Oh for a thousand years

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

OH FOR A THOUSAND YEARS

Rev 20:1-3

20:1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

NIV

It would appear John’s vision or rather the revelation revealed to him shows there are times when he moves around, as when the angel took him into a desert, and now it appears he is looking from earth. This is due to his saying he saw an angel coming down out of heaven. If John was in heaven he would not say it that way, plus the fact the angel is going to bind Satan who is on earth. But the truth we need to consider in this passage is the doctrine of the millennium. We see this angel having a key and he seizes the devil or Satan who is referred to as that ancient serpent. This certainly confirms that he appeared as a snake to our first parents, Adam and Eve. This angel has the power to seize him and to imprison him in a place call the Abyss. In the Greek this means a bottomless pit or immeasurable depth. The truth of that is in that, as we are told here, he will not be able to have any influence on any people for a period of time, which is said here to be one thousand years. First we have to conclude there are people who were not killed by the Word, by Jesus in this great battle. Although the world economy is in shambles and there was a great number of the world leaders and generals and those who had be so deluded by Satan they took an absolute stand against God, making it clear mankind is greater than God, if there really is one. In addition to having the ideology of wealth, power and the greatness of man, they also gave credence to the doctrine of many paths to God, or gods, whoever he or she is, however religion sees that God. All religions are equal, having the same god but in different forms and with different sets of rules, or behaviors toward that god. This is but another delusion from the pit of hell, from Satan to attempt to destroy that true church and the true and only God. So he is bound, not able to deceive any more people for this period as referred to here as one thousand years. There will be no evil influence upon mankind. Many believers use this as the thousand year reign of Christ with his believers. We are going to see this explained next, so we will leave this for the next day. But the truth is that people will not have the influence of Satan for this time. Mankind will be able to rebuild some of what was lost, but it will be done under the influence of Christ. He will restore that which was destroyed and all the chaos from the wrath of God during those years the seven angels and the seven bowls of his wrath. Jesus will being order to the chaos. He is the only one who can. His power will be a mighty one, able to do that which no man can do. Science has proven through a law of thermodynamics called entropy, that order cannot come from chaos, that chaos will always increase. But through the power of God, who invented all science in the first place, brings order from chaos. There will be peace upon the earth. Under the direction of Jesus mankind will increase in prosperity. Satan will be held in this bottomless pit for this period of time. Many scholars will argue about this thousand years. Some say it only is representative of a long period. Some say it means three hundred and sixty thousand years, as a year is as a day to the Lord. If we look throughout all of scripture when the word thousand is used, it is used to mean one thousand, not a number of, or an amount of, but the number of them is one, five, ten thousand of them. It would only reason to believe this thousand means exactly that, one thousand years, or a millennium. As to who will rule and reign with him, we will see next. But the fact is mankind will no longer be in the deceptive position of Satan. One other truth which is revealed to us here is the fact that this book is not historic as some scholars have been seeing it. If we look into the history of mankind, we have always seen the influence of Satan at work. We know he was at work in the temptation of Jesus just two thousand years ago. We can see his evil hand at work since then and up to and including this very day. So all the happenings of this revelation are yet to come, including this one thousand years of peace on earth, with Satan bound, having no ability to influence people. But we also have one other truth which is bore out in this passage. Satan will be set free for a short time. Now first this is not a defined period of time as the thousand years are. This is simply letting us know that all the people who are living during those years, and all the new people who have been born during that time, will have the ability to make a choice. God does not want anyone to believe in him as a mindless robot, with no ability to choose him over all else. So he will allow Satan to have his chance to once again influence people against him. With an amount of certainty, even though mankind has experienced a peace like no other, some will be deceived. What we can learn from all this is that we must make sure we are not or never will be deceived by Satan. We know the truth, we know God is who he says he is. We know all this is true and we wait for those thousand years. Oh for a thousand years. 

