Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisrael and Mishpachah and welcome to Part LXX (70) of our study of the Book of Revelation. My original plan was to complete chapter 20 today but the more I looked at this segment, the more I realised that there was so much more to brought out of it than I had originally imagined. So we shall be dividing verses 7-15 into two parts, the first dealing with Satan's final rebellion at the end of the Millennium (vv.7-10) and the second, the Final or Great White Throne Room Judgment I(vv.11-15).

Of the Roman Empire, particularly in biblical and post-biblical days, it is said that its two chief provisions for the people to keep them under control were 'bread' and the 'circus'. Today's 'empire' is no different. Governments today consider it their task to provide the people they govern, first, with 'food' and, then, with 'entertainment', and not out of any sense of kindness but as a means of keeping them enslaved. Only, today, both of these have become more sophisticated and widespread than ever existed in ancient Rome. There is no end to the quantity and variety of food that is available to us nowadays (except briefly during times of war and economic recession) - we are spoiled for choice. Today's equivalent of the 'Circus Maximus' or 'Great Circus' in Rome (and in every large city of empire) was, first, competitive sports (begun in earnest by the Greeks) and now online porn, movies and computer games. These things are all the carnal man wants and thinks he needs, and that, therefore, is what the government feeds the population with through the corporations with which it has merged to form the 'state'. Wars are kept going to keep people fearful and dependent on the state for 'protection'. Yet there is a hunger always for more than this, and when major yearnings for something more than the flesh arise - like purpose in life - the state deflects this away from true religion and onto fads like 'climate change' and 'globalism'. These things - the need for food, additiction to entertainment, and worldly philosophies, feed the fallen Adamic nature.

Last week's segment (20:1-6) began with Satan and his demons being cast into the bottomless pit as the prelude to the beginning of the 1,000 year-long Millennium. This was followed by Yahweh's witnesses (Is.43:10,12), the faithful martyrs (Rev.17:6), who did not worship the Beast and receive his mark (Rev.13:16-17; 14:9,11; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4), being raised from the dead in the first of a sequence of two resurrections to elevated to places of honour and rulership in the Millennial Kingdom (Rev.20:5-6), thus permanently ending their condition of disembodiment as spirits to become the firstfruits of Yahweh's restorative work (Rev.14:4), the second of three post-mortem events. These are the 'priest-kings'. We understood also that at the end of the Millennium, which today's segment is all about, all rulership - that of Christ and His priest-kings - would come to an end and be handed back to Yahweh the Father, finally making Him once again the Elohim (God) of the whole Cosmos (1 Cor.15:24-28; cp. Mt.28:18). We also understood that these priest-king witnesses were the 'beheaded' ones (Rev.20:4), both literally and in a figurative sense, and from among all the æons of time or ages - figurative by virtue of their heavenly citizenship as opposed to citizenship of the evil empire whose method of execution was decapitation. The Millennium is therefore the first of two stages in which heaven and earth become combined into one state of existence, which at the second stage will permanently end the division of spirit and matter caused by the Fall, which is what is meant by 'resurrection'. This resurrection is not just of human beings but of the whole Creation. Finally I left you with about 20 questions to consider about the Millennium and those who live in it, what it will be like, what we will be like, and I see that some of you have taken up the challenge and started suggestinging answers already. I shall reserve further comment on these until the appropriate study in a couple of weeks' time.

Today's segment is a short but important one which is why I am devoting an entire teaching to it today. Rather than start with an overview as I did two sessions ago, I want to plunge into some important details that will take us not only all the way back to the Creation of our present world but before even that so that we can start completing the circle that is Genesis and Revelation (see Part III). These two books are the Alef and Taw, the Alpha and Omega, the A and the Z, the Beginning and the End of all Scripture, which is why they are so important, because each is both an ending and a beginning. Verses 1-6 of chapter 20 were an ending and a beginning, and today's verses are a parallel ending and a beginning too.

These are the most important sacred documents about eternity there are and show us how they relate to mortality. Today's segment is about the next 'ending' and next week's the next 'beginning'. When in Scripture you have and 'ending' and a 'beginning' next to one another you have the ending of one æon or age and the start of a new one. And though nearly every æon is of long but unknown length, the duration of this new Millennial one is apparently known, being 1,000 years long...or thereabouts.

