Heaven on Earth - Part 2: The Bad Guy is Bound - Part A

I've worked with law enforcement officers long enough to know that their code word for criminals and perpetrators is simply the bad guy.

And they feel really good when they can follow the lead and apprehend and incarcerate the bad guy in a crime scene. The ultimate bad guy is Satan himself. Chapter 20 shows that before the millennial kingdom on earth can begin, this guy has to be caught and apprehended and incarcerated.

There can be no thousand years of peace on earth until that happens. In classic westerns, the hero in the white hat always came out on top. He'd save the day, put the bad guy in the black hat away in jail, and then ride off into the sunset. Well, a look at the book of Revelation reveals that the end of the world will play out a lot like a classic western, with Jesus Christ on the white horse imprisoning the black-hearted devil and his minions. What might a world without Satan look like? We'll find out next with Pastor Skip on this weekend edition of Connect with Skip Heitzig.

But first, we want to tell you about this month's Connect with Skip resource. You know Proverbs 31, the go-to passage that describes the ideal Christian woman and life. But let's be honest, that ideal can be as intimidating as it is inspiring. Here's Skip Heitzig with more. Can I just tell you it's exhausting to just read that, let alone how on earth women could you ever do that?

Well, let me say first of all, you can't do that in a day. He's not giving the 24-hour description of the virtuous wife. This is a woman over time. Get to know some of the most incredible women in the Bible and in history with two inspiring resources, a six-message CD collection from Pastor Skip on prominent women in scripture, plus the book Seven Women by best-selling author Eric Metaxas. This bundle is our thanks when you give $35 or more to help expand the Bible teaching outreach of Skip Heitzig. Charm is deceitful, beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

Call now to request these captivating resources as our thanks for your generous gift, 800-922-1888, or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Today, we'll examine some verses in Revelation chapter 20. So if you'll open your Bibles, Skip Heitzig starts today's study with a slightly altered version of a well-known fairy tale. One of the big issues that people have with Christianity is the problem of evil. Indeed, it's a problem.

It's everywhere. They say, when will evil finally end? When will all the bad guys get put away?

Why does it all have to continue so long? Moreover, as our culture moves on, it seems that we'll take values of what is good and evil and turn them around. Consider a modern-day telling of Little Red Riding Hood. It would go something like this, once upon a time in a faraway country lived a little girl called Red Riding Hood. One day, her mother asked her to take a basket of fruit to her grandmother who had been ill and lived alone in a cottage in the forest. It happened that a wolf was lurking in the bushes and overheard the conversation. Well, he decided to take a shortcut to grandmother's house and get the goodies for himself. The wolf killed the grandmother, then dressed in her nightgown and jumped into bed to await the little girl.

When she arrived, he made several nasty suggestions and then tried to grab her. But by this time, the child was very frightened and ran screaming from the cottage. A woodcutter, working nearby, heard her cries and rushed to the rescue. He killed the wolf with his axe, thereby saving Red Riding Hood's life.

All the townspeople hurried to the scene and proclaimed the woodcutter a hero. But at the inquest, several facts emerged. The wolf had never been advised of his rights. The woodcutter had made no warning swings before striking the fatal blow. The Civil Liberties Union stressed the point that, although the act of eating grandma may have been in bad taste, the wolf was only doing his thing and thus did not deserve the death penalty. The SDS, Students for a Democratic Society, contended that the killing of grandmother should be considered self-defense since she was over 30 and therefore couldn't be taken seriously because the wolf was trying to make love and not war.

On the basis of these considerations, it was decided there was no valid basis for the charges against the wolf. Moreover, the woodcutter was indicted for unaggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Several nights later, the woodcutter's cottage was burned to the ground. And one year from the date of the incident at grandma's, the cottage was made a shrine for the wolf who had bled and died there. All the village officials spoke at the dedication, but it was Red Riding Hood who gave the most touching tribute. She said that while she had been selfishly grateful for the woodcutter's intervention, she realized in retrospect that he had overreacted.

As she knelt and placed a wreath in honor of the brave wolf, there wasn't a dry eye in the whole forest. Isaiah the prophet said, woe to those who call evil good and who call good evil. To take the very principles of what is valued and completely turn them around.

Woe to them. And so we wonder, when's that going to end? Well, the same Isaiah who wrote what I just quoted to you also predicted a time of righteousness. He said these words, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as waters cover the sea. There is coming a time, there is coming a time of peace, of justice, of divine retribution followed by an age and era of utopia.

It won't be a dream. I've worked with law enforcement officers long enough to know that their code word for criminals and perpetrators is simply the bad guy. And they feel really good when they can follow the lead and apprehend and incarcerate the bad guy in a crime scene. The ultimate bad guy is Satan himself. And chapter 20 shows that before the millennial kingdom on earth can begin, this guy has to be caught and apprehended and incarcerated.

