The Millennium - Armageddon Part 3

Good evening, everybody. If you brought a Bible tonight, I'd love for you to take that Bible and open to the last book in the Bible, the book of Revelation, chapter 20. We're going to be coming there in just a few moments. Well, the Lord's back now.

What happens next? The Bible says now He sets up His kingdom on earth, referred to as the Millennial Kingdom. You say, yeah, yeah, Lon, wait a minute. Why don't we call it the Millennial Kingdom again? I'm never sure I understood that. Well, we call it that because of what Revelation 20 says.

I ask you to turn there. Look at verse 2. It says, And the Lord laid hold of the devil and bound him for a thousand years. And those who had been martyred during the tribulation period came alive and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The word millennial comes from a Latin word meaning a thousand. And the reason we call this the Millennial Kingdom is because it's a kingdom on earth that Jesus rules and reigns over that lasts a thousand years. Now, the Millennial Kingdom is going to be very different from the world you and I know today.

You say, Lon, how so? Well, I want to give you ten differences about the Millennial Kingdom. Ten characteristics, okay? And we'll do it quickly. Number one, the Millennial Kingdom will be a literal earthly kingdom that is inhabited by mortal men and women. And all these mortal men and women are believers who came out of the tribulation period, who survived the tribulation period. Remember we said last week that when the Antichrist first takes over, the rapture first happens. There are going to be tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people who don't go into rapture that turn around and go, uh-oh, Susie was right.

Oh, my goodness, Jesus really is who He said He is. And they're going to give their lives to Christ. And so there are going to be a lot of believers at the beginning of the tribulation period living right here on earth. People that many of whom you're going to share Christ with in the next weeks and months and years, they're not going to give their life to Christ now. They're going to give their life to Jesus after we're gone.

And they're going to be here. Some of them are going to survive. And Zechariah 14 says that the people who go into the tribulation period will be people who survive the tribulation. They go into the millennial kingdom and it's important for us to remember every single one of these mortals who goes in is a believer. The millennial kingdom starts with the entire world being believers in Jesus Christ.

Everybody else has been destroyed. Number two, characteristic number two is that it will be a perfect human society. Revelation 20 tells us, a perfect human society. Number three tells us that the Lord Jesus will rule over this kingdom personally and directly. He will be Himself the King who will run this kingdom here on earth. Number four, the Bible tells us that the capital city of this kingdom will be Jerusalem itself. Zechariah chapter 14 verse 16 says this, it says, And all people will come to Jerusalem every year to worship the King. And where's the King? He's there because He's ruling from Jerusalem. Not Washington, not Moscow, not Beijing, Jerusalem.

Revelation 19 tells us about the fifth characteristic. It says in Revelation 19 that the King will rule over his kingdom with a rod of iron, which means that justice in this kingdom will be swift. There won't be any crime. There won't be any lawlessness. You can leave your doors open at night.

You can leave your windows up at night. You don't need locks on anything in this kingdom because justice is going to be swift and there's not going to be any crime in this kingdom. Characteristic number six tells us that Satan will be locked up for the entire millennial kingdom so that he can't go around.

He can't tempt people. Will people still have sin natures? Yeah, they'll be believers. They'll be mortal. They'll still have sin natures.

But you know what? Without the enemy around to get everybody all worked up, the temptations to sin in that world are going to be very few because you're not going to have Satan free to tempt anybody. Characteristic number seven tells us that during this kingdom there will be universal peace. Isaiah Chapter two, verse four.

And they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Now, many of you may know that this verse is written on the United Nations building in New York. However, there ain't a chance in the world this verse is coming true until the Lord Jesus comes back and sets up his kingdom. The United Nations is not ever going to be able to achieve this. This is only something the Lord himself is going to be able to achieve in the millennial kingdom. Number eight, almost done. Characteristic number eight is that in the millennial kingdom, the curse that God laid on the earth in Genesis Chapter three, after Adam and Eve had disobeyed God, that curse is lifted and all of creation is going to operate under a different set of rules. You say, oh, yeah, like what? Well, life spans, for example, will be extended.

Isaiah 65, 20. He who dies at the age of 100 will be thought to be a mere youth. Can you imagine that? Somebody dies at 220 years old and people go, oh, I can't believe he died that young, poor thing. Golly, they died in the prime of his life. Unbelievable.