Killed by the Word

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

KILLED BY THE WORD

Rev 19:17-21

17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, "Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great." 19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.   21 The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

NIV

It is unlikely this angel was actually standing on the sun, but John may well have been telling us this angel was so bright, so brilliant in radiance that he was like the sun, almost unable to stare at him because of his shining so intensely. Certainly during these times in history when there were great battlefields and many dead were simply left where they died, the wild beasts and birds of the air would find much food. John, knowing this, also sees or hears this angel calling to the birds, for a great number of dead are going to left for their gorging upon. There is a new thought about this lake of burning sulfur which we might explore and see if it lines up with the rest of scripture. The beast and the false prophet were not killed, but every single person who had been deluded by this false prophet, this false ideology was killed. Now this does not mean they completely perished, as in the second death, but they were killed. We will see in the coming events that death and hades are going to give up their dead to be judged. We also have to remember the story about Lazarus and the rich man who both died. Lazarus went to Abraham's side, which we understand as heaven, and the rich man was buried and he went to hades and was in torment, asking for Abraham to send Lazarus to dip his toe so he could quench his thirst. Abraham replied can’t be done, a great chasm exists between and no one crosses over either way. Hades is also in the presence of God, it can be seen and those in it can see heaven. So  these people who die because they opposed God, and worshipped their own course of life, being deluded by the promise of fame and fortune, trusting in their wealth for security, are simply in hades still waiting for the final judgment. The time their names are not found in the book of life is coming. But what we also see about this lake of fire, is complete destruction. When we burn something in an intense flame all we are left with is a pile of ash, almost like dust. So it would seem the beast and the false prophet are dust. Although we are going to also see that Satan, the beast and the false prophet will be tormented day and night in the lake of burning sulfur. It is their end, the end of all that mankind has ever believed in if they did not believe in God, in Jesus. All is gone, the world economy is dust. Throughout all the plagues, all the seven angels, all the bowls filled with the wrath of God, mankind kept endeavoring to battle back, trying to survive on their own ideas. World leaders, perhaps one world leader will emerge trying to capture the hearts and minds of people with plans to recover that which has been lost, bringing the economy back to its former self. He will give them hope of being strong and mighty and having security in their wealth once more. This is the deception and perhaps this is even this great battle between mankind and Jesus instead of some single battlefield in some valley. But Jesus and his army will have none of it, the world economy is completely demolished and it will never be allowed to gain any power again. Those who fought against God, will die, they will be killed by this destruction of everything they hold dear. The end is at hand. They are now awaiting their final judgment and their final demise, the second death, the end of their complete existence. It is sad to think there are people who are so deceived by this powerful ideology. Who will warn them? Yet with all the truth in the world, they are so deluded, so close-minded about their insistence in their being right, they may never come to the truth. If they are able to resist the conviction of the Holy Spirit, how can we persuade them to see the error of their way? They have accepted the mark of the beast, and their fate is the second death. But for now they are simply dead. Killed by the Word.

Saddle up

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

SADDLE UP

Rev 19:11-16

11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war.   12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

NIV

This is none other than Jesus Christ in all his glory and splendor. Once he came to the earth in all humility as an infant human being, to live as a human among his creation. Although he was fully God, he became fully man and lived a humble life, without a place to lay his head. He had no palace, no pomp and ceremony. No fine clothes nor great display of wealth. He even died as a common criminal at the hands of the very people he came to show the way to salvation. But now all that is over and here he is coming in all the power, might and glory he so richly deserves. There are some interesting descriptions here that give us more insight into his character and the history of who he is. Probably the most interesting is this statement about the name that is written on him that no one know but he himself. The Jews would not ever pronounce the name of God, YHWH. In fact the pronunciation of that name was lost some time in the history of Old Testament times. It would make sense that Jesus, God would be the only one who could know it, know how to pronounce it. And of course with his blazing eyes he sees all things, the all penetrating nature of his wisdom. But we also see ourselves here riding upon white horses and dress in fine linen all white and clean. There is a day coming when we will be truly pure and holy, without blemish, spotless.

Eph 5:25-27

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish , but holy and blameless.

