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I want to read to you from Psalm 72. It's really a prayer of Solomon looking ahead to the coming reign of the righteous king, King of kings. Psalm 72, beginning in verse 1. Give the king your judgments, O God, and your righteousness to the king's son. May he judge your people with righteousness and your afflicted with justice.

Let the mountains bring peace to the people and the hills in righteousness. May he vindicate the afflicted of the people, save the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor. Let them fear you while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations, may he come down like rain upon the mown grass, like showers that water the earth.

In his days, may the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace till the moon is no more. May he also rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. Let the nomads of the desert bow before him, and his enemies lick the dust.

Let the kings of Tarshis and the islands bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts. And let all kings bow down before him, all nations. Serve him. For he will deliver the needy when he cries for help, the afflicted also, and him who has no helper.

He will have compassion on the poor and needy, and the lives of the needy he will save. He will rescue their life from the oppression and violence, and their blood will be precious in his sight. So may he live, and may the gold of Sheba be given to him, and let them pray for him continually.

Let them bless him all day long. May there be abundance of grain in the earth, on top of the mountains. Its fruit will wave like the cedars of Lebanon. And may those from the city flourish like vegetation of the earth. May His name endure forever. May His name increase as long as the sun shines.

And let men bless themselves by Him. Let all nations call Him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone works wonders, and blessed be His glorious name forever, and may the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, indeed, we come before you in the same spirit and accord as Solomon, who prayed, looking forward to the days.

When your feet will once again be upon the earth, and your righteous rule will stretch from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth, and that the increase of your government would surpass everything. Father, in this morning, as we gather this morning, we pray that your government would increase greatly in depth in our own hearts, in breadth in this church, in breadth in our community, in breadth in our state, in breadth in our nation, and in breadth across the whole world.

Father, we desire to walk in your ways. We know that you are good, holy, just, perfect. And we thank you, Father, that you have ordained a day when your Son will rule, when the kingdom of this earth that has been hijacked will be brought into conformity to the glory of your Son.

We thank you. And, Father, we come before you this morning, confessing our sins, paying tribute to you, honor to you, giving you what you deserve, begging your pardon for the sins that we have committed, for the dispositions of our heart that are not in conformity with your Son.

Father, But we come with the perfect sacrifice, the blood of your Son. And so it's because of that we enter in this morning to worship you and to give you glory. Be exalted here this morning. Lord, in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Well, again, good morning. Please turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 20.

We'll be looking at the first six verses today. Revelation chapter 20, verses 1 through 6. As you're turning there, I just want you to think for a moment. Perhaps this becomes more evident in election years, but we live in dark times, don't we? I live in very uncertain times.

We see evil seeming to gain its grip all around the globe and even in our own land, and it's maybe more acutely felt what's going on in our world. And that causes many of us to fear what may happen, causes us to be anxious about our situation, our times, and our place.

But what ends up happening is it robs us. Preoccupation with these things robs us Rob us of the joy and the peace and really gospel productivity now. But there is a glorious day ahead for planet Earth. Let me read to you chapter 20 of Revelation, verses 1 through 6.

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed.

After these things, he must be released for a short time. Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God.

And those who had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.

This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. You know, God has given us this glimpse into the future so that it would transform the way we think and the way we feel and the way we live our lives today.

Hope. He's given us hope for the future in what He has revealed. You ever wonder what life would have been like had there been no serpent in the garden? You ever sat there and thought of the thing? How would human history have played out if there was no serpent in Eden?

Think about it. It's hard to get your mind around. We speculate, but I believe there is coming a time when we will have the answer, not just in theory, but in experience. God has revealed the good news about Himself and His excitement for the future, so that we will fix our hope on what He is doing.

We do have a future. And for those who put their hope in God and hope in what He has revealed, His word, you can be sure that this hope is not going to disappoint. You have to ask yourself this morning: what have you fixed your hope in? Is your hope in God, in who He is, and the days that He has promised will come, is your hope in those, or is your hope in people or changed circumstances?

