If Satan is bound for 1,000 years, does that mean there'll be no sin at all during the millennium? No, there'll be sin.
It'll just be quickly challenged and quickly kept in check, hence the term rule with a rod of iron. You see, you don't need the devil to sin. It comes from your flesh. Satan simply provides the stimulating environment and he'll be out of the way, but people in their moral bodies will be born with the sin nature, and thus the propensity towards sin, though kept in check until finally Satan is released at the end of the tribulation, or end of the millennium. What would the world be like without the influence of Satan?
Well, one day we'll get the chance to experience that firsthand. One day Satan will be locked away for a time and humanity will enjoy a respite from his deceptive, destructive schemes. And today here in Connect with Skip Weekend Edition, Skip Heitzig shares a glimpse of what that time will look like and how it will come about.
But before we get to that, here's a great offer we have for you this month in the Connect with Skip Resource Center. Who comes to mind when you think of great godly women? Probably Jesus' mother Mary. Maybe Ruth, the unlikely ancestor of Christ.
But what about you? Here's New York Times bestselling author Eric Metaxas. Clearly if God created us male and female in His image, it's leaning into who we are as women, if we're women, that is going to show God's greatness. Discover how the lives of some of the greatest women in history can show you the path to true greatness in your own life as a woman made in God's image. That's what you'll find in this month's inspiring resource by Eric Metaxas.
In every one of the seven women, I think you see a different side of femininity. Seven Women is our thank you for your gift of $35 or more today to help connect more people to God's Word. And right now, we'll also send you a special bonus resource, Pastor Skip's six message CD collection on prominent women from Scripture.
Visit connectwithskip.com slash offer to give online securely or call 800-922-1888. Skip Heitzigs, it continues in Revelation Chapter 20 today. So if you find that place in your Bibles, we'll join Skip as he continues to explore what this chapter reveals about a future heaven on earth. 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. Also, a stream of water will gush from the ground from Jerusalem and flow half down toward the Mediterranean Sea and half down toward the Dead Sea.
This is Ezekiel Chapter 47 and 48. The waters of the Dead Sea are going to be healed. Now you know the Dead Sea is called dead because it's dead. It's not mostly dead, it's all dead. Nothing lives in it. The salt solution is so high, only a few micro bacterial creatures, but it's dead. The Bible says the waters will be healed and fishermen will spread their nets down at En-Gedi, which is on the shores of the Dead Sea, and abundance of fish will be caught.
Life-giving. Israel will occupy the borders God promised originally in Genesis Chapter 15. That means the land of Israel will then include Lebanon, Syria, parts of Jordan, Sinai, and Iraq. Now the leaders of these countries would not be too psyched about that, but that's the borders God promised it.
That's the borders they're going to take. Moreover, the land will be divided, the land of Israel, into three sections. North, south, and in the middle. In the north, seven tribes will occupy.
In the south, the other five. And in the middle, that's where the priest that's where the priest will live, who will officiate at the millennial temple. That's just Jerusalem. The second thing in the millennial kingdom is that the animal kingdom will be tamed. You won't need zoos.
You won't need wild animal parks or cages. The creation will be freed from its bondage. Listen to what Isaiah writes in chapter 11 verses 6 through 8. In that day, the wolf and the lamb will live together. The leopard and the goat will be at peace. Calves and yearlings will be safe among lions, and a little child will lead them. The cattle will graze among the bears. Cubs and calves will lie down together, and lions will eat grass as the livestock do. Babies will crawl safely among the poisonous snakes, and yes, a little child will put its hand into a nest of deadly snakes and pull it out unharmed. You get the picture. The curse will be removed.
Animals will be docile and tame. You remember that incident last year at the zoo in China when that young teenager got up against a panda bear cage? You might have seen it on television. He just wanted a picture with the panda bear as the background, but he got close enough that that cuddly, sweet little panda bear that wouldn't hurt anybody, right? Reached its claws through the cage and grabbed that young man, and were it not for a few quick-thinking people, he'd have been killed.
The bear simply got his jacket and mangled it. I remember one time I was in Kenya, and I was in the back of a truck. There was an old Land Rover, and we were driving through the bush, and I saw a lioness and her cubs, and so the driver pulled like five, seven feet away from this family, and here's me, dumb Skip from America, rolling the window down, sticking my camera out to take pictures of it, and the driver just said, very firmly but gently, close the window. He says, that animal looks really nice, but you're in her living room right now.
If you get too close, that thing's going to jump at you and tear your head off, so I quickly rolled the window up. I realized I'm not in the millennium yet, got to wait for that. The third thing that you can expect during that kingdom age is this earth is going to look lush and beautiful. The biosphere will be lush, like a flowering garden.
