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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
Revelation Lectures(80) |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Revelation20:1-6 |
Date |
2008-10-31 |
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Scripture
Revelation 20:1–6
[1] Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
[2] And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
[3] and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
[4] Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
[5] The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.
[6] Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
When the Lord comes back in the air, there will be the 7 Year Wedding Banquet in the air, while on the earth there will be the 7 Year Great Tribulation.
Wars, famine, extreme natural disasters, and environmental pollution will drive the earth into becoming a place where no man can live.
In this situation, the forces of the antichrist controls the world using appeasements and persecutions, but when the time comes, their authority finally comes to an end.
The King of kings, our Lord comes down to this earth from the air, and judges the forces of the antichrist.
The beast and the false prophet are thrown alive into the Lake of Sulfur, and their followers see their end and kill one another.
Now, a kingdom of peace is unfolded on earth where the Lord reigns with the saints for a thousand years.
This is the Millennium Kingdom.
Since the start of the Lecture on Revelation, many of you have been waiting for this lecture "Millennium Kingdom."
In fact, The Book of Revelation is very heavy and serious until the 19th Chapter, and it's not directly related to anyone who has hope for New Jerusalem.
The book is filled with the fearful and warning message for those who won't believe, and for those who befriend the world while professing that they believe.
But, from the 20th Chapter is the message about the Millennium Kingdom, the Great White Throne Judgment, and New Jerusalem, which has a direct relationship to us as the children of God.
It is full of light and hope; especially, the word about the Millennium Kingdom. It is is so exciting that it is as though you were watching a movie.
However, under no conditions is the account fiction.
It records what will truly take place before our eyes in the future.
I pray in the name of the Lord that the message that I deliver tonight may be deeply inscribed in your heart and that it may enrich your hope for heaven.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
After the 7 Year Wedding Banquet in the air, the Lord will again come down to the earth with the saints and with countless heavenly hosts and angels.
And the kingdom of peace will be unfolded over which the Lord will reign with the saints for a thousand years.
Right before this, the core forces of the antichrist - the beast, the false prophet, and the followers - are destroyed as I have said.
And in tonight's scripture from Revelation 20:1-3, there is the scene of an angel seizing the dragon and shutting it up in the abyss.
It means that all the evil spirits that controlled the darkness of the earth are bound and they can no longer carry out their work.
The abyss was explained in both the Hell and Genesis Lectures, but I will briefly explain it to you once again.
An "abyss" is a very deep hole in the ground.
In spiritual world, it refers to the deepest place in the darkness.
Do you remember the 2 triangles that I mentioned in the Hell Lecture while explaining the structure of heaven and hell?
From its base upward, the upper triangle has the (ascending) order of the Upper Grave, Paradise, the 1st kingdom, the 2nd Kingdom, the 3rd Kingdom, and New Jerusalem.
The higher the position, the closer it is to the Throne of God.
If we consider it symmetrically, there is also an inverted triangle descending beneath the upper portion, and it represents the spiritual world that belongs to the darkness.
From the base of the lower inverted triangle, it has a descending order from the Lower Grave, to the Lake of Fire, then the Lake of Sulfur, and at the bottom is the Abyss.
In this case the lower the position, the deeper is the level of darkness and the more fearful it becomes.
(Of course, as I told you before, these 2 triangles representations are not the actual structure of heaven and hell. I use this diagram just to help you understand the concept of their structure.)
The Lower Grave, the Lake of Fire, and the Lake of Sulfur are the places where those who are not saved among the descendants of Adam receive punishment according to their sin.
However, the Abyss is not for mankind, but it is a prison for Lucifer and other evil spirits.
No special kind of torture is made on Lucifer and other evil spirits in this place.
But, the fact that they are confined in the place itself puts pressure on them so that they suffer pain that seems more terrible than any other punishment in hell.
Such is the pressure that even though they not bound with anything they cannot move even their fingers.
Even in this world, when you climb up into the alpine regions, the big difference in air pressure gives you body-torturing pain.
It's not exactly the same when compared to the air pressure in this earth, but the density of each spiritual heavenly kingdom is different.
The density becomes torture in hell, and the torture reaches its peak in the Abyss.
Being confined in the Abyss itself gives more pain than the hotness of the Lake of Fire and the Lake of Sulfur in Hell.