NIV  

That is us, a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any blemish, holy and blameless, riding after Jesus in all his glory to the final act upon this earth. We would think that if this is how we are going to be, if this is our part in all this, we would be sort of rehearsing, maybe even having a dress rehearsal for our part in this act. Do we look to our being pure and holy once we reach heaven, as a distant future? Jesus already has washed us in his blood. Jesus has already make us holy. Jesus has already made us a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle and any other blemish. He has already made us holy and blameless. Should we not be living like it? But the fact is we are, yet we still fail him, we still fall short of his glory. We still are subject to the human condition, the weakness of the flesh, with all its imperfections, yet in saying that are we saying God created us imperfect? That cannot be. He created us perfectly, but in doing so he gave us the ability to make a choice, as he has. God is not mindless nor has he created us to be mindless drones under his absolute control. He created us perfectly as we are in his image, with the ability to choose. So we can choose to live as humans with all the thoughts of humanity, or we can choose to live as followers of Jesus, with all thoughts of God. We can choose to be washed in the word, in his blood and become pure and blameless in the sight of God. When we accepted Jesus we were cleansed and in the sight of God we are already riding upon these horses. So then we should be living as such now, knowing who we are, living as his radiant church even in our failures.

Rom 8:1-4

8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,   2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,   4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

NIV

This does not mean that Paul was without sin, but that we choose to live by the Spirit rather than by the flesh. We have accepted the righteous act of Jesus to free us from sin and death and set us free from all condemnation from God. But the day is coming when he will bring condemnation upon the earth, upon all those who refused Jesus. This is the day of the Lord and we are not just going to witness it, but we are going to be riding behind him. Knowing all this should give us a great joy, a great sense of peace and calmness. Our lives here should be free from all worry, anxiety and fear for we are the bride of Christ, we are his radiant church, and we are his mighty army dressed in fine linen, his righteousness.  We are riding with the King of kings, the Lord of lords.

So we need to saddle up.   

Him alone

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

HIM ALONE

Rev 19:10

10 At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

NIV

Certainly John did not mistake this angel for Jesus or for that matter God the Father, yet we see him falling prostrate at his feet to worship him, or pay homage to him for the information he revealed to him about the wedding feast of the Lamb. But this angel rebuked John, “Do not do it!” There is but one who is worthy of such worship and that is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, which is God. It would appear this should offer us a lesson to take to heart. There should be no other person, dead or alive that we should pay any sort of homage to. All believers whether they be dead or alive should be seen as nothing more that fellow servants with us and all other believers in Jesus Christ. This would offer a word of instruction to those who believe is it appropriate to pray to the saints of old, even to the Virgin Mary, to ask them to intercede in prayer to God for them. That is certainly a form of worship of these fellow servants of God. Those of us who give special homage to any leader in the religious community should also be instructed this is not to be done. There is no person dead or alive that worships God who should be lifted up by other people. This would include any of the famous evangelists or preachers, or authors of books, commentaries, or any other material which would bring them fame or fortune. This is not to say there are not some who have done some special things in life. But all glory must go to God for any good that any one of us ever does. We have been taught that we are not to regard anyone better than anyone else. Not to think more highly of ourselves them we should. We are all members of one body. True we may all have a different function, but the point is we are all one body, none any more important than the other. As we should think about ourselves in this manner than we surely should think about others in the same manner. They are not any more important than we are therefore we should not pay any homage in any way to anyone. Whether dead or alive. This might well also to serve us to consider anything in this same manner, not giving more of our attention to anything, thus in some sense, worshipping things more then we worship God. But in this particular passage it speaks directly to other created beings, dead or alive. We are to worship God and God alone. No other person can be held in great esteem as we can only hold God in that esteem for he is the creator of all things, and all people. He is the origin of all that is true. All information comes from him, no other beings can claim any truth which has not been revealed to them by God. There is none who should hold any position of glory or prestige dead or alive other than God. 

Our God reigns

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

OUR GOD REIGNS

Rev 19:6-9

6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: "Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear."  (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) 9 Then the angel said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!'" And he added, "These are the true words of God."

