Revelation Class #48 - The First Resurrection

Last week we started Revelation Chapter 20, and we talked about the thousand years, the Millennium. We talked about the fact that in Revelation 20, which is the only place in the Bible by the way, that this millennium is really discussed, and it’s only mentioned five times, in those first seven verses. Yet, there is an inordinate amount of emphasis placed on the millennium. In fact we divide eschatological positions as it were, the end times positions into three basic ones: post-millenium meaning after the millenium; pre-millenium meaning before the millenium and amillennial meaning no millenium basically, although that’s not really correct. So there’s an incredible amount of emphasis on this thousand years, when there is not very much emphasis on the thousand years in the Bible. The reason I think for that is that we have used the millenium to divide the Christians, based upon their view of what’s going to happen at the end. Anytime you look at something that divides people, there becomes a great emphasis on that particular thing. For instance, the division between black people and white people. We even talk about the black race and the white race. Well, there’s only one race – there’s a human race, and some people have more of a certain chemical in their skin that causes their skin to be darker. So we really need to focus on not the divisive things but we really need to focus on what God’s word says and put the emphasis where God puts it.

            We talked about the fact that Satan is bound for the thousand years. We went back to Matthew where Jesus says He has bound the strong man and He’s very clearly talking about Satan. He’s talking about casting out demons. He’s talking about taking people out of the stronghold of Satan. We talked briefly about the fact that what you saw in the world prior to the time of Christ, was very few people coming to a Biblical understanding of who God is. But because of what Christ did, the church exploded.

So very clearly Satan was bound in the sense that his power to deceive the nations and that’s what it says a little bit later on in verse 8 – talking about his power and his power is really his ability to deceive the nations. Verse 3 also: he was bound…threw him into the abyss…and the abyss was shut…so that he should not deceive the nations any longer. Very clearly then I think what’s being talked about here is the fact that Satan, his ability to deceive people, was bound, was restrained by the coming of Christ into the world and by Christ’s preaching; by His example, by His life, death and resurrection. Remember very shortly after that the church exploded into the world. Within a few short years, the church had gone from Jerusalem to Samaria to the outer most ends of the world Within 40 years after the death of Christ, Christianity was basically world wide. You see this tremendous explosion and very clearly Satan’s power was bound in that respect.

Q: Does it mean he’s powerless? Or just bound in power?

A: He’s bound in power. He’s not powerless. Very clearly Satan was at work in the world during that time. But his ability to restrain the presentation of the gospel, his ability to restrain God’s word going out into the world, was constrained or bound.

Q: You said ‘at that time,’ but you mean ‘at this time’ right? Until now?

A: Until now. I mean from that point forward, yes, thank you.

C: As I was looking over this in my old Bible that fell apart, and I had gone through this before, I had written down so many cross references, it’s just amazing. If you look at 1 John 3:8 it says that He might destroy the works of the devil; Hebrews 2:14 talks about destroying. It’s just amazing how many passages that go along. Hebrews 2:14 …He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.

R: Right, through His death.

C: Also in Colossians 2:15, there  are numerous texts that point out (tape cut out) through His death, the King comes, to destroy the work of the devil.

R: Yes, you’ve heard me say over and over and over again over the last almost 1 year as we’ve been studying this, if you look at what the Bible says, you’ll be amazed at how it all fits together. If you look at what someone else says, even me because I can be wrong and if you don’t compare it to Scripture, then you’re going to get a false view of what Scripture teaches.

Q: Unless I missed something, verse 3 says he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more.

A: Should not deceive the nations any longer.

Q: That sounds pretty absolute.

A: Yes, deceive in what sense though? That’s the question. See, that’s what we’re saying, that prior to the life and death and resurrection of Christ, Satan had the ability to deceive in the sense that, I don’t want to give Satan too much power here, but he had the power to, as it were, cloud men’s minds like the Shadow and all. Now, the gospel can go forth. This is what I think is being taught here. That from the life, death and resurrection of Christ, that whole time period as an event, that the gospel then can go forward and through the power of God, men can understand. Christ came to destroy Satan, came to destroy the works of the devil. He came to bind the strong man. He came that the word of God might go forth. So that’s what we’re seeing.

Q: So could we say that his spiritual power is bound? He’s got physical power to you know, make things bad for us now, but he can’t keep us from the gospel?

