Second and Third Visions (Robert Fisher)

Recommended Commentaries and Review of Revelation's Purpose

0:01 Before we start today, I'd like to recommend a couple of books. Different ones have asked for books that would kind of fill in the gaps that I'm leaving with this broad sketch. And there are many books, of course, on the Book of Revelation, and I've chosen two that I think are perhaps the best, at least the best on a popular level. They're not bogged down with Greek translations and very technical points.

0:28 I think if you had time to only read one commentary, I would recommend this commentary by Leon Morris, simply entitled The Revelation of St. John. It's published by Tyndale Press. It's in the Tyndale Commentary Series.

0:45 I'm sorry, it's by Erdmann's Press in the Tyndale Commentary Series. If you should happen to have time to read two books, then the second one I think that I would recommend is this, More Than Conquerors by William Henderson. Both are very excellent. I think that perhaps Morris is the most consistent of the two.

1:04 But if you have time to read one, read Morris. And if you have time to read two, then read Henderson also. I passed out a little sheet, the point of which was to help clarify what might have been very fuzzy from our hurry last time. Remember we put up on the board these four divisions.

1:29 The four visions which cover the whole book of Revelation. And this paper is meant to expand on the second one. And in just a moment we'll get into that in more detail. Perhaps you can remember what our first session two weeks ago, we tried to establish the point that the book of Revelation was written toward the latter part of the first century.

1:52 It was in the very beginnings of this really horrid tribulation that the church went through under the rule of the law. Under the rule of the Roman government. And that tribulation lasted until in the early 300s with the ascension of Constantine. But the point again was that the book was written to a church that was in the midst of great tribulation.

2:13 And it was written with that purpose in mind, to encourage a persecuted church. The main point was not to give a chronology of world history or prophetic riddles. The main point was to encourage this persecuted church. The last time then, when we...

Overview of Revelation's Four Visions

2:31 When we began, the book starts with this brief introduction. And then you have these four visions where John is said to be in the spirit in Patmos. And he has this vision that lasts from chapters one to chapter three. And then it says he's in the spirit, he's taken into heaven.

2:48 And he sees the vision then that is from chapter four to the end of chapter 16. And then he's said to be in the spirit and he's translated into the wilderness. And you have another vision. And then he's in the spirit and he's translated into a high mountain.

3:01 And he sees this vision in chapters 21 and 22.

3:07 In just the briefest kind of review, on the back of this outline, I've tried to summarize in a very, very brief way the central teachings of each one of the five divisions of that second vision. I hope I'm not being too complicated. It breaks down into those four major divisions. On the front of the outline then...

3:32 On this particular vision, the second vision, chapters four through 16, the bulk of the book are in that second vision. Well, that's what I've tried to outline in some form on this little sheet.

3:45 You remember how we tried to bring out the first vision, are these seven messages to the seven churches. And John's purpose there is to stir them up. They're in lethargy. Some of them are in sin.

4:00 They're all either in tribulation or about to go through great tribulation. And he's simply trying to stir them up, that the reward is to those that overcome. And then he is. He's translated into heaven, and he sees the second vision, which we got into last time.

The Second Vision: Heavenly Rule, Seals, and Trumpets

4:16 And maybe we could just briefly go through this outline. The vision starts in chapters four and five with this scene in heaven. And remember, we tried to point out that all of the rest of the events that are talked about on the earth must be seen. Through this vision of the scene in heaven, where Christ is said to be the supreme ruler.

4:39 He is the one that is administering God's decrees in history. And whatever is to come upon the church, it must be seen through those eyes that Christ is the supreme ruler of it all. And then what I have here is B on this outline. The second part of this vision is what is under the heading of the seven seals.

5:01 And there we learn something of what's going to... Take place throughout the whole of the gospel age.

5:06 Especially, a special reference, of course, is to John's time, but it's in a general sense to what goes on throughout the entire gospel age. And that was the atrocities and the horrible things that men do to men. And of course, in the midst of that was this interlude where you have a picture of what's happening to the church during that time. Men are doing horrible things to other men, but God has sealed the church, and he'll preserve the church.

5:33 And you understand that. You also have a picture in that interlude of what's going on in heaven. Not only has God sealed and promised to keep that church on the earth, but those who are martyred and brutally killed, they have a reward in heaven. So you have that picture of the church on earth being kept by God, but those that are martyred are in heaven having a better reward.

5:55 And then you come to that, to letter C, the seven trumpets from chapters 8, 9, 10, and 11. And the trumpets, remember, were to be a sound of warning. The seals were what men did to other men, but the trumpets are what God does to man. And again, it's what God does to man throughout the whole age.

