WEBVTT 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:21.679 The phrase the beautific vision is a term that's used to describe the experience of seeing the Lord face to face, of seeing his glory. 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:26.719 It's what Moses would have experienced on the top of the mountain. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:32.079 It's what three of the disciples would have experienced in Jesus and his transfiguration. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:43.359 It's looking upon the resurrected Savior, not merely in his bodily resurrection, as countless did, but in his glorified state. 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:48.399 And the Bible says, when you see the Lord in his glorified state, you will be made like him. 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:50.000 That's 1 John 3, verse 2. 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:52.560 We know that when he appears, we'll be like him. 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:58.560 John goes on to say, perfect love drives out fear, and we'll see him as he is. 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:03.359 Jesus himself said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:15.920 He says that to the Pharisees, of course, so he's talking about more than the Pharisees' mere seeing of him incarnate there as he's preaching the Sermon on the Mount, where he said that, but he's speaking of a time beyond that. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:24.000 The pure in heart, those who've been declared righteous by God, purified, sanctified, will set their eyes upon Jesus in his resurrected state. 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:31.840 Hebrews 12, verse 14, Paul says it this way strive for peace with all men, without which you will not see God. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:35.680 Or he says it this way in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 12. 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:40.000 Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:41.680 And what a perfect picture that is. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:44.799 You look at the Word of God, and the Word of God is a mirror to you. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:45.920 It exposes your own sin. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:47.680 It's a window to God Himself. 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:49.920 But as you look at it, it's just so dim. 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:58.000 But the day is coming when the imperfect will fade away, maturity will arrive, and you'll see the Lord face to face. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:03.519 But often, even the phrase beatific vision, it can be more ethereal. 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:17.439 It can be, it gives a sense of, I don't know, this spiritual, uh instantaneous transfusion of God's glory that you experience once and then it's over. 00:02:17.759 --> 00:02:20.560 And that's not the way the Bible describes heaven. 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:35.039 The Bible doesn't describe heaven in that sense as something you enter in and at full blast you are now made perfect with no more growth or no more progress or no more varied ages to come. 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:53.919 The Bible describes the beatific vision as something that happens to you at a moment, but then has progress or then has uh growth or changes or ages or even the word the Puritans often use was dispensations, which has a different connotation now, but that's the way heaven was often viewed. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:03:02.319 Or Edwards himself would describe uh heaven as a series of ages or dispensations, one giving way to another forever and ever and ever. 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:09.520 A flood that keeps rising and rising and rising with new crestings of God's grace at every turn of the corner. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:17.280 For us, we experience these in I think the following order. 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:22.080 You know, we're here alive on earth, and if the Lord returns first, we'll be raptured. 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:25.439 We will go into the air to meet the Lord in the sky. 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:29.439 Those who have died in Christ already, their bodies will be raised from the earth. 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:35.439 Their Lord will bring back their soul with them, their body will be raised, the soul and the body will meet in the air. 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:40.560 Those who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, they will be caught up into the air to meet with them as well. 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:44.479 We looked at that last week, and they'll forever be with the Lord. 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:46.639 That's 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16. 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:53.039 The sound of the trumpet of God, the dead will rise first, we'll meet the Lord in the air, and we will always be with the Lord. 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:58.240 And so if you die first, your soul is immediately in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:10.639 You experience the vision of his glory there, you see him face to face, you stand before him at the Bemisy judgment, you're rewarded, and the Lord will return, bringing your soul with him. 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:20.240 Those who are alive will be raptured, you will be meet your body in the air, and then together the saints of the Lord will dwell with him forever and ever. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:29.839 But even after that, after you meet with the Lord and you receive your rewards at the Bemis Seat judgment, Jesus himself returns. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:33.680 And he returns to establish his kingdom on earth. 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:37.040 This is described in Zechariah chapter 14. 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:42.560 Behold, the day is coming, verse 1, for Yahweh, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:44.959 I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem. 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:47.920 So this is describing it not from the perspective of those in heaven. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:50.079 That's where Paul was going in 1 Thessalonians 4. 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:54.399 We're gonna see that the heaven perspective again later on tonight when we get to Revelation 20. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:59.519 Here Paul's describ uh uh Zechariah is describing it from the earthly perspective. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:03.680 So we're gonna see the same scene from the heaven's perspective in Revelation 20. 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:04.720 We're gonna go there later. 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:10.720 So here is the same scene as Revelation 20, but from earth's perspective in Zechariah 14. 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:22.959 The nations will be gathered together against Jerusalem in verse 2 to battle, the city will be taken, the house is plundered, the women raped, half of the city will go into exile, the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:26.480 Then Yahweh will go out and fight against those nations. 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:31.360 So God Himself comes, shows up to battle. 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:43.519 On that day, verse 4, his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem to the east, and the Mount of Olives shall split in two from east to west by a very wide valley. 00:05:44.079 --> 00:05:47.199 So one half of the mountain will move north and the other half south. 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:50.160 I mean, this is a very specific kind of prophecy here. 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:59.120 It's not Yahweh's gonna come fight for his people like he rides along the clouds with Isaiah's vision that he's gonna send the Egyptians to rescue them like uh he has before. 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:05.040 When it says he's gonna fight with his people, he's not talking about sending the angel of the Lord as has happened before, also. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:09.680 He it could be that if you just stopped in verse 3, but no, it gets specific. 00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:12.959 Yahweh himself, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:19.120 And you could think, well, that's even kind of a metaphor for he's gonna show his might, particularly on that mountain. 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:24.319 I don't know about that, because then it starts describing the mountain splitting and shifting. 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:28.240 Oh, yeah, but it's gonna the world will be divided over the return of the Lord. 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:30.480 Yeah, to the north and to the south. 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:36.879 And then you get to Ezekiel, and the water flows through that opening, is where the water's taken off. 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:40.160 Anyway, the mountains divide. 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:42.800 The people will flee in this battle, verse 5. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:51.759 The valley of the mountains will reach to Azal, and you will flee from the earthquake, as in the days of Uzziah the king of Judah, and Yahweh, my God, will come and all the holy ones with him. 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:57.439 On that day there will be no light, no cold, no frost. 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:01.279 There will be a unique day, which is known only to Yahweh. 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:02.720 Neither day nor night. 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:05.120 In evening, there will be light. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:07.759 And on that day, living waters will flow out of Jerusalem. 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:12.160 And we read Ezekiel earlier because I wanted you to understand this is not like a random verse in Zechariah. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:14.639 This is repeated in other parts of Scripture. 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:17.600 Half of them to the eastern sea, half of them to the western sea. 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:19.920 It will continue in summer as in winter. 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:23.120 Yahweh will be king over the earth. 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:26.800 On that day, Yahweh will be one and his name one. 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:32.319 In other words, the person of the Lord and his name and the people that are named by him will all dwell together. 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:33.839 He'll be the king over the earth. 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:40.720 In verse 10, the whole land will be turned into a plain from Giba to Ramon, south of Jerusalem. 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:48.800 But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site, from the gate of Benjamin to the palace of the former gate, to the corner gate, from the tower of Henael to the king's wine press. 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:50.720 Again, this is all described in Ezekiel as well. 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:52.160 It shall be inhabited. 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:54.560 There will never again be a decree of utter destruction. 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:57.040 Jerusalem will dwell in security. 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:08.639 You can read the rest on your own sometime, and it continues to describe some of the battle of Armageddon. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:11.360 You can flip in your Bible to Revelation chapter 20. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:14.319 As you're making your way, you don't need the page number for this one. 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:16.160 It's at the end of your Bible. 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:20.959 Revelation chapter 20. 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:24.560 I want you to think of all that's going to happen at that time period. 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:31.439 Isaiah 62 says that the day of the Lord, the coming of the Lord Israel, will begin, be married to God. 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:41.120 Isaiah 19, verse 23 says the Assyrians, which I take to be modern-day Iraq, and the Egyptians will worship together with a common road that takes them through Israel. 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:42.720 So imagine that. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:50.960 Uniting Iraq and Egypt and worshipers that are directed towards Israel, where the Lord himself reigns from Jerusalem. 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:57.919 Daniel 2 has a dream where the Messiah crushes the kingdoms of the earth and he reigns on the earth, the dream that has not been fulfilled. 