Revelation 20:7-10

May 9, 2021

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

The sermon starts around 22:20 in the audio file.

Series: Just Conquer #57

Introduction

One of the greatest, tongue-in-cheek, self-defeating but still quite edifying quotes is from Friedrich Hegel about history: “The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.” Applying the observation to itself we would not learn this reality, but it does remind us that we’re not good at seeing. As Solomon sagely wrote, that “what has been done is what will be done” (Ecclesiastes 1:9), including the pattern of not noticing patterns.

For about six thousand years, that being the approximate length of human history, human beings have been rebelling against God. It started with Eve, and Eve’s disobedience is especially archetypal (a recurring motif) because she was deceived by the ancient serpent, Satan (Genesis 3:13, 2 Corinthians 11:3). Once Adam joined her in that sin, all mankind was considered unrighteous and every person is born unto rebellion, that is, with a bent to go his own way. Previous to those bites, Adam and Eve were not carriers of rebel DNA, but now the devil has material to work with.

For six millennia there has been enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). We may not want it to be so simple, but there really is only worship and obedience to God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ, or there is a “fiendish parodying” with “endless manipulations” and “deceptions” all for the purpose of establishing “the devil’s illusions (of) of a social ‘reality'” (Joe Boot, Gospel Culture, location 535). While this has been true for all time, it will take its ultimate form in the Great Tribulation when the dragon delegates authority to the beast and the nations are deceived. They will put on such a show, but it is destined to end in fire.

At the end of Revelation 19 we saw the Second Coming of Christ to defeat the nations in the battle of Armageddon. At the start of Revelation 20 we saw the devil bound for a thousand years and then the reign of Christ on earth with His resurrected saints for a thousand years. During the Messiah’s Millennial Kingdom there will be those who experienced the first resurrection and there will be others who have not died. I believe many of those non-resurrected humans living in the Kingdom will be Israelites, and I believe that there will be some who are from other nations that were not participants in the battle of 19:17-21 who “come quietly,” so to speak, into honoring the One who rules on the throne in Jerusalem. Jesus will govern on earth, Satan will be bound in the pit, and the earth will be full of the knowledge of God (Isaiah 11:9).

But…Revelation 20:7-10 tells us what happens at the end of the thousand years. With a hat tip to C.S. Lewis, we now come to The Last Battle. And the lesson we will learn is that even with a divine King ruling in perfect truth and justice, the hearts of men will rebel. If there’s one thing we learn from history, it’s that men are rebels.

There are five parts to this paragraph.

Satan Unbound (verse 7)

For the sixth time in seven verses the millennium is referenced. And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison.

The NASB translates, “when the thousand years are completed,” a little better nuance than ended, because of two things. First, the verb is a form of teleo, related not just to something being over, but something being brought to its objective, its telos. Second, we were supposed to be looking for this end due to the last part of verse 3: “until the thousand years were ended (the same form of teleo). After that he must be released for a little while.”

The “must” is a divine must. It could be translated, “it is necessary.[...]