Or is your hope in your own personal ability to navigate through life? If that is your hope, you've probably already experienced disappointment, haven't you? Because we aren't masters of our fate. We can't control our circumstances oftentimes, and people let us down. But God has given us a more sure hope.

And that's why the psalmist will say over and over to his soul, Soul, hope in God. Hope in God. And so, what we have this morning is this glorious picture of Christ coming to reign over the present earth. There's good days ahead for planet Earth as we know it.

And that's just a precursor to the new heavens and the new earth that are coming on its heels. It's a beautiful picture, these remaining chapters of Revelation. And I hope they encourage you and get you excited about the things that are ahead. And even as you look around and you see things declining and falling, you know what they do?

They are testifying to the reality that the glories are coming because what we see happening around our world is in accord with God's Word, and we see on the other side of that a glorious future. Something to get excited about. Something that has elevated my soul, lifted my hope.

And even just going back and looking over these things, what's coming in these final chapters is the hope of humanity based upon the character of God and the revelation that is certain to come. So just to catch you up to speed, give you, this is a good point to look back over where we've been in the book of Revelation.

We have the rise of an evil empire, as you remember. We got, let's just talk seven seals going through the scrolls, seven seals. That's basically what this. Book is largely about the seven seals. And when you open the seven seals, what happens? Seven trumpets emerge, and then what happens after the seventh trumpet blows?

Then you have seven bowls. And that really is the outline of the bulk of the book of Revelation. In chapter 6:1, the first seal is opened, and at the end of chapter 16, the final bowl is poured out. And everything in between is just a progression and an explanation of those world events.

If you'll remember, first seal is a picture of a white horse, named him Dominion, an evil empire rising to power. And we know it's evil because of what comes in its wake: war, famine, death in major, massive proportions. And so, this global, globalist leader that rises to power with evil in his heart to make himself Lord and King, totally inspired by Satan himself, the rise of the evil empire.

And then we come to the fifth seal, and there is this. We realize that this empire is very much hostile to anyone who names the names of Christ or stands upon his word. And there is this altar, this scene of many, many martyrs crying out for. Just how long are you, O righteous and true God, going to allow this to go on?

We know your character. We know who you are. And what is happening on earth is evil. How long are you going to let this go on? And he says, just wait a little while. And then cosmic signs indicate that the day of the Lord has come. And so, with the opening of the seventh seal, you have then the trumpet, the trumpets blowing.

The seventh seal becomes seven trumpets describing the day of the Lord, God's judgment upon the nations. And then the seventh trumpet blows. And the kingdom of the world, it becomes the kingdom of our God. And those final judgments are depicted in seven bowls poured out, which brings an end to the evil empire.

So Revelation is much about the rise and fall of this final, matured, evil expression: Babylon returned. Babylon the great, the city system that has matured in its rebellion against God. And then, as you're going through in chapter, that takes us to the end of chapter 16. And then, chapter 17, 18, 19 tells us more in depth about the fall of this Babylon the Great.

And first of all, we looked at, remember, the downfall of religious Babylon, chapter 17. And then we looked at in chapter 18 the downfall of economic Babylon, its powerhouse, its place and position of the world center of trade and commerce. And then we see in chapter 19 the downfall of military Babylon that collects, comes together, Armageddon.

And then in chapter 20, we get to the downfall of the Spirit behind it all. It's a natural progression. The downfall. We want to understand. The dragon we know is behind it all. Satan is behind it all, and we've been waiting for God to deal with the serpent.

And so, it's important to keep this big picture in mind because it's very easy to get caught up in the controversies associated with. Revelation chapter 20, and it is perhaps the most controversial chapter in the book. Two major controversies. One surrounds the millennial, the millennium, the pre-millennialists, the all-millennialists, the post-millennialists.

And all of a sudden, if you lose sight of this big picture, you can look at this text and make it all about this millennium. Certainly a major part. But there is a glorious hope that's held out here. There's another controversy, and that is that of eternal punishment, hell that goes on forever and ever.

