Revelation 20 MirrorWord Bible Study

We meet every Wednesday at 8:00 PM CST to explore the life-changing truths of the MirrorWord Study Bible by Francois DuToit. Each gathering begins with a 30-minute teaching by Patrick Emery, followed by breakout groups where authentic conversation and connection flourish. Friends join us from across the U.S. and around the world, and everyone is welcome. It’s a joyful, faith-filled community, and we would love for you to be part of it.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Alrighty, here we are. We're getting to the end. And it's very interesting. Revelations, the 20th chapter, Mirror Word Bible. And of course, the we're looking through a different lens. And as I said before, I got on the meeting. It's again the revelation of Jesus. And it's back to the same old story: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. And Christ being the I am tree, destroying the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and setting everybody free. But anyway, here we go. And away we go. And I witnessed a celestial messenger. I was thinking about this today, and you know, when you think about everything, you could go back and change things, but a celestial messenger is a message, right? And sometimes, you know, people speak messages. Sometimes this the picture is the message, right? It's a celestial messenger. I witnessed a celestial messenger descending out of the heavenly sphere, the invisible sphere. And he had the key of the bottomless abyss and a great chain over his head. Now, you know, when you don't, when you kind of just blow over, which I have in many, many years, you think of the key, he's gonna open up, you know, the abyss, he's gonna open up this thing, and you know, the sh. But you know, I think the key is the incarnation. I mean, memory said, remember over in Matthew, I think it's the third chapter, I always forget third or fourth, I'm pretty sure it's 30 because he says, Land of Zebulun, Naphtali, the Gentiles of the Galilee, out of deep, dense darkness has come a great light. And remember in the Romans uh uh uh eighth chapter of third verse says, He came in the guise in the likeness of sinful flesh. His, you know, like Francois even says that in the commentary, his his uh ticket to the planet was through his mother's womb. So he entered our darkness, didn't he? He entered the bottomless abyss of where darkness reigned. And it says, in the great, and he had a great chain over his head. And we go back to the scripture, remember he said, you know, you can't, you know, throw a strong man out unless you bind the strong man first, right? And Jesus is Jesus is the one that bound the strong man. And then of course in the in the commentary here it says, uh just the first part of it says Ephesians 4.8, 9, he who descended is also he who uh see who he ascended is also he who descended in the lowest parts of the earth. Ephesians 4.9. The fact that he ascended confirms his vic victorious descent into the deepest pits of human despair. I mean, think about that. So to me, the key, I know he's got the keys of the kingdom, the keys, right, of this and that, but I think that one of one, and it could be many things, but I think one is incarnation. Okay, verse 2. And he overpowered the dragon. And I love this, in its every disguise. Remember in 2 Corinthians 11 14, in fact, it talks about Paul's talking about false apostles, and they're Jewish people. That's what he's fighting against. He says, he goes, well, yeah, they're false apostles. Even even uh Satan comes and presents himself as what as an angel of light. He's a deceiver, right? He says, in in its every disguise, the same tree, the same theology, the same worldly system, the do-it-yourself system, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, both secular and in the religious session, but it's the same thing, it's just different aspects of the same tree, in its every disguise as the old serpent or opus in the Garden of Genesis, also called the devil Diablo, or going under the name Satan, which is accuser, and chained him up for a thousand years. Now, a thousand years was confusing here, but I one thing I liked in the commentary here, because you know, we all, if you've studied uh if you've studied Revelations, it's always been, you know, oh, it's for a thousand years, and then, you know, and there's peace, and there's this great tranquility, and then all of a sudden, uh Lord, what did I do? Sorry. There's great peace and tranquility, and then all of a sudden Satan's let loose and there's chaos again. So there's where the thing is. I was switching my my view as I was going here. But anyway, but he says he's changed up for a thousand years. But what I thought was interesting is it says from David to Jesus is a thousand years. So it's a different way of looking at it. From David to Jesus a thousand years, he says in Revelation 3:7, which is quoting Isaiah 22 22, David prophesies the keys of David as prophesied in Isaiah 22, 22. Yes, I unlock the mystery of the heavenly dimension, and no one can shut the door, and I lock the entrance, and none of the old mindsets can access it. Now listen, the links in the chain are the prophetic words in the mouth of David and the prop and the prophets till John the Baptist. These words are already chained Satan to irreversible intention of God. Interesting thought. In other words, he's saying the thousand years is from the prophecies. Even in Psalms, remember Psalms 22 talks about the Psalms of the Cross, chaining him to the prophecies. We got a technical difficulty here. Yeah. Just hold on one sec. Should I just pause it for a second? So in other words, he's saying in the commentary, and there's theologians that believe this, that believe the thousand