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:03.519 Micah 4 describes a time where Zion becomes the center of the world and the nation stream to Zion. 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:11.759 Wars stop, not just in Zion, but globally wars stop, Micah 4 says, because the king is reigning from Zion. 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:13.440 The nation streamed to Zion. 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:16.320 As the water flows out from Zion, the nation streamed to Zion. 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:21.919 Isaiah 11, verse 10 says, the nations will rally around the Savior who is reigning in Jerusalem. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:28.080 Jeremiah 23, verse 3 says, God will raise up a shepherd who will shepherd his global flock. 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:31.759 Then during that time Israel will dwell securely in the land. 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:34.240 Jeremiah 33, verse 14. 00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:41.919 Scribes during the new covenant says, Judah, the specific tribe of Israel, will dwell secure and safely. 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:04.159 Yahweh's chosen Zion. 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:07.519 Of course he will establish his throne there for all generations. 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:16.720 Ezekiel 40, we read that for a scripture reading, describes a temple there, bigger than any temple that has ever been there before, so big that rivers flow out of it. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:19.200 Ezekiel 36. 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:22.720 We looked at that last Sunday night, or two Sunday nights ago, actually. 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:29.039 There's a prophecy to the mountains to let them know that the time is coming when their enemies will no longer trample them. 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:35.279 Isaiah chapter 9, verse 7 says, When the Savior reigns on the throne, the increase of his government will have no end. 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:40.799 Haggai chapter 2, repeated in Hebrews chapter 12, describes this as a future event. 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:43.279 Jesus will shake the nations. 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:47.120 The gold and the silver will come to Jerusalem where their king reigns. 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:48.559 So that's Haggai chapter 2. 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:59.759 And, you know, some say, well, that's spiritually a reference to the kingdom of Christ, the Savior comes, and now the treasure, Jesus is the jewel of the nations, and now the nations put their allegiance towards him. 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:14.080 Okay, I understand that, but Hebrews chapter 12 puts this as a future event where the nations are shaken at the coming of the Lord, and their gold and their silver flow towards Jerusalem. 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:17.039 Romans 8 says at this time all of creation will be renewed. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:19.200 Creation drones longing for this day. 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:20.240 It will be renewed then. 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:22.000 And we saw a little bit of that in Ezekiel. 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:23.600 The water is transformed. 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:26.159 The Dead Sea comes to life. 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:34.559 Hebrews chapter 2 says the Savior will return, bringing his city with him to earth to reign over. 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:36.080 That's incredible. 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:41.200 Zechariah 14, the Messiah will come with an army of angels to establish his kingdom. 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:44.240 We just read that earlier. 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:47.120 So that's prophecy about the kingdom. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:49.200 What does this look like from heaven's perspective? 00:11:49.519 --> 00:12:00.399 John, in the telling the vision of Revelation, is not merely regurgitating what had already been given through the Zechariah and many of the other so-called minor prophets. 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:06.799 John is giving the same events that they described, of course, but he's giving them from an entirely different perspective. 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:09.440 John doesn't know what's happened to him. 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:10.559 He's caught up in heaven. 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:12.480 He learned this back in Revelation chapter 1. 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:14.000 He's getting a vision of heaven. 00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:15.840 It begins with the letters to the churches. 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:19.440 So the communicator here is Jesus speaking to John. 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:20.879 John writes them down. 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:23.759 He gives those seven letters to the seven churches. 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:26.720 We look at one of them last Lord's day. 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:32.480 And now at the end of the book, well, after that, Revelation 4, he finds himself in the throne room. 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:42.320 He sees the animals walking around the throne room, the angels described in terms like descriptive of an animal, the strength and the wisdom and the power of the Lord. 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:43.759 He sees that. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:46.480 Chapter 5, looking for someone to open the scroll. 00:12:46.720 --> 00:13:01.440 Chapter 6, the horsemen go out and the apocalypse begins, the tribulation, the great tribulation, such as has never before shook the earth, comes onto the earth, described in chapter 6, all the way down through chapter 17. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:05.279 Chapter 18 is when that ends and Babylon falls in the book of Revelation. 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:06.639 And John is still in heaven. 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:08.080 You see this in chapter 19. 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:14.240 He's describing what he sees there in chapter 19, a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven crying out. 