“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was 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. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

The Revelation of the Reign of Christ

Last week as we entered into Revelation 19 we arrived at a distinct turning point. The bowls of wrath have been poured out, Babylon, the wicked harlot of the world has fallen, and now as the saints celebrate, we see the armies of the world and every bit of force that the beast could bring to bear against Christ destroyed in an instant, slayed by the sword of the mouth of the Word of God. Jesus is triumphant, His saints are delivered into triumph with Him, and the world faces the fate they have brought upon themselves. Throughout our read of Revelation we’ve had to consistently reaffirm our view, there’s been a persistent need to stop and make sure that we’re oriented properly, that we’re not becoming bogged down in the symbolic elements of the text, or missing the forest for the trees in the midst of teachings and theories around the end times. Riding upon the wave of the brutal and glorious victory of Jesus, this is a moment where unfortunately there can be a great pull for us to lose our focus. One mistaken path to wander down would be a similar mindset to what I’ve observed in many Christians who hold to a pre-tribulation return of Christ. Believing that Jesus will return for His people prior to Revelation 5, they can end up reading everything else with a detached quality – it’s a story that they won’t be present for, and so it doesn’t really apply to them and their interest can only be so vested. Likewise, there are those who will crest the mountain top of Revelation 19, see the return and victory of Jesus, and feel that they can coast. “The scary part is over,” they say to themselves in this caricature I’m depicting, “it’s all downhill from here, I can tune out a little and this will all be wrapped up soon.” Conversely, there are those who are still very much dialed in, to such a degree that in celebrating the victory of Christ they’re about to find quite a lot of individual trees to obsess about and fight over, forgetting that we’re in the midst of a vast and beautiful forest. But this book isn’t just about the return of Christ, the marriage supper of the Lamb, or Jesus’ absolute victory over the armies of the world and the beast – it is the revelation of Jesus Christ, broadly, grandly, inviting us to see and understand a multitude of facets of our creator, to glimpse and know more and more of the unknowable God through the Son who is His Image. What we read of today – the thousand year reign, the ultimate defeat of Satan, and the final judgment of God – are not matters to be glossed over, they’re not topics to be watered down through over-applied symbolism, or shied away from because we find them to difficult to reconcile. These are beautiful and wonderful things, things that add in accumulation to the glorious revelation of Jesus. So as we progress verse by verse into Revelation 20, let us continue with the same thirst and zeal that we have sought to carry throughout this wonderful book from Revelation 1:1. Let us see what there is to be revealed by the illumination of the Light of the world, and without excessive speculation or theory, look at what the beloved Apostle John was blessed to witness and write of, and seek that in our insight and understanding we would glorify our Father all the more.

1. The Revelation of the Thousand Year Reign

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.”

The battle of Armageddon will be without question the greatest battle in the history of the world – it is also the fastest. Everything that the world can bring to bear, all the sly cunning and wicked deception of the beast and the false prophet, all the remnant armies of the remnant kings that were once collected under the banner of Babylon – it’s all aimed at Jesus and His followers, and it’s all obliterated. The beast and his false prophet, those who were the guiding voices of the world’s great rebellion are seized and cast unceremoniously into the lake of fire, before the armies of the wicked, great and small, are slaughtered. In the immediate aftermath we see as Satan is seized and in this, we see a unifying statement that was first given in Revelation 12 repeated. Revelation 12:9 says,

“And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

It is these two statements repeated in Revelation that connect the dots across all of Scripture. Genesis never explicitly says that the serpent is the individual we call Satan, it simply refers to the deceiver as “the serpent.” Even the Hebrew word “satan,” doesn’t automatically refer to an individual, but translates as “adversary,” and it is used in multiple places for just that meaning. But what this one line, given in Revelation 12 and 20 does is unite and affirm an understanding that was already supported in context. It makes complete sense that the serpent who tempted Eve, the figure called Satan that we see seeking to oppose God in the book of Job, the one who is called devil at the temptation of Jesus, he who is called the “ruler of this world,” in John 12:31 and 14:30, the “prince of the power of the air” in Ephesians 2:2, and the “god of this world” in 2 Corinthians 4:4 are all speaking of the same figure, the same one who has been a liar and a murderer from the beginning, opposing and hating God in his broken rebellion – but Revelation removes any guesswork, tying everything together and showing us the fate of the enemy, who is seized just as easily as his followers were, bound and cast, not yet into the lake of fire, but into the abyss. This is the same word used from Revelation 9, referring to the pit that was opened, releasing the demonic locusts, as well as in Revelation 17:9, speaking of the pit that the scarlet beast was about to rise from. This isn’t Satan’s permanent place of punishment, but a temporary prison, a place of darkness where he is isolated to wait the thousand years. You may wonder why? Why is Satan placed here to wait for a time, why isn’t he just cast into the lake of fire now where the antichrist and false prophet already are? What we’ll see is that as with all things that God has ordained there is a purpose, and that can be seen if we look at Satan’s imprisonment alongside Christ’s earthly rule.

“Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.”

The coming rule of God’s saints is not something that Scripture has kept secret up to this point. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:1–4,

“When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?”

While this was written to admonish those in the church who were filing suits through the secular law to resolve disputes with fellow believers, it grants perspective on the calling we all have in our salvation – and this is something to make sure we clearly understand, because this passage applies to all who have been redeemed in Christ. The teaching of the Jehovah’s Witnesses (who aren’t Christians, but are a cult with certain doctrines that imitate Christianity), is that it’s only the 144,000 who rule with Christ during the thousand years, and that these aren’t Jews, but a chosen elect from within their church. How do they square that with what Scripture actually says? Fantastic question – it’s done through an ancient and highly popular process called, “making it up,” where you distort or completely revise what Scripture says to support your own narrative. But even completely setting aside blasphemous false religions, there can be some confusion around this passage from genuine believers. I’ve heard the theory put forth for example that those who will reign with Christ during the thousand years are only those who died during the tribulation. There was this idea that everyone who died at some point prior has essentially gone to sleep, and that they will be awakened at the final judgment. We’ll deal with the matter of the final judgment a little later, but concerning the matter of who is present with Jesus during the thousand year reign, Scripture seems to create a pretty clear picture if we don’t mix up what is being described. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:6–8,

“So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”

To be away from the body, to be removed from our flesh and blood is to be, not in some sort of spiritual slumber, but at home with our Father. Now, returning to today’s passage, we’re told that there are thrones and that the ones who sit on them hold the authority to judge. We’re then given two categories of people who are placed in authority – those who were beheaded, martyred for the testimony of Jesus and the word of God, as well as everyone who didn’t worship the beast, its image, or accept his mark. Now, I’m not trying to read too much into this or expand the text beyond its meaning and context, but that should be everyone who has been saved, and made new, all who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. Jesus says to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3:20–21,

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.”

There’s nothing to suggest that this is a limited group beyond those who have conquered in the name of Christ, those who overcame the world, not by their own strength, but by the overwhelming power of His redeeming blood. We read that the rest of the dead won’t come to life until the end of the thousand years, and again sometimes people will confuse what this is talking about and think that some believers are present for the thousand years while others are asleep and waiting for the end of Christ’s earthly reign. But it only makes sense that all believers are present for the thousand years, as we’re witnessing the first resurrection. This is what Paul wrote of in 1 Corinthians 15:54–55 when he said,

“When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’”

We have to remember that those who have been brough to life in Christ have already died – we are dead to sin, we are new creations in Jesus. This is why Jesus counters the Sadducees doubts about the resurrection by saying in Matthew 22:31–32,

“And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”

And Paul encourages us by saying in Colossians 3:3–4,

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

So the idea that any who have been raised to new life in Jesus are excluded from the first resurrection simply doesn’t square with what Scripture is saying – just as all Christians are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb, so too we all take part in the first resurrection and the thousand year reign. You may be wondering why there’s a thousand year reign at all, why after Christ’s victory at Armageddon things don’t transition from there to the final judgment – the interesting thing is that there are some people who hold the thousand year reign to be purely symbolic, and think that this is exactly what happens. But aside from requiring a very non-literal interpretation of what the Bible is saying, it also ignores what the thousand year reign highlights, as there are a few distinct things that are revealed by millennia of Christ’s earthly kingdom. First is that through it we can see again that God keeps His promises. Isaiah 9:6–7 tells us,

