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The Devil's Last Stand
Revelation 20:1-10
Skip Heitzig

Revelation 20 (NKJV™)
1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison
8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.
9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

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66 Revelation - History's Last Chapter - 1996

A typical question is, "Will evil ever get its reward?" What ever happened to ethics and justice? Well, we see here that God will not turn His back on this issue. He will deal with the source of all evil (the devil himself) and then judge those who revel in it. This section gives tremendous hope to anyone concerned about injustice in our world.

The book of Revelation exalts Jesus Christ as the soon-coming Lord over the earth. Skip Heitzig explains the amazing and mysterious prophecies that form God's final word to mankind.

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Outline

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  1. The Removal of Satan (vv 1-3)

  2. The Reign of the Saints (vv 4-6)

  3. The Release of Satan (vv 3-7)

  4. The Revolt of Society (vv 8-9)

  5. The Recapture of Satan (vs 10)

Apply This Stuff:

  1. Consider the issue of a "Loving God and a Suffering World." In light of this passage what is God's final solution to the problem of evil and those who promote it? Why would this bring comfort to a child of God?

  2. Now consider the Sovereignty of God. Has God used evil to accomplish His own purposes (pain to draw people to Himself, etc.)? Read Psalm 76:10 and think about it in light of this passage.

Transcript

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In London there was a tavern that was known as the Devil and Saint Dunstan. Lawyers would often frequent this place at their lunch hour. They would go to the pub for lunch and for a drink and then they would hang on their door of their office the sign "Gone to the Devil," which was the abbreviated form of the tavern, the Devil and Saint Dunstan. But simply put, they would just put "gone to the devil," so when you'd look at it you would realize they're down at the tavern. But because that sign was displayed so often, it became a term synonymous with going to ruin and so you've heard the phrase "they've gone to the devil". It comes from The Devil and Saint Dunstan. When Satan sinned and fell and caused the first parents in the Garden to do the same, you might say that a sign was hung over the universe: Gone to the Devil. Gone to ruin. And ever since that time, ruin has come upon the earth as people have successively been born with an evil nature, with a sinful nature, and death has spread from generation to generation. We are awaiting the time, however, when Jesus Christ comes back, sets up His kingdom, and hangs His own sign "Under New Management" over the universe. And that will be the millennium. Until that time, evil still spreads and you might say that evil is having a heyday. Because more and more, evil is being rewarded and good is being punished and those who hold any moral absolute at all are being seen as naïve and wrong and evil as seen by this little parable that I'm about to read. Once upon a time in a far away country lived a little girl called Red Riding Hood. One day her mother asked her to take a basket of fruit to her grandmother who had been ill and lived all alone in a cottage in the forest. It happened that a wolf was lurking in the bushes and overheard the conversation. He decided to take a shortcut to grandmother's house and get the goodies for himself. The wolf killed the grandmother, then dressed in her nightgown and jumped into bed to await the little girl. But when she arrived, he made several nasty suggestions and tried to grab her. But by this time the child was very frightened and ran screaming from the cottage. A woodcutter working nearby heard her cries and rushed to the rescue. He killed the wolf with his ax, thereby saving Red Riding Hood's life. All the townspeople hurried to the scene and proclaimed the woodcutter a hero. But at the inquest, several facts emerged. The wolf had never been advised of his rights. The woodcutter had made no warning swings before striking the fatal blow. The civil liberties union stressed the point that, although the act of eating grandmother may have been in bad taste, the wolf was only doing his thing and thus didn't deserve the death penalty. The SDS contended that the killing of the grandmother should be considered self-defense, since she was over thirty, therefore couldn't be taken seriously because the wolf was trying to make love not war. On the basis of these considerations, it was decided that there was no valid basis for charges against the wolf. Moreover, the woodcutter was indicted for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Several nights later, the woodcutter's cottage was burned to the ground. One year from the date of "the incident at grandmothers" her cottage was made a shrine for the wolf that had bled and died there. All the village officials spoke at the dedication but it was Red Riding Hood who gave the most touching tribute. She said that while she had been selfishly grateful for the woodcutter's intervention, she realized in retrospect that he had overreacted. As she knelt and placed a wreath in honor of the brave wolf, there wasn't a dry eye in the whole forest. Evil rewarded; good punished. And the more and more we see that played out, we cry Thy kingdom come! Thy will be done! In earth as it is in heaven. One day it will be.

