A New Earth
A Final Testing
While Satan, the Anti-Christ, and the wicked, are sealed in the Abyss, the
Saints of GOD reign with Christ on a new earth for 1,000 years. “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 1,000 years.”
Revelation 20:4.
Why
1,000 years? 1,000 years is really ONE DAY to GOD (see 2 Peter 3:8).
Man lives 1,000 years in perfection
to replace the ONE DAY of imperfection in Eden. And after that, Satan is
released from the Abyss. “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.” Revelation 20:7.
Why is Satan
released again? To test the faithfulness of perfected man. What kind
of tactic will Satan use? His most powerful tactic - Deception. What
kind of deception will Satan use? The same deception he used in
Eden. The Serpent will try to seduce the Saints by telling them they can
be “GOD.”
This is the LAST deception and the FINAL evil, Satan uses before he
goes to his destruction.
Note how Satan tries to pass on his
evil into
Creation. The desire to be “GOD”
was Satan's own desire from the very beginning as he coveted Christ's position
in Heaven. Now as Satan goes to his destruction, his LAST exploit is to
pass this same desire into others so that his evil will continue on and
on. This shows us that Satan is the ULTIMATE of ALL EVIL.
Those who accept Satan's offer will go into eternal perdition with him, for
whereas man previously sinned without
full knowledge, this Sin now will be committed with
full knowledge. Thus it is EQUAL to the Sin of the fallen Angels, who
originally sinned with full knowledge, with full intent, and under complete free
will. In other words, since man now Sins under the same conditions as the
fallen Angels did, he will share in their fate - eternal perdition.