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:18.399 So now John's recording the singing in heaven as the tribulation ends. 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:24.399 The tribulation ends in verse 6 of Revelation 19 with the marriage supper of the Lamb. 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:28.639 And now the kingdom begins in chapter 20. 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:30.799 I saw an angel coming down from heaven now. 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:36.639 So this is how you know John is viewing this from the opposite perspective of Zechariah, who saw this from Jerusalem up. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:43.679 John is viewing this from heaven down, holding in his hand the keys to the bottomless pit in a great chain. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:50.639 He sees the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil in Satan and bound him for a thousand years. 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:52.639 So I'm going to give you a bit of an outline tonight. 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:54.960 It has like 15 points, by the way. 00:13:55.840 --> 00:13:58.480 I'm going to put them all on the screen at the end. 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:01.120 I didn't want to make 15 different slides. 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:03.759 So you have one slide with all 15 points at the end. 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:04.799 I think it's 15. 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:07.120 But if you want to try to keep up as we go, you're welcome. 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:10.399 And the first is that in heaven, there's no Satan. 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:11.600 There's no Satan. 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:14.000 And so the whole outline is going to be a list of no's. 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:16.399 The first one is no Satan, no devil. 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:23.039 It's interesting that this stage, this next dispensation, begins with the devil in the clink. 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:27.600 Jesus binds him through the angel. 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:33.840 He seizes that dragon, the ancient serpent, who's the devil, and he binds him for a thousand years. 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:38.480 He throws him, verse three, into the pit, shuts it, seals it. 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:42.879 So that he might not deceive the nations any longer until a thousand years were ended. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:45.519 After that, he might be released. 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:49.600 But he'll be released only for a little while. 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:58.480 In this thousand-year period, it's a time of tranquility on earth without the devil. 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:03.360 Right now the devil's roaming about, Jesus says, looking for people to devour. 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:08.480 But in heaven, he'll be bound, taken out of the game, no more roaming about. 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:13.440 The implication is that his minions are with him in custody. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:15.600 What is the earth like then? 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:17.279 Creation is no longer groaning. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:19.840 Creation won't be groaning through the kingdom. 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:23.120 Sin won't be destroying the world through the kingdom. 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:26.240 Isaiah 11, verse 6, the leopard will lie with the lamb. 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:28.799 The wolf will lie down with the goat. 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:31.840 You'll be looking around for your pet goat out your window. 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:35.919 Which is Americans don't have pet goats, but most of the world does, okay? 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:40.799 You'll be looking around for your pet goat out the window, and there's your pet goat, and you're like, oh, he's with the wolves. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:41.440 Phew. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:50.399 You know, we have, if you have a cat and your cat's out outside and the cat sees the fox, it's like showdown time. 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:51.600 You get nervous. 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:54.799 We had a coyote in our yard recently, and we're like, check the neighbor's dogs. 00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:57.279 The coyote was huge, looked like a wolf. 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:02.480 In the kingdom, you look out the window and you'll see the coyote, and you'll be like, huh. 00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:03.600 I hope you can watch my kid. 00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:05.679 My toddler wandered outside earlier. 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:08.559 Coyotes, watch my watch, Junior, please. 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:13.600 It'll be a time of a transformation in the animal world. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:18.960 Isaiah 35 describes what we saw in Isaiah in Zechariah 14. 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:20.320 Climate change. 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:22.799 The desert yielding fruit. 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:26.080 The Dead Sea becoming fresh. 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:35.279 Revelation 5, verse 10 says that when Jesus comes, he's going to bring the martyrs with him, those who overcame, and he will reign with them on the earth. 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:48.159 So people who are put to death by nations that were hostile to Christianity, hostile to the gospel, like those that received the seven letters, for example, those people who endured, who overcame, they're going to return to earth. 00:16:48.559 --> 00:16:49.679 So their souls are in heaven. 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:50.799 We see that in Revelation 5. 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:54.559 Those who are martyred, their souls are in heaven. 00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:59.600 They're going to return to earth and reign with Jesus over the nations. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.880 Revelation 2, verse 11 says, the one who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death. 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:09.519 Revelation 2.26, the one who overcomes will have authority over the nations. 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:12.960 And so even in the kingdom, there are nations. 00:17:13.039 --> 00:17:13.759 We mentioned that earlier. 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:15.839 Haggai says they're streaming towards Jerusalem. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:19.519 Hebrews 12 says their riches and treasures going towards Jerusalem. 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:25.519 Well, Revelation 2.26 says those who overcome this life will reign over them. 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:28.960 Revelation 3, verse 5, the one who overcomes will be clothed in white garments. 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:34.640 Revelation 3 verse 21, the one who overcomes will reign with Jesus on his throne. 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:36.960 That's what the thousand years are like. 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:39.839 People reigning with the Lord. 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:42.480 That's what happens when the devil is bound. 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:45.359 That shows you the reality of hell. 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:53.359 2 Peter 3, verse 7, by his word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 00:17:55.039 --> 00:17:58.319 And you see in the book of Revelation, the earth is going to be rolled up like a scroll. 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:05.200 Those who died apart from the Lord will be sentenced to judgment. 00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:07.519 We'll see that in a second. 00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:12.079 Verse 3, the devil and his demons are thrown into the pit, so he won't deceive the nations any longer. 00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:14.000 Verse 4, I saw thrones. 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:18.720 Seated on those were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:22.000 Paul references this in 2 Corinthians. 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:23.759 You're going to judge angels. 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:28.400 Believers have been given the authority to sit in judgment for angels. 00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:33.279 Angels are supposed to minister to us, so we are the ones that will be giving angels rewards. 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:40.799 Also, I saw the souls of those who'd been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image. 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:50.559 So this is speaking of the tribulation, who had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands, they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years because they're the missing category right now. 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:54.079 Those who died before the rapture, there were Jesus, of course. 00:18:54.319 --> 00:18:57.920 Those who were alive at the rapture, there were Jesus, of course, they're raptured. 00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:00.400 But those who died during the tribulation, what of them? 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:02.160 They had their heads cut off for the gospel. 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:07.359 You see them praying earlier in Revelation, crying out for vengeance from the Lord. 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:09.759 Well, now you see that their bodies are raised also. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:12.079 They're reunited in the millennium. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:15.279 They came to life, it says. 00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:17.200 I mean, their souls were obviously alive earlier. 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:18.079 Their souls never died. 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:23.119 Their souls were alive, their souls were praying to the Lord back earlier in Revelation, speaking to him. 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:27.680 But now they're reunited with their bodies. 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:30.240 And they'll reign with Jesus also. 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:34.880 The rest of the dead didn't come to life until the thousand years were over. 00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:36.480 Who's the rest of the dead? 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:38.480 The whole world died. 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:40.000 You just read that in Zechariah. 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:41.440 I mean, everybody goes down. 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:44.240 The Lord comes back and goes, He lures all the nations. 00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:47.279 When I preached the Revelation a few years ago, that's what really struck me. 00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:49.200 I mean, it's a great, it's almost a trap. 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:50.960 All the nations are lured together. 00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:53.519 The armies of the nations come, they've all turned. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:20:04.079 You know, you can trace the battle through the different minor prophets in the book of Revelation, how it goes north into Asia and then back down into Africa, and then eventually everybody turns on Israel and goes there. 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:08.960 And they're all wiped out, and they will be dead for the rest of the thousand years. 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:15.279 They're not going to come to life, verse 5 says, until the end of the thousand years were over. 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:19.519 But those who died in faith, they are resurrected. 00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:23.680 Verse 6 blessed and holy is the one who shares in this first resurrection. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:25.680 Over such the second death has no power. 00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:31.279 They will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:46.400 Those who are martyred in the tribulation will be physically resurrected and reign with Jesus for a thousand years. 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:21.599 Whatever the thousand years is, say it's 900 years, say it's uh four thousand years, I mean, I don't care, set that aside. 