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Doug Batchelor: I just finished reading a book about Napoleon, who was quite a character, famous and infamous. He conquered much of Europe in the 19th century. And he started out as a brilliant corporal, he was dealing with artillery, from Corsica, he wasn't from France. And he rose through the ranks of the French army during the French Revolution, and he was extremely intelligent. He was a prodigy, and he managed to work his way into control of the nation of France and the army, and then he went from battle to battle until he had conquered much of Europe. And he implemented, actually, some good changes in the government that are still kept, some of the Napoleonic laws, but thousands of people died in those wars.
Ultimately, some of the other nations in Europe, led principally by England, fought with him and he was defeated. And then they banished him to the island of Elba and in 1813, he was defeated and he was sent there and he was supposed to live out his days. They gave him a certain amount of budget and some freedom, he abdicated. But you know, he couldn't stand this isolation. He was so used to being the emperor, to having all of that power and suddenly to lose it all. But after about a year, he managed a daring escape. He had about 1000 soldiers that joined him. He entered back into Paris again, retook the government, and managed to fight another 100-day war against Europe. It looked like he might take over again, but he was finally defeated. Even after given time to think about it, he could not change. He wanted to be the ruler of the world. And then they banished him to the island of Saint Helena, the most remote outpost in the British dominion, out in the middle of nowhere, where he ultimately died.
Well, it makes me think about a story in the Bible. And so, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to the book of Revelation chapter 20. Obviously, we're getting near the end of the Bible. Revelation 22 is the end of the Bible. Chapter 20 talks about something called the millennium. And it is connected with the Great Judgment Day. Take your Bibles, verse 1, chapter 20, Revelation: "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the 1000 years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while." You can jump to verse 7: "
Now when the 1,000 years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison, and he will go out to deceive the nations once again which are on the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle the number of whom is like the sand of the sea," they cover the earth like a cloud, "and they went up on the breadth of the earth, and they surround the camp of the saints, the beloved city." This is the New Jerusalem that comes down in the next chapter. "And fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them. And the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."
What is this talking about? How is it that the devil is bound for a thousand years? And if you got the devil tied up, why in the world would you ever let him go, right? Some are wondering why did God make a devil? We've studied that, right? We realized God did not make a devil. All right, well, we're going to get into that, but before we do, sometimes it's fun to find out what do people on the street think about these subjects. So, we've got a few comments on the subject of the millennium and the 1000 years.
Male: Jesus said to us, "The kingdom is at hand." If something's at hand, does that mean it's far away or right here? Means it's right here. So if He says the kingdom is at hand, the heaven that most people think of in the sky with angels is nonsense, and we're talking about something we do here and now, and it's a practice and a commitment and a behavior that we either adhere to or don't, and it's a way of being, it's a state of being, essentially, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. It's a state of being.
Male: Oh yeah, that's my next stop. I hope it is.
female: I like to hope so.
Male: Possibly.
Male: Something exists.
Male: I think the book of life is the book that you want your name written in, so you're saved.
Female: So, I guess the names that are written on the book is the people that are saved.
Female: I guess to teach you that the--just teach you about different lessons, right? Like, are the lessons that you think are important are maybe not as important and--.
Female: I don't know anything about the book of life unless you're talking about the Bible.
Female: It's like mocha java ice cream is really my heaven.
Male: It's a mythical place where believers think they're going to go when they die.
Female: I think it's kind of like a positive image for me. I'm a very realistic person, so I guess it's kind of like something above, I guess.
Female: Home.
Female: Heaven, oh my gosh, it's like everything. I'm Christian. I love Jesus and heaven is my future, the future of everybody. We hope we can make it over there one day.
Male: The millennium, you mean the cut of--after life? The afterlife.
Male: I guess is that referring to, like, when the end times, when we get that here on Earth.
Female: It's after chaos.
Female: Well, it's the time that the bad people are on the earth.
Male: Righteous? Well, heaven with God and in space for Him, yeah.
Female: Kevin.
Male: I don't--I'm not really a Christian, so I don't know too much about that.
Male: In heaven.
Doug: Yeah, a lot of people don't know much about the millennium even though it's a 1000-year period in the Bible that is very prominent. Now some of you were not here earlier and so you may not have seen where I illustrated that there are--there are seven epochs in Bible history. The Bible tells us in 2 Peter chapter 3: "A day with the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day," and Peter is quoting from Psalm 90, where it says: "A thousand years in his sight are like a day when it is gone."