A: Remember my position is that Satan doesn’t have power over Christians in any sense other than he can tempt us. Satan cannot take control of a Christian. Paul says light and darkness have nothing in common. If we have the power of the Spirit living in us, if we have the Spirit of Christ in us, how in the world can Satan be there also? He can’t. Now, what Satan does for Christians is tempt them by saying, “…you know…that would be really nice if you did that…that would feel really good…that would taste so good” and then we, because of the effects of our old sinful self, disregard the truth that God has told us and we listen to the temptation, just like Eve in the garden. The serpent in the garden did not take control of Eve. Very clearly she was with God. God was with her. But what Satan did was in effect question what God has said, and then say God’s a liar and then she followed his temptation.

C: In Boettner’s The Millenium, he says that if you examine every continent and you look at how the gospel has affected each nation, the power of the gospel has gone forward and changed cultures. Missionaries have gone in where there has been complete darkness, and the light of the gospel and it’s presence have changed things, maybe not in it’s fullest expression…

R: And we’re seeing that all over the world. We saw that first in European culture, then we saw it in American culture, then we see it in Korea. Now we’re seeing it in Africa. We’re seeing the gospel just explode across the world. Hundreds of people are coming to Christ everyday in Africa right now. You may not realize that unless you read the missionary publications, but it’s incredible what’s going on in the world. We tend to focus on the negative aspects rather than the positive. I think what God is telling us here is that Satan’s power in the sense of his power to… how do I say this… his power as it were to cloud men’s understanding of the gospel has been restrained by the life, death, resurrection of Jesus Christ. That’s what we see.

Q: So can we take that to the last part of verse 3 that we read last time, after that he must be set free for a short time. What does that mean? He’s been bound, what does that ‘for a short time’ mean?

A: That’s means that just prior to the coming of Christ for the final judgment, there will be a period of time apparently when the power of Satan will not be bound. That he will be able to cloud men’s minds, as it were. I don’t want to say that’s a sign of the end times because then people look for the power of Satan being released. But clearly, what it’s saying, is that there will be a period of time.

Q: I’ve got two parts. So we can agree that no matter how long, everybody can agree that there will be a period where Christ is going to reign.

A: Yes, and we’ll talk about that.

Q: Now, with a postmillennial view, if Christ is conquering the world, and that, when He’s going to come back is once the world’s conquered, right?

A: That’s the postmillennial view, yes.

Q: Now, in that view, how is it possible that if the world is conquered for Christ, how is it that sometime before He comes back, Satan is to be let loose and all of a sudden there’s going to be all this evil spreading?

A: That’s not what it says. It doesn’t say anything about evil spreading, does it?

C: I have a quote from Gentry on that. What Gentry pointed out is that in order to have a great apostasy, you have to have something to apostatize from. You assume this great victory of the gospel and expansion of Christianity in order for the world, for a short time, to turn to it, to apostatize from it.

R: I don’t think what we’re going to see is a… What I read is ‘after these things he must be released for a short time.’ Released in what sense? Released in the sense that he regains his power to limit men’s understanding of the Good News. Remember that’s what we’re talking about, that’s his power. He doesn’t have physical power. He can’t take control of Christians. He already has control of non-Christians, so that’s not a problem. So what I think it’s saying here is that his ability to confuse or deceive people in their understanding of the Good News, is what will be released. Not that there will be some tremendous explosion of evil in the world. But that there will be a very definite lessening as it were, of the spread of the gospel in the world. Because that’s where his power is being bound.

Q: A great influence over the unregenerate perhaps?

A: Well he already has complete control of the unregenerate.

Q: But being restrained, people by and large today…

A: Are restrained by God’s grace.

Q: They just don’t act out upon all their most viscous or violent inclinations.

A: Because they’re constrained by God’s grace. See we tend to give Satan too much power, that’s what I want to be concerned about here. Satan is under God’s control. Very clearly. He is given his power by God, and God restrains Satan in the world. That’s what we need to understand. That Satan is not this entity almost on an equal with God. He’s not and we tend to get confused in that message because we hear all of that stuff going on.

            I want to go on because I do want to try and get into at least the beginning part of the first resurrection here.

            20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. (5) The rest of the dead did not live until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. (6) Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

            Now here is where the pre-millennial position takes the point of view, their teaching is that there is a literal thousand years and that the saints will be raptured – either pre, post or mid-tribulation, and they will reign with Christ for a thousand years, and then will come the end. Now that’s not what it says, because we’re going to look at that a little bit more.

            John says v4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. Who’s the them?

Q: When it says judgment was given to them, does that mean the power to judge others or judgment for what they’d done wrong?

A: What do you think?

Q: Authority. Is that a good translation of the word judgment in this particular case?

A: No, I think it’s very clearly more in the sense of judging in the sense of an ultimate judgment.

