In 2023, the Library of Congress chose to preserve the song in the United States Registry of Recordings because it was culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant. In 2022, the song played as the opening theme song for the Winter Olympics. This particular song came into being after a friend gave the songwriter a Christian prayer book. After he thumbed through the prayer book, he wrote out his own humanistic prayer that he later described it as a kind of communist manifesto. In 1971, a 31-year-old man named John Lennon began to sing, Imagine All the People, Living Life in Peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope Sunday you'll join us and the world will be as one. Imagine became the best-selling solo of his career. The song captures a universal longing, a deep longing, a longing for peace. Imagine all the people living life in peace. Nations long for peace. They disagree how it should come about. Workplaces, marriages, families, churches long for peace. We all desire peace. Well, if such a transcendent longing for peace exists, where should we look for it? An evolutionary outlook so common in our world can speak of survival, but it cannot speak of peace. Materialism and self-expression promise fulfillment. But the life of nearly every famous rich person you know of says that promise is actually a lie. You can buy a new body. You can buy love for a night. You can buy a house in the mountains or at the beach, but you cannot buy peace. Even John Lennon's life speaks to that. Unfortunately for John Lennon, who intentionally rejected God, even in the lyrics of that hit song, he never found the peace that he sang about. After Lennon's death, those close to him spoke of the darkness and domestic violence in his own marriage. His own son Julian spoke of the emotional abandonment he experienced from his dad. Dad sang about love, he spoke about love, but he never really gave love, at least not to me as his son. He told his son, you were born out of a bottle of whiskey on a Saturday night and there was no intent for you to come into this world. The man who sang about peace and love in the world couldn't bring it about in his own home. In the end, Lennon thought a relationship with God was an obstacle to peace, not the means to it. Despite the hypocrisy in his own home life, Lennon's song struck a chord. His words resonated with a deep longing for peace in the heart of every person. I know some of us in here today are with heavy hearts and longing for peace. We heard in the prayer service, I got a text at 11.03 yesterday as I was working on this message that Frank's mother had passed away. What he texted me was so simple and beautiful, her faith is now sight. We long for peace. Peace for our loved ones near death. Peace for our loved ones and friends who are left behind after death. And where shall we find peace in a world gone wrong? Well friends, here's the true story. That there's no durable peace outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. You will never find peace outside of Him. On the night of Jesus' substitutionary death on a Roman cross, Jesus said, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid, John 14, 27. Because I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come again. and take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also." John 14, 3. We come to a passage this morning. It speaks to us of the peace that we long for, a peace that comes to the risen and reigning Lord Jesus Christ. Would you please turn to the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, the last book of the Christian Bible in Revelation chapter 20. If you're a guest, we've been working our way through the book of Revelation, the last book of the Christian Bible. We took time off in July to look at Jonah. Now we're back in Revelation. In Revelation 20, John sees a vision that points to the reality of 1,000 years of peace. People refer to this 1,000 years as the millennium. Now, John uses the word for 1,000 years, the word for millennium, six times in this chapter. Before we read this chapter, I want you to just look at me with the six appearances of this phrase, a thousand years. Maybe you can underline them or highlight them. The first one is at the end of verse two, Satan was bound for a thousand years. The end of verse three, Satan is shut up in this abyss, how long? Until the 1,000 years are ended. Now, John uses a definite article here, the 1,000 years, the millennium. And maybe his use is kind of a demonstrative use of the definite article. He just mentioned 1,000 years in the previous verse. Well, regardless of whether it's these 1,000 years or the 1,000 years, John wants us to sit up and take note. And however real or symbolic these 1,000 years may be, this 1,000 years represents an important period in the history of the world and in the history of redemption. Well, John's talked about the millennium, the 1,000 years twice, verse two and three, but he's not done. He wants to tell us about this 1,000 years four more times. Look thirdly at verse four. John sees the faithful who died for worshiping Jesus exclusively, but what