And so, when you add up the ages in the Bible, it tells us Adam lived 930 years. And you start with Adam, and then you go 2,000 years, and you come to the time of Abraham. So, for the first 2,000 years, you got the epoch of the patriarchs. God shares the gospel through the patriarchs, Adam, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah. There were some faithful people, Seth, so forth. Then Abraham, he is called out of Ur of the Chaldees. And God calls Abraham, says, "I'm going to give your nation the oracles of truth. The Messiah will come through your descendants." For the next 2,000 years from about 2,000 BC till 4 BC, well, actually, from 2004 BC to 4 BC is when Jesus is born, another 2,000 years.
The next epoch, you've got God preaching the gospel through the Jewish nation. They're the guardians of the Word, they introduced Jesus as the Messiah to the world, and the Bible's then--the scripture's spread everywhere. Then Christ is born about 4 BC. I know you're wondering how could Jesus be born 4 years before Christ? When they established this dating method, they took an educated guess. Years later they found out that they were off because we know Herod the Great that wanted to kill Jesus as a baby, he died in 2 BC. Christ had to be born before he died, and we know that Jesus was baptized in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar, 27 AD when he was 30 years old. So don't let the--that confuse you. I think I already confused you. Anyway, so there's 2,000 years from Abraham to Christ.
Now here we are today, 2,000 years after Christ. Total of 6,000 if you--a day was--the Lord's like 1,000 years were--were like a 6,000 years, and then we live and reign with Christ for like a 1,000-year Sabbath. You know, the Jews had a program where you farm your land for 6 years and then you leave it desolate for 1 year.
Let me read something to you in the Bible. If you have your Bibles on you or those watching at home, you go to the last chapter in 2 Chronicles is a very interesting statement where it talks about what was going to happen to the children of Israel here. Let me go back. I got all these little tabs marking the different passages here. 2 Chronicles, chapter 36, children of Israel are carried off to Babylon. They had not been keeping the annual 7-year Sabbath. Every 6 years they would farm their land; they were supposed to then let it rest. Every 6 years they could have a Hebrew servant, but they were supposed to let him go free. They had not been letting them go free, they'd not been resting the land, and God said, "Look, if you're not going to do it voluntarily, I'm going to force it. And for those 490 years you've not been resting the land, I'm going to take 1 year and put you in captivity, and make the land keep Sabbath."
Here's what it says. I'm in 2 Chronicles chapter 36, reading verse 21: "To fulfill the Word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths as long as she lay desolate for 70 years, she kept Sabbath to fulfill 70 years." So, when the land of Israel was desolate, the Bible says it's keeping Sabbath. During the millennium, this world is desolate, it is keeping Sabbath. That means we're on the verge, you might say it's sundown for the world, and then there's going to be 1000 years we will live and reign with Christ. So, this millennial period, let's get into our lesson.
Question number one: "What begins, what events mark the beginning of the 1000 years?" Answer: 1 Thessalonians 4:16, don't forget you can say the answers in blue. It helps other people fill them in. "The Lord Himself will DESCEND from heaven with a shout, and the dead in Christ will RISE." The millennium beginning is marked with the Coming of the Lord. This is that supreme event in history that's going to mark that out. And I don't know about you, friends, but I'm looking forward to that. You know, in Acts chapter 1, it said that the disciples saw Jesus go up in the clouds. And He's going to return in the clouds the same way He came, but His feet do not touch the ground. He told the disciples, John 14: "I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again." Do you believe Jesus? "And receive you unto Myself that where I am, you may be also."
Matter of fact, we got a little vision of the Second Coming right here. I'm wondering if I could jump in that hole, what would happen? It's amazing, the reality that they've got going on here. You've got the Second Coming of Jesus. You know, what are the clouds? Is it H2O? No, it says in--if you look in Psalm 104, "His ministers, the angels, His ministering spirits." He's coming in clouds of glory, angels are shining beings. It's clouds of light. Angels are sometimes called stars. What do you think the star was that the wise men followed? It wasn't an asteroid or a comet that was hovering over the house in Bethlehem. It was a band of angels that looked to them like stars, "and so Christ is coming," it says, "all the angels with Him." How bright do you think that'll be? So--but His feet do not touch the ground as we are caught up.
So, if someone starts walking around saying they're Jesus, didn't Christ say there'll be many false Christs? Don't be deceived by that. The Lord Himself will descend from heaven, dead in Christ rise. In Revelation 20, they do what? "They live and they reign with Christ for a THOUSAND years."
Now, in prophecy sometimes a day equals a year and so some are wondering, is this a spiritual thousand years or is it a literal thousand years? We believe it's a literal thousand years for a couple of reasons. Once Jesus comes, we have entered eternity. We have our glorified bodies. God is not using the Bible to talk to us anymore. We are talking to him face to face. And so this is a literal 1,000 years just like it is a literal 6,000 years from the time of Adam to our present day. And again, we're giving you approximates here.