Q: Do they have to be saints? The saints are going to judge.

A: Ah! Who’s going to judge? The saints are going to judge. Jesus says ‘Do you not know, talking to the disciples, that you will sit on thrones and you will judge?’ Very clearly Jesus is talking to His apostles. I think very clearly the “them” here are the apostles. In one sense, you and I because very clearly we are included. The saints will be part of the judgment. Why? Who is the judge. Jesus Christ is the judge. We are the body of Jesus Christ. You see, we tend to think separately, don’t we? He’s out there, we’re here. But we’re part of the body of Christ and we will function… The Bible says we are seated in Him, right now, at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, for eternity, and we are part of Him. Not in the sense that we’re divine, my finger is not my brain. It’s part of my body. I need it to function in one sense, Christ doesn’t need us to function, we need to realize that, but He chose to use us and He chose to have us judge. I think very clearly here He’s talking about one, the apostles because Jesus was speaking directly to them, and two, He’s talking about all the saints because clearly from Scripture, we will be part of judging the ungodly.

            He goes on to say And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, Who are they? The martyrs. The martyrs of the early part of the church. Those people who were standing up and saying I don’t care what you say Caesar, I’m going to follow God. I’m not going to burn incense to Caesar. I’m not going to bow down to his statue. I will bow down to only one king, Jesus Christ, and they were executed for it.

and those who had not worshipped the beast or his image, Now if you agree with me, who is the beast? Rome. The state power under Caesar. They have not worshipped Caesar. They have not received the mark of his ownership. Remember that when we talked about the mark of the beast, we said it was the mark of a man, and I think very clearly that Kenneth Gentry has shown that that is a coded phrase which really talks about Caesar, Nero. Remember in Hebrew it was Cairon Nero. The Hebrew number equivalent of those letters is 666 and very clearly John says that 666 is the mark of the man, not some incredible mythological beast or whatever. Very clearly it was talking, I think, about Caesar.

Q: So this is the part where you finally get into speaking of things that are happening in the future?

A: No. I didn’t say that at all. As a matter of fact, in the next phrase it says and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived ‘Lived’ is the proper translation here. It is the actual Greek. The New American Standard says ‘they came to life.’ That’s not true folks. The Greek says ‘they lived.’ Present tense. …they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

C: Ephesians 2:4 says that we are raised and reign with Christ presently.

R: Amen. Paul in Ephesians 2 says we were raised up together with Him and we were made alive together with Him. We were raised up together with Him. We were seated together with Him. That’s in the Greek perfect tense which means that it’s something that happened in the past with a continuing result into the present, and that when Christ was made alive, we were made alive. When Christ was raised up together, we were raised up together. When Christ was seated at the right hand of God the Father, we were seated at the right hand of God the Father and we are there right now in God’s view, and we will be there eternally.

Q: John 5:24 says “Truly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me, has everlasting life…”

A: Present tense.

Q: …shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. We presently passed from death into life. This is true.

A: Exactly. Romans 8: There is therefore now (present tense) no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

            So who are we talking about here? We’re talking about those who were sitting upon the thrones. We said those are primarily the apostles, but in principle, all Christians. The martyrs. Those who did not receive the mark of the beast. They, all of them, lived (present tense) and reigned (present tense) with Christ for a thousand years. Who are those people? The saints? All Christians. Anyone who’s died in Christ. The rest of the dead (the unbelievers) they did not live (it’s not ‘come to life’ – in the Greek it’s ‘they did not live’) until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. What is the first resurrection? Spiritual. It is becoming alive in Jesus Christ. We were dead in our sins and trespasses, but God made us alive together with Him. He resurrected us from death. He brought us out of bondage in our own spiritual Egypt. Out of darkness into light. That is the first resurrection. So the first resurrection is resurrection in Christ.

Q: This is all a little hard for me. When you die, where do we go? Where does the unregenerate and where do the believers go?

A: To be absent from the body is to be with the Lord. The moment we die, the next moment, actually if you can talk in moments because there’s not going to be any time, we will be with the Lord and we will be there eternally. The unregenerate go immediately to hell. Do not pass go, do not collect $200 and they will be there eternally.

