The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Twenty-Two - E Nov 08, 2020 by: John Herbert | Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T032_20201108.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Re 21:5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” Today we will progress from the Millennial Kingdom to the endless ages. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday November 8th 2020 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Lesson 22E This is the Day 1). Acts 3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. Because of the introduction of sin through Satan’s rebellion, the heavens connected with the earth became and remain contaminated – Job 15:15b…….And the heavens are not pure in His sight, And the earth itself when sin entered that realm, also became and remains ruined – Ge 3:17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. And this ruin, because of sin, will be dealt with in the times of restoration of all things – Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. Then beyond the Millennial Kingdom, as we move into the endless ages of eternity’, once the restoration of all things has been completed, we see this - Re 21:5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” The Millennial Kingdom then is the time for the restoration of all things, and the beginning of the endless ages will be the time when all things will be made new. And this is a distinction that is important to realize. Just as there will be extraordinary changes that will take place moving from Man’s Day to the Millennial Kingdom, so there will also be extraordinary changes that will take place moving from the Millennial Kingdom to the endless ages. a). We have seen in our previous weeks of study that the Millennial Kingdom will see a return to the Edenic conditions that existed upon the earth before the flood of Noah, giving rise not only to completely different atmospheric, meteorological and hydrological conditions, but also, the absence of physical death, certainly for the eternally saved, that will come as a result of these changes. b). However, let’s be careful not to think of a return to Edenic conditions bringing ‘paradise’ on earth. Far from it. Remember how the Kingdom is to be administered – Re 2:26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations— 27 ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels’—as I also have received from My Father; The rule with ‘a rod of iron’ will be necessary because of the inherent rebellious nature of the nations. It is of course true that Israel will be God’s witnesses to the nations throughout the 1000 years, fulfilling their calling seen in – Isa 43:10 “You are My witnesses,” says the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He………….. Consequently all unsaved Gentiles throughout the 1000 years will hear God’s message brought to them through the one nation with a God, and there will be untold numbers of Gentiles who will receive God’s message through Israel, who will become eternally saved and subject themselves to the Lord’s righteous justice and receiving His Spiritual blessings, as we can see from – Zec 8:20 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Peoples shall yet come, Inhabitants of many cities; 21 The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, “Let us continue to go and pray before the LORD, And seek the LORD of hosts. I myself will go also.” 22 Yes, many peoples and strong nations Shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, And to pray before the LORD.’ 23 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” ’ ” Although what we see in Zechariah Chapter 8 is enormously encouraging let’s also keep in mind that there will also be untold numbers of Gentiles who will reject God’s message and refuse to submit themselves to His righteous justice. And we can get a glimpse of this, also through Zechariah – Zec 14:16 And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 17 And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. 18 If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. As we look at these verses let’s be aware that they are not talking of literal rain, ‘they shall have no rain’, but rain in a figurative sense, picturing God’s Spiritual blessings that will be withheld from them, through their rejection of Israel’s ministry to them, thereby rejecting God Himself. c). In the same way, these verses are not dealing with a literal keeping of the rituals of ‘the Feast of Tabernacles’, but that which is figuratively taught through it. d). The Millennial Kingdom is to be the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles, a feast that had been specifically given to the nation of Israel. A feast that prophetically looked to the time when God would once again dwell in the midst of His people within a Theocracy. And so, the refusal of any ‘nation’ to keep this feast, is a refusal on their part to accept God’s Theocratic rule, witnessed through a refusal to go to Jerusalem to worship the King. e). We will keep in mind that those born to the unsaved Gentiles who enter the Kingdom Age will still be in the likeness of Adam, in possession of a sin nature. And with the longevity that will exist in the Kingdom Age there will be a rapid increase in the population during the 1000 years giving rise to an unspecified unsaved population. Remember that ¼ of the Gentile population will have been previously killed before the Kingdom begins, f). And it is into this overall context of an ever-increasing unsaved population and rebellion against God’s sovereign rule by many of the nations, that the release of Satan and his angels from the bottomless pit at the end of the 1000 years must be placed. g). There is no direct mention of the fallen angels being cast into the bottomless pit with Satan, but where Satan goes, there we would have to see his angels going also, as they are inextricably connected – Re 12:9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 2). Re 20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. At the end of the 75 days that follow