There are no translation difficulties or issues to speak of in today's text so let's get straight to it:

"7 Now when the thousand years ['period' - Barclay] have expired ('will be/is/are completed' - AENT, RNAB, NASB, HRV, Barclay, Amp.V, KNT; 'finished' - CLNT; 'are over' - NIV, JNT, NEB, Moff., JBP; 'end' - NLT; 'have/are ended' - NRSV, ISRV, ESV), ['the' - KNT] Satan ('haSatan' - HRV; 'the Adversary' - JNT) will be released ('loosed' - CLNT; 'let loose' - NEB; 'set free' - JNT) from his prison ('jail' - CLNT; 'dungeon' - NEB; 'imprisonment' - HRV, Barclay; 'place of confinement' - Amp.V) 8 and will ('emerge to' - Moff.) go ('come' - ESV) out to deceive ('seduce' - AENT, NEB, HRV, Moff., Amp.V; 'lead astray' - Barclay, Amp.V) the nations ('Goyim' - OJB) (Rev.12:9) which are in the four corners of the earth ('all over the world' - Barclay) (Rev.7:1; Ezek.7:2; Is.11:12), ['which are called' - NLT; 'even' - Moff.] ['the hosts of' - NEB] Gog and Magog (Ezek.38:2; 39:1), ['in order' - NRSV] to gather ('assemble' - AENT, OJB; 'mobilise' - CLNT, JB; 'muster[ing]' - NEB, Moff., Barclay, Amp.V; 'lead' - JBP; 'summon' - KNT) them together to battle ('for [the] war' - OJB, NASB; 'for the fray' - Moff.) (Rev.16:4), whose number ('throng' - KNT) is ['countless' - JNT, NEB] as the sand of the sea['shore' - NIV, NASB, NLT, JBP]['in number' - KNT] (Is.11:12; Ezek.7:2; 38:2,9,15; 39:1; Heb.11:12). [new § - JBP]

"9 They went up on ('invaded' - RNAB; 'marched across/up over' - NIV, NEB, NRSV, ESV; 'will come swarming across' - JB; 'swarmed across/up over' - Moff., Amp.V; 'came up and spread over' - JBP) the breadth ('broad plain' - OJB, NASB, NLT, Amp.V, ESV; 'entire country' - JB; 'broad earth' - Moff.; 'whole width' - KNT) of the earth ('land' - NEB) and surrounded ('encompassed' - AENT; 'besiege' - JB; 'encircling' - Moff.; 'encircled' - JBP, Amp.V; 'cloxsed in on'- KNT) (Ezek.38:9) the ['military' - HRV] camp ('fortress' - Amp.V ('army' - JBP; 'leaguer' - Moff.) of the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones/believers, 'holy ones' - RNAB, HRV; 'God's ['dedicated' - Barclay; 'holy' - KNT] people' - NIV, NLT, JNT) and ('defending' - JB) the beloved city (Ps.87:2). And fire came down ('descended' - Moff.) from Elohim (God) out of heaven ('from the sky' - JBP) (Ezek.38:22) ['on the attacking armies' - NLT] and devoured ('consumed' - AENT, RNAB, NLT, JB, JNT) them (2 Ki.1:10-12; Ezek.38:9,16,22; 39:6; Ps.87:2). 10 The devil ('Akel Kartza/Seducer' - HRV, Moff.; 'Accuser' - AENT; 'Adversary' - JNT), who deceived ('seduced' - AENT, NEB; 'betrayed' - NLT; 'misled' - JB) them (Rev.12:9; 19:20), was cast ('thrown' - NIV, NLT, JB; 'hurled' - JNT, JBP, Barclay, Amp.V; 'flung' - NEB, Moff.) into the lake of fire (crucible) and brimstone ('sulphur' - AENT, CLNT, RNAB, OJB, NIV, JB, JNT, NEB, NRSV, JBP, ESV, KNT; 'sulphurous fire' - Barclay) (Rev.9:17) where the ('to join the' - JBP) ['wild' - CLNT] beast ['of prey' - AENT] ('animal - JBP; 'monster' - KNT; 'Chayyah/Anti-Moshiach' - OJB) (Rev.16:13) and the false prophet ('Navi Sheker' - OJB) (Rev.16:13) are ('had been flung' - NEB; 'had already been thrown' - Barclay, KNT; 'also lie' - Moff.). And they will be tormented (interrogated) ('their torture will not stop' - JB) day and night forever and ever (in the great age of ages; 'for the eons of the eons' - CLNT; 'for timeless ages' - JBP; 'through the ages of the ages' - Amp.V) (Rev.14:10-11)" (Rev.20:7-10, NKJV).

Satan is cast alive into the lake of fire to be punished

¤BIBLE VERSIONS KEY: AENT = Aramaic English New Testament (NT, Gabriel Roth), Amp.V. = Amplified Version (1958 ed.), Aram.Pesh. = Aramaic Peshitta (NT), Barclay = William Barclay New Testament, B.Wilson = Benjamin Wilson's Emphatic Diaglot, Vatican MS 1209 (NT), CLNT = Concordant Literal New Testament, CJB = Complete Jewish Bible (David Stern), HCSB = Holman's Christian Standard Bible, HRV = Hebraic Roots Version (James Trimm), JBP = J.B.Philips New Testament, MRC = Messianic Renewed Covenant (NT), NASB = New American Standard Bible, NIV = New International Version (1984 edn.), NKJV = New King James Version, NRSV = New Revised Standard Version (1995 edn.), ISRV = Institute for Scripture Research Version ('The Scriptures', 2009 edn.), JB = Jerusalem Bible (1st edn.), JNT = Jewish New Testament (David Stern), KJV = King James Version, Moff. = Moffat Translation, NEB = New English Bible (1974 edn.), NLT = New Living Translation, RNAB = Revised New American Bible, RSTNE = Restoration Scriptures True Name Edition (2005 edn., Moshe Koniuchowsky), RSV = Revised Standard Version (1952 edn.), Tischendorf = Tauchnitz Edition, Vol.1000, 1869 (NT), S&G = Smith & Godspeed // ¶ = new paragraph