6:17 You have the, through the trumpets, you find that God affects, afflicts all parts of the universe to warn men of the coming judgment. And then again, you have, you have not only does he afflict the entire universe, but he casts. He casts Satan upon the earth and he uses Satan to afflict men. You have the demonic plagues under the sixth trumpet.

6:43 And all of these things are what God brings upon man as forerunners of judgment, warnings of judgment. And you have there in those chapters that the men would not repent. And the whole purpose was to warn men and for them to repent, but men would not repent. And then you have the interlude there, the angel in the little book stressing the certainty of the coming judgment, the final judgment.

7:06 Now, you have a picture of the militant church with the temple and the two witnesses. And then you have that seventh trumpet, which, which was the, the announcement then of this final judgment.

Spiritual Warfare: The Dragon, Two Beasts, and the Lamb

7:19 And that's, that's about where we stopped last time. And let's, let's turn then to, to Revelation chapter 12.

7:34 We've seen in the seven seals what men do to men, the horrors of what God will do to men as a forerunner to judgment during, under the seven trumpets. You have the final judgment announced. You're expecting it. You're expecting it.

7:45 You're expecting the description of that final judgment. And what you have then is, is another break, a change in thought altogether. And you have these, these chapters 12, 13, and 14, which deal with those spiritual realities behind the conflicts that are going on in the earth.

8:03 And the point of, of these chapters is surely under the figure of, of various symbols, is to point on the struggles that are going on behind the scenes. Just, just what is it that's behind all of these calamities of men that we read about with the horsemen? And what is it that, that's behind the demonic plagues and, and all those things that go on in the earth? What, what is it that's behind what's going on in Vietnam?

8:24 Now that, that kind of thing. What's behind these struggles that are going on in the earth? And here you have, in chapters 12, 13, and 14, a description of those spiritual struggles, the, the wars in heavenly places that are going on behind these earthly scenes. And last time we, we, we went through chapter 12, and I, in my opinion, chapter 12 is truly one of the most important chapters of the entire book.

8:50 For there's that, that picture of the warfare between the dragon, Satan, and the woman, the church. And you see that the, Satan cannot stop the church, could not stop the birth of the Messiah. The, the, he, he goes into heaven even after, well, maybe the best way to go into this would just be to, to briefly go through chapter 12 rather than try to so skimpily review it. You have that picture of the woman who's about to bear a child.

9:17 And you have then this, this horrible beast, this dragon who's standing before the woman, eager to devour the child. The woman, of course, is standing for, for the church, who's to bring forth Christ, the church under the old dispensation. The child is delivered, and Satan cannot devour him. The child is snatched up to heaven, and Satan is, is, is, is filled with wrath and anger, and he, he goes to heaven, and there's a great battle in heaven between the devil and his hosts, and the, the archangel Michael.

9:45 And Satan is cast down. Satan, again, is filled with wrath, and he, this, he can't, he can't defeat the man-child, so he attacks the woman. And God graciously preserves the woman, the, the, now remember, the woman is the church. Before the birth of Christ, the, the woman represents the church under the old dispensation.

10:03 After it's born, it's the church under the new dispensation. And all the while, that church is, is off in the wilderness, where God has, has taken the church to preserve it. So you have, this is the first, uh, picture of spiritual personages, then. The war between dragon, the dragon Satan, and between church.

10:22 And then you, you come to chapter 13, and that's where we actually begin our, our, our lesson this morning. You have this, this often misunderstood chapter of, of these two beasts, the beast coming up out of the sea, uh, the first beast in chapter, in chapter 13, verses 1 through 10. And then the second beast coming up from the earth. And there again, there's so very much speculation about all these things, and what I'd, what I would like to do is, is, uh, fall back on our old motto that there's a lot that we don't understand, but there's much more that we can understand, and go through some of these things which, which we can understand.

11:05 It appears to me that the first beast in, in verses 1 through 10 represents the anti-Christian political governments. Inspired by Satan. Now to be sure, when, when John writes, it's a direct reference to the Roman government. But as we, if you, I think you would do well to read this, uh, in your private, we'll not read everything that's here this morning.

11:31 But the description is more general than just referring to the Roman government. That beast is a, is a, is a representation of, of that anti-Christian force behind anti-Christian governments. Understand, I'm not saying that this beast represents all human governments. This beast represents anti-Christian human governments.

11:52 Those governments which are inspired by Satan to, to actually persecute the Church. The beast is described in these verses as well as in chapter 17, and I would like to list several ways that he is described as found in both chapter 13 and in chapter 17. In chapter 17, verse 8, and I, you not, you don't need to turn there now. He's, he's spoken of as having seven heads.