years is the prophecies of coming of the coming Messiah, chaining Satan to the prophecies of the coming Messiah and the keys of the kingdom. But, I mean, this is this confuses me somewhat, just so you're aware. He says, he then hurled him, the dragon, into the bottomless abyss. Remember in Revelation 12, 7, 9, says, remember the dragon, but Michael the Archangel threw him out of heaven? It's kind of the same thing here. He says, and he hurled him in the bottomless abyss, shut him up, and set a seal upon him. Remember, he's got a big chain, and thus made it impossible for him to continue to deceive the nations for the complete duration of the symbolic thousand years. He would then be let loose on the earth for a brief moment. Now remember, how does he deceive? I always say this because you know a lot of a lot of, especially evangelicals, the devil, the devil, the devil. They're always talking about the devil, the devil, the devil. The devil, if they just listen to themselves, the devil is stronger than Jesus. But the devil only has one weapon, and that's the point of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and trick you and resurp your own power, and just to trick you to deceive to believe a lie about yourself, believe your actions versus who God says you are. Alright? Anyway, let's see here. Verse 4. He says, I saw thrones, and those seated upon the thrones have been given judgment. And what is the judgment? Remember, Jesus took the judgment upon himself. Remember, we read that? It said, you know, you know, he says, how it says the the judgment, his judgment has come. He took the judgment. He said on the judgment. What's their judgment gonna be? It's gonna be righteousness, isn't it? They are the souls who did not worship the beast and his image and did not take on his mark in their forehead or on their hands, which means the word, remember back there? If you remember, it's character. I mean, in other words, if we believe a lie about ourselves, we take on a character with our actions and the way we do things. Not a physical, actual stamp. Okay, the system of the beasts discarded them because the system of the beast came against them, right? Because of the testimony of Jesus, that's the reason, and because of the word of God. Since they didn't fit into the religious mold, the apostle Paul on the on the road to uh on the road to Damascus. Remember, he got knocked on his, not off his horse, he got knocked to the ground, a bright light, and he said, Why are you persecuting me? He wasn't persecuting Jesus personally. He says, He says, Who are you? He says, I'm Jesus who you're persecuting. But Jesus lives where? In people, doesn't he? If they persecute you, by the way, they're persecuting Jesus. He says, and the system of the beast discard them because of the testimony of Jesus. The testimony of Jesus is innocence, forgiveness, righteousness, holiness, what God believes is true about you, not based on what you've done, but based on what he's done and who you are based on him. The beast system does not like that system. Because it's the opposite. They like you have to do to become, and always fail, and then there's accusation, and there's shame and guilt, and hide in the garden. You take a little leaf and put over your private areas. And because of the word of God, since they did not, they didn't fit into the religious mold. Does anybody here fit into the religious mold by the way? Don't think so. They are the living beings joined together in Christ's life, reigning from their joint-seatedness in the throne of the Lamb for a thousand years. Which is interesting, because remember, it says in Ephesians 2, 6, it says we've been co-raised and co-seated with Christ. You're co-seated now. And like in the commentary in France says this, you know, where we're trying to strive, we are already. It's like Adam didn't have to try to become a son of God, become like God. He was divine already. He was tricked into believing a lie about himself. And we've been tricked into believing a lie about ourselves. We're trying to get where we already are. We're trying to be who we already are by our own efforts. That's dumb. Just be. This is the first resurrection. Now, I'm gonna read a commentary because this is interesting. Because it says the words, but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished, were added at the time when the church claimed to be fulfilling the thousand years of Christ. In other words, it said, you know, people that are dead laid their dead. That's what it says in other versions. He's saying here, when the church they added that when they actually thought that it was a thousand-year millennium going on. It says the Synatic manuscript, remarkable as being the oldest as well as the for its completeness and accuracy, is the only Greek authority on Revelations antedating this fifth century, and it does not contain that uh clause, it doesn't say those verses. Isn't that interesting? Someone added it. You know, if you've read if you've been reading the mirror at all, sometimes people add things. Some people write notes in the transcripts and actually they become part of the transcript. And this and it's in Bibles, all in normal normal Bibles, and we think, oh, look at this. This is the scriptures. But some of it's been added by people. Not even like, I mean, wickedly or unintentedly, just all of a sudden someone's writing something after a while. People just add it into the text. Anyway, oh the verse 6, oh the blessed blessedness of this bliss. I love that. Say this, oh the blessedness of this bliss. This does mean ecstatic joy, intense joy. Celebrated what? In your redeemed innocence, your bliss, full blessedness, celebrated in redeemed innocence of what? Every single individual