the completion of Daniel’s 70th seven there will be a battle at the place called Armageddon where the armies of those who would attempt to destroy Israel and the Christ will themselves be destroyed. The destruction of these Gentile armies will usher in the Millennial Kingdom, the times of restoration of all things. a). And at the end of the Millennial Kingdom there will be another battle where Gentile armies will again be destroyed, which will usher in the endless ages, the time when all things will be made new. b). And as we see from Revelation 20:3, that which Satan and his angels will do following their release from the pit is exactly what they will have done before their incarceration – deceive the nations with a view to the destruction of Israel, in order to continue to rule. c). There are verses that can be applied to what will take place leading up to Armageddon, which can equally be applied to what will take place following Satan’s release – Ps 2:1 Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.”4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The LORD shall hold them in derision. 5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure: 6 “Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.” Repeated again in - Ps 83:1 Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace, And do not be still, O God! 2 For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; And those who hate You have lifted up their head. 3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, And consulted together against Your sheltered ones. 4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” 5 For they have consulted together with one consent; They form a confederacy against You: The deceiving of the nations at both times is the same and has as its content, “Israel can be destroyed; the Christ can be destroyed, and we can get back to the ‘good old days’ when the Gentile nations under Satan ruled in greed and selfish ambition. You can almost hear the cry, ‘let’s make the Gentile nations great again’.” d). This final attempt to eradicate Israel and her Messiah at the end of the Kingdom Age will no more succeed than the attempt to do so before the Kingdom Age began – Re 20:7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. 10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. As with that which will take place at Armageddon, that which will take place at the end of the Millennial Kingdom is not really a battle as such either. Rather there will be another vast army, ‘whose number is as the sand of the sea’ which will be ‘devoured’ by fire that ‘came down from God out of heaven.’ e). Following the destruction of this army, Satan and his angels will be ‘cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.’ Bringing a complete end to their rebellion and deception. f). The very thing that has been prophesied in Ezekiel in relation to ‘the king of Tyre’ – Eze 28:18b…… “Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you. 19 All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever.” ’ ” All of those from the Gentile nations on the earth at the end of the Millennial Kingdom who will have rejected God and His supreme authority, all who will remain unsaved, will be gathered together at this battle and destroyed; removing all who will be aligned with Satan through their unrighteousness, prior to the beginning of the endless ages. g). At this point God will have completed His dealings with the Gentile nations. 3). Re 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. From what we see in v11 it would appear that the present earth and the heavens associated with it will be destroyed prior to the great white throne judgment; a judgment that will be completed before the new heaven and new earth come into existence – 2 Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Mt 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. All the unsaved throughout the whole of human history from Adam onwards, including those killed in the final battle, will be resurrected to the great white throne. And that which will be judged there, is the only thing that can ever be judged, works. a). Those under judgment at the great white throne will be judged in relation to God’s regal purpose for Man’s creation with regards to the eternal ages. The reason for eternal salvation. And having rejected this salvation provided through the work of Another there is no work of their own that could come close to it, and therefore their ‘works’ will be shown to have been of no value. b). Although we see that which will take place at the great white throne as judgment, this is not a determination that is in any doubt. Those who will appear there will have already been judged through their rejection of the free gift of eternal life – Jn 3:18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Having rejected the free gift, they have rejected the regal purpose for Man’s creation with respect to the endless ages, which not only brings them into alignment with Satan and his angels and their rebellion, but also results in their sharing of the lake of fire that burns with brimstone that had been prepared for the devil and his angels as a consequence. c). Given the great white throne will take place after the destruction of the present heavens and earth and before the new heaven and earth come into existence, we can only conclude that this judgment will take place, ‘in space’. d). These individuals can no longer be found to have a place on the earth that has been tainted by sin, as it will have passed away, and they cannot have any connection with the new earth which is to come, in which righteousness will dwell. Hence, they are dealt with separated from both. e). And once the eternally lost from 7000 years of human history are dealt with so - 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. It is worth pausing for a moment to take full account of what we see in this statement. We will remember that death entered the human realm through sin – Ge 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” With the destruction of the present heavens and earth, the 2 realms of this province in God’s universal Kingdom that had been contaminated by sin will be gone. At the great white throne all those with a connection to the contaminated earth, through their own sin of rejecting the regal purpose for their creation, will be gone. f). Sin that had existed in this one province in God’s universal Kingdom will then have been totally eradicated, therefore death can no longer exist when sin is no more, and without death the place of the dead cannot exist either. And so, they are cast into the lake of fire. g). From this moment onwards the new heaven and new earth will be completely apart from sin and those who dwell on the new earth will also be completely apart from sin and God’s universe will exist completely apart from sin – for ever and ever – 1 Cor 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. 