220. Yeah, well, people will live a lot longer. Here's another difference. Carnivorous animals are they're going to all be changed. Isaiah 11, seven, the cow will feed with the bear. The lion will eat straw like the ox and the wolf will lie down with the lamb. That would be different, huh? And you know what? And I thank God for this. Even snakes are going to be different. Don't you think they're not going to be great?

Listen, look at this. Isaiah 11, eight, the infant will play near the hole of the cobra and the young child will put his hand on the in the viper's nest. You're going to have little kids pulling cobras out by the tail and just petting them. And the cobra is just going to purr and everything's going to be copacetic.

That would be nice, wouldn't it? You know that guy, Steve, the crocodile hunter on television, man. That boy, they're going to cancel his show because they're going to be nothing special anymore. You can grab black mambas and twist cobras around and throw snakes all over the place and they're just going to love it. It's going to be a different world then.

All right. So Steve better make all the money he's planning to make now. Hey, difference number nine is that the whole earth, the Bible says, is going to be filled with the knowledge of God. Just as the water covers the sea. See, in the Millennial Kingdom, everybody in public school is going to study the Bible. In the Millennial Kingdom, everybody in public school is going to pray. In the Millennial Kingdom, religious tolerance won't exist because they're not going to be any other religions to tolerate. It says in Zechariah 14, verse nine, in that day, the Lord will be king over all the earth.

Watch this. And in that day, there will be only one Lord and his name will be the only name. You're not going to tolerate anything because all we're going to have is the knowledge of God permeating the globe.

That'll be cool. And last of all, number 10 in the Millennial Kingdom. It's in this time that God is going to fulfill to the people of Israel every promise he made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David. All those promises you read about in the Bible. He's going to fulfill them all in the Millennial Kingdom. God keeps his promises.

For example, you say what? Well, God promised Israel that they would be the center of a literal worldwide kingdom. In the Millennial Kingdom, they are. God promised the Israelites that their Messiah would rule the entire world from the throne of David and from Jerusalem.

Guess what? In the Millennial Kingdom, he's going to. God promised Genesis 15 that the borders of Israel would stretch from on the east, the Euphrates River, to on the west, the Nile. Hey, in the Millennial Kingdom, that's what their borders are going to be. God promised the people of Israel that Jerusalem would be the spiritual center of the world and that the Jewish people would be the spiritual leaders of the world. And in the Millennial Kingdom, that's exactly the way it's going to be.

God is going to fulfill every promise he made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David. But it's not going to be now. It's going to be in the Millennial Kingdom. You say, well, Lon, this is awesome.

This is awesome. This sounds like a great place. Here's my question. I'm a follower of Jesus today. Where am I going to be?

Well, that's a good question. Where are you going to be if you're a follower of Jesus today? Well, the Bible teaches that at the beginning of the tribulation period when the Antichrist first comes to power, we're going to be snatched out of here for followers of Christ. We're going to be raptured out of here. And part of the rapture is that we get new bodies. We get glorified bodies like the Lord Jesus' body after he was resurrected. You know, he could appear at will, disappear at will, go through walls, float around just going through rooms.

You know, he didn't need doors and that kind of cool stuff. So you're going to have a body like that. You're not going to be, nor am I, mortal anymore. We're going to have glorified bodies.

Now, remember what we said. The Millennial Kingdom is made up of mortal people who came out of the tribulation period. You and I aren't going through the tribulation period and we're not going to be mortal anymore. We're not going to be living in the Millennial Kingdom.

You say, well, what in the world are we going to be doing? Well, Revelation chapter 20, look at verse 4. It says, I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority during the Millennial Kingdom to judge. Folks, that's us.

You say, how do you know that? Well, Matthew chapter 19, verse 28. Jesus said, truly I say to you, you who have followed me, that's us, in the renewal of all things in the Millennial Kingdom, when the Son of Man shall sit on his glorious throne in Jerusalem, where are we going to be?

Look what he says. You shall sit upon thrones also. Where will we be during the Millennial Kingdom? Friends, we're going to be sitting on thrones helping the Lord rule the whole earth during the Millennial Kingdom.