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”

When Jesus first came there were many who looked for Him to act as a political revolutionary, to overthrow Rome and establish the Jewish people in their kingdom. But this is not what Christ had come to do, His work was far greater than the rise or fall of any mortal empire, He had come to claim victory over sin itself, the eternal disease of man, and to reconcile us with God through His sacrifice. What the thousand year reign shows us is the beginning of what will continue on in eternity, of God ruling over His people lovingly and directly, instead of His eternal authority only being experienced spiritually as it is now. Secondly, the thousand year reign shows us the distinct hope of our own resurrection. The idea of heaven and eternity can be intimidating because it’s such a foreign concept to mortal minds, and it can be scary to try and fail to understand existing in a completely new reality, unstained by sin and ungoverned by time. In being made part of the first resurrection we’re shown a picture of what Jesus brought to us through the marriage supper of the Lamb, through this vivid example of being raised up to rule in Christ’s earthly kingdom we can set aside any anxiety around eternity, we can see and understand that we are truly loved, truly lifted up as one who is cherished – which is why it’s so crucial that we understand that this pertains to all believers. This isn’t some broad, inclusive, “all are welcome to come sit on the throne,” universalist situation – the narrow gate is still the narrow gate, and unfortunately there are still many who will reject the opportunity afforded to them to honor God – but as John 1:12–13 tells us,

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

We are His children, His co-heirs, and the thousand year reign begins the revelation of just what that entails from an eternal perspective. Finally what we can see from the thousand year reign is that the fallen world is still the fallen world. God is God – He owes us no explanation, no justification – He is fully right and righteous without any need to explain anything to us. And yet, throughout Scripture God gives us an incredible insight, He grants opportunity after opportunity for us to see the reasoning behind what He’s doing. While its application was many layered, this can be clearly seen in the Law and its sacrificial system. Hebrews 10:3–4 says,

“But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

Above all else the Law pointed to the desperate need for Christ, for God to intervene Himself and do what we never could – and the Law clearly shows the evidence that this iniquity is a gap we could in no way bridge. God could have skipped all of that, but if you take an honest look at humanity you can almost hear us saying, “Well that seemed unnecessary, you could have just given us a path to do this for ourselves.” The thousand year reign gives humanity their final opportunity, somewhere between 33 and 40 generations under the direct reign of Christ – which to be completely honest, depending on how you measure a generation it could be either, but given that 25 years is a standard used for genealogy and anthropology, what is essentially a cultural generation, the idea of God giving the world a full 40 generations under Christ’s direct Kingship is incredibly fitting. This is a final opportunity for those born in the aftermath of Armageddon, during the thousand year reign, to not only trust by faith, but to see the Risen King ruling in their presence. And this is why we see Satan sealed away for the thousand years instead of thrown directly into the lake of fire – he will act once more as tempter against the world. And what we see is that the corruption of man is perpetual on the face of the earth – we see the final proof for the irredeemability of the universe, and the final condemnation that man lays upon himself in their desire for the enemy over Christ.

2. The Revelation of the Final Rebellion

“And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.”

There is a logistical question that needs to be answered here, as to where this army comprised of these two nations came from. For some, they read the end of Revelation 19 and imagine that all living people on the earth are dead – the righteous martyred, and the wicked slain in their war against Christ. If everyone’s dead, then there’s no one to repopulate, meaning there’s no way to get this army of Gog and Magog, and so they say that this battle is actually the same battle of Armageddon we just read about being described again, and the thousand year reign is just symbolic for the events throughout church history. Now, I don’t want to strawman this, because if you dig into it it’s truly fascinating how events of Revelation can parallel with events in church history – I actually went through a whole series in my Sunday school class about how the parables that Jesus gives in Matthew 13 can line up with the seven churches in Revelation, which then line up with events throughout church history. It’s really interesting stuff and a very engaging theory around how God has used His Word to transcend time and connect events and prophecy throughout history – but ultimately, it’s just theoretical, and the leader who taught the class I was in humbly emphasized that. Applying any observable overlap between church history and Revelation to justify sweeping the thousand year reign of Christ aside as only symbolic is a huge overstep, especially if its main function is to explain away the logistical issue of where the army in Revelation 20 came from. If we read the text literally, that the thousand year reign is actually something that happens after Christ’s return, His victory at Armageddon, and the imprisoning of Satan there’s really only one logical conclusion, and that that everyone on the earth wasn’t dead in the aftermath of Armageddon. It stands to reason that everyone who had taken the mark of the beast “both great and small” were slain, but we’re not told that every enduring follower of Christ was martyred during the tribulation, and it seems perfectly reasonable to say that these people, now living in prosperous security under the reign of Christ and their fellow saints who had already passed, begin to have children and repopulate the world. Then let that unfold over a thousand years – just to throw some numbers at you, it’s estimated that from 1 AD to 1000 AD there were approximately 12 to 15 billion births, and from 1000 AD to 2000 AD there were approximately 50 to 60 billion. Either of these ranges gives you your global population, your nations of Gog and Magog, and your army that rises up against Christ and His saints for one final time. Now, aside from the origin of the army, the forest for the trees element here are the nations of Gog and Magog and, as with the antichrist, a whole lot of effort in trying to determine their identities. These names pop up much earlier in Scripture in Ezekiel 38:1–6,