We don't see it yet. And that bothers a whole lot of folks. In fact, one of the reasons that skeptics have problems with God is they have a problem with evil. Why is there evil? Why is there suffering if God exists? Why does all this go on? Why doesn't He stop evil? And the classic argument is framed this way: if God is all-powerful, then He could destroy evil. If God is all-good, then He would destroy evil. Evil is not destroyed therefore there is no God. That's the argument. Chapter 20 will answer that argument, that one day God will deal with it. Satan is bound for a thousand years, Jesus Christ rules, and even though the source of evil, Satan, will rise up again at the end of this period, God has a plan to destroy him after Satan's last attempt to deceive the nations. We read verses 1 through 3 last week, let's read verses 1 through 10 this week. "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth [or on the plain of the earth] and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city [which is Jerusalem]. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."

We have, then, in these ten verses, and it's in outline form in your bulletin, sort of an order of events. We kind of overviewed it last time but now we have an order of events. One event happens before the millennium, another during, and three of them afterwards. We have, first of all, the removal of Satan that happens before you can have a millennium. Then there's the reign of the saints that happens during the thousand years. And then as soon as that is finished we have three more: the release of Satan, the revolt of society or a certain segment, and then the recapture of Satan. Let's peruse once again the first few verses. The removal of Satan. We discovered that last week. An angel who comes with a great chain lays hold of the dragon, verse two, the serpent of old who is the devil and bound him for a thousand years. Cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him so that he should not deceive the nations till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. I want to underscore this morning the fact that Satan is not yet bound in this pit. This is not the kingdom. In fact, I mean this today is not the kingdom, we're reading about it here but we're not experiencing it. In fact, Satan has access to earth. He is roaming about, Peter said. He also has access somewhat to heaven. We read that in Revelation 12 where he accuses God's people before God day and night. And as we once said, it might shock some people but Satan is not in hell. That is unscriptural. Satan has never been in hell. He's not there yet. When he goes there, he's not gonna be the king in charge of hell. He's gonna be the lowest creature in hell. The one who is tormented the most. Somebody might say well wasn't Satan defeated at the cross? Not like this. Not to the extent where he is incarcerated and has no freedom to deceive nations for a thousand years. Let me just give you a few Scriptures to that effect. In Acts chapter 5, Peter says to Ananias and Sapphira, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? Satan is obviously active for that to happen. He's not bound and unable to deceive. He is active. 1 Corinthians 5, Paul talked about delivering certain ones. He said to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. In 1 Corinthians 7 he talks about marriage and husbands and wives should not deny each other the physical enjoyment of marriage saying so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. He spoke of unbelievers, whose minds the god of this world has blinded. They've been deceived. Ephesians 2 talks about the spirit who is presently at work in the children of disobedience. And then in 1 Thessalonians he writes and he says I wanted to come to you time and time again but Satan thwarted us from coming to you. And then Peter said be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

To say then that Satan is presently bound and unable to deceive the nations for a thousand years is simply not true. And if it is true, as we mentioned last week some of the people who believe in kingdom now dominion now theology, why do they go around binding him? If he's around bound? But if Satan is indeed loose and able to deceive, as the Bible and history tells us, that means he's not now in the pit. And the kingdom age, the millennium, is still future. Well this has to happen for the millennium to happen, doesn't it? The dragon, Satan, has to be bound. Notice those names once again in verse 2. He's called the dragon. That reveals his character at the end of time, a devouring kind of a personality. Unrelenting. Vicious. He's called the serpent of old. That makes reference to his origin in Genesis. The serpent that beguiled Eve. He's called the devil, Diablo is the term. It means slanderer, accuser, that's what he does now about you before God day and night. Then he's called Satan or adversary. He's your enemy. He's your adversary. Which, as we said before, should make you happy that he's your enemy. If you want any relationship with the devil at all, it should be as your enemy not as your friend. You want God as your friend and the devil as your enemy rather than the devil as your friend and God as your enemy. So this is the safest possible relationship to have. That is the removal of Satan. That happens before the millennium and we discussed the millennium last week.