The scripture says that an angel lays hold of the dragon, the serpent of old who is the devil and Satan.
You know very well that the dragon is not an imaginary creature that the worldly people say it is.
It does exist in the spiritual world, and before Lucifer rebelled against God it originally had encircled the Throne of God the Creator.
It had once been a gorgeous creature adorned with precious jewels and the form of the creature was once a vision of exquisite beauty with long shining hair.
However, the dragon betrayed God when Lucifer betrayed God, and it was confined in the Abyss along with Lucifer.
Therefore, inside the Abyss was originally for the confinement of Lucifer, her fallen angels, the dragon and other beast-like creatures that served beneath it.
As long years passed, when the time came, God began human cultivation.
Since the evil spirits were necessary for the human cultivation, God created the air in the 2nd heaven, and released some of the evil spirits there.
They were Lucifer, the devil, the dragon, and other beast-like creatures underneath the dragon.
These released creatures, the dragon and others, are called the evil spirits that have the power of the air and their servants.
They have the power over the air, and drive and lead the people of the flesh in the 1st heaven to sin.
That's why Ephesians 6:12 says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."
The dragon that has been released to the air, becomes one with Lucifer, manages its servants, and supervises the works of the darkness.
Satan conveys the thought and mind of Lucifer to the evil people so that they can have minds and thoughts of evil.
The Holy Spirit moves the goodness in our hearts and gives us strength so that we can accomplish the will of God.
On the other hand, Satan instigates the evil in people's hearts so that they can have evil thoughts and minds with evil.
And it is the devil that causes these evil thoughts to be put into action.
Some of the fallen angels that are under the control of Lucifer play the role of the devil.
Most of the fallen angels are confined in the Abyss and they cannot be released forever.
But a very small number of them were released to play the roles such as the devil and the messengers from hell during the course of human cultivation.
1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert for your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."
the devil watches for an opportunity, once it finds a person who accepts the work of Satan and allows it to enter into the heart, the devil then drives the man to put the thought into action and commit sin.
For example, if you think in your heart, "Why is he ignoring me?' and accept the work of Satan, your heart will soon rock with ill feelings and anger.
At this point, if you receive the work of the devil, the look on your face and expression in your eyes begin to change.
Your facial appearance will stiffen and Your eyes will eventually glare with a fierce scowl.
The tone of you speech also changes from soft to blunt.
Then, even though you don't' actually hit or kick someone, you are already accepting the work of the devil (that is displayed physically).
If the possibility exists that there is even one among you , I hope that there will be no one who continues to receive the work of the devil.
You should always see, hear, and think in goodness, and cut yourself off from the work of Satan.
Even when a thought of untruth sneaks into your heart, you should turn back right away so that it will not develop into the work of the devil.
Now, what is the serpent of old?
It refers to the serpent that deceived Eve and caused her fall in the Garden of Eden.
When the crafty serpent deceived Eve to commit sin, the serpent had been moved to act by Satan.
It appeared that it was the serpent that seemed to cause Adam to be deceived, but actually Adam was deceived by Satan.
It is in this way that Lucifer, the dragon, the serpent of old, and the devil manage evil together as one in one heart.
They work together as one with the same goal that Lucifer desires.
In Revelation 12:9 it says, "And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him."
Those evil spirits that have the power over the air for the period of human cultivation are driven out to the earth at certain time during the 7 Year Great Tribulation.
Unlike when the evil spirits controlled in the air, when they manage the evil in the earth, people are more rapidly stained in evil.
Since they are directly affected by the evil spirits, the people of the earth become more evil and more vicious than ever before.
And finally, when the Millennium Kingdom begins, God takes away the authority of the darkness.
An angel holding the key to the Abyss comes down with a great chain in his hand, and then he lays hold of them, binds them, and throws them into the Abyss and seals it over them.
"Binding in a great chains" has a spiritual meaning.
In order to seize all the evil spirits and their boss, the dragon, together this angel has to have such great authority.
The children of God have different spiritual authority.
The children of God should be able to destroy the authority of the darkness, but it cannot be done with physical fleshly strength.
For instance, you cannot control a demon by binding a demon-possessed man in a chain or by hitting the man.
Even when you bind a demon-possessed man with a chain, sometimes the man may use superhuman strength and break the chain.
