ofwrev20

OUR FATHER'S WORD

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

Psalm 119:105

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Revelation

A Message For The End Time

by Jim Lisenby

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CHAPTER 20

The Great Judgment

The things that you will learn in this chapter will be invaluable to you. It is an overview of the major events that occur during the thousand year reign of Christ with His saints which some call the Millennium. A word of caution though! Some of the events mentioned in this chapter are out of order chronologically even though it may seem that they are presented in order of occurrence.

It opens with the capture and incarceration of Lucifer, then it addresses two of the most misunderstood subjects in the Bible, the resurrection and the judgment. If you are like a lot of people, those two things are a bit nebulous and unclear to you. So, continue with me now and learn the truth about these things as well as other things that you have never been taught before concerning what happens after Christ returns.

Rev. 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

This is a powerful angel, probably the archangel Michael. Remember him? He is the one mentioned in chapter 12 that threw the dragon out of Heaven. Christ has returned and is setting things right on the Earth.

Rev. 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

This angel must be very powerful for he is dominating and controlling the dragon again. Good for him! Satan is not destroyed immediately at the second appearance of Christ, but he is removed from the general population and kept in isolation for the duration of the Millennium. Isaiah spoke of this time of his imprisonment, and how the people would take him lightly and ridicule him.

Isaiah 14:16 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;

How unpleasant for him. It has to be a time of extreme torment. He becomes the subject of contempt and ridicule by the people on Earth for a thousand years, but he will survive their jocularity and in the end will prove that he is still very dangerous. They had better be careful because he is going to come straight at them again before it is all over.

Rev. 20:3 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.

The great deceiver is put away and we will be free of him until he is loosed at the end of the Millennium. Why would he be set free again if he is the enemy of God and therefore our enemy as well? To give the people one final test. They will live and be taught God's honest truth for a thousand years without any encumbrance. They will not be trapped within a flesh body with all of its carnal pulls, the flesh age ended when Christ appeared. Further, the so-called demons, or unclean spirits, will no longer be around to take advantage of any mental weakness. Babylon the Great is gone, the beast is gone, and Satan is confined so that the people have no reason not to succeed in learning the truth and to be converted by it. But some, not the many, will not be able to resist Lucifer when he is released at the end of the Millennium. He is really a fine piece of work, and so appealing. Appearing to be so good and righteous he once again will convince some that he has a better way, that our Father is somehow too demanding and probably unfair in the way He has handled us.

You are undoubtedly familiar with the old baseball based adage, "three strikes and you are out"? That certainly applies here with regard to loosing Satan for a little season at the end of the Millennium because we already have two strikes against us. You see, he subverted some of us before in the world that was, and that never would have happened if we had loved our Father as we should. Ditto for this present flesh age because he has once again seduced many of us with considerable success. So, he will be allowed to try again at the end of the Millennium, and unfortunately, he will succeed in subverting some souls for the third and final time. It will be a final test of loyalty to either choose our Father who created us, or that beautiful con artist Lucifer, the one who has beguiled us twice before. But that final test and the resultant condemnation is all at the close of the Millennium, before that there will be the great task of training and evaluating all those who were not raised in the first resurrection.

The Resurrection To Judgment

Rev. 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

This is the reward of the called, and chosen, and faithful ones who are raised in the first resurrection. They have been judged as innocent and righteous, and they will inherit eternal life when they are restored to the former glory that they had in the world that was. They will participate in the government of Jesus Christ for at least a thousand years. That is what is meant when it says that judgment will be given to them. They will rule over cities and nations. That is what it means when it says that they will reign with Christ for a thousand years. To reign means to rule like a king or some other authority. In this present world they have no power, but during that time in that world they will have great authority. But before they can rule they must first be resurrected.