Now we come to the reign of the saints. Verse 4: "And I saw thrones". After the binding of Satan, John in his vision sees thrones which would indicate ruling, reigning, judging, during this period of time. Verse 4 it says "judgment was committed to them." Verse 6: "they shall reign with Him a thousand years." So we have a group ruling, reigning, and judging with Jesus Christ for a thousand years. The problem is we're not told who they are. It says I saw thrones and they sat on them. And because they are not described, we've had 2,000 years of debate as to who they are. Who will rule and reign a thousand years with Jesus Christ? The best way to answer that question is through the Bible and ask this question: what group or groups did God ever make a promise that they would rule and reign with Him? That they would judge with Him? That they would sit with Him in the kingdom? Well we would first go back to the book of Daniel, where Daniel sees in a vision the coming kingdom after the kingdoms of the earth have been destroyed and this is what Daniel says in Daniel chapter 7 in verse 18: the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever even forever and ever. Down in verse 22: the ancient of days came and judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom. Same chapter down in verse 27: then the kingdom and dominion and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all dominion shall serve and obey Him. So certainly Old Testament saints are included in the they of Revelation 20. Are there any others? Yep. Jesus told the twelve apostles when they were wondering well, what are we gonna get out of this, for following You? Is there a payoff? Jesus said to them in Matthew 19: Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. So the Old Testament saints and the twelve apostles were all promised a position of ruling, reigning with the Messiah.

Well there's more. There are New Testament saints. Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthians, his first letter, he said in 1 Corinthians 6: do you not know that the saints will judge the world? It's couched in such a way that this is common knowledge, folks. The saints will judge the world. He even said we judge angels. In 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 12: if we endure we shall reign also with Him. 1 Peter chapter 2, Peter says you are a royal priesthood. Royal, reigning, regal priesthood. Then in Revelation chapter 3, Jesus says to him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. So you can't miss it. There's ruling and reigning promised to the New Testament saints. Then, in Revelation 5, remember the song that is sung before God and before the throne and the Lamb? The church sings You have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth. So we've got Old Testament saints, we've got twelve apostles over twelve tribes of Israel; we've got New Testament saints. They would all be included in they. But there's another group that is also part of that. Notice the very next sentence in verse 4 of Revelation 20: "Then I saw the souls," the reason he saw the souls is this is before this resurrection in his vision, in verses 5 and 6, "I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." So these are tribulation saints. We've already talked about them. they'll also rule and reign for a thousand years with Jesus Christ. So all of the resurrected saints of all of the ages will be there ruling and reigning. Old Testament saints in their glorified bodies, twelve apostles in their glorified bodies, New Testament saints in their glorified bodies, tribulation saints in their glorified bodies all ruling and reigning for a thousand years on earth. On the earth. The very place that Satan once ruled, the very place that Satan is expelled from and incarcerated from for a thousand years, the saints will rule and reign.

Now the question comes up: well who are we gonna rule and reign? It says that we're gonna reign and rule with Him with a rod of iron. I mean, if all of these saints resurrected come on the earth, who's gonna be left to reign? There'll be a lot of people. remember, at the end of the tribulation there will be people who go into the kingdom from the tribulation in their earthly bodies. God isn't gonna kill all the 144,000 just so they can go into the kingdom age. They will go into the kingdom age in physical bodies. Every person who begins life in the millennium, whether in their fleshly bodies or resurrected, are all God's people. They're all in righteousness. But those who are on the earth will also be populating the earth. It says in Isaiah people will be born during the kingdom age and there will be longevity on the earth and a thousand years is a long time. So there will be people being born in the kingdom age upon the earth. We'll get back to that in just a moment but the point is this: the saints will reign. God's people will reign. In the millennium, kings, rulers, presidents, prime ministers, those in any political office, judicial office, in the media, running television, running social institutions, will be God's people. then there will be justice in the courts. Then there will be peace and harmony in the educational system. Then there will be honesty in the media. Then and only then. We are not gonna bring in the kingdom and present it to Christ. Jesus will do that and we will rule and reign with Him. We get part of the pie, part of the rulership.

I would also say that saints won't have to figure out what to do. being in our glorified bodies, we'll know how to carry out His will perfectly. We won't have to have committee meetings to figure it out. We'll know what to do in exercising His will. Third then there is the release of Satan. This sounds a little weird but it's here. Verse 3, it says, "But after these things he must be released for a little while." He must be released for a little while. Then in verse 7: "Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison". This is one of the imponderables of Scripture. Why, once God has him incarcerated, would He ever let him go? Why would He loose him? I like the way the founder of Dallas Seminary answered that question. He once said, you tell me why God loosed him the first time and I'll tell you why God loosed him the second time. Both of those are odd imponderables. And I think that they're both related. God released Satan to begin with because He gave men free choice and how can you give free choice unless you give two poles, two ideologies, two ways to choose. How can you say you've got free choice but I'll never allow you to choose anything but Me? That would not be loving, equitable, or just. So after the thousand years, he is released.