In verse 3 it was stated that "he (Satan) should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while" (Rev.20:3, NKJV). And now, in verse 7, we have the fact, the necessity of which is there declared. Why is the word "must" used, and why for "a little season"? We partly answered that question last time when we viewed Satan in a legalistic sense as a kind of 'Public' of 'State Prosecutor' whose purpose on this very last last occasion was to ensure that there can no longer be any reason to accuse Yahweh's people. Today I want to take that thought much further in order to learn more about the Divine purposes and counsels in ruling and overruling the course of this world. For as it is written:

"Thus says Yahweh who has been making these things known from long ago" (Ac.15:18, NRSV)

"'In that day (i.e. at the end of the end times) I will restore David's fallen tent. I will repair its broken places ('breaches' - NRSV), restore ('raise up' - NRSV) its ruins, and build it as it used to be, so that they (Israel) may possess the remnant of Edom (Esau) and all the nations that bear My name,' declares Yahweh, who will do these things" (Amos 9:11-12, NIV).

"Yahweh sebaoth (of hosts, armies) has sword; As I have designed, so shall it be; and as I have planned, so shall it come to pass: I will break the Assyrians in My land, and on My mountains trample him under foot; his yoke shall be removed from them (the children of Israel - v.1), and his burden from their shoulders. This is the plan that is planned concerning the whole earth; and this is the Hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For Yahweh sebaoth (of armies, hosts) has planned, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?" (Is.14:25-27, NRSV).

Everthing has been carefull planned out from the very earliest time to the very end of time. Nothing in history is accidental, nothing has been left to chance, and all of man's choices have been woven into the fabric of history [1], and though, unbeknown to him, Satan has been used as an instrument to punish rebellion and to ensure a complete purification of Jacob so that he may justifiably be called Israel. There is a vitally important difference between the two: Jacob is the biological line, Israel the spiritual. The one is of the flesh, that other of the Ruach (Spirit). The first is he who is called to overcome, the second he who has overcome - and that overcoming is detailed from the beginning to the end of the Book of Revelation. It is not enough to be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - what is matters is whether man overcomes the fallen, carnal, fleshy Adamic nature or not, no matter what 'race' or nation he is from, because genealogically spiritual (and therefore Millennial) Israel consists of the overcomers of all nations too. Like Caleb, who was of the House of Esau (Edom) but who, because of his faith and obedience was adopted into the Tribe of Judah, so all the children of men from whatever race or nation may be adopted or grafted into Israel (Rom.11).

Let us trace Satan's rôle in all of this. At the beginning was Satan's first of many rebellions and now, at the very end, we have his final rebellion. In the first verse of the Bible we find described the primal creation of the heavens and the earth, in perfect order and beauty:

"In the beginning Elohim (God) created the heavens and the earth" (Gen.1:1, NIV).

Then we are told, in the second verse, we are told they became a ruin - empty, waste and desolate:

"Now the earth was formless and empty (desolate), darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Ruach Elohim (Spirit of God) was hovering (brooding, vibrating) over the waters" (Gen.1:2, NIV).

It is important you understand that the first statement (v.1) occurs at an indefinite period before the second (v.2), and between these two verses is an almost completely unknown pre-Adamic history. How or why this first civilisation came to be destroyed, and the world flooded and left in darkness, we are not specifically told, but we can infer it by taking into account what we do know: it would appear to have something to do with Satan's first rebellion when he was much 'younger', a reason Messianic Evangelicals refer to this first, pre-human earth as an 'angel planet', the home of the original malakim (angels). This was before any physical humans existed. We know that Heyel or Lucifer rebelled from Yahweh's authority (after which he became called haSatan, 'the satan', the 'adversary' or simply 'Satan') and we also know why - because of the arrogance and pride of this young supernatural creature. As Paul tells us in his first letter to Timothy:

"[The new pastor or overseer] must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap" (1 Tim.3:5-7, NIV).

We also know that Yahweh did not originally create the world as it is described in Genesis 1:2 because there it is described as tohû va-bohu which means 'empty', 'waste and 'desolate', an expression that is used elsewhere in the Tanakh (Old Testament). For example:

"The ruined city lies desolate (bohu)" (Is.24:10, NIV).

"The desert owl and screech owl will possess it; the great owl and the raven will nest there. Elohim (God) will stretch out over Edom the measuring line of chaos (confusion) (tohu) and the plumb line of desolation (emptiness, emptiness) (bohu)" (Is.34:11, NIV).

"I looked at the earth, and it was formless (tohu) and empty (void, desolate) (bohu); and at the heavens, and their light was gone" (Jer.4:23, NIV).