Rev. 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

John grammatically gets the cart before the horse here. If the two sentences in this verse were reversed it would read better. Only those who are called, and chosen and faithful during the flesh age now will be in the first resurrection which takes place at the return of Christ, and they are those spoken about above in verse 4. So, if there is a first resurrection, it is implicit in the statement that there will be more than one. There will in fact be two resurrections. The first resurrection takes place at the beginning of the Millennium and the second resurrection will occur at the end of it.

Now, having said that it begs the question, what does resurrection in this case mean? Chances are, resurrection in this instance is not what you think it is, so pay attention. This may be the only place where you will learn the truth about the so-called resurrection.

What is meant by the word resurrection? The most common belief is that it is the thing of raising someone from the dead. That is to say, reviving a dead cadaver. There are a few cases mentioned in the scriptures where this has occurred. One of the best known is the case of Lazarus being raised from the dead where he was restored to life in the same old flesh body as before. In fact, in all the cases cited in the Bible that was the case. They were not raised to eternal life, only their flesh bodies were revived. They undoubtedly died again later of old age or something else, perhaps martyrdom such as what happened to the apostle Paul. That is one concept of resurrection, but it is not the only one, or even the most important one. It definitely is not what the resurrections here in Revelation are talking about. They are very much different.

The two resurrections spoken of here in Revelation will raise those of us who qualify during this flesh age, and the millennial age to come, back up to the position we all once held with our Father. That is to say, we will once again be part of the Kingdom of God, we will again be called the Sons of God. That term is not gender specific but is simply a biblical figure of speech meaning the Children of God. A very long time ago, our Father created us and gave us wonderful spirit bodies in which to dwell. We were part of the Kingdom of God and He loved us as a Father loves his dear children. We were part of the Elohim mentioned in the first chapter of Genesis, and as such we were lesser Gods. Shocking concept, isn't it? But true nevertheless.

So what happened? How did we wind up here in flesh bodies?

We disqualified ourselves and lost our status as children by doing something unacceptable. Lucifer, a cherub, and possibly not part of the Kingdom of God at all, became corrupt in his character (Ezek. 28:15) and we allowed him to corrupt ours as well. The fall of man took place long before the Garden of Eden incident. Some of us rebelled against our true Father and chose to follow a substitute father which deeply hurt and offended Him. The vast majority of the rest of us simply stood around as spectators, as it were, and did nothing on behalf of our real Father. Only a few of us stuck by Him and fought on His behalf. Those that did are now called His Elect and He is very pleased with them even today. As a result of all this it was decided and agreed to by all of the Elohim, except a very few, that we would serve a time of testing in the flesh. That is why we are here in the flesh now being tested and requalifying to return to Him as loving children. The following verse from Genesis speaks of this.

Genesis 1:26 And God (Elohim) said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Open your mind and carefully peruse the first clause in this verse. The noun God here is Elohim in the Hebrew, and it is plural, meaning more than one. It is indeed talking about Gods, the whole Kingdom of God. We were once part of Elohim (the Kingdom of God) and because we proved ourselves unworthy to be called the Children of God, we agreed to pass through this age in a flesh body resembling those of the hominids that once walked the Earth. No one was exempted, even the One that we call our Lord passed through and was murdered! His name while in the flesh was Jesus of Nazareth.

Unfortunately, soon after homo sapien sapiens were created and placed here on Earth, the carnal and visceral pulls of the flesh body proved stronger than we were able to bear, and we failed. As a result, the Son of God, Yahweh Himself, came to take our punishment for us and became our Redeemer. He was resurrected back to the glory that was His originally and now sits at the right hand of our Father again. Because He came and died for us and took our sins upon Himself, we once again have the opportunity to prove ourselves worthy for resurrection, or restoration back to the the Kingdom of God.

That's right, if we qualify we will be raised, or resurrected back to our original status as a Child of God, either in the first resurrection (by far the best one) or in the second one at the end of the Millennium. The prognosis is not good for those who fail to achieve either resurrection.

Rev. 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

The second death is the ultimate and final death because it is the death of the spirit, the soul, the id, the ego, the entity that is really you. Those who qualify during this flesh age and are raised in the first resurrection will never die. Jesus promised Martha that very thing.