Now everyone who enters the thousand year reign of Christ, the millennium, will be righteous, will be a believer. It seems, the Bible indicates, that the day of the Lord, the tribulation period, takes care of all of the wicked. By the time the day of the Lord, the tribulation period, has ended all of the wicked upon the earth will have been destroyed. Isaiah chapter 60 says then will all of Your people be righteous and will possess the land forever. So those going into the kingdom, 144,000 Jews, righteous Gentiles who escaped the tyranny of the Antichrist, will be in their fleshly, physical bodies. They'll also enter into the millennium. They'll have a thousand years to have kids and populate the earth. Now when you have kids in your physical body, what kind of kids will you have? Will they be perfect children? Now I know you all think your children are perfect but anybody who knows human nature knows that anyone born in physical flesh has a flesh nature and is born a sinner. All we can produce, because of the depravity of man, the sin of Satan from the beginning, is sinful offspring with human nature which will have the ability to say yes or no to the reign of Jesus Christ. Though righteousness will be enforced with an iron rule, a rod of iron, and peace will prevail and utopia will prevail and all the weapons will have been smashed into plowshares, the human heart, the human nature, will still be present and will still be able to choose and ultimately, we see here, will rebel. Many will come to Christ; many will not. The point is this: people reject Jesus Christ not because of their environment so much as because of their nature. People sin because we are sinners by nature and by choice. Not because of environment.

Jeremiah was right and this will prove he was right when he said the human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked, who can really know how bad it is? Satan will rebel, causing a rebellion among the people by deception. And this sort of gets into the next section here and we'll explain a little more as we go. The revolt of society. It says in verse 8, he "will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them." First thing that Satan does when he is released is organize a war and deceive nations. You see, a thousand years of being in jail have not rehabilitated Satan---haven't changed his nature. And though some might say well God should give him a second chance, hey, a thousand years is a long time to think about it. Didn't change his character. He's still unrelentingly the devil. The deceiver. And he goes out to deceive the nations. You might say boy it's amazing to think that people would actively rebel against God. Not really, right? When Jesus came the first time, He was rejected. I mean, He lived, talked, walked among them, performed miracles they saw it and yet they received Him not. Now some people will say you know if you can change package the gospel in a very user-friendly, clever manner. If you can just package it right, unbelievers will come. What could be cleverer than Jesus in the flesh walking, doing miracles, around Galilee and Jerusalem? They had God in human flesh and yet they rejected Him. They didn't receive Him. Why? Because they loved their sin. That's what Jesus said. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Neither will they come to the light lest their deeds be exposed.

Another question that comes at this point is well if Satan is bound for a thousand years, how could people sin? How could people have evil thoughts in their hearts if there's no devil so that at the end of the thousand years would even join a rebellion? Don't you need the devil around to sin? No. You don't. Sin comes from the flesh. It comes from the flesh. Satan simply creates an environment that stimulates the flesh. If you remove the environment, you remove some of the stimulation but there's still the rebellious heart. Although we don't like to hear that. We like to say but it's not my fault. I don't sin because I'm a sinner by nature. I sin because of my environment or because of what's around me---these other people. they certainly add to it but sin lies in the heart of man. There's an article in a Southern California newspaper a few years ago called Rent A Jogger---it was an ad. Rent A Jogger. Here's the ad: Rent me for $1.95 and I will jog for you at least one mile a day, weather permitting, for the next year. That sounds hokey. A 45-year-old stock broker put it in and promised a certificate if you sent him $1.95 that would read this: Your jogger is securing for you the benefits of a healthful glow, extraordinary stamina, and exciting muscle tone and power-filled sense of total well-being. You know within a few days that the ad was placed, 322 people sent in $1.95 which more than covered for the expense of taking out the ad. I think when it comes to evil, we would like to rent a sinner. Rent a demon. Well the devil made me do it! The devil came into my mind. Now you don't need the devil, you've got a fallen nature. The Bible repeatedly, over and over again, says we are estranged from God by birth and that's why we need salvation. I'm not saying evil spirits aren't bad. They are bad. They are evil. They're powerful. But we sin because it is human nature.