And God apparently is going to divide the earth up and give each of us a little piece to rule. Some of us may get a farm to rule. Some of us may get a city to rule. Some of us may get a dot com company to rule.

You know, I personally, with my background, I think I may get a kosher pickle factory or something to rule. Who knows what you're going to get to rule? But I personally believe that part of the rewards in heaven that the Bible talks about may very well be related to what it is that you and I are granted rule over for the thousand year Millennial Kingdom.

It may very well be that that's part of the reward we get. Well, one quick thing and we'll stop talking about the Millennial Kingdom for a second. How does the Millennial Kingdom end? You say, well, it lasts a thousand years. Yeah, I know, but it ends. How does it end?

Well, let's look and see. Revelation chapter 20, verse 7. And when the thousand years are ended, okay, and I think what's happened now. The Millennial Kingdom started. There were all believers that went into it in Christ. They had children.

They had grandchildren and all these grandchildren and children grew up in this society ruled by the Lord Jesus Himself. When the thousand years are up, Satan will be released from his prison and he will go out to deceive the nations of the earth and to gather them for battle. You say battle? Battle against who? Well, battle against the Lord Jesus Himself.

That's who. You say how in the world can he possibly deceive people who've been living for a thousand years in this perfect world that the Lord's running? How many people could he possibly recruit?

Watch. Verse 8. And the number of them is like the sand on the seashore and they march against the people of God.

These people that Satan recruits. And they surround the city that God loves, Jerusalem. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them all. Verse 10, and the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire where the beast, the antichrist, is and they, the beast and the devil himself, will be tormented there day and night forever and ever. And then at this point, Revelation 21 says that God creates a new heaven and a new earth. This heaven and this earth He wipes out completely. The Bible doesn't tell us a lot about that.

You can read about it in Revelation 21 and 22. But here's the point I want to make in closing. I want us to take a moment and think about what we just read about happening.

Okay? For a thousand years, Jesus runs a perfect society here on earth. People grow up in this society. Let's review what kind of society and how perfect it is. First of all, this society has a perfect political system.

The Lord Jesus Himself is the King over this. It's a perfect political system. Second of all, it's a system of perfect jurisprudence. Jesus runs the courts.

He runs them with a rod of iron. There's swift justice, instant justice, and justice is never wrong in that society. Third, there's perfect social justice.

People treat people right in this world. Fourth, there's perfect racial harmony and equality in the millennial kingdom. Fifth, there's a perfect economy. Sixth, there's a perfect spiritual climate.

The knowledge of God is all over the globe. Seventh, there's a perfect environment. The world is treated right in those days. Eighth, there's perfect harmony in nature. I mean, even the snakes are nice in this world. Number nine, in this world, we have perfect peer pressure.

There's nobody tempting anybody to do anything wrong in this world. Number 10, we have a perfect relationship with our parents in this world. Number 11, we have perfect harmony among people and nations. There's universal peace. And best of all, Satan himself is locked up for a thousand years. Now this is the world these people grow up in, that they live in. And still, at the end of a thousand years, Satan is able to recruit a massive army of people to rebel against the Lord, to oppose the Lord, to make war against the Lord right from inside this millennial kingdom. Now does that hit you as strange?

Does that hit you as amazing? And folks, I believe that the millennial kingdom is God's ultimate proof to you, to me, and to the entire human race. God's ultimate proof that the real problem in our world has never been and it isn't now the environment. It has never been and it isn't now the economy. It hasn't been and it isn't now the political systems or economic systems of our world.

It isn't and it never has been the real problem in our world, racial inequality or socioeconomic inequity. The real problem in our world was not the way our parents raised us. Because in the millennial kingdom, all of this stuff is perfect and people still rebel against God. I think the millennial kingdom is God's ultimate proof that the real problem always has been and is right inside of here. It's in the heart of man. See, even though everybody was living in a perfect world, a perfect world wasn't strong enough to change what lives inside the heart of man. And what lives inside the heart of us, friends, is what the Bible calls a sinful human nature that even a perfect society couldn't eradicate.