John 11:25-26 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
John 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Martha did not know all the truth concerning death and the resurrection. Jesus was gently instructing her here even though He was upset over how Martha, Mary, their friends and the Jews were acting over the death of Lazarus. Go to John 11 and 12 and read the whole story. Better still, go to my website, ourfathersword.org, and study the lessons entitled Lazarus, Lazarus and Jesus Wept.

Rev. 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

So, Satan has been incarcerated for the entire Millennium and now he is being paroled for a short period of time. Why will he be loosed since he was the main problem all along? Answer: he has one final job to do.

Rev. 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

The second resurrection has not taken place yet. A third, and final, test of loyalty for those who have not yet been resurrected at the end of the Millennium. The saints, or those who qualified in this flesh age, will be resurrected back to the status of Children of God at the beginning of the Millennium, but the rest will not. They will be taught and disciplined by those saints for a thousand years so that they can qualify during that time. Many will, some won't. God wants to see who will and who won't. He is allowing Lucifer one more opportunity to tempt those who have not yet been resurrected. He has to allow this. He has to know who those are who will stick by Him, and to know who those are that will prefer once again to follow Lucifer. Those who follow the evil one this time are incorrigible and will pay the ultimate price. They will go into perdition with him, or in other words, they will simply cease to exist.

Rev. 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

This is fire like we have never seen as humans. What it actually is like remains to be seen. Curiously, it is called the lake of fire and brimstone in the following verses.

Rev. 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet ~~are~~, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

There are some problems in this verse. We will get to that in a moment, but first notice that this verse calls to mind the three spirits of the Devil mentioned in Rev.16:13-14. Please understand that they are not three separate entities. They are only characterizations of the devious mind of Lucifer. He is the dragon, that built the original beast as well as the image of the beast, and even he is mentioned as being a beast found in the person of the false prophet, or Antichrist.

Now, concerning problems with the verse. Delete are in the second clause, it was added by the translators to add clarity, or so they thought. Actually its addition causes confusion but don't hold it against them. They had good intentions based upon what they perceived as the truth. As I stated in the Introduction to these lessons on Revelation these additions by the translators are found throughout the Bible.

Additionally, there is also a problem with the word where in the second clause. Why? Because it is contraindicative of what is shown throughout this book about the beast, the false prophet, and Antichrist. It is translated from the Greek word hopou (Strong's No. 3699) and it can mean where. In fact, it is translated where in most cases where it is found in the New Testament. Why they translated it where in this particular verse I don't know, but I do know that who, or which, would seem much more appropriate in this case. Indeed, when the roots of hopou are examined they can mean who, whom, or which. That would make the second clause read: who (is) the beast and the false prophet.
It should be pretty obvious to you by now from other scriptures that Satan is the great red dragon and that he is the false prophet, or Antichrist, and it is he who controls the image of the beast.

Notice in verse 9 that fire came down out of Heaven and devoured them. So what is this casting into the lake of fire and brimstone? And what is this lake of fire and brimstone anyway? It is mentioned nowhere else in scripture in this fashion. It is mentioned only in the last three chapters of Revelation, and there only five times. Reference to a lake of fire and brimstone seems unnecessary after stating that fire came down from Heaven and destroyed them. Christ never mentioned a lake of fire per se, although He did mention gehenna fire. Likewise, none of the apostles talked about a lake of fire and brimstone. Perhaps the fire that came down out of Heaven pooled and remained for some time. We really don't know what this fire is.

For ever and ever at the end of this verse should be tranlated until the age of ages. Age of ages could be a figure of speech meaning until the last age, or something similar. When would that be? The new age that comes after the Millennium perhaps?

Figures of speech are found profusely throughout the scriptures, and they are very hard to understand sometimes because all too often we don't know their basis, or their origin. Idioms are especially hard, whether from the original author's document, or whether they were added by any of those who later copied or translated them.

