Verses 1-3, how does the church militant bear a faithful witness to the nations? It says, then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he sees the dragon. And John says, who's the dragon? If we haven't figured it out yet, because he's been talking about the dragon up through this, to this point. If we haven't figured out who the dragon is, he says, it's that ancient serpent. Go back to Genesis chapter 3. The ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan. And what did he do with him? He bound him for a thousand years and he threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him so that listen to this. This is people we think this is imagery. OK, this is just this is imagery trying to help us grasp a truth about the nature of the devil and his activity on Earth, his activity among us. OK. His activity is restricted. That's what the language of being bound means. You know, people think that the devil's confined in a pit and therefore he must be completely off the scene. That's to overdo the symbolism of the book of Revelation. But the idea that he is bound means his activity is restricted in the same way that Jesus, in describing his activity and casting out demons, he says, unless the strong man is first bound, you cannot go in and plunder his house. But when you bind a strong man, then you can go in and plunder his goods. Describing his activity of binding Satan and plundering his house and setting people free from demonic oppression and possession. So here the devil is cast into a pit, but look specifically at what his binding does. It says so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be released for a little while. So what is it that this angel, by the authority of Jesus Christ, by the blood of Jesus Christ, what is it that he's accomplished? that helps us in our mission. He has bound the devil in such a way that the devil, who blinds the minds of unbelievers, cannot continue to hold the nations completely under his sway as he had throughout history up to the coming of Jesus Christ. It's like Paul when he stands up and he says to the Gentiles, in times past, God overlooked the ignorance Right. The times of ignorance. But those times are past. And now he calls all men everywhere to repent. And so the church can know that as she goes into every nation and every tribe and among people of every language. That there will be those who hear the gospel, who believe the gospel. Who are part of the kingdom of Christ, because The dragon, the ancient serpent, the devil and Satan, as he is known, is bound so that he cannot deceive the nations. And so we can extend Christ's kingdom through a faithful witness because Satan is bound, the dragon is bound. Now, what is a faithful witness? I want to just mention a couple of things. One, a faithful witness is an uncompromising witness. If we go back to chapter 2 and you read verses 20 to 23, the church in Thyatira was doing a good job in many respects, but he said, I have this against you. You tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols. So what is this prophetess whom John calls Jezebel, who Jesus calls Jezebel? What's she doing? She's telling the church compromise with the world. She's telling the church, act like the world around you, behave like the world around you, blend in with the world around you and you can live more comfortably. You can escape some of the social ostracism and persecution that comes with being a Christian. If you'll just follow my 10 steps advice to how to have your best life now. That was an intentional illusion. John says, repent. He says even more than that, he says, I will throw her onto a sick bed and those who commit adultery with her, I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches minds and heart, mind and heart. And I will give to each of you according to your works. Jezebel was calling them to compromise their witness. Jesus is telling them to an uncompromising witness to himself. You'll find the same thing in the church in Pergamum. There you find that it's the error of Balaam and a group whom he describes as the Nicolaitans. But you have a very similar situation here where people are being called to compromise with the world for the sake of worldly comfort. And Jesus is calling them out of that compromise to repent. He says to the church in Pergamum, repent, if not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. That's a frightening thought. You know, we say, if God be for us, who could be against us? But if God be against us, who could be for us? Uncompromising witness, that's part of what it means to be a faithful witness. Another thing is, an undeterred witness is a faithful witness. If you look at chapter 2 and verse 13 to the church in Pergamum, he says to them, I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is, and yet you hold fast my name and you did not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas. Now look at how he describes Antipas. My faithful witness. That's beautiful because you remember earlier in chapter 1, Jesus was described how? The faithful witness. Now, Jesus looks at his martyr Antipas and he says, Antipas, my faithful witness. And you know how his faithful witness ended? He was killed among you where Satan dwells. You see, he was not deterred by the threats of the world. He wasn't deterred by social ostracism or even by persecution or even by death. But as Revelation 12 says, he overcame by the blood of the lamb, by the word of his testimony, and because he loved not his life, even unto death. A faithful witness is undeterred. How much does it take to get you to shut up? The third thing I would say about a faithful witness is it is an unassailable witness rather than going back to chapter 20 and verses one through three. Let me simply say that while there will be many people who will hear the gospel and who will walk away from it. His sheep will hear his voice. If we proclaim the gospel. His elect will hear. It is an unassailable witness to Jesus. A faithful witness that is uncompromising and undeterred is unassailable. So the church militant extends his kingdom through faithful witness, and thirdly, the church triumphant is enthroned in judgment over the nations. At this point, you can just go ahead and turn over to chapter 20. We're going to look at verses four through six. What do I mean by the church triumphant? Well, I mean the church that's done her job, the church that's done her fighting, the church that has been a faithful witness and maybe even been a faithful witness unto death, lost their heads, bearing witness to Jesus Christ. That's the church triumphant. The one who bears a faithful witness, not the one who builds the biggest churches, not the one who builds the most beautiful church buildings, Not the ones who can gather in the most money. Not the church who can see her name in lights. The church who has been a faithful witness. Has left this earth to join her Lord in heaven. To be given a throne. Look at it with me in verse four, Revelation chapter 20 in verse four, it says, Then I saw thrones. And seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Notice what what were the thrones for? Of course, their thrones to reign, but their thrones particularly to judge. They are judgment seats when in participating with Christ in his reign, we participate with Christ in his judgment, as Paul says, you know, Speaking of lawsuits within the church and people suing each other in the church, he says, don't can't you find some people who are competent to judge these matters? Don't you know that one day you're going to judge the angels? 