The Coming Kingdom – Part 1

Hi, I'm Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to serve as your Bible teacher every day on this great radio station. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory. Remember in Acts chapter one, when Jesus was getting ready to send into heaven, his disciples said, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? They were in effect saying, Lord, before you leave, haven't you forgotten something? Haven't you forgotten the whole reason you came was to establish your kingdom on earth?

Isn't this the time to do it? Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. Ever since the fall of man, Satan has enjoyed a measure of power and dominion over the earth.

But the Bible teaches that during the last days, Satan will be vanquished and Christ will return to establish his kingdom. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress describes that triumphant moment when Jesus comes to reclaim the earth. Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David. And welcome again to Pathway to Victory.

Spoiler alert. There's a pop quiz coming, so get ready. But first, I'm eager to remind you about the upcoming Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska. This is your once in a lifetime opportunity to spend a glorious week in the great frontier, exploring Alaska with other like-minded Christian believers.

Along the way, we'll be gliding through the calmer waters of the Inside Passage along the spectacular coastline of British Columbia on our way to Alaska. The dates are June 15th through 22nd, 2024. Over the weekend, while you have some extra time, go to ptv.org and take a look at the wonderful itinerary we've planned just for you.

Download the brochure or watch the brief video, but most importantly, reserve your spot while there's still room. The clock is ticking because we are just one week away from concluding our verse-by-verse study through the book of Revelation. And I'm pleased to remind you that I've written a comprehensive book that's brand new. It's called Mysteries of the End Times. Those who write me with questions about biblical prophecy, I've heard you. And in my book, I've selected five unusual questions about the end times, and I've provided to the best of my ability answers that are based entirely on God's Word.

So, as for your copy today, I'll send you my brand new book again, Mysteries of the End Times, when you include a generous gift to support the ministry of pathway to victory. More details later on, but right now, let's open our Bibles to Revelation chapter 20. I titled today's message, The Coming Kingdom.

I thought today we would start off with a pop quiz. This is a pop quiz about Bible prophecy. Question number one, the kingdom of God is A, a spiritual kingdom, B, a physical kingdom, C, all of the above, or D, none of the above. Question number two, God's promise to Israel of a land that would be theirs forever was A, conditional, B, unconditional, C, transferred in a spiritual sense to the church. Question number three, Satan's power over the earth was A, defeated at the cross, B, defeated at the resurrection, C, continues today.

Final question, Christians will receive their new bodies, A, at the rapture, B, at the second coming, or C, from their plastic surgeon. Your answer to those questions actually reveal what you believe about the topic we're going to look at today in Revelation chapter 20, and that is the coming kingdom of God we call the millennium. If you have your Bibles, turn to Revelation chapter 20 as we look at that coming kingdom of God. Now, remember last time we finished Revelation 19, the battle of Armageddon, that time at the end of the tribulation when the world forces will gather together on the plane of the ghetto, presumably to defeat the Antichrist, the world leader.

But suddenly, in the midst of that battle, they will look up, they will see the skies open, and the Lord Jesus Christ and those of us who belong with him will return to earth to defeat the Antichrist and those who follow after him. And the reason we come back with Christ is to establish that long-awaited kingdom of God on earth we call the millennium. By the way, the word millennium doesn't appear anywhere in the Bible, but don't let that shake you up. Neither does the word trinity, but the concept is still valid for both.

Millennium, it comes from two Latin words, milli, which means a thousand, annum, years. We're referring to the thousand-year reign of Christ that is promised throughout Scripture and especially in our passage today, Revelation chapter 20. Now, let me just point out a few passages from the Old Testament that promise that kind of literal kingdom on earth. First of all, 2 Samuel 7, verses 12 to 13. We often call these verses the Davidic Covenant, God's promise to David. He says in verse 12, when your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom, and he will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for how long?

