A Serpent Again Loosed in Paradise
(Pastor Terry Reese; Valley GBC of Armagh, PA; 10/17/21)
TEXT:
Rev. 20:1-3, 7-10.
I. Why care about a
war (Rev. 20:7-10) that will be fought at least 1,007 years from now?
A.
This has much to say about human nature, about
the human condition, the limits to human achievement, and the utopian “isms” of today…
B.
This also marks the end of one world and the beginning
of another…
C.
The Eternal State is our goal—how we get there should
interest us!
D.
The Millennium is the vestibule to Eternity, or the First
Fruits of the Eternal State.
II.
Consider life in the Millennium…
A.
Two basic companies will inhabit it: 1) the Glorified saints who were raptured prior to Trib, and 2) those saved during the Trib, who enter the Millennium in
corruptible mortal flesh, and their children born during the Millennium…
B.
Perfect government, no religious deception, perfect
education, perfect climate, perfect health… Incredible longevity
(Isa. 65:20), prosperity, productivity… Everything Man has long claimed that he wants!
C.
A perfect relationship between men and animals!
D.
The Devil bound for 1,000 years… No Flip Wilson-like “‘Da
Devil made me do it!”
Rev 20:2-3 ESV And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
No access to humanity whatsoever! Locked in the Abyss!
2Pet. 2:4: For if God did not spare angels when they
sinned, but threw them into the lowest hell and imprisoned them in chains of
deepest darkness, holding them for judgment…
Jude 6: You also know that the angels who did not keep
within their proper domain but abandoned their own place of residence, he has
kept in eternal chains in utter darkness, locked up for the judgment of the
great Day.
III.
But one thing will not be perfect—the remaining sin nature within the
citizenry!
A.
Man doesn’t need Satan to sin. Man also does not need to be
taught how to sin.
B.
The sin nature inherited from Adam is universal…
Rom 3:9-12 ESV What then? Are we Jews any
better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and
Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no
one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have
become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
Rom 3:23 ESV for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God…
C.
Even regenerate, Born Again believers are appointed to struggle with the Old
Nature, until such time as it pleases God to summon us into His Presence and Glorify us…
Rom 7:22-24 ESV For I delight in the law of
God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against
the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my
members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Rom 7:15 ESV For I do not understand my
own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
1Cor 10:12 ESV Therefore let anyone who
thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
1 Pet. 5:8: Be of sober spirit, be on the
alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking
someone to devour.
1 John 1:8:If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
D.
There WILL be transgressions during the Millennium, as
evidenced by the below:
1. Premature death…
Isa. 65:20: "No longer will there be in
it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his
days; for the youth will die at the age of one hundred and the one who does not
reach the age of one hundred will be thought accursed.”
2. Judgment upon various millennial nations…
Zech. 14:16-19: Then it will
come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem
will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to
celebrate the Feast of Booths. And it will be that whichever of the families of
the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts,
there will be no rain on them. If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter,
then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the LORD smites
the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. This will be the
punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to
celebrate the Feast of Booths.
E.
This is the exercise of the Rod of Iron! Transgressions will be dealt with
swiftly, justly, efficiently!
Ps. 2:9: 'Ask of Me, and I will surely
give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your
possession. 'You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them
like earthenware.'"
Rev. 2:26-27: “The one who conquers and who
keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations,
and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in
pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.”
Rev. 12:5: And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who
is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to
God and to His throne.
Rev. 19:15: From His mouth comes a sharp
sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them
with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God,
the Almighty.
IV.
Yet, millions will conform to the Lord Jesus' statutes outwardly—but inwardly, they will hate Him!
Rev. 20:7-9a: 7When the thousand
years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison,
8and will come out to deceive the
nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather
them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.
9And they came up on the broad plain
of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city…
A.
Shocking! Millions--or perhaps Billions--of unregenerate rebels! They are "like sands of the seashore!"
B.
Good laws, wonderful environment, wealth, etc., cannot
guarantee good character--or a love for God.
C.
Even the direct Presence of Christ will not change hearts! (John
11:53; Luke 16:31, Matt. 12:24).
D.
Children raised in the church sometimes end-up apostates
(despite the general truism of Prov. 22:6), when no longer under mom and dad’s
authority.
E.
We do our best as parents—but salvation is of the LORD.
Only GOD can affect the New Birth and replace a heart of stone with a heart of
flesh! Efficacious grace!
John 6:44: "No one can come to Me unless the Father who
sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”
F.
Total Depravity as a doctrine is thus vindicated!
Jer. 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all
things, and it is incurable; who can know it?”
1Cor 2:14: But a natural man does not
receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and
he is not able to know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Eph. 2:1-3: And you were dead in your
trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of
this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that
is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly
lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the
mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
G.
The children of the Millennium will not ride to Heaven on
their regenerate parent’s coattails!