No man knows the day or the hour, amen, of Jesus's Coming. Could be later than you think, because the Bible says He's longsuffering to us. We're not willing that any should perish. He's waiting as long as He can to save as many as He can. It may be sooner than you think. For He said in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man comes, and He will cut it short in righteousness. So don't try to peg the day or the hour of Christ's Coming.
Now, you're going to hear me use the word "millennium." The word "millennium" doesn't appear in the Bible. It's just a theological term. It's a composite of two Greek words, mille--I think it's Latin actually, mille and anum, and it just means 1,000 years. So, if you hear me say millennium, it just means the 1,000-year period that we're talking about. It's principally found in Revelation chapter 20. "They live with Christ for a THOUSAND years. But the rest of the dead do not live again until," when? "The thousand years were finished. This is the FIRST resurrection."
Now, I'm glad I read that, that's very important. If the dead in Christ rise first, and they're the saved, who are the rest of the dead? They're the lost. There's only one other group left, right? If all the good are saved, then what's left? The bad. And so, they don't come forth until the end. Jesus said there are two resurrections. The hour is coming in which all that are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth. They that have done good, the resurrection of life. They that have done evil, the resurrection of damnation or the resurrection of condemnation. You find this also in Daniel chapter 12. “At that time, Michael will stand up, the great prince that stands for the sons of thy people, and there'll be a time of trouble such as there never has been since there was a nation, even unto that same time. And at that time, many that sleep in the dust of the earth will awake. Some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.” The Bible separates these resurrections by a thousand years. We got more on that coming.
Number 2: "What else will happen at the first resurrection?" Answer: 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51: "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be," what? "CHANGED--in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible." It says: "He will transform our lowly body that it might be conformed to His GLORIOUS body."
Now, friends, I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but there will be a generation of people living in the world that will not die. I'm not necessarily scared of death, but if I could choose, I would rather be in that group. I think we all naturally have an aversion to death. I think Woody Allen said, "I'm not afraid of death. I just don't want to be there when it happens." So, I shouldn't be quoting him, sorry. But--so, you know, there's an experience where Jesus appears on the Mount of Transfiguration. Or rather, Jesus is on the Mount of Transfiguration and Moses and Elijah appear. Moses died, but he is resurrected. A special resurrection. You read about it in the book of Jude, verse 9. Elijah does not die. He is translated. That means he's caught up and he goes to heaven without dying. Who else went to heaven without dying? Enoch. So, there's a couple of people and there'll be a whole group of people at the Second Coming that do not die, but in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we get our glorified bodies and we are caught up in the air to meet those who have just been resurrected, amen? I want to be in that group. If the Lord asks me, that's my first choice. But I just want to be saved, amen?
What happens to the wicked? You can read about that in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 8: "Then the lawless one," this means the Antichrist. It's not specifically talking about the devil here, means the human element. "Then the lawless one," and all the wicked, "whom the Lord will," do what? "DESTROY with the brightness of His coming." Christ's Coming and the glory of God is going to be like a flamethrower for the wicked. But it's not going to hurt the righteous. How many remember when those three Hebrews were in a fiery furnace with Jesus and they were not burnt at all? The only thing that was burnt was the ropes that bound them. You may go through the fire, but Christ says, I will go with you. Some through the fire, some through the flood, some through the water, but all through the blood, amen?
All right, and then you can read in Revelation 16, verse 18, verse 20 and 21: "There was a great earthquake." This is what you call--in California they always say, "Someday we're going to have the big one." They think if we ever have an earthquake in San Francisco like what they had in Alaska in 1964 or what happened there in 2004 in Indonesia, if we have something 9 on the Richter scale, it is going to just completely level the function or in Los Angeles we live on a fault zone there. Not so much Sacramento where we live. We will have beachfront property if that happens. But those people that are, like, in the San Andreas Fault, they're going to have a big one. That's nothing compared to this one.
This one's going to be 55 on the Richter scale. Mountains are swallowed up. Islands disappear. The whole earth is shaking like a reed in the wind, the Bible says, "like an earthquake such as not has been since men were on the earth, every island fled away, and the mountains were not found, and a great hail falls from heaven upon men." Says the hailstones weigh a talent. Now there's some disagreement among scholars because they've got the Egyptian talent and the Hebrew talent and the Babylonian talent. But it doesn't matter because they're somewhere between 55 and 75 pounds. Hailstones, if you can imagine that. Revelation 20, verse 1 and 2: And during this time, "An angel," probably Gabriel, who took Lucifer's position, he "laid hold on that dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and BOUND him for a thousand years." Now we're going to talk in a minute about how he's bound and where he's bound.