There can be no thousand years of peace on earth until that happens. Chapter 20 verses 1 through 3, then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him so that he should not deceive the nations. He should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years were finished. But after these things, he must be released for a little while. Satan is at large.

He is on the move. His head was bruised, Genesis 3.15 predicted, and his head was bruised at the cross. But here he is put away, put in jail, incarcerated for a thousand years before he's finally and eternally consigned to what's called the lake of fire, which shows up later on in this chapter. But this morning, because this is such a vital component of your eternity in mind, let's just look at these three verses again.

And let's consider it, let's unpack it in four movements. Let's look at the pursuer, the angel who's doing the job. Let's consider the prisoner himself, that is Satan, the place where he's going to be incarcerated, and finally the whole purpose for it. So verse one tells us the pursuer, then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. Now, we don't know who this angel is, could be just any one of the angels.

My view is that it's probably, and again, it's just my opinion, it's probably Michael. Jude calls him the archangel. He's like the big bouncer angel.

He'd be the perfect guy for this job. And he's introduced to the archangel, he'd be the perfect guy for this job. And he's introduced in the book of Revelation in chapter 12. In verse seven it says, and war broke out in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. Now, it's the end of the tribulation.

And the tribulation ends with Jesus Christ coming back, and he puts an end to a battle of nations that have gathered against him and against his Jerusalem, the Jewish people, the covenant people. And he puts an end to that battle and Michael will be a part of that. Daniel chapter 12 verse one, at that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people.

And I gotta think that Michael would love the job. He's been the arch enemy of Satan from the beginning. They're both high-ranking angels.

They both fought each other. In Jude verse nine it says Michael the archangel disputing or contending or fighting with the devil about the body of Moses. So it would just make sense that the angel, the pursuer, the police officer arresting the bad guy would be Michael.

I want to throw this in because it's important at this point. One of the biggest lies Satan has is that he's somehow the comparable opposite of God. And this idea has even gotten into the minds of some Christians that you have this big cosmic battle and then this corner is God and then this corner is the devil. As if they're somehow cosmic comparable opposites.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The devil is not the opposite of God. He doesn't on his best day come close to any of the power, any of the strength, any of the might of the one who created him. Satan is not omnipresent, not omniscient, not omnipotent.

He would be more closely matched to Michael. Both high-ranking angels. One fell, Satan.

One did not. Now when Satan fell, how many angels went with him? What's the proportion? A third of the angelic hosts. And I just got to frame this for your perspective once again that rather than getting all weirded out because there's demons out there, and there are, I'm not minimizing that, if one third fell, how many stayed?

Yeah, two-thirds. So for every demon there's two good angels. And that's good news to you and I because the Bible says they help us.

And frankly, I need all the help I can get. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 1, they are ministering spirits sent to minister to those who inherit salvation. And so in verse 1, this angel comes down from heaven with a very specific agenda.

To pursue, to apprehend, to incarcerate, to lock up for a thousand years Satan. Notice he has the key to the bottomless pit. The key designates authority. You don't get in the door without the key. Here at Calvary, we have lots of different rooms with lots of different locks and they take lots of different keys. But there are some keys that are given out. We call it the A key. In fact, right on the key it says A. The A key elects you in any door. This angel has the A key.

He can even unlock the bottomless pit and incarcerate those that God sends him to do. And it's got to be a great moment for this angel. It's like whoever it is is like, all right, the day has come.

Here goes. Because this is the day of Satan's humbling. This is the one who wanted to be lifted up above all the other beings.

He was top of the heap. In Isaiah chapter 14, we read that Satan said, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will be like the most high.

That's what he said. Now listen to what God said to him. Same chapter. Yet you shall be brought down to hell to the lowest sides of the pit.

And now we read the fulfillment of that prediction in Isaiah 14. Years ago in London, there was a bar, a tavern. And it went by the name of the devil and Saint Dustin. The devil and Saint Dunstan. You know, the British can have the weirdest names for things. Well, after court, a lot of lawyers in the area would go to the bar.

They'd talk about the court cases. And so they would hang signs on their office doors, gone to the devil. Because it was the abbreviated name for the tavern, the devil and Saint Dunstan. Well, so many of these signs appeared that after a period of time, the very idea was changed and the meaning was changed. Gone to the devil meant gone to ruin.

And that's where the term comes from. That bar in England, that tavern. Gone to the devil. When Satan caused our first parents in the garden to buy into his lies and there was that great fall and the curse placed upon humanity, it was as if a sign were hung over the earth. Gone to the devil. But now it's as if a new sign gets posted over the inhabitation of Satan himself. Gone to the pit where he will be there for a thousand years.

You know what comes to my mind? Remember in the Wizard of Oz, ding dong, the witch is dead. Witch, old witch, the wicked witch. Well, ding dong, the witch. In this case, the devil is incarcerated for a thousand years.

Let's look at this prisoner. Notice that in verse 2 he goes by not one, but four different titles. John writes, he laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan and bound him for a thousand years. Now most people today don't believe in a literal devil.