You see, some people have said well good upbringing will always produce good offspring. Bad upbringing will produce bad offspring. If we just create the right environment, you'll always have no problems. And that's what we've tried to do in the United States: the right environments. The Minnesota Crime Commission released this as a partial reason for the rise in the crime rate: "Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it: his bottle, his mother's attention, his playmate's toy, his uncle's watch. Deny any of these and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness, which would be murderous were he not so helpless. If permitted to continue in this self-centered world of his infancy, given free rein to his impulsive actions to satisfy his wants, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist." Why is there crime? Why is there murder? Why are there alcoholism and drug abuse and sexual immorality? It's because of the evil heart of man. And even a perfect environment, even a thousand years of Christ ruling and walking among men, won't change the fallen nature unless the fallen nature of the person, unless that person decides I want my sins forgiven, I want to follow Jesus Christ by my volition. See a psychologist blames the problems on a behavior disorder, sociologists call it a cultural lag, minority groups say the problem is racism, the socialist says that it's class struggle, the rich and the poor, the Bible says it's the sinful nature of man and the only remedy is the new birth. That's why Jesus said to Mr. Religion himself, Nicodemus, unless you are born again, you will never see the kingdom of God. It's the sinful nature of man. That's why God stepped out of eternity, into time, 2,000 years ago, to deal with sin. That's why He came. You can't have an effective cure without an accurate diagnosis. And Dr. Jesus assessed the problem and the sickness of humanity and provided the remedy. A relationship with Him.

Add to this human nature, verse 8 and you have a recipe for problems. It says he, Satan, will go out to deceive the nations. There will be again a massive deception that will appeal to the fallen human nature. He deceives the nations. He's made his career doing this, deceiving. How does he deceive now? He spreads lies, false religions, false cults, false ideologies, philosophies, false doctrine, false security among believers. 2 Corinthians 4:4: the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. I should say false security among unbelievers. There are a lot of unbelievers who think they're saved because they have a belief in a god, a higher power, and they're blinded. They're deceived. The god of this world has deceived them. John said this in his last chapter of 1 John: we know that the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. The word lie means to lie like a boat, stranded, lying on a sandbar, it's stuck. Or an animal lying in a bog, a swamp, it can't move, it's stuck. We know the whole world lies, stuck, under the sway of the evil one. Satan has duped the world in history. He will dupe the world in the tribulation period and afterwards he will deceive those who give themselves over to it.

Notice in verse 8 it says that Satan gathers Gog and Magog to gather them together for battle. Now what's that all about? Well we don't have enough time to read all of Ezekiel 38 and 39 and discuss the similarities and the differences. I'm gonna let you do that on your own. Let me sum it up. Gog is typically seen as a ruler. Magog is the ancient grandson of Noah who settled in the regions north of the Black Sea, the area of Russia, and there is a battle that will come about in the future, as we look to the future. The battle of certain forces that would come down upon Israel and Jerusalem---the battle of Gog and Magog. Now some people say that chapter 20 Gog and Magog is the same as Ezekiel 38 and 39. Others say it's different. And people debate ad infinitum ad nausea over this issue. I'm not gonna get into that. There's gonna be some kind of rebellion, it could be Ezekiel 38 and 39, after this point, it's the only other reference to it in the Bible, or it could be a title, just like we would talk about today somebody's Waterloo. Not referring to the ancient historical battle of Waterloo. It's simply as a disastrous battle that they're on the verge of. It's a title. It's a summation of it. So without getting bogged down into that, let me just sort of sum this up practically by saying a couple of things. Don't underestimate the devil. He will not change. He is unrelenting. He is a skillful enemy. He has spent thousands of years studying human beings. He knows just how to attack. At the same time, don't overestimate the power of the devil. As so many Christians still do. the devil made me do it, the devil did this, the devil's under a bush, the devil's behind the door, bind the devil. And they're always worried about the devil instead of concentrating on Jesus Christ. The Bible says greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. Hey listen. Satan on his best day can't match Christ. So when Satan bugs you, have Jesus answer the door. Be clothed in His righteousness, in prayer, in the Word. Hide behind Him.

Know this, that Satan has limited powers, we see here, right? God's in charge. He puts him in prison, He releases him, and He ends his career. It's all under the sovereign control of God so Satan has limited powers and operates only by permission. Satan had to get God's permission and only up to a certain point when it came to dealing with Job. Satan had to get Jesus' permission for the demons to go into the herd of swine in Galilee. One time Jesus said to Peter, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat, but I've prayed for you. So sovereign control. And then finally, fifthly, we have the recapture of Satan. Verse 10: "The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone". Boy you don't hear those two words much in churches these days, do you? Fire and brimstone. Those have sort of been cut out of the Bible. "Where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." This is the recapture of Satan after his last fling, his last hurrah, his last stand, comes his doom. You might say comes his career change. The one caused so much hassle, havoc, suffering will be the one who receives hassle, havoc, suffering, pain.