Q: But there’s a difference between that and the great white judgment. Is that when they just the get (inaudible)

A: Yes. What you see taught in Scripture, and we’ll get more into this as we get on in to Revelation, is that when we die, if you are regenerate, you go immediately to be with God. You go as a soul, remember. The souls of those are under the altar. You go spiritually to be with the Lord. Those who are unregenerate go spiritually to hell. At the end of time, when Christ comes back in judgment this time, there will be a great white throne judgment, and to skip ahead in the lesson a little bit, the Christians will be before the throne for reward, not for judgment! Romans 8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We are not there to be judged folks. We’re there to be rewarded. We are there so that everybody who ever lived, who ever was, knows that we belong in heaven because of what Christ did and we will receive our resurrected body and we will reign with Him forever. The unregenerate will stand before the throne for judgment. For their own works. They too will receive a resurrected body, which will further increase their damnation and their torment in hell, if you can even speak of things like that.

C: Okay. Just as a comment, in verse 3, that has futuristic implications, right?

R: In what sense?

C: There’s a period after the thousand years that hasn’t come yet.

R: Yes.

C: When I asked you, “Is this is where you’re beginning to speak of things that are to come,”

R: I apologize. I didn’t understand what you were saying.

C: Then, where I’m getting confused is that when it says they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. We’re talking of a thousand years previously as being maybe a certain amount of time, but at least a compartment of time that is going to have an end to it.

R: Right.

C: But now it seems that we’re talking about a thousand years as being an infinite amount of time.

R: No, I’m not saying that. I apologize if I’ve confused you. Yes, Satan will be released. That is future. No matter how you look at it. If you look at the thousand years as still future, there is a time when Satan will be released for a short period, that time is future. Even if you look at the thousand years as symbolic, which I believe it is, there’s still a time in the future when Satan will be released. That’s very clearly stated in Scripture. Now, I believe the thousand years is symbolic. Remember, ten to the Jews was a perfect number, three was the number used for completeness, as it were, i.e., the trinity, so ten times ten times ten is a thousand. I think what he’s talking about here is God’s own perfect time. Remember I pointed out that we were talking in Revelation 19 at the end, the beast was seized, the false prophet, those who had received the mark of the beast and they were thrown into the lake of fire, and we’re saying very clearly this is symbolic of the judgment upon the Roman state. The false church and those who were following the false church and now suddenly when we talk about the thousand years, everybody wants to make it a literal thousand years. I don’t think John is talking about a literal thousand years. I think it’s very clearly symbolic, and I think it’s talking about God will release Satan, in His own perfect time, and the saints will live and reign with Christ. We are in fact right now reigning with Christ and we will do that for whatever period of time God chooses before Christ returns. Now the only change in our reigning with Christ, will be that we will be rewarded at the great white throne of judgment and we will receive our resurrected body and be further rewarded, if you can even talk about that in heaven, after that period of time. So in that sense, it is still future.

Q: In verse 4 it’s just speaking about the time period until the great white throne of judgment?

A: Yes.

Q: And then we will continue to reign with Him after that…

A: Right, just with our resurrected body.

Q: I was wondering if you could briefly hit on the rapture doctrine that is influential in Christian circles and connect that to this. So many people want to quote the passage in 1 Thessalonians, and just where does that all fit in?

A: Well as I understand the premillennial dispensational position, remember I’ve said before the premillennial believes that Christ will come back prior to the thousand years, there will be a rapture of the saints, the believers in the church, they will be caught up to reign with Him, and there it gets a little confused, a little nebulous whether we’re going to be in the air or whether we’re going to be on the earth, invisible to everybody. It depends on who you’re reading in the premillennial camp where that occurs. But at any rate, we will reign with Christ for a thousand years and then will come the end, then will come the judgment and everybody will be judged – Christians and non-believers alike, and then will be the end of time. The tribulation question in premillennial dispensationalism, there are three basic positions. They all talk about a tribulation – the great tribulation because remember they see Matthew 24 as futuristic and almost a year ago, for those of you who were here, we went through Matthew 24 and saw how very clearly when you start with Daniel 9, and then you look carefully at Matthew 24, that it’s not futuristic at all. It’s talking very clearly about the destruction of the temple. Remember the disciples asked Him about the temple and He’s saying to them, you will see all of these events. This generation shall not pass away until all these things come to pass, Jesus says. So they’re very clearly talking about the events of the destruction of the temple.

Q: So how do we understand the rapture test in 1 Thessalonians?

