Jehoshua is on the throne of David in New Jerusalem and He is the King of a New Israel
Here we will go through Revelation 20 verse by verse. This is the key chapter in terms of deciding eschatology. How we understand this chapter will determine whether we subscribe to Premillenialism or Amillennialism. You might think what does it matter, isn't this a secondary issue?
Actually it does matter, it determines how we understand the gospel and thereby preach it. It also helps to steer clear of false end time prophecies. It has an effect on ekkelssiology which is the doctrine of the Church. Also, it has an effect on how the Church views itself in terms of their sorjourn on the earth during this life. So lets start: Revelation 20:1-3 1And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.2 And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,3 and cast him into the abyss, and shut [it], and sealed [it] over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time. The word abyss (Greek word "Abusso") or bottomless pit is where Satan and the demons are confined subsequent to them being cast down out of heaven after their war with Michael the archangel (Revelation 12:7). It is clear that this abyss or bottomless pit is somewhere in the earth. Satan and his angels are confined to the earth during the millennium. The meaning of the word "abussos" is similar to meaning of the Hebrew word used to describe the earth being without form and void in Genesis 1:2. Revelation 12 verses 7 through 17 describe the war between Michael and Satan and its resulting effects. This is important to understand because it helps us understand the first 3 verses of Revelation 20. Verses 7 though 8 say that Satan and his angels were cast down to the earth having no more access to heaven in order to accuse the brethren. This fits perfectly with the angel coming down out of heaven, chaining Satan to the abyss. (earth). We need to keep in mind that verses 7-17 of Revelation 12 are subsequent to the ascension of the Messiah into heaven. If Rev 12:7-12 parallels Rev 20:1-3 then we can determine that Revelation 20 does not follow chapter 19 in chronology but rather is a recapitulation of the events following the ascension of the Son of God into heaven. Let's look at an important truth related to the ascension of the Messiah and Satan being cast down to earth: Revelation 12:10-11 10 And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuseth them before our God day and night.11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death. The resulting effects of Satan being cast down to earth is the arrival of the Kingdom of God and His Messiah. So even while Satan will now dwell on the earth, being confined there, this does not negate that the Son of God's Kingdom has arrived on the earth as a result of His ascension into heaven and being enthroned as the King of Israel on the throne of David (Rev 12:5; Hebrews 1; Acts 2:29-36). Verse 3 of Revelation 20 says that Satan will not being to deceive the nations any more during the thousand years. May read this and cannot believe that this thousand years refers to the inter advent age due to Satan not being able to deceive the nations. However we must understand what "not being able to deceive the nations entails". Without going to deep into it, it is the mystery of the gospel which was once hid that now shines as marvelous light to the nations (world). Satan can no longer deceive the nations in terms of salvation. Paul talks a lot about the mystery of the gospel now being made manifest in these last days. Notice that in Revelation 12 the resulting effects of Satan being cast to the earth is that he persecutes the church. Nowhere in chapter 12 does it say that Satan went about deceiving the nations. Another alternative understanding of Satan deceiving the nations after the thousand years are finished is His ability to gather the nations for a final assault on the church as we read later in chapter 20. Until then, Satan is restrained from launching a full worldwide assault on the Church. See 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 for the restrainer. Revelation 20:4 "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jehoshua, and for the word of God, and such as worshiped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Messiah a thousand years." This is a key scripture in this chapter and understanding it correctly determines whether there is a future millennium after the second advent or whether this speaks of the new covenant church age. While many Amillenialists in the modern day speak of this as the saints reigning in heaven with the Son of God in the so called intermediate state, traditional Amillenialism posits this reign of the saints with Messiah as being earthly during the new covenant church age. Premilllennialists teach that this refers to a future 1,000 year reign of Jehoshua subsequent to His second advent. Let's first dismiss the modern Amillennialist teaching that this reign is heavenly. Revelation 5:9-10 9 And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy art thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou was slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy blood [men] of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,10 and madest them [to be] unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon earth. This is symbolic of the prayers of the saints which are contained in golden bowls full of incense which speaks of the altar of incense in the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. The saints praise the Lamb Jehoshua