Now Satan's judgment was assured at the cross, but it won't be till now that the judgment is finally meted out. The prophecy in Genesis that the Seed of the woman, Christ, would crush the head of the serpent, the devil, finally and fully happens here as he's cast into the lake of fire. Now let's just review this. Satan's penalty is delayed and comes in stages. In Revelation 12, he's cast out of heaven completely to the earth so he has no access at all to the heavenly realms, he and all of his demon hordes. Then, for a thousand years, he's incarcerated into the abyss. Then he's finally released and he's cast into, it says here, the lake of fire and brimstone which is a sulphur-like chemical fire symbolizing torment. He's there with his buddies, the Antichrist and the false prophet, verse 10, where the beast and the false prophet are. How long is he there? How long is hell? Is it temporary? Do you burn it off and then get out and you rehabilitate? It says here and I'm not gonna try to explain it away. It says day and night. That's continually forever and ever. Some will say are you sure hell is eternal? Well let me put it this way I'm sure that heaven is eternal. I'm sure that hell is eternal as much as I'm sure heaven is eternal because the same language is applied to both spheres. Heaven is a place where we live forever and ever. God is the One who lives forever and ever. And if you say that hell is not eternal, then heaven is not eternal either---neither is God. And then what are we doing here? Forever and ever. This is the final hell. This is the last place and this is the end of Satan's career.

By the way, hell was designed for the devil when he fell. It was not designed for people. People say how could God send me to hell? God doesn't want to send you to hell. You'd send yourself to hell. God designed heaven to be inhabited by people. This is what Jesus Christ said. He referred to hell as "everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels". But the decision is ours. God, who gave free choice in the beginning, will honor free choice. He would have to, to be equitable, to be loving. One person put it this way: hell is God's great compliment to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human choice. See God is very pro-choice when it comes to salvation. He won't force you to go to heaven. You think God's gonna say if you live your life on earth and say I don't want anything to do with God, you think God's gonna force you to be in heaven with Him? You wanted nothing to do with God and then you're gonna go to heaven? And I've heard this at funerals of unbelievers. Oh, he's passed away into eternal glory. He did? He hated God his whole life, wanted nothing to do with God, and God's gonna force him to be with Him all of eternity? I don't think so. God will honor choice.

So this is the devil's last stand and the devil's last destiny and all those who follow him are then mentioned in verses 11 through 15. And next week we'll talk about the two resurrections and the two deaths that are spoken about here. But reading this, little wonder, little wonder, why the devil hates the book of Revelation so much. And would hate messages like this being preached. Little wonder why the devil would keep the Bible away from people, why he would attack it so much and cause people to not read it, even Christians, to put it down and not read it in their devotions and to judge all things by it. There was a Soviet official years ago when Communism reigned in that part of the world and he was asked why Bible study was frowned on and why anybody who distributed the Bibles or produced Bibles were punished severely and he said, "We find that the reading of this book changes people in a way that's dangerous to our state." It's the same with the enemy---the devil, Satan. The devil has found that anybody who reads this book and believes in it, it's dangerous to his cause. It's dangerous to his state. In fact, he loves it if he can deceive a person enough to say there really isn't even a devil and hell is just here---this is heaven or hell! Well, he's laughing all the way to the bank with that one. This event ends the career of the devil as we know it and I want to say this. I don't think this brings joy to the heart of God. I think God's glad to see rebellion done, sin done, we all will, we'll rejoice. The universe will sigh a sigh of relief but remember when God created the devil; the Bible says in Ezekiel 28 that he was perfect in all of his ways from the day he was created. Isaiah 14 calls him Lucifer, light-bearer, son of the morning. God's most beautiful creation now ending in infamy like this. God's happy to get rid of the rebellion but this must pain the heart of God. So yes, like the London Tavern, the world has gone to the devil. But Jesus will come, hang up a sign "Under New Management", and though there will be a final rebellion, at the end of that it will be forever quelled. There will be no more death after this, no more sorrow after this. Back to the classic argument of evil. Let's go way back to that first thing we mentioned in the beginning. The skeptic who would say if God is all-powerful, He could destroy evil. If God was all good, he would destroy evil. Evil is not destroyed thus there is no God. First of all, that's an arrogant assumption. You are assuming that because evil is not yet dealt with, that it never will be. That's kind of arrogant to assume that, especially in the light of Revelation 20 when God says He will one day deal with it. Let me reframe the argument then. It becomes a validation for God. It goes like this: if God is all-powerful, He can defeat evil. If God is all good, He will defeat evil. Evil is not yet defeated, therefore God can and one day will destroy and defeat evil. And that's when all the prayers will be answered: Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