24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. When the final enemy, death, is destroyed Christ will deliver the Kingdom to God the Father and the new heaven and new earth in which righteousness will dwell, will be brought into existence. The very thing, according to 2 Peter, we are to look for, the very thing that Isaiah spoke about – Isa 65:17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. 4). Re 21:1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” 5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” The first verse of Revelation Chapter 21 repeats that which we saw at the end of Chapter 20 – ‘the first heaven and the first earth had passed away’, and as a consequence of this and the events of the great white throne, ‘there was no more sea’. a). And given the context, the reference to ‘sea’ here has nothing to do with the existence of oceans on the new earth. These may or may not be there, Scripture is silent about it. Rather this reference has to do with the symbolic way ‘sea’ is used in the Scripture, which can either be as a reference to the Gentile nations or as the place of death. But given the context, it is not the Gentile nations, but the place of death that is to be seen through the use of ‘sea’. b). As Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire at the end of Chapter 20, it makes perfect sense that at the beginning of Chapter 21, ‘there was no more sea.’ Death and the place of death are inextricably connected, so that the absence of one necessitates the absence of the other. c). Prior to this, within the Millennial Kingdom, the unfaithful, eternally saved, whether Jew, Christian or Gentile, will be separated from God’s regal purpose for the 7th Day because of their failure to exercise faithful obedience with respect to it. But, as the endless ages begin, that separation will no longer exist and those previously ‘cast out’ with respect to the Kingdom rule will be comforted and restored to the regal position for which they had been saved - 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” 5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” We will continue with this next time – If the Lord is willing. The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Twenty-Two - E Nov 08, 2020 Speaker: John Herbert Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T032_20201108.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Re 21:5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” Today we will progress from the Millennial Kingdom to the endless ages. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday November 8th 2020 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Lesson 22E This is the Day 1). Acts 3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. Because of the introduction of sin through Satan’s rebellion, the heavens connected with the earth became and remain contaminated – Job 15:15b…….And the heavens are not pure in His sight, And the earth itself when sin entered that realm, also became and remains ruined – Ge 3:17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. And this ruin, because of sin, will be dealt with in the times of restoration of all things – Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. Then beyond the Millennial Kingdom, as we move into the endless ages of eternity’, once the restoration of all things has been completed, we see this - Re 21:5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” The Millennial Kingdom then is the time for the restoration of all things, and the beginning of the endless ages will be the time when all things will be made new. And this is a distinction that is important to realize. Just as there will be extraordinary changes that will take place moving from Man’s Day to the Millennial Kingdom, so there will also be extraordinary changes that will take place moving from the Millennial Kingdom to the endless ages. a). We have seen in our previous weeks of study that the Millennial Kingdom will see a return to the Edenic conditions that existed upon the earth before the flood of Noah, giving rise not only to completely different atmospheric, meteorological and hydrological conditions, but also, the absence of physical death, certainly for the eternally saved, that will come as a result of these changes. b). However, let’s be careful not to think of a return to Edenic conditions bringing ‘paradise’ on earth. Far from it. Remember how the Kingdom is to be administered – Re 2:26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations— 27 ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels’—as I also have received from My Father; The rule with ‘a rod of iron’ will be necessary because of the inherent rebellious nature of the nations. It is of course true that Israel will be God’s witnesses to the nations throughout the 1000 years, fulfilling their calling seen in – Isa 43:10 “You are My witnesses,” says the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He………….. Consequently all unsaved Gentiles throughout the 1000 years will hear God’s message brought to them through the one nation with a God, and there will be untold numbers of Gentiles who will receive God’s message through Israel, who will become eternally saved and