Sermon Tone Analysis

Revelation #27

*Incarcerated Adversary, One Last Stand, and the Second Death*

*Revelation 20:1-3, 7-15*

 

We begin today two weeks of talking about the Millennium

 

*<Viewpoints> chapter 20*

Thus concludes what has been called the most controversial chapter in the Bible.

In the view of the /premillennialists,/ the golden age of peace and righteousness will not and cannot be realized until Jesus personally returns.

He will then bind Satan for 1,000 years and reign over this earth with a rod of iron.

The saints who rule with Him will be the righteous who have experienced resurrection earlier at His coming.

Satan will be given one last chance at the end of this time and will succeed in deceiving many people, but his rebellion will be supernaturally crushed and he will be eternally judged.

The /amillennial/ position takes the Millennium to represent the present age, extending from the First to the Second Advents of Christ.

Christ bound Satan (to speak symbolically) when He lived and died on earth long ago.

In the future, Satan will again be loosed to bring mischief upon the church, but the Second Coming of Christ will result in Satan’s demise and will issue in an eternal new creation devoid of evil, death, or any curse.

/Postmillennialists/ believe (when not agreeing completely with the amillennial interpretation) that there will be a future golden age during which Satan will be bound and peace and righteousness will prevail throughout the earth.

This will not be accomplished by the personal return of Christ, but by the power of the gospel preached through the church to all nations.

After 1,000 years (more or less) of this glorious arrangement, Satan will launch an abortive attempt to destroy the work of God again.

His judgment will be at the return of Christ, followed by a resurrection and judgment of all people.

[1]

 

Oh what might have been in Eden without our following Satan’s Leading

 

Well let’s cover the Good Bad news First and then next week focus on the Good Good News.

Ok?

 

*Read 20:1-3*

 

*1.

Incarcerated Adversary*

 

Remember that the Beast~/Antichrist and the False Prophet have been cast ALIVE into the lake of fire,

 

So … John sees

  A.

An Angel out of Heaven

    1. he has the key to the Abyss

      a.

the key was in Heaven --- God is in charge

      b.

remember that the abyss had a place of imprisonment and is even today for many perhaps most of the angels that fell with Satan in rebellion.

And they are released by Satan, under God’s permission, in chapter 9 at the sounding of the 5th Trumpet.

They came in the form of locusts stinging like scorpions for 5 months with power to torment but not to kill

      c.

now this angel comes with the key and an order for incarceration

      d.

/abussos ~/*ab*-us-sos~//  - /bottomless … unbounded … abyss, pit, the immeasurable depth/ – more about that later

    2.

he has a great chain

    3.

He seized– LAID HOLD (literal) – he grabs him … as it were by the scruff of the neck

    4.

“Him” – let’s make this clear – now under the direction of the Holy Spirit without a doubt … but … just as you, now after going through this much of the Revelation, have a greater disdain for Satan, probably, than you did before, so does JOHN --- so he clarifies and editorializes who he is in name, as well as character that there might be no doubt as to who he is referring as in this final book of the canon, all of who our earthly adversary has been is tied together in Satan, from the Garden to Armageddon there is one force of evil behind it all …

Remember that Jesus, the White Horse Rider has names in Chapter 19 too

Faithful and True

An Unknown Family Name

The Word of God

King of Kings

Lord of Lords

So the one we have known for all earthly time this wicked one is also named …

      a.

the dragon – we saw him thus called first in chapter 12 as the embodiment behind all of this alignment and the beast and his system, waging war against the woman, Israel, and battling with the angels in a great battle.

b.

that ancient serpent, - the snake of the garden, cunning and beautiful, seeking to bite and envenomate us with his evil

In light of This Revelation … I read Luke 10:19 a little differently --- it says “/I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy, nothing will harm you”/  … I don’t think this is talking about reptiles and entomology --- because they are NOT our enemy because our enemy is NOT flesh and blood … but rulers, authorities and powers or this dark world.

SO … we have been given authority to trample snakes and scorpions … this book describes the devil as a snake and his demons are seen as scorpions … we have AUTHORITY over the evil one in Christ Jesus … we need not fear him in any form … 

      c.

the devil – accuser, prone to slander, liar, every inclination of his heart is to LIE and to slander the name of Christ, and slander the name of his people … did you know that when we gossip maliciously, that is telling even the truth for the purpose of harm, we are devils … 1 Tim 3:11 – says that godly women, must be dignified, NOT MALICIOUS GOSSIPS,  … that word translated “malicious gossips” is just ONE Greek word … DIABOLOS … Devil …

‘nuf said

      d.

