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 Sermon > Revelation Lectures |
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Title |
Revelation Lectures(82) |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Revelation 20:6-10 |
Date |
2008-11-14 |
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Scripture
Revelation 20:6-10
[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.
[7] When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison,
[8] and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.
[9] And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.
[10] And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
After the misery of the 7 Year Great Tribulation, the Millennium Kingdom where the Lord reigns is unfolded.
It is the period without tears, sorrows, diseases, disasters, and dearth; there is only peace and happiness.
Those saved souls enjoy the glory with our Lord, the King, and live on earth along with the people of the flesh.
I explained to you about the life in the Millennium Kingdom in the last lecture.
Since many of you want to know more of the Millennium Kingdom, however, I will give you more details about the Millennium Kingdom.
Let's take a look into the city where the people of the spirit live.
I told you previously the God's children assumed the resurrected body and that they are the people of the spirit who live in cities that are separated from the people of the flesh.
There is a central city, and other cities which are like branch cities are on each continent.
In the central city, there are many rooms.
According to the rank and order, there are rooms for the Lord, the Holy Spirit, the prophets, and the saints; the location and size of the rooms are set according to the rank of the owner.
The location and size of a room reveals the rank in heaven, but the room is not as big as the house in heaven.
The rooms in the city are not formal rewards given to the saints; they are temporary places to stay in during the Millennium Kingdom.
Only a minimum amount of space is given.
For example, it is like that a wealthy man who owns a huge mansion staying in a hotel when he goes on a business trip or while traveling.
Furthermore, the people of spirit don't need a restroom, a bathroom, or a laundry room; all they need is an individual place of their own.
In addition, even if the room is not as big as the house in heaven, the size of the room doesn't matter to the people of the spirit who are in the resurrected body.
The concept of space is different from that when they were in the fleshly body, and thus they don't feel closed in or confined.
Even though there are countless saints who have been saved since the Creation, because they occupy only a minimum space, they can all fit in the city.
Besides the individual rooms, in the center of the city are a conference room, executive offices, and court rooms.
A court room is necessary when the people of the spirit make a judgment for complicated matters that come to exist among the people of the flesh.
There are no conflicts or lawsuits out of evil, however, it is necessary to set certain rules for mutual conformity and control when various people gather to live together.
Besides all these, there are many facilities that can be enjoyed in the spiritual space.
In the beginning of the Millennium Kingdom, the people of spirit can freely walk and travel outside of the city.
However, as time goes by and the number of the people of the flesh increases, their activity outside the city gradually becomes more restricted.
They don't walk as freely as they did in the beginning. With the exception of certain unavoidable situations, they later stay inside the city.
That's why the city is equipped with many facilities that they can use to enjoy, see, and learn the things of the spirit.
They hold feasts among the people of spirit, and they look back on the 7 Year Wedding banquet.
They also learn the knowledge of the spiritual world.
No matter what they do, they enjoy the thousand years without getting bored; they don't feel the thousand years as being a long time.
I also mentioned that in addition to the central continent city there are branch-like cities on each continent.
Among the people of the spirit, some in certain leadership positions are sent to each city, along with other people of the spirit who will help the leaders.
There leaders are people who were in the 4th level of faith, and there are others who were in the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st level of faith; they are given their own duties.
You can understand it easily when you think of the castles of the Middle Ages.
Inside a castle, there is the lord of the castle, and normal people live outside the castle. Inside the castle are the people who belong to the lord.
They are the family of the lord. There are also stewards, maids, subordinates, and others who serve.
Likewise, there is a man of the spirit who is in charge of each city. There are some people who have higher spiritual ranks, some of middle ranks, and others of lower ranks. They live together taking care of their own duties.
I explained that 'the people of the spirit reign for a thousand years' means they are as noble as kings when compared to the people of the flesh.
However, there is surely a rank and order among the people of spirit that is according to the extent that they had accomplished spirit.
And, different ranks decide different duties.
Of course, their duty is not a trifling job or a chore.
That's because the city is a spiritual space surrounded by the light; unlike the outside the city, there is no dirt, and there is no out-of-order trouble.