Forever. That's the promise of a coming kingdom. Look at Isaiah 9, 6 and 7. For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. And there will be no end to his increase of his government or peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establishment, and to withhold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. Or Isaiah 11, 4, 6 and 9, but with righteousness he will judge the poor and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth, and he will strike the earth with the rot of his mouth and with the breath of his lips, and he will slay the wicked. You know, there is such an emphasis today on the desire for justice and social justice.

Do you know where that comes from? It comes from the fact that we are all created in the image of God. Even unbelievers retain a remnant of that image of God inside of them. The reason we long for justice is because we are created by a God who is a God of justice. And we have that longing. The only problem is we can't bring that justice ourselves.

We ought to strive for it, but we can't bring it ourselves. God has to bring it, and he will satisfy that desire we have ultimately when Christ comes and rules in justice. Look at verse 6. And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little boy will lead them, and they shall not hurt or destroy in my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

We sang that song, The Lion and the Lamb. It comes from this passage. That is the coming kingdom of God. Remember in Acts chapter 1 when Jesus was getting ready to send into heaven after he received his resurrected body, and he was standing on the Mount of Olives, and as he was about to depart, his disciples said, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? They were in effect saying, Lord, before you leave, haven't you forgotten something? Haven't you forgotten the whole reason you came was to establish your kingdom on earth?

Isn't this the time to do it? Now, if the disciples had mistakenly believed in a literal kingdom, if they were wrong, that would have been a time for Jesus to have clarified that for them. He could have said, a kingdom? Boys, you've got it all wrong these last three years. I'm not here to establish a real kingdom, just a spiritual kingdom.

That's all I came to do. But he didn't say that, did he? In verse 7 of Acts 1, he said, It is not for you to know the time or the epochs when I shall do these things. That is given to the Father alone.

He has fixed it by his own authority. In other words, he was saying, it's coming, but it's coming according to God's timetable and not to yours. There is a kingdom coming, and it will be the fulfillment of God's eternal promise to Israel and Israel's descendants. Now, that's what the millennium is. It is God's kingdom on earth, the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. Now, throughout history, there have been three prevalent views about the millennium. You may have heard these terms before.

Let me explain them to you. The first view is the amillennial position of the kingdom. Amillennial. In Greek, that word a, letter a, is an alpha-privitive. Any time a appears before the word, it negates it.

It means no. The amillennial position means no millennium. And there are many Christians who believe that, many good Christians, and many of those who subscribe to Reformed theology believe in the amillennial position, that there is no literal kingdom of heaven on earth for a thousand years.

And what they say is this. They say that when Israel rejected Christ, Israel forfeited all of those promises. And the promises that God made to Israel were transferred to the church of Jesus Christ.

And instead of being a literal fulfillment, there will be a spiritual fulfillment. And the land that was promised to Israel, that no longer belongs to Israel. Instead, that's been transferred to the church, and the land has been spiritualized to be heaven.

So when we sing, we're marching to Zion, we're not talking about Jerusalem, we're talking about to the heavenly Zion. So that's the amillennial position. There's not going to be any literal binding of Satan for a thousand years. That's happening in your heart right now, as Satan has no power over you.

Now that's the amillennial position. The problem, and there are many of them, with that position is, what do you say about Genesis 15, in which God ratified that covenant with Abraham while he was asleep, and was saying, it was all dependent upon me, God said, not upon Israel. Or what do you do with Psalm 89? You know, I'm going to keep this promise forever, just as the sun and the moon are in the heavens.

I'm going to keep my promise with Israel. And can anybody really say that Satan, in any sense of the word, is bound right now? Why, he's running rampant throughout this world. He's not been bound, he's not powerless right now. The Bible says he's the prince of the power of the air.

He is the god of this age. But that is the amillennial position. The second view of the millennium is what is called the post-millennial view. Post means after. When does Christ come? He comes after the millennium. This is the idea that the world is going to get better and better and better, and finally it will be in such wonderful shape that Christ says, I can't stay in heaven any longer, I've got to come to this perfect world that man has created and rule over man. That's the post-millennial position. By the way, the pastor of this church for 50 years, George W. Truitt, was a post-millennialist.

