Prophecy
15
The Day of the
Lord –
Revelation 19:11 – 20:10
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Revelation
20:5-6
But
the rest of the dead lived not
again until the thousand years
were finished. This is the first
resurrection. Blessed and holy is
he that hath part in the first
resurrection: on such the second
death hath no power, but they
shall be priests of God and of
Christ, and shall reign with him
a thousand years.{5} (The
wicked killed at the Second
Coming did not come to life until
the thousand years were
completed.) The
resurrection that occurs at the
Second Coming is called the first
resurrection.
{6} Blessed
and holy are those who have part
in the first resurrection because
the second death, which will be
imposed on the wicked at the end
of the 1,000 years, will have no
power over them. They will
be priests of God and of Christ
and will reign with Him during
the thousand years.
There is
some confusion about who will be
priests of God throughout
eternity. The Bible teaches
that all saints will be appointed
as priests of God. In fact,
the first verses of Revelation
say, “To him
who loves us and has freed us
from our sins by his blood, and
has made us to be a kingdom and
priests to serve his God and
Father – to him be glory and
power for ever and ever!
Amen.”[41]
The 144,000 will also serve as
priests of God. I believe
they will be given special
recognition for their faithful
service.[42]
Revelation
20:7-8
And
when the thousand years are
expired, Satan shall be loosed
out of his prison, And shall go
out to deceive the nations which
are in the four quarters of the
earth, Gog and Magog, to gather
them together to battle: the
number of whom is as the sand of
the sea.{7} When
the wicked of all ages are
resurrected, Jesus will show each
person why He could not save
them. After the wicked
realize their fate and receive
their sentences (which the saints
determined during the 1,000
years), Satan will be released
from the Abyss. He will
become fully visible to everyone
as he really is – a huge
fallen angel – once a
majestic being now deformed by
sin’s degenerate
curse. The comparison
between Lucifer and his demons
and Jesus and his angels will be
stark. The devil and his
demons, knowing that only a few
hours remain
{8} will
prey upon the condemned
sinners. Full of loathing
for Jesus, they will go out to
deceive the nations in the four
corners of the earth, Gog and
Magog, to gather them for a final
battle. In number they will be
like the sand on the seashore.
The
Father predetermined long ago
that when the thousand years are
over, He will resurrect the
wicked of all ages (starting with
Cain) at the end of sin’s
drama. I can think of
several reasons for this.
First, the Father wants every
sinner to see the reality of the
Holy City and the joy of eternal
life that the saints will
enjoy. Second, the Father
wants every sinner to have a
meeting with Jesus so that Jesus
can explain why He could not
grant them eternal life.
Finally, the Father wants each
sinner to consider the tremendous
effort He made to save the
lost. The Father wants the
story of redemption to be told so
that each sinner will realize
what true love is, what it has
accomplished, and what it must
do. Once these steps are
accomplished, every wicked person
will understand God did not
determine that person’s
eternal fate. Instead, each
sinner determined his or her own
fate. Every sinner will
kneel before Jesus admitting that
He has been generous and fair
beyond measure.
The
phrase “Gog and Magog”
is borrowed from Ezekiel
38 and 39 and it is
important to understand why it is
used in this context. The
end of sin under Plan A runs
parallel to the end of sin under
Plan B. Under Plan A (old
covenant), the end of sin and
sinners would have occurred when
Lucifer (Gog) and his forces
(Magog: the nations aligned with
him) came up against Jerusalem to
destroy the holy city.
Under Plan A, God would have
brought Lucifer’s conquest
to an end by sending fire down
from Heaven.[43]
Under Plan B (new covenant), a
similar event will occur.
When the wicked discover there is
no possibility of survival, the
devil and his forces will be
released. They will prey on
the wicked (as the devil and his
demons did with ten kings prior
to the Second Coming) and rally
them to make war against God.
Revelation
20:9-10
And
they went up on the breadth of
the earth, and compassed the camp
of the saints about, and the
beloved city: and fire came down
from God out of heaven, and
devoured them. And the devil that
deceived them was cast into the
lake of fire and brimstone, where
the beast and the false prophet
are, and shall be tormented day
and night for ever and ever.{9} Believing
the devil’s deception, the
wicked marched across the breadth
of Earth and surrounded the camp
of God’s people, the city He
loves, but fire came down from
heaven and devoured them.
{10}
And the devil, who deceived them,
was thrown into the lake of
burning sulfur, where the beast
and the false prophet had been
thrown. They will be
tormented day and night for ever
and ever (until the amount of
restitution predetermined by the
saints is fulfilled).
God
declares that vengeance is His to
repay. This is why He
allows the victims who suffered
the crime to determine the amount
of suffering that is appropriate
for those who committed the
crime.[44]
Men who have been particularly
violent will burn and suffer
longer than those who were not so
evil. The Bible teaches
that there is a
“lingering” hell.
Justice demands that every person
be treated as he treated
others. God guarantees that
restitution will be made: a life
for a life, an eye for an eye, a
tooth for a tooth, a wound for a
wound and a bruise for a bruise.[45]
The
Rules of Interpretation
Consider
how the Rules of Interpretation
(discussed in the Introduction of
this book) are observed in this
prophecy:
Rule
One says an
apocalyptic prophecy has a
beginning point and ending point
in time and the events within the
prophecy occur in the order
given. This prophecy
conforms to Rule One because
chronological order is self
evident. The
chronological order in this
prophecy is easy to follow:
- John saw a
rider on a white horse,
the armies of Heaven
follow Him. He wears the
title, “King of
kings and Lord of
lords.”
- A mighty
angel calls for the birds
to come to the great
supper of God.
- The
composite beast and the
kings of Earth make war
against Jesus at the
Second Coming.
- The beast
and the false prophet are
captured and thrown into
a lake of fire.
- The rest
of the wicked drop dead
upon command (the sword
that comes out of
Jesus’ mouth).
- The devil
and his angels are
returned to the Abyss for
1,000 years.
- The saints
are taken to Heaven where
Jesus gives authority to
those who suffered death
and torture to determine
the amount of restitution
(suffering) which
murderers must pay.
- At the end
of the 1,000 years, the
Holy City descends and
the wicked are
resurrected. When they
see their impending doom,
the devil preys on their
hopeless situation.
- Inspired
and deceived by Lucifer,
the wicked march against
the Holy City with the
intent to destroy it.
- Fire comes
down from God and burns
them up.
Rule
Two says a
fulfillment only occurs when all
of the specifications are met,
and this includes the order
stated in the prophecy.
When these events occur, this
prophecy will be fulfilled.
Rule
Three says that
apocalyptic language can be
literal, analogous, or
symbolic. To reach the
intended meaning of a prophecy,
the reader must consider (a) the
context, (b) the use of parallel
language in the Bible, and (c) if
an element is thought to be
symbolic, the Bible must
interpret the symbol with a relevant text.
The language used in this
prophecy is not symbolic because
there are no relevant texts
defining a symbol. On the
other hand, we do find an
extensive use of analogous and
literal language.
Even though all three types of
language are used in this
prophecy, the intended meaning is
easy to discern if a person has
carefully examined the previous
prophecies in Revelation.
In terms of language, the only
thing new in this prophecy is Gog
and Magog. These are
parallel references from Ezekiel
and provide the meaning to the
prophecy.
Rule
Four says the
presence or absence of the
Jubilee Calendar determines how
God measures time. The
1,000 years are 1,000 literal
years because this time period
occurs after the Jubilee Calendar
expired (1994).
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