The King Reigns In His Kingdom – Part 2 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. One reason for world peace during the coming Millennial Kingdom, Satan will be locked up for the whole time.

Revelation chapter 20 details the devil's incarceration. Today, more teaching on a literal thousand-year reign of Jesus. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, will today's believers be on the earth for the Millennial reign of Christ? Yes, Dave, the Bible says that we shall reign with Jesus Christ and at that time, if I understand the scriptures correctly, we shall already have our glorified bodies. Now, how all that works out and what our role is going to be, I of course don't know, but I do know this, that God's people will be with Jesus and that's what's most important to me.

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Would you consider becoming an endurance partner? That's someone who stands with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts. And by the way, thanks to people like you, the ministry of Running to Win is now in English, Arabic, Spanish, Romanian, Russian, and Portuguese. Thanks for helping us. Here's how you can receive more info.

Go to rtwoffer.com, click on the endurance partner button or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now at the end of this message, I'm going to be giving you this contact info again, but always remember the future is what motivates us in the present. And Satan, I love this passage, an unnamed angel.

We don't know who in the world it is. Jesus says to an ordinary angel, Hey, come here. I've got a job for you. I'm going to empower you. Take Satan and put them into the pit.

Now, undoubtedly the chain is probably symbolic, but the point is he has a chain. He has the key to the bottomless pit. And all that the angel has to do is to say, Satan, I'm, I'm under God's authority. Now come over here. We've got a place for you. You're going to be incarcerated for a thousand years. Come on, get into the pit. And Satan says, if God says it, I have to do it.

Don't you like that? The absolute authority of Jesus and his angels over Satan. And when you read this six times you read for a thousand years. Have you ever wondered where did the idea come from that the millennial kingdom was a thousand years? Well, it's in this passage. What I am teaching you today is called premillennialism. The word millennial referring to a thousand years. Premillennial means that Jesus returns before the millennium. Now with that introduction, let's go through the passage. So one of the other characteristics of this period of time is that Satan is bound.

By the way, this is a parenthesis. I read all millennial people who believe that we are in the millennium now. That's one of the ways to explain it. And I have in my library, a book on counseling that says, if you ever encounter someone who says that he's encountered a demon or the devil, you can be sure he's wrong because this is the millennium and Satan is bound. Anybody out there believe that? I have to say today that if Satan is bound in this era, he's got a very long chain.

I need to tell you that. No, we believe this is future. So we continue. Satan is bound and then there are a host of people who rule with Jesus. Verse four, then I saw thrones and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Let's stop there before we go on to this other category of people. Who is going to be ruling with Jesus in the millennial kingdom?

Got your pen and paper? Four different categories at least. Number one, the Old Testament saints. That's what it says in the book of Daniel chapter seven verse 27. It says his holy ones are going to be ruling with him.

Book of Daniel. So we know that they will be there for sure. There's going to be David and there's going to be Abraham and a whole host of other unnamed ones who are going to be ruling with Christ in the millennial kingdom. The apostles certainly. Jesus said to them one time, he says, you are going to sit with me on 12 thrones ruling over the tribes of Israel.

Oh really? Yeah, that's what Jesus said. So we know that they are going to be there. The 11 apostles for sure. What about us?

Well, here's the good news folks. This was worth coming to church for today. All present believers will also be ruling with Jesus. Throughout the New Testament you have the promises that we shall reign with him. If we suffer with him, we shall reign with impulses. Jesus said to the churches of the book of Revelation, he who overcomes to him I shall grant to sit with me on my throne even as I overcame and sat with my father on his throne. It also says in Revelation chapter 5 verse 10 that he has made us kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth as kings and I assume also as queens over the earth sitting with Jesus and carrying out the responsibilities that he gives us. Now at this point your theological mind has to be expanded a little bit because you said well Pastor Lutzer, you taught us that when the rapture takes place that we are going to have already our heavenly bodies and the people who enter the millennial kingdom during the judgment of the sheep and the goats, they're going to still be in their earthly bodies. They're going to be bearing children and that is right. Does that trouble you, the fact that we're going to have permanent bodies and still be involved with those who don't?

It shouldn't trouble you. Just think of Jesus after the time of the resurrection. Jesus was able to interact with the disciples. Now mind you he had a body the likes of which they didn't have. He could go from Jerusalem to Galilee in a split second but he ate fish with them. He communed with them. So we are going to be ruling with Jesus Christ over certain territories, carrying out certain responsibilities in the millennial kingdom and we will rejoice in the fact that God's promises were absolutely and totally fulfilled.

Now we must hurry on. You'll notice it says I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded, I'm in the middle of verse four, for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God. What that means is those who died during the tribulation are raised now also to reign with Christ which should not surprise us.

