Tucson Mountain Baptist Church

“And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be set free for a short time. I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.” Rev. 20:1-6

The three main views of this thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ.

The pre-millennial view. Is that Jesus comes again and sets up an earthly kingdom for a thousand years with him reigning on this earth.

The postmillennial view. Is that the world is going to get better and better and then Jesus will come again.

The a-millennial view. Is that these are spiritual ideas of what happened between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ. What’s happening now!

“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out – those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned” John 5:28-29

The first resurrection is when believers will rise. Death is not the great leveler of humankind. It’s the great Divider of humankind.

“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.” 1 Thess. 4:13-18

We want to hold on to the fact that we are going to be resurrected in bodily form. are going to reign with Christ in some way at some time in our future. don’t need to recognize all the other detail for living on this earth.

Why is there a millennium?

Remember the fourth millennial view the Pan-millennial is:

It will all pan out in the end!

Two specific reasons that the millennium is going to happen.

1. So that God can Fulfill all His Promises to His people. One of the promises that He’s going to fulfill is a prayer that we all have prayed “Father, I pray that Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

2. So that God can Show the Terrible Nature of Sin.

At the end of that 1000 years Satan is set free for a little while and yet there are many people on this earth who still follow him. We really need Christ to save us and set us free from our own evil desires.

Nature versus nurture is a long-standing debate in biology and society about the balance between two competing factors which determine our fate: It’s genetics (nature) as opposed to environment (nurture).

It’s actually settled in the millennial reign of Christ. It’s our Nature. It’s not just our environment. It’s our heart and we need a New Heart.

The enemies of Israel, Gog and Magog are described in Ezekiel 38 and 39.

What are you going to do about sin in your life?

Now we see Satan’s Demise . “When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth – Gog and Magog – to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” 7-10

The Great White Throne of Judgment .

“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from His presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” 11-15.

Aren’t we supposed to be judged according to our faith? Aren’t we supposed to be judged according to whether we’ve asked Christ into our lives or not?

You, as a believer in Christ, you’re not going to be there for that judgment. Because You’re not dead. God has made you Alive in Christ.

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” John 5:24

As Believers we have passed from death into life.

The wedding is our proof of His Acceptance. You need to simply realize that Jesus accepts and loves you!

A Savior and Lord is our proof of His Victory. Jesus is going to be victorious in the end!

A Thousand-year reign is our proof of His Authority. No matter what happens in this world, God is always in control!

The Great White Throne of Judgement is our proof of His Justice. There will be a day, at that Great White Throne where everything will be made right and God will have the last word!