happened to those people, verse four? They came to life and reigned with Christ for 1,000 years. And then verse 5 is the fourth appearance. The rest of the dead, that is the unbelievers, did not come to life until when? Until after the 1,000 years where the millennium were ended. Again, John uses the definite article, until after the 1,000 years. And the people who come to life in verse 4 and verse 5, must refer to a bodily resurrection because look at how verse 5 ends, this is the first resurrection. Now some will say the phrase the first resurrection doesn't refer to a bodily resurrection, but it refers to a spiritual resurrection. It refers to being born again, a spiritual resurrection, but I don't think that will work here. N.T. Wright, who who recently sinfully dissolved like a sand castle in the surf when he was asked about abortion as a Christian minister, he failed sinfully with the question. But he has written the most scholarly and lengthy treatment on the resurrection, and Wright notes that this word here in Revelation 4, anastasis, in sacred or secular literature, always refers to a physical bodily resurrection, and that, he writes, any attempt to invest it with new meaning strains usage well beyond the breaking point. In fact, one beloved pastor, Sam Storms, who is an amillennialist, we'll come to that in a moment, has said that one of the greatest weaknesses to his own position is the grammatical reality that resurrection here refers to a bodily resurrection and not a spiritual one. Well, verse 2, 3, 4, and 5, we have two more references to this 1,000 years, this millennium. Into verse 6, blessed is everyone who shares in the first resurrection. They will reign with him for 1,000 years. And then verse 7 is the sixth one. And when the 1,000 years were finished, Satan is released. So 1,000 years appears six times in seven verses. The millennium begins with the binding of Satan in the abyss, verses 2 and 3. When Satan is bound, saints are raised to reign with him for 1,000 years, verses 4 to 6. And only after the 1,000 years, only after that time, Satan is released, verse 7. Six times, seven verses. Revelation 20 is the only place in all the Bible where this phrasing referring to the millennium is used, so we better sit up and take notice. Remember, beloved, every part of Revelation is meant for our comfort in Christ. Every part is meant to encourage us to persevere and endure in our love for the Lamb who first loved us. What I mean is don't separate chapter 20 from chapter 1, because in chapter 1 he told us, blessed is everyone who reads the words of this book. That means chapter 20. And the Trinitarian blessing from chapter 1 applies to chapter 20 as well. Our living God intends that Revelation 20 would give you grace and peace. From Him who was and who is and who is to come. That grace and peace from chapter 20 would come to you from the seven spirits who are before the throne. And that grace and peace from chapter 20 would come from the Father, the Spirit, and from Him who loves us and freed us from our sins by His blood. Revelation 20 is meant for the comfort of God's people. It's meant for pastors and people who want to make sense of the chaos around them. The chapters are meant for believers in the story of Revelation who are tempted to let go of the Lamb, for believers who are tempted to give in for the approval of this world. It works like this. If you think the love of the Lamb is not enough, read Revelation 20. See how much He loves you and what He's done to remove every obstacle for you to love Him and Him to be in your presence forever too. Revelation is telling us, remember what we saw in previous chapters, that wrong can't win. Why? Because the lamb can't lose. In chapter 20, a dragon rises to defeat the lamb. But wrong can't win because the lamb can't lose, not even against a dragon. You might not escape cancer and dementia for loving the lamb. You might not escape slander and heartbreak for loving the Lamb. Indeed, you might face those things precisely because you love the Lamb. Revelation tells you that the bloodthirsty dragon who opposes us and the death that awaits us won't matter finally. Why? We'll look at verse 6. Seven times throughout this book, God reminds believers who face persistent, present darkness of their blessed state both now and to come. Seven times in this book, God fires off a blessed are those statement. Revelation 20 verse six is the sixth of the seven blessed statements meant to encourage us as we face darkness of our blessed state. And what is our blessed state now and to come? Verse 6, here's the big point of the first 10 verses of Revelation 10. What I'm trying to tell you is, blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. Why? Because the one who shares in the first resurrection, over such the second death has no power, But they will be priests of God in Christ and they will reign with Him for a thousand years. What's the big deal about the second death in Revelation 20? What is the big deal about the second death not having power over those who experience the resurrection? You know what the second death is? Look down at verse 14 of chapter 20. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire This is the second death, the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death, eternal conscious torment. And listen, unless the Lord Jesus returns, none of us in this room will escape the first death. But thanks be to God, by the blood of the Lamb, every one of us in this room can escape the second death, that is hell. Your faith is in the Lamb, you are part of the first resurrection, and hell has no power over you. Thanks be to God. What I'm trying to say is, for all of its debate and discussions, Revelation 20 is a promise and preview of the dragon's final defeat and our eternal deliverance from hell, which is the second death. Revelation 20 tells us Satan doesn't win in death, he doesn't win after death, and he doesn't win at the end of the age. The dragon will be, and in some sense already is bound and locked up, and he will be in the lake of fire forever when it's done. So fear not. I have the keys of death and hell, the Son of Man says in chapter 1. After he's released, that old serpent, the devil, will be decisively defeated in a moment, cast into the lake of fire to be tormented forever, while those who worship the Lamb will enjoy pleasures forevermore. Yes, blessed are all those who hear and heed the Lamb, for of them it will be said, blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection, because over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and reign with him for a thousand years. Loved ones, whatever the precise timing of Revelation 20, the effect of Revelation 20 should be this, God wins, love the Lamb. The effect of the news of Revelation 20 is not confusion or fear. It's not for infighting among believers or for the satisfaction that I filled in the end of my end times chart. It's meant for pastoral comfort. and courage and trust. Why? Because the dragon is doomed and death is destroyed and we are raised to reign with him. So fear not. The grass and lakes and light of the new heaven and new earth await us in chapter 21. That's the reassuring pastoral point of these 1,000 years. I said the dragon is doomed and death is destroyed and we shall be raised to reign with Him. So love the Lamb and don't let go of Him. That's the hope of this passage. Now I front-loaded this. So as we move forward this week and next week with details, we don't miss this main emphasis that it's all about the good news of the first resurrection and urging you to make sure you are part of that first resurrection. John's point, we are raised to reign with him. The dragon is doomed and death is destroyed and we shall reign with him. That's my first pass at Revelation 21 to 10. What I'm gonna do now is we're gonna read this text, and then I'm gonna give you four viewpoints of this text, and I'm gonna try to summarize this text again dramatically, and then we're gonna stop and pray for the Lord to come before I have to tell you next week another passage of this text. Amen. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Okay. So let's read it, I'm gonna give you viewpoints of it with some applications, and then summarize the main thing dramatically, and then next week, Lord willing, we'll work through the first 10 verses in more detail. That's what I got this week, that's what I got. Okay, Revelation 20, verses one to 10. This is what God's Word says. And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, who was the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended. After that, Satan, the dragon, the serpent, the devil must be released for a little while. Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands." They came to life and reigned with Christ for 1,000 years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the 1,000 years were ended. This is the first resurrection, and blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. Over such, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Him for a thousand years. And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. But fire came down from heaven and did you see that again? There's a buildup to the battle, and when it builds up, it's a big fat nothing burger. You got nothing, Satan. You built up and in a moment, fire came down, game over. This is telling you Satan is not having all the power. Don't be afraid of the devil and don't think he's behind every bush and somebody who may be possessed can harm you. Satan is not the powerful one. You get the point? He ain't winning. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown down into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. This is the word of the Lord. Now, here's what we learn. God wins. The dragon is doomed, death is destroyed, and we are raised to reign with him. Are you tracking with me what I'm saying? therefore hold fast to Him." Now, from this point on, I'm going to mention main viewpoints of this text, and then I'm going to give us a dramatic overview to end. So, first, let me mention general main viewpoints of Revelation 20. This is not exhaustive. It's not meant to be an exhaustive comparison and contrast. It might feel a little teachy for a moment, but it's the only place that appears in the Bible, and because it appears in the Bible, I'm going to talk about it for a moment. It's gonna get teachy for a moment, but I have some preachy pastoral points as we go along. Now, before I mention the main viewpoints that believers have in dealing with Revelation 20, let me describe where I think the sticking point is among good and godly believers. I want to start where the agreement is. Within the literary flow of chapter 19 and 20 and 21, as Eckhart Schnabel notes, nobody doubts this following sequence. The sequence involves three events. This is where there's agreement. Jesus' second coming happens at the end of Revelation 19, 11 to 21. A final white throne judgment happens at the end of chapter 20, 11 to 15. And then a new heaven and a new earth appear, chapter 21 to 22. No one really doubts that ordering. Jesus' second coming at the end of Revelation 19, the final white throne judgment at the end of chapter 20, and a new heaven and new earth in chapters 21 and 22. So believers mainly agree on what happens before the first 10 verses of chapter 20, and they agree on what happens after the first 10 verses of chapter 20. The sticking point surrounds the placement of Revelation 21 to 10, and that sequence of chapter 19 through 22. That is, is Revelation 21, 1 to 10 happening right now? Will it happen in the future? And how literal must we take the most important details about it? To state it simply, will we experience the thousand year period of the worldwide peace Jesus speaks of? Will the millennium come before the second coming of Christ? Or will the millennium come after the second coming of Christ? Now, good and godly believers disagree on how to answer that question about the timing of the Lord's return in relation to the millennium. For example, if John MacArthur and D.A. Carson and St. Augustine and Mark Dever and R.C. Sproul were all alive and in this room, each of those good and godly men would have a different answer relative to the Lord's coming in the millennium. Their answers would fall into three main categories. First, some good and godly believers come to Revelation 20 and come to what is known as dispensational premillennialism. And brothers and sisters who hold to a dispensational premillennialism believe that passages like Revelation 20 teach that Jesus returns before the thousand-year reign of Christ, and then the reign of Christ will last for a literal thousand years on the earth. That's called premillennial, as Christ comes back before the millennium. That's the position that John MacArthur boldly and clearly taught. I was there when he gave an address at a Shepherd's Conference, why every self-respecting Calvinist is a premillennialist. He was bold and clear about that particular viewpoint. That dispensational premillennial view also teaches there's a sharp distinction between the church and Israel, that the rapture of the saints happens before the tribulation, And after the tribulation, a literal seven years, Christ returns after the tribulation, but before the millennium, that's dispensational millennialism. And godly and courageous believers like John MacArthur and my mom believed in dispensational premillennialism. And John MacArthur said, as the older he got, he became a leaky dispensationalist. Second, some good and godly believers related to that come to 20, and they hold to a position based on the details, what's known as historic premillennialism. People call it historic premillennialism because it's said to be the earliest and oldest, the most historic position in the church of how to view these thousand years. So, Don Carson and John Piper hold to the historic premillennial position. And this historic premillennial position, like the dispensational position, affirms that Christ will return pre- before the millennium. But unlike dispensational premillennialism, historic premillennialism doesn't see a hard distinction between Israel and the Church, sees the Scripture as teaching that Christ comes after the tribulation, but before the millennium, and the thousand years refer to a long period of time that could be literal or symbolic. That's Don Carson, John Piper. or Jim Hamilton at Southern Seminary think that's what the Bible teaches about the millennium. Third, some good and godly believers come to Revelation 20 in what is known as amillennialism. Amillennialism looks at the Bible in Revelation 20 and sees Christ returning after the millennium. Somebody like a Presbyterian like Kevin DeYoung or a Baptist like Mark Dever has this amillennial view that Christ comes back after the millennium. That letter A on the front That often negates words. So atheist, somebody who does not believe in God. An agnostic is not sure. Atypical, not typical. So that alpha, that A, can make a word negative. So we might think that an Amillennius is someone who doesn't believe in the millennium, but that's not quite right. All millennialists think that Christ's reign is already happening and that Jesus began His reign when He rose from the dead. He will continue His reign until He