Of course they would be and he's simply commenting on that. It says they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. Folks the rest of the dead refers to those who show up at the great white throne judgment that is described at the end of this chapter. I have been preaching at the Moody Church for more than 30 years.

I know I look a lot younger than that but I'm just simply good. This is the first time in my history here that I'm almost fearful of the next message that I'm called to preach in this series. What I'm going to share with you next week is absolutely chilling. The great white throne judgment at which all unbelievers are conscripted to attend and they are thrown into the lake of fire forever and ever.

I want to warn you pray for me next week especially because it is a chilling message. So blessed are those he says who participate in the first resurrection. The first resurrection are the resurrections that we talked about of all believers. The second resurrection is the resurrection of the unbelievers and he says blessed are those who participate in the first resurrection because over them the second death has no power. The second death is the lake of fire. Now we get to the end of the tribulation.

What happens at the end? Unbelievably there is a rebellion. Verse 7 and when the thousand years are ended Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are in the four corners of the earth Gog and Magog. Don't confuse that with the Gog and Magog that is found in the book of Ezekiel that we preached about totally different circumstances. Gog and Magog sometimes used generally as nations that are rebellious against God and you have a rebellion.

Now how could that happen? Well remember the people who go into the millennial kingdom they have children and those children grow up and some of them trust the king under whose authority they are and others don't. They still rebel against God and so there is a brief rebellion. This is the last war of all of history on planet earth. After this comes eternity and there is no other battle.

None. And then the Bible says that fire comes down from heaven. God takes care of it very quickly and then it says Satan is thrown into a lake of fire. I wonder who throws Satan into the lake of fire? An angel? Maybe. I have a friend by the name of Stephen Davey who's a great preacher of the word and he suspects, though he can't prove this is speculation, he suspects that it might be Adam and maybe his wife Eve who get to throw Satan into the lake of fire.

I mean wouldn't that be great? I mean throughout all these centuries you know Adam has been pinned with it. I mean it's his sin and the sin of his wife that got us into all this trouble anyway. You know it's Adam that sinned, Adam that sinned because they were deceived by Satan. Wouldn't that be something if Adam had the privilege of throwing the serpent who deceived him into the lake of fire and brimstone forever and ever and ever.

We'll have to wait to see if it's true but maybe it is. How does this all end? Well you're going to have to take it by faith but in 1 Corinthians 15 we have the ending of this era. After the thousand years it says in chapter 15 verse 24, you can look it up later, 1 Corinthians 15, it says then comes the end when the son delivers the kingdom to the father that God may be all and in all.

It only makes sense. In eternity past God the father said to God the son I'm going to give you a people to redeem. Sometimes we refer to them as the elect.

Jesus always referred to those as those whom thou has given me. So Jesus comes and redeems these people. He dies for them. He wins victories over Satan and shows the superiority of Jesus and shows the tremendous victory that Jesus Christ wrought and when it's all done he who came to do the will of the father now submits the kingdom to the father the Bible says.

What is the father going to do? Well the answer to that is found in other passages that say very clearly that the father then obviously gives the kingdom back to the son because Jesus is going to rule forever and ever and ever and we will rule with him forever and ever which is the yeah you can clap if you want. Things are going to get much better, much better and ruling with him forever and ever actually and all that and eternity and the new Jerusalem is really the subject for the last message in this series.

So what I want to do is to bring this down now very quickly to where we live. Why should what we have learned today change us? Why should we be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit? First of all a word to those of you who are believers in Jesus.

I'm talking especially to those of you who perhaps are slothful Christians. You come to church as long as it doesn't cost you anything to be here when it's convenient you're here. When it's convenient you are willing to do something but you don't want to put yourself out for Jesus.

You are not loyal in terms of your attendance and commitment. You don't give anything except of course if you happen to have something you don't witness for Christ you'd never volunteer for something because that would take some energy and you kind of sloth and you say well I'm a believer so I'm going to make it. My friend that means that your position in the kingdom will be less. Jesus talked about the fact that there were those who were faithful and they could rule over 10 cities and others who are unfaithful got five or three and Jesus said to him who overcomes shall I grant to sit with me on my throne even as I overcame and sat on my father's throne. Don't take it for granted that just because heaven is going to be wonderful you will have the same responsibilities as someone else who was faithful. That's why the way in which you live in this life matters for all of eternity. I ask you I plead with you today repent of your lackadaisical, uninvolved, distantly related relationship with Jesus if that applies to you and every one of us should ask is it I Lord? That's for those of you who are believers, unbelievers.

Please hear me. You know why God went through all this? I mean there are many reasons for the millennial kingdom but one of the things that God wanted to show are two things. First of all a thousand years of incarceration did not change Satan's heart. He came out of the abyss just as evil with just as much intent to fight against God as he had before he went in. He's probably even more angry because evil doesn't change simply because you have an honest perfect worldwide ruler and Satan in his evil nature will be evil forever and ever and ever and that's one reason among a couple of others why hell is just.