and confess that He has made them kings and priests and that they reign (present tense) on the earth. This is vital to how we understand Revelation 20:4. The reign of the saints is on the earth not in heaven in some disembodied state. In fact, the bible does not teach that we go to heaven when we die in a disembodied state. Revelation 5:9-10 refutes the heavenly millennium idea whether of the modern day Amillennialists or the Adventist version of the future heavenly millennium. The reign of the saints with Messiah is earthly without controversy and it is present tense not merely future. It was spoken as already going on when John wrote this in the 1st century. Revelation 1:5-6 5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Jehoshua by shedding His blood on the cross for our sins hath (present tense) made us kings and priests. John says this as a present tense statement all the way back in the 1st century. To make this be something 2,000 years later is really twisting the text. It also agrees with Revelation 5:9-10 where the redeemed sing to Jehoshua and thank Him for making them kings and priests by way of His ransom sacrifice and they are currently (1st century) reigning upon the earth. Revelation 1:9 "I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." Again, John makes a present tense statement that the Kingdom of Jehoshua Messiah was already a reality in the 1st century. John says that he is a brother and companion to those who are suffering tribulation in the Kingdom of the Son of God. He says that they are "in the Kingdom" as a present tense reality. He doesn't say they "will be in the Kingdom" as a future thing. 1 Peter 2:9 "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" Another witness, this being Peter, says that we are already (1st century) a royal (king) priesthood. Here's another witness, Paul the apostle Ephesians 2:4-6 4 but God, being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved), 6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly [places], in Christ Jesus: Verse 4 and 5 are obviously speaking of our conversion experience, in that the merciful God of heaven made us alive through spiritual resurrection from being dead in our sins. As a result of our spiritual resurrection we are raised up with the Messiah and sit with Him in the heavenly places. Oftentimes, the reference to raising up means to be anointed with the Spirit of Jehovah and sent on a mission. When the kings of Israel were anointed to be king it was the same as being raised up unto Israel. Also, note that Paul says we are sitting (present tense) with Messiah in the heavenly places. Heavenly places refers to the holy of holies in the heavenly sanctuary. This is key to understand, what is Messiah doing in the holy of holies right now on the throne of David? He is functioning as both a King and a Priest (Zechariah 6:9-15). In fact, it was prophesied by Zechariah that the counsel of peace was to be between the offices of king and priest held by the Branch of David. This means that if we are sitting with Jehoshua in the heavenly places then we are also operating as kings and priests just as Peter and John say we are. Paul confirms the witness of the apostles. In Ephesians 1:3, Paul says this: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" Do you see this? We are not just sitting with Messiah in the heavenly places for nothing, we are actually blessed with every spiritual blessing that the heavenly places has to offer specifically the offices of king and priest which Jehoshua has. Our kingship is under the Davidic covenant and our priesthood is under the Melchizedek order. Hebrews 1 details the enthronement of Jehoshua as King having received the sure mercies of David at His resurrection and ascension (Acts 13). Hebrews 5 talks about the oath Jehovah God made to Him as a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. As far as judging on these thrones, Jehoshua gave the keys to the Kingdom of heaven to His apostles (Matthew 16:19) which then are given to those who would follow after them. He says the same in Matthew 18:18. I have proved that we are currently reigning as kings and priests in the new covenant church age and 1 Corinthians 5 as well as 1 Corinthians 6 says we as believers are to judge matters in the church. It is true that we will still be kings and priests when Jehoshua comes and brings in the new heavens and new earth and we will also judge the world according to Paul 1 Corinthians 6:2. This does not eliminate the present reality of us sitting on spiritual thrones as kings and priests reigning on the earth and judging matters concerning the restored Davidic Kingdom (Acts 15) which James says was being restored via the Gentiles entrance into the faith back in the 1st century. Revelation 3:7 "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and that shutteth and none openeth" The key of David references rulership over the Davidic dynasty (kingdom). The one who has the key is a nail in a sure place and shall be a throne of glory to his father's house (Isaiah 22:22-23). This key of David held by Jehoshua, the Davidic King, was given to the apostles who then bestowed upon those who followed after them. The keys are used to judge matters concerning the Davidic Kingdom i.e. Kingdom of heaven. So obviously we reign with Messiah now and also take part in judging matters concerning the Kingdom but now let's tackle another item regarding Rev 20:4-6 and that is the that these one's (some) who reign with Messiah are beheaded. Please note that John does not say that all those who reign