But, when a man who resembles the Lord and possesses the spiritual power gives a command, the demon trembles in fear and goes away.
Of course, in order to completely drive away the demon, the demon-possessed man should completely repent and solve the root of the problem.
Anyway, demons have no other choice in this situation but to come out of the man and depart at the command of a man with true spiritual power.
Since the angel with the great chain in tonight's scripture is given such great authority by God, the evil spirits cannot but be bound.
However, this is not the end.
Revelation 20:3 says, "and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time."
At the end of the Millennium Kingdom, they are to be released for a moment to do their work.
I will come back to this work and explain it to you later.
Dear brothers and sisters.
When all the evil spirits are confined in the Abyss, no more evil comes out from the people of the earth.
Even though the attributes of evil are left in their hearts, since there are no evil spirits that control and stir them up they are quietly hidden.
No matter how evil and hot-tempered a person may be, when he has a conversation with someone that he favors, he will not get hot-tempered.
He can cover his evil, and he can act in goodness with a smile in his face as if he were a gentle person.
Likewise, during the period of the Millennium Kingdom, the evil that is left in the hearts of the people of the flesh don't come out.
All of them live in the authority of the Light.
Then, who will enter this Millennium Kingdom?
Among them are the people of the spirit who are saved, and the people of the flesh who survived during the 7 Year Great Tribulation.
(Here, the people of the spirit don't refer to those who are sanctified and come into the spirit.
They are those who are saved and participated in the Wedding banquet; they are the people who belong to the spiritual world.)
The first category of the people of the spirit is the souls who are saved through the Judgment of Conscience.
There are saved souls from among the people of the Old Testament times and from among the souls who died without knowing the Lord,.
When they lived on the earth, they are the people who didn't have a chance to hear the gospel and to accept the Lord.
Since they have hearts of goodness and upright hearts, if they had been given the opportunity to hear the gospel they are acknowledged by God that they would have believed in the gospel.
Such people can be saved through the Judgment of Conscience even though they didn't know the Lord.
They stay in the Upper Grave until the Lord comes. When they accept the Lord, they are moved to Paradise to stay.
The second category of the people who enter the Millennium Kingdom is the souls who came to know the Lord and accept the Lord since the New Testament times.
The third category is the souls that are raptured when the Lord comes back in the air because they accept the Lord and meet with the Lord when they are alive.
And there are some souls that will enter the Millennium Kingdom from among those who are saved through martyrdom by faith during the 7 Year Great Tribulation. They are those who will constitute the 4th category.
Even though they die as martyrs and are saved during the 7 Year Great Tribulation, not all martyrs enter the Millennium Kingdom.
Early In the Revelation Lectures I told you that there are two kinds of souls who die as martyrs during the 7 Year Great Tribulation.
One group is the souls who didn't know the Lord before, but later accept the Lord during the 7 Year Great Tribulation.
For example, they are the 144,000 bond servants of God and those who accept the Lord through them.
The 144,000 bond servants are specially chosen by God because of their good hearts.
Before the Rapture, they won't know the Lord; they've only heard about Christianity.
Then, while watching the situation after the Rapture, they come to know Jesus Christ and realize the Bible is true.
Then, they risk their lives to preach the gospel during the 7 Year Great Tribulation, and eventually die as martyrs.
Their faith in martyrdom is recognized and they enter the 3rd kingdom of heaven.
Those who accept the Lord through these 144,000 bond servants are different.
Among them are some who overcome the persecution and die a martyr's death, but many of them die as a result of wars or natural disasters.
They will enter Paradise.
Now, unlike these souls who did not know the Lord before the 7 Year Great Tribulation but accept the Lord later, there are other souls who know of the Lord before the Tribulation.
They already heard the gospel, but they didn't have true faith. They are the ones who lived the 'chaff-like' lives.
They bitterly regret when they witness the Rapture, and to be saved they die as martyrs during the course of various persecutions and tortures.
However, the number of those who are saved through martyrdom like this is very small.
That's because the persecutions are so severe that few are able to overcome.
Even if they barely die a martyr, they don't enter the 3rd kingdom of heaven; they stay in the outskirts of Paradise.
Even after the martyrdom, they cannot participate in the Wedding banquet in the air; they just stay in a separate place in the 2nd heaven.