In Cincinnati, in the Cincinnati Post years ago in the Christmas edition, the editors decided to hand out a newspaper a little bit different flavor. They decided to take all of the bad news that usually is on the front two pages and put all good news on and put all the bad news at the end. And they said the newspaper has to tell the good and the bad news to be fair but he goes, why is it always out of proportion? Why do we always put the bad news on the front? It's Christmas. We'll put the bad news in the back, the good news in the front, and across the headlines of the newspaper just say Merry Christmas. You read the newspaper and go, man, what a great day! Look at this happened! And that---this is awesome! Then you get to the back page and you realize they just pulled a switcheroo. But imagine when one day all the newspapers in every city over all the earth will be righteous. Any would-be rebellion would be instantly quelled with the rod of iron and even the ultimate rebellion at the end of the thousand years led by Satan will not even really be able to get off the ground much. They'll be zapped from heaven. Then the eternal state comes. We get into that in chapter 21.




Additional Messages in this Series

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6/9/1996
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Good News from a Bad Place
Revelation 1:1-8
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6/16/1996
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Catapulted into the Future
Revelation 1:9-20
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6/23/1996
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When Love Grows Cold
Revelation 2:1-7
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6/30/1996
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Postcard to Those in Pain
Revelation 2:8-11
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7/7/1996
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The Curse of Compromise
Revelation 2:12-17
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7/14/1996
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Corruption without Discernment
Revelation 2:18-29
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7/21/1996
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Church of the Living Dead
Revelation 3:1-6
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7/28/1996
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Body Building - God's Way
Revelation 3:7-13
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The human body has become the obsession of our modern culture. Much like the ancient Greeks, people are madly trying to fit the contemporary ideal of what is an acceptable shape and size. The church is metaphorically called the "Body of Christ" and His desire is to see it built up spiritually. The church of Philadelphia is a good model of a healthy, faithful church. Their example provides for us a template to follow in building up the Body - God's Way!
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8/19/1996
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Taking Your Spiritual Temperature
Revelation 3:14-22
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Ever since we were kids our moms stuck thermometers in our mouths whenever she suspected that we were sick. If our body temperature of 98.6 had climbed up just a few notches, it was always a good indication that an unhealthy condition was present. There is also a spiritual temperature that reveals the condition of our souls, and when the thermometer reads Lukewarm it indicates that something is wrong; it indicates the presence of danger. Let's see how Jesus, the Great Physician, treats his patient with this malady.
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8/25/1996
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Peeking into the Portals of Heaven
Revelation 4
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9/1/1996
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History's Greatest Real Estate Deal
Revelation 5:1-7
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9/8/1996
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Worship His Majesty - Part 1
Revelation 5:8-10
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In heaven there won’t be just three services in the morning and one at night with a midweek tacked on. There will be no need to be sensitive to time so we can go to lunch. Words will not have to be printed nor projected. Worship leaders will have no need prompting people to sing. It will be an all-consuming experience that will involve our total cooperation and enthusiasm.
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9/15/1996
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Worship His Majesty - Part 2
Revelation 5:11-14
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9/29/1996
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Four Riders with Bad News
Revelation 6:1-8
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10/6/1996
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The Cries of Heaven and Earth
Revelation 6:9-17
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10/13/1996
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A Blessed Interruption in a Tough Time
Revelation 7
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10/20/1996
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Trumpets of Doom
Revelation 8
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10/27/1996
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When All Hell Breaks Loose
Revelation 9:1-12
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11/3/1996
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Angels of Mass Destruction
Revelation 9:13-21
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11/10/1996
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A Big Angel with a Little Book
Revelation 10
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11/17/1996
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Two Powerful Preachers
Revelation 11:1-14
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11/24/1996
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Light at the End of the Tunnel
Revelation 11:15-19
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12/1/1996
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The Panorama of Spiritual Warfare - Part 1
Revelation 12:1-6
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12/8/1996
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The Panorama of Spiritual Warfare - Part 2
Revelation 12:7-17
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There aren't many people who like to fight. Confrontation is something most would like to avoid. But in the spiritual realm it's unavoidable. The question isn't, "Will I engage in spiritual warfare?" Rather, the question is, "How well will I fight?" As we saw last week, the war in the heavens makes its way to the theater of the earth. Let's see what else it entails.
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12/15/1996
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The Coming Global Leader