“The word of the LORD came to me: ‘Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes—many peoples are with you.”

And Ezekiel 39:1–6,

“And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about and drive you forward, and bring you up from the uttermost parts of the north, and lead you against the mountains of Israel. Then I will strike your bow from your left hand, and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand. You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your hordes and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. You shall fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands, and they shall know that I am the LORD.”

Also, mentioning “Meschech and Tubal,” earlier in Ezekiel 27, as God lays out a lament for the prosperous city of Tyre, Ezekiel 27:13 says,

“Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded with you; they exchanged human beings and vessels of bronze for your merchandise.”

So, Gog in the land of Magog, a powerful collective of other nations, prosperous in all manner of trade, including human lives – think about that, and then think about what we just read about Babylon in Revelation 18, and then remember that the fallen and destroyed prostitute that is Babylon isn’t just a city, she’s symbolic of the entire world and the spirit that entices them to destruction. So the next time someone puts their serious face on and sits down to give you a detailed lecture on eschatology and how Gog and Magog really applies to Russian, China, Iran, or whatever nation they want to insert there, don’t let modern geopolitics coerce you away from what Scripture is actually saying (also, totally beside the point, but after all the cataclysmic events we’ve read about up to this point, and a thousand years passing, I would be really surprised if any of the nations that currently exist are still around). Gog and Magog represent the nations of the world – full stop. You don’t need to try to force anything more onto it, because that’s what we’re told and that’s more than enough. In a world that is fully presided over by Christ, these are all the nations, all the people who are devoted, not to their King, but to the world itself. They’re Babel, and Babylon, they are the harlot who glorifies man and seeks Satanically to place themselves above God, and so at the prompting of the enemy, at the enticement of the Devil, they jump at the chance to depose Christ, to tear down His righteous kingdom and raise their own in its stead… And it predictably doesn’t go well for them.

“And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city…”

If you feel like you’re having déjà vu, don’t worry, you’re not losing it, we’ve been here before, and the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:9–10 are once again shown to be prophetic,

“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, See, this is new’? It has been already in the ages before us.”

Just as the armies of the world following the antichrist mounted up against Jesus and His followers at Armageddon, we now see as, after a thousand years the armies of the world following Satan do the exact same thing. You may be wondering how – how could a world that is under the direct, physical rule of Jesus and His saints rebel immediately as soon as Satan was free to tempt them? But again, this is nothing new, this is par for the course as far as mankind is concerned. Remember that to the people of Israel God was not just their God, but their ruler. As they were delivered from Egypt it was His light and power that went before them, before the Exodus the people witnessed the plagues brought against the Egyptians, and in the wilderness they were given the Law, the manna from heaven, water from the rock, and God’s Spirit descending upon the tabernacle. They did not worship a far off, nameless god of human invention, but the true, eternal God of their fathers, whose presence was among them. But if you go 1 Samuel 8, you see as the people demand that they be given a king. 1 Samuel 8:7–9 says,

“And the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

And so Samuel tells them, strongly warning them that they have no need for a king, they have God and the Law that He has given them, there will be no benefit or prosperity from raising up a mortal ruler, only complications and strife. But 1 Samuel 8:19–22 goes on to say,

“But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, ‘No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.’ And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Obey their voice and make them a king.’ Samuel then said to the men of Israel, ‘Go every man to his city.’”