discovering our inclusion in this first resurrection as our own. His resurrection is your resurrection. His death is your death. He died your death and you've been raised with him. That's the scripture says. It's discovering that you died and you've been resurrected. Oh, the bliss of it. And what? Ascended with him, seated at his right hand. How does he do that? I don't know. But it doesn't matter. He does. Realizing that the second death has no bearing on them whatsoever. They will continue in their priesthood unto God and Christ, and they will co-reign with him over the thousand years. There is some stuff about the thousand years at the end of this chapter. I read it. There's some interesting stuff in there. Uh but I'll let I'll leave that up to you. Verse 7. The reign and priesthood priesthood will be fully established within the context of what? The vastness of the symbolic thousand years. In sharp contrast, then, only to emphasize the complete and utter defeat of the Satano system, which means what? The defeat of you have to do to become. You have to you believe a lie about yourself that you're not sons and daughters. That you are being condemned for not measuring up. That's what it is. He will be let loose very briefly out of his prison. And maybe that's when Jesus showed up, by the way. For commentary, for the abyss, the bottomless pit underworld, where he was imprisoned when Jesus went there to free mankind. Jesus came back with the keys. Remember. Revelation 20, verse 3. Okay. Verse 8. And his obvious strategy would be to what? Of course, to deceive the nations on a global scale, including the four corners of the earth by assembling Gog and Magog in war. Their number is as the sands of the sea. And I don't know what when I first came to the Lord, for some reason I took a left turn right into Old Testament prophecy, unfortunately. And I remember studying about Gog and Magog, and it's Russian, it's this and it's that. But it says again in the commentary, just briefly, every traditional Jewish concept of judgment is addressed. Gog and Magog is now brought into the convert conversation. Says Jewish eschatology viewed Gog and Magog as enemies to be defeated by the Messiah, which will usher in the age of Messiah. That's what they believe, and I'm not going to read the rest of it. Do I have verse nine? I'm gonna pause it again. I'm sorry, I've never had to do this before. Pause recording. So I got messed up because it says 12 7 at the top of my page, which is referring to Revelation. Okay, 20 verse 9. They will be spread across the earth and attempt to neutralize the queen bee pride. I love that. The queen bee pride uh bride of the Lamb by surrounding and besieging God's saints in the beloved city, then fire will pour out of heaven and consume them. Okay. The beloved city, of course, is probably Jerusalem. Again, the mindset of the satanic accusation and judgments are made a meal of. I love that. Made a meal of. In other words, fire, done. Yet another reference to the Great Supper feast celebrating the new covenant and the conclusion of the old. You know, I I ran across this this week. I just I gotta just read this if I can find it really quick. This is because I think it's so interesting. I was gonna actually put it in a I was actually gonna put it in a just put a little post, but I didn't. You know, this is listen to this. This is kind of interesting. This is Joshua 1, verse 1. It says, after the death of Moses, the servant of Joshua, the Lord, and everybody knows Joshua was his you know right-hand person, says the Lord said to Joshua, son of Nun, Moses' aide, Moses, my servant, is dead. Pretty obvious. He already knows that. I mean, he knows he's dead. Now listen this. Now then, you and all this people get ready to what? Cross the Jordan River into the land which I'm about to give you. I just love this. He says, All you people get ready to C-R-O-S-S, cross, the cross. Cross the Jordan, the cross into the promised land. Isn't that amazing? In other words, the cross is a turning point where you go into the promised land where the old is passed away and the new has come. It's the cross. This is the cross. Jesus Christ defeated the enemy on the cross. He defeated sin on the cross. He restored your life. On the cross is death and resurrection. He died your death. Isn't that interesting? He could have said, you know, go over the but this NIV says, cross the cross the Jordan. Cross. Cross. That's huge. You go through the cross to the promised line. Anyway, I'm gonna get on with my little spiel here. Verse 10. The devil, Diabalo, because of the falling away, who led them astray, will be hurled into the lake of fire and brimstone, where his puppet partner, the beast, which is probably the economic system of the of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the false prophet, which is the religious system, have already been confined to. Day and night, they will be subject to God's touchstone. Remember, the touchstone is something that checks for purity. For the ages and ages, the very atmosphere of the entire universe will be thoroughly what? Fumigated for me, the evidence of Satanos. Think about that. A world that's fumigated from all condemnation and guilt, from trying to be something you already are, and being content with who you are, not having to compete with other people. Isn't that interesting? And I saw a huge white throne, and it was and it was as if heaven and earth fled away from the presence of the one seated upon the throne. That's what they used to think of God. Mount Sinai, they heard the voice and they were terrified. Even Moses was thrilled. Please stop speaking. They told him, Stop speaking. Upon the throne, and its place was never found again. That great white throne