The Revelation 20:  

Reading #452  The end of sin

God’s “Future History” book now takes us to the time after the second advent and describes the events that will then take place on earth and in heaven.  With the transfer of all the righteous, living and dead, to be with Christ in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18) and all the survivors of the human rejecters dead at their own desire (Revelation 6:15-17), there is only Satan and his angels left alive on earth.  Now we see what God has in store for them.

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Revelation 20:

1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon [the seven-headed beast], that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3 and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more,

till the thousand years should be fulfilled:

and after that he must be loosed a little season.

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God does not use force on anyone, at any time, for any reason – so why these words?  Because what is going to happen will be the result of the circumstances, but God always takes the blame for it.  With all of humanity since Adam either still dead or now with Christ in heaven, the earth is described as “the bottomless pit” (the place of the dead), and in picture form the Spirit shows us the retribution for Satan’s rebellion.  He and his angels have no one to tempt or deceive anymore!  Not for a thousand years will they be able to do anything but complain AND ACCUSE EACH OTHER, for that is their nature and they won’t change even in the face of apparent defeat.  They have “chained” themselves.

However, they will be set free from their self-imposed prison by the second resurrection, which will bring ALL the human rejecters of ALL time back to life again. Then they will recommence their efforts in one final attack on the Son of God and His people, who will have returned with the City of God to witness the second resurrection.  We can be sure that Satan, who is a consummate liar, will tell his followers that the Person in the city and His companions are really devils in disguise, and that he (Satan) is the real Christ!!  He’ll probably say that all they need to do is exterminate them and the world will have a great time. (This is what the forceful Sunday-keeping leaders always say.)

But first, let’s look at what will happen to the people of God in heaven during the thousand years:

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Revelation 20:  

4 And I saw thrones, and they [the redeemed] sat upon them, and judgment was given to them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God [the martyrs], and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ [in His Father’s house] a thousand years.     

5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. 

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This is the time of the SECOND judgment – the time when Christ shares His knowledge with His saints regarding the disposition of the rejecters.  Every one of the redeemed will have questions regarding some of their family or friends who have chosen not to join in the wedding supper, and now they will be answered fully.  All will see and understand that to bring people with that attitude into heaven would cause misery to them – a place where others are considered more important than themselves would be to them worse than the greatest imaginable “hell” of popular imagination!  It will be by their determined and persistent rejection of MANY calls of mercy that each one has sealed their own destiny, and this will be made clear from the books of record.  The Son of God called and they refused, over and over again. 

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Revelation 20:  

This is the first resurrection [there are two of them]. 

6 Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death [the permanent one] has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

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Now is plainly seen the difference between the “sheep” and “goats”.  “When the Son of man shall come in His glory [for the third advent at the end of the thousand years], and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory [in the final judgment, which takes place on the earth].  And before Him shall be [physically] gathered all [the people of all the] nations [who have ever lived]: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left”.  Matthew 25:31-33.  (It’s a simple separation: sheep enjoy being led and protected; goats prefer doing their own thing.)  Because the sheep are under the protection of obedience to God from the last enemy, they will not be affected by the SECOND death. 

The first death (the physical one) will always be followed by a resurrection, as Jesus told us. “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [at the beginning of the thousand years]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [at its end]”. John 5:28-29.  There is to be no resurrection from the second death – it is a permanent separation from the God of life.

The “sheep” have become kings, and at the same time priests of the Melchisedec order (Revelation 1:6; 5:10), a mixture clearly separated in the Old Testament, where the priesthood and monarchy came through two different individuals at two different times, Aaron (about 1500BC) and David (about 1000BC).  Now together they come through Him who is both!  He is the Son of David by birth, and the Leader of the Melchisedec order by God’s word.  For more, see

 http://www.oocities.org/weprotest.geo/BibleReadings/gift_translation.html 

It is written:

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Hebrews 6:

17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise [His true followers] the immutability [unchangeableness] of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 18 that by two immutable things [His word and His solemn promise], in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.

19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil [of the heavenly sanctuary]; 20 where the forerunner is for us [already] entered, even Jesus, made a High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec . . .    

Hebrews 7:

12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law [of ceremonies, from earthly symbolism to heavenly reality]. 13 For He of whom these things are spoken pertains to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our LORD sprang out of Judah; of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood.   