12:19 And these seven heads are to represent seven hills. And it seems to me that, well it's not only my private opinion, it's held by universally almost everyone, that these seven heads then do represent the seven hills, the, meaning the seven hills that Rome was sat upon. Directly identifying this beast with the Roman government, you also find that these heads represent kings. And.

12:45 during John's day one of these kings is said to be ruling so that gives you some idea too that it's a beast that has a contemporary contemporary to John has a contemporary fulfillment it's the Roman government that means so you have these two things he's identified with those seven hills of Rome he's also identified with the king who is presently at John's day ruling but then you have some descriptions of the beast that are more general he demands worship which was true of the Roman emperors but it's also been true of other kind of governments it was true of the Japanese government before the second world war you can surely list others that come to your mind it's also said that this beast has given power to overcome the saints and that's been true of Rome but it was true of many other governments as well it says that he is inspired by Satan which was very true of Rome and I think you could legitimately say that that is very true of other governments that have persecuted the church but there are some other things that make it appear that that that that this beast represents in general world governments not just Rome and one of these is the very similar description between this beast here in chapter 13 and the description of the Antichrist in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and I'll just lay that out before you rather than get into to cross-referencing the passages but there's a very clear analogy between the way this beast is described and the Antichrist is described

14:13 now at the risk of of seeming unclear and incomplete I'd rather not get into all the implications about the Antichrist suffice it to say that that Antichrist is the the man of sin the man of lawlessness and so forth that is to be revealed at the end of the age before the Lord returns and my point in going into all this then is to is to point out that this beast doesn't only represent something contemporary to John it's also that which will be evident at the return of the Lord it's that that beast then represents this principle of Antichristian governments manifest in Rome but manifested several times after Rome I think there's a very good discussion of this whole point in both of these commentaries and rather than get into all the fine points of detail here I would beg you to take my word for it and to read those commentaries I just heard something this past week it was humorous but I think it underscores the validity of the position you're taking someone was giving an exposition of these chapters and saying we must take everything literally and then someone raised his hand and said that's some woman who can spread herself over seven hills and she had a woman sitting upon the seven hills and he could just picture a woman so expensive that she could cover seven hills well to be sure this is a symbol and that one principle that we tried to lay out

15:42 we need to distinguish between the description of the symbol and then what it means we have a very vivid description of this beast and then the question is what does it mean not what does the beast look like that wouldn't tell us anything about the reality but what does it mean and I think that it can be demonstrated that this beast then stands for anti-Christian political governments inspired by Satan the second beast in verses 11 through 18 is very closely associated with this first beast and let me just let me just state this and then we'll look at at some very at some evidence for my statement it appears that the second beast then refers to the false religion which is sanctioned by the state if you read through verses 13 and 18 or verses 11 through 18 you'll find that the duties that are ascribed to this beast are religious duties he's later called the false prophet which very closely associates him with religious things in chapter 13 verse 11 you read that he he looks like a lamb which you know you have the immediate association with the true lamb of God with Jesus he looks like a lamb but he speaks like a dragon he speaks like like like Satan satanically inspired so you have this this religious function he looks like a lamb but what comes out of his mouth are the words of the dragon not the words of a lamb

17:08 not the words of true religion as I said his functions are religious he says the scripture says that he causes all men to worship the first beast he makes an image to this first beast to the government and causes all to worship that image or to be killed now how vivid that is of what was going on during the first century all the subjects of the emperor had to worship the image of the emperor or suffer being killed well this is exactly what this false beast does or this false prophet does he's kind of associated with the priests of the false worship of that day they have to worship the priest of that day they have to worship the priest of that day and they have to worship They force these people to worship the image of the emperor at the threat of death if they do not. Well, that's all what this second beast does. He said to place a mark, the number 666, which is so often talked about, he said to place that mark on those who do worship the beast. And everyone who will not worship the beast then doesn't have the mark.

18:14 And he's ostracized from society and all the rest. And again, how vividly that portrays exactly what was going on during the first couple of centuries of the church. Those people who had not worshipped the image of the emperor were ostracized from society if they weren't killed.

18:32 Well, let me just say this again then. The first beast represents human governments that persecute the church. And in John's time, that was Rome. The second beast represents false religions which are intimately associated with that government.

18:48 Which also, with the government, persecute the church.

Encouragement for the Saints and Certainty of Judgment

18:55 In chapter 14, you move to this third picture then of these spiritual personages. And this is one, again, of these very encouraging pictures. You've had a picture of the warfare that goes on between the church and Satan. You've had a picture of these horrible instruments that he uses to persecute the church, the government, and false religions.

19:20 And then in chapter 14, John says, And I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000, having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters, like the sound of loud thunder. And the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the living creatures and the elders.

19:48 And no one could learn the song except the 144,000. 144,000 that have been purchased from the earth. These are the ones who have not been defiled with women. They are celibates.