And that's another big controversy in this. What would you expect in a chapter that tells us, that shows us about Satan's fall? I mean, his catastrophic, where he is overwhelmingly overpowered, and his kingdom comes to an end, and his incarceration happens. What do you expect Satan's going to want to do with a chapter like this?

Make it just about everything else but that. Distract attention. No wonder it's the most. Controversial. It depicts the overwhelmingly powerful put-down of Satan and all of Scripture. It shows us what's going to take place. And so it's important that we don't lose sight of what this is about.

You know, already there is much in store for the present heavens. I mean, the present heavens and the present earth. The second advent is likened to a marriage feast. That's how we've been looking at this. It's a marriage feast, a wedding reception after the ceremony. It's about how those married to the Word of God take possession and control of the earth.

The day is coming. Good winds. And so we looked at in chapter 19 the presentation of Jesus Christ, just like you would at a wedding ceremony. Wedding reception, you see the presentation of the groom and the bride. Happens in chapter 19. And then again, at the end of chapter 19, the entrance of Jesus Christ.

Into the world, physically, again, in his flesh. He rules and reigns now, but then he will rule and reign in a more specific capacity with his feet upon the earth. That's the entrance of Jesus Christ. What we're going to be looking at in chapters 20 through 22 is the reign of Jesus Christ.

The reign of Jesus Christ. And in chapter 20, we're going to see the reign over the present earth. And then in chapter 21 and 22, we're going to see his reign in the new heavens and the new earth. And so it's a delight to be able to look at these chapters over the next couple of months.

Well, this morning, just want to look at the reign of Jesus Christ over the present earth and set some of these things in your mind. And just go through the text. I want to see what's there. I want us to pay attention to the details and just walk through it so that these things can shape the way you think, the way you feel, and the way you live today.

It's laying out our hope, our hope for the future. And God has given this because Christ is coming to reign, and he will reign. And it's to shape the way you think, feel, and live now. He gives us these things so that we aren't a people just dissipating our lives in fear and in anxiety, but we understand the gospel hope.

We understand that good is going to prevail, and so we are to be a people who march in accordance with all that is good, not be ashamed of good, and not be ashamed of our hope. He is coming again, and all the world is going to know it.

But we, by now, we by faith know it now. So, let's start looking at this. The reign of Jesus Christ. It begins, first of all, with the binding of Satan, with the binding of Satan. That's when it begins. Look at verse 1 of chapter 20. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.

An angel, another angel. Notice he's described where he comes from and what he holds in his hand. He comes down from heaven. What does he hold in his hand? Well, he has the one, he's the one who holds the key to the abyss, and he has a great chain on his hand.

A great chain. Now, when you think about a key, what does that speak? About. It speaks about authority. Access. The one with authority over who goes in and out of the abyss. He is the one with the authority to incarcerate. That's what the keys speak. What is the abyss?

Well, we've already seen it in chapter 9. It's the place where evil spirits are confined. A prison where a spirit awaits final judgment or sentencing. That's what a prison holds. What is the chain? A chain. It's the means to bind. It's also sometimes translated as handcuffs. So here comes this angel with this big chain, the handcuffs, to cuff.

You remember the last angel that we saw? He was the one who dealt with the beast and his armies. Hey, come on, birds. Come on out here. We've got a feast. Get ready for the supper of God. And the last angel dealt with the beast and his armies.

This one deals with Satan himself. Notice what he does. Look at verse 2. Five actions. You can see the verb actions there. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and he bound. Him for a thousand years, and he threw him into the abyss, and he shut it and sealed it over him.

You see the actions, the abyss. You get the idea that it's like a pit with an opening at the top. And here comes this angel. He laid hold, first of all, he laid hold. That is, he took custody. I love this scene. He apprehended him. He took possession of this dragon, the serpent of old.

Look at that. Look at the descriptions that describe Satan here. The dragon. We already met him. He's the one in chapter 12 who goes after the woman, the child. He's the dragon. He's the mind behind and the inspiration behind Babylon the Great. He's the one who's brought it all about.

He's the mind behind all the assaults against the child who was born to be king of kings and lord of lords. It is the dragon who is out to get the child who is born to rule the nations. Chapter 13. He's also the serpent of old. Who's the serpent of old?