15 And it is yet FAR MORE evident: for that after the similitude [likeness] of Melchisedec there arises another Priest, 16 who is made, not after the law of a carnal [earthly] commandment, but after the power of an endless life [the possession of immortality]. 17 For He testifies, “You are a [High] Priest FOR EVER after the order of Melchisedec”. [Psalm 110:4.]

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Now we come to the “little season” mentioned above in verse 3.

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Revelation 20:  

7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison [by the second resurrection], 8 and shall go out to deceive the nations which are [now] in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog [Satan and his followers], to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

9 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. 10 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.

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This experience is best described in the words of another prophet if we make allowance for the fact that it is written in the physical to illustrate the spiritual, and remember that “for ever and ever” means for as long as the thing would normally exist.

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Ezekiel 38:

1 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 Son of man [Ezekiel], set your face [prophesy] against Gog, [as a picture of Satan] [of] the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, 3 and say, Thus says the LORD GOD; Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: 4 and I will turn you back, and put hooks into your jaws [as prisoners of war were sometimes treated], and I will bring you forth [in defeat], and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: 5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: 6 Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with you.

7 Be you prepared, and prepare for yourself, you, and all your company that are assembled to you, and be you a guard [protector] to them [if you can].

8 After many days [years] you shall be visited: in the latter [last] years you shall come into the land that is brought back from the sword [by the third advent], and [whose inhabitants] is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste [in the past]: but it is [now] brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.  

9 You shall ascend and come like a storm, you shall be like a cloud to cover the land, you, and all your bands, and many people with you.

10 Thus says the LORD GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into your mind, and you shall think an evil thought:

11 and you shall say, “I will go up to the land of unwalled villages [the redeemed will be living outside the wall of New Jerusalem for the little season]; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, 12 to take a spoil, and to take a prey”; to turn your hand upon the [once] desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land . . .

14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog [Satan], Thus says the LORD GOD; In that day when My people of Israel dwell safely, shall you not know [see] it? 15 And you shall come from your place out of the north parts [as the old king of the north used to do], you, and many people with you, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: 16 and you shall come up against My people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land.  It shall be in the latter days, and I will bring you against My land, that the heathen [your deluded followers] may know Me, when I shall be sanctified in you [revealed by your actions], O Gog, before their eyes.

17 Thus says the LORD GOD; Are you he of whom I have spoken in old time by My servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring you against them?

18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, says the LORD GOD, that My fury shall come up in My face. 19 For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath have I spoken. [Remember that God’s wrath is His inability to protect against the desire of the one in danger.  By coming into the area close to God’s presence without a covering, Satan and his people are committing suicide, although they don’t know it.]

Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; 20 so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at My presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. 21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all My mountains, says the LORD GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother [it will be self slaughter as at the second advent.  See Zechariah 14:12-13.]  

22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood [but even then no one will change]; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone [this comes as the effect of God’s power against sin].

23 Thus will I magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD [but not in the way I would have chosen].

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It should be evident from those words that all this will take some time!  There are weapons to make and training required for the troops.  It is not a rabble mob which makes the final thrust, but a well-disciplined militia, and under a well-planned assault.  (There are many famous generals under Satan’s command.)  The “little” season (in God’s sight) will not be so short in ours! 

He says of that time:

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Isaiah 65:

17  “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18 But be you glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create [new] Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. 20 There shall be no more there an infant of days, nor an old man that has not filled his days [the righteous will all be at least a thousand years old at that time although enjoying everlasting youth].

For [yet] the child shall die a hundred years old [only rejecters will die in the second death]; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed [therefore the youngest rejecters will be at least one hundred years old before their second death!  Plenty of time to make weapons and prepare to attack the city.  Plenty of time to learn the truth and accept it, IF THEY WERE INTERESTED, but they are not].

21 And [in the meantime] they [the righteous] shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of My people, and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.

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While the rebels are preparing for the attack the gates of the city will be left open and God’s people will be moving in and out onto the area known as the “crystal sea” doing some daily chores. (Revelation 4:6.)  I’m not sure just how we will spend our time outside the city walls, but here God uses literal terms to show us that we will be living pleasant lives there. 

And He has told us that there will not be any babies in the Lake of Fire!  Those questions we have had about certain ones not having enough knowledge or time in which to choose will be answered during the thousand years.  God says that those who died soon after birth or in childhood with their rebellious natures unchanged will not agree to accept His gift of everlasting life even in the final judgment, for before Satan can fulfil his “evil thought” the army of rebels will be halted by the sight of the Son of God sitting on the throne of pure justice for that judgment.