19:59 These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been purchased from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.

20:11 I think that to any reader of the first century, seeing all these horrible personages that were persecuting the church, to have this picture of the Lamb standing on Mount Zion with those 144,000 that we've read about previously, as being sealed, as being kept by Christ. What an encouragement. In the midst of all that that was going on. Notice the picture of these people.

20:32 You read about the beasts, the two beasts. You read about Satan, the dragon. And you have these ugly, horrible pictures. And the more you know about all the persecution that evil men bring upon the church, it's an ugly picture.

20:48 But here's this Lamb and 144,000 with beautiful descriptions. They're described as those having the name of their father on their foreheads. They're described as being pure. It doesn't mean that they're not married or that they've not had intercourse with women.

21:04 The idea is that they're pure. They're sexually pure. They're holy people. What I think is really interesting, their mind is set upon heavenly things.

21:14 Here you see the Lamb in Mount Zion. You see the church of 144,000 down here. And there's this song coming out of heaven. And it says, No one can understand that song but the 144,000.

21:26 And here's the picture. These people on the church, the church on the earth, they're hearing this heavenly song. They're the only ones of the whole world that can understand it. Their minds are on heavenly things.

21:38 They're not down, involved in all this ugliness that's going on with these beasts and the rest. They're certainly there and they're being affected by it. But they're not ugly. They're not the ones who are devising schemes against the government and all the rest.

21:54 Their mind is upon these heavenly realities. They can understand the heavenly song and they're blessed by it. And immediately following this picture, notice that every one of these divisions that we've talked about has ended with an announcement of judgment. Well, it's so here too.

22:09 Verses 6 and following it. I will not read it for the sake of time, but it's a moving thing to read these scenes of judgment. You have the angels coming down announcing the woes, announcing the final judgment that is to come. And you read here, in chapter 14, verse 9 through 13, you hear the end of what happens to these people who worship the beast.

22:32 And it's a horrible judgment. In verse 10, he will also drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is mixed in full strength in the cup of his anger. And he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever.

22:50 And they have no rest day and night. Those who worship the beast and his image and whoever receives the mark of his name. And then immediately following that, you have the situation with the faithful. Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

23:08 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors for their deeds follow with them. And again, what an encouraging sign to these believers. The wicked are truly going to be judged.

23:26 They are going to be tormented forever and ever. But those who have kept the faith of Jesus, their deeds are going to follow them. And their reward will be eternal forever and ever. And then you have this following here as a description of the judgment under the figure of the harvest of grapes.

23:43 And you have the sickles being cast into the vineyard and the grapes being taken and cast into the winepress and being consumed in the winepress. A horrible description of that final judgment. The point of this whole section must not be underestimated. I'm sure it's true of us as it was true of them.

24:08 We live in the world. We see the atrocities that go on in Vietnam. We read of the torneos in Arkansas, the people being killed in the snowstorms in the West. And you wonder, how can it be so?

24:19 Why does it happen when there really is a God of love governing all these things? Well, the purpose behind those things is seen right here. There's a great spiritual warfare going on in heaven. Not only in heaven, in the heavenlies, as Paul says.

24:34 There's a spiritual warfare in the world. And when Jesus gave the visions of the horsemen under the seven seals, he described all those calamities that men would bring upon men. When he gave the visions of the trumpets, he described those calamities that God would bring upon men. What were they?

24:53 They were things of the universe, of tornadoes, of floods, of earthquakes, and all that. Well, there's a reason behind all those things. And it's seen right here in this warfare that's going on between the church and the dragon. So to the first century Christians who, you know, the members of their families were martyred and all the rest, to read something like this, I think, must have given them great hope.

The Seven Bowls: Final Judgment and God's Righteousness

25:18 To know that there was a spiritual warfare but that the Lamb was victorious, 144,000 were sealed, and the judgment was certain to come upon the wicked. That ends then this fourth section of the second vision on the outline that I handed out. That's letter D, the spiritual warfare. And finally, finally, this second vision ends then in chapters 15 and 16 with, for the first time, we've had announced the judgment, the final judgment is coming, the final judgment is coming, and now you have it.

25:54 Depicted under these seven bowls of God, when the seven bowls are finally poured out, is a vivid and yet a general description of the end of the age. I think it's really significant to note that chapter 15 is given to praising God for his righteousness. God is praised for his righteousness and then after that scene of praise for righteousness, you have these pouring out of the seven bowls. And even while the seven bowls of wrath are poured out, you have an angel standing up, saying, Righteous and true are thy judgments, O God, for they, the wicked, deserved it.