That original deceiver. In the garden, the father of lies, the murderer from the beginning. This is the one who hates people. I don't get this. Evil. What did Adam and Eve ever do to this being that he would come, deceive them with the intention to murder them, to separate them from God?

This is evil. This is what evil does. This is what the enemy of your soul is out to do. There is no love in him for anyone. He hates the image-bearer of God, and so he seeks to destroy the image-bearer of God. The serpent of old. But praise God, that's not the end of the story.

There's the one who hates humanity, but what he didn't understand is that there was one who loves humanity far greater than he hates humanity. See the other name, the devil. Who is the devil? What is that referring to? The slanderer. Diablos. It means one who slanders another. The devil, the father of slander.

And then this final expression, Satan. It's in the Greek, it's the Satan, the adversary. This is the adversary of all that is good and holy. And here comes this angel, finally, and he apprehends evil. Enough of this. And he comes from heaven. He laid hold. Second, he bound.

He chained. He handcuffed. He arrested. He constrained. He restricted the movements of the dragon. Incredible. Look at the third action. He threw him. He threw. That is, he cast him down with great force. He forcibly hurled him into the abyss. It's the same word we get ballistic from.

You want to know what this angel does to dragon Satan? He takes him and he throws him like a ballistic missile into the abyss. That's the power this angel has over Satan. That's the power that heaven has over the devil. And that's the power that he wants you to walk in.

Enough of this. He bound him. He threw him. It's clear. We spent some time looking. At the angels revealed in Revelation. You remember that? It's very clear that Satan is not the most powerful angel in heaven. There's a whole order, there's orders, seraphim, there's other cherubim, and then there are powerful angels like Michael.

You remember in chapter seven or chapter twelve, when there's war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels wage war, and there wasn't much of a conflict. They were cast down. There was no more place for heaven in place for them found in heaven.

That's the kind of power that these angelic beings have over Satan. He's not the most powerful angel in the lineup. We come across many, and all it has is God has to say, Give the word, go, his time's done. And he ends up being thrown like a ballistic missile into the abyss by this angel.

And he shut it. He shut the abyss. He locked the abyss. And number five, he sealed the abyss, he secured it by sealing it. Does anybody want to go try opening up that abyss? That angel is charged with keeping him incarcerated for a thousand years. It's sealed. No one is to mess with it.

Notice why he did it. That's what he did. This angel did. Now, notice why he did it. So that, verse 3, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed. You know, Daniel chapter 2, remember that Daniel verse 21 tells Nebuchadnezzar, it is God who changes the times and the epochs.

He's the one who removes kings, and he is the one who establishes kings. And this is the changing epoch. This dragon, Satan, the serpent of old, is cast and secured so that he will no longer deceive, no longer cause the nations to wander. Rome to wander from the truth.

What is the goal? Complete isolation. It's important to understand here. The purpose is not specifically for punishment. That's going to come a little bit later, the lake of fire. At this juncture, It's not so much punishment per se, but isolation from influencing people on planet Earth for a thousand years.

Jesus' personal reign over the present earth is going to begin with the binding of Satan. Second, if you'll notice, it ends shortly after the release of Satan. Look at the last part of chapter three of verse 3. After these things, the angel just did, after those things, he must be released for a short time.

So, what's the duration? You got a thousand years. That's the duration of Satan's imprisonment in the abyss. Now, some would approach that and say, well, that's just symbolic, some literal. As you know, me, I tend to go in the more literal direction unless there is good reason not to.

There is one view, you've heard my all millennial friends, all millennial, no millennium. The idea behind this system, or many adherents in this system, is that the millennium or this thousand-year period is really the time between the advents, the inter-advent periods. Christ's first advent separated by a millennium and And then a second advent.

And that the millennium is this period in between. It's popularized. Augustine went down this road, so many of those who have been influenced, traditions influenced by him, this is just how they saw it. But one thing is important to understand about how Augustine viewed this, he actually favored the literal view that it's going to be a thousand years.