Now, as the number of the people of the flesh increases, the jobs that the people of the spirit should do also increase because they have to teach them and manage them.
In the beginning of the Millennium Kingdom, there aren't many people of the flesh, and thus the people of spirit have time to spare.
They can enjoy traveling many places with the Lord.
Of course, as I explained in the last lecture, (in the Millennium times) the earth doesn't have the same civilization or natural environment that existed just before the 7 Year Great Tribulation.
There are ruins left from the destruction of wars and disasters but other things that existed disappeared without any trace at all.
When the Lord restores at His word, He restores the natural environment that God the Father created.
He removes the pollutants and contaminants so that it is somewhat similar to the earth at the time of Adam (before the curse), only better.
However, the remains of civilization and the buildings and infra-structures are not restored.
What had been destroyed remains destroyed, and no traces are left of other things.
However, when you visit such a place that once existed, angels will set up a screen, and you can see its original structure through images on the screen.
For example, when you go to the site of the Pyramids, you can watch how they were constructed, and how they originally appeared.
Or, as you go on a pilgrimage trip, the Lord may guide you to the very place He conducted His ministry.
The paths of the Lord Jesus have vestiges of light even though long years have passed.
Through the screen, you can watch the buildings of those days and the exact situation at that time.
You can watch and learn about not only the history and the civilization of mankind, but also God's providence of the creation of the earth.
This is one of the reasons God has planned for the Millennium Kingdom; to let us know the earth where we were born and cultivated.
Since our home is heaven, and the earth, where we were cultivated, can be considered as our second home.
It is God's grace so that we don't miss or have any concern remaining about the second home.
Actually, there is a more important reason for this, but I'll tell you about it later.
7
I told you that not all people of the spirit would learn directly from the Lord when traveling and site seeing on the earth.
Those high ranked people of the spirit may hear and learn directly from the Lord, but not all the saved saints can do so.
They learn from those who hear and learn directly from the Lord.
In this way the Millennium Kingdom and heaven operate with very clear and strict order and system.
However, as some time passes, it is difficult to travel to many places of the earth any longer.
As the population of the people of the flesh rapidly increases, the people of the spirit stay mainly inside the city.
As needed, they go out from the city in a restricted manner to manage the people of the flesh.
Now, let's take a look into the life of the people of the flesh.
The Millennium Kingdom begins with very few people of the flesh.
In the previous lectures, I explained that there was a significant number of Israelis who survived in the fortress that God had prepared and they entered the Millennium Kingdom.
The number is, however, not so big.
Even though they fled to the fortress, some of them came out and died, and some others died in warfare with the forces of the antichrist.
Therefore, the numbers of people who survived is far fewer than those who originally fled to the fortress.
The reason I said the number is big is because the number of Israelis is quite large compared to the total population of those who survived the 7 Year Great Tribulation.
Since the total number of people who survived is very small, the number of Israelis is proportionately greater than that of others.
Of course, there are other survivors; to keep from receiving the mark of the beast some of them hid themselves deep in the mountains. Even some of those who received the mark also survived.
I believe you've heard that some people have prepared food in deep underground hiding places for the future nuclear war.
Among those who received the mark during the 7 Year Great Tribulation, some prepared this hiding place.
Very small number of them hid themselves and survived in such a hiding place when people killed each other.
Of course, not all of them survived even though they hid themselves deep in mountains or those hiding places.
Only a small number of people those in physical condition that is strong and who have exceptional vitality for life will be able to survive.
Therefore, the number of the survivors is extremely small compared to what might be expected.
On each continent, out of all those who hid in the mountains only a few people survived.
In addition, among the people who received the mark and hid underground, very few, not more than 10, survived on each continent.
If you add all of them up, just how many will there be left out there? There are just a couple thousand. (Less than 3,000)
You can easily imagine now just how miserable the 7 Year Great Tribulation will be, and how evil those who destroy each other will be.
By the way, I also explained that such a small number will rapidly increase by using the example of the number of people who finally made the Exodus from Egypt.