returns to the earth after the millennium. So this is also called an inaugurated millennialism because Christ has already begun to reign. I told you it'd feel a little teachy, but you're still tracking with me a little bit. So while all millennialists don't think Revelation teaches a physical millennium, all millennial, not a physical one on the earth, The believers with an amillennial viewpoint see the Bible teaching that Christ is already spiritually reigning in heaven, that when Jesus died and rose again, he decisively defeated Satan and he bound him and he's been reigning over ever since. And the believers who have died since the resurrection of Christ and before his return have been raised spiritually, where right now believers reign with Jesus in heaven in this intermediate state until he returns. The point is, an Amillennialist sees Christ coming, He reigning now, and will come after the Millennium. First and second, Christ comes before the Millennium, dispensational and historic pre-mill. Godly believers, Amill, Christ returns after the Millennium, after His sovereign and spiritual reign in heaven. and spiritually resurrected saints are already reigning. The fourth and final way that some good and godly believers have is what's known as post-millennialism. This is the view of somebody like R.C. Sproul. Norman came up to me afterwards, remembered an anecdote. You know John MacArthur and R.C. Sproul were dear friends. John MacArthur is a dispensational premillennialist. R.C. Sproul is not that. He's a covenant post-mill theologian. Believers baptism, infant baptism, their theological systems are apart, but they fought together so bravely for the defense of the truth and loved one another deeply. And Norman said he remembered at one time, they both looked at each other and said, when we get to heaven, we're gonna find out who's wrong. Well, I don't know what it was like this week. What would that conversation have been like? It's either I told you so, or you got me, or we both were a little rough, I don't know. Okay, okay, this post-millennialism. So if pre-millennialists see Christ returning pre, before the thousand years, then the post-millennialist sees Christ return after a physical kingdom that's been set up on the earth. Here's how one writer describes post-millennialism. The return of Christ happens after, post the thousand year reign, which corresponds to a golden Christian age on the earth. Now, and the reign of Christ from heaven leads the church to triumph by and through the gospel to such an extent that the great commission will be successfully fulfilled and the Christian faith will pervade all cultures of all nations of men. It is brimming with Well, one man was asked to give his best defense for post-millennialism. Quick-witted, the man replied, Jonathan Edwards believed the post-millennial view, and having said that, I rest my case. Well, it's probably the least familiar to many of us, but it was the most familiar viewpoint of godly Puritans that we love and read, and many of the missionaries we remember. The historian Ian Murray wrote a book in the 70s, I think it's the 70s, called The Puritan Hope. published by Banner of Truth. And in addition to Edwards, great missionaries like William Carey to India and David Brainerd to the American Indians saw the Bible teaching post-millennialism. Samuel Rutherford and John Owen did as well. It's a very hope-filled position that characterized the Puritans and many of the missionaries who went out in that golden age of missions. It's inspiring read to read Murray's The Puritan Hope. But while Edwards believed post-millennialism, so have heretics like Charles Finney and Walter Rauschenbusch who taught a social gospel that's still with us today in the form of the woke so-called social justice movement. So there is so much hope and inspiration in the post-millennial view held by such good and godly believers. But I do want to say, beware of where a post-millennial reading may take you. I say that because there is a certain form of post-millennialism on the rise today that might be among the most harmful views at the moment, especially among young men. Here's what I mean. Young men for the last decade have been beaten into a corner by culture, mocked and belined simply for being a man. And the real problem was not toxic masculinity. The problem was toxic feminism and transgenderism that wanted to erase womanhood and then shame cisgender men as the singular greatest source of all evil. That to be born a man already makes you an oppressor of the worst kind. That manhood is evil and you should be embarrassed by it. Now that demeans God as creator of female and male, and it's a heretical deficient view of sin and the atonement and the authority of the Bible. As a result of this cultural beatdown of shaming men, men have had enough and they respond with the one thing they were told they should be ashamed of and they don't have, which is their natural God-designed strength. Some of the response is right. But the problem is that any tool becomes a weapon when you use it the wrong way. Result is that there are certain voices among