Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon – Revelation 19 and 20 The Millennium
First Presbyterian Church of Ocean
City
April 24, 2016
This
is the midpoint in a series of seven sermons on the Book of Revelation. So far we have seen that Jesus is present
with us in worship. Jesus has battled
evil not as a great lion as we might expect but as a sacrificed lamb who uses
mercy and forgiveness to free us from sin.
And last week we saw Jesus as shepherd gathering the souls of believers
into heaven. Today we will see Jesus as
a conqueror riding a white horse. We
will get to this, but first let’s pray.
“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his
judgments.” (Revelation 19: 1-2)
Let’s
begin today’s look at Revelation with John’s vision of Jesus riding a white
horse.
Revelation 19:11 I saw heaven
standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called
Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like
blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him
that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood,
and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him,
riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Coming
out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He
will rule them with an iron scepter.”[a] He treads the winepress of the fury of
the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name
written: “king of kings and lord of lords.”
What
John has seen is the second coming of Jesus Christ. He will return in holiness. He will judge with justice. He will be merciful. He will speak for God. He will be leading the heavenly armies which
will subdue all nations on earth. And
Jesus will be the supreme ruler. This is
good news.
The
seventh seal on the scroll in chapter 7 is opened in chapter 9. And this leads to seven trumpets and seven
bowls. All of this corresponds to a war
between good and evil. By the 19th
chapter of Revelation evil has been defeated; good wins and Jesus returns. Then we read this in chapter 20.
20:1 And I saw an angel coming down
out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great
chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or
Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and
locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore
until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a
short time.
4 I saw thrones on which were
seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of
those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because
of the word of God. They[a] 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 a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to
life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6
Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second
death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and
will reign with him for a thousand years.
7 When the thousand years are over,
Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations
in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle.
In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9 They marched across the
breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he
loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who
deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and
the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for
ever and ever.
Here
is the story in a nutshell. Satan is
limited. Jesus reigns for a 1000 years
with the believers. Finally Satan, his
demons and all evil is destroyed forever.
This is the best news you could
ever hear. Good defeats evil. But when will the 1000 years occur? The church has understood the millennium in
different ways in its history.
In
the first three centuries the church experienced persecution and
suffering. Christians were being martyred
for their faith. The Kingdom of God and
the promised peace on earth seemed a long way off. They were experiencing great evil. The Kingdom of God had not yet arrived. And so they longed for the day when Jesus
would return, put Satan in his place, and rule in justice and
righteousness. There would finally be
peace on earth.
This
is called premillennialism.
Premillennialism is the theological belief that the binding of Satan and
the 1000 years of Christ’s rule would happen sometime in the future after
Christ returns. Many Christians
continue to believe this today. Tim
LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins popularized this view with a series of books and
movies in the Left Behind series. And if
you attend our adult education class with Graison Wainwright you will hear a
passionate defense of premillennial thought. Many Christians believe that after Jesus
returns, Satan will be bound, believers will reign with Christ for 1000 years,
and then all evil will be removed.
In
the fourth century, the Christian church became established as the official
religion of the Roman Empire. Official
persecution of the church came to an end. Suffering was replace by power. Many Christians began to think that the
Kingdom of God had already arrived. It
appeared that we no longer had to deal with Satan. The church was free to help people repent
from their sin, work to eliminate injustice and violence in the world, and take
the gospel to the ends of the earth. The
belief was that as the church worked to extend the Kingdom of God the world
would become a better and better place until finally Jesus returns and
ultimately deals with the devil.
This
thinking is called postmillennialism.
Postmillennialism is the theological belief that the Kingdom of God is
already here. As this kingdom grow by
the work of the church the world will become Christian and then Jesus will
return. Under this view Satan is already
bound by Jesus on the cross. We are therefore
free of devils and demons. And so with
this freedom we work for justice and seek to lead people to Christ.
Today
we have both premillennial and postmillennial churches. The premillennial churches are longing Jesus’
return. Many are engaging in spiritual
warfare asking God for the Holy Spirit’s power to protect and deliver us from
evil. The postmillennial churches have
little concern for demonic power and use their resources to care for victims of
sin and injustice.
Where
you stand in all of this starts with your view of the world. If you look at the world and see a terrible
place, filled with evil, then it would hard to accept that evil has been
defeated. You would be a
premillennialist, pray for the Holy Spirit’s protection, and long for Jesus’
return. If, on the other hand, you see
the world as a good place you would desire for it to be even better. You would join a church to extend the Kingdom
of God, care for the weak and the lost, and bring us closer to Jesus’ return.
I
think there are flaws in both of these ways of thinking. The postmillennialists are too optimistic. Increasingly we are confronted by evil in
the world. The rise of anti-Christian
terrorism has returned many of us to the days of persecution. Increasingly, the American culture is at odds
with Christian values. War and
violence is still the order of the day.
So I can’t accept the idea that the Kingdom of God is here. It isn’t.
At least not fully.
Neither
can I accept the premillennial view. I
think it is way too pessimistic. Satan
is not in complete control of our world.
The demons do not have freedom to do whatever they want. Jesus did bind the devil by refusing to
submit to his temptations and by casting out demons. Today the devil is limited, controlled, and
regulated by the Holy Spirit. Our
prayers to be delivered from evil are heard and acted upon.
In
the fifth century the Rome fell and it became obvious that the Kingdom of
Heaven and the Roman Empire were not the same thing. Bishop Augustine thought extensively about
this and realized that the Kingdom of God was only partially realized here on
earth. The true Kingdom of God is in heaven. There, in heaven, Jesus reigns. Jesus is our king. The thousand year period of Christ’s rule is
not some future physical event. It is
not a present physical reality either.
Rather it is a hidden spiritual reality.
This
view is called amillennialism.
Amillennialism is the theological belief that the “thousand years” in
Revelation 20 refers not to a literal 1000 year reign of Jesus on earth. Rather it refers to the reality of Jesus’
current reign in heaven. Jesus bound the
devil when he was on earth the first time.
Today, he reigns with the souls of the faithful in heaven. And one day he will return to earth in glory.
I
believe that we live in an in between time.
Jesus came to bind the devil, and now controls the devil from his throne
in heaven. The Holy Spirit fills the
church and is the means the devil is controlled. Our prayers put the devil and his demons in
their place. And that frees us to
proclaim the gospel for everyone to hear, and to work to mitigate the effects
of evil in our world.
I
believe that the millennium, the 1000 years period of Jesus’ reign, is a
present spiritual reality. Jesus is our
king reigning, with the souls of the faithful, in heaven. He is guiding us in our efforts against
evil. He is coaching us in our efforts
of evangelism and social justice. And Jesus
will do this for an extended period until finally he returns and Satan’s time
on earth is over. Let’s pray.
Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7 Let us
rejoice and be glad and give him glory! (Revelation 19:6-7) Amen.
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