That's how he believed, that's what he taught. Post-millennialism, however, just about died after the onset of World War I. When the world was plunged into worldwide chaos, the hope that the world was getting better evaporated, and by World War II it was almost completely extinguished. However, this idea has resurfaced in the last few decades.

It just has a different name to it. It's called Christian Reconstructionism or Dominionism. It is the idea that as Christians we need to reclaim this earth for God. And through electing the right public officials, by praying, by a spiritual revival, we can reclaim this earth for God. We can reclaim Washington, D.C. We can reclaim Hollywood. We can reclaim Wall Street. By getting Christians into places of power, we can take this world back over. We can have dominion over the world. Now, some of you may be saying, well, Pastor, that kind of sounds like you.

In fact, I am often accused by being a reconstructionist, a dominionist, because I talk about the importance of electing the right public officials and trying to fight for the right beliefs, like the pro-life or pro-religious liberty position. But here's the difference. I'm not under any illusion that by doing so we're going to create the millennium here on earth or we're going to rule over this earth without Christ. Not at all. I sympathize with the words of my friend, Cal Thomas, who said, the kingdom of God is not going to come riding in on Air Force One.

We don't expect that at all. Instead, the reason we're to penetrate society is to not prevent its decay but to delay its decay, to give this world a little longer before it collapses for us to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what changes people, the gospel of Jesus Christ. But that's why Jesus said, you are the salt of the earth. I left you here as salt. In Jesus' day, before the days of refrigeration, salt was a preservative. Salt couldn't prevent the decay of meat, but it delayed the decay of meat. You would pack meat with salt in order to delay the rot, so to speak. Eventually the meat would rot and have to be thrown out.

But the salt gave the meat a longer shelf life. And in the same way Jesus said, one reason I'm leaving you here is for you to penetrate society, to delay the rot, so to speak, so that there's longer for people to repent and hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that's why Christians are not to stay in the salt shaker. They're not to just stay in the church. We are to permeate Washington and Hollywood and Wall Street. We're to be involved and not just hunkering down by ourselves waiting for the end to come.

We need to push back against those things that are ungodly in our culture. I think about the Apostle Paul. He's the greatest missionary, the greatest evangelist in the world. But at the same time, he was preaching the gospel. He was caught up in the Roman legal system for two years of his ministry, fighting for his right as a Roman citizen to preach the gospel. He said, though I may be in prison, the word of God is not in prison.

Well, that was true, but he also worked to make sure he wasn't in prison. He wanted to be free to share the gospel. And we Christians are here, yes, to share the gospel, but to push back against those things that would fight against the gospel. Maybe you saw me being interviewed about California passing a ban on singing in churches. Governor Newsom said you can no longer sing in churches, even if you're wearing a mask. Now, you can go outside by the thousands packed together like sardines, yelling at the top of your lungs without a mask. And as long as you're yelling for the politically correct causes, as long as you're doing that, you're free to do that. But you can't sing in a church. Now, every God-fearing person ought to stand up and push back against that. The same First Amendment that protects the freedom of protesting protects the freedom of faith. And any so-called science that says, well, you're safe as long as you're outside and yelling and packed together by thousands, but if there are 50 of you singing, that's unsafe. That's fake science, and that ought to be rejected right away.

I mean, if it's safe being outside, why are they closing the beaches in California? I mean, the fact is this is an attempt to shut down people of faith, and we ought to fight against that with everything we have, not because we think we're going to create the millennium, but because we want to spread the gospel as far as we can while we can. Pardon that sermon within a sermon, but that is why I believe what I do about getting involved in the world. We're not going to create the kingdom, but we're going to have longer to share the good news of the kingdom. Now, the third view is the premillennial view.

That's the view I subscribe to and many of you do. Pre means before, and that is we believe that Christ must come before the millennium. Only he will be able to institute his reign here on earth. Now, with that introduction, we're ready to get into the text for the final few moments we have. We're only going to look at the first six verses about the beginning of the millennium, and it starts with the binding of Satan. Look at chapter 20, verse 1. Then John says, I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. What is the abyss?

