The Earthly Kingdom of Christ, Part 1

Revelation chapter 20 the earthly reign of Jesus Christ our Lord From the remotest point of antiquity men have longed for and talked about the possibility Of a utopia, an age in which righteousness and peace rule, an age in which oppression and war have completely ceased. Poets write about it, singers sing about it, pol would like to promise it. Preachers preach about it, and even the prophets of old would forecast it. The world cries for it. But has yet to attain it. The reason being is because the only time that's going to happen is when the King of Kings and Lord of Lords returns and sets up his kingdom.

If you study the Bible, you understand when that utopia is going to be. You know exactly who's going to rule at that time and how it's all going to work itself out. God promises that there's going to be a time in which there'll be no more warfare. A time in which, when you come together, there's going to be peace and harmony in the world. It's not happened yet. But it will happen, and so we look forward in terms of anticipation. We've prayed about it, though. That is, if you understand the disciples' prayer, Matthew chapter 6.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. There's something about the disciples' prayer that teaches us about the longing for God's kingdom. And while we don't see all the details of the kingdom in Revelation chapter 20, the prophets of old give us a lot of details. We don't know everything that's going to happen. In the millennial reign of Christ, but we do know from the prophets of old what some of the things are going to be. Revelation 20 just gives us an outline, gives us a sketch of that thousand-year period.

And it does so because chapter 20 places the kingdom chronolog where it belongs. After the tribulational period. If you've been with us in our study of the book of Revel, you know that the tribulation period began in Revelation chapter 6. and takes you all the way through chapter 19 of Revelation. The bulk of our study has centered around that day of the Lord, that tribulational period in which the Holocaust upon the earth is so horrendous that people die. The sky falls. The islands move away. Earthquakes happen.

Dise happens. A third of the people die. A fourth of the people die. All kinds of things happen that are tragic. But at the end of that time, the Lord returns, He sets up His kingdom. Chapter 21 deals with the new heaven and the new earth. Chapter 20 deals with the setting up of that kingdom and what Christ is going to do in that kingdom. And I guess it begs the question: do you anticipate that coming kingdom? Do you anticipate the arrival of the king? Do you anticipate all he's going to do? As you look through the book of Revelation, there's great hallelujahs, there's great praise, there's great excitement, knowing that the king is returning.

And always makes me wonder about the spiritual condition of people who don't anticipate that day, who are longing for the time in which there will be the utopia that he's promised. Wh he will rule and reign supreme. Let me give you three views.

About his return, that I think you need to understand. Some of you will say, Well, I don't need to know that, but I think you do, so I going to give it to you. All right? But I want you to stay with me. Because at the end, I'm going to wrap it all up for you, and you're going to be so glad you came. Three views. If you were just to read through the book of Revelation. He would come up with what we call a pre view of the kingdom. There are three views: a pre-millennial view, a post-. millennial view and an all millennial view.

The pre-millennial view states that the Lord Jesus Christ will come and he personally will set up his Kingdom. That's the pre view. And if you were to read just chronologically through the book of Revelation, that's the view you would end up with. Millennium is a Latin word that means a thousand years. The church won't be here during that tribulational period, and when that's over, the king himself Will return. That's the hope of the Jewish nation. The Jewish nation wants a Messiah. And the Old Testament prophets promised.

That the kingdom would not come until Messiah came. So when Messiah comes, he sets up his kingdom. All the Old Testament prophets understood that. It's the 21st century preachers that have a hard time understanding that. But all the Old Testament prophets realized that. They wanted a king, they wanted a Messiah, and when he came, he would set up his Kingdom. So pre states that Christ Himself will come physically, person, and powerfully. At the end of the tribulation and set up his kingdom. When he does, Satan will be bound.

That's in Revelation 20, verse number 1. And just in case we don't get to it this evening, let's read it just to let people know that we at least got through the first couple of verses.

And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon. the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the abyss. and shut it, and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed. After these things, he must be released for a sh time. Now, in those three verses, you have a lot of information. But those verses tell us that when the king returns, that's Revelation chapter 19, what's going to happen is that Satan himself is going to be bound.

For a period of a thousand years. Now, listen, the pre-millennial view is all based on a literal interpretation of the scripture. A literal, contextual, historical, grammatical hermeneutic that comes up with a pre-millennial view that the king returns. After the tribulational period, and sets up his rulership, his kingdom upon the earth. The chronology of the book of Revelation is very explicit. The Old Testament speaks of a real kingdom. It speaks of a time in which the king will sit on David's throne, ruling from the city of Jerusalem.

Israel will be in the land. Israel will be prospering in that land. It's a time when warfare and hostility in the animal kingdom has ended. And people will live long, prosperous lives. The fact that the Bible tells us that when you're 100 years old, you're going to look like a baby. You're going to live a long time. In the kingdom of God upon the earth. There's another view. It's called the post view. And for lack of a better word, this is a very confusing view because there really is no biblical precedent to establish this view.