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:25.279 Whatever the promise is, people die for Jesus in his testimony. 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:32.319 And they're gonna be reunited with their body, and they're gonna reign over the nations in some period of time. 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:33.920 Whatever that period of time is, that's it. 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:35.519 That's a future stage. 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:42.000 But when the thousand years are ended, you get one more final rebellion. 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:50.240 Satan will be released for seven cents from his prison, he'll come out to deceive the nations that are the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog. 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:53.039 Gather them for battle. 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:55.440 This is the second battle of Gog and Magog. 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.759 Um when I preached this at the big church a few years ago. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.119 I titled it, Thou Shalt Have No Other Gogs Before Me. 00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:05.039 I'm still pretty proud of that title. 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:09.039 This is the second battle of Gog and Magog. 00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:10.720 Their numbers like the sand on the sea. 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:14.720 They marched up over the broad plain of the earth, surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. 00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:16.960 Fire came down from heaven and consumed them. 00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:25.119 The devil who deceived them was now thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever and ever. 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:31.279 So the next phase we go through reigning with the Lord in the kingdom, there's no devil there. 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:33.279 But then he's released for a brief period of time. 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:34.000 There's a final battle. 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:35.839 We don't even get any insight into that battle. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:37.680 It's so insignificant from our perspective. 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:38.799 It happens. 00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:43.599 It's important for those who have who are not resurrected that are dwelling in the kingdom. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:46.480 But then it's over. 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:47.359 Over and done. 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:51.440 No more devil for ever and ever and ever. 00:22:52.559 --> 00:23:01.119 Romans 2, verse 5 says, Because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you store up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. 00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:09.599 The end of the devil is the end of those who store up wrath for themselves on the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:11.920 The earth is going to be rolled up like a scroll. 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:18.960 Those who die apart from Christ will be undone, and the people who hold this earth dear will be brought to an end. 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:20.799 So there's no devil. 00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:22.559 Second, there's no division. 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:25.680 There's no division. 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:29.920 Verse 11. 00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:32.720 Earth and sky fled away from it. 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:33.920 No place was found for them. 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:35.119 You don't want to be here. 00:23:35.359 --> 00:23:37.200 If you're here, you're lost. 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:40.480 The dead, the great, the small were standing before the throne. 00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:41.680 The books were opened. 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:45.839 Another book was open, the book of life. 00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:49.440 The dead were judged according to what they had done. 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:51.759 You don't want to be judged according to what you were done. 00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:53.039 I don't care who you are. 00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:56.319 You don't want to be judged according to what you've done. 00:23:56.640 --> 00:23:58.480 The sea gave up the dead who were in it. 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:01.039 Death and Hades gave up the dead who are in them. 00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:08.480 So you know when Jesus led the souls captive from Sheol, as Ephesians 4 describes, he didn't leave all of them to freedom. 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:10.240 Only those who died in faith. 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:11.920 The rest were obviously still in Hades. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:14.400 They're not going to be given up until this instant. 00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:16.559 They'll be judged according to what they have done. 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:18.319 Then death and Hades are thrown in the lake of fire. 00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:19.200 Hades is no more. 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:21.200 Sheol ends at that point. 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:31.599 So even those who die apart from the Lord, they receive a resurrection body, but they only receive the resurrection body so that they can be thrown into hell. 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:34.880 This is the second death, verse 14, the lake of fire. 00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:39.119 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:42.240 I mean, that's everybody at this judgment. 00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:48.559 That gives away, though, to glorious news in chapter 21: a new heaven and a new earth. 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:50.400 The first heaven and the first earth. 00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:52.960 So now we're looking beyond the dispensation of the kingdom. 00:24:53.119 --> 00:24:55.279 We're looking past the thousand-year reign of Christ. 