Rev. 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

This happens at the beginning of the Millennium, not at the end. This verse mentions two things that happen at the second appearance of Jesus, a throne will be set, and a complete change of the cosmos, but they also are not in the proper order. First, the surface and crust of the Earth as well as its atmosphere are going to be changed drastically at His second appearance, and shortly afterward, the immediate fate of all those who have ever lived will be decided and they will learn of it. In other words, everyone will be judged according to what they have done and how they have lived their lives while in the flesh body.

Rev. 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

According to their works? Then works must be tremendously important, right? Absolutely! They are judged according to their works, both good and bad. Notice that more than one book is opened, and one of them is called the book of life. Those who names are written in the book of life will be resurrected into the Kingdom of God and will inherit eternal life again, but those whose names are written in the other books have yet to prove themselves worthy of resurrection into the Kingdom of God and eternal life. Daniel also touches on this subject.

Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Think about this verse from Daniel because it ties in with what we are discussing here in Revelation about the judgment. Some have qualified for eternal life during this flesh age, and some have not. But don't be overly concerned about those that have not because they will have the opportunity to hear the truth finally, and for the first time in their life they will have the ability to comprehend it. But, that doesn't mean that everyone is going to like it and accept it.

It is as simple as that. Judgment doesn't end after the books are opened and everyone learns of their fate, it goes on for at least a thousand years for everyone. Those not resurrected in the first resurrection are taught and receive discipline during that time, and they are being observed and judged. Actually, evaluated might be a better term to use instead of judged because that is what they are being subjected to, an ongoing and continuous evaluation, and their works will be very important once again.

Christ alluded to this in Matthew.

Matt .25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Matt. 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

Matt .25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

These verses describe the same preliminary judgment described in Rev. 20:11-12 above, just presented in a different fashion.

Matt. 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

The righteous saints are rewarded immediately and resurrected into the Kingdom of God.

Matt. 25:35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Matt. 25:36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Matt. 25:37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

Matt:25:38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

Matt. 25:39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

Matt. 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

They had lots of righteous works.

Matt. 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

This verse can prove difficult if you don't understand that this fire won't exist until the end of the Millennium. The main subject here is judgment according to works which puts the goats in danger of hell fire.

Matt. 25:42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
Matt. 25:43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

Matt. 25:44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

Matt. 25:45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

These were not immediately rewarded with eternal life because they lacked enough good works. They may have thought all their lives that they were saved because they had been taught that they were, but their lives did not show the righteous works indicating that they were. So they sort of missed the boat so to speak.

Matt. 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

The righteous will inherit eternal life immediately at Jesus second appearing, but the unrighteous and the unlearned still have to prove themselves. As Daniel said, after they see the light they will live in shame and contempt (for themselves) because they were deceived by the beast, Babylon the great, and Antichrist. They thought that they were all right with God, but they finally realize that they were the victims of the greatest con artist who has ever lived.

Rev. 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

All the dead who did not overcome while in the flesh will go through instruction and discipline during the Millennium. It will not necessarily be easy for them during this time. It will be mental torment for some, but many will be saved. This is the great harvest Jesus mentioned to His disciples in Matthew 9:37-38. Notice the last clause of verse 13. Who says works aren't vitally important?

Rev. 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

This is at the end of the Millennium and those who are cast in here are those who fail the training and discipline. How will they fail? Some are just plain mean, rebellious and no good. Still others will follow Satan once again when he is released for a little season at the end of the Millennium. They love him so much with his wonderful, sweet, religious ways that they will follow him into hell fire.

Rev. 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Don't feel sorry for those who refuse to accept Christ and change because they have been given every opportunity to be saved. Rejoice rather in the fact that many will get their names placed in the book of life during the Millennium by accepting the truth being taught by the servants of God. They too will learn to love God with all their heart and to love their neighbor as themselves.

That's all our Father ever wanted in the first place.

God bless with understanding of His word.

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