26:34 I don't know how perhaps you've given yourself to thinking on what that judgment will actually be like. And perhaps you've given some consideration to what the torments of an endless hell will be like, and it's a very horrible thing to think about. You think of the fact that there is no end, that the torment is with fire forever and ever, the worm dieth not, there will be no rest, there will be no relief forever. It almost seems as if it's too great a punishment for any wickedness to bear.

27:06 And yet, that's the point of this chapter 15. God is praised for his righteousness in this judgment. It's a righteous judgment. They deserved it and they're getting it.

27:18 And I found in my own study as I went over this that I have to forcibly bring my mind in line with this, that God is righteous, that that horrible, horrible judgment that will come is not more than they deserve. And perhaps we all need to bring ourselves in line with this. Just think sometime, don't give yourself too long thoughts about it or I think it drives one to depression, but think of the horribleness of an everlasting punishment and then turn to here and see that God is righteous in giving them that judgment. Again, we'll not read chapter 16 where the seven bowls are actually poured out.

28:00 Except to make a note of this, in chapter 16, verse 15, Jesus said, Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments, lest he walk about naked and men see his shame. And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Armageddon. And the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne saying, It is done.

28:31 And that, just in those very brief words, signifies the very end. You don't have a description of a bloody battle. You just don't have that kind of description. They're gathered together, the bowl is poured out and it's done.

28:46 I think notes should be made also of verse 14 and I'll just note this now. The importance for it will come up later. These kings of the whole earth are gathered together to the war of the great day of God the Almighty. And notice the significance of this.

29:03 It's the war. It's not just any particular war. It's not any war in general. It's not that they're just gathered to battle.

29:09 They're gathered together to the war. Now later on we'll see the significance of that, but keep it in your mind. It's the war. This is a very definite event.

29:17 The end time is the war where all these hosts are brought together and destroyed. So that ends then the second vision, the longest vision of the book. And again the point is to describe the persecution, the persecutions of the church, what men are doing to men, what God is doing to men, the spiritual realities that are behind all of that. And then finally in the seven bowls is the horrible judgment that will end the age.

The Third Vision: Overthrow of Babylon and Heavenly Hallelujahs

29:46 Well now you move in to this next vision. And the vision here, this third vision from chapter 17 through chapter 21 verse 8 is again describing this end judgment. You've had all these things building up to the end judgment. And then in the seven bowls you've had a general description of the final judgment.

30:07 Well now what you're going to have is more of a detailed description of that judgment. What you have described in chapter 17 through 21 is the final overthrow of all of these spiritual personages. You have Babylon overthrown. You have the first beast overthrown.

30:23 The second beast is overthrown. And then Satan is overthrown. And then all the wicked are judged at the great white throne. And then you have an introduction into what it will be like in heaven.

30:33 And the purpose of what I'd like to do with this is overview quite a bit of this and center in in more detail then on certain aspects of this judgment. In chapters 17 and 18 you have this description of the great whore being overthrown. The whore is described as a city. It's Babylon the great.

31:00 And it's as with the first beast. That city is identified with Rome. As pastor said, the woman is said to sit on the seven hills. Clearly identifying that woman with Rome.

31:13 Which is also said to sit on many waters. And those many waters are said to be many nations and tongues and peoples which make it clear that this is more than just one city. It's a universal city. And the idea again is this woman represents in general secular anti-Christian societies.

31:31 City societies to use the figure here. But anti-Christian secular societies in general. As manifest in Rome. As manifested in New York City.

31:41 As manifested in all anti-Christian secular societies. But in John's day of course more particularly in the city of Rome. Weldon 17 and 18 describe the fall of that city. And I, unless there are many questions or unless there's great interest I would like to leave it at that.

32:00 And you can read the chapters. The point is that here the great horror is overthrown. Let me add just this last thing before leaving it. This wicked city is described as more than just a wicked city.

32:16 It's in this city that are said to be the blood of all the prophets and saints that have been killed throughout the whole world. That too is some proof that it's more than Rome. Because that city is to represent that secular society which has killed all of the saints throughout all of the ages and all of the prophets. And that horrible wicked city is finally overthrown.

32:37 And then when you come to chapter 19 you read again what is one of the most moving passages in the book. The city is overthrown and you read of the hallelujahs that go on in heaven at the overthrowing of this great city. And let's begin to read in chapter 19. After these things, after the overthrow of that city I heard as it were a loud voice say, Hallelujah!

33:04 Salvation and glory and power belong to our God because his judgments are true and righteous. He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality and he has avenged the blood of his bond servants on her. And a second time they said, Hallelujah! Her smoke raises up forever and ever.

33:23 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, Amen! Hallelujah! And a voice came from the throne saying, Give praise to our God, all you his bond servants, you who fear him, the small and the great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder saying, Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns.