Satan – adversary

    6.

BOUND him --- YES the sentence for Satan was secured at the cross but God has allowed him to continue to work … He Still prowls, he still has teeth of a prowling lion … Some have tried to say that this is referring to the cross where Satan was defeated and that he was bound … Well Dr. James M Gray said “if Satan is bound today, it must be with a terribly long chain!”

If he is bound today why do we need spiritual armour, why are we told to be alert, aware, vigilant, he is still active

No he has been sentenced but his sentence has yet to be enforced fully by God … but the day is coming!

    5.

He threw Him into the Abyss --- OH can you imagine the ROAR that will erupt when Satan is grabbed, thrown and locked up?

I believe that the Redeemed of the Lord will SHOUT in Victory and how Hell must tremble at that fact, knowing that their leader is bound, hmmm I anticipate a tinge of joy among those deceived throughout history and duped into following, but it will be overwhelmed by the fear of their ultimate fate as well.

That they too will stand before God

      a.

The Abyss --- This is NOT Hell, nor is it Hades … there were Three places spoken of in scripture that are often defined in our English Translations as hell, and in our mind we often see them the same but they are not so.

Now some of you LIKE word studies and some do not but this is important distinction for us to understand

 

        1) Hell – as we think of it, as the final place for those condemned apart from God … is the lake of fire into which the Beast and the Prophet are thrown.

Satan WILL be going there too after his final defeat after the 1000 period.

But as of now … no human soul inhabits that place.

It has been called Ghenna which was a place outside of Jerusalem that was a trash dump where perpetual fires burned and “the worm never dies” because there is always decay to consume … That is an accurate picture of the final place of the dead without Christ … But … \\ We must understand the “underworld” more clearly from scripture.

2) Sheol – is a Hebrew word that is found 65 times in the Old Testament … now it is rendered in English different ways in the KJV.

– 31 times it is rendered “Hell”, 31 times “Grave” and 3 times “the pit”.

When the word is translated into Greek, it is singularly rendered as “Hades”.

That word is found 11 times in the New Testament.

But Hell as we think of it and HADES or SHEOL are not the same thing.

It is NOT the place of final punishment it is also NOT just the Grave … where the BODY lies.

As you look at these passages in the Old and New Testament you will find that Hades, Sheol are also NOT the Bottomless Pit or the Abyss, that great place of imprisonment …

Sheol is a place where the departed souls go after leave the body at death.

Hades, is BOTH the place where those in right relationship with God were BEFORE the Resurrection AND where those who are broken and without God go as well.

We know from the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus.

They BOTH died and went to Sheol, Hades … but it says that that Rich man in was in TORMENT and Lazarus was in Abraham’s bosom a far way off.

There is the place of Torment in Hades and the Place called Paradise.

It was and is an area of holding, and waiting for what would come next.

Those who had trusted in the Righteousness of God have been set free from the Paradise of Hades and are in Heaven.

Why do we know that … Because we know that Christ ascended to Heaven.

He led those captive by Hades, into the Promise of Heaven.

He did NOT descend into HELL.

He led those bound by the place of the dead that were the Righteous of Old into the promise of Heaven.

The Resurrection means that ALL as Paul said who are absent from the body are WITH the Lord …

        3) But I told you there were 3 places … another place in the underworld is the Hebrew word /Abaddon/  it means and is rendered DESTRUCTION in English.

It is found in Job 26:6; Job 28:22; Job 31:12, Ps 88:12, Pr 15:11; Pr 27:20 in all those it is shown connected to and yet different from Hades.

It is seen as a deeper, darker, even more forsaken place.

In Rev. 9; we have those demonic locusts, with serpent and scorpion characteristics, and they have a King who’s name is ABADDON, or Destruction then in English … Abaddon, the place of Destruction is the Abyss.

It is a place of “pre-hell” if you will a place of detention for the worst of the demons.

In Luke 8:26-31 the Demons cast out of that man from Gadara, beg Christ NOT to send them to the Abyss.

The Beast comes up from the Abyss in Rev. 11 &17.

Abaddon and the Abyss seem to be the same place and a place for  the demons.

Perhaps some of the worst of men are there today.

4) Hell is real but it is yet to come … That place is called /Tophet/ in the Old Testament passages like Isa. 30:33 and Jer.