You can easily get an approximate idea through the case of Adam and Eve. Even after the Flood of Noah, the population has increased dramatically just through the family of Noah.
The population will be growing much faster then because there will be no disease and no death in the Millennium Kingdom.
Moreover, by the strength and power of God, they are not even badly injured.
There are four seasons like we have today, and the weather is different in different regions, but there is no extreme heat or cold anywhere.
The Polar Regions are not covered by snow, and there are no deserts.
The temperature of those places is just a little bit higher or lower than the most optimum for human beings.
For example, in autumn, the wind becomes a little bit cooler. Leaves fall and flowers drop their petals.
In this environment, the people of the flesh live happy lives. They build houses, make fire, and develop civilization in their own way.
They build things, make clothes, do farming, and marry.
Even though they build houses, since they don't have bricks or concrete, they use lumber or animal skins.
They have experience and knowledge of civilization, but they can live only primitive lives since conditions needed to utilize the knowledge don't exist.
For instance, when they produce clothing, utensils or vessels, they can't manufacture anything in a factory, or use machines to produce fine products.
Even if it methods are developed, it will be just like a family-oriented handicraft.
Another reason that civilization cannot become like that of the past is because there are no resources they can develop and use.
When the Lord restores the environment with His word, with the fertile land and clean water the earth greatly increases in the spreading of flowers and trees.
But natural resources such as coal, oil, and uranium are not restored.
After initially traveling by horse, they may be able to make carriages or wagons, but they cannot make a plane or a motor vehicle.
They may burn wood and make fire, but they will never make or use a kerosene stove.
They have this limitation, but the speed of the rise of their civilization is faster than that of the past.
Even though they cannot make full use of their knowledge, there is a big difference in having the knowledge of past civilization and having no knowledge of it at all.
In a boundary that God allows, the quality of living develops much faster than in the past.
Now, how will people understand each other?
In the case of those who survived in the 7 Year Great Tribulation, in the Millennium Kingdom, they continue to use their native languages they used to speak, English for example.
If they are Korean, they speak Korean.
People speaking the same language will gather together, and their descendants will speak their parents' language.
Since the number of the survivors is small, we can easily understand that there are not as many languages as spoken today.
Groups of peoples with two different languages speaking may understand each other through translation.
They may also learn foreign languages.
On the other hand, the people of the spirit speak only one language.
Their language is not like English, French, or German; they speak one common spiritual language.
We don't need to struggle to study this new spiritual language.
This is the original language that God gave to us, and we can learn it automatically.
However in the event that people of spirit must go out from one of the branch-like cities, they will use the appropriate fleshly language of that vicinity.
They should communicate with the people of the flesh by using the language that the people of the flesh speak.
Therefore, the people of the spirit who are dispatched to other continents are those who used to speak the language that was spoken in their respective continents.
For example, to the continent where the people of the flesh speak Korean, those who can speak Korean among the people of the spirit are dispatched.
From time to time when the people of the spirit who cannot speak Korean visit the region where people speak Korean, a bi-lingual Korean speaker will translate.
Basically, it is safe to think that there is no communication problem among the people of the spirit and between the people of the spirit and the people of the flesh.
Dear brothers and sisters.
The people of the spirit who are in the resurrected body don't change in their appearances.
They maintain the most active and beautiful appearance of a 33 year old man or woman.
On the other hand, the people of the flesh will grow old, even though they will not die of an old age.
According to the law of the flesh, aging will progress.
But unlike today, the aging is not fast but very slow.
When a child is born and reaches a certain age, the child will grow up at the rate similar of that today.
The child will soon walk and jump, and grow up becoming an adolescent.
However, in 20s' the aging progresses very slowly, and it is the same in 30s, 40s, 50s, and so on.
In other words, the aging takes place very slowly during the period of the thousand years.
However, as time goes by, the symptoms of aging appear such as the inability to conceive a child.
Therefore, people cannot give birth to children continually for a thousand years!
When people reach a certain age they can no longer conceive a baby.
In addition, they cannot bear 30, 40 or 50 children even if they live a thousand years.