33:51 Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen bright and clean for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And he said to me, Write, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are true words of God.

34:16 And I fell at his feet to worship him and he said to me, Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And again, can you imagine the encouragement that is given to the saints that read this?

34:35 Here are the martyrs in heaven, that their blood has been spilled in this secular city. The city has been overthrown and all these great hallelujahs that go up in heaven rejoicing that finally, finally, the blood of all these martyrs has been avenged by God. And you have this introduction which we've just read of the marriage supper of the Lamb. It's only introduced.

34:54 It said the bride is now, the end has come. It's time for the bride to make herself ready. The bride, of course, is the church. There's an announcement of that final time when the church, the bride of Christ and Christ himself will finally be united into an eternal relationship together in heaven.

Critique of Pre-Tribulation Rapture and Christ's Return

35:12 And that, of course, later is described in more detail. Here it's announced. So you've seen the fall of the secular society and now in verse 11 through verse 21, you have the overthrow of this beast, the first beast, the anti-Christian governments, and the second beast, the false prophet, the false religions. And here too, this whole chapter 19 is...

35:42 May we just interject, Bob, we have a number of people who've come from a background where they've been taught the theory that, you know, the Lord will take his church out to the marriage supper of the Lamb and then will come the horrible tribulation and all the rest and then the Lord will come. And it just...

36:00 Here's another passage, there are many, there's one where it just will not fit. You have to completely juggle all of the materials to get that somehow coming before the end time and before the judgment of all that is witnessed. And I say that for the sake of some I know are wrestling with this very issue and just to underscore it, it perhaps may help them in sorting out some of these matters. The whole book of Revelation speaks to just this point.

36:30 Nowhere is there any picture of the church being taken out. That's the idea. That's why the book is written, because the church will suffer horrible things. And it's to the overcomers of these horrible things that the reward is given.

36:43 And it's... You notice the hope all the way through here is that Christ will come in judgment.

36:48 The hope is not that the church will be taken out. The hope is not that you will die before things get very bad. The hope is that Christ will come. And that...

36:57 The blessed hope of Titus is that Christ will come. And so throughout the whole book. There's no idea of a...

37:03 There's no idea of a secret rapture where the church in one particular age is blessed above the church in other ages and is taken out of tribulation. It'll go through it. And that's the whole reason for the book. To encourage the church through these great times of tribulation.

37:18 And now in verse 11, you see this again. There's such moving pictures in the book of Revelation. You see this picture of Christ coming. And verse 11, And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and you...

37:33 And well, I won't read it. There's this picture of Christ coming. A sword coming out of his mouth. He's coming to rule with a rod of iron.

37:40 He's going to tread the winepress of the fierce wrath of God. On his thigh is this name written, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now in verse 19, you see, And I saw the beast, the anti-Christian world government, and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against him who sat upon the horse and against his army. Now, the literal translation of verse 19, would be that he assembled to make the war against him.

38:07 And that refers back to that the war of chapter 16, the war of Armageddon. It's the same judgment. There's only one judgment. It's in several pictures, but it's all at this one war.

38:18 And so here, the beast and the kings of the earth are gathered to make the war against him who sat upon the horse and his army. And the beast is seized, and the false prophet is seized, and they're cast alive into the lake of fire. Well, now you come to chapter 20, and I've been rushing kind of to get to chapter 20, because I think that there's where the most confusion lies in this matter, and I'd like to spend a little bit more time with it. You've had the overthrow of this wicked whore, you've had the overthrow of the beast and the false prophet, and now the one who's left to be overthrown is Satan.

The Binding of Satan and the Thousand Years (Gospel Age)

38:54 And that's what you have described here in chapter 20. And the way it's described, I think, must be very humiliating to Satan. There's a little bit more, there's a little bit more detail given than you had with the beast and the false prophet. You have the picture given that at the beginning of the gospel age he's defeated, but then at the end of the gospel age he's utterly destroyed and cast into this lake of fire with the beast and the false prophet.

39:19 You have a picture of the angel coming out of heaven and taking the dragon, Satan, the devil, and binding him for a thousand years in his bottomless pit. And then at the end of a thousand years he's released. And there's a lot of question about when this thousand year period is. And quite frankly, I'm surprised that there's such a lot of question.

39:43 It seems to me that if a very sane approach, there's a lot of things you don't know, a lot of more things you can know, is taken to this passage, and you see what things you can know here, it seems to identify those thousand years very clearly. What do the thousand years represent? I think the best way to establish that is to see when they begin and when they end. You have that very clearly here.

40:06 The thousand years are, they begin with the binding of Satan. They end with a judgment. But what is the binding of Satan? Well, it's bound so that he cannot deceive the nations any longer.