Now just imagine looking out toward the west side of Albuquerque, and it looks like the forest, rain forest of Oregon. Isaiah 35, even the wilderness will rejoice in those days. The desert will blossom with flowers. The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon and as lovely as Mount Carmel's pastures and the Plain of Sharon. Springs will gush forth in the wilderness. Streams will water the desert. The parched ground will become a pool, and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land. Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived.
Can't wait to mountain bike through that. Fourth thing is there will be a healing of disabilities. Isaiah 35 continues, he will open the eyes of the blind and unstopped the ears of the deaf. The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will shout and sing. There's going to be longevity as well during this time.
That's the fifth thing you can expect. Health and longevity. Isaiah 65, never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years. He who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth. Boy, isn't that great news?
You don't have to buy all those fancy expensive face creams or get a stretch job and it's just longevity. Of course, for those of us who are believers, you're going to be in glorified bodies anyway, so this isn't going to even affect your constitution, but it will for those who are still in their mortal bodies who have made it through the tribulation and have children for those thousand years. Sixth and finally, and again I'm just giving you a snapshot here, finally there's going to be world peace. Now let those words settle upon you, because remember last week Will Durant, we noted, said there's only been eight percent of history that has seen world peace.
Out of 3,124 years of recorded history, 268 have seen no war. The millennial kingdom of Christ will be a time where there will be world peace. Gallup organization says one of the most frequently asked questions generation after generation is when will there ever be world peace.
I can answer that and you can answer that. Only in the millennial reign of Christ and not before. Isaiah chapter 2 verse 4 says the Lord will at that time settle international disputes. All the nations will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. All wars will stop and military training will come to an end. Now next week we're going to consider more of the governmental structure of the Kingdom Age because you're going to be a part of it.
But here it is in some summary form. It's going to be a government by the Lord, of the Lord, and for the Lord. A total theocracy. He will rule and reign with a rod of iron.
Now a question comes up and it's an important one. If Satan is bound for a thousand years, does that mean there'll be no sin at all during the millennium? No, there'll be sin.
It'll just be quickly challenged and quickly kept in check. Hence the term rule with a rod of iron. You see you don't need the devil to sin. It comes from your flesh. Satan simply provides the stimulating environment and he'll be out of the way but people in their mortal bodies will be born with a sin nature and thus the propensity towards sin though kept in check until finally Satan is released at the end of the tribulation or end of the millennium. Now go back to verse 1 and verse 3. For a moment just consider the place where Satan will be incarcerated. It's called the bottomless pit. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. Verse 3, and he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him.
Now what is that? Well it's the Greek word abussos. Some translation the abyss. Our translation the bottomless pit. You know that that was one of my names my friends used to give me back in the early days when I was a early 20s. I ate so much and I ate quickly. They just said you are that was my nickname the abyss the bottomless pit.
So I probably shouldn't have let that out should I have because I think I'll never live that one down. But the bottomless pit or the abussos is a place of temporary incarceration. Think of it as a holding tank. It's where demons are kept and Satan will be bound temporarily awaiting his final judgment his final sentence which will be in the lake of fire. Verse 10 look at that and the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
So this is like the intermediate hell before the final hell. It's the same place Peter wrote about in second Peter chapter 2 verse 4 he spoke about demons who are in chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment. You remember in the gospel stories where Jesus goes from one side of the lake of Galilee to the other side and the side he goes to is the eastern side called the Gadarenes or the the area of Gadara and there was a demon possessed man who lived in the tombs and when Jesus saw this man who was inhabited by a legion of demons they spoke through that man and it says they begged him that he would not command them to go into the abyss.
They were they wanted to be free they wanted to torment people and their big fear is that Jesus would consign them to this pit awaiting final execution. Well notice it says in our text there was a great chain in this angel's hand. You see Satan is such a great foe and has wrecked such great havoc on the earth you need a great chain to bind him and I can't resist this. That story that I just mentioned about the demon possessed man the Gadarenes listen to what Mark writes in Mark chapter 5. No one could bind him not even with chains because he had often been bound with shackles and chains and the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces neither could anyone tame him. Here's the point Satan's demons can break the chains of man but even Satan himself will not be able to undo or break this great chain for a thousand years. No weaseling out of this one no Houdini out of this one he's bound he's incarcerated.
And why? What is the purpose? The purpose is found in verse 3. So that 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. Why is it that Satan has to be bound before the millennium can even be inaugurated? Because of his deception. Now what is Satan's primary activity on the earth right now given this verse that we just read?
It is deception. The devil's main activity isn't to scare little children or to murder people. His main activity is to deceive people. Jesus is the devil. He's the devil.