Revelation 13:1-10
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12/22/1996
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Evil's Right-Hand-Man
Revelation 13:11-18
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12/29/1996
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The Lamb Who Shepherds His People
Revelation 14:1-5
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After all that john has seen in his apocalyptic vision, seeing the docility of a lamb standing with his overcoming sheep is a welcomed sight. Although the dragon pursues god's people relentlessly, although the beasts are bent on ruling the earth, the ultimate winner will be the lamb and his followers.
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1/5/1997
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Angels Set The Record Straight
Revelation 14:6-13
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1/12/1997
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It's Harvest Time!
Revelation 14:14-20
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One of the most common ways to make a living in ancient times was to "work the land." The early rains of October/November and the soft latter rains produced the wheat and barley harvest later on. Also, when vintage season began, almost the whole village could be found in the fields harvesting the crop. Such images would also provide a poignant way of depicting the final judgment of the earth, as in this section.
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1/17/1997
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Getting Ready for the Grand Finale
Revelation 15:1-8
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1/26/1997
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What's in the Bowl? - Part 1
Revelation 16:1-11
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We now come to the "seven last plagues" of God in the Great Tribulation that is coming upon planet earth. These judgments come in the form of "bowls" being poured out swiftly and completely-the judgment will be swift and thorough. Yet through all the mercy as Well as wrath of this awesome era, people will persist in having a hardened heart. Open your heart 'right now to these truths.
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2/2/1997
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What's in the Bowl? - Part 2
Revelation 16:12-21
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What will the end of the world be like? What are the final events just before Jesus returns and takes over to set up His millennial reign? That's what this section tells us. There will be increased warfare activity in the Middle East, massive deception, and unheard of destructive cataclysms on earth. In the midst of foretelling these events, Jesus has a word of encouragement.
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2/9/1997
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The Coming World Religion
Revelation 17
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It was Karl Marx who stated, no doubt cynically, that religion was the opiate of the masses. The fact is, he was right-it is! People are driven to worship something or someone. This desire will be exploited to the hilt in the Tribulation period and will be under the umbrella of the world dictator-the Antichrist. What are its roots and how does it end?
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2/16/1997
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Get out of Babylon!
Revelation 18
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Someone once said, "Money can't buy you friends but your enemies treat you a little better." Though meant to be tongue-in­cheek, that won't happen when the entire world economy collapses. God's shakedown of the earth will include everything that the Antichrist's kingdom will embody, from the sacred to the secular.
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3/2/1997
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Marriage Made in Heaven
Revelation 19:1-10
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3/9/1997
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The Return of Jesus Christ - Part 1
Revelation 19
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Even in the dome of our capitol in Washington there is an inscription which seems to point to the return of Jesus Christ. It says: "One far-off divine event toward which the whole creation moves." It is that event which we will be studying in the next two weeks. This is what all Christians of all ages have looked forward to - His return and reign of His creation.
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3/16/1997
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The Return of Jesus Christ - Part 2
Revelation 19
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Even in the dome of the capitol in Washington there is an inscription which seems to point to the return of Jesus Christ. It says: "one far-off divine event toward which the whole creation moves." it is that event, that Christians of all ages have looked forward to-his return and reign of his creation. We will conclude our study of the return of Jesus Christ, today.
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4/6/1997
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Paradise Regained
Revelation 20:1-3
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4/20/1997
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Life, Death, and Resurrection
Revelation 20:5-6; 20:11-15
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5/4/1997
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All Things New - Part 1
Revelation 21:1-3
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5/11/1997
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All Things New - Part 2
Revelation 21:4-8
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"It's like nothing you've ever seen or experienced before." That's how John describes the emotional experience of heaven. So that we can relate, he tells us that all of the pain, sorrow, and moaning we've endured here won't be there. By the way, only those who want to go there will go there. Heaven is not a destination by default, reservations are made here and now!
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5/18/1997
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The City of the Future
Revelation 21:9-22:5
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There is no architect or builder like God himself. Even the patriarch Abraham "was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." (Heb. 11:10) he didn't find it in his lifetime. "You won't find you're "happily ever after" here either, but the New Jerusalem will be God's answer for man's longing to live in a perpetually peaceful stare.
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5/25/1997
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He's Coming - Now What!?
Revelation 22:6-21
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There are 43 additional messages in this series.
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