Revelation | May 8, 2026

Start your day with a short, Scripture-centered devotional from Paul Michael. In about seven minutes, you will hear the Word, reflect on its truth, and be encouraged to live it out in everyday life.

Revelation | The Millennium, Part 2

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Transcript

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Welcome to your daily devotional with me, PMV. We're coming towards the end of Revelation chapter 20. And I know last time I said we'd finish it, but I'm going to break it up just a little bit more. We'll cover a few verses in Revelation 20 today. And then next time we'll cover this theme of the great white throne judgment. I just didn't want to cram too much in today. So we'll cover some verses from Revelation 20, and then I really want to take some time to apply what we've been looking at. So turn with me to Revelation chapter 20. We'll begin as we look at this millennial reign of Christ. We'll begin at verses 7 and 8. Revelation 27 and 8. Now, when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. Okay, first, verses 7 and 8 make it clear that when Satan is released, his goal is the same as it's always been, to deceive. He cannot beat God in a power encounter, so he attacks God's creation with lies and deceit. As we have seen before in Revelation, the term four corners is not a reference to four literal corners or some flat earth theory. That's not what it's talking about. This is symbolic language used often in Scripture referring to the entirety of the earth, the whole earth. Gog and Magog is a symbolic point back to Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39, when God promised the destruction of the enemies of the people of God and the restoration of Israel. So Gog and Magog again are pointing back to Ezekiel 38 and 39. So the sad truth that I want you to see, though, is that after spending a thousand years in the earthly rule of Christ, there are some people who will still rebel and choose to follow Satan. Wearsby says it this way: a perfect environment cannot produce a perfect heart. I saw this when my wife Katie and I got to go to the Holy Land. We're in Israel, and you know, there's all this rich history, and it's where Jesus was and where he walked and where miracles were performed. But here's the thing: just because I was in Israel, maybe even in an exact spot where Jesus had been, maybe even when a miracle where a miracle happened, it didn't mean that everything just got easier. It didn't mean I didn't need to walk with God or pray or read my Bible or seek him on my own. Just being in that place didn't mean that everything in my life just shifted spiritually. No, I still needed to get up and read God's word and pray and seek his face and be obedient to him. Just being in that location didn't like kill my sinful nature and just transform everything. So just because you're in a certain place, it doesn't necessarily make you more spiritual. It has to do with the choices that you make. And so we will see that there are some who will even be in this earth during the millennial reign, they'll see Christ reign. And then when Satan is released and they have a choice, they will still choose to rebel against Jesus. Revelation chapter 20, verse 9 reads, They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. Okay, so these are the armies that follow Satan, and they're surrounding Jerusalem. And this is the capital city, so to say, of the kingdom of God on earth, as Jesus is reigning, and so they're surrounding the capital city, and there's again not a battle really. It's just they think there's going to be a battle, and God's fire falls and devours them. Second time, where the enemies of Christ have gathered, and there's no real battle. It's just done. God brings judgment on them. Verse 10 reads The devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. And again, we see devil and deceived three times in this passage. There's repetition here. We see the lake of fire. Uh, this is the second of the four groups that we talked about before that are thrown into the lake of fire. And then it says, forever and ever. Again, this is against the doctrine of annihilation. Uh, there is an eternity one way or the other. You're either with God forever in his presence, enjoying him, or you are suffering the wrath of God for your sins. You are receiving what you wanted, an eternity apart from God. You've rejected him, and now you're receiving an eternity apart from him. So that's all we're going to cover today because we kind of blew through the first part of chapter 20, and I want to make sure we have time for the great white throne judgment. So I want to just kind of apply, stop and apply some of the things that we've been talking about. Four points for you. First, Satan wants to deceive you, and he will do everything in his power to do so. I want you to understand that. That you have an enemy. I know, doesn't that sound so uplifting, but look, you need to understand that as you are going about your life day by day by day, you have an enemy that wants to deceive you, to derail you, to hijack your thinking. He doesn't fight fair, and he will do anything he can to get you into that stinking, thinking way of life. So you need to understand you have an enemy, and he is coming at you. The battle is largely in your mind, in your thinking. That's why we're also told to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength, to set our mind on things above. Now we have been given the mind of Christ, but we have to show up, put it to work, take every thought captive, walk in the victory that Christ has won for us. But listen, you have an enemy. He's coming for you every moment, but you also have a savior. He's already won the war. You know, it's funny to me, um, Satan, he just his whole scheme is built on deceit. And um honesty sometimes in life is just really appreciated. You know, if you're struggling and uh you're going through something, man, I encourage you to just reach out and talk to somebody. Tell them that you need help. It reminds me of a sign I saw as I was pulling up to stoplight in a busy city. There was a man that appeared to be homeless, and he was holding up a sign, and his sign said, will work for beer, and then in parentheses it said, At least I'm honest. I thought, well, true. Okay. You know, Satan doesn't come at us that way, though. He's always trying to see, he's always working in angle. But thank God we have a God who walks in truth, and thank God that you have brothers and sisters who hopefully you have a church family of people around you that can help you and want to help you be part of walking in truth. Second, just because you have a thought go through your head doesn't mean it's true. Just because you have a thought go through your head doesn't mean that it is true. We are told in 2 Corinthians 10 to take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus. Think about what you're thinking about. Pay attention. Look at your own thought life objectively. Is this good? Is this leading me into good thinking, into the things of Christ, or not? Take every thought captive. We have a culture right now that has elevated the individual self to the point of thinking that because we think something is true or feel something is true, or we have heavy emotions about something that we should just act on it. We've kind of lost this sense of objectivity, of stepping back and going, yeah, but is this good for me? And what will this lead me to? And how will this affect the people around me? And is this honoring to Christ? So, first of all, Satan wants to deceive you, he'll do everything in his power to do so. Second, just because you have a thought go through your head does not mean that it's true and that you need to act on it. Third, those who are deceived are still accountable for their actions. I'm gonna explain that just a little bit more in just a moment. Uh, it may not seem fair to you, but look, those who are deceived are still accountable for their actions. We see this in Revelation. They're deceived by Satan, but they still choose, they're following him, and they're held accountable for those choices they've made. The only reason they're able to be deceived is because they have first rejected the truth of God's word. If they were choosing to walk in the truth, then they would not be able to be deceived. So therefore, they're accountable for their actions. Which leads us to the fourth thing. God has given us a Savior, His Word, and His Spirit, so that we might walk in the truth. God hasn't just thrown us to the wolves and said, Well, I hope that works out okay. I hope you can navigate your way through that. He's given us his word, he's given us a savior, he's given us the spirit, he's given us all we need to live the life that he's created us to live. But it's kind of like if you have a day laborer that's told to dig a ditch and they're standing there in a ditch, and you give them a plastic spoon, and you give them a shovel, and then you give them a trench digger, and you say, choose one of the three. Well, if they choose the spoon, that's on them. They're not going to get very far. It's not gonna work out well. My friends, God has given us so much. He has revealed his truth to us. He loves us, he has given us his son. And the sad truth that we see in scripture from Genesis through Revelation is no matter how much God's love is on display, no matter how much God's power is on display, no matter how much God intervenes and calls us to himself, there are times when people will look at God undeniably seeing his power and his love and simply say no, and they will reject him. But God has given us this day as a chance to turn, to believe, to be changed. So every day that we live is God's grace. It is an opportunity to look to Jesus, to live, to be transformed. And I pray that you will make the most of this day. Thank you for joining me today. For more information, go to pnbministries.org. As always, I hope you have a great time.