00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:57.039 There's something new even then. 00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:01.599 The first earth passed away, the sea was no more. 00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:03.759 That's what I mean by no division. 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:06.000 There's no sea. 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:09.039 The sea gives way. 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:11.119 See marks separation. 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:13.680 Sea marks the distance between the nations. 00:25:13.839 --> 00:25:16.799 Sea marks division, nation in nation, continent to continent. 00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:19.839 You know, and initially before the flood, there was only one continent. 00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:22.319 So the animals could move freely about the planet. 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:24.000 That's how they would get to the ark, of course. 00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:26.880 There was the division of the continents, didn't come until after the flood. 00:25:27.039 --> 00:25:29.279 The days of Peleg, even around the time of the Tower of Babel. 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:30.480 That's how the people separated. 00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:33.920 It was after the Tower of Babel, the nations begin to divide. 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:36.400 That's all going to be undone. 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:38.880 This is what I mean by the Bible's going back to the garden. 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:45.039 You get garden-like conditions in the kingdom, but then you get a garden-like topography in eternity. 00:25:46.559 --> 00:25:48.480 You have your resurrected bodies, remember. 00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:50.000 You're physically there. 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:52.079 You're walking on a planet. 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:54.160 There's food. 00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:56.799 Like you're you're delighting in eternity. 00:25:56.880 --> 00:25:59.039 You're delighting in the joys of this world. 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:02.160 In that sense, that we're made by God for his beauty. 00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:04.000 They're gonna be forever. 00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:05.839 Forever and ever and ever. 00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:10.799 The only thing missing, it's not the good thing that people say, is there coffee in heaven? 00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:14.960 Yeah, it'll be better than you think it is, too. 00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:17.119 Everything in heaven. 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:18.640 Better than you think it is. 00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:22.640 The thing that won't be there, you think of good things, you're like, will those good things be there? 00:26:23.119 --> 00:26:24.400 I mean, you're asking the wrong questions. 00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:25.920 What not what's not gonna be there? 00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:31.039 Division, separation, continence. 00:26:32.079 --> 00:26:34.079 That division will go away. 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:37.200 C is no more. 00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:38.240 Verse 2. 00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:45.200 I saw a holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven. 00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:46.720 Coming down. 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:50.319 And God had prepared it as a bride adorned for her husband. 00:26:50.559 --> 00:26:55.440 I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. 00:26:55.519 --> 00:26:59.680 He will dwell with them, they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:03.680 So there's a unity now as God Himself descends to the earth. 00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:05.519 This is the third Jerusalem. 00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:09.599 You know, we have the old city Jerusalem that's in Israel today. 00:27:09.839 --> 00:27:17.680 We have the Jerusalem and the millennial city, which we read about in Ezekiel, the river's flowing out of it, and now you've got this city. 00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:19.920 This is not the millennial Jerusalem. 00:27:20.079 --> 00:27:21.839 This is not the Jerusalem that's there today. 00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:23.039 This is a brand new city. 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:28.160 Jesus said, I'm gonna go work on a city for you, mansions for you, houses for you, however you want to translate that. 00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:31.200 He's coming back with a city that descends from heaven. 00:27:31.599 --> 00:27:33.279 He will dwell in it. 00:27:35.920 --> 00:27:40.799 And he'll comfort us, and we will be with him forever. 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:45.279 So that's what I mean by no division. 00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:50.559 Thirdly, there's no separation, there's no distance from the Lord. 00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:53.519 You know, now there's such a great separation. 00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:55.519 Sin separates us, of course, from the Lord. 00:27:55.599 --> 00:28:02.319 We sin and you know we're ashamed, and it's hard to call upon the Lord, but in heaven, there's no, that separation is erased. 00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:06.960 In heaven, there's a unity where there's the Lord is on the earth. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:09.279 You know, where where's Jesus? 00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:12.240 You go to Jerusalem and see him. 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:16.480 That distance is erased. 00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:21.200 And he dwells with his people forever and ever and ever. 00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:29.440 Fourthly, no separate I said there's no separation, no, no tears. 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:31.839 No tears in verse 4. 00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:36.559 He'll wipe away every tear from their eyes. 00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:39.200 He's the great comforter. 00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:45.759