Even so, it really doesn't matter what tohu means because it is expressly declared by the Creator that He did not create the earth tohu:

"For thus says Yahweh, Who created the heavens, Who is Elohim (God), Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did NOT create it in vain ('chaos' - JB, NRSV; '[worthless] waste [place]' - Amp.V, Moff., NASB; 'empty void' - NEB; 'empty chaos' - NLT) (tohu), Who formed (created, bara) it to be inhabited: I am Yahweh, and there is no other" (Is.45:18, NKJV).

The way this is constructed, words are stacked together in such a way in order to forcibly impress upon us that the Divine Creator who made the world ought to know! "He created it (the earth) NOT tohu" (KJV). Therefore the earth must have BECOME tohu or chaotic and desolate at some time, and in some manner, and for some reason, which are not specifically revealed. This is the very meaning of the Hebrew verb haya, 'to come to be', the same word used in these well-known passages that mean 'becoming' or 'transforming into', not de novo (brand new) creation ex nihilo (out of nothing):

• 1. "Man became a living soul (being)" (Gen.2:7)
• 2. "She (Lot's wife) became a pillar of salt" (Gen.29:26)
• 3. "May you (Rebekah), our sister, become thousands of myriads (millions)" (Gen.24:60)
• 4. "Prepare (become or get ready) for the third day" (Ex.19:15)
• 5. "We would have been (become) like Sodom" (Is.1:9)
• 6. "Be (become) like a wild ass (Aroer) in the desert" (Jer.48:6).

Therefore the earth became wasteless, empty and desolate - it was not created (bara) de novo (brand new), ex nihilo (out of nothing), in that way in Genesis 1:2. Indeed, the word bara, meaning 'created', which is found in verse 1:

"In the beginning Elohim (God) created (bara) the heavens and the earth" (Gen 1:1, NIV)

You see, these inanimate heavenly and earthly objects - matter - had already been created in verse 1 including, we must assume, supernatural beings like the malakim (angels) and perhaps other primaeval life forms too. Then followed a revolt by the first malak (angel) inhabitants of the pre-human earth, to be followed by their destruction that included complete inundation by water (like Noah's flood), which then brings us to verse 2 and to a re-formatting of the desolate world with freshly created living beings including man once the waters have been separated and relocated including, we must presume (because we know scientifically such exist), oceans under the surface of the planet.

Since new creatures had to be created from scratch for this re-formed earth, we should expect the verb bara (create) to reappear again if our hypothesis is correct. Lo and behold, that is precisely what happens. Bara (create) does indeed appear again but only when it comes to the new phytosphere and zoosphere or the plant and animal life which were not present when we are presented with verse 2, as you would expect if they had been previously destroyed by a flood. I discuss the linguistics in greater depth in an earlier article [2] which you can check up afterwards if you are interested. Now whether the life forms were identical or similar or even completely different to that previously found on the malak (angel) world is anyone's guess but it might explain why some ancient species, that would have made life very difficult or impossible for fragile human beings (like giant dinosaurs) were not included the second time round, since the second earth was designed for an entirely new and more vulnerable species: Homo sapiens, the first of whom were Adam and Eve.

By Genesis 1:2, the sun, moon, earth and stars are already there, but are being prepared or revealed for something else, in this case, a renewed planet containing living things once more. Why is the light of the sun invisible at first? Because it is concealed, whether behind a dense water canopy as some have proposed, or in some other way, is unknown. If Yahweh had wanted us to understand these heavenly bodies were being created for the first time in Genesis 1:2, He would have used the verb bara as He did subsequently for the plant and animal life. But He didn't - He used 'asah. Indeed, we don't know how many renewals the earth has experienced since Genesis 1:2 or even, for that matter how old it is. There was a time I used to be dogmatic about the earth being 6,000 or maybe up to 12,000 years old, but now I really don't know. And it doesn't matter. It could be millions of years old for all I know but it would make no difference to my theology.

What perhaps matters is the understanding that our physical Adamic Race is a relative late-comer onto the cosmic scene, that whilst the renewed earth only fell and was subjected to decay about 6,000 years ago, the cosmos as a whole has been in decay or subject to entropy (degradation) for a lot longer, something the Hubble and James Web telescopes have proven pretty conclusively. The means that both the younger renewed earth and the rest of the considerably older universe will be restored in the timeframe of the end of the Book of Revelation that we're examining now. That's my current hypothesis which may need some tweeking in the future but which I otherwise believe to be sound. I have been toying with this idea for a very long time, accumulating evidence and following with interest the latest discoveries in astronomy in the meantime.