certain strands of certain takes of post-millennialism that are no longer willing to conquer from the bottom up, suffering to advance with the invincible gospel, as Edwards and Carey did, but now there is a form of militant, theonomic post-millennialism in certain pockets that's willing to conquer nations with physical force if need be. It's on the rise. That's a dangerous move and certain pockets that takes whatever is rightly biblical about post-millennialism, and then you end up losing the gospel in the process when you go down that road. And it tends to happen among the fringe of the radical right. So the Great Commission then becomes not simply a call to make disciples from all nations, but a wrong-headed call to make all nations Christians. See the difference? And the danger of that kind of post-millennialism is thinking that the kingdom of God, there will be an earthly dominion brought in through carnal means with physical force and one day you might need to pick up the sword to bring it in. And I hear Jesus' words to Peter who says, put up your sword. Watch the invincible gospel advance as we proclaim it and suffer for it, even as Jesus did and Cary took it to the nations. So just be careful with this very hopeful view that you don't go that way with it. And don't think that the progressive left is any better because there's a kind of progressive left post-millennialism that's always at work. And in many ways, the kind of post-millennialism of the secular or progressive Christian left is far worse because they want the most serious things Christ died for to save us from, the most serious things he died to save us from, they want those things to be enshrined enshrined in law and enforced in the nation. That's a secular, progressive, Christian post-millennialism that's every bit at work and stronger and more evil than that radical fringe right because they want the beast of the state to replace the control of the conscience and the family and God. Now, why in the world Am I warning about this kind of physical politicized post-millennialism in certain pockets? Because I'm warning in certain pockets on the right, but I'm warning too that there is an aggressive, politicized, progressive Christian post-millennialism that exists even in the middle of the left. The parties are not symmetrical in the evil they want to enshrine, punish, and protect by law. So there were churches like ours the last seven to 10 years who endured and had to smoke out wokeness and rank ungodly views of gender and marriage and sexuality and abortion and CRT and wokeness. Many churches like ours last seven to 10 years. We have to remain diligent of that kind of deception from the dragon that errs that come from an undisciplined empathy that are embarrassed about the clearest teachings of God that are in conflict with our culture today. Do not be ashamed of His word. At the same time, we have to be diligent that the rank and deceptive un-biblicism of the progressive Christian post-millennial-like person is not replaced by a kind of militant, racist, justifying post-millennialism from pockets of the right. Well, in 20 years of pastoral ministry, that is now the longest I have ever talked about millennialism, eschatology, or politics. I've done so because you can see how views of God's kingdom in the millennium can be related. And what drives me to have that little attempt at an application is not because of what's in the news, but because of what's in this text. Revelation speaks of what the millennial kingdom is, of how long it lasts, and what it means. And I've simply tried to apply the text where we are currently to issues we might be currently facing. All positions agree with this. We are called to holiness. We are called to hope. And Revelation has already told us how we conquer. We conquer through the word of our testimony and the blood of the Lamb. That's how we conquer. Well, I've given you these four main viewpoints. I've done so to warn us. I've done so to show us. There are many. Let me come now, before I move in a moment to summarize this passage, let me just bring them together. Let me ask John Piper, a historic pre-millennialist, to bring together the best of these positions. Post-millennialism seems to honor the power of the gospel and the promises in the Old Testament for the triumph of God's people over all nations. All millennialism honors the warnings of bleak end times as well as the seamlessness between Christ's coming and the immediate destruction of death, the removal of the enemies of the cross, and the beginning of the new heavens and new earth. It just seems to be seamless right on top of each other. Pre-millennialism seems to honor the plainest meaning of Revelation 20 and the seemingly literal meaning of many Old Testament promises and that the hope of his reign in the face of increasing darkness continues wherever the end nears." And let me just say for a moment, if someone says, I'm a post-millennialist because that's the most hopeful and most courageous, I want to say that that is not the only view that's hopeful and courageous, okay? Post-millennialists over here? John