John 1:12-13 LITV But as many as received Him,
to them He gave authority to become children of God, to the ones believing into
His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but were born of God.
Matt 3:9 LITV And do not think to say
within yourselves, We have a father, Abraham. For I say to you that God is able
to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
V.
Human perfectibility by natural means is ERROR!
A.
Proper education, housing, environment, scientific achievements,
psychotherapies, political & social structures, etc., won’t bring us a
perfect, or God-loving, person!
B.
Reform by natural means: Social reform, good laws,
rehabilitation programs—i.e., doing good things—is good, and may even be
helpful in altering outward behaviors… but these things won’t give us a new
heart, and they certainly won’t eradicate the sin nature!
C. What are the ISMS of our time all about? Answer: attempting to achieve Utopia by natural,
humanistic means.
All such schemes have failed in the past—but we
do not learn from history!
John 12:8: For the poor you always have with
you…
THE LIE: The Myth of Progress & evolutionary human development (first touted by the Serpent in Gen. 3:5)! Progressive
human development! Realizing our innate human potential!
2Thess. 2:11-12: For this reason God sends them a
powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be
condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
D.
The shocking nature of Millennial Rebellion is the FINAL
PROOF that Man is incapable of removing the curse of sin through his own
natural means!
VI.
The details of the Final Rebellion—the Long War against God.
A.
The Return of Satan.
1. A thousand years in the Abyss has not changed
him (vv. 7-8)! Incorrigible!
2. A deceiver of the nations (v. 3, 8)—the unique, unseen creator of fellowships of evil…
a. Still controlling world governments
(note territorial-demonic control of various nations in Dan. 10:13, 20-21)…
b. Still craving sovereignty… As Calvin Miller observes, never does a Serpent crawl so low that he does not dream of wearing a crown (A Requiem for Love).
Isa. 14:14: I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
Matt. 4:9: And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if
you will fall down and worship me.”
c. Still employing DECEPTION as his principal
weapon! The battle is fought in the arena of our MINDS!
John 8:44 ESV You are of your father the
devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.
When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the
father of lies.
3. A Serpent is once again loosed in Eden—but one who ultimately serves God’s higher sovereign purposes.
B.
The Army of Rebellion.
1. The sheer numbers of rebels—again, shocking!
2. Their very existence refutes a post-Tribulation Rapture. Where do unbelievers come from, if not from parents saved during the Tribulation who survive the Sheep & the Goat Judgment (Matt. 25) and then enter the Kingdom in a state of mortality--and who are thus are able to procreate unregenerates?
3. Their identification with Gog & Magog:
NOT the Gog/Magog of Ezek. 38-39.
These terms will become ensigns of evil, much
like the term “Babylon.”
4. Culminates in final siege against
Jerusalem and the saints (v. 9)…
“And they came up on the broad plain
of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city…”
a. Jerusalem is the Beloved City (Ps. 87:2)…
Ps. 87:2 KJV: The LORD loveth the gates of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
b. They hate the King and the People with which He
identifies…
John 15:18-20 ESV “If the world hates you,
know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I
chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word
that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they
persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will
also keep yours.
c. Their mission: one of madness! Man seeks
“perfection”—yet rebels against the
PERFECT Government! Man claims to desire a perfect government, a perfect economic system, a perfect justice system, a perfect educational system, etc., but when God actually gives him these things, REJECTS them!
Even today, men are offered a perfect Savior, a perfect Salvation, and a perfect roadmap for the life (i.e., the perfect Word)--and still they say "NO!"
What does Man really want? Answer: his SIN!
5. Their destruction is swift, sudden, terrible,
and complete.
v. 9: “…and fire came down from heaven and devoured
them.”
They are destroyed
directly by God’s hand, like Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24), or like Gog & Magog of old--1,000 years earlier--on the mountains of
Israel (Ezek. 38-39).
C.
The Aftermath.
1. Satan’s final fall and sealed destiny (v. 10).
2. The parallel passage of 2 Peter 3: the atomic disintegration of the
Universe!
v. 7:
But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept
for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
v. 10:
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass
away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the
earth and its works will be burned up.
3. The Great White Throne Judgment (Rev.
20:11-15).
4. The birth of a New World (Rev. 21-22).
VII.
Conclusion: God is our only Savior!
Politically, socially, materially, spiritually… in every way...
Man cannot, by whatever natural means, vanquish sin; apart from the direct supernatural activity of God, there
is no hope for the eradication of sin!
Man fails his final Dispensational Test!
From this we see that the "Millennial Dispensation," like all
the six Dispensations before it, will end in failure. God will have
tested man in "Innocence," under "Conscience," under
"Self-Government," under the "Headship of the Family,"
under "Law," under "Grace," and finally under the influence
of the "Holy Spirit," free from Satanic influences, and under them
all he will prove himself to be hopelessly, incurably and incorrigibly bad.—Larkin