All of this is simply to make the point that the catastrophe that led to the earth becoming void and empty in verse 2 of Genesis 1 was brought about by the first rebellion of Satan and that presumably he had been around a long time before that. There is no one else other than Satan of whom it could be said that he was the author of evil - of 'the lie'. This also means we don't know how long ago this first rebellion was or for how long it's been going on. Why is this inmportant? Because it gives the history of this planet a new twist, a new dimension and understanding for us, enabling us to see why there was a need for all these different æons or ages of time the Bible speaks of, why the earth has to be a lot older than 6,000 years and how this better haronises with the known science, making our own witness more credible without having to deny special creation in some remote past (however that happened...we don't know) or embrace worldly, unscientific and basically occult (i.e. satanic) philosophies like evolution. Nor am I giving my assent to the traditional evolution-inspired 'Gap' or 'Day-Age' hypotheses as I will almost certainly be falsely accused of endorsing (which I am not) by someone jealously protecting the young earth creationist model. With this understanding, we can better understand how all the evil in the world it to be overcome, why it takes time, and how the new heavens and the new earth are to be brought about, and how the curse is to be removed. This was, and is, a huge divine project. This means we can allow for the universe to remain the incredible ancient dynamic structure that it is which scientific enquiry has established beyond any shadow of a doubt, with our own species being maybe no more than 12 or so thousand years old, for reasons I have also explained elsewhere as I don't want to make this study too scientific...though it's personally nice to have a change occasionally!

The full history of Satan and his angelic species has not yet been fully revealed and much of it is still hidden in the mists of time; and whilst the Bible contains some hints, they are few and far between and its bones contain little meat on them. We obviously don't need to know and might get needlessly sidetracked out of unhealthy fascination if we did. There are those who try to link Satan to statements made by Job (38:4,8-12) and the Psalms (7:15) but I tread warily now in my older age because I have seen how such speculation soon becomes wild. Ezekiel 28, and especially verse 15, tells us a lot more, taking us to the origin of his sin which primarily was his refusal, like so many millions of evangelicals, to acknowledge the authority of Yahweh's Law or Torah and therefore rulership or sovereignty. Those who reject the mitzvot (commandments), however piously, in part or as a whole, are repeating Satan's rebellion all over again and imitating his character. They're behaving in a satanic manner, even if in ignorance. Don't do that! All who belong to Satan in one form or degree or another say somewhere along the line, 'our mouths are our own', 'our feelings are our own', and therefore 'our actions are our own'. Put another way, they are questioning our Heavenly Father's right to rule us, by asking: 'Who is lord or master over us?' That well expresses Satan's conduct as well as fleshy man's. It's what the Serpent tried to teach Eve in the Garden of Eden.

With this longish but important forray into the remote past, we are now able to flesh out even more clearly the structure of the Divine Plan of the Ages, eanbling us to see the correspondence between the steps of the Ruin and Restoration of man, a subject you'll agree is of the utmost important, so that we may fully know the Plan of Salvation too and not be left to guess and stumble as the antinomians (anti-law adherents) do. Indeed, if there's one thing the current 'woke' crisis of the 2020's has taught us, it is the supreme necessity of the Rule of Law for the peaceful existence of our race. The exact same is true in the spiritual or religious sphere. For without being tethered to Divine Law, our minds and hearts are left to roam freely in that tohu-bohu chaos of our imaginations, mislabelled idolatrously by charismatics as the 'Spirit' and so enabling Satan to wreak havoc.

Throughout this long course I have continually emphasised the importance of coming to grips with the divine tavnith or pattern that undergirds all creation, visible and invisible. Why? Because this understanding enables us to make out structure in the midst of apparent chaos, and as you're about to see now, there is a direct correspondence between the steps that led to mankind's ruin and the steps leading to his Restoration in New Creation. Indeed, the Restoration is to be brought about in an inverse order to the Ruin, of which the Bible makes clear there are eight steps (A-H). These 8 steps roll back upon themselves until the the blessedness that obtained at the very beginning, though in a very much matured form now, is at length restored. You will immediately recognise a chiasmus which I have spoken of many times in the Book of Revelation. So I am now going to present that to you, with minimal discussion (because we don't have time) and leave you to check up the numerous scriptural references I have provided.

A. THE PRIMAL CREATION. The first heaven and the first earth - Gen.1:1 ("the world of that time" - 2 Pet.3:6, NRSV)

B. SATAN'S FIRST REBELLION - Gen.1:2ff.

C. THE EARTH RESTORED, & BLESSED - Gen.1:2-2:25 ("the present heavens and earth" - 2 Pet 3:7, NRSV)

D. SATAN ENTERS, & THE CONSEQUENCE - Gen.3

E. MANKIND DEALT WITH AS A WHOLE - Gen.4-11:30

F. THE CHOSEN NATION CALLED, & BLESSED - Gen.11:21-Malachi

G. THE FIRST ADVENT - The 4 Gospels, Rom.15:8 - The Kingdom rejected, the King crucified

H. THE KINGDON RE-OFFERED - The Acts & earlier Pauline Epistles. (Ac.3:19-20). "Signs and wonders and various miracles, and gifts by the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit)" (Heb.2:3-4, NRSV). The offer rejected (Ac.28:25-26)

H. THE KINGDOM TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED - The "not yet" of Heb.2:8 (NRSV). The mystery revealed and consummated. Rom.16:25-26. Eph.3:1-4. Col.1:5-2:3. 1 Tim.3:16. Phil.3:14