MacArthur was a dispensational premillennialist, and during COVID and among many theological battles, he was one of the most courageous voices standing up against the tyranny of the state. And he did it through the word and legal channels without being heard. So you can be a courageous, bold, state-confronting premillennial dispensationalist just as much as you can be a postmillennialist. All of these views are upheld by teachers who warmly embrace inspiration, authority, and heresy of the Bible. Now, I've also done that to warn us, to inform us, but I've front-loaded it, this view of the end times, because somebody quipped that Revelation 20 speaks of a thousand years of the peace that Christians love to fight about. Now we have our differences, and for the most part, Those differences show that we take God's Word seriously enough to wrestle with it, to understand it. He inspired every word, even the parts hard to grasp. An indifference to His Word, even the millennium, is not good. Indifference to something in the Bible doesn't mean you're spiritual, it means you're lazy with loving God with your mind. Indifference is not good. Revelation 20 matters, or the Spirit wouldn't have put it in there, so don't say it doesn't matter. Love God with all your mind. But while indifference to God's word is not good, neither is divisiveness over what is truly hard to grasp. And if you don't think Revelation 20 is hard to understand, I don't think you've spent enough time in the text. The details matter, but probably not as much as you think they matter, because I've shown us devout and valiant, godly, courageous saints, past and present, have held the differing views. And if you think that godliness or valor depends on whether or not you are pre, post, or amil, then you understand neither godliness nor valor. For sometimes the better part of valor is discretion, and as discretion is won from experience, and the young have little experience, the more discretion than aggression should characterize the valor of the young until they learn to grow in discretion. Don Carson summarizes the importance of this perspective like this. On any interpretation, the millennium only lasts 1,000 years, and in light of eternity, That's not that long. The glorious hope of the church is not a millennium, however you understand it. The glorious hope of the church is the visible, climactic return of Christ that issues finally into the new heaven and the new earth. So it's really important to get that perspective into perspective right away. It's the gospel of Christ, His sin and death and resurrection and His sudden visible return. All right. Now, let me try here at the end to get us back to a dramatic overview of Revelation 20 in the capture of this book. I gave you one overview, different viewpoints of pastoral nudges and admonishments, and now, a dramatic fitting of 20 into the book. Within the literary context of Revelation, we come to sudden and climactic reversal, a final reversal. Since Revelation 12, villains like the beast and the false prophet and the harlot of Babylon, who once moved out in demonic aggression, have been slowly removed since chapter 12. Think of pieces in a chess match being taken off the board one at a time. And in Revelation 20, the last villain, the greatest villain that energizes all the other villains is knocked off of the board. That's what happens. Or think of a play. As the play progresses, characters walk onto the stage, but as it moves on, one at a time, the characters walk off the stage. Until the end, only the most important characters are there. And then at the end, that once crowded stage is nearly empty. But even though it's nearly empty, the stage has never presented anything more significant now. That's what's happening in Revelation 20, as players are taken off of the board one at a time. Let me adapt. In my words, how Kevin DeYoung has, I'm taking my words, adapting his words, but I want to give credit. If you say, I heard that before. You did, but I'm putting my words. You get it? There's the source. I cited my inspiration for what I'm about to do. So starting in chapter 12, you do have, as I just said, the characters on the stage. In chapter 12, we encounter a vulnerable woman in labor and her infant son, but then a rapacious, bloodthirsty dragon flies onto the stage intent on devouring this newborn infant son at birth. The dragon fails and flies off in a rage. But in chapter 13, this enraged dragon summons an unholy trinity. He summons a beast from the sea and then another beast, and the great red dragon demonically energizes his unholy trinity and unleashes them to make war against the offspring of the woman. When we meet the first beast, the power of the state, who one day takes the form of a person. Then there's the second beast called the false prophet, who showcases the power and pull of false religion. The dragon, the beast, and the false prophet tirelessly deceive and accuse day and night, and they also murder. Then in chapter 16 and 17, they recruit somebody else, the harlot of Babylon who rides the demonically energized beast who was empowered by the