But what happened is, because he was of that school of thought of the early rabbis, which I don't think has been proven false, by the way, but the view that just as God created the world in six days, so correspondingly, there is six 1,000-year periods of human history.

And so Augustine, thinking or influenced by this view, saw that the coming seventh period is going to be a period of peace. 1,000 years. But what happened is then after the year 1,000 comes around, and then you get several hundred years later, people start who are still influenced by Augustine are kind of like, yeah, well, that's, it must be symbolic.

And Augustine read a lot of words as symbolic. So started going down a road of, well, this millennium, this thousand years, really isn't a thousand literal years, it's just that period, whatever it's going to be, even though right now it'd be like 2,000 years of that. But the trouble with this view that I personally have is that it's difficult to imagine that Satan is currently bound in the way that has been described here.

And the thinking goes something like this: Jesus bound Satan during his first advent with the preaching of the gospel. They will point to Luke chapter 10, verse 18. I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. And that's what the, remember, that's the preaching of the gospel. He sent out his disciples.

They're healing. Satan cannot stand against them. They are, through that powerful ministry, he is being cast down, cannot stand. And they were rejoicing that the demons are subject to his name. But it's difficult to even see that this was the thinking of Luke, because even in as you keep going in the gospel, well, let me just say this.

It's difficult to imagine that we're living in a world that's not influenced by Satan right now, that he is incarcerated. Some people would say, well, yeah, he just has a long chain. The problem with that is they're more language than just a chain. It's shut, it's sealed, it's locked.

His influence in this period in chapter 20 is he is not having an influence. That's the point. It's also, I mean, it's also, as you keep going through the Gospel of Luke, it's clear that in Luke chapter 10, Satan isn't bound. He's still very much active. You remember in chapter 22 and verse 3, it's Satan who enters into Judas.

He's still very much active, still very much influencing people. Same chapter: it's Satan who wants to sift Peter. You go on to Acts chapter 5. It's Satan who fills the heart of Ananias to lie. You get to 2 Corinthians. It's Paul who says, it is the God of this world who has blinded the minds of the unbelieving.

It is Paul who says in 1 Thessalonians, I wanted to come to you, but Satan hindered us. And of course, you get to 1. Peter 5:8, be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Very difficult to see him bound at this moment.

Not in the sense that is just being described in Revelation chapter 20. Yes, he's rendered ineffective in many ways. Certainly he has no mastery over God's people and all that, but he is not incarcerated from deceiving the nations like described in the verse we just read. So, a literal.

Think about literal years. Yes, I believe six times this expression, 1,000 years, is used. It's plain language. If he intended to mean a thousand literal years, you couldn't say it more precisely. But as you look at this, we realize there has never been a period like this in earth's history.

And so, this period must be future. Biblically speaking, there isn't a period in history where we see this language that Satan is bound in the same way as this angel has bound him. So, it must be future. And clearly, in Revelation, the order it is. But as I asked the question earlier, imagine a garden of Eden without the serpent.

Now, imagine a thousand-year period without Satan's influence. I'd like to know what life would have been like without Satan's influence. And why didn't that dragon just, I mean, why didn't that angel just come down with that serpent right at the very beginning and just throw him in? God's doing something, he is making, he is creating man in his image.

He is making us bear his image, and he is going to take us through the things that we must go through and let things happen that must take place. But as you think about this for a moment, a thousand-year period without Satan's influence, blessings. Think about that for a moment.

And as you read, the earth begins to produce its abundance again. It's not frustrated. The earth is not frustrating the efforts of man. But is cooperating blessings. Think about creativity for a moment. Just, I look around and I see the vestiges of God's image in fallen humanity. I see the incredible beauty that man can do in the arts, in music, in architecture, in culture, in many things.

I see man doing beautiful things. But then you understand that man also studies war. He also has become a master at stealing, a master at committing adultery, a master at supporting Hamas, violence, a master at all these things. But not so. Man's not going to study war. His creative abilities are going to be released to do what he ought to do.