Question number 3: "Who will be raised in the second resurrection, and when will that take place?" We touched on it, but let's read the verses. "All who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth-- those that have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those that have done EVIL," they've done what? Evil. So, who's in this resurrection? The lost, they have not confessed and turned from their sins. The resurrection of condemnation.
Now, how many here have done evil? All of us have sinned. So, our only hope is to have our sins forgiven. But if we're not under the blood, if we have not surrendered to Jesus, we are in the wrong resurrection. By the way, if you come out of the grave and you still have wrinkles, it's not good. You are in the wrong resurrection. If you come out of the grave and you look in the grave next to you and there's Adolf Hitler, that's not good. You're in the wrong resurrection. It says--oh, I don't think I read it. Evil and the resurrection of-- the Bible calls it condemnation, the condemned.
You know, Jesus said, "I did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world." We're already condemned by our sin, we must be saved from that condemnation. We're under the law. Jesus wants to save us from the penalty of the law, amen? "The rest of the dead," Revelation 25, "do not live again until the thousand years are FINISHED," which means when the thousand years are finished, the wicked are raised for a judgment, but it's more than just the judgment.
Notice here. Number 4: "What is the condition of the world during the 1,000 years," right? We talked about the events that begin the 1,000 years. Jesus comes, we're caught up to meet Him if we're alive, we get our glorified bodies. The dead in Christ rise with glorified bodies. I remember showing a picture, I think I showed it a minute ago on the screen, of a mother embracing her baby in the resurrection. And after the program, a lady came to me in tears and she said, "Can you get me that picture?" She says, "I have lost two children." And she said, "I just--my hope is that I will see them again in the resurrection." And there'll be some great reunions in that time, friends.
So, what's the condition of the world during the 1,000 years? "Behold, the Lord makes the earth," what? "EMPTY and makes it waste." No, wait, wait, wait. Some of you are saying, "Pastor Doug, I thought we live and reign with Christ down here." You know, there are good Christians out there. There are two principal camps. One group believes that we are here on the earth. If you read the "Left Behind" books or follow Hal Lindsey or Tim LaHaye, they believe we're here on the earth during the 1,000 years. Traditional Protestants believe that we are living and reigning with Christ in glory during the 1000 years. The Bible says that we are with Him, the wicked are destroyed. The left behind group says you got the righteous who have eternal life reigning over the wicked who are still dying. I don't know about you, but I don't want to reign over the wicked. I want to be with Christ.
Let's find out what the Bible says. The Bible says--what is the condition of the earth? "Behold, the Lord makes the earth EMPTY. He makes it waste." Reading Jeremiah 4, verse 23: "I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and VOID." Now if I stop right there, you're going to think, "Well, that sounds like Genesis." Got to keep reading. "And the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, and there was no man, and all the birds of heaven had fled." That means they were there, but now they're gone. Keep reading. "The fruitful land was a wilderness, and all of its," what? "CITIES were broken down." It's--the earth is covered with broken down cities. Why? "At the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger."
See, the Lord, when He first started Creation, the earth was without form and void. And He's going to make it without form and void again before He recreates it. This earth is going to be a dark, desolate, broken-down place. The devil's going to have to look at the results of his government for a thousand years. He's bound. Listen to this verse, Jeremiah 25:33: "At that day the SLAIN of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They will not be gathered or BURIED." That's not a very pretty thought. But what could account for that? Do you realize the left behind scenario of prophecy, there is no time in their scheme when the earth is desolate. There's no time in their scheme where it's covered with slain and no one to mourn or bury them because everyone's gone, everyone's dead, the cities are broken down, all the birds are fled.
Doug: You know, Jesus came into our world for three reasons. First of all, He came as our example, to live a life that we might follow His steps. He came to show us the Father. He said, "If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father." And then He came as our sacrifice. He died on the cross as a substitute for all our sins, but we must come to Him. We repent of our sins, we confess. He'll receive us with loving arms. Why don't you ask Him now?
Doug: Hi, friends. I trust you're being blessed by what you're watching. If you want to be doubly blessed, then you're going to want to get the "Prophecy Odyssey" study guides that go along with these presentations. There's 15 study guides. They're beautifully illustrated, and they will greatly enhance your Bible comprehension. So if you'd like to get them, simply follow the instructions that you see on the screen. You will be glad you did.
Doug: Our study of last-day prophecy would not be complete without understanding the Bible truth about the millennium. To learn more about this important endtime topic, make sure and request "1,000 Years of Peace," the "Amazing Facts" study guide that explains what takes place immediately after the Second Coming of Christ and why. To get your copy, simply follow the instructions on your screen and we'll send it to you quickly and absolutely free of charge.
Doug: What you've seen just now is only Part One in this presentation. Make sure and join us for Part Two in our next broadcast for some of the most important points on this topic and to complete the corresponding study guides. Until then, God bless.
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