But you would be surprised. At the number of people who believe in a post-millennial view of the kingdom of God. This view states that things are going to get better, not worse. And this view really tends to flourish when there isn't a major war happening. During World War I and World War II, this view never came about. But when there is no World War happening, this view now begins to rise up because they believe that things are going to get better. Not worse. And if things are bad, things aren't better.

So the king's not going to come. He won't come until things get better. Christ will come at the end of the kingdom. The pre view states that Christ will come before the kingdom because he's going to set it up. The post-millennial view states that Christ will come after the kingdom because he doesn't set it up. The church sets up the kingdom. You follow me? This view is based on a literal and a non-literal view of Scripture. This view ignores the chronology of the book of Revelation. They literally believe in a kingdom.

They literally believe in a time of peace. And they literally believe in a time of righteousness that fills the earth. But figuratively, it's fulfilled in the church, not In Israel, God will mediate through his people, the church. It manifests itself in a variety of ways, and let me give you a few of them.

It manifests itself in what is commonly called today kingdom theology or rec. Now bear with me for a second because this is kind of interesting.

You'll see this view rise up in what is commonly called spiritual warfare seminars. People who are post-millennial are big into spiritual warfare seminars. Why? The other night, my son and I were watching our favorite television program, TBN. We like to sit down and watch it together because especially if you've had a long day or he's had a bad ball game, it always gives us a few laughs. We sat down and watched TBN, and there was a man on there who's written a plethora of books on occult and Satanism.

He's big in the spiritual warfare, and he goes into this long ordeal with this young lady who happens to be, in his mind, a believer, who happens to have a demon in her. The demon was anger. Okay? And so he was going to exorcise this demon in her, of course, on TV so everybody could see it happening, and then, of course, ask for money when it was over. But he wanted to make sure that everybody saw this exorcism. And so he was doing what those in, quote, the kingdom theology believe, and that is somehow we're going to.

Sn Satan. We 're going to defeat Satan. We 're going to step on Satan. We 're going to pound on Satan. We 're going get Satan out of there. And everything he did on television was completely contrary to what God says we are to do with Satan in the scriptures.

The Bible never says that we are to bind Satan. Revelation 20 says there's an angel who binds him. We don't bind Satan. The Bible never says that we are to stand against him and we are to defeat him. He was defeated at the cross. Our job is to resist him. Our job is to flee from him. In fact, the Bible says if you resist him, he will flee, right?

And so I think that sometimes we get everything all mixed up as to what the Bible says, but this guy would go on and on and on.

And the crowds, of course, would be behind this whole thing. And I personally believe it was just nothing but an act, but the whole scenario. Emphasize the fact that somehow, if we are able to conquer Satan, rid him of his domain in people's lives, the world will become better and the king will then return. That's the post-millennial view. It comes in another way in terms of liberation theology, and that's where we as Christians just get our guns and ammunition and wipe out all those. Secular people and leadership, and take control, and therefore make the world a lot better, and then the king will come.

Pat Robertson is a post-millennialist. When he was running for president, he said these words: if elected president. We will be well on our way to offering the kingdom to Christ. He believes, and those who believe in post-millennialism believe that somehow our job is to make sure that every teacher in every school is a Christian. Every governor is a Christian. Every president's a Christian. Every mayor is a Christian. And if we're able to get Christians at all those high places of office in the country, then we will be able to rid the country of its evil.

The society will become Christian, and the king can come and set up his kingdom. It's almost as if God needs our help to come back. That's the post view. I don't hold to that one, by the way. I hold to the first one.

The next one is probably the most popular view. It's called the awe millennial view. The all-millennial view, which means there's really no literal millennium at all. If the pre-millennial view says that everything is going to get worse, not better. And the post-millennial view says that everything is going to get better and then a king will come. The all-millennial view states that everything's just going to continue as it is. Just like you see it today, that's the way it's going to be. It's not going to get worse, it's not going to get better.

Everything's just going to be the same than Christ. Will come. The all-millennial view rejects the concept of an earthly kingdom of Christ where he rules from the city of Jerusalem. They believe that all the Old Testament prophecies of Messiah's kingdom are fulfilled right now, today, in the church. Of Jesus Christ. They believe that Christ is ruling right now.

He is ruling through the church. At the end, Christ returns and creates a new heaven and a new earth, and they would reject a literal interpretation of Revelation chapter 20. They will tell you that the book of Revelation describes the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A. Now there's one many problems with that view, but there's one major problem with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A, and that is the book of Revel that was written in 95. A. And that's a pretty hard thing to get around. There are some people who like to say that it was The book of Revelation was written somewhere between 54 and 68 A during Nero's reign.