dragon. And these characters then fill the stage. They threaten everything with seduction and power and money and manipulation and temptation, deceiving and being deceived, taking life at will. The red dragon, the beast of the state, the false prophet of religion, and the alluringly sophisticated successful harlot of Babylon are a threat to God and his people, promising comfort and prosperity. They are persuasive, they appear invincible, and they take the world into deeper and deeper darkness. But then, starting in 18. At the height of their power, those same characters start to exit the stage one by one. In chapter 19, first the powerful prostitute who was dressed to kill is cast down in chapter 18 by the beast. In chapter 19, there's a major buildup to a battle with the rider on the white horse, but then it ends suddenly because the demonically energized beast and the false prophet are in an instant thrown into the lake of fire. Gone is the woman on the beast, gone is the false prophet, gone is the beast, gone. One foe remains. It's that old serpent, the dragon, who was there in the garden. The devil, the deceiver, the liar, the slanderer, the one of whom Luther said, on earth is not his equal. one enemy remains. And he took Adam down at the beginning. So this is no light foe. His craft and power are great. We used to sing a song, if the devil doesn't like you, he can set on an attack. And my dad would say, don't say that. Don't taunt your enemy. Don't taunt him. Not even Moses dared to bring an accusation against him. Is it Moses or the archangel? Whoever. You get it. You get it. I'm building up. This is a big foe. But then, but then. In chapter 20, the dragon rises, and he goes to war, and the war's not even described. Here he is, and fire comes down, he's gone, and thrown into the lake of fire. You see what's happened? One by one. The cosmic drama of Revelation shows us that every dark and evil threat to God and His people, every final threat to the gospel, every hindrance to enjoying God is being rounded up and pushed off of the chessboard one at a time. Satan is a powerful foe, but he's not a permanent foe. He is bound That's the message of Revelation 20. The one who assaults our soul and keeps me from enjoying God goes down, down forever into the eternal torment of fire so that we can hardly sing in the dark shadows of this world. Yes, the prince of darkness grim, but we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure because we know his doom is sure. So in the flow of the entire book and the Bible, the doom of the dragon and the sight of these thousand years are meant to make us sing and see that God will keep His promise, that He's reigning and that He will win. Every last evil threat to God and His people, every opposition to their enjoyment of Him is eternally neutralized. I was gonna say vaporized, but I wanna say neutralized. And when Revelation 21 and 22 open, only two main players remain on the stage. That little infant boy from Revelation 12 has grown up to be a groom. And the groom is a king. And the king killed the dragon. And now in 21 and 22, the groom welcomes his blood-bought bride that he rescued from the dragon and says, this new heaven and new earth, it's yours. Welcome into the joy of the Lord. The point is the dragon's doomed and death is destroyed and we are raised with him forever and ever. Verses 1 to 3, Satan is seized for 1,000 years. And 4 to 6, the saints reign for 1,000 years. And 1,000 years and 1,000 tongues are not enough to sing his praise. And Satan is seized in 1 to 3. We are raised in 4 to 6. And in 7 to 11, Satan is tormented forever. And now we lean in and we listen to this millennial benediction. Some of you are songwriters. It'd be great if you could set to music this millennial benediction. Where is it? Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. And we say, even so, Lord Jesus. Come quickly the dragons doomed death is destroyed and we are raised to reign with him Hold fast to the Lamb who first loved you. Amen. Let's pray. Oh Lord Jesus come quickly Come quickly What hope is here? Somebody prayed earlier this morning that you've already told us about what will happen, and this is for our faith and for our joy and for our repentance, that we would let go of lesser loves and not be fooled by the dragon and not be taken up and to cause us like Simon the zealot probably was, Jesus, before he was your disciple. You changed his heart. He was no longer a zealot for a kingdom, but zealot for the gospel. So make us zealots for the kingdom, hope-filled, courageous ambassadors that would hold fast to the word of the testimony and the blood of the Lamb until you come, and even so, come Lord Jesus. Friends, I give us a moment. Maybe you are not a Christian, you're a fake, a phony, or you know you're not a believer and you won't make that first resurrection. Admit your guilt. Call on the name of the Lord who loved you to die for you and rose again. And he longs to save you. Or brother or sister, think of the comfort and courage Revelation 20 should give you and ask the Lord to help you live in light of it. A moment of silence now.