That's why Satan can still raise an army at the end of the millennial kingdom. Because we still have a sin nature that wants to rebel and wants to go our own way. Even a perfect world can't erase it. Now, you know, that sinful human nature lives inside of you and me. And our problem is we don't live in a perfect world. Satan's not in prison in our world.

He's alive and well on planet earth in this world, which means there's an awful lot of temptation in our world. To do things and to make choices that are self-destructive and hurtful to ourselves and to other people. And you know, that sinful nature inside of us propels us in the wrong direction. And the worst part of all is it's stronger than we are. It forces us many times to make choices that are horrible choices in our life.

And it's more powerful than we are. There's not a human being alive who can control his own passions, her own passions perfectly. And that's how we all get ourselves into trouble. That's why Jesus wants you to come into a personal relationship with Him. That's why Jesus offers to come and live inside of each one of us who come into personal relationship with Him.

You know why? Because the only way that we will ever be able to control and hold down our sinful human nature so it doesn't rise up and drive us into making self-destructive and awful choices, the only way that's ever going to happen, the Bible tells us, Galatians 5. Listen, it says, live by means of the Holy Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of your sinful human nature. And how do we get the Holy Spirit living inside of us so that we can live by the power of the Holy Spirit? Friends, the Spirit of God living inside of us comes as part of the deal when you and I embrace Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. Now I'd like to close tonight by kind of making really an invitation to you. It's an invitation that says, hey, if you're here and you're tired of watching your sinful nature drive you to make choices that hurt you, that hurt other people, if you're tired of losing that battle over and over and over again, then I've got some great news for you. You can take a step tonight that will free you to take control of your life and be able to live your life for God the way you want to, perfectly, maybe not perfectly, but consistently.

Friends, I took this step 31 years ago when I was 21 years old, student at the University of North Carolina. I was tired of losing to my sinful human nature. I was tired of saying to myself, I'm turning over a new leaf. I'm going straight. I'm quitting dough.

I'm not drinking anymore. I'm not doing this. I'm going to get up and go to class. I'm going to make something of myself. I'm going to get disciplined. I'm going to clean my room. I'm going to hang my clothes up. I'm going to do all these things. And you know what? I didn't do any of them. And I got tired of losing.

And finally I said, you know what? I need help. I don't, I can't beat my own sinful human nature. I need help.

And I need help from somebody outside of me. What a wonderful thing it was when I gave my life to Jesus and suddenly discovered that the Spirit of God living inside of me now could give me the power to overcome my own sinful human nature. So I didn't have to make the choices that destroyed me and everybody around me for the first 21 years of my life. If you're tired of losing to your sinful human nature, hey, the news is good. And that is when you give your life to Jesus, you get the Spirit of God who can help you win that battle each and every day. If that's what you need, like I did 31 years ago, we're going to give you a chance right now to make that deal. Let's bow our heads together. If you're here and you'd like to ask Jesus Christ to come into your life, not only to give you eternal life but also to give you the power of the Spirit of God to overcome your sinful human nature, then we're going to pray a little short prayer with our heads bowed and our eyes closed. I'm just going to ask you silently right where you sit to repeat after me one phrase at a time. And let's get the deal done. If you're prepared to do this, you just pray silently right after me.

Here we go. Lord Jesus, I come to You today because I need help. I'm fighting this battle against the passions that live inside of me and I'm losing. I'm making bad choices.

I'm hurting myself and lots of people around me that I care about. Lord, I need a U-turn in my life. And so I come to You tonight and I ask You to come into my life to become my personal Savior, to forgive my sin, to give me eternal life, to put the Spirit of God inside of me, indwelling me so that I have the power to subdue and overcome the self-destructive passions that I can't beat on my own. Lord, come into my life tonight and give me a fresh beginning.

Make me a new creature in Jesus Christ. Thanks for answering my prayer in Jesus' name. And Father, I want to pray for the folks who prayed that prayer, that You would confirm in their heart tonight that there's been a great transaction that took place here tonight if they were serious, that they passed from death to life, that they've become one of Your children.

And that one of the wonderful benefits of their decision is the Spirit of God's power living in their life, giving them the ability not to be a prisoner of their human nature. And so, Lord, may this be the beginning of a whole new beginning for some people here tonight. And thanks for talking to us, Lord. Thanks for being real and honest with us tonight. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.