To see the humanity conforming to the ways of God. It's incredible. I get excited when I think about it. But it's clear that the confinement is temporary. Whether you're symbolic or literal, it's. Temporary. Look back because after these things, he must be released for a short time. He must be.

It is of divine necessity. That language shows up throughout. You remember when Jesus started telling the disciples, Mark 8, he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer. It is necessary. And you remember what Peter said? He took him aside and began to rebuke Jesus.

And what is Jesus? Not a good idea, by the way. You know, just believe him. It's better to believe him instead of rebuke him. He takes him aside, and what does Jesus do? He turns around in Mark 8, 33 and says, get behind me, Satan. Get behind me, you adversary, because your mind is not set on God's interests, but on your own, on man's.

I remember talking to a friend of mine that I esteemed highly, and he says, Look, I don't understand why God released him. What's the point? I mean, I believe Christ is going to come, and that's going to be it. Why in the world will we put him in for a thousand years and then release him?

That doesn't make any sense. Well, that's what the disciples, but what do you mean, crucified Messiah? That doesn't make any sense. It must happen this way. And so, just because we don't understand it doesn't mean we need to rule it out. Listen, I don't know why we must pass through this age in a fallen world.

I don't know why he has a purpose. I don't understand why we must pass through this millennial age that is to come. But I trust that God has a good and sufficient reason for both. Remember, he is revealing to us what he is doing. We are the learners, he is the revealer.

We must be very careful just to rule something out. Well, third, third, I can say about Christ's reign upon the present earth. It begins with the binding of Satan, it ends shortly after his release. And notice that it involves several classes of people. Look back at verse 4.

Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. Thrones, seats of ruling power. What kind of class is this? This is a ruling class. Speaks of ruling power, a ruling class depicted by thrones, and people upon them. And judgment was given to them.

The right to decide was given to them. The freedom to choose over their realm, over their jurisdiction, whatever that jurisdiction may look like, freedom to. Given, much like Adam was given freedom in the garden to choose jurisdiction. Who are they? Well, the antecedent to the pronoun they, it's the armies coming with him, the bride that is coming with him.

Whoever, there are many speculations, and I'm not going to go into who they are or all the many speculations, but I'll say this: whoever they are, it is clear they have ruling authority in concert with Christ's return. But if you want to say who they specifically refer to, I believe it is the bride, those coming with him.

And this is going to be in concert with his promises he made already in Revelation. Second class is a vindicated class, another class that's going to be vindicated. Look at back at verse 4. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand, and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

They were killed. Why? They were killed for standing for Jesus and standing for his word. These are a people who are more partial. To the word of God than to themselves, a virtuous people, people of principle. They didn't worship the beast. Some of them killed. This is that attention given back to those tribulation saints.

Remember that picture of the altar, seal number five? They're crying out, how long, how long? They were rejected by the world, but now they are vindicated by God. What happens to them? I mean, the book, really, when you're reading that, reading through Revelation, you come to seal number five and this picture of these martyrs crying out under the altar, it's like, okay, what happens to them?

You're trying, what happens to them? And like a good book, it doesn't leave a loose end. It tells you what happens with them. They are going to rule and reign with them. And remember, the original audiences. They're dealing at this time with the beginnings of that emperor worship in Rome where you have to pay the tribute and bow down and worship the emperor.

Many of them are going to be martyred. And this vision of a martyrdom group ruling and reigning with Christ is going to encourage them, encourage everyone since then. To stand firm for Christ. Well, you remember the promise made in Revelation chapter 2 and verse 23 to the church at Thiratira?

To him, he who overcomes and keeps my deeds until the end, to him I will give ruling authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. Remember Revelation chapter 3, verse 21, the promise to Laodicea: He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I overcame and sat down with my father on his throne.

See, those promises are made good in this scene. He hadn't forgotten his promises. So among those resurrected individuals, there are those who returned with Christ, there were those who martyred under the beast regime. Both are vindicated. Some say, well, then they must be the bride. No, not necessarily.