NIV

Our God reigns! Yes he does and all of heaven is rejoicing and it sounds like a roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder. There is complete and utter joy throughout all of heaven because our God reigns. The fact is that no matter how much mankind tries to rule and reign over this earth, it fails miserable because our God reigns. The people who worship this world and all its trappings cannot save themselves from all the chaos that has been brought upon them, because our God reigns. All the wealth in the world cannot do them any good now, because it is worthless, because our God reigns. All the power, all the supposed authority of the world leaders is gone because our God reigns. All those who thought they could save the environment are completely devastated because he has laid it to waste, because our God reigns. His judgment has been true and just and the end is about here and so we rejoice and are glad and give him glory, because our God reigns. Because we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we are not only referred to as  born again believers, but we are the bride of Christ and we are now ready for the wedding feast because we are there in heaven where it is to take place. We are indeed dressed in fine linen, bright and clean which will be given to us to wear. But here is where we differ from the translators and scholars of old. The fine linen which they presume it says for our righteous acts, has another meaning, especially when peering into the Greek text. The word acts does not actually appear. It seems to be more like (for fine linen the righteousness of saints is.) Who is our righteousness? Jesus is. However the only righteous act we can ever do is accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior and in that sense this could be seen as it is written. We are dressed in the righteousness of Jesus. Just as in the parable that Jesus taught there were ten virgins with lambs waiting for the bridegroom. Five forgot to bring more oil and when he delayed they feel asleep. But when it was announced that he is coming the five had no oil for their lamps, but the other five did and they were able to go to the bridegroom. This is our story, we have kept the faith. We have kept our lamp burning for Jesus. We have not fallen asleep being rocked gently by the ways of the world. We have not been deceived into their way of thinking about our future. We have kept our belief in God, that he reigns supreme in our lives. We are ready for the marriage feast of the Lamb, whenever that happens, because we know that all our righteousness is in him. We are ready to walk down the aisle, so to speak. The feast is about to take place. But still there is something God is going to do. But whatever happens now, we are part in parcel with him, for we are now fully the bride of Christ, in the truest sense the complete universal church. We are pillars in the temple of God, living stones for all of eternity. We will be sharing in all the glory and splendor of the new heaven, new earth and new city of Jerusalem for ever and ever. We are going to see this city, this new earth all explained for us in the coming words of this revelation. But for now we can simple rejoice, even now in this life, for our God reigns. No other god created by man will ever reign, but for all eternity our God reigns. 

Revere him

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

REVERE HIM

Rev 19:4-5

4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried: "Amen, Hallelujah!" 5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying: "Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great!"

NIV

Once again we see these twenty-four elders who represent the full true church. The twelve of the tribes of Israel and the twelve of the Apostles, all the old and New Testament wrapped up together, Jews and gentiles, all true believers. There words indicate a finale of all God has done. “Amen, Hallelujah!” The full extent of his wrath has been completed upon the world of unbelievers. They have been plunged into total darkness without any light at all as they rejected the true Light of the world. Complete and utter chaos has ensued and mankind is left with nothing but themselves as they have been their own god. His judgment is completed, he is ready to hand down his sentence for their crimes. This voice which comes from the throne or as the Greek words say, a voice out of the throne, cannot be the voice of God, or John would have said, God spoke these words. It is unlikely it was Jesus as he too is God and the words proclaiming that all should Praise our God. But another look here might reveal something unseen. In the Greek the word translated our, is also used as we, it is a plural genitive case which comes after the noun. Thus it could be said a voice came from the throne saying: “Praise we, God, all you his servants” or “Praise God, us, all you his servants. So in that case it could be the united voice of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit speaking to all the saints of God, bot Jew and Gentile alike. All of us who fear him need to praise him. Even if this is not the actual voice of the God, it is a voice which comes from the throne, which embodies all that represents his authority. Maybe it is the throne itself which speaks, but highly unlikely, yet with God all things are possible. But the point remains the same no matter who it is who is speaking. We who fear the Lord should be about praising him at all times. It is also a truth that we should fear him.