That's Satan. Human beings under the authority of Jesus living in the millennial kingdom of course if you think of a thousand years and you have longevity the earth's population at this point is huge. Their children grow up and they say who is Jesus to rule over us?

Yeah we took that field trip to Jerusalem. We saw that he is reigning there and we see what he is doing but why should he be the one to choose what mansion we get to live in? We don't want him to reign over us. We'd rather be free in hell than servants in the millennium and so they actually are going to rebel. Satan's going to be left out of his out of his abyss and he's going to find a lot of people who are willing to get on his bandwagon and take on Jesus one last time in all of its stupidity and futility. Imagine taking on Jesus. Satan should know better I mean for heaven's sake an angel threw him into the abyss. If an angel can throw him into the abyss think of what Jesus can do by the breath of his mouth and it's all over. If you've never trusted Christ as Savior now I'm talking to you and I hope the Holy Spirit is talking to you too.

Would you believe on him? Would you see the difference between you and the devil is this the devil can't repent and even if he did he couldn't be redeemed because Jesus never died for him but for you as a human being you if God has talked to you you repent and receive Christ. Jesus said unless you are born again you'll not enter the kingdom of God. You'll not see the kingdom of God.

I don't know what else to say to you. The problem is that the children during the millennial kingdom are going to be gospel hardened. They've heard it all. They've seen it all and the more they reject the harder and the more indifferent they become.

Don't let that be true of you. Today if you hear his voice harden not your heart. I'm going to pray right now and if God has talked to you you talk to him right where you are. Maybe you're listening on the internet.

Maybe by radio. Wherever you are you talk to God now. Let's bow in prayer. Father we marvel at two things. Two things grip our imaginations and our minds. One is the evil of the human heart and the other is the wonder of your grace and we never get over both and we thank you that we can understand your grace better because we understand ourselves better.

We really do have a rebellious streak in us. Would you Father take that away? Would you overcome that in the lives of all who are listening who've never trusted Christ as Savior? Overcome that and now I'm talking to you. That is to say the people who are before me and listening in other ways. Why don't you tell God right now that you're repenting of your sin. That you're believing on Jesus who paid for all who would believe on him to be saved. If you desire to come follow that desire and believe on him. Help us now Lord we ask in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. And how wonderful it would be if you've never trusted Christ as Savior to do that right now. No matter where you are, no matter where you are listening, God is there willing to receive you through Jesus Christ. I want to emphasize the fact that when it comes to prophecy we may be wrong about some of the details. Some of it is very difficult to understand but the basic facts that Jesus is going to return to this earth those are undisputable all throughout the scriptures.

May we be ready. I'm holding in my hands a letter from someone who said that the ministry of running to win has touched them very deeply. In fact it goes on to say the deep truths are helping people to understand the Bible and prepare us for eternity which is exactly what this series of messages is intended to do. The author goes on when I've been discouraged or ashamed of my past I find in running to win hope for the future.

That's what it's all about isn't it? Would you consider becoming an endurance partner? Many of you have been blessed as a result of this ministry you already contribute you pray for us. Many of you have never connected with us. Well here's how you can connect with us. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com. When you're there you can click on the endurance partner button to find info or you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. Let me give you that contact info one more time.

Go to rtwoffer.com, click on the endurance partner button or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Thank you in advance for your generosity, for your prayers, our desires to get the gospel around the world. It's time now for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Understanding a single Bible verse can be difficult if you don't factor in the context in which it occurs. This may be the case for Stephen who asks, I read in Micah 4-5, for all the people will walk, each in the name of his God, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. Pastor Lutzer, if anything, the Old Testament is more adamant than the New about how God will not tolerate any idols or false gods and how he will not share his glory with another. How should this passage be interpreted?

Well, I simply want to say that it is not that difficult to interpret if you look at that little word, but. For all people will walk, each in the name of his God, but we will walk in the name of the Lord. So what the prophet is really saying is this, no matter what gods the Babylonians may walk with, no matter what gods the Assyrians may walk with, we will walk with the Lord our God. So if you look at it from that standpoint, God is certainly not approving these other gods. The prophet is simply saying, no matter what others do, this is what we are going to do.

So looked at in that context, I think the verse makes perfect sense. Thank you, Stephen, and thank you, Dr. Lutzer. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer or call us at 1-888-218-9337. That's 1-888-218-9337.

You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614. The idea of final judgment offends many people. They can't conceive of a God who would send anyone to a fiery hell. Next time on Running to Win, what the Bible teaches about the final destiny of all who never believed in Jesus. Thanks for listening to our series on the return of Christ. For Dr. Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.