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, in other words, they had not compromised. They would not compromise, but they were faithful witnesses. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Now, here again, we could get into multiple interpretations of this, but I'm just going to give you mine. And that is simply that coming to life here is a reference to the souls sent to heaven to be with Jesus upon death. I'll defend that at a later date and I'll give you my essay. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 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. I want to say a few words about the church triumphant, enthroned in judgment over the nations. One is vindication. This is the saints' vindication. In the world, they were despised. In the world, they were mocked and laughed at. Like Jesus, they were spat upon. But you see, having borne a faithful witness to Jesus Christ, they are now seated on thrones to judge the nations. And now, those kings, those princes, those nobles of the earth who despised the saints, Now stand trembling before their thrones and Christ's throne. To be judged, that's vindication, that is vindication. It's like Jesus in Revelation, chapter two, in speaking to the church in Smyrna. When he says he knows about their tribulation and their poverty, but then he says, you are rich. And he says the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but they are the synagogue of Satan. He says, don't fear what you're about to suffer. And he tells them they're going to suffer some. But he tells them. Be faithful unto death. And I will give you the crown. Of life. He says that he will make those of the synagogue of Sainton who said they are Jews and are not. He will make them come and bow at the feet of his saints and acknowledge that Jesus loved them. That's vindication. That's vindication. When the world condemns Jesus Christ holds them up and says, I love them, and he makes them acknowledge Christ loved them. The second thing I would say about this is retribution. The thrones are for judgment. He says seated on them were those to whom authority to judge was committed. And, you know, probably as well as anybody that the book of Revelation has a lot to say about judgment. But one thing that it has to say about judgment is that the saints, Participate with Christ in judging the nations. And a retribution is in order for the blood of the saints, just as an example, if you look over back to Revelation, chapter 18. It says. In verse six, pay her back. As she herself has paid back others and repay her double for her deeds, makes a double portion for her in the cup she mixed. Pay her back. She was drunk on the blood of the saints. And she will be paid back. Retribution. And then resurrection, he refers here to this experience, that of being seated with Christ on his heavenly throne. Of judging the nations. As the first resurrection. Now, I know there are some who think this means a bodily resurrection, and then, of course, they Say that this happens at the beginning of the millennium or the beginning of the tribulation, where there's this resurrection of the bodies and then there's another resurrection of the bodies at the end of the millennium. I don't think that is what John's referring to here. I don't think that squares with what the rest of Scripture teaches about the last day and the resurrection of the dead. I think rather here, first resurrection means a resurrection. As happens in the day of first things, the first things rather than the second things. Notice that he doesn't refer to a second resurrection, but he does refer to a second death. He doesn't refer to a first death, but he does refer to a first resurrection. When, ironically enough, the first resurrection here by this John intends the death of the saints, because upon their deaths, they go to be with Jesus. They are raised to live with him in heaven. That's the first resurrection. It is a spiritual experience. What happens to the unbeliever when they die? They don't experience that. They don't get that resurrection. They go to death. But in the end, When the unbeliever is raised from the dead bodily, he's not raised to life. Instead, he's raised to the second death. And of course, in the context, the second death is the lake of fire. First, here, I believe Meredith Clines has done a good job of explaining what first and second represent. First represents the death that's experienced before the coming of Jesus Christ. First, whatever, whether it's death or life or whatever it is, first refers to what we experienced prior to the coming of Jesus Christ. Second is what is experienced after Jesus Christ has returned. So the first resurrection is the resurrection, a scent of our souls to Jesus, to sit with him on his throne in heaven. That's before he comes again. So when he comes again. That resurrection will be a bodily resurrection. The death that we die now is a death, you know, of the body. But the death that we die after the coming of Christ, well, we don't die that death. But those who do die that death is called the second death. It comes after the coming of Christ and it is the lake of fire and it is an eternal death. Resurrection. To life. The church triumphant is enthroned in judgment over the nations. And then finally, I'll say this, the church triumphant will share in Christ's reign forever and ever. In chapter 22, verse five, he says, Night will be no more. They will need no lamp or light of the sun for the Lord. God will be their light and they will reign forever and ever. That's that. is eternity for those who reign with him now as the church militant, bearing a faithful witness to Jesus Christ. So a couple of questions for us. Resurrected to reign. Is Christ reigning in your life now? Is he reigning in your life now? You know, what's the evidence that Christ reigns in me now? That where there is compromise, I hear the voice of Jesus saying, repent. And I repent. I hear the word of God say today, If you hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the rebellion today. Is Christ reigning in your life now, but then also is Christ reigning through your life, he made us a kingdom by his blood, he made us a kingdom. And he wants to reign not only in our lives, but he wants to reign through our lives. God created man to have dominion. When he put Adam in the Garden of Eden, he said to him, you are going to have dominion over the earth. When we did our study on the gospel, two ways to live, remember, the first point of the gospel was God is the loving ruler. of the earth or the world, and he has made us rulers under him. That's God's intention for his creatures made in his image is that we would reign. And that we would extend his reign. Adam, of course, rose up in rebellion against God. And so we all have. But when Christ is reigning in our lives, then he wants also to reign through our lives. And how is he going to do that? Except through our faithful witness. A faithful witness that tells the truth about Jesus Christ and refuses to bend that truth or water down that truth or hide that truth. A faithful witness is one whose life would point others to Jesus, not following Jezebel's advice and trying to simply blend in with the world and live a comfortable life here and now. But a life. That stands out as one who is set apart to Jesus Christ. Is Christ reigning through your life. I'd rather be with David running from Saul. And to be with Saul King for a day. But rejected by God. Rather be with Elijah. Living in the wilderness. Off wild honey and locusts. Than to be with Jezebel in her palaces with all her fine things.