subject themselves to the Lord’s righteous justice and receiving His Spiritual blessings, as we can see from – Zec 8:20 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Peoples shall yet come, Inhabitants of many cities; 21 The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, “Let us continue to go and pray before the LORD, And seek the LORD of hosts. I myself will go also.” 22 Yes, many peoples and strong nations Shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, And to pray before the LORD.’ 23 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” ’ ” Although what we see in Zechariah Chapter 8 is enormously encouraging let’s also keep in mind that there will also be untold numbers of Gentiles who will reject God’s message and refuse to submit themselves to His righteous justice. And we can get a glimpse of this, also through Zechariah – Zec 14:16 And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 17 And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. 18 If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. As we look at these verses let’s be aware that they are not talking of literal rain, ‘they shall have no rain’, but rain in a figurative sense, picturing God’s Spiritual blessings that will be withheld from them, through their rejection of Israel’s ministry to them, thereby rejecting God Himself. c). In the same way, these verses are not dealing with a literal keeping of the rituals of ‘the Feast of Tabernacles’, but that which is figuratively taught through it. d). The Millennial Kingdom is to be the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles, a feast that had been specifically given to the nation of Israel. A feast that prophetically looked to the time when God would once again dwell in the midst of His people within a Theocracy. And so, the refusal of any ‘nation’ to keep this feast, is a refusal on their part to accept God’s Theocratic rule, witnessed through a refusal to go to Jerusalem to worship the King. e). We will keep in mind that those born to the unsaved Gentiles who enter the Kingdom Age will still be in the likeness of Adam, in possession of a sin nature. And with the longevity that will exist in the Kingdom Age there will be a rapid increase in the population during the 1000 years giving rise to an unspecified unsaved population. Remember that ¼ of the Gentile population will have been previously killed before the Kingdom begins, f). And it is into this overall context of an ever-increasing unsaved population and rebellion against God’s sovereign rule by many of the nations, that the release of Satan and his angels from the bottomless pit at the end of the 1000 years must be placed. g). There is no direct mention of the fallen angels being cast into the bottomless pit with Satan, but where Satan goes, there we would have to see his angels going also, as they are inextricably connected – Re 12:9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 2). Re 20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. At the end of the 75 days that follow the completion of Daniel’s 70th seven there will be a battle at the place called Armageddon where the armies of those who would attempt to destroy Israel and the Christ will themselves be destroyed. The destruction of these Gentile armies will usher in the Millennial Kingdom, the times of restoration of all things. a). And at the end of the Millennial Kingdom there will be another battle where Gentile armies will again be destroyed, which will usher in the endless ages, the time when all things will be made new. b). And as we see from Revelation 20:3, that which Satan and his angels will do following their release from the pit is exactly what they will have done before their incarceration – deceive the nations with a view to the destruction of Israel, in order to continue to rule. c). There are verses that can be applied to what will take place leading up to Armageddon, which can equally be applied to what will take place following Satan’s release – Ps 2:1 Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.”4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The LORD shall hold them in derision. 5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure: 6 “Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.” Repeated again in - Ps 83:1 Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace, And do not be still, O God! 2 For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; And those who hate You have lifted up their head. 3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, And consulted together against Your sheltered ones. 4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” 5 For they have consulted together with one consent; They form a confederacy against You: The deceiving of the nations at both times is the same and has as its content, “Israel can be destroyed; the Christ can be destroyed, and we can get back to the ‘good old days’ when the Gentile nations under Satan ruled in greed and selfish ambition. You can almost hear the cry, ‘let’s make the Gentile nations great again’.” d). This final attempt to eradicate Israel and her Messiah at the end of the Kingdom Age will no more succeed than the attempt to do so before the Kingdom Age began – Re 20:7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. 10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. As with that which will take place at Armageddon, that which will take place at the end of the Millennial Kingdom is not really a battle as such either. Rather there will be another vast army, ‘whose number is as the sand of the sea’ which will be ‘devoured’ by fire that ‘came down from God out of heaven.’ e). Following the destruction of this army, Satan and his angels will be ‘cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.’ Bringing a complete end to their rebellion and deception. f). The very thing that has been prophesied in Ezekiel in relation to ‘the king of Tyre’ – Eze 28:18b…… “Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you. 19 All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever.” ’ ” All of those from the Gentile nations on the earth at the end of the Millennial Kingdom who will have rejected God and His supreme authority, all who will remain unsaved, will be gathered together at this battle and destroyed; removing all who will be aligned with Satan through their unrighteousness, prior to the beginning of the endless ages. g). At this point God will have completed His dealings with the Gentile nations. 3). Re 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. From what we see in v11 it would appear that the present earth and the heavens associated with it will be destroyed prior to the great white throne judgment; a judgment that will be completed before the new heaven and new earth come into existence – 2 Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Mt 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. All the unsaved throughout the whole of human history from Adam onwards, including those killed in the final battle, will be resurrected to the great white throne. And that which will be judged there, is the only thing that can ever be judged, works. a). Those under judgment at the great white throne will be judged in relation to God’s regal purpose for Man’s creation with regards to the eternal ages. The reason for eternal salvation. And having rejected this salvation provided through the work of Another there is no work of their own that could come close to it, and therefore their ‘works’ will be shown to have been of no value. b). Although we see that which will take place at the great white throne as judgment, this is not a determination that is in any doubt. Those who will appear there will have already been judged through their rejection of the free gift of eternal life – Jn 3:18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Having rejected the free gift, they have rejected the regal purpose for Man’s creation with respect to the endless ages, which not only brings them into alignment with Satan and his angels and their rebellion, but also results in their sharing of the lake of fire that burns with brimstone that had been prepared for the devil and his angels as a consequence. c). Given the great white throne will take place after the destruction of the present heavens and earth and before the new heaven and earth come into existence, we can only conclude that this judgment will take place, ‘in space’. d). These individuals can no longer be found to have a place on the earth that has been tainted by sin, as it will have passed away, and they cannot have any connection with the new earth which is to come, in which righteousness will dwell. Hence, they are dealt with separated from both. e). And once the eternally lost from 7000 years of human history are dealt with so - 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. It is worth pausing for a moment to take full account of what we see in this statement. We will remember that death entered the human realm through sin – Ge 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” With the destruction of the present heavens and earth, the 2 realms of this province in God’s universal Kingdom that had been contaminated by sin will be gone. At the great white throne all those with a connection to the contaminated earth, through their own sin of rejecting the regal purpose for their creation, will be gone. f). Sin that had existed in this one province in God’s universal Kingdom will then have been totally eradicated, therefore death can no longer exist when sin is no more, and without death the place of the dead cannot exist either. And so, they are cast into the lake of fire. g). From this moment onwards the new heaven and new earth will be completely apart from sin and those who dwell on the new earth will also be completely apart from sin and God’s universe will exist completely apart from sin – for ever and ever – 1 Cor 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. 24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. When the final enemy, death, is destroyed Christ will deliver the Kingdom to God the Father and the new heaven and new earth in which righteousness will dwell, will be brought into existence. The very thing, according to 2 Peter, we are to look for, the very thing that Isaiah spoke about – Isa 65:17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. 4). Re 21:1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” 5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” The first verse of Revelation Chapter 21 repeats that which we saw at the end of Chapter 20 – ‘the first heaven and the first earth had passed away’, and as a consequence of this and the events of the great white throne, ‘there was no more sea’. a). And given the context, the reference to ‘sea’ here has nothing to do with the existence of oceans on the new earth. These may or may not be there, Scripture is silent about it. Rather this reference has to do with the symbolic way ‘sea’ is used in the Scripture, which can either be as a reference to the Gentile nations or as the place of death. But given the context, it is not the Gentile nations, but the place of death that is to be seen through the use of ‘sea’. b). As Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire at the end of Chapter 20, it makes perfect sense that at the beginning of Chapter 21, ‘there was no more sea.’ Death and the place of death are inextricably connected, so that the absence of one necessitates the absence of the other. c). Prior to this, within the Millennial Kingdom, the unfaithful, eternally saved, whether Jew, Christian or Gentile, will be separated from God’s regal purpose for the 7th Day because of their failure to exercise faithful obedience with respect to it. But, as the endless ages begin, that separation will no longer exist and those previously ‘cast out’ with respect to the Kingdom rule will be comforted and restored to the regal position for which they had been saved - 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” 5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” We will continue with this next time – If the Lord is willing.