A: I’m getting there. The foundation of the tribulation, if you believe in the great tribulation of Matthew 24 as futuristic as the premillennial dispensationalists do, there are three camps then. One believes that the rapture will come prior to the tribulation. Because when you look at certain passages in Revelation it says that these things do not come upon the saints. So they take that to mean the saints will not be in the world. A quick aside here to confuse you further - actually you can read Revelation and none of the bad things in Revelation happen to the saints. They all happen to the ungodly. So that’s the basis for their belief. There’s another group that believes based on, I believe, Daniel 9 when it says in the middle of the week, it’s talking about the middle of the tribulation they believe. Therefore the rapture will come during the middle of this seven year tribulation period and the saints will be raptured out at that point. Then there are others who believe that the saints have to go through the tribulation because there are passages that talk about we’re called to suffering. 1 Peter and other passages where we are undergoing tribulation. So they see that as the saints must go through the tribulation and then will come the rapture.

Q: Well what do we believe about the rapture?

A: I believe that…

Q: I mean the rapture text. How does that fit into your system?

A: Which rapture text?

Q: 1 Thessalonians:4.

A: Paul is talking in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13. He says But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. (14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. (15) For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. (16) For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. (17) Then, we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. (18) Therefore comfort one another with these words.

            Why was Paul writing this? In some people’s minds in that day, God was going to come back very quickly. Remember my basis is that He did in fact come back very quickly. He came back within 40 years. He came back to destroy the temple in 70 AD. But people understood that to mean that He was coming back at the end of time and that those who had died, were not going to be involved in being caught up together with Christ. That they were in some limbo state. They were not going to go to heaven and Paul is dealing with that question in Thessalonians. He’s writing to the church in Thessalonica and he’s saying ‘No. You don’t understand. I don’t want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve.’ He says ‘I want you to understand about people who have died so that you won’t grieve as do the rest who have no hope. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again and clearly He did, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.’ In Revelation, the souls of those who have died are with Christ. They’re under the altar and He’s clearly going to bring them back with Him when He comes in judgment. That’s what Paul says here. (15) For this we say to you by the word of the Lord… He says this is not me, this is the word of the Lord. This is the Spirit of the Lord speaking, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not preceded those who have fallen asleep. There’s no advantage for those who are alive when Jesus comes back. (16) For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. By the way, this is the second resurrection, which we’ll talk more about next time. So he’s saying that those who are with Christ are with Christ and they will rise first. (17) Then, we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them… We will be joined in the church universal, the church triumphant, …to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Q: That’s what I was driving at. You’re saying that that is the second resurrection and contrary to the dispensational view that this is a secret rapture of the church…

A: It’s not a secret.

Q: It is the second advent being spoken of in 1 Thessalonians.

A: The rapture is not secret. Why can I say that? I can state definitively that the rapture is not secret.

Q: This is the text that they will take you to.

A: And I can take them to this and show them that it is not secret. Why can I say it’s not secret? The voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. Do you think that everybody in the world is not going to hear that? I’ve got news for you! Remember we said that this trumpet sound, this rushing water, this rushing wind sound, is God coming in judgment. Remember that in Genesis, when Adam and Eve had sinned, and they were walking in the garden and they were trying to hide themselves and they heard God coming and unfortunately our translations translate it as ‘the cool of the day.’ In Hebrew it’s ‘in the wind.’ This rushing wind, roaring, trumpet sound that people heard at Mt. Sinai when God was there to give the tablets and the Hebrews said, ‘Moses, you go talk to Him. If we hear His voice again we’ll die!’ That’s what they were hearing. When you read it and you see when God comes in judgment, there’s this tremendous trumpet-rushing wind-roaring water sound. Chilton points out that was also heard in the Shekinah glory cloud. This pillar of cloud and pillar of fire and that very likely what it is, is the wings of the angels. These created beings that accompany God. So what you’re hearing there is the beating of the wings of all these myriads of angels who accompany God. That’s what we’re going to hear on the last day.

The other passage, really quickly, that fits into that is 1 Corinthians 15. Paul is talking about the resurrection there and he goes through all of that and he says in verse (51) Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. We all go through that death experience which changes us from this world into the next. (52) 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 and we shall all be changed. So he fits right in, obviously he wrote both of them – the letter to the church at Corinth and the letter to the church at Thessalonica – and what Paul is saying is yes, there will be a rapture. It will not be secret. There will not be a period of time after it. Notice what he’s saying here: all shall be changed. It’s the last trumpet. There’s nothing after that.

I firmly believe based on my understanding of Scripture, that when the last saint, the last person who will be saved by God is changed in his heart by the power of the Spirit of God and says ‘Lord, I commit my life to You,’ at that moment and not before, the trumpet will sound, Christ will descend with the voice of the archangel and this sound of God coming in judgment. It will be too late. There will be a rapture. We will be caught up together to reign with Him forever and those who are not in Christ, will go directly to hell.

            We’re out of time. Next week we’ll continue on. We got two verses today! Sort of.