where the presence was so scary that everybody fled was never found again. This means that there's no accusation in the heavens or upon the earth that can possibly stand in the presence of the Lamb. The one seated upon the throne of the judgment of the judgment of righteousness, which means two people finding likeness in each other. God finds likeness in you. When he sees you, he sees himself. And you're to see yourself when you see God. I am like him. Are you God? No. But you're divine and you're an image-bearer. His throne gives testimony to your redeemed equivalent. Is it is it uh Romans 4 25? He died because of your sin. He was raised because of your righteousness. If he wasn't raised, you wouldn't be righteous. But the resurrection is a demonstration that you are righteous, not your actions, his resurrection. Now, even though I always say that, actions have consequences and they count. That's why you try to be a good boy and girl. And the more you're hanging out with Jesus and right standing with God, your desires change. You don't want to do stupid things. Anyway. 12. Alright. Verse 12. And I saw everyone. This is very interesting, too. And I this is good, this is really good here coming up. And I saw everyone who ever died, small and great, standing before God. Now listen to this. And the books plural were open, and another book was open. Books, someone's someone, someone's uh not muted. Please mute. It says the books were open. Okay, books, and then another book was open, the book of life. It was another book. There were books and another book. The first volume of books represented mankind's judgment based on their own works. Verses. The book of life, which what celebrates the triumph of who? The Lamb. Next verse. Ready? This is good. Every domain where the dead were held yielded them up to be judged according to his work. The work of Jesus. Say, I have been judged according to his work. Praise the Lord. Isn't that interesting? I read another version that says there are works, but he he talks about that in the in the in the commentary. That is good news. Every domain where the dead were held yielded up to be judged according to his capital H-I-S. His work. The work of Jesus. Everyone was there, the sea yielded up its dead, and death and Hades yielded up their dead. Death and Hades. Remember how Iides. Blindness without seeing. Is that let me just stop and think about that one for a second? Being judged according to his work. I used to say this all the time. You know, I used to when I used to preach, and I still do, but you know, I'd get going, all of a sudden I said I'd say, Man, if there is a judgment, I always say this, I don't believe there is. But if there is, I can't wait. People look at me because I say, Yeah, I'm gonna walk up and say, You remember when I did this? Remember in uh Hebrews 8 12 he says he has no remembrance of sin? John, uh the first chapter on the 28th or 29th verse says, Behold the Lamb who takes Wait, what? The sin of the world? I said, what about this? He goes, What about it? I don't remember it. What about this? What about that? What about this? I don't remember it. Because he's taking care of it. They used to go, oh, this is a bad one. He's got to remember this. Nope, don't remember it. Because I'm being I'm you and I are being judged according to what he did. What he did. He's our savior. You're never your savior. Your works do not save you, good and bad. Jesus Christ saves you. I love that. The book of life is being, we're in the book of life being judged by his work. I know I beat that to death, but it's so good. And up in the commentary says, a singular atos, his work rather than plural, their works is in the text by Tish Norf. That's where he's citing that from. You know, that what I like about Francois when he does he does stuff that's different than other versions. A lot of times he'll go into what the word means in different ways of where he sees it to kind of justify why he changed it a little bit. Verse 14. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is a second death. Now think about that. Blindness being blind and death being cast into the lake of fire for purification to be getting rid of gotten rid of. The commentary here, the second death is not to distract from the once and for all death that Jesus died. Jesus died for all, and everybody was included in that. It was to endorse it. In the lake of fire, death and Hades are eradicated from memory. The first death, first death is the once and for all death that Jesus died, representing the global death of the humankind. Jesus' death took mankind's death in Adam out of the equation. Say Jesus took my death in Adam out of the equation. Good news. The idea of the second death has to do with the fact that the revelation of everyone's inclusion in the death of Jesus has not yet dawned on some, and we know a lot of people it has not dawned on. So it will take a crisis, often their own death, to immediately engage them with the symbolic cleansing from their unbelief represented by the lake of burning fire, which, in other words, purifying their minds to the truth of what happened. Verse 15, and everything that was not written in the book of life was poured into the lake of fire. He says, everything and not everybody. He says, What is cast into the symbolic lake ablaze with brimstone is not a person but a mindset, a distorted perception of identity. The authentic ID, ID, identification of the human life, is defined in the book of life. Or the tree of life. Either one representing the redeemed life of our design versus the alternate tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You're defined by either. You define yourself, but we're defined by the book of life. And that is the end. I made it