G. THE SECOND ADVENT - Rev. "The Day of Yahweh (the LORD)". Is.2:11-17. Joel 2. Mt.24

F. THE CHOSEN NATION (MESSIANIC ISRAEL) RECALLED, & A BLESSING - Rom.11:11-36. Ac.15:16. Jer.30-31. Is.61-62. Zech.12-14

E. MANKIND DEALT WITH AS A WHOLE - Joel 3:2. Mt.25:31-46. Rom.15:8-12. Ac.15:17

D. SATAN BOUND, & THE CONSEQUENCE - Rev.20:1-3

C. THE EARTH RESTORED & BLESSED - Rev.20:4-6. Is.35. The Millennium

B. SATAN'S FINAL REBELLION - Rev.20:7-8

There is one detail in this chart that I do needto comment on further and that concerns item 'H' in the second or 'Restoration' part, namely. 'The Chosen Nation of Messianic Israel Recalled & a Blessing'. Needless to say this has nothing to do with the Zionist state established in the Middle East by the Rothschilds in 1948 and falsely named 'Israel' - in reality, this entity is the modern Kingdom of Edom - Esau is on probation to determine whether he is worthy of the Israelite birthright as Esau-Israel which Jacob-Israel tricked him out of - he isn't, and has failed, which is why this country is soon to come to an end) - for this Republic is secular and highly corrupt and not the theocracy prophesied to arise in the last days. And though there are orthodox Jews who regard themselves as 'messianic' inasmuch as they are waiting for their own messiah, that is not the sense in which I use 'Messianic' here which concerns true Torah-obedient believers who accept the true Messiah, Yah'shua (Jesus), who has already come. This 'Messianic Israel' is the one that will replace both the 'Church' and the failed 'Esau-Israel' as the home of the Remnant, that is to yet be gathered for a Final Exodus (which has begun) and is to be recalled to the Promised Land after Edom has been expelled by the forces around him. The lastest Gaza crisis is but one of the last catalysts leading to this state collapse and exodus. I know this upsets a lot of Messianic Jewish friends of our, and by Evangelicals who have falled for the false Zionist prophetic marker, but you need only watch and see what I have said coming to pass with your own eyes to know it is true.

The return of Israel absolutely is prophesied in the very last days but ask yourself whether, after 70 or so years of the existence of the Israeli Republic, whether this 'Esau-Israel' entity has remotely fulfilled such prophecy in the moral, ethical and spiritual sphere, key of which is this one in the Book of Ezekiel:

"'For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Ruach (Spirit) in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My torot (laws). You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be My people, and I will be your Elohim (God)...I Yahweh have spoken, and I will do it'" (Ezek.36:24-29,36, NIV; cp. 14:11; Is.60:21; Jer.31:33-34; Zech.13:2; Is.43:25; Joel 2:19; Ezek.39:29).

The scriptural passages on Israel in the Millennium we will not go into but you can check these for yourself afterwards. What I do want to look at, though is those passages that tell us what will happen during the Millennium because we still need to flesh out more reasons as to why Satan must be released one last time. Though, we are told, the Glory of Elohim (God) will fill the earth during the Millennium, the obedience given by many will be resentful and require a stern chastening rod:

"Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, Yahweh-Elohim, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh-Elohim, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. Yahweh will bring on them the plague He inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)" (Zech.14:16-19, NIV).

We are talking about survivors who are not elect Remnant qodeshim (saints, set-apart believers), and therefore not the resurrected beheaded martyrs either, but others willing to give nominal obedience - whether literal survivors or those in generations to come during the Millennium - there are apparently unresurrected nationals like Egyptians. This tells you not only that the Hebrew Festivals will be observed during the Millennium but that everyone must attend this particular pilgrim festival. This also tells you that the Millenniual rule is theocratic, not democratic, a benevolent dictatorship run strictly along Torah lines (so guess how many Torah-rejecting antinomian Christians aren't going to be there?). To be sure, other survivors make the Millennium equation more complex and we may not figure it all out until it happens. However, we can deduce many things the Millennium is not, and that is some Catholic, Eastern Orthodox or Protestant 'paradise'.

So when Satan is loosed, this crowd of people is at once and easily deceived and ready to believe his lies, and to manifest the hostility of the carnal heart by fighting under him against Yahweh and His people. Thus in order to bring out the awful fact and to exhibit the true nature of fallen man, as well as to manifest the grace of Elohim (God); and to show that apart from Christ nothing can exist, or consist, or stand, Satan "MUST be released" for a little season. Thus the great lesson of the æons or ages will not be fully manifested or seen until then. In other words, the object man needs cannot, in the end, be taught them by the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) but only directly by the glorified, resurrected Messiah, deomonstrating His absolute power. They will be deallt with swiftly and with a firm hand. There will be no vacilating.

