Is Your Victory In Jesus? (Revelation 20:7-15)
GIST: Jesus is coming back as the ultimate victor, so you can live… but will you?
Last week, we looked at one of the more debated portions of Revelation. However, when we got past all the interpretative differences, we saw chapter 20 was pointing to the power and love of Jesus—the Jesus who came to defeat the sin that destroys us, and the Jesus who loves us enough to want us to be part of what He’s doing now and forever. And… that was just the first six verses. Today, we’re going to cover the rest of the chapter. I think we’ll see some similarities in the message here, as well.
“7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. 11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From His presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.”
All of Revelation has been circling back to this moment. Life will continue in a spiral of persecution and brokenness surrounded by God’s grace upon grace until both meet their climax. However, at the climax of brokenness, God’s grace wins outright. In fact, the last two chapters of this book are a celebration of this victory. Today, I’m going to do my best not to keep you long, but as we camp out with these verses, here’s the gist we’ll see: Jesus is coming back as the ultimate victor, so you can live… but will you? I know it’s not usual for us to have a gist that brings up a question, but these verses present us with one, so we have to consider it.
First, let’s look at the driving theme here→
I. Jesus Is Coming Back As The Ultimate Victor
It could be argued that all of Revelation is about Jesus’ victory. It’s definitely all about His character. And if the whole book is meant to show us Jesus, this chapter undoubtedly shows us Him as powerful, victorious, and oh-so-gracious!
Look at verses 7-10 again.
“7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
Here we have the→Final Battle & Ultimate Victory Of Jesus. When the 1,000 years end, that is when Jesus returns, Satan will be released from his bondage. Though it is difficult to say exactly what this looks like on a spiritual level, we see what it leads to: deceiving the nations. His time is short, and he knows it! Still, he continues doing what he’s been doing since the garden—trying to point people away from the truth of Jesus.
As we’ve seen, his influence continues to also be vast. The four corners of the earth represent… well, the whole planet. Similarly, Gog and Magog, like Egypt and Babylon, seems to be references to places and people at war with God before. So the stage for the great battle is s set. Look at the number of those directly opposed to Christ here, too. It’s staggering. They’re said to be as many as the sands of the sea! And they are surrounding the camp of the saints and the beloved city.
Do you see the imagery here? Satan and all those consumed by the sin that naturally consumes and destroys us all are marching to take down not just any people, but God’s people. And God’s people aren’t represented by any random city, they are called the city that He loves. Why? Because that’s what this picture is really all about: God’s incredible love. He isn’t passive or apathetic. He loves deeply and powerfully and brings life where there is only darkness and despair.
We’ve seen this before, but man it’s worth repeating. How does this war going down? Fast! “but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Here we have the defeat & judgment of Satan and life-consuming sin. They are thrown into what is called the lake of fire, which is Hell, where they will be tormented. Let’s just pause for half a second to address a common misconception that has been borrowed from folklore and mythology. Satan is not the king of Hell. He isn’t reigning there. It isn’t like the Greek underworld where he’s just jealous because his kingdom is the dead one. He is in Hell being punished. He has NO authority. Hell is awful, not a lesser alternative!
Let’s keep going because Jesus isn’t done winning yet. Look at where the imagery takes us next.
“11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From His presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.”
Now we have final judgment & defeat of death! We’re given a picture of this great white throne of judgment (which could be a reminder of the purity of Jesus’ judgment). Sitting there is none other than Jesus Himself. And it’s all about Him. The earth and sky seem to fly away in His presence…because He’s that amazing. Then we see everyone coming to stand before His judgment and books being opened (which we’ll come back to in a second). Then, after everyone is judged, Death and Hades, both of which are being personified but seem to represent the same thing, are defeated once and for all. Like 1 Corinthians 15:24 says, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” That which came into the garden with sin is now defeated once and for all. All that remains… is life.
However, there is only one way to experience real life. And that brings us to our final question here. Jesus will come back victorious→
II. So You Can Live… But Will You?
Let’s not miss the main point. This is all about God’s power and love. He came to rescue the world. However, not everyone will be rescued.
There are books that are opened. And everyone in the world is judged according to their deeds. This isn’t to see if your good outweighs your bad. We know that scale is tipped in the wrong direction for all of us. I can’t tell you exactly what this will look like, and I won’t try. All I know is that is seems to be a recounting of our lives and of what our lives have been about. Or, who they have been about.
At the end of the day though, the only thing that matters is whether or not your name is written in the Book of Life. When Jesus is recounting your deeds then, there will be a difference. Not only will there be evidence of the difference He has made—there will be fruit of His work in your heart—but your life will be covered by His righteousness!
Those who aren’t written in the book? “15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” The second death. Hell. How does your name get written here? Let’s just look at how this term is used in the rest of Revelation. Here are two examples→
Revelation 3:5: “The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before His angels.” Man, it’s been a while since we looked at these seven letters at the beginning of the book. If you recall, each ended with a promise of Heaven for those who remained faithful. Now, this conquering referenced here has nothing to do with somehow being enough. It has everything to do with knowing Jesus is! I quoted chapter 12 last week, as well, but it’s so worth coming back to. What does our conquering look like? “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” (Revelation 12:11) It’s all about clinging to Jesus as our savior. Giving Him control of our lives. We’re written in His book if we belong to Him. Look at this→
Revelation 13:8: “...and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” The Lamb’s book of life is God’s plan to save the world by Jesus coming as the perfect lamb…from the foundation of the world! Guys, that’s amazing grace!
So, here are our→
TAKEAWAYS
Jesus is powerful, loving, and victorious!
He came that you might have life forever.
Will you accept His gift of salvation planned from the foundation of the world?
He is the way, the truth, and the life—no one comes to the Father except by Him!
No comments:
Post a Comment