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| Event 5 - Millennium |
| Overview |
Key Text
"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand."Revelation 20:1
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At the coming of Christ the wicked are blotted
from the face of the whole
earth--consumed with the spirit of His mouth and
destroyed by the brightness of His glory. Christ takes His people to the
City of God, and the earth is emptied of its inhabitants. "Behold, the
Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down,
and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof." "The land shall
be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word." "Because
they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting
covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell
therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned." Isaiah
24:1, 3, 5, 6.
The whole earth appears like a desolate wilderness. The ruins of cities and villages
destroyed by the earthquake, uprooted trees, ragged rocks thrown out by the sea
or torn out of the earth itself, are scattered over its surface, while vast caverns
mark the spot where the mountains have been rent from their foundations.
Now the event takes place foreshadowed in the last solemn service of the Day
of Atonement. When the ministration in the holy of holies had been completed,
and the sins of Israel had been removed from the sanctuary by virtue of the blood
of the sin offering, then the scapegoat was presented alive before the Lord;
and in the presence of the congregation the high priest confessed over him "all
the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all
their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat." Leviticus 16:21. In
like manner, when the work of atonement in the heavenly sanctuary has been completed,
then in the presence of God and heavenly angels and the hosts of the redeemed
the sins of God's people will be placed upon Satan; he will be declared guilty
of all the evil which he has caused them to commit. And as the scapegoat was
sent away into a land not inhabited, so Satan will be banished to the desolate
earth, an uninhabited and dreary wilderness.
Key Text
"And he laid hold on the dragon, that
old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand
years," Revelation 20:2
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The revelator foretells the banishment of Satan and the condition of chaos and
desolation to which the earth is to be reduced, and he declares that this condition
will exist for a thousand years. After presenting the scenes of the Lord's second
coming and the destruction of the wicked, the prophecy continues: "I saw
an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great
chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is
the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and 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 thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must
be loosed a little season." Revelation 20:1-3.
That the expression "bottomless pit" represents the earth in a state
of confusion and darkness is evident from other scriptures. Concerning the condition
of the earth "in the beginning," the Bible record says that it "was
without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." Genesis
1:2. (The Hebrew word here translated "deep" is rendered in the septuagint
{Greek} translation of the Hebrew old testament by the same word rendered "bottomless
pit" in Revelation 20:1-3)
Prophecy teaches that it will be brought back, partially at least, to this condition.
Looking forward to the great day of God, the prophet Jeremiah declares: "I
beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and
they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the
hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of
the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness,
and all the cities thereof were broken down." Jeremiah 4:23-26.
Here is to be the home of Satan with his evil angels for a thousand years. Limited
to the earth, he will not have access to other worlds to tempt and annoy those
who have never fallen. It is in this sense that he is bound: there are none remaining,
upon whom he can exercise his power. He is wholly cut off from the work of deception
and ruin which for so many centuries has been his sole delight.
Key Text
"And 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 thousand years should be fulfilled:
and after that he must be loosed a little season." Revelation 20:3
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The prophet Isaiah, looking forward to the time of Satan's overthrow, exclaims: "How
art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut
down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! . . . Thou hast said in thine
heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God:
. . . I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to
the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider
thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake
kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof;
that opened not the house of his prisoners?" Isaiah 14:12-17.
For six thousand years, Satan's work of rebellion has "made the earth to
tremble." He had "made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the
cities thereof." And he "opened not the house of his prisoners." For
six thousand years his prison house has received God's people, and he would have
held them captive forever; but Christ had broken his bonds and set the prisoners
free.
Even the wicked are now placed beyond the power of Satan, and alone with his
evil angels he remains to realize the effect of the curse which sin has brought. "The
kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, everyone in his own house
[the grave]. But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch. .
. . Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed
thy land, and slain thy people." Isaiah 14:18-20.
Key Text
"How
art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou
cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!"Isaiah 14:12
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For a thousand years, Satan will wander to and fro in the desolate earth to behold
the results of his rebellion against the law of God. During this time his sufferings
are intense. Since his fall his life of unceasing activity has banished reflection;
but he is now deprived of his power and left to contemplate the part which he
has acted since first he rebelled against the government of heaven, and to look
forward with trembling and terror to the dreadful future when he must suffer
for all the evil that he has done and be punished for the sins that he has caused
to be committed.
To God's people the captivity of Satan will bring gladness and rejoicing. Says
the prophet: "It shall come to pass in the day that Jehovah shall give thee
rest from thy sorrow, and from thy trouble, and from the hard service wherein
thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up this parable against the king
of Babylon [here representing Satan], and say, How hath the oppressor ceased!
. . . Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers;
that smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, that ruled the nations
in anger, with a persecution that none restrained." Verses 3-6, R.V.
During the thousand years between the first and the second resurrection the judgment
of the wicked takes place. The apostle Paul points to this judgment as an event
that follows the second advent. "Judge nothing before the time, until the
Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will
make manifest the counsels of the hearts." 1 Corinthians 4:5. Daniel declares
that when the Ancient of Days came, "judgment was given to the saints of
the Most High." Daniel 7:22.
Key Text
"Know
ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain
to this life?"1
Corinthians 6:3
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At this time the righteous reign as kings and
priests unto God. John in the Revelation says: "I saw thrones, and they
sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them." "They shall be priests
of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." Revelation
20:4, 6. It is at this time that, as foretold by Paul, "the saints shall
judge the world." 1 Corinthians 6:2. In union with Christ they judge the
wicked, comparing their acts with the statute book, the Bible, and deciding every
case according to the deeds done in the body. Then the portion which the wicked
must suffer is meted out, according to their works; and it is recorded against
their names in the book of death.
Satan also and evil angels are judged by Christ and His people. Says Paul: "Know
ye not that we shall judge angels?" Verse 3. And Jude declares that "the
angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath
reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great
day." Jude 6.
At the close of the thousand years the second resurrection will take place. Then
the wicked will be raised from the dead and appear before God for the execution
of "the judgment written." Thus the revelator, after describing the
resurrection of the righteous, says: "The rest of the dead lived not again
until the thousand years were finished." Revelation 20:5. And Isaiah declares,
concerning the wicked: "They shall be gathered together, as prisoners are
gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days
shall they be visited." Isaiah 24:22.
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