The Second Coming - 12
Your Kingdom Come
What happens at the end of Christ’s one thousand year reign on earth? The Bible gives us sparse, but intriguing details. Revelation chapter 20 says, “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” (verses 7 and 8). This is the last great rebellion against Omnipotence.
After being chained for a thousand years, Satan has learned nothing. When released from the Abyss, he continues where he’d left off. A teenager in an RE (religious education) class in Corozal, Belize in Central America once asked me, “Why doesn’t God forgive the devil and save himself the trouble of judging us?” Answer: the devil is too proud to repent and the unrepentant cannot be forgiven.
At the end of the millennium, which has been heaven on earth, the Lord’s Prayer “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Luke 11 verse 2) will have been answered. People born during that time, but not born again, are still ready to do Satan’s bidding because they are unregenerate. The lies we have been told are exposed. Lies such as ‘we are all essentially good. It’s just our environment that is at fault’ or ‘If we could see God, we would all believe’ or ‘we’ve never had a good role model.’ After one thousand years of paradise regained, time hasn’t changed anyone. Even when the government is upon His shoulders, men still choose to rebel. The final testing of mankind under ideal conditions reveals an evil heart.
As David Pawson writes, “This interim between Jesus’ return and the Day of Judgement is widely rejected in the church today, yet it was the accepted view of the early church.” The ultimate battle – a thousand years after Armageddon (Revelation 16 verse 16) - is Gog and Magog. “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 sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20 verse 9 and 10).
In the Old Testament two men go straight to heaven without dying – Enoch and Elijah. In the New Testament two men go straight into the lake of fire without dying – the Antichrist or the Beast and the false prophet (Revelation 19 verse 20). These two men are taken alive – the world dictator and his minister of religious affairs. They are the first two people ever to be cast into the fiery lake of burning sulphur. There they suffer the vengeance of eternal fire which neither annihilates nor purifies but torments for ever and ever.
“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from His presence … 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” (Revelation 20 verse 11 and 12). If your name is written in the book of life, it is well with your soul. If not you will be judged according to what you have done, as recorded in the books. The second death is the lake of fire. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire and so was everyone whose name was not found written in the book of life (Revelation 20 verses 14 and 15).
Derek Prince suggests that “Death and Hades are persons. Death is the dark angel, the minister of Satan, who claims the departing spirit of every unsaved person when he dies. Hades conducts them to their prison in the lower world.”
Chapter 21 in Revelation is the theme of the famous song “The Holy City”:
“And once again the scene was changed
New earth there seemed to be:
I saw the holy city
Beside the tideless sea:
The light of God was on its streets
The gates were opened wide;
And all who would might enter there,
And no one was denied.
No need of moon or stars by night, or sun to shine by day:
It was the New Jerusalem that would not pass away.”
At the end of Revelation God Himself changes His residence from heaven to earth. It’s not so much that human beings have gone to heaven to be with the Lord for ever, but rather that He has come to earth to be with them for ever. Even so come, Lord Jesus.