Just like in older times, Koreans may have 3, 5 or at most 10 children.
In the beginning of the Millennium Kingdom, they give birth to a relatively larger numbers of children, but as the population grows, they have fewer babies.
All these new born people live in a good environment, but not all of them are equally healthy and wise.
Since they inherit the energy from their parents, there is a difference in adapting themselves to the environment.
Some adapt relatively well to the environment, but others do not adapt as well.
Even if there is no disease or death, according to justice, their health, wisdom, and characters are different from each other.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
Can you understand the life of the Millennium Kingdom more concretely?
When the peaceful period of a thousand years is up, and the earth is filled with people, a great incident takes place.
Revelation 20:7-8 says, "When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore."
When the Millennium Kingdom began, God confined the dragon and other evil spirits to the Abyss.
Now, at the end of the thousand years, God releases the enemy devil and Satan among the people of the flesh once again.
After a thousand-year-long confinement, when Satan comes out, the situation she finds is totally unacceptable.
The people of the flesh who used to be under her control now live like the lamb, and they worship God and the Lord.
They also obey and follow the people of the spirit as if they were their lords.
The enemy devil and Satan seize the control of the world again, and manipulate the people of the flesh quickly to receive their worship.
For a thousand years, the people of the flesh didn't have any evil thoughts and they didn't do anything evil, but it doesn't mean they didn't have evil attributes in them.
Those who survived in the 7 Year Great Tribulation naturally had evil attributes. Especially, those who received the mark of the beast once did terribly evil things.
Also, their descendants inherited the evil attributes in their natures.
They haven't come across situations that could provoke their evil because there were no evil spirits around for a thousand years.
I once compared the work of Satan with a radio signal.
Even though we cannot see them, there are many radio signals in the air.
Until we set the radio's receiver to a certain radio signal, no radio broadcast signal comes out.
Likewise, even when Satan tries to work with evil thoughts, if you don't have evil in your heart, you don't receive the work of Satan.
Furthermore, even if you set a radio to the receiver channel and wait, if there is no radio station that sends out its signal on that channel, you won't be able to hear any sound.
In other words, no matter how much evil a man has, if there is no Satan that governs evilness, no evil will be irritated. The man will live like a man of goodness.
Those who lived a life of goodness for a thousand years; they are rapidly stained in evil once Satan is released.
Satan doesn't work in the air as she used to. Satan manages the people of the flesh directly in the 1st heaven.
This way, Satan can stain the people in evil and control them all the more quickly and more strongly.
Even though Satan is released temporarily, numerous people are deceived in this period.
What kind of deception is it?
"Why can't we live an abundant life inside the city? Why should we live miserably like this outside the city? Why should we serve the people of spirit? We also want to be served and enjoy many things as we please."
Satan instigates the desire for fame and power so that the people of the flesh will have ill feelings against the people of the spirit.
Satan deceives some of them in leading positions so that they can gather together to rebel against the people of the spirit.
We will look into the continuing story in the next lecture.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
Revelation 22:20 says, "He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly "Amen Come, Lord Jesus."
Upon hearing this verse, some of you say, "The Lord should not come quite this early."
They say it because they are not prepared as a bride yet.
However, there are some who say it with a different meaning.
They say to wait because there many things to enjoy and they want to marry and raise children; this is why they say the Lord should not come so early.
What spiritual ignorance it is!
Food that is so delicious to the people of the flesh doesn't even have any taste to the people of the spirit who are in the resurrected body.
If you have been really poor and hungry, you could gladly eat even soup of bitter herbs. But, do you think you would enjoy it now?
It is the same in the fleshly world.
No matter how good and pleasant it is in this world, it cannot be compared with the happiness the children of God will enjoy after the Lord comes back.
I believe that all of you are diligently adorning yourself as brides because you know this fact.
I hope that you will diligently manage the rest of the year 2008 so that, as the Apostle John did, you too can courageously confess, "Amen Come, Lord Jesus,"
By doing so, may you not only reign in the Millennium Kingdom but also receive a higher rank, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I pray!
[Amen] |
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