If this has somewhat 'spoiled' your expectations for the Millennium then it is good we get a glimpse of reality now rather than later so that you will not to be shocked or disillusioned in the future. You have been forewarned. You now know what to expect. People have the idea that the Millennium is fully 100 per cent Heaven on Earth. No it isn't, it is the penultimate stage toward the full manifestation of the Kingdom. The Millennium is not the resurrected earth even if the resurrection will manifest wonderfully in the New Jerusalem, in the New Israel, and wherever the king-priest rulers are to be found on the earth for they will not only reflect the Glory of Heaven but be in possession of the immense power of Heaven with to keep the 'nominal' survivors and their descendants properly in line under Divine Law. This will be a no-nonsense régime of righteousness where love is abundant and justice swift. The Millennium is not the full expression of the Kingdom of our Elohim (God) but rather a much needed and anticipated major step in that direction - the last-but-one step. You see, we have a natural tendency - because we are so anxious for it - to conflate the Millennium with the post-millennial world where Heaven and Earth become fully integrated or resurrected. If the present day earth can be likened to bronze in terms of Olympic honours, then the Millennium is silver and post-Millennium Eternity is gold.

But, 'oh,' you might exclaim, 'then the second resurrection saints, who are disembodied, are they not in a far better place than the Millennial saints who must yet deal again with another rebellion?' Not so fast. There is great advantage to being resurrected as opposed to not, as I have spoken to you of many times now. In the Millennium, the elect will be doing all that humans love doing today, including fully enjoying and expanding their families. Those kinds of relationships are not possible in a disembodied state. But with privilege comes responsibility, the responsibility to rule in righteousness, which the disembodied who are later to partake of the second resurrection can never enjoy, but must remain single. Compared to this life, the spirit world will indeed be wonderful, but there is better yet, and more to be desired and hoped for that's more in line with the way we were created to be. We were not created to be disembodied any more than we were to be dismebowelled. To be disembodied is to wait for a new set of better, immortal physical clothing.

So, yes, there will be war and slaughter - again - at the end of the Millennium with every nation being involved, collectively referred to as "Gog and Magog" (Rev.20:8). We must be careful to distinguish between the war before the Millennium (Rev.16:14; 17:14; 19:17-21) and the one at the end of it (Rev.20). People also get confused by the dual way 'Gog and Magog' are used prophetically at different times in history. These are (or were) literal nations, Magog being the second son of Japheth (Gen.10:2) with whom many other peoples were associated, like Gomer, Madai, Meshech and so on. Ezekiel even adds Persians, Ethiopians and Libyans to this company (Ezek.28:5). However, Ezekiel 38 and 39 must be carefully distinguished from Revelation 20 since Ezekiel is speaking of the earlier war mentioned in Revelation belonging to our own current æon (age), not the one in today's text. We know this must be so because we're told Israel will be restored after the destruction of Gog and Magog (Ezek.39:25). That sorts out that potential confusion. Additionally, Magog is used as the son of Japheth in Genesis 10:2 whereas in Ezekiel the land or country is being referenced, of which Gog is the prince. And finally, in Revelation 20:8, today's text, Gog and Magog are being used to describe symbolically all the non-Israelite, gentile nations.

Verse 9 tells us that Jerusalem, here representing the whole land of Israel (see Is.8:8; cp. Hab.1:6), is surrounded by these satanic-inspired armies which are supernaturally destroyed with fire from heaven. What this means is that during the final rebellion all the First Resurrection qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones), with all their descendants born during the Millennium who choose to follow Yahweh during this rebellion, evacuate the nations they ruled and return to Messianic Israel which is a piece of Heaven on Earth resembling the world that will replace the Millennial world afterwards. Here Satan and his hosts don't stand a chance. They are consumed in a flash - all of them, leaving only Satan in verse 10 to be arrested and cast into the lake of fire and sulphur to join the Beast-Antichrist and False Prophet who thrown in there a millennium before.

As you can imagine, therefore, Satan not only hates the Book of Revelation that tells of his ultimate fate, but this chapter and verse specifically. It terrifies him to be reminded of it. Indeed, this is the fulfilment of Genesis 3 which says:

"And I will put enmity between you (Satan) and the woman (Eve), and between your offspring and hers; he (the offspring of Eve) will crush your (Satan's) head, and you (Satan) will strike his (mankind's) heel" (Gen.3:15, NIV).

For all these millennia, including briefly here at the end of the Millennium itself, Satan has been biting our heels, but now, finally, it is time for his head to be stoved in - crushed inwards. It's a brutal image to be sure, and it's quite intention, moreover, because the devil's end will be brutal - and the end of all his fallen, demonic malakim (angels) with him. Can you begin to imagine how much punishment is due them? They are to be utterly and completely crushed. It will be, as we still say at the end of radio messages, 'over and out', or as someone is bowled out in a cricket match, 'Howzat!'.