He's the people. Jesus called the devil a liar and the father of lies. In Revelation chapter 12 we read the devil the dragon who deceives the whole world.
How does he do that? False doctrine, false religious systems, false hope for unbelievers who think they're going to go to heaven but they're not because they've never received Christ as their savior. They go I'm good enough and only good people go to heaven no only saved people go to heaven. And he deceives the world. First John chapter 5 verse 19 John says same guy who wrote this book we know we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. Now that's quite a statement to say well we know we're of God but everyone in the world is lying under the sway of the wicked one. He's a deceiver. He's deceived a lot of people. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4 the God of this age who's that?
Satan. The God of this age has blinded the mind of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ. So here's my point for a thousand years no deceptions. The deceptions are over. That means there's not going to be any satanic ideologies, no satanic philosophies, no cults, no astrological forecasts, no heresies, no false theories of morality. That's all gone.
He's out of the picture. It'll be understood what is right and what is wrong. Now in closing remember last week we talked about the three different viewpoints of the millennium and I mentioned that all millennialism teaches that we're in the kingdom right now. This is the millennium.
I'm disappointed if that's true. This is the kingdom age. Christ is reigning over his church right now.
Well if this is the kingdom age then Satan is what? He's got to be bound. If this is the kingdom Satan is bound.
I don't think so. If this is Satan being bound he's got an awfully long chain and here's why. He's not bound. The Bible says exactly the opposite. Peter writes 1 Peter chapter 5, your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
It's not bound. Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 2 about the devil. He calls him the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
There are many texts like that. Satan is not bound. This is not the kingdom. This is not the kingdom. We're waiting for the kingdom. Listen when the kingdom comes you'll know it. You'll know it. Everybody will know it. The knowledge of God will cover the earth, fill the earth as waters cover the sea.
Be a very very different scene than it is today. The bad guy will be put away for a thousand years. Every now and then I'll encounter some spiritual group, some religious group, some well-meaning Christian who will try to take authority and of himself and say I'll bind you Satan. They'll even talk to Satan.
I don't even talk to him. Talk to God. I'll bind you Satan. Do me a favor. If you're going to bind Satan, bind him for good, would you?
Because whatever you're doing, it's not working. He keeps getting out. He keeps getting out. And I know Jesus said what is bound on earth is bound in heaven. That's in the context of church leadership and making binding decisions that are bound also in heaven.
Here's the truth. You can't bind him. Only Christ can and will bind him through this strong angel and it will happen then. And so here's what we have to face. Satan is very active and he's very out in the open and he is not bound and he is loose.
And because he is loose, he is deceiving. And could it be that some here have been deceived about the most important thing in the world the most important thing ever and that is eternity? Could it be that some are deceived still here thinking well I go to church every week. Well I'm a good person. I'm a nice guy. I'm not really opposed to God.
I said some prayer sometime somewhere I think. That could be a form of great deception. You know Jesus said unless a man is born again, he can never see the kingdom of God. Born-again Christianity is not a subculture. It's not like you got Presbyterians and Catholics and Methodists and then that born-again group. That's that flavor of Christianity, that new thing. There's only one type of person in heaven and that's the born-again type. Unless a man is born again, he will never see the kingdom of God.
It doesn't matter what flavor you are. You can be a born-again Presbyterian, born-again Baptist, born-again non-denominationalist, but you have to be born again. And that is where you come to an end of yourself and receive Christ's solution for your sin and mine and be saved. Don't be deceived. The deceiver walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. My strong urge is that you let Christ come into your life because when Christ comes into your life he's not going to share that house with the devil. That's where the enlightenment comes.
That's where the freedom comes. That's where the perspective comes. Well, would you like a new perspective on eternity, one that isn't filled with doubt and uncertainty?
Would you like to know exactly what the future has in store for you? Well, as Skip pointed out, that's all possible when you're born again in Jesus Christ. If you still aren't entirely sure on what that means or how to do that, give us a call. Let us explain it to you. Just call 1-800-922-1888 or click on the KnowGod link at connectwithskip.com.
And who knows? That may be the most important phone call or internet click you'll make in all eternity. Now, as we wrap things up today, we want to let you know about a special resource package for May here at Connect with Skip. 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. And remember, you can order a copy of today's teaching by Skip, Heaven on Earth, The Bad Guy is Bound on CD for just $6, or order the entire series From the Edge of Eternity for only $39, both plus shipping at 1-800-922-1888. And come back next weekend when Pastor Skip takes another look at Heaven on Earth here on Connect with Skip Weekend Edition, a presentation of Connection Communications. Connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
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