with the Messiah are beheaded but just says "the souls that had been beheaded" noting that some or many of the one's who reign with Messiah for a thousand years will suffer that fate. They were beheaded for their testimony of Jehoshua. Obviously they didn't worship the beast nor his image nor received his mark. Note the wording in verse 4 "and such as worshiped not the beast..." it appears that John goes from those who are beheaded to now include all who didn't worship the beast by stating "and such as". The phrase "and such as" after describing those who were beheaded denotes either a different group of people or an enlargement (including all believers regardless how they die) of who he previously identified as those who were beheaded. Because it says they did not worship the beast or take the mark, many think this passage is talking about saints who live just prior to the second advent. This is due to the futurist view of eschatology. However, their is no biblical warrant for the mark of the beast being technology, whether some rfid chip or tattoo. Many people believe the mark of the beast will be a computer chip because of the influence of sensationalistic end times movies that are based in futurist eschatology. The mark of the beast scripturally has to be the opposite of the seal of God. Revelation 14:1 says the seal of the living God is the Father's name and of course it is a spiritual seal not a literal tattoo or anything like that. Deuteronomy 6 says to have Gods law on the frontlets between our eyes (forehead) and on our hand. This is exactly where the mark of the beast is supposed to be. Deuteronomy 6 is speaking of course metaphorically in that God's law is to be on our mind constantly and our hands denote our actions which should result from keeping His law. Obviously, the mark of the beast must then also be spiritual and it is having the name of the beast spiritually on your forehead that is the mark. To have the name of the beast denotes that you are not God's because you break God's commandments. The seal of God is the keeping of His commandments and the mark of the beast is to break His commandments. This shows us that the mark of the beast has been around since the beginning of time in a sense. More specifically the mark of the beast has been here since the beast as you cannot have a mark of the beast if there is no beast. Identifying the beast of Revelation 13 is key in understanding how long the mark of the beast has been around. Futurists identify the beast as an end time (right before a rapture) empire with a political leader who will be the antichrist. This is where futurism fails, clearly the beast that John saw was the Roman empire. The fourth beast in the book of Daniel that followed Grecia obviously had to be the Roman empire as Rome came right after Greece. For futurists to detach the fourth beast from the third beast by the space of 2,000 years is unbiblical and actually a bit ridiculous. The futurists continually have to do this, throwing events that obviously apply to history 2,000 years into the future. So if the Roman empire was the beast that John saw rise out of the sea then this means the mark was around at that time as well. The Waldenses, Reformers and Anabaptists all believed that loyalty to the Papacy was the mark of the beast. The Papacy is a continuation of the Roman emperors and the Catholic Church of Rome is a religious continuation of the Roman empire. Of course, this does not eliminate techo-currency from playing a big role in compelling people to give their loyalty to the beast system as that has always been the case. Groups outside the mainstream Church in history were persecuted and excluded from participation in the buying and selling of the economic system. The image of the beast is a representation or resemblance of the Papal Church. The Papal Church is noted for not just being a religious institution but also a political one. The image of the beast then is the same type of institution, religious-political. The second beast of Revelation 13 came up out of the earth, meaning a sparsely populated land. This beast has two horns like a lamb meaning it has a Christian veneer yet it speaks like a dragon meaning it speaks against God's law. The obvious is that speaks of American Protestantism in that they created a State-Church system especially during the first few hundred years of the country in which there were many religious laws. Now in the present time, the evangelical churches are yoking with Donald Trump and the Republican party in order to push legislation that is Christian based. In other words, they are forming an image to the Papal Church which is a State Church that pushes "Christian law" as the law of the land. True believers are to have no association with the evangelical-protestant state churches as they are the image of the beast. Worshiping the image of the beast means you follow their man made commandments such as trinity worship, Sunday keeping and honoring their false holy days such as XMAS and easter. One last item regarding verse 4, the "thousand" in the thousand year reign is plural. "Thousand" comes from the Greek word "chiloi", a plural of uncertain affinity; a thousand: thousand." Obviously this reference to reigning with Messiah for a thousand years is not talking about a literal thousand years but rather denotes a time period that is uncertain but definitely more than a thousand. So far we are going on 2,000 years reigning with the Messiah since the time of His ascension into heaven. Peter equates the day of salvation to a day (in Jehovah's