You remember in the book of Esther, Esther became the bride of the king, and she ruled with him, didn't she? You know, Mordecai also became the chief advisor. He also ruled and reigned with the king. Different functions, but both ruling and reigning. There's distinctions, ruling and reigning. Not all have to be the queen.

But the point of all this isn't to, there isn't second-class citizens in heaven just the way they're being described. But it's important to understand who's not invited, who isn't coming to this marriage-wedding celebration of a thousand years. Notice who's not. Look at verse 5. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.

So we have another class, an unresurrected class, a dead class. They're dead. Who are they? These are those who didn't belong to Christ. Or they're the ones who opposed Christ. This would involve all of those who died at Armageddon, those who died during the day of the Lord, and all the events described in the book of Revelation, and also those who died outside of Christ throughout human history, all the way back to Cain.

What is this resurrection happening? It's a world, the celebration, it's a world without the enemies of God. That's the world that's coming. A world without those who oppose. And are hostile to those who have faith in God. It makes sense, wouldn't it? Which one of you, if you're throwing a wedding celebration for your son and daughter, invite all of your son and daughter's enemies?

Would you invite someone who hated your son or daughter to the wedding? Of course not. When Christ returned, first things are first. It's a celebration. He's going to get to judgment. He's going to get to putting the dragon where he needs to be for eternity. He's going to deal with the judging of the dead and the great white throne judgment.

But first things are first. A celebration. A celebration. A thousand years. The marriage supper of the Lamb. And this is the Lord's fulfillment to his promise. You remember in Matthew 26, 29, he said, instituting the Passover, he said, I will not drink of this vine or the fruit of the vine from now on until the day I drink it anew with you in my father's kingdom.

It's a promise that this kingdom is coming. My father's kingdom is coming. There's a sense in which it is still. Future. Jesus saying that. I will drink this with you in my Father's kingdom. And this is what he's speaking about. But there's another class, a final class. Let me look at this.

At the end of verse 5, notice the expression: this is the first resurrection, the first anastasis. I named my daughter Anastasis for resurrection. Look at what it says in verse 6: Blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

It's like there's a new Eden coming. Old Testament saints, New Testament saints, tribulation saints, all of them brought to the table, brought into this wonderful time period. And what Revelation is teaching us, it is teaching us about how human flesh, in union with the Word of God, comes to power and control over planet Earth and the blessedness that follows, not just for that short 1,000 period, but then all of eternity in the new heavens and the new earth.

Like a wedding. Celebration, and then the couple goes off into their new life together. This time period is a time period of blessing and joy and greatness. And I'm turning through three pages just to get to the end. So let's just summarize the details given to us about Christ's coming reign upon this earth in this passage.

It begins with the binding of Satan. It ends shortly after the release of Satan. And it involves several classes of people. And this is given to us so that we will fix our hope upon who God is, what He has done, and what He has promised will come.

So even though we live in dark times, a glorious time is coming. Even though we see darkness all around us, you know how we are to interpret it? As I start seeing wars and rumors and wars, I start reading this and I start seeing around, I say, I know what's coming.

And beyond the darkness is a brilliance and a beauty and a glory that is worth waiting for. That is coming. That is the world that is coming. And so if you are in Christ, you are a child of God. You are wed to the Word of God. You will be part of this.

And since you are part of that in the future, live that way now. Live as one married to the Word of God now. You're going to see many good days. Many good days that are over the top, so wonderful that we can't even begin to describe them. We just have a glimpse.

But if you do not belong to Christ, you will not be part of this celebration. You will be incarcerated in the grave until the final judgment. So it's an invitation for you to come to Christ today. And it's an invitation to you who are in Christ to wow.

Let these truths excite your heart and steady your hope and give you grace to live for Him today. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we just thank you so much for your goodness and your kindness, this revelation of what is coming. And even if we don't fully understand it, Father, we and even though there are many different things, Angles to this, Father.

We understand the glorious hope that is being portrayed here. There is coming a time, never before in human history, a time where Satan will not hold influence. So, Father, we look forward to that glorious time and we want that to shape the way we live now. Thank you, Father, in Jesus' name.

Amen.