And then our English Bibles end this segment with these words: "They (Satan, the Beast & False Prophet) will be tormented day and night for ever and ever" (Rev.20:10, NIV) because the evil they did was so great and was done to so many for so long. But exactly how long is that punishment? According to the Greek translation we base our English translations off, "for the eons of the eons" (CLNT). In other words, this is such a long stretch of time that it's incomprehensible to us [4]. Furthermore, this expression is used in two different senses in Scripture, and can mean either 'for an exceedingly long time' (as it does here) or literally 'forever' which is clearly the meaning in the statement made about the Saviour in the very first chapter of the Book of Revelation:

"...Do not be afraid. I (Yah'shua the Messiah/Jesus Christ) am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever (for the eons of the eons)! And I hold the keys of death and Hades" (Rev.1:17-18, NIV).

Christ does indeed live 'forever and ever'. But the same expression is used of the Saviour, as we saw last week when we examined 1 Corinthians 15:27-28 where, we are told, Christ will reign 'for the eons of the eons', a fixed period of time before He hands back all authority to the Father, Yahweh, so that Elohim (God) can be 'all in all'. Why is this reigning of fixed length where as His living is endless? Is this a contradiction? Not at all for as we learned in our big study of biblical time, when it comes Deity time is 'reckoned' a little differently than to created beings like us and malakim (angels). And Christ, you'll remember, is uniquely the only One of His Kind, 'the only begotten', the Elohim- or God-Man. He is both. In terms of Life, He is Elohim (God), uncreated and eternal; in terms of delegated authority as a Divine Plenipotentiary (diplomatic envoy), He belongs to the created category, and that authority (as we have seen) is returned to Yahweh at a point in linear time. So there is no contradiction here, nor is Revelation 1:17-18 a 'proof-text' that those in hell remain there 'forever' even if the time spent there will seem to be endless to those incarcerated in that fiery place. Rememember - and this is very important - the Hebrew word olam and the Greek word æon, when refering to Deity, mean 'eternal' ('forever and ever'), and when referring to created beings like us, mean 'age-long' (very long indeed but of fixed length) [4]. Therefore the duration of every man's and angel's 'time' spent in hell will seem like 'forever' but be measured out in content and in proportion to each one's crimes. And were it not for the Cosmic Jubilee the punishment would be forever. Thus Satan, the Beast and the false Prophet, along with all the demons, will be serving a far longer sentence than all the rest of the unsaved [5].

This brings us to the end of today's segment which I hope you will agree covers some very important topics, hence the need for a whole session on just a few verses. Next week, Yah willing, we will complete chapter 20 and then, as promised, we will devote an entire lesson straightening out the messes taught by the churches about the Millennium...which will leave us a month-and-a-bit, I hope, to conclude with the last chapters, 21 and 22, and perhaps some afterthoughts, and then my task will be completed. Hopefully we will be done before the Final Economic Collapse comes about as we will then need to focus on entirely different things. May you be blessed and spiritually fruitful over the coming week, do what you need to get done, for the days are evil. This is my prayer in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] See Molinism: Reconciling Yah's Sovereignty with Man's Free Agency
[2] See a Genesis 1: How Old is the Creation? & When was the Sun Created?
[3] Adapted from E.W.Bullinger, Commentary on Revelation (Kregel Classics, Grand Rapids, Michigan: 1984), p.360
[4] See our studies on biblical Time
[5] See the website on Universal Reconciliation

Acknowledgements

[1] Tom Wright, Revelation for Everyone - The New Testament for Everyone Commentary Series, Vol.19 (SPCK, London: 2011)
[2] E.W.Bullinger*, Commentary on Revelation (Kregel Classics, Grand Rapids, Michigan: 1984)
[3] David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary (JNT Publications, Clarksville, Maryland: 1992)
[4] ESV Study Bible (Crossway, Wheaton, Illinois: 2011)
[5] The NIV Study Bible (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan: 1995)
[6] Ed. J.R.Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (MacMillan, London: 1909)
[7] David Pawson, Unlocking the Bible: A Unique Overview of the Whole Bible (Collins, London: 2007)

*E.W.Bullinger was a brilliant Anglican clergyman and scholar whose works merit careful study by serious students of the Bible. He was, however, seriously in error in at least three main areas, namely, (1) he believed the 'Church' has been raptured before the Book of Revelation opens, (2) he believed that the 7 churches in Revelation 2-3 are 7, literal Jewish churches or assemblies yet to come, and (3) he believed in a pre-tribulation, pre-millennial rapture.

• C. The Far Future
  • C1. Chapter 19
    
    • C1.1. Yahweh's Victory Celebration (19:1-10)
    • C1.2. The Beast Defeated (19:11-21)
  • C2. Chapter 20
    
    • C2.1. The Millennial Reign (20:1-6)
    • C2.2. The Final Judgment (20:7-15)
  • C3. Chapter 21:1-21
    
    • C3.1. The New Heaven & Earth (21:1-5)
    • C3.2. The New Jerusalem (21:6-21)
  • C4. Chapter 21:22-22:21
    
    • C4.1. New Jerusalem (21:22-22:7)
    • C4.2. 'I am Coming Soon' (22:8-21)