The problem with that is that the churches in Revelation, chapters 2 and 3, were on a tremendous decline in 60 A. When Paul was in his ministry in Asia Minor, the churches were not on their decline. They were flourishing. And most of the early church fathers believe that the book of Revelation was written somewhere between 94 and 96 A. But anyway, they would say that the book of Revelation depicts The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A. And if you've been with us in our study of the book of Revelation, what happened in 70 A, which is written about by Josephus, and you can read about that.

Histories and antiquities of the wars of the Jews. It's a tremendous book that's written by Josephus. It's nothing compared to what happens in the book of Revelation, chapter 6 to 19. But they believe that all the promises of the kingdom are fulfilled in the church today. It's called the Reformed Theolog view. It is the most popular view today. Reformed theologians have a great view of soteriology. They have a bad view of eschatology. It is the study of last things. These are the people you want to ask this question to.

Has the kingdom really already come? And they will say, yes. And you say, this is it? This is the utopia? This is the unending peace and righteousness that rules forever? Is this all there is? Are you telling me that this is the rule of God on earth? Is this Eden? Those are questions you got to ask those of the Reformed theology view. You say, so what? Who really cares? We know the Lord. We know we're going to win the victory. Who cares whether somebody believes that he comes after the tribulation to set up his kingdom or after the church ushers in his kingdom or there's no literal kingdom at all?

I mean, does it really make a difference? Yeah, it does. It makes a big difference. It makes a big difference in how you view scripture and how authoritative it is in your life and how literal you read what's there. But the significant thing you need to see tonight is the significance of the kingdom. Turn with me to Matthew 13 for a moment.

I want to show you something. Matthew 13, verse number 44. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid, and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field. Verse 45. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. And upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had. And bought it. Both parables make a point. That this merchant, this individual When they see the pricelessness of the kingdom, will get rid of everything they possibly have in order to obtain the kingdom because of its Immeasurable value.

Money, land, objects mean nothing to them when they finally see the value of the kingdom. The point being, have you examined the value of the kingdom, the rule of God in your life? Have you examined the value of it? There's nothing of greater value than the rule of Almighty God. Number two, have you entered it violently?

Say, what are you talking about? Let me read to you Luke chapter 16. Verse number 16. The law and the prophets were proclaimed until John. Since then, the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached. And every is forcing his way into it. Everyone is violently entering into the kingdom. You say, What on earth are you talking about? Let me tell you something.

If you have examined the value of the kingdom and realized its immeasurable worth, You will do whatever it takes to get into the kingdom. That doesn't mean that you're something that you can muster up, some works thing that you can do to get you into the kingdom. It means this. Whoever decides that the kingdom is of supreme value and says that's what I want and makes their way after that kingdom to enter the kingdom is going to have to enter it violently. Why? Because Satan is doing all he can to keep you out of the kingdom.

Do you think Satan wants you in the kingdom? No, he wants you in his kingdom. He wants to rule over you. All of a sudden, you see how valuable God's kingdom is, how valuable God's rule is, how supreme He is. You say, That's what I want. It says, Hey you come back here. You get back here and you fight your way in there. Why? Because when you enter the kingdom, all spiritual warfare does break loose. Satan does everything he can to keep you out of there. And once you get in there, he does everything he possibly can to destroy your life.

Because he wants you discouraged. He wants you doubting your salvation. He wants you depressed. He doesn't want you focusing on God. He wants you focusing on yourself. And it becomes a tremendous spiritual struggle. Never tell anybody that becoming Christian is easy. Never tell anybody that becoming a Christian is just the easiest decision you'll ever make. You tell them it's the most difficult thing you'll ever do. Because it costs you everything. It costs you your life. What will a man give in exchange?

For his soul. If you've examined its value and you've entered it violently, have you experienced its victory? Remember the promise given to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3? The promise of being an overcomer. The Nikao, the Nike man, over the world. Why? Because of your faith in God in what He has done. John said that so well. He said, Whoever is born of God. Overcomes the world. And lastly, have you enjoyed the kingdom's virtue? In Matthew 6, verse number 33, Christ says, very key word, but.

But, but what? But seek first the kingdom of God. Instead of being like the Gentiles, instead of being like the pagans, instead of worrying about where my next paycheck is going to come from, instead of worrying about how I'm going to be fed, instead of worrying about how I'm going to be Instead of doing what the world does, seeking first possessions, seeking first financial security, you seek first the kingdom of God, His righteousness, and all these other things shall be added unto you.

Have you enjoyed the kingdom's virtue? Romans 14 says, The kingdom of God is peace. And joy in the Holy Spirit. You have that peace? You have that joy? If you're seeking first the kingdom of God, you have that peace.

You have that joy. Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Psalm 84, 11, God said, No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who walk. Of Rile. The significance of the kingdom has far-reaching ramifications. Have you experienced it? Have you entered it? Do you even enjoy it? Those who enjoy it anticipate the earthly reign of their king.