Abyssos refers to a bottomless pit. This is a place we've looked at before in Scripture. It is a place of torment for a certain group of demons, angels who had fallen and rebelled against God in a specific way. It's referred to in 2 Peter 2, verse 4, and in Jude, verse 6. I think these are the demons who cohabitated with the daughters of men in Genesis 6, and because of that particular sin, they were immediately judged and sent to this place of confinement called the abyss or the bottomless pit. You remember in Luke, chapter 8, verse 31, when the Gerizim demoniac, the man filled with demons, was exorcised by Jesus, and when those demons left the man, they begged Jesus, Lord, do not throw us into the abyss. Even they didn't want to go to that place.

It was so horrible. We saw this place in Revelation 9, verses 1 and 2, in the fifth trumpet judgment when a fallen angel was allowed to release a group of demonic scorpions to spread all over the earth. But now we have a heavenly angel who has been given a key and a chain.

For what purpose? Look at verse 2. And this angel laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and he bound him for a thousand years. Remember last time in chapter 19, we saw that at the Battle of Armageddon, the Antichrist and the false prophet are seized by an angel, and they are cast into the lake of fire. But what about the third part of that satanic trinity, Satan himself?

Well, he has a special destiny. That is, this angel takes him and bounds him for a thousand years, in other words, to put him into this place called the abyss, the bottomless pit. I want you to notice the four names that are used to describe Satan. He's called a dragon. That refers to his beastly character.

We saw it in Revelation 12, verse 3, a red dragon ready to devour Christ and the church. He's called the dragon. He's called the serpent, referring to his subtle nature. Remember when the serpent appeared to Eve, it wasn't as a dragon.

She wouldn't have been compelled to follow him. He appeared as a beautiful creature, and many times Satan appears that way to us. Paul says he can appear as an angel of light. Thirdly, he's called the devil, diabolos in Greek. It means slanderer. One of the things Satan does is he accuses God's people day and night before the throne of God. According to Revelation 12, 10. But this word diabolos also refers to his diabolical nature. In John 8, 44, Jesus called him a murderer from the beginning. And then finally, he refers to him as Satan himself. The word Satan means adversary, enemy.

He is the enemy of Jesus, and he is the enemy of everyone who would follow Jesus. Our study through the entire book of Revelation comes to an end one week from today. And so while there's still time, be sure to get in touch with Pathway to Victory to request your copy of my new book. In many respects, Mysteries of the End Times contain several decades of personal study, teaching and preaching all rolled into one book. If you find biblical prophecy a little challenging to understand, you're not alone.

In my new book, I address five common mysteries that often stump Bible readers. A copy of Mysteries of the End Times comes with my thanks when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. As one of our financial partners, every gift you give to Pathway to Victory has an eternal impact. Your investment allows us to reach out around the world on all the media platforms available to us to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word.

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May God continue to richly bless Pathway to Victory as you work faithfully to build His kingdom. Well, you can join Olive this weekend by watching our telecast as well. We're on hundreds of stations, but you can see us certainly on Sundays at 10 a.m. Eastern, on TBN, the Trinity Broadcasting Network. We're also on Daystar Sunday afternoons at 6 p.m. Eastern, as well as hundreds of other television stations.

You can find a list of release times and TV stations on our website at ptv.org. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and we look forward to seeing you Monday on Pathway to Victory. Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, you're invited to request a copy of Mysteries of the End Times. It's the brand-new book by Dr. Robert Jeffress. Just call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org.

Now, when your gift is $100 or more, you'll also receive the complete CD and DVD teaching sets for this month's series on the book of Revelation. Plus, we'll also send you the best-selling book by Dr. Jeffress called Final Conquest. To make your request, call 866-999-2965, or simply go online to ptv.org. You could write to us at this address, P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.

Again, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins, inviting you to join us again next week when Dr. Jeffress concludes this message called The Coming Kingdom. That's right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.