When Revelation 6:9 says, "underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain," it describes this situation.
These people who stay in this separate place cannot participate in the Millennium Kingdom even after the 7 Year Great Tribulation; they have to wait until the Judgment Day.
Recall these facts, and take a look at Revelation 20:4.
It says, "Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years."
Who are the beheaded souls and who are those who didn't receive the mark of the beast?
They are those 144,000 bond servants of God who didn't know the Lord before the 7 Year Great Tribulation, and those who are saved through these 144,00 bond servants.
Unlike those who were chaff-like believers but later died a martyr, these servants enter the Millennium Kingdom along with those souls who were taken up into the air.
Now, among the people entering the Millennium there are also the people of the flesh.
Some of them are those who were not taken up into the air but fell to the ground; they heard the gospel before, and thus they don't receive the mark of the beast.
However, they are not courageous enough to die a martyr; they hide themselves from the persecutions during the 7 Year Great Tribulation.
The number of those who survive without receiving the mark of the beast is extremely small.
No matter how well they hide themselves, it's never easy to escape from the high-tech equipped search teams.
Only some of those who hide in deep mountains where no trace of human beings is left can survive without receiving the mark of the beast.
Most of those Israelis who hid themselves in the refuge that God has prepared, do survive, and they enter the Millennium Kingdom.
Among the people of the flesh who enter the Millennium Kingdom, there are some who survive even after they received the mark of the beast.
If they died during the 7 Year Great Tribulation after receiving the mark of the beast, they would directly fall to the Lower Grave.
They survive in the terrible disasters, enter the Millennium Kingdom, and extend their life span.
However, when Satan is temporarily released after the Millennium Kingdom, they are deceived by Satan and eventually stand against God.
I will explain about this later.
Revelation 20:5-6 says, "The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years."
Those who die without reaching salvation before or during the 7 Year Great Tribulation cannot participate in the first resurrection.
They receiving punishments while they remain in the Lower Grave, and after the Final Judgment, they fall into hell.
Until the Final Judgment, during the period of the Millennium Kingdom, they continue to stay in the Lower Grave.
Then, what is the second death?
The first death is physical death after people live on this earth and die at the end of their life span.
After this first death, those who are saved can participate in the resurrection, but those who are not saved come to see the second death.
The second death is being thrown into the eternal fire of Hell.
Those who are saved have nothing to do with the second death; during the Millennium Kingdom, they are the priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Christ.
You should understand this correctly.
Even among the saved children, not all of them reign with Christ in heaven.
In order to reign in heaven, it is necessary to enter New Jerusalem.
The souls of New Jerusalem are given a house that is like a castle which is equipped with magnificent facilities.
Countless angels minister to them, and the citizens of heaven love and respect them.
But the souls in Paradise don't own an individual house; they don't have personal rewards, and they don't receive the service from the angels.
They do live a peaceful and happy life, but they cannot be said to 'reign'.
However, regardless of their dwelling place in heaven, all the saved souls of the spirit reign with the Lord in the Millennium Kingdom.
It is a relative expression.
In means that those people of the spirit will live like a king during the Millennium Kingdom, compared to the people of the flesh.
Those people of the spirit who enter the millennium Kingdom have totally different look and glory from the people of the flesh.
The people of the spirit teach and manage the people of the flesh, and they are respected by the people of the flesh.
That's why the scripture says they reign.
In this way, during the Millennium Kingdom, the people of the spirit live in the earth along with the people of the flesh.
What is the life style in the Millennium Kingdom like?
Where will they live and what will they be doing?
We will look into this in the next lecture.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
From the Creation, the sin of Adam, the Human Cultivation, the 7 Year Great Tribulation, the Millennium Kingdom, the Final Judgment, and to the eternal heaven; all these are under the administration of God.
When God reveals the secrets that no human beings can understand, what kind of life should you live?
You should be able to discern a truly worthy life, and you should devote your time and energy to the eternal and true things.
Is the work that I do right now, the word that I speak at this moment, and the thought that I have in my heart; can these benefit me spiritually or harm me?
You should be wise enough to discern these things and then choose wisely.
In the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I pray that God may bless you to save time, and every moment to choose the way to a blessed eternal life!
[Amen] |
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