40:18 So the point is that the beginning of this thousand year period is when Satan is bound, when his influence is so curtailed that he cannot deceive the nations any longer. It's not when he's rendered inactive. It's not when he's cast into the lake of fire. It's when he's bound, meaning that he cannot deceive the nations any longer.

40:36 Well, when does that happen? Well, there are quite a number of passages in the New Testament that speak to that, and I would like to go over some of them, and maybe I'll read the passages and make a short comment, but let's not take the time to look them up. In Matthew 12, verses 22 through 29, you have this parable of Jesus casting out the demons. It's not a parable, it's an actual happening, and when he does that, he gives a parable, and he says that it would be impossible to invade the demon's house unless he had first bound the strong man of that house, and the strong man, of course, was Satan.

41:17 Well, the idea is the same as here in chapter 20. Christ had bound that strong man, he bound Satan, therefore he could enter the demon's house and destroy the demons. So in that particular passage, this binding is associated with Christ's earthly ministry. In Luke chapter 10, Christ sees Satan falling from heaven in connection with the preaching of the gospel by the Seventy.

41:39 So there, his being cast down is referred to the preaching of the gospel at the beginning of the age. In John chapter 12, verses 31 through 32, Jesus says that Satan, the prince of this world, the prince of darkness, is cast down at the cross. In Colossians 2, verse 15, you have that Satan is disarmed, he is despoiled at the cross. In Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14, Satan is defeated, he is rendered powerless at the cross.

42:09 In Revelation chapter 5, we've already talked about, chapter 12, I'm sorry, verse 5, we've already talked about when Satan is cast out of heaven, when he loses that place of influence. Well, it's at the time when the man-child goes into heaven. It's at the ascension. We might ask, when is it that the darkness of the world is dispelled?

42:28 In Acts chapter 1, verse 8, you read, Christ promises the Spirit to come and to empower the apostles to take the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. And then you read the account of Acts, and surely that's what they did. They went into all the world, turning the world upside down. Well, when can you say then that Satan's hold on the world was broken?

42:50 When was this darkness shattered? When was he no longer able to deceive the nations any longer? Well, it was after Pentecost, when the Spirit was given so that the gospel would go into the whole age. Well, the point of all this is that Satan is bound.

43:03 He is so hindered that he cannot deceive the nations any longer in that complex of events around Christ's earthly ministry, his death on the cross, his resurrection and ascension, and the sending of the Spirit at Pentecost. That's the time when Satan is so bound that he can deceive the nations no longer. Well, when do the thousand years begin then? Well, at that time, when Satan is so bound and the darkness of the nations are dispelled.

43:28 Well, when do the thousand years end? Well, you have several things happening at the end of the thousand years. You have Satan is again allowed to deceive the nations. Well, you have something very similar to that being mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2, where Paul said that the Lord will not return until there has been a general falling away, until many people have been deceived into believing that the gospel is not true and that they fall away from the true gospel.

43:57 Well, I think that is a very good description. Satan, at the end of the thousand years, is released so that he can deceive the nations. There is a falling away. Paul says that will happen just before the Lord returns.

44:11 You have here in verse 8, let's read in verse 7, and when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, the Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war. The number of them is like the sand of the seashore. Well, in chapter 16, the war referred to that Armageddon. In chapter 19, the war returned to when Christ came and destroyed the beast and the false prophet.

44:42 There is no reason to think that the war in chapter 20 refers to any other time. It is referring to when Christ comes back at the war, which is described in this picture of Armageddon. The point is that this thousand years ends with the judgment which is at the coming of the Lord. You read in verse 9 that the whole horde of people of those that were with Satan are also judged.

45:05 Well, when is the judgment of the wicked? The New Testament only knows of one judgment, only one judgment, and that's when Christ returns. Well, all these things taken together, it seems that the thousand years ends when Christ comes in judgment. It begins with his earthly ministry and the sending of the Spirit.

45:22 It ends when he returns in judgment. The gospel age, then, is what's referred to by the thousand year period. There's an awful lot more that could be said and there must be an awful lot of thoughts in your own minds about this. But our principle, what you can know, it does start at that time, it does end at that time, and that much is solid.

Gospel Age on Earth and in Heaven

45:46 Now, whatever other speculations we might want to bring in, the thousand years do refer, in my opinion, they do refer to that period which we know of as the gospel age, not to a literal one thousand years, but to that whole age of the church. Well, in verses 1 through 3, then, you have a picture of the gospel age on earth and what we've just talked about, Satan is bound. Where at one time the gospel was hidden, in a sense hidden, it was only in that one small geographical part of the earth, of Israel. It's not like that any longer.

46:23 Satan is bound. He cannot deceive the nations and the gospel has spread to the whole earth and the gates of hell have not and will not prevail against him. So that's the situation in verses 1 through 3. Satan is bound.

