen at the end of it. Verse
35:42
Speaker 1: three concludes after these things, Satan is released for a
35:47
Speaker 1: short time, and in verse seven, less you missed it.
35:51
Speaker 1: In verse three, the writer says, when the thousand years
35:55
Speaker 1: are completed, Satan will be released from his prison. And
36:00
Speaker 1: so that's the abyss. Somehow the lid will be opened
36:04
Speaker 1: and the key will be inserted and relieve him of
36:07
Speaker 1: his incarceration. And what will happen, He will come out
36:11
Speaker 1: notice right away, he will deceive the nations which are
36:16
Speaker 1: in the four corners of the earth, meaning all over
36:18
Speaker 1: the world. Gog and Maygog seems to be a prophetic
36:22
Speaker 1: language for worldwide enemies of Christ. And they will gather
36:27
Speaker 1: together for the war. And the number of those that
36:31
Speaker 1: gather hold on is like the sand of the seashore.
36:37
Speaker 1: That amazing. I'm always I always smile when I come
36:41
Speaker 1: to that at the amazement of it. Satan has been
36:44
Speaker 1: gone for a thousand years, but the old nature hasn't
36:48
Speaker 1: improved one bit. And as soon as the children and
36:52
Speaker 1: grandchildren and great grandchildren are born to these believers who
36:57
Speaker 1: had these homes and families and lived their lives and
36:59
Speaker 1: the golden age, as soon as they have a chance
37:03
Speaker 1: to follow a deceiver, they will gather to such a
37:07
Speaker 1: number that it can't be counted. It's like the sand
37:10
Speaker 1: of the seashore, which tells us what tells us that
37:14
Speaker 1: the total incorrigibility of Satan is in place, not even
37:19
Speaker 1: a thousand years being bound changes his nature, and the
37:24
Speaker 1: total depravity of humanity is still in place. Not even
37:29
Speaker 1: a thousand years of peace causes mankind to behave himself,
37:35
Speaker 1: to believe what's right, to follow deeply the things of
37:40
Speaker 1: the Lord. Well I read in verse nine that they
37:44
Speaker 1: will come up on the broad plane of the earth
37:47
Speaker 1: and surround the camp of the Saints and the beloved
37:50
Speaker 1: city is no doubt a reference to Jerusalem. And notice
37:53
Speaker 1: it doesn't last very long. Fire comes down from heaven
37:56
Speaker 1: and devours them. And in case you're haunted with thoughts
37:59
Speaker 1: of the enemy Satan, please observe his ultimate doom. The
38:04
Speaker 1: devil who deceive them was thrown into the lake of
38:09
Speaker 1: fire and brimstone. This is different from the abyss. This
38:12
Speaker 1: is the permanent abode of Satan and his demons, along
38:17
Speaker 1: with those that follow him and all who do not
38:20
Speaker 1: know Christ at death. This is where the beast and
38:23
Speaker 1: the false prophet are also. Notice present tents. They're still alive.
38:29
Speaker 1: So the whole thought of annihilation is overcome by the
38:32
Speaker 1: word they are also, they're still alive. They've been there
38:36
Speaker 1: tormented for a thousand years, and he they together will
38:40
Speaker 1: be tormented day and night forever. And ever Matthew twenty five,
38:47
Speaker 1: verse forty one states that the Lake of Fire was
38:50
Speaker 1: originally created for the devil and his angels, so it
38:55
Speaker 1: gets its due. The Lake of Fire now has as
38:59
Speaker 1: the first inhabit the devil, his demons, and the beast
39:04
Speaker 1: and the false prophect. Now that I could just hear
39:07
Speaker 1: a few, especially teenagers who've been listening, say, so, what
39:16
Speaker 1: what does this have to do with anything? How does
39:19
Speaker 1: this help me live in a world that's not like
39:22
Speaker 1: this and is light years from this? What can I
39:27
Speaker 1: learn from things like this? So let me give a
39:31
Speaker 1: couple of very practical words of application. First, live consistently
39:40
Speaker 1: and realistically while things are upside down. As long as
39:46
Speaker 1: the earth is not what it ought to be and
39:48
Speaker 1: isn't what we want it to be, the best thing
39:51
Speaker 1: you and I can do is live a consistent and
39:54
Speaker 1: realistic life. You and I know the most powerful message
39:59
Speaker 1: for Christ is a consistent life lived for him. The
40:05
Speaker 1: most powerful message anyone can read or witness is a
40:11
Speaker 1: life lived devoted to Christ. And by the way, it's
40:14
Speaker 1: a life of realism. The government sells a stamp now
40:20
Speaker 1: that is marked very clearly pray for peace. Well, I
40:26
Speaker 1: don't buy that stamp for one reason. I don't think
40:30
Speaker 1: you can get peace in a world that's got the
40:33
Speaker 1: devil in charge, Jesus no longer in authority, and the
40:38
Speaker 1: righteous not in rules. So I think it's a great hope.
