Tag: millennial
The Thousand Year Reign
Scripture reading for December 30: Revelation 20
Those who have studied Scripture love to look at how God will bring everything on earth and heaven together. Revelation 20 tells us how God will lock up Satan in a pit for a thousand years. He will be bound with a great angelic chain and locked away to keep him from deceiving the nations. It also reveals that the Devil will be loosed again for a short time after that thousand years.
“Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” Revelation 20:4
Those believers coming out of the great tribulation through martyrdom were now seated on thrones as judges! This great reversal occurs when Jesus Christ sets up the millennial kingdom. These who had stood firm for Jesus and proclaimed God’s Word now were rewarded as Jesus promised. They had refused the mark of the beast and refused to bow to the religious and political system of Babylon. They now ruled in the Kingdom of Peace with the Prince of Peace!
“And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and 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. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved City, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur . .” Revelation 20:7-10
After the thousand years, Satan is again allowed to deceive those who will refuse to accept the truth of Christ Jesus as Lord during this thousand years. Deceived by Satan, these will gather together and surround Jerusalem to challenge Jesus and the saints. This foolish move will bring their destruction by fire and Satan’s return to the lake of fire! At the great White Throne judgment, all rebels and those not written in the Book of Life will be thrown into the lake of fire, which is the second death. Sobering truth about our need to remain faithful and humble!
As we end this year, be sure that you know true salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Check your heart and surrender again to the King of kings. Invite Him to lead you into His eternal kingdom coming soon!