46:35 He cannot deceive the nations anymore. The gospel has spread throughout. And then in verses 4 through 6, you have a picture of that same gospel age in heaven. And what do you see there?

46:48 You see a picture of those martyrs and those that have died for the faith. They're in heaven, reigning with Christ. They've been killed, but they're not dead. They've been killed, but they live in the sense that they're reigning with Christ.

47:02 Now, the rest of the dead, the wicked dead, they're pictured as being dead. They're in the place of the dead, in the grave. They will one day be alive and cast into the lake of fire, alive as the false beast and the prophet were in chapter 19. Now, don't read too much into that idea of living.

47:21 It's not satiric. It's not that the saints are now alive in a satiric way. I mean by that that they're redeemed and that the rest of the dead are going to come to life and be redeemed later. It's not that.

47:33 It's not a technical picture. The point is that these saints, these martyrs, are not seen here as being dead. They have not been triumphed over. They're alive and reigning with Christ.

47:45 And those others, the rest of the dead, they've not triumphed. They're dead. And they'll remain in the place of the dead until they're brought up to the final judgment. So, in brief, that is something of what is seen in chapter 20.

48:01 Different people have tried to comment on why the term a thousand years would be used. And remember the gospel age before has been described as 42 months, as a relatively short time. But that was always in the context of describing the gospel age as a time of persecution. It seems to me that when they're talking about persecution, the visions that Christ gives are eager to make it clear that it's for a limited time.

48:26 It will end. It will be over. But when he talks about the bliss of the gospel age, it's spoken of in terms of this huge period of time, a thousand years. A thousand years is very long in comparison to three and a half years, to 42 months.

48:38 And I'm speculating, but it seems to me that that might be one of the reasons for such a term being used. We're talking now about the bliss of the saints and the binding with Satan. And so it's spoken about as a gloriously long period of time. After the church then is viewed in heaven, or after the gospel age is viewed in heaven and then viewed in earth, you have finally this judgment of Satan and following that is the great right throne judgment where all of the dead are brought up and judged according to their works and those who are not found written in the name, their names not in the book of life are judged and eternally damned.

The New Heaven and New Earth: Consummation of Bliss

49:20 And then you have in chapter 21, I'd like to read these verses and perhaps this is where we'll have to end, but this to me is such a climactic portion to what we've been seeing. Everybody's been judged, the harlot, the two beasts, the dragon, the wicked. And now you have in chapter 21, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth where the first heaven and the first earth passed away and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

49:58 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men and he shall dwell among them and they shall be his peoples and God himself shall be among them. He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. Try to read that as a church filled with martyrs. He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes and there shall be no longer any death.

50:24 There shall no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away and he who sits on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. And he said, Write, for these words are faithful and true. And he said, It is done.

50:40 I think the marginal reading of many Bibles is correct here. The literal translation is they are done. They've all been judged. All the enemies are put behind.

50:50 They are done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes shall inherit these things.

51:03 I will be his God and he will be my son. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. And that's the end then of this third vision. Everyone has been judged.

51:29 All the enemies of Christ are put under his feet. They are done. And then you have this word of consolation. There will be no more tears.

51:37 There will be no more pain. All those things, the first things are done away. And the new heavens and the new Jerusalem and the state of bliss have come. Our time is getting, is almost gone.

Conclusion: The Triumphant Church and Enduring Hope

51:53 And I think that I'll not even attempt to go into the fourth vision. Suffice it to say that this fourth vision, remember everything is behind. All the enemies of Christ are done. And here you have then a vision of the bride.

52:10 John is translated into a high mountain and he looks, the angel says, I will show you a picture of the bride, the pure bride of Christ, the triumphant, victorious church being finally wedded together in that eternal union that will never end. The bride is described as a city. The city is described as Israel and the...

52:32 as the Old Testament and the New Testament. You have the gates of the city have the names of the twelve tribes and foundation stones of the city have the names of the twelve apostles picturing that the church is one. There's no church, there's no Israel and the church. The church is one body and it will forever be so wedded to the land.

52:51 I think our time is gone. It would be good for perhaps another day for someone to go back and review all of these major themes that have been carried on but I'm sure they're obvious to you that life is to the overcomer. All of the enemies of Christ will be judged. There's a great reward for those who do overcome.

53:21 And just to say that one last thing. We should not think that the church will not go through horrid times of tribulation. We've been greatly blessed. It's probably hard for us to enter into that but the church and the rest of the world is not so blessed and we may not always be.

53:38 And the book of Revelation ought to be our stalwart if hard times ever do come upon us. Great encouragement in those interludes and the visions of the victorious Lamb. Well, let's close in prayer.