In this same way, the population of the earth after the thousand year reign has the glorious risen Christ as King among them, they have the saints ruling alongside their Saviour, there is a shining example in their midst, and has been for generations – and the very moment they’re enticed to rebellion they congregate to their own destruction.

“…but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was 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.”

This ties us back to what the angel told John in Revelation 17:8,

“The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.”

This was the great, scarlet beast that the prostitute of Babylon sat upon, the work and the spirit that both propped her up, and also hated her, that then became the driving force of Gog and Magog. You may wonder, so is the scarlet beast Satan, the antichrist, or the false prophet? In reality, it’s any and all of them. You have to remember that while the three are distinct and entirely separate, they’re sometimes called the “unholy trinity” for a reason. Satan is the ultimate embodiment and animation of evil, the antichrist is a man fully given over to and possessed by this, entirely rebellious before God, complete in his hatred of the Creator and his devotion to the enemy. The false prophet is again, a completely surrendered servant to the spirit of the world, and it is in this spirit that he deceives the nations, stirring their flesh to greater and greater hostility against God and His children. The three are individuals, but they’re carbon copies of one another from a spiritual standpoint, and so we see them suffer the same eternal fate – the first of the damned to enter the ever-burning lake of fire.

3. The Revelation of the White Throne

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.”

I’ve mentioned this before, but for a very long time, Revelation was a very scary book for me. As a child I was terrified of the rapture, of being left behind, and of eternity – the idea of existence without end was legitimately panic inducing. As a teen I reapproached the book as one might throw open the door of a closet that they once believed held monsters – sure that there’s nothing to be afraid of and eager to dispel old fears. But as I got past the seven churches I just got really confused, and if I’m honest, I still had all the same old fears lingering in the back of my mind. It wasn’t until many years later at a highly painful yet spiritually remarkable time in my life where God was tearing away at the façade I’d built and truly drawing me closer to Him, and I was reading my way through the New Testament that I anxiously arrived at Revelation again. This time was a different experience, this time, whispering the words of the book aloud to myself, the whole thing made much more sense, and what’s more, carried a resounding sense of peace. However, one point of brief confusion occurred when I arrived at Revelation 21:1,

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.”

We’ll obviously talk more about this next week when we’re actually in Revelation 21, but it gave me pause because John is telling us that the first heaven and earth have passed away, and I started backtracking because I realized I had no idea when that had happened and it seemed like a strange thing to overlook. It’s certainly reasonable that we could expect the end of our entire known existence to be a grand event, but if we really stop and think about what we’ve seen from the “battle” of Armageddon, and the attempted “war” on the part of Gog and Magog, this actually makes a lot of sense, because the end of everything happens, not through some painstaking process, but in an instant. 

“From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.”

That was it – God steps forward, He comes in all authority as the righteous and holy judge, and the universe that is stained by sin can’t bear His presence. This is what Peter wrote of in 2 Peter 3:10,

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”

It’s not that the universe can’t stand before God and so it just goes somewhere else – there’s nowhere to go, the Lord has come, the day of His judgment has arrived, and all reality as we currently know it is dissolved into nothing. If this is at all disturbing or unsettling to you, please take heart and know that this is only bad news for the one who is at war with God. C.S. Lewis states a sort of theory in his book “The Great Divorce,” a work in which he makes it quite clear that it’s meant to be taken as symbolic and fantastical, and in no way a literal description of heaven or hell. Regardless, the theory, which I’ve found fascinating is that, to the one who is redeemed in Christ they will look back from eternity to see that it has always been heaven, and to the one who has rejected Christ they will look back from eternity to see that it has always been hell. While again, this isn’t to be taken entirely literally, I find it so fascinating because there is at the very least a clear grain of truth within the idea. To those who have rejected a personal relationship with God, the approach of the white throne means that their world, which was all they had – and if we’re honest, was a dark and hopeless place in the absence of the Light – was just erased. What was once a state of separation, but one with an open door and a sincere invitation into a relationship, is about to be replaced with an eternal separation, held in place by locked gates. What was once a bitter taste of hell has now become their only meal for all eternity. On the other hand, for the one who is redeemed in Christ, for the one who has already died to the flesh, who reigns with Christ in His earthly kingdom, the arrival of the white throne has just wiped the slate clean, and what is about to replace it is an eternity without sin, glorifying God in His presence. What we see in the approach of the white throne and the One seated on it is a serious and sobering thing – but it is also glorious and wonderful, it is the righteousness of God poured out in His judgment, to the great anguish of those who have hated him, and the eternal reward of those who are His children.