40:41
Speaker 1: It's a dream. Every president promises it and then can't
40:45
Speaker 1: deliver it because we got people who are depraved trying
40:51
Speaker 1: to live it out. So live realistically. Don't let your
40:55
Speaker 1: kids play with scorpions yet. Okay, don't bring a lion
41:01
Speaker 1: in with your dog, or you'll have a lion that's
41:06
Speaker 1: just had a nice supper if he gets hungry. P. T. Barnum,
41:10
Speaker 1: the famous showman, used to delight in showing to visiting
41:15
Speaker 1: clergymen and exhibit that Barnum called the Happy Family, in
41:20
Speaker 1: which lions, tigers, and panthers squatted around a lamb without
41:26
Speaker 1: a predatory smack of the lips. Dexter Fellows, the Barnum
41:34
Speaker 1: press agent, declared that when a minister asked Barnum if
41:38
Speaker 1: the group ever gave any trouble, the showman replied, apart
41:44
Speaker 1: from replenishing the lamb now and then they get along
41:50
Speaker 1: real well, of course, you gotta live realistically. Sorry if
42:02
Speaker 1: this doesn't sound very spiritual. But you better know a
42:04
Speaker 1: good attorney. You're gonna need one from time to time.
42:13
Speaker 1: You better lock your doors at night because if you don't,
42:18
Speaker 1: you're gonna get robbed. You better lock your doors on
42:22
Speaker 1: your car and roll your windows up, because if you don't,
42:26
Speaker 1: you're gonna lose your card, maybe your life. I like
42:31
Speaker 1: the old American Revolution motto trust in God that keep
42:37
Speaker 1: your powder dry. Not a bad idea on a gun boy.
42:46
Speaker 1: Wait till I get the letters this week? Do I care?
42:52
Speaker 1: You know? By now I don't care. You better learn
42:56
Speaker 1: how to defend yourself. You better carry that can of mace.
43:00
Speaker 1: You better I'll be out late at night where it's dark.
43:03
Speaker 1: That's not godly, that's foolish. We don't live in a
43:07
Speaker 1: golden age. We live in a wicked age where the
43:13
Speaker 1: depraved are more in number than the righteous. Wake up, consistently, realistically,
43:23
Speaker 1: live your life. Second, Witness faithfully and fervently. I mean
43:30
Speaker 1: a world that's lost its way like ours, My goodness,
43:33
Speaker 1: what a magnificent opportunity to make Christ known. Witness fervently
43:39
Speaker 1: and faithfully. I mean, if not even a perfect environment
43:44
Speaker 1: is enough to make people right as soon as they
43:48
Speaker 1: have an evil leaders show up, they're ready to follow him.
43:51
Speaker 1: Why just imagine the lostness of our world today. You
43:56
Speaker 1: have no idea the misery of those who work around you,
44:00
Speaker 1: who don't know the savior. They're not going to walk
44:02
Speaker 1: up and tell you. This is a world where you
44:05
Speaker 1: fake that kind of thing, or you drink it away,
44:08
Speaker 1: or you drug it away. You do something to take
44:11
Speaker 1: the edge off. How marvelous to be around folks who
44:16
Speaker 1: very graciously offer the deep answer, such as knowing Christ personally.
44:27
Speaker 1: Chuck Colson tells an interesting story. He visited a number
44:31
Speaker 1: of years ago a model correctional institution in Europe. That's
44:36
Speaker 1: all in quotes. The psychiatrist explained that seventy one percent
44:42
Speaker 1: of the inmates had been classified as mentally abnormal since
44:47
Speaker 1: they had committed particularly heinous crimes. Since people are inherently good,
44:53
Speaker 1: she said, anyone who does evil must be mentally ill.
45:00
Speaker 1: Oh inmates with this illness were sent to her institution
45:05
Speaker 1: to be cured. A few days after Coulson's visit, a
45:10
Speaker 1: convicted rapist was given permission for a short furlough under
45:15
Speaker 1: the escort of a twenty six year old female guard.
45:20
Speaker 1: Part of his therapy was to attend a movie with
45:24
Speaker 1: a woman, a step on his road to normalcy. As
45:30
Speaker 1: the doctor put it, not far from those prison gates.