I do, you and I do. Christians who believe the Bible do, but people for the most part don't buy into the literalness of the devil. He's a figure of speech. He's the embodiment of evil. He's the stuff that movies are made out of or songs are made out of.

I did a little search. Here's a sampling of songs that use the devil in it. The devil in the deep blue sea. The devil with the red dress on. The devil went down to Georgia.

I won't dispute that. The devil in her heart. The devil in her heart. Sympathy for the devil. Run, devil, run. The devil inside. The devil's train.

Gallup organization did a poll. They said 70% of Americans believe in the devil, but half say, half of the 70% say that he's a personal being. The other half say that he's the embodiment of evil. The impersonal force of evil. It's just a name for evil. Moreover, let me break it down for you because the Barna Research Group asked people to respond to this statement. Here's the statement. The devil, Satan, is not a living being.

He's just the symbol of evil. Now listen to this. Of those who said they're born-again Christians, 32% strongly agreed with that statement. 11% somewhat agreed with that statement. 5% said they don't know. That means 48% of those who claim to be born-again Christians either say the devil is just a symbol of evil, not a real being, or they don't know.

That's staggering. You know, it's like the two little six-year-old boys, they were discussing the devil and the theology of the devil, and it'll give you insight into the theology of a six-year-old. One little boy said, well, I don't believe in the devil. The other boy said, well, I believe in the devil. You should too because he's written all the way through the Bible.

It's written about him. And the first boy said, yeah, but it's not like really actually true. The devil's like Santa Claus. He turns out to be your dad.

I'd never share that on Father's Day. Now notice that in verse two he's called the dragon. Now that term for the devil, the dragon, is a book of revelation term. You find it 13 times in the scripture, all in the book of Revelation.

Here's why. That will be his character and nature in the end times, vicious, cruel, devouring, like a dragon. Also, he's called the serpent of old.

Now that takes us back to Genesis chapter three, when that beautiful creature appeared to Eve and deceived her. And then just so you don't mistake who it is, two other titles are given him. The devil, diabolos, means slanderer or one who defames. And you know why he's called that, don't you? Because the scripture says he is before the throne of God, accusing us before God, night and day. Now he's got to have a lot on us if he can every night, every day, talk about God's children and slander us and defame us before his throne. And then he's called Satan.

That's his most common name in the Bible that appears 54 times. And Satan simply means enemy. He's your enemy. He's your adversary. That's what Satan means.

Now that is good news. Because if you want to have any relationship at all with the devil, it ought to be that he's your enemy. You don't want him as a friend. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said there's something very comforting in the thought that the devil is an adversary. I would sooner have him for an adversary than for a friend. Oh my soul, it were dread work with you if Satan were a friend of yours, for then with him you must forever dwell in darkness, shut out from the friendship of God. So right here is a climactic moment in redemptive history. The enemy of our souls is grabbed, apprehended, and placed in the bottomless pit. This is the time when the roaring lion, that's what Peter calls him, right? Roaring lion is finally overcome by the lion of the tribe of Judah. Now with the devil gone, with the devil out of the picture, what a world this is going to be.

Just that fact alone, no devil. The world is going to be dramatically different in a number of ways. And again, I'll just give you a snapshot of what it's going to be like during the kingdom age, months it would take to uncover all of the texts, but I'll give you just a snapshot. Number one, there's going to be changes in Jerusalem. Now this is one of the reasons I love to take people on tours to Israel, and I've done it 31 times, because it's great for people to see what it looks like now, so that when they see it in the future they go, oh I remember what it used to look like.

In fact, that used to be over there. This place has changed. It's going to get a makeover. First of all, when Jesus returns, his foot is going to touch what mountain? Mount of Olives. Same mountain he left on.

And Zechariah 14 says his foot is going to hit the Mount of Olives. It's going to split in two from east to west. Half the mountain will be removed to the north, half the mountain to the south, and a huge valley will be made in between, presumably where the nations will be judged at the end of the tribulation period. It's also called the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And a huge valley will be formed.

Mount of Olives won't look the same. Well, when it comes to change, anything that you've recently heard about pales in comparison to the change we'll see during this time that Skip has just talked to us about today. It just goes to show that the only one who can truly change things, be it a life or the world itself, is Jesus Christ. And that's going to wrap up our time for today. But before we go, we want to tell you about a great opportunity to go deeper in your knowledge of God's Word.

Life. Apply now at calvaryabq.college. That's calvaryabq.college. And remember to get in touch with us for a copy of today's message, Heaven on Earth, The Bad Guy is Bound. Each copy is available on CD for just $6 plus shipping, or for $39 plus shipping, you can order the entire series, From the Edge of Eternity. Give us a call to find out more at 1-800-922-1888, or order online at connectwithskip.com. I think it's safe to say that any place could be heavenly if only evil could be bound. So we'll explore that more next time here in Connect with Skip, Weekend Edition, a presentation of Connection Communications. . Connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.