mind) which to us is a thousand years. This is similar to the reigning with Messiah in that the thousand years spoken by Peter is the day of salvation and the thousand years of our reigning with Messiah is a result of us being spiritually resurrected during the day of salvation, making the day of salvation and the thousand year reign one and the same: 2nd Peter 3:8 "But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." Psalm 90:4 "For a thousand years in thy sight Are but as yesterday when it is past, And as a watch in the night." Psalm 50:10 "For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills." The above verses show that the number "thousand" is often used symbolically to represent either a uncertain duration of time or a multitude in number. Let's now move on to verse 5 of Revelation 20: "The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection." This is an important verses to understand in terms of the millennium debate. What is the first resurrection? Well it was just explained in verse 4, the result of being part of the first resurrection is that you sit on thrones and judge and you live and reign with Messiah for a thousand years. The question is, when does the first resurrection take place? For a premilllenialist the first resurrection takes place at the second advent of Jehoshua and ushers in the millennium. However, if the millennium is actually the new covenant Church age then the first resurrection takes place within it, meaning it does not take place at the second advent. Why should we understand the first resurrection to be different from the last day resurrection? Because scripture always posits one resurrection at the last day and then the judgment for all mankind, so there is no first and then second resurrection that take place a thousand years apart. With that being the case, this "first resurrection" must be something other than the last day resurrection which is all inclusive resurrection of the sheep and the goats. Obviously, this first resurrection is for believers only as verse 6 says blessed are those who are part of the first resurrection. Also, verse explains those that are part of the first resurrection do not have the mark of the beast nor worship the image of the beast and the reign with Messiah as kings and priests. The first resurrection is our "begotten from above" experience i.e. when we enter into the Kingdom via faith, repentance and baptism. John 3:3-5 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. To be begotten from above means you have entered the Kingdom of God. To be begotten of water refers to our baptism and to be begotten of the Spirit refers to us receiving the holy Spirit. Being begotten of these two things allows us to be spiritually renewed and thus part of the Kingdom of God. Jehoshua here speaks of spiritual resurrection. Even baptism is a symbol of the death and resurrection of the Son of God, so that when we are baptized we are signifying the resurrection of Jehoshua by being spiritually resurrected to newness of life. Romans 6:4-5 4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism unto death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.5 For if we have become united with [him] in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of his resurrection; Paul says that when we are baptized and come out of the water we are untied with Messiah in the likeness of His resurrection showing that our "begotten from above" experience publicly shown by baptism is a spiritual resurrection. This is why Paul says we walks according to the power of Jehoshua's resurrection: Philippians 3:10 "that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death" Paul says that by having the righteousness of faith that he can know the power of the resurrection of Jehoshua. This shows that Paul was identifying with the resurrection of the Son of God by having faith in Him and fellowshipping in His sufferings. To have righteousness of faith means to walk in newness of life via being raised from spiritual deadness and experiencing the resurrection power of Jehoshua. These passages clearly show that we as believers experience a spiritual resurrection upon being begotten into the Kingdom which is sealed by baptism. Again, baptism symbolizes the death and resurrection of Jehoshua so that when we come out of the water we experience a spiritual resurrection into the Kingdom of God as this what baptism does, bring us into the Kingdom. Ephesians 2 "And you [did he make alive,] when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins," Another passage that clearly shows that when we are begotten from above it.is likened unto being made alive from the dead i.e. resurrection. Ephesians 2:5-6 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved),6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly [places], in Christ Jesus: Just a few verses later, from verse 1, we see that before we came into the faith we were considered spiritually dead but God made us alive, i.e. resurrection, by saving us. Paul says in verse 6 that God raised us up (resurrection) with Messiah again showing that our begotten from above experience is a type of resurrection and it identifies us with the resurrection of the King of Israel. Amazingly, this verse relates to Revelation 20:6 in which the first resurrection results in us reigning with the Messiah for a thousand (plural of uncertain affinity). Here in Ephesians 2:5-6 our being raised up by God results in us sitting together in heavenly places in Messiah Jehoshua.
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