“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.”

There is a strange misconception surrounding the final judgment. First, just going off of what we can clearly see, it is specifically stated that the dead stand before the throne, and it’s clear that this is applied broadly. The language concerning the “great and small” mirrors Revelation 13:16–17,

“Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.”

 And Revelation 19:17–18,

“Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, ‘Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.’”

Just as the mark was broadly accepted and the defeat at Armageddon encompassed everyone from kings to slaves, so now all are judged, with none spared based on stature or status. What we’re witnessing is the fruition of the warning given by the third angel in Revelation 14:9–10,

“And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”

For every person that looked at themselves and justified their own actions, who thought themselves “good,” they are now faced with the reality of Isaiah 64:6, which says,

“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

But for those whose justification lied not in themselves, but in the Rock of Christ alone, there is a vastly different fate.

“Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

It’s telling that there are books devoted to the dead who are judged, but only a singular book of life. Now, you could read that and think that this applies to the narrow gate, that the population of hell is vastly greater than the population of heaven, and while I’m willing to have that conversation, I don’t think that’s the most likely explanation for what we’re reading here, because we need to consider what is written in the books. Look again, for the dead, they are judged according to what they’ve done, this is a record of deeds – or rather misdeeds, a highly detailed catalog of every transgression that each and every person who has died in their sin has committed against God. But for the living, those who have been raised in the first resurrection, who have already died to their flesh and graciously accepted the saving power of the blood of Christ, what do we have written? Our names – just our names. The books of the dead are records of their sins, the book of life is just a list of names because we have no sin – not by our own works or virtue, but by the blood of Christ. And this brings us to the misconception that I mentioned earlier – I’ve heard it said many times and with great confidence that both righteous and wicked will face judgment before the white throne, and this is simply not true. Paul writes in Ephesians 1:7–10,

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in him.”

And John writes in 1 John 2:1,

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

If we have been truly forgiven, if we have an Advocate before the Father for any mortal stumbling, what sin are we to be judged for? If we who have been fully redeemed by the all-sufficient blood of Christ, the One who completed the word on the cross to eternally unite us to Him, how are we to claim a barrier of sin to exist?  Now, to flesh out the other side of this as far as why anyone might think that there is some potential correction or chastisement for believers during the final judgment, returning to a passage we touched on earlier, 2 Corinthians 5:9–10 tells us,

“So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”

And we also see that Jesus says in Matthew 12:33–37,

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

But here’s the thing – we don’t stand justified by our own works, but by the work of Christ. In surrender to Him I begin to pursue the things of the Spirit rather than the things of my flesh, my words stop being the speech of a mortal tongue, as He sanctifies me, and it is His words that fill my mouth rather than the world’s. If I have died and it is Christ who lives in me, what condemnation is there to bring against me? Rather it is, by the grace of God, as Paul wrote in Romans 8:1–2,

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”

If someone wants to make a case for a sense of conviction, or some kind of correction for the believer on the day of judgment then I would certainly listen to their stance, but to imagine that a believer would stand guilty before the white throne, that we would be condemned in any way over a record that does not exist is simply ignoring what Scripture is telling us. This gives us no leave to approach the enormity of the final judgment with any degree of entitlement or arrogance. But we can see this as a day of great joy, of God’s delivered righteousness, and of hearing our name read among the living, ushering us into an eternity freed from sin in the glorious presence of our Father. This is a day when many will hear the heartrending words, “Depart from me, I never knew you,” while we are blessed to joyously hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” A gift that was bought for us by the blood of the Lamb, not by our own works that we should boast, but by His perfect sacrifice that we may call eternity with Him our home.

Pastor Chris’ sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7YhRZWkTdk