Ps 111:10

10 The fear of the LORD  is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

NIV

Prov 1:7

7 The fear of the LORD  is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

NIV

Prov 9:10

10 "The fear of the LORD  is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

NIV

These are but a few of the references to fearing the Lord, but this Hebrew word does not mean to be afraid in fear, but to reverence him. This carries the same application as the one and only place in the New Testament which tells us the new church grew in numbers as they were living in reverence of the Lord.  This is the same word here to be in awe of or revere the Lord. This is the case as we have also been told there is no fear in love and if God is love, if he loves us, which he does, and we love him, which we do, then there is no fear, no being afraid, in fright, scared, but rather there is a whole lot of reverence, at least there should be. This would imply we should not become too familiar or casual with God, as in seeing him as daddy. His is Father. There should be a total and complete sense of respect and awe at the mention of his name. In that sense there is a certain amount of alarm or fright because he is God, the creator of all things. He has the ability to strike us down in an instant, should he decide, which it is unlikely yet he has both the ability and the authority to do so. This is why we praise his name, because his judgments are true and just. But at the same time, not being afraid of him, but understanding we need to revere him, respect him, and stand in awe of him. This would mean we should not take advantage of his grace and mercy. We have been told that we should not continue to sin in order that his grace may abound even more. In doing so we may have become too casual in our relationship with him. He is the one sitting upon the throne, and we are told we need to praise him out of our reverence for him. 

Rejoice

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

REJOICE

Rev 19:1-3

19:1 After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, 2 for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants." 3 And again they shouted: "Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever."

NIV

This sound, this roaring that resembles the sound of a great multitude in heaven is in fact a group of voices. Are they the voices of a multitude of angels or of people? It might even be both together, as both would be rejoicing that salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments. If it is angels along then that would mean we the people of God are not there in heaven, but still here and experiencing this great judgement of God upon the earth. But if it is both of us, which we can be sure it is, as the true and just judgements of God, have been poured out upon the great prostitute and all the people who have drunk her wine, being intoxicated by this worldly ideology and not on us, because we are already in heaven. This sound that John records hearing is our voices mingled with the voices of the angels. We will rejoice because God has vindicated us. The world now knows we were right in our consideration of the truth of God. All those who persecuted believers in any way will know they made a terrible mistake not only refusing to accept the truth about God but making fun of us for believing. At some point in time we will be avenged. We will be in heaven with God rejoicing, giving him all the glory for what he is doing, because he is true and just in his judgments. This smoke that goes up for ever and ever is simply the everlasting result of the collapse of the world economy. There is no rebound, there is no recovery, it is over, and it is finished forever. The people of the world have been plunged into darkness. The same kind of darkness they have been living in their minds and spirits. They refused the Light of the world, Jesus, and now they have darkness. The door of the ark of safety, the door of salvation has been shut. The people who worshipped money instead of God have been judged and found guilty of adultery. Although Jesus forgave the woman when he was hear the truth in his words were about who that is without sin, cast the first stone. We just saw God order and angel to throw a large boulder into the sea, causing all this final chaos in the world. God cast the first stone on the people catch in adultery, having an affair with money, with wealth, putting their trust in gold, in the world economy. There is more rejoicing to follow as well. We are going to hear from the twenty-four elders again. We are also going to find out about the wedding feast of the Lamb. We are the bride of Christ and we are going to see our joining with Christ. A celebration of the greatest magnitude. But for now let us understand that we can live this life, here on earth, already rejoicing because we know the truth. We know our fate, as believers. We know what is to come. We can rejoice because we are saved, we are his, we are the family of God and we will be with him for all eternity. There is no reason to live with a downcast continence, with a gloomy disposition or discouraged about our situation in life, when we go through a little rough patch or two. We are children of God and he will never forsake us, he will always provide for us, and his best provision is for our eternal life with him, Jesus. Let us live a life full of rejoicing for we are already in his presence. Rejoice!