45:34
Speaker 1: The inmate battered and then brutally murdered the young woman.
45:41
Speaker 1: Coulson concluded, violent tendencies are not an illness. Criminal behaviors
45:49
Speaker 1: are not symptoms of a disease. We cannot explain away
45:55
Speaker 1: awful act through sociological factors or odd chromosomes, or poverty,
46:02
Speaker 1: or germs or drugs. While these surely can be factors
46:06
Speaker 1: in criminal behavior, the root cause of crime has not
46:11
Speaker 1: changed since Cain. It is sin. Sin spoils everything he adds.
46:26
Speaker 1: The Bible teaches that men and women's natures are inherently depraved.
46:31
Speaker 1: Without restraints, sin will emerge and wreak its havoc on
46:36
Speaker 1: whatever crosses its path. That is why our job as
46:45
Speaker 1: good parents is to help our children understand authority and
46:53
Speaker 1: obedience and the consequences of doing wrong. That's why that's
47:01
Speaker 1: so valuable. And I know they're all adorable when they're born.
47:08
Speaker 1: I understand that I just used to hold our little
47:13
Speaker 1: babies and just with each one, I just hug them
47:16
Speaker 1: and kiss them and just tell them how great they were,
47:19
Speaker 1: and I was working for a fellow minister much older
47:23
Speaker 1: than I used to used to watch me do that.
47:25
Speaker 1: He'd say, just remember, they're dirty, rotten sinners. I know,
47:35
Speaker 1: I know that's not the liberal message, but that's the
47:40
Speaker 1: Biblical message. I wish they weren't. But of course I
47:44
Speaker 1: wish you didn't have to put acid in a swimming pool,
47:47
Speaker 1: and I wish you didn't have to drive the speed limit.
47:49
Speaker 1: And I don't always do that either, By the way,
47:53
Speaker 1: I'm just thinking about that. I wish that everybody would
47:57
Speaker 1: would behave themselves. I wish it all neighbors would be
48:00
Speaker 1: good now, I really wish that good stuff. I wish
48:03
Speaker 1: nobody'd come in a house that wasn't locked. But all
48:07
Speaker 1: that wish and is Golden Age wish because Jesus isn't raining,
48:13
Speaker 1: and Satan is alive and well, and the unrighteous rule.
48:21
Speaker 1: So wake up. The only deep, lasting answer that will
48:27
Speaker 1: not only help you go through time, but it'll keep
48:30
Speaker 1: you out of the lake that never stops burning is Christ.
48:38
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, I sleep so good every night knowing
48:43
Speaker 1: I've told you the truth. I sleep so good. Now
48:48
Speaker 1: it's in the Lord's hands to work with each one
48:52
Speaker 1: of you to act on what you've heard. So let's
48:55
Speaker 1: a bow together. Just close your eyes for a few moments.
49:01
Speaker 1: You may know the Lord, but the person sitting right
49:03
Speaker 1: behind you, are in front of you, are next to you,
49:06
Speaker 1: may not know the Lord. You may not remember her
49:10
Speaker 1: name or his name. But it's a good time for
49:13
Speaker 1: you to pray for the person you shook hands with earlier.
49:18
Speaker 1: Pray the Lord will speak in a special way. If
49:28
Speaker 1: you're that person, I invite you to Christ. If there
49:32
Speaker 1: were a better offer, I'd offer that there were a
49:36
Speaker 1: solution that would solve your deep, deep, continuing struggles, then
49:45
Speaker 1: that's what I'd be preaching. But there's no other offer,
49:49
Speaker 1: there's no other answer. Come to him now. Just come
49:55
Speaker 1: to him now by faith. It's like a child walking
49:59
Speaker 1: up to a parent. Just put your hand in his,
50:03
Speaker 1: put your heart in his. Take Christ's righteousness in place
50:11
Speaker 1: of your unrighteousness. We're grateful, our Father, for your word
50:20
Speaker 1: that helps us cut through the garbage of our times,
50:25
Speaker 1: all the fog and nonsense and double talk and gobbledegook
50:32
Speaker 1: of the stuff we have to wade through. Thank you
50:35
Speaker 1: for telling it straight, for making it clear, for leaving
50:40
Speaker 1: that responsibility with us to come to terms with what
50:45
Speaker 1: you've said. May your spirit not give any relief or
50:51
Speaker 1: released to anyone who's not ready to die. I pray
50:55
Speaker 1: in Jesus's name. Everybody said yeah,