It is written:

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Isaiah 60:

10 And the sons of strangers [Gentiles] shall build up your walls [new Jerusalem], and their kings shall minister to you: for in My wrath I smote you, but in My favour have I had mercy on you. 11 Therefore your gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring to you the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. 12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you [as a picture of Me] shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. 13 The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box [tree] together [symbols of the redeemed], to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious.

14 The sons also of them that afflicted you [the rebels] shall come bending to you; and all they that despised you shall bow themselves down at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you, “The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel” . . .

18 Violence shall no more be heard in your land, wasting nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls “Salvation”, and your gates “Praise”. 19 The sun shall be no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light to you: but the LORD shall be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory. [See Revelation 21:23-24.]

20 Your sun shall no more go down [in strength]; neither shall your moon withdraw itself [as they did at the Flood]: for the LORD shall be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended.

21 Your people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified.

22 A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.

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“Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it. Thus says the LORD GOD; I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock”. Ezekiel 36:33-37.  God says that one day some among His people will have such a strong desire to bring the controversy to an end for His sake that they will actually pray to Him to show them how to cooperate so that it can all be finished!

Now we come to the final judgment:

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Revelation 20:  

11 And I saw a great white [not blue] throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

12 And I saw the dead [from both resurrections], small and great, stand before God; and the books [of death] were opened: and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works [their choice].  

13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell [the grave] delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell [the grave] were cast into the lake of fire [nevermore to exist].  This is the second death.  

15 And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire [the area of power surrounding God’s throne].

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As we have seen before, the Son of God does not put the rebels in danger – they do this to themselves.  Before doing so, each one has seen their own lives and their choices, and all will admit that God’s justice is right and proper.  Here are some texts on that thought:

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Isaiah 45:

22 Look to Me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. 23 I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear [to My righteousness].  

Romans 14:

10 But why do you judge your brother?  Or why do you set at nought your brother?  For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written, “As I live, says the LORD, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God”. 12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.  

Philippians 2:

4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery [not a wrong thing] to be equal with God: 7 but [then] made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself [even further], and became obedient to death [Satan’s prison house], even the death of the cross.

9 Wherefore God also has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: 10 that at the name of Jesus [Saviour] every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.

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“In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of [new] Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the Angel of the LORD before them.  And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the [rebel] nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for [and with] Him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for [and with] Him, as one that is in bitterness for [the death of] his firstborn” [in this case, Lucifer].  Zechariah 12:8-10. 

“I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, says the Lord GOD”.  Ezekiel 18:32.

God has said the rejecters will receive their “wages” in the earth.  “Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner”.  Proverbs 11:31.  They “shall be stubble: and the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts”.  Malachi 4:1.  Some will be consumed as in a moment, while others will suffer longer, for all will be punished “according to their deeds”, or desire to hold on to sin. “According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; to the islands He will repay recompense”.  Isaiah 59:18.

“He that is unjust, let him [allow him to] be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him [allow him to] be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him [allow him to] be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him [allow him to] be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work [or desire] shall be.  Revelation 22:11-12. “For your shame you [the righteous] shall have double; and for confusion they [the rejecters] shall rejoice [agree] in their portion”. Isaiah 61:7.

The effect of the sins of the righteous having been transferred to Satan in the scapegoat transaction, he will suffer not only for his own rebellion, but also for all the sins which he has caused God's people to commit. His suffering is to be far greater than that of those whom he has deceived, because he is determined to hang on to his rebellious nature.  After all have perished who rebelled by his deceptions, he is still to live and suffer on.  In the cleansing flames the wicked will be at last consumed, root and branch – Satan the root, his followers the branches.  Then “the wicked shall not be: yea, you shall diligently consider his place, and it shall not be”; “they shall be as though they had not been”.  Psalm 37:10; Obadiah 1:16.

The justice and mercy of God is satisfied, and the saints and the entire angelic host say with a loud voice, “Amen” [“So it had to be!”]

Bye for now,

RonP

Some of the comments in these readings are adapted from books in my library. No recognition is given because they are not intended as authorities, but are used because they express my understanding clearly.  All the ideas expressed in these readings, right or wrong, are my own.  Some